.History Subject Guide: Research & writing help

Google Docs allows you to create and share all sorts of documents: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, and web forms. You can upload files from your desktop and view or edit them from any web-enabled computer or mobile device. You can also collaborate and share documents with friends, colleagues, or the world.

Dropbox allows you to synchronize your files online and across all of the computers you use automatically. It also automatically backs up your files online. A copy of your files are stored on Dropbox's secure servers, which allows you to access them from any web-enabled computer or mobile device. It also supports sharing files with people you choose using only a few clicks.

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources. It lives right where you do your work—in the web browser itself. Georgia State University provides great instructions and advice on how to use Zotero.

Diigo provides a browser add-on that can enhance research productivity. As you read on the web, you can bookmark, highlight passages, attach sticky notes and even capture images of portions of web pages that you find interesting. Your annotations are saved on Diigo servers and accessible to you on any web-enabled computer or mobile device. Diigo also supports collaboration. You can create groups and share your findings, complete with your highlights and sticky notes, with friends and colleagues.

A free, web-based citation manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. Requires registration (free).

Create a free account to help format and manage citations for your bibliography or references list. Includes an auto-fill feature that will attempt to complete citations based on title, author, and/or standard numbers (ISBN/ISSN) that you enter.