bts 3 – apps, programs and extensions hello everyone! this third episode on my 2017 back to schoolseries will cover a vast array of web browser extensions, apps and programs to help youout during the school year. all of the items on this list are free todownload and are mostly compatible between windows and macos so you can start downloadingand using them right away. for school advice and tips follow me on instagramand tumblr where i post regularly. also, don’t forget to subscribe and clickthe bell button to get notified for all my back to school videos coming up this summer.
i will post twice a week until the mid ofseptember so you can kickstart your school year fully prepared. for a full schedule just check the descriptionbox below in case you are curious about a specific topic. grammarly is an extension for your web browserthat corrects your writing across all websites. it is especially useful for writing emails,essay writing and note taking, since it automatically generates suggestions in terms of grammar,vocabulary and structure so you achieve the most perfect text. the extension in itself is very discrete – inmost text boxes online you will find a green
arrow; that arrow will turn red if it detecteda mistake in your writing. you can also use grammarly’s own text editorfor a better layout and access to a better vocabulary enhancement and plagiarism filterin case you upgrade to premium. notebook is also an extension and it letsyou organize information from multiple sources into neat looking digital notebooks for quickaccess and reference. you can basically clip all bits of text, imagesand hyperlinks from the internet in a condensed format that is really useful for research. it mostly uses a click and drag method tostore information. after you’ve done all your research, youcan access the built in program in your laptop
to view your notebooks and all of the researchalready made. since you can create multiple notebooks, thegreat thing about this extension is that it organizes the clips according to the notebookyou are assigning them to, making it easier to research for multiple projects. on the same page, we have pocket, a reallysimilar app for storing information you find across the internet. it comes as an extension for your browseras well, and you can access your library across all of your devices with the same account. between pocket and notebook, i think pocketis better for saving articles and larger pieces
of information since the browser extensionsaves entire webpages in a clean format for future reference. you can organize your clips by tag, favouritethem and archive them when you’ve read them. wolframalpha is an engine and website to answerall of your questions regarding maths, physics, arts, literature and so on. it gives the most scientific and structuredanswer possible to your questions, covering a vast array of solution topics for a thoroughanalysis of the subject. it’s great in order to solve equations stepby step, plotting graphics, algebra and so on.
on the other hand, it’s also a powerfulresearch tool for subjects like anatomy, history, you name it. if you want a summarized version of wikipedia,this is the way to go. for group work, slack is a great app and websiteto create teams, communicate easily and share files. you can disscuss a project in an open channel,sharing information regarding your work and assignements. it also integrates other multiple apps soyou only get notified through slack for any updates – this means that you can connectyour hangouts, twitter, icloud, google drive
and dropbox accounts for an easier way tocondense everything regarding your project in one place. for people who get easily distracted on thecomputer, selfcontrol is a really useful program for blocking websites for a period of time. you can create a blacklist of whitelist forwebsites like facebook, instagram and youtube and the program blocks your access to thosepages, stopping you from procrastinating. for mindmapping there are tons of programsout there. xmind is one of the most popular and althoughthe full versions is paid, you can get a lighter version for free, having access to mindmapcreating tools.
other features are business charts, brainstormingand presentation slides. you can also use clip art to decorate yourmindmaps and using symbols to signal different topics or pieces of information. these mindmaps are exportable so you can savethem as pdf files for easy printing or send them to evernote in case you take your notesover there and want to complete them with charts. for research based work, it’s also veryimportant to use a plagiarism checker when using external resources, namely from websites. websites like quetext check any text you inputand search for websites and files stored on
the internet, sourcing the materials and orpages where the text matches. the website is really quick when analysingthese resources so it’s always a great idea to make sure you are not including someoneelse’s work in your own assignments. for macos users, magnet is an awesome programto mimic windows ability to quickly resize windows for comparison purposes. you just need to click and drag the windowto the corner of the screen and magnet automatically resizes it. although this program is paid, it just costs1 euro at the app store and i think it’s money well paid for a productivity boost whenyou are working with multiple documents.
for people who love to watch online courses,academic earth is a great website that features tons of playlists from well known universitieslike harvard, yale and oxford. from law to history and physics, there’sa vast array of subjects to explore, and all the lessons are free to watch. for inspiration, momentum is a great extensionas well. you can chose a “focus†for the day tobe always reminded of the main task you have ahead, just by opening your browser. momentum greets you each time you open yourbrowser and each day features new hd images to get you motivated.
it also includes a to-do list feature thatyou can access at the bottom of the page and cross out your to-dos as the day goes by. to control your productivity time, installinga simple timer on your computer is a great idea. here i am using be focused for mac but thereare tons of almost identical options for windows as well. i recommend you to set your timer for 25 minutes,according to the pomodoro technique, and work for that time, making five minute pauses inbetween. so that’s all for today’s video!
i hope you’ve enjoyed all the websites andprograms i’ve just showed you. if you are curious about word processors andwant to chose the best for you, just check the video i’ve uploaded right now for asummarized comparison between different software options. don’t forget to subscribe and i will seeyou next week. bye!