They are given opportunities to choose the best company and the companies work hard to attract their business by providing the best possible materials for them to draw from in their research. In short the industry has exploded into a healthy commodity market and through that market the students using the services are benefiting.

The research assistance business has generated conditions for additional markets to emerge which in turn creates an environment by which the cognitive process of learning becomes a market.

Some of the new markets that research assistance companies provide are online universities, individual learning opportunities and of course employment for those who work in these areas as well as directly for the research companies (Graham, 2001).

The concept of Questia was to put a library online," Questia CEO Troy Williams said. "Even when I was at Harvard -- which had an awesome library -- many of the books that I wanted were checked out or missing. "Oftentimes, when I wanted to use the library for research, it would be closed. It just made sense to put the library online and available all the time (Graham, 2001)."

Questia was founded in 1998 and has been booming since the first day its doors were opened (Graham, 2001).

Boasting more than 35,000 books online and more newspaper articles and peer reviewed journal articles Questia has successfully made the move toward privatizing education and making several new markets in the field of education.

You can save your paper online, so you can go to different computers on campus and work without even having to carry a floppy disk around," Williams added. "It is such a huge timesaver, especially now, when students are writing papers for midterms," Ann Brimberry, director of public relations for Questia, said. "The response we get from our customers is incredible. Without a doubt, they have nothing but good things to say," Brimberry said, adding the technology being pioneered by Questia is the wave of the future (Graham, 2001)."

Librarians around the world have been hired and are paid to help customers who may search for something obscure or have trouble using the search engines.

Each book on Questia has been copyright processed, and then placed...

According to their research, 70% of college students do not live on campus and must travel to libraries, while 10% take online classes. In addition, 75% of students own their own computer and 90% have access to the Internet, with 66% going online at least once a day. Students average 8.1 hours per week online and 43% of students cite research as the main reason for their Internet use (Graham, 2001)."
Teachers also benefit from the advent of research companies as they are able to get students to conduct research in many arenas and publications because of the availability of the businesses.

Years ago, college students attended classes, and returned to their dorm rooms or homes to study and then enjoy time with friends.

Today's students are much older on average and many of them are juggling school with full time jobs, family responsibilities and other life stresses that can interfere with the availability of time for studying.

The invention of research assistance services has allowed students to sit at their computer and research many resources which in turn provides them with a much more in-depth education as they move through their classes.

Conclusion

The use of research assistance businesses has revolutionized the world of education especially at the high school and college levels.

Students who formerly would have to depend on limited time to get to a library can now access hundreds of libraries at their own leisure through the use of online research assistance companies.

The emergence of these businesses has provided healthy competition which only serves to benefit the students. The students have access to valuable resources which only helps to benefit the teachers. And the industry itself has exploded and developed the creation of new markets in education which serves those employed by those companies.

It is a win-win situation for everyone involved and as technology continues to improve the research assistance business will also improve.

References

Graham, Andrew, (2001) Online service helps college students with research. University Wire