13. Additional Resources and Tools

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There are various resources you can refer to during the path of getting a higher study opportunity. Some web resources I know/used may be also useful for you. Some of them are websites or blogs while others are social media resources (basically Facebook groups and youtube channels). 

Sometimes, getting updates on scholarships at one platform is easier for students who do not fix their minds about particular universities or scholarships. In such cases, some students like to find scholarships from a database or social media groups to get the awareness of ongoing scholarships. Some examples I have known/used are given below. 


  1. For getting updates on scholarships in many countries

  • Websites: 

  • Facebook private/public groups: 

  • Scholarships - 2021-2022! 

  • International Scholarships


  1. For getting updates on Asian scholarships

  • Facebook pages/public groups: 

  • ASEAN Opportunities

  • ASEAN Scholarships


  1. For Sri Lankan students to get updates on scholarships in many countries

  • Facebook public groups:

  • Graduate Studies Help - Sri Lanka

  • Postgraduate study opportunities for Sri Lankans - Computer Science


  1. For getting some guidance/materials for the GRE examination

  • Facebook private groups:

  • GRE Group Study

  • GRE (Graduate Record Examination) preparation

  • GRE Group Study 2021 (quant + verbal)



  1. About visa processes/ higher study opportunities in Canada (for Sri Lankans only)

This group (කැනඩාවට එන්නට මග SLtoCanada) is the only Facebook group I have seen so far which has a superb supportive community and well organized useful information. It has only the useful content needed for people who are migrating to Canada from Sri Lanka. In fact, the proper regulation s in this group by admins is the main cause of such a standard in a Facebook group. Some Sri Lankans in Canada voluntarily get together in this group to support Sri Lankans who desire to migrate to Canada. Their commitments are always appreciable and marvellous. I also got very good guidance from reading the units and putting questions in this group when I was planning to study in Canada. You can get good guidance on the actions to be taken when you are applying for your visa (study permit, work permit, etc) in Canada. 


  1. About the path of getting higher study opportunities, PhD life, research-related matters, undergraduate life (Mainly for Sri Lankans)

Many students have less knowledge and many barriers to postgraduate studies at the beginning. Thus, I believe Fadils’ youtube channel “IQ labs” has started to fill that void and support many of our students to follow the correct path. Additionally, it is a good motivational platform for students. Fadil is a graduate of the University of Colombo and his major was Physics. Now he is a graduate student at  IUPUI School of Science, United States America. His initiative is really appreciable and I believe it helps many youngers who are going to pursue their higher study dreams. It has lots of important and interesting videos which are suitable for a wide range of groups (undergraduates, graduates who are going to apply, postgraduate students as well as researchers). It is really great that Fadil joins with many others and does this work since it provides experiences and ideas of many experts. His video series on application processes covers getting higher study opportunities in many countries. I think it’s a very good initiative because people from various countries can share their experiences of applying.


In addition to that video series, I think for students like me who already enrolled for postgraduate studies, Fadils’ video series on latex, Mendeley, what is a PhD, Research presentations, etc are helpful during our PhD/MSc life. I also watched his interview on the final year research project with Dr Dilushan and it is really inspiring even for me who is not an undergraduate. It is really unfortunate that I did not know about his youtube channel in advance and only got to know about it at the end of applying stage. However, now I am efficiently using it for my development of research and soft skills and for getting motivated. 



  1. Some of the important tools/ platforms for a researcher/ research student 


  • ResearchGate: 

This is a social networking site for researchers/research students to share their publications, ask/answer questions related to research, and find collaborators for their research projects. During the undergraduate period, I used this platform to ask questions from experts when I have some confusions in my experiments and troubles finding suitable analytical methods. Additionally, I have also asked a question regarding one research conference I was going to attend to verify its reliability. Experts (researchers/ university professors) answered my questions even though I do not know them personally. This is also can be useful to stay updated on your research field.


  • Mendeley: 

This is a reference manager for researchers/research students to manage and share research papers and generate bibliographies for their papers. Even though I know this from my undergraduate period, I did not use this tool. But with the start of my PhD, I thought to familiarize myself with this tool. First I watched a video on how to use Mendeley (Video in IQ lab) and then started to use it for my research and also for some assignments. Interestingly, it was more useful and convenient than I expected. I can use it at any time even though the device is changed and I do not need to bring all my research papers everywhere. I can even access them by the mobile app of Mendeley. By using Mendeley, creating a reference page has become much easier. Reading papers on this platform is effective and efficient. 


  • Latex: 

This is a high-quality typesetting system that consists of features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. There are many benefits of latex when using it for writing research papers. You do not need to be focused on layout/formatting when you are making the content of your paper. Additionally, management of citations and creating a bibliography is convenient in latex. However, you may need to get some understanding and familiarization before starting to use latex. At the start of my PhD study, I was fortunate to attend some online workshop on latex at my university and so I was able to familiarize it easily. Thus, I would recommend referring to some resources before starting to use latex.  


**In addition to the steps I followed as in my previous articles, these resources also helped me in some scenarios. It is always better to use social media and other platforms/tools to get some guidance from supportive communities relevant to your preferred area.** 

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