End of semester clean-up

The semester is winding down.  Before you pile everything up and forget about it for the break, here are a few things to clean up now (while you still remember what it all is). Get rid of drafts -  Keep the final version of all your papers and projects, at least until your grades are posted, but delete and/or throw out any drafts you may have laying around.  They add no value and clutter up your hard drive and your...

Tips to make your finals/papers just a bit better

It’s the end of the term, and the difference between a B+ and an A- (or a D+ and a C- for that matter) is often the little things. Here are a few things to do or check that will make help you over that hump. Please note: None of these tips will make up for a failure to know your content. If you are taking British history but think of General Lee instead of Oliver Cromwell when the Civil War is mentioned, you have a...

Creating impressive class presentations

From grade school though grad school you will be doing presentations at least once a semester. Often these fall toward the end of the term and are your largest project. It is important to make them clear, concise, and memorable. So here are a wide range of tips, tricks, and guidelines to use. To Powerpoint or not to Powerpoint. That is the question…. The answer depends on the nature of your presentation. In an...

Fully Licensed Snag-it for Free

Snag-it is an extremely useful piece of software that captures sections of a screen, scrolling windows, menu items, etc. and allows you to fiddle with the images, including call outs, effects etc.  I use it all the time, particularly for putting together presentations.  If you can find it somewhere and show it on your screen, you can capture it and use it easily and elegantly. GTDWannabe posted about it today.  You can get...

5 reasons to get a public library card. Really.

If you haven’t visited your library’s website lately, you probably should. The resources might surprise you. They certainly surprised me. I discovered this weekend that my local libraries (both county AND city) allow you to download audiobooks. I love audiobooks; it’s the only way I get to “read” fiction anymore. So I went to both libraries and got library cards. In the process I discovered...