Part 3: Your Toolbox of Bookmarks

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

If you're just jumping in, this is part 3 of 3 in a little (okay, BIG) college/productivity internet tools series I have painstakingly (haha, just kidding) put together. Last Friday, I was the featured guest blogger on my friend's site, Hey Stephanie! To make a long story short, I had more resources than I thought I did, so I decided to make it a mini series and continue with two additional posts back here. :) Part 2 went up Monday, and today is Part 3!

Here's the run-down...

Part 1: Social Media, College, and You

(Friday 9/12 Guest Post at Hey Stephanie!)

Search Smart
Notes & Documents
Project Planning
Questions & Answers
Ultimate Interactions
Cheap Textbooks

Part 2: Get Organized: Your Space, Your Time, Your Web

(9/15 on Crazy Miracle)

Your Space
Your Time
Your Web

Part 3: Your Toolbox of Bookmarks

(9/17 on Crazy Miracle)

Math
Internet Reference Sources
Study Help
Tools
Printer Fun
More Resources
Articles
Blogs to Subscribe to

So here they are... the random other tools that are helpful in so many ways! Along with Parts 1 and 2, these links should "fill in the blanks" to give you a personal toolbox you can use for projects, school, and most importantly, everyday life. You now have all you need to be the organized, smart-studying, non-time-wasting student/fab person/whatever you are ;-)

MATH

Mathway (this site is amazing!!)
.............And now for the calculators...
eCalc
Calcoolate
eTutor's Graphing Calculator
Instacalc

INTERNET REFERENCE SOURCES

Internet Public Library
Bartleby - several reference books, all a click away.

STUDY HELP

Study Guides
A freshman? A senior who never really worked on those study habits? Realizing it's time to grow up and you still can't manage that whole "time management" thing? It's okay - check out this site, a great resource for organization, prioritizing, and study skills. Group projects, presentations... this stuff comes up long past college, so I think a lot of people could benefit from this one. I will warn you, the site is a little boring and you might want to click back, but the info is totally legit - they share tips I've been using for the past 3 years and will continue to use through grad school. They also have great math and various English brush-up pages that have helped my friends, and if you do enjoy the articles (or need to know more), they suggest additional sites for further reading.

Cliffnotes & Sparknotes
Do I really need to explain this one?? Notes, tips, easy-peasy, the stuff that makes you wonder why your professor couldn't have said it that way the first time. I love how so much on here is free. They're trying to sell their books, but hey, maybe they're just nice people! I do want to mention that they have math, science, etc. - I know I was surprised to know that these companies reach far past things like Shakespeare. (Which I don't recommend taking in college, but hey... that's another story!)

Visit the site advertised all over your textbook! I think I forgot to mention this before, but most textbooks these days have a URL directing you to some sort of "Online Learning Center." They're always helpful, and depending on the subject, I've seen some completely packed with practice quizzes, outlines, games, virtual flashcards, and so much more.

TOOLS

Word Counter
PDF Hammer - add/delete/rearrange pages of a PDF, no software necessary!
You Convert It
That crazy professor of yours like to send documents in weird formats? This site to the rescue! On YouConvertIt, you can easily convert just about any type of picture, video, document, audio file, or archive into any other format. Bonus: save any YouTube (or Google Video) to your computer, send a big file to a friend without jamming their inbox, or take "Convert" to the most literal level and click over to find the most sophisticated conversion tool I've ever seen. How many ounces are in a gallon? Simple. In nursing school like me? There's a "Flow rate" category. Science nerd? Electricity, light years, and all kinds of words I've honestly never seen in my life.

MindMeister - Need to do some brainstorming or mind-mapping? This is the place! Check out the interactive demo on the homepage.
GPA Calculator

PRINTER FUN

Paper Rulers
Free Graph Paper (and more! Graph, notebook, accounting, musical, dots, engineering... you name it!)
Pocket-Mod (my favorite! Indispensable for nursing students doing clinical rotations! Great for many other uses and seriously fun to make! Watch the video to make it easier.)

MORE RESOURCES

Librarian Chick
The side of her page clearly says she supports "Free Educational Resources," and she's not kidding. Among other features, her site boasts nearly 30 topics, each with a clearly organized list of legitimate, free places around the internet to help with all kinds of learning, researching, organizing, and project creation. Some of the topics are actual subjects as well, so no matter your major, you're sure to find valuable learning resources too! Thi s isn't a quick-visit site. If you really want to utilize the best that the internet has to offer, you can definitely spend awhile checking out all the links here.
Style Guides (MLA/APA)

ARTICLES

BLOGS TO SUBSCRIBE TO

Study Skills
Student Hacks
Hack College
Crazy Miracle (because I have tons more I'm excited to share!)

_._._._

Whew! There you have it. That's my college toolbox in a nutshell. How about you? I hope you find some of these resources really useful. All it takes is one person to show you something that can make your life a lot easier, and my wish is that I have been able to show you a thing or two to do just that! :)

*Have a fabulous semester!*

and BE SAFE online!

Addendum: I'd like to add to Part 1 an article I forgot to mention, Getting your textbooks for free on HackCollege.

Apology: Also in Part 1, I miscited a fabulous Ning social group for nurses. NursesConnect is now CampusRN2RN. The site can be accessed at http://www.campusrn2rn.com/ .