My Maps: New in Google Drive

Google has just launched My Maps, a new way to connect content to the visual medium of Maps.

There are lots of possibilities (I already have one brewing...) as you can label areas and create your own directions for field trips, away games and lots more. Check out the launch page for some tips on how to get started!

If your Drive has not been updated, you can access the site here. Happy Mapping!

Workflow: Final Paper and Presentation

Writing a final paper for my graduate course this semester, I thought it might be nice to share some insight into the technology used and the workflow used to complete the assignment. As always - questions and comments are encouraged!

The Technology

• 13" MacBook Pro (running OS X 10.10)
• iPad Mini (running iOS 8)
• iPhone 6 (running iOS 8)
• Hearthstone (just one...more...game. Then I'll get back checking that APA format...)
• Breville One-Touch Tea Maker (one cannot study without a nice warm cup of tea)

App	Use	Platform
Evernote	Notes, Reminders	OS X, iOS, Web
Skitch	PDF Markup	OS X, iOS
Pages	Writing the Paper	OS X, iOS, Web
Numbers	Tracking Mentions within PDFs	OS X, iOS
Keynote	Presentation	OS X, iOS
RefMe	Bibliography	iOS, Web

Reference Sites Utilized:

• Purdue OWL (APA formatting)
• ERIC (Article Research)
• Google Scholar (Article Research)

Check List by Sabine Wollender from the Noun Project

The Workflow

1. Choose topic and review with faculty member.
2. Create notes in Evernote that chart Final Paper/Presentation progress
3. Research topic via ERIC and Google Scholar
4. Save URLs into Evernote
5. Create a spreadsheet charting key words and terms within the research papers in Numbers
6. Open URLs and save PDF articles into Evernote
7. Markup PDFs via Evernote and Skitch for iPad
8. Write research paper in Pages
9. Check against Purdue OWL APA formatting standards
10. Use the abstract of the paper to outline a 15m presentation in Keynote

The New York Times. For Free.

How great would it be if you could access the New York Times for free? Thanks to the awesome Hatch Library staff, you can! (Note: This is for current faculty, staff and students only!)

Please visit the Reference Guides site for all the information you need to get started!

App Discovery: Rachel Alter

Title: Librarian

About Me: Reference and Instruction Services 

App 1: Doc Scan has been a great help to students here in the library when the printer/scanner is down. It scans to PDFs, doing the same thing the big scanner does, and eliminating the step of emailing the scan to yourself.

App 2: Overdrive, which can be used with an eCard at the Boston Public Library, for downloading audiobook titles from their huge collection, and then listening to them on your commute.

Referencing Made Easy

For those of us who do a lot of research and paper writing (but maybe don't love it...) I've found the following apps that may come in handy. I'm going to work with both of them this semester, and thought you may find them interesting:

RefMe  - Create references for multiple types of media and export to popular formats like APA and MLA. Web-based, with apps for iOS and Android. Free.

Video Overview of RefMe

Papers - Search for and create references via academic journals and Google Scholar. Supports in-app annotations. Can sync with iOS, Mac, Windows and Web. $79 desktop and $9.99 iOS. Papers is very loaded with content, hence the hefty price tag.

Happy Referencing!