Citations and bibliographies can be a real pain, especially if you need them written in a specific format. Thankfully, EasyBib.com can help with that. With its APA, Chicago, and MLA format to choose from, citing your work can be quick and simple. Giving their users a choice of bibliography style is especially helpful when you have to write more than one essay. The purpose of this website is to provide an understandable way to write citations and bibliographies. EasyBib does a great job achieving its purpose. It provides students, teachers, and anyone else needing to cite a paper with an easy to use website.
By having plain and simple web pages, EasyBib becomes easier to use than most citation sites. People see the color of a website before they see anything else. It is proven that the color blue is more likely to make people think before they act. Since this is an educational website, the blue brings a better response. The orange is used for excitement and can be shown as an example by using it on words such as free and easy. The crisp white background is not distracting and makes the orange/ blue stand out more. Having black as the color of the information on the website it is easier to focus on the information you are reading. They bold certain topics and important information. The bold font is mostly used for subject headers and statements they want to be rememberes. The bold font stands out against the normal font and draws your attention to it. Also, the website uses bullet points to help organize information. By using a certain color scheme, an easy to read font, and letter bolding, EasyBib makes their website look professional yet simple.
EasyBib works at pretty fast pace and can pull up information in a decent amount of time. The different tabs on the top of the website lead you to different parts of their website. Not only does EasyBib organize your citation page, but it also has research tools. Just enter your subject in the search bar and the website pulls up sites that have been previously cited, as well as how often they were cited and the credibility of that source. This is helpful because you get to know how trustworthy these sites are. Also i like that they have the choice of what type of source you would like to cite. With over fifty different sources to choose from, you dont ahve to jump from website to website to find your different resources. The resources vary from websites, books, magazine articles, to interviews. In a school project, you can just use EasyBib and find your book sources as well as your online and newspaper source. When you place your cursor over the blue bold title of your topic, a box appears that shows previous users bibliographies that contain that specific source.
Another positive of the website is if you are unsure on how to start the writing process, they have a writing guide that you can refer to. This is a great tool to use when you are teaching students about the writing process. It can also be useful when you yourself are unsure on how to write an essay. If you need a topic to write about, use the topic guide to get ideas. They include the most popular ideas that essays have been recently written on. In a classroom environment this will help you keep up with the current trends. As a student, if you are given the freedom to write about a topic of your choice, you can write about a topic that is suggested on the website. EasyBib also includes video tutorials on how to use the website. The purpose of theses videoas are to enhance the users experience with the website. You can watch video tutorials on how to use the notebook, bibliography, paper, school administrator, account management and third-party integrations. If you are still unsure on how to use the website, they have a FAQ's section. The educator resources include popular handouts, lesson plans, autocite user agents, etc. The lesson plans are simple enough to follow and easy enough to put your own twist on them. I like the fact that they include lesson plans and articles that you can use. Even though I’m not a teacher, I can use the articles to write my own papers.
EasyBib has made their website more accessible by creating a Google app and apps on iPhones. I particularly like this because I don’t have to carry my laptop or kindle around with me. I can just use my phone and send it to my email. By having EasyBib on the go, you can practically do your homework anywhere at any time of day.The app allows users to scan a book bar code or type in the title of the book. The app then creates a bibliography based on the book they entered. Also, they offer and advertise other popular downloads they think may be helpful to you. These consist of a library branding series, graphic organizers, google presentations, and many more.
EasyBib is also good at costumer service. Their contact us page is clean and efficient. It has options for if you have forgotten your password and options for if your services aren’t working. The page also includes a general contact form. Along side the electronic communication, EasyBib also gives an Address for contact by mail. EasyBib also has an “about us” page. This helps users to learn a little bit about EasyBib. It also includes a link to the website of the parent company. This is a feature that will appeal to those who like to know about the company whose services they are using. EasyBib is also Clever about self-promotion. They have a page on their site dedicated to emailing to and sharing the site with others. On top of that they have page full of testimonials about the site. EasyBib never fails to put a plug in for itself.
EasyBib is also full of great little details that make the site a little more interesting. For instance, they have a little counter of home many sources have been cited since the conception of the site itself. Also it has a real-time feed. This feed displays each citation on the site as it is being cited. Though these details have very little practical value, they do serve as innovative ways to get inspired and for EasyBib to Self-Advertise. Another detail about EasyBib is that it allows users to complete the entire works cited in the websites builder. This saves the user the time it would take to copy, paste, and format each individual source. Clearly Easybib paid attention to detail in all aspects of building the website.
The negatives to this website are not all that they offer is free. While it is free to create a citation page and research, it cost money to use many of their other features. Although it is not expensive, at only twenty dollars a year to use the EasyBib Notebook, it is still a downside. It can be difficult when you are a high school student and dont have an income to pay for the additional costs. It can be especially unhelpful when you don’t need to use the application often, but need it once or twice. You can feel stuck and trapped by not being able to access these additions. The website, unfortunately, is an ad magnet. There are so many ads that it can be frustrating. Some ads are helpful; such as a grammar checking website, but Starbucks is not a distraction I want see while I am trying to do research. The ads are irritating and continually pop up. Even, using part of the page to advertise their advertising space. Luckily, the ads are in a presented in a relatively clean way. Other than that, the website is very helpful and resourceful by creating a one-stop shop for the benefit of scholars everywhere.
Easybib has taken an idea that had been used before and made it their own. It is a website that took a common idea and ran with it to make it better than anyone had before. EasyBib has done this by paying attention to detail and adding as many services as they can to make it an all in one resource for the scholarly. They have been the most successful of anyone in creating a centralized online center for writers. There may be things that could be improved upon but it is the closest to complete of any website of it’s purpose
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