A Super Citation Tool

If academia had a scarlet letter, it would be P.  Those who dare to claim somebody else’s work as their own or even leave sources uncited would be branded with a gasp-inducing red P.  If you haven’t guessed it, I’m talking about plagiarism.  All kidding aside, people have lost jobs, students have been expelled, and publications have lost credibility because of plagiarism.

In my day, we had to pore over citation manuals or just memorize how to cite common sources in the most popular styles to write our research papers and works cited pages.  Only for the styles to change the next year!  Now, there are a few tools out there that will do all this work for you…and do it flawlessly.  The tool I’m going to focus on is one I think does it the best and offers additional useful features.

If you’ve heard of or used RefME before, then you should know that it has changed its name and all its services to Cite This for Me.  You can create your free account on its website.  The first neat thing about Cite This for Me is that all your references, citations, work cited pages, and notes are stored in the cloud, so you can access them from any computer, tablet, or smartphone once you sign in to your account.

Cite This for Me has a great Google Chrome extension that allows you to cite, quote, and save any reference you access online through Chrome to your account.  You can get this extension by clicking here.  Once you have the citation information, click “Add to bibliography”, and you’re done.  Here’s what that looks like:

Cite This for Me can do citations in MLA, APA, Chicago, and Harvard styles.  You can see all of its features for creating a works cited page below:

Cite This for Me provides many other great features, such as topic ideas, a plagiarism checker, and a spelling/grammar checker.  Also, it has an add-on for Microsoft Word, so you can seamlessly import citations and works cited pages from Cite This for Me directly into Word.

Now, you can go forth and live an academically sinless life!

Google Chrome Tips and Tricks

Google provides many time-saving and effective services and apps to help us get our work done faster and better.  Its browser, Chrome, is one of those tools.  Here are five neat things you can do in Chrome to make a teacher's or student's life a little easier.

1.  Set Specific Websites to Open at Startup

If there are particular websites that you always use or want right away when you open Chrome, you can make them load automatically at startup.  Click the traffic light menu button (three vertical dots) on the upper right side of Chrome.  Click Settings.  Then, configure how Chrome starts up.  Click the blue "Set pages" to choose the websites you want.

2.  Do Math

Chrome can solve simple and complex math problems, equations, and measurement conversions.  Just type in what you want solved into the ominbox (the white box where you enter website addresses), and hit enter.  You can also click on the microphone icon in the Google Search bar to do this by voice.  Here's an example:

3.  Save Webpages as a PDF

If you want to save a webpage as a PDF so you can save it electronically to your computer or flash drive, Chrome can do that.  Click Print, and then click Change under Destination.  Finally, choose Save as PDF.  This will save a PDF copy to your computer.  Now, you can keep the webpage for offline viewing, print it, or share it with others.

4.  Zoom and Full Screen

There are two ways you can quickly and easily zoom in and out of any website.  First, press the Ctrl key and the plus (zoom in) or minus (zoom out) sign key at the same time.  Second, click the traffic light menu button (three vertical dots) on the upper right side of Chrome.  You'll see the following options for zoom in, zoom out, and full screen (the box):

5.  Open Recently Closed Tabs

Sometimes you may close a tab that you want to have back.  An easy way to do that is to press Ctrl, Shift, T at the same time, which will open the last tab you closed.  You can also right-click on a new tab to open the last closed tab.

These five tips and tricks will help you and your students be more efficient and productive while doing work with Google Chrome.

An Extension to Extend Vocabulary

Learning and understanding words are essential life skills that help both children and adults.  In the past, if we came across words we didn't understand, we had to interrupt our reading flow by finding a dictionary, looking up the word, reading the definition, figuring out how to pronounce it, checking synonyms to gain context, and then go back to whatever we were reading.  Now, there is a tool that doesn't interrupt reading flow and provides comprehensive information about a word instantaneously.

Meet the Google Dictionary Chrome Extension.  Once it is installed, if you double-click on any word while browsing in Chrome, a bubble appears above the word with its definition and an audio file with its proper pronunciation.  If you click the "More" link in that bubble, a new tab in Chrome opens with more information about the word, including part of speech, other forms, alternate definitions, and more.

Finally, you can store words to your own personal dictionary to study later by clicking the Google Dictionary extension icon (a red book) in the upper right of Chrome.  Click "Options", and then check the box next to "Store words I look up, including definitions."  You can return to this "Options" screen to download a history of your stored words.  This is an effective tool to help both children and adults learn and understand any word they come across in Chrome as it makes almost anything they read accessible.  Here's how to install it in Chrome:

1.  Open Chrome and click this link.
2.  Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3.  The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!

Now, you'll be able to understand this sentence:  In a few days, I can't wait to be absolutely farctate!  Thank goodness for Thanksgiving!

   

Safe and Secure

We should have a unique, strong, and different password for all our accounts, especially for our computers since they are the gateway to many other accounts.  A strong password should be at least twelve characters with a mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols.  Here are two effective ways to create strong, unique, and memorable passwords:

1.  Choose three characters in each of the following four groups:  symbol, uppercase letter, lowercase letter, and number.  For example, %>}QCPzbw762.  Now, you really only have to remember four sets.  Also, the letters and numbers could have special meaning to you to make them easier to remember.

2.  Choose a phrase or sentence with nine words.  For example, the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.  Abbreviate it to the following with alternating uppercase and lowercase letters:  TqBfJoTld.  Finally, include two numbers and one symbol or one number and two symbols to get the final password:  TqBfJoTlD#&3.

Check out this great article for other ways to create a strong and secure password.

Downloading or installing something on your computer can put your electronic safety at risk.  Here are three fundamental ways to prevent yourself from downloading or installing something malicious on your computer, which could also end up damaging the entire network it is on.  First, never open an email or an email attachment from a sender you don't recognize or trust.  Just delete it.  Second, never download or install anything from a suspicious website.  If something just doesn't seem right about it, don't do it.  Third, always check to see if the website is running a secure protocol.  Look for this in the URL bar:

 

The "s" in "https" means it is secure.  If the "s" isn't there, don't download!  To automatically make every website you visit use HTTPS, install the HTTPS Everywhere Chrome Extension.  It's simply one more action you can take to keep yourself safe on the Internet.  To learn more about https, what it does, and how it works, click here.

Finally, although your password may be strong, once you're logged in to your computer, anyone can walk up to it and do anything they wish.  Here's a quick and easy way to secure your computer whenever you need to step away from it, so that it's not open for anyone to use.

If you need to leave your computer, press the Windows key (looks like a four-pane window next to the Alt key) and the L key at the same time.  This will lock your computer and require your password to unlock it.  To unlock it, press Ctrl, Alt, and Del at the same time as you normally would to log in, and then enter your password.

Now, when you have to step away from your computer, it will be protected against intrusion or just pranksters who, in the spirit of Halloween, want to change your background to this:

  

A Little Saving Goes a Long Way

In the spirit of saving resources, I'll keep this post short.  Here is a great way to save toner and paper while making what we print easier to read.

Meet the Print Friendly Chrome Extension.  This extension lets you modify things you want to print from the Internet in order to reduce toner and paper.  You can use this extension to easily delete text, images, whole pages, or other things you don't want on the printed copy.  Watch this brief tutorial on Print Friendly:

Once it is installed, you can go to a webpage (or almost anything you want to print from the Internet), and then click the green Print Friendly icon in the upper right of Chrome.  A window will appear in which you will remove things that you don't want printed.  All you have to do is click on what you want to remove and then delete it.  You can also save this as a PDF once you're done editing it.  Here's how to install it in Chrome:

1.  Open Chrome and click this link.
2.  Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3.  The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!

This is a must-have tool to save toner and paper while increasing the readability of what you print.  And it helps you save a tree!

Put It in (Google) Drive

This Tech Tip is about saving what you find on the Internet to your Google Drive. First, for those that would like tutorials about using Google Drive, please click here.

Bookmarking websites and other web content is a great way to keep and organize helpful information.  Yet, what do you do when you come across documents, PDFs, images, spreadsheets, or slideshows that you want to keep and possibly modify for your own use?  You can often find these files on the Internet, and here is an easy way that you can store them in your Google Drive, so you can always have them at your fingertips.

Meet the Save to Google Drive Chrome Extension.  With this extension installed, you can save documents, images, and videos to your Google Drive with just a couple clicks.  Then, when you go to your Google Drive, what you saved will be right there.  For example, if you find a PDF on a website that you want to keep, you can right-click on the file, and an option to “Save to Google Drive” will appear.  Click on that, and that PDF will now be in your Google Drive.  Right-clicking on what you want to save is probably the easiest way to use this extension.  Here’s how to install it in Chrome:

1. Open Chrome and click this link.
2. Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.
3. The extension will install, and you'll be good to go!

Now, you can kick your online saving into overdrive with Save to Google Drive!

Subtract the Ads

Welcome to my blog!  Here you will find helpful information about Google, Chromebooks, iPads, Promethean and SMART boards, and many other education technology tools.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions or need any help with them.  Here's the first one - and some may already know about this.

First, if you haven’t made Chrome your default browser, you should because it will make using Google for Education applications and other Chrome products much better.  If you haven’t installed Chrome, please click here to download and install it.  Once it’s installed, here’s how to make Chrome your default browser:

1.  Open Chrome.
2.  Click on the three vertical dots in the upper right (Chrome menu).
3.  Click Settings.
4.  Under the “Default browser” section, click “Make Google Chrome the default browser” button.

For my first post, I thought it would be a good idea that it be something everyone, staff and students, can use.  It is the AdBlock Chrome Extension.  AdBlock helps to protect privacy, improve Chrome browser performance, increase webpage loading speed, and clear away distracting (and sometimes inappropriate) ads across the Internet.  Also, it removes ads in YouTube videos.  Finally, it's free!  Here's how to install it in Chrome:

1.  Open Chrome and click this link.

2.  Click the blue "Add to Chrome" button in the upper right.

3.  The extension will install.

4.  The extension icon will appear in the upper right of Chrome as a red stop sign with a hand in the center.

5.  Click that icon and click Options.  Uncheck the box that reads "Allow some non-intrusive advertising".

6.  Close and restart Chrome, and you'll be good to go.

Enjoy the wonderful world of zero ads! It's a true addition by subtraction!