My Favourite Tipples from a citation specialist
Jinfo Blog

By Elise Barbeau

Abstract

My Favourite Tipples are shared by Elise Barbeau, the citation specialist at Chegg, an American technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Elise shares her favourite online tools that can help students make more accurate citations and improve their writing abilities.

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My job is dedicated to helping ensure that students get the best writing and citation help as quickly and efficiently as possible. Creating accurate citations and references is a huge pain point for our users, but there are so many great tools in the edtech space that can help.

Here are some of my favourite online sources that can assist students of all ages to manage their references and develop better writing skills: 

• EasyBib: This product is not simply a great reference generator, with thousands of citation styles on offer. It also supports an extension for Google Chrome, and includes a frequently asked questions section where users can instantly ask a citation expert questions about the world of references and research.

• Todoist: This application is a fantastic task manager for any aspect of life, but can really come in handy when writing a research paper. You can create a custom schedule for each day leading up to your paper's due date, with tasks such as "complete first draft" or "work on introduction".

• BibMe's Grammar and Plagiarism Checker: This tool does it all. Simply upload, or copy and paste, your paper, and it will check for grammar and spelling errors, flag potential instances of plagiarism, and prompt you to add proper references for your sources. What more does a student writer need?

• Citation Machine: This website breaks down the citation creation process into three simple steps directly on the homepage. It also includes a student blog, where articles related to university life and writing tips are readily available.

For fun:

• Goodreads: I'm an avid reader, and can never have enough books on my Kindle. Goodreads is the first place I go to hear about new releases and to read reviews from people who are into the same genres I am. The site also provides recommendations for you based on titles you have already read.

An article in Jinfo which I found particularly interesting:

• As a specialist, I really enjoyed the Jinfo Insights and Actions Report from the Research Focus "Source expertise - what it means in a Google world". In today's education space, it can be difficult to stress the importance of really analysing sources on their merit, as students are so used to clicking on the first search result that appears in a Google search. They seldom consider other ways to find resources, such as academic databases. It was interesting to read about how this issue takes shape in other industries as well.

Contribute your "My Favourite Tipples"

Would you like to share your "My Favourite Tipples" with the Jinfo audience? For contributor guidelines email catherine.dhanjal@jinfo.com or visit the Publish with Jinfo page.

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