Sometimes writing a bibliography with all the formatting rules is not an easy task. There are some links to help you get it done right.
1. OttoBib. This handy little browser app takes the ISBN [International Standard Book Numbers] of the books you want to reference and changes that into one of three formats, MLA, APA, or Chicago/Turabian. That’s it, instant references.
OttoBib accepts both ISBN-10 and ISBN-13, and will also spit out a permalink of the results so you don’t have to enter the numbers again.
2. EasyBib.com is a little better at times - you might have to input more, but it handles the formatting better. And allows you to include all your non-book sources like periodicals and web sources.
If you know any other good bibliography generator sites you want to share, let me know by posting a comment.
Labels: education, Make it Simple, references
In addition to previous post, I publish here my search engines for Safari. Hope, you'll find it useful.

Wikipedia
Google Blog Search
Ask.com
Answers.com
Yahoo! Answers
Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us Tags
Flickr
YouTube
Brands of the World
Gigposters
Amazon.com
Dictionary.com
Adobe
London Review of Books
Yahoo! Quotations
PicSearch
Photobucket
Picasa Albums
Yandex
ctrl+click -> Copy link -> paste in your search engine
Labels: education, Make it Simple, software
From: http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/?p=195
The most important thing you need for studying sucessfully at college: an alarm clock. I am serious about this. I have worked both as a teacher and as a residence director for many years with college students and I would say the number one indicator of a students ability to succeed is not SAT scores or GPA, but an ability to manage time. To this end getting on a regular sleep schedule is hugely important. Monday-Friday get up at the same time everyday. Find an alarm clock that allows you to set two alarms, have one for Monday-Friday and don’t change it (even if your classes start at different times throughout the week always get up at the same time). The other can be for the weekends or naps, this way you don’t accidently set your alarm wrong sleep in and miss class. And put it on the other side of the room, you don’t want to be able to reach your alarm clock from your bed; too easy to fall back asleep. Same theme as above, different item: A calendar, dayplanner, or task manager. There are lots of ways to go about getting this done, paper and pen vs. digital. It doesn’t really matter at this point, but find a system and start using it. College will quickly get overwhelming with all the assignments, social activities etc. You need a way to stay on top of this and manage your time long term not just day to day. A brightly colored folder, one that is a different color than all of your others. Put your syllabi in here, only your syllabi, and always put them in this folder. That way you know where to find them and can keep track of them easily. Even better is to collect digital copies (most professors will email them to you if you ask) and put them all toghether in a folder on your computer. The student who keeps track of the syllabus usually stays on top of the class. (I know a prof. who has as an assignment the first week for students to bring to class the following week their syllabus-the one he just gave out. That’s it just bring the syllabus to class. You wouldn’t believe how many people fail this assignment.) A flash drive. Double the need for this if you are going to college without your own computer. If you are going to be required to use public computers you can carry around your own browser with bookmarks, your own word processor, and save all of your work on here. Even if you have your own computer this makes it easy to carry around your work, print it out, transfer it to a friend. These have gotten really inexpensive, 256mb should be fine unless you plan on majoring in something that will require image files. RSS Reader: Probably the most important development in the technology of information, RSS has so many uses. Get yourself a reader. If you have a computer there are several free verisions depending on what type of computer you have (RSSowl, Blogbridge, NetNewsWireLite, Flock), if you don’t have your own computer google and yahoo both offer versions of this. Than sign up for a few websites/blogs that have to do with your class. If you are taking a class on British Politics, sign up for the BBC, and The Guardian. Now everyday you can learn a bit more, and when it comes to class you prof. will think your the smartest one. You can also sign up to get the feed from bloggers who are in the “discipline” you are studying, as they tend to “talk shop” on their blogs, and this would be a quick and easy way to gain knowledge and perspective in the field. RSS simply one of the fastest ways to gather information. Note Taking System: Here again you can go high tech with programs such as (in no particular order) Mori, Voodoo Pad, FreeMind, Zulupad or you could get an outling program, or the all powerful Devon Think or the other end—low tech with paper and pen. They key is to stay on top of this and keep organized about it. As I tell my students the issue is not that I expect you to save your notes so eight years from now when you are working as a civil engineer you say to yourself, “What was it that Dave said about Imperalism and Pride and Prejudcie, I think I’ll go look it up. Instead these notes will be helpful when you work on your papers or study for exams, but more importantly when you take notes you remember what you heard, think of it as active listening. Post-it Notes:No not the big ones so you can leave notes everywhere. But the tiny ones that can be used as tabs to mark places in books. When you are studying, particularly a book you can’t mark up this is a great way to mark a passage. When I go somewhere to read I take these with, and mark the quotes that I later want to write into Devon, that way I don’t have to take my computer reading with me. Use them to mark key passages in textbooks for quick reference, to create tabs in paper notes . . .or whatever they are cheap an insanely useful.
Labels: education, Make it Simple, references
Google has a very useful service for those of you who try to save their phone bill (who try to do the data trasfered a lot less) . And primarily designed for browsing websites on cellphones, it will also be of great use for those using laptops but with a very slow connection (e.g. standard GSM data connections).
The ultra-minimalist Google site acts as a proxy that strips out all the fancy stuff and reduces the chosen website to either pure text, or text & images. Give it a try - you’ll find it here or see how this site looks in text & images form here.
Labels: Make it Simple
Actions are one of the most powerful and time-saving features of Adobe Photoshop.
Everyone has their own favourites, but if you are looking to find some additional ones, here’s a couple places hosting downloadable actions:
Adobe Photoshop Exchange
PhotoshopSupport
ActionCentral
About.com
Action FX
The Light’s Right Studio
Fred Miranda
If you know of any other good sites or actions you find useful, please leave a comment.
GREAT LINKS ACROSS THE WEB is a new blog feature where I will post links to useful sites.
Labels: design, Make it Simple, photography, references, software
