#On some frustrating days, finding the paper that answers all your questions is human; being able to open them might however require divine intervention -- or you are a rich kid with plenty dollars.

Ordinarily, writing academic research is not that hard. You just need to be excited enough about the topic and confident enough to keep smacking your keyboard while ignoring all the redlines Grammarly keeps bringing up. The joy-killer however, is that you can't just say "Bread is edible" and expect your supervisor to agree. You will have to look for a paper where one Mr. Cassava Flour said so. Not just that, it must also be a recent paper. This process is not the natural way the human mind expresses itself. It causes disruption of the thought process and this is one of the reasons why academic writing feels so hard.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about this. It has been the accepted way of writing research since the days of Charles Darwin. Moreover, when you think about it, it is for the good. But it can be an exhausting experience when you climb seven websites and crawl over seventy-seven pages only to see that you need to pay $30 to read just one article. Another moment of truth: if you can afford it, paying to read such research might be a way to appreciate the effort people put into writing good research. However, if the minimum wage in your country is not even up to $30, you need to find an alternative so you can graduate. This is why in this article, I will be sharing with you secret tools that you can use to bypass these websites asking you to pay before you can read the research papers or articles.

#Sci-hub

When I discovered Sci-hub, it felt like I had stumbled into the dark web. It is diabolical the way this site will break down paywalls for you. The owner of the site believes that all scientific knowledge of the world should be free. The site contains over 80 million papers in their database; if that feels illegal, many people agree. Sci-Hub has been involved in several suitcases since it launched. The ease of use of this site has also contributed to its popularity. Here is how to use it:

1. Once you have discovered that you’ve been locked out of an article, copy the link to the article

2. Alternatively, you can copy the DOI number or link. This is usually provided below the names of the authors.

3. Go to Sci-hub.se's website

4. In the area provided, paste the link or the DOI number of the document

5. Click enter. Voila! You should see the document loading.

Important Note: Sci-Hub is best for research papers that have a PDF version published. If that doesn’t exist, the platform may have a hard time opening the paper.

#Use incognito mode

There is a high chance that you have been underusing this feature on your browser. Its function is not limited to covering up your shady website history (side eyes). It also allows you to go undetected when you access some sites and helps you avoid the paywall. This can be helpful if the website has selective restrictions based on location or other identifiers. Here is how to use it, especially for the innocent ones among you:

1. Locate the website that contains the article

2. Copy the link  

3. Press ctrl+shift+N on Chrome and Edge to access incognito mode on desktop. For mobile devices, the three dots should show you options to select the incognito mode

4. Paste the link and press enter

This is good for websites that track the amount of free trials you can use. It is not suitable for PDF resources. For the record, some of your history in incognito mode is still accessible by Google. I just thought of putting that one out. Stay safe.

#The Wayback Machine

We all know that one human/robot who has throwback pictures of every member of the class from 100 level. Think of this website as a version of that person. What this website does is save copies of a web page. It's like a website that contains screenshots of other websites. If the "screenshot" of the website you're looking for has been taken, you'll find it there. Here is how to use it:

1. Copy the link to the article 

2. Go to archive.org to search or paste the link to the website in the field that will be provided.

3. If a snapshot of the website has been taken, you will be shown the date when it was done in a calendar.

4. Click on the date when the most recent version of the snapshot was taken. It will be highlighted in blue colour

5. Select the time too

6. You can now read the article

#RemovePaywall

Speak of a paywall remover but make it a menu list. Remove Paywall prepares a table of different paywall removers before you, all you need do is pick the one that suits you. To use is also similar to other tools

1. Copy the link of the article you want to read

2. Go to RemovePaywall and paste the link in the area provided

3. Press enter and the article will be automatically processed using one of the options shown below the space where the link is pasted

4. If the channel automatically selected doesn’t work, you can choose from the other options

Academic writing or writing anything at all that requires you to provide evidence can be daunting. However, with the right tool, you can avoid the frustration. The sauce lies in your ability to know what you are searching for and how to find a suitable tool to execute the task.