Thomas Adewumi University

96% of the nearly 100,000 educators who visit the site each month claim MIT Open Courses improve on traditional offerings.

edX: Thirty-four higher-learning institutions ― including Harvard University, MIT, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Chicago ― have contributed courses to this OCW database. At any given time, the site hosts more than 150 courses collectively instructed by more than 400 licensed college-level educators.

Courses cover 26 different academic subjects, most of which are concentrated in STEM-related fields.

Students may earn certificates of completion for all finished courses, or simply audit different classes.

Many of the courses feature interactive media, such as the 3D molecule builder.

The following sites feature materials for a wide range of different subjects. Additionally, they contain blogs, user-generated posts, games, and other content that can help make the studying process a little more entertaining and enjoyable.

CliffsNotes: Best known for their annotated guides to famous literary works (with a section dedicated to Shakespeare), CliffsNotes also features guides for math, science, foreign languages, and more. Each guide is accompanied a brief quiz and links to similar works/subjects.

SparkNotes: In addition to a comprehensive list of annotated guides to books and other popular course texts, the SparkNotes site features test prep resources, blog posts, a ‘No Fear' section for notoriously difficult texts, and a pop culture-driven section known as The MindHut.

StudyStack: This interactive site allows users to take study different subjects and take flashcard quizzes. Offerings include 30 different foreign languages, 30 subject areas related to medicine, and prep materials for 12 different entrance/exit exams.

Users submit their own data, and then have the ability to customize flashcards based on their own learning preferences.

StudyStack accounts come equipped with public profiles that allow registered users to share information with one another.

The following nine sections consider some of the best online study tools available to students in specific fields.

Artcyclopedia: This compendium of information about famous artists and their works features a navigational tool that lets users browse nearly 60 different ‘movements' (from abstract expressionism to Ukiyo-e printmaking). And not surprisingly, the site also includes thousands of high-resolution images of paintings, sculptures, and other works of art.

Site visitors can search artists and works of art by medium, subject, and nationality; there is also an entire section dedicated to female artists.

ArtLex Art Dictionary: This directory of artistic terms features more than 3,600 definitions, complete with pronunciations and (if applicable) some sample synonyms.

All content on ArtLex is crowd-sourced. Individual users contribute definitions or suggestions, and site administrators upload new terms onto the site.

The History Guide: Undergraduates enrolled in European history courses will gain a lot of supplemental information from this site, which features lectures from four core classes: Ancient/Medieval European History, Early Modern European History, Modern European Intellectual History, and 20th Century European History.

The ‘Student's Guide to the Study of History‘ highlights the ways in which historians approach past, present, and future events.

The Resources for Historians section features nearly 60 links to different documents, scholarly journals, and other useful, history-oriented materials.

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The site's administrator, Steven Kreis, has also included syllabi from 11 different community college courses he taught between 1990 and 2006.

Library of Congress: The U.S. Library of Congress is one of the most expansive publication and document collections in the world, and the institution's official site is filled with digital books and excerpts, maps, and other helpful resources for students.

Specific collections available online include ‘Veterans History‘, ‘Historic Newspapers‘, ‘Prints and Photographs‘, and ‘Sound Recordings‘.

The site also features links to the American Folklife Center, World Digital Library, and other programs and resources associated with the Library of Congress.

Eleven blogs are featured on-site, and five downloadable apps are available for smartphone and tablet users.

Best of History: This site (administered by EdTeacher Inc.) features links to more than 1,200 history-oriented websites. Special sections are dedicated to particularly significant periods, such as World War II and the 2012 Presidential Election.

Also included on-site: sections featuring sample lesson plans and games/interactive activities for students.

Busuu: Once users have registered on Busuu, they will have the opportunity to learn 12 different languages (including English) from teachers who are also native speakers. The site boasts a membership of roughly 40 million people worldwide.

Courses are designed by certified teachers who have experience creating effective, language-learning lesson plans.

Coffee: This site abides by a less conventional format: registered users essentially search for ‘buddies' that speak the languages they would like to learn, and then conduct language exchanges with the people they meet. Account-holders can choose their specialty or specialties from a list of more than 100 languages, allowing users to learn languages not offered on sites like the two listed above.

The site's ‘Phrase Maker‘ tool provides accurate translations between the user's native language and the language they are attempting to learn.

The user's proficiency level will increase after successful completion of on-site vocabulary and grammar tests.

PaperStarter: This site features study guides for more than 140 novels, plays, poetry collections, biographies/autobiographies, and other works frequently assigned to contemporary students. Each guide features essay topics, notable quotes, and miscellaneous other information about the work in question.

The on-site Resources section features an essay guide, SAT writing tips, and other useful links for college-level writers and readers.

The User's Guide to PaperStarter includes some helpful hints for using the site to effectively supplement English/literature-oriented coursework.

Text-related articles are included in some of the study guides; the Othello guide, for instance, features links to articles like ‘Perception of Race in Othello by Shakespeare‘ and ‘The Power of Words & Language in Hamlet and Othello by William Shakespeare.'