EasyBib.com by Sam Cooper and Ashley Mills

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

Ratemyprofessor.com Evaluation by N. Nguyen and K. Ybarra

The days of summer are counting down. The once careless days of assignment-free fun are only but past memories. Slowly and inevitably, the ominous presence of school lurks back into the subconscious of college students across the nation. Perhaps one of the most excruciating reminders that summertime merriment has come to an end is class registration. It is the classic game of Russian roulette. Students must choose their classes in hopes that the professor they have unwittingly chosen does not turn out to be a monster. But does it always have to be like this? The creators of ratemyprofessor.com say it doesn’t have to be. Through the use of the ever-evolving World Wide Web, ratemyprofessor.com has given students a medium in which they can warn their fellow peers to steer clear of dangerous professors waiting to kill their precious GPAs. Ratemyprofessor.com allows students a partial glimpse into the future and as a result, allows them to minimize the pain and suffering they will have to endure over the next sixteen weeks. On the surface, ratemyprofessor.com seems like a useful tool for students to take for students to take advantage of and in many ways it still is. However, students who decide to use rate myprofessor.com should realize that the website is only a tool, not the Bible. Any advice found from ratemyprofessor.com should be taken with a grain of salt. Opinions displayed on this website often are wrought with heavy bias from students with questionable credentials and work ethics.

When one first loads the website on their most convenient platform and browser, the first noticeable feature of the website is the baby-blue theme: a wise and tactful decision by the web-designer of ratemyprofessor.com. The calm blue them undoubtedly takes the edge off the nervous spasms the average student is feeling when visiting the site for the first time. It is as if the website is trying to tell you that everything will be all right and that the calm blue summer sky will soon reappear again. After one is done admiring the carefully selected color scheme, a conveniently placed search bar is placed in the front and center of the screen like a magic 8 ball, waiting to bestow heavenly truth.  

The obvious placement of the search function allows for easy navigation for users visiting ratemyprofessor.com, especially those using the site for the very first time. In fact, the interface of the entire site is very easy to navigate. There is a very natural feeling to the website. The hyperlinks on each page are there for obvious reasons and always provide links to relevant pages. The overall organization of the site is very clean and crisp. It is simple enough as to not suffocate the average viewer, but still has enough features to provide a useful experience. Whether you’re viewing or writing professor reviews, ratemyprofessor.com has a very self-explanatory set-up that lets users focus more on the content rather than navigating the site. The site is well written so that it runs smoothly across a multitude of platforms, which is quite important considering the average college student has very little patience to wait for loading times.

Once you navigate to the review of your potential professor-to-be, it becomes immediately obvious why ratemyprofessor.com has risen to such high levels of popularity over the past couple of years. Off a first glance, from the brightly colored rating scale gives the viewer a detailed score based off of three criterias: Helpfulness, Clarity, and Easiness. 

 Ratemyprofessors takes the average of these scores to give the professor an overall rating. The system ratemyprofessor.com has devised to rate professors is very apt for the audience they are catering to. When it comes down to it, the first and foremost concern among college students is passing classes. Ratemyprofessor.com has distilled the key qualities that make a class “passable” into one easy-to-read number. If viewers wish to look deeper into a professor’s profile, all one needs to do is scroll down to read more detailed reviews from student’s who had taken the class previously. In most cases, the reviews left on a professors are very parallel to one another. Because of this, you can almost tell what a professor is going to be like without ever having to your set eyes on him or her.

    Ratemyprofessor.com has been one of the most useful websites for college students around the country when choosing their classes. Because of this site, they are able to get a sense of what the professor is like, as well as, get an idea of how much the workload is and how hard the tests can be. However, just like any website, there are always weakness that take the shine off of an otherwise brilliant idea.

Ratemyprofessor.com has a huge database of professors that continues to expands as more students provide their own personal feedback on professors. However, it is quite often that a professor’s name does not return any results in the search function.

Since nearly all of the information found on rate my professor.com has been inputted by users, there are many gaps of missing professors that students have not yet reviewed. Because of the limited data base, new students are not able to look up the critical information they need when selecting courses. Some students will not even take a class because they are unsure of what to expect, or will even be hesitant when clicking on the enroll button. Unfortunately, this problem cannot be fixed by the developers of ratemyprofessor.com. Users just have to wait for others to fill these gaps or take the class themselves at their own risk.

Along with a limited data base, the information of Ratemyprofeesor.com is not based on facts. The information provided is simply opinions from other students who have taken the course and have either benefited from the class, or it had hurt them throughout the semester. Because of these events, sometimes the information can be swayed to a certain side of an argument and can give off the wrong impression to new students. For example, I was sitting in my COM 100 class when the topic of Ratemyprofessor.com came about. My instructor who was teaching the course had told us that he had looked through this website, and when he saw the information about his particular course, it was false. Although we can say his reaction was simply from him being offended, those actually were false words and the content had nothing to do with the class itself. What students do not realize, is that just because the website says a class is difficult, or that a teacher is really laid back, does not mean it is true. The only way to know for sure is to take the class yourself. When reading the posts from other students, you do not always hear the story from both sides. You cannot completely base your judgement of a professor off of what a few other students have said about them.

The student who looks up a certain professor, typically will only read articles from the students themselves and ignore any other feedback. What most students tend to forget about, is the column that allows professors to respond. In this response, professors can give their own opinions on why they believe students feel the way they do, and can give a more accurate response on to how the course will be. On the site, this allows students to hear both sides. However, most professors have not responded to criticism on their profile. Because most professors have not written a response, students are left with the one sided information and are only influenced by student opinions.

After analyzing Ratemyprofessor.com from its strengths and weaknesses, the website as a whole is still very successful. Being able to go to this website, look at teachers that you are wanting to take, and getting an idea of what they are like is very helpful when choosing classes. Regardless of the fact that it does not always have the information you need, the information it provides is still helpful. To give an opportunity to allow those to choose a course based on how well it fits that persons personality and work load is very important. Students will continue to use this website on a daily basis when the enrollment dates start to show up, and the opinions of others students will be taken into account. Just as we said before though, when using this website, students should take their peers advice with caution.

   

Spotify: Free Music Everywhere!

Spotify: Free Music Everywhere!

By: Bhavini Mistry and Christina Naphor 

Is it true? Is there really a music application that is readily accessible anytime and everywhere?  Yes, it is true! The answer is Spotify! Spotify is a free downloadable application for anyone, in any country, to use and it is the most triumphant application over other well-known music programs because of its vast and limitless features.

Spotify is a new, more efficient way to listen to music for college students. Usually, students go on YouTube or buy songs on iTunes to listen to their favorite songs. However, with Spotify, they can listen to their music for free! No downloads, no payment! All you have to do is download the program on your computer or pay for the app on your phone, iPod, or tablet. In addition to downloading Spotify, you have to create an account, but there is also an option where you can login through Facebook to use it. In contrast, iTunes is nothing like that. For iTunes, you have to use or create an email address, add billing information, and then pay money for the music. Unlike iTunes, Spotify is becoming the most popular music program for students of all ages. Another difference between Spotify and iTunes is that with Spotify, you can search by mood! Whether you’re feeling angry, happy, or sad, they have a countless number of playlists for any mood.

Also, you can search by what you are doing such as relaxing, working out, sleeping, or even hanging out with friends. They have a playlist for literally every occasion! On the other hand, iTunes does not give refunds to the things you buy since you enter your account password before buying the item. Therefore, you have lost your money and will regret buying that Twilight album which is now forever in your library. Overall, Spotify outnumbers iTunes or any other music site by its interminable diversity of playlists and free music!

Spotify is both very fun and simple to use! It’s available for the Apple and Windows operating systems as well as smart phones and iPods. Literally, it’s accessible almost everywhere! Spotify is awesome because even with a free subscription, you can do almost anything with it with its great included features. The only thing that “limits” you in your free listening enjoyment is the ads that consistently pop up. However, you can eliminate that problem and buy a monthly subscription ($4.99 or $9.99 a month) to remove those ads and unlock even more of Spotify’s prestigious features!

https://www.spotify.com/us/#premium

You do not even need a credit or debit card to purchase monthly subscriptions of Spotify anymore; now gift cards are offered at your nearest 7/11. So what are you waiting for? Go download and enjoy even a free subscription, of Spotify, with all of its great aspects!

On the top, left hand side, the Main folder includes several subfolders: Browse, Discover, Follow, Messages, Play Queue, and Devices.

With the Browse Feature, the options are limitless! When it is clicked, it brings you to a screen where the listener has the option to browse through music through genres, new releases, music-related news, featured playlists, and much more; if you find a playlist you like, you can even follow it! 

Under the Discover link, the user literally can discover new artists through personalized recommendations from music you listen to or from music artists/friends listen to that you follow on your account; it even shows when the artists you follow. In addition to discovering music, you can either “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” the songs you listen to tailor the discover page to your liking. Clicking on the Follow page shows suggestions on who to follow whether its Facebook friends or artists recently listened to.

The messages feature is a great tool; you can send songs to your friends and have a conversation with them about it! Under the Queue tab, it shows your recent history and the queue that is set up. Lastly, with the devices feature, Spotify can be used to sync your MP3s to your iPod and it can be used to sync your music from Spotify to an android or iPhone through a shared Wi-Fi connection with your computer.

Spotify also has a fantastic apps feature! It has three subfolders: App Finder, Top Lists, and Radio. App Finder shows all of the featured and top apps to download; yes, they are all completely free! The apps are all music related and range from the Billboard Top Charts to Song Lyric Catalogs and even Essential Classics. The Top Lists show what songs and albums are in the Top 100 in not only your country, but also the world.

Also, the Radio is set up similarly to Pandora. It builds a station off of an artist or song that you pick! With each song that pops up, you have the opportunity to thumbs up or thumbs down it to personalize the songs that will play next for you in sequence, whether its similar to a song you clicked “thumbs up” for or avoiding a type of song you clicked “thumbs down” for.

The Radio page even shows recommended stations based on the artists and songs you like; you can also listen to the radio for a certain genre you like, ranging from the 70s to Electronic to even Latin!

Furthermore, the Collection folder is broken up into three parts as well: Library, Local Files, and Starred. The Collection folder consists of music the listener owns and likes.  The Library is a compilation of all the music you starred, imported, bought, or added to a playlist. With the Local Files feature, you do not even need iTunes. Any music you own on your computer can be synced with your iPod, iPhone, or Android device.  Spotify allows you to have the possibility of saving space on your computer by combining the aspect of iTunes into their program!

Another cool feature of Spotify is the Starred Music Folder. When you discover a song that you like, you can “star” it and it will be placed into a Starred Playlist! This starred playlist is an easy way to keep track of songs you like listening to without deciding what specific playlist to place it into. 

Speaking of playlists, you can build your own playlists on Spotify! And if you have a Spotify premium account ($9.99 a month, no commitments), you can download these playlists on any device, even your laptop, to be played offline. Every Spotify user has the option of following playlists that they like, and anyone can follow your public playlists you create; yes, you can make private playlists (just in case you do not want any of your followers knowing that you secretly like One Direction or the Jonas Brothers or something else equally embarrassing :) ). When listening, you can put Spotify on shuffle or even repeat your favorite tunes. You can share these playlists, as well as songs you listen to, to your friends in messages or to your Facebook wall, if you connect your Spotify account to Facebook.

The people you follow show up on your activity feed and notifications.

Usually, notifications notify when a person follows you, or a playlist you made, or when an artist that you follow releases a new song or album. The activity feed that appears on the right hand side is all of the activity from the people you follow in one convenient place! It shows what your friends and artists you like had listened to. The feed also shows when someone shares, creates, or follows a new playlist; or even when a person you follow shares a track or album that they enjoyed! It even shows when artists/friends update their current playlists!

Searching for something has never been easier! Just begin typing a song’s, an album’s, or even a user or artist’s name and results will instantly pop up before you even type two letters! You have the option to show all results, click on the Top Hit of your search, choose a track, or click on a user.

So, it is true; Spotify is simple and free for everyone to use! It is accessible anytime and anywhere. With access to millions of songs for free, why say no? It is so fun to use and Spotify is easily the best, most efficient music application out there. As an added bonus, it is so easy to download and to get started on listening to your favorite tunes today!
It is as easy as
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