So... Full Disclosure... I'm writing this in June and probably won't post till August lol... but now that I'm done with college, I thought that I would share some of my favorite apps for the Ipad. These all got me through college. I used them a lot... or a little at least lol. I'll break it down into different categories and explain the specific apps and why I like them.
College Specific/ Research Papers
Rutgers App- Now I'm just using the Rutgers app as an example because I went to Rutgers, I have the app on my phone... I'm sure pretty much every college has their own app. The two features I used most on these were the features for the online classes and especially the bus schedule. I only commuted to school during my last semester, and I went to a smaller Rutgers campus that just got a bus service this year... so this was good timing for the app and it ended up being super useful. I also took 2 online classes this semester and both of the sites that they ran them through were featured on this app. So I couldn't quite do all of my homework from this app alone... but I could read for my history class while I was on the train for my other classes and do notes for that. Its really easy... just check out your school in the App store and see if they have anything. I think Blackboard was available also for Rutgers... which is something I used for most of my semesters, so that would have been very helpful for most of when I was there... but of corse it wasn't relevant then. I think you could check your RU Email there... but I never did, I just connected it to Gmail.
And the Bus Schedule also helped a lot too. It was sometimes a little inaccurate... but for the most part, it knew when the bus would be there and when you should wait at the stop for it.
JSTOR- I'm not sure if this is a website that all campuses use... but there is probably something like it. This is for writing research papers. Basically if there is a topic that you're looking for, just search what you're researching and it will give you scholarly sources that you can use for quotes. Lets say your research paper was about Ancient Greek Substantive Law... Idk what that means... but thats what I have typed in here and I remember I pretty much just started this paper at 10pm the night before and then finished like right before class which was at like 10am in the morning... so I was up like 12 hours doing this... it was crazy. I rewarded myself after by going to the mall and getting Gloria Jeans and then my friends texted me "hey do you want to go to New York tonight' and I was like "okay." So I was up for forever that day and it was crazy. Lol.
But yeah, I looked it up, I found an article that was interesting and that I could understand and write about and I did it. There are lots of great articles with JStor and... its just wayyy easier than trying to find things out at the library or whatever. I don't even remember what I used for research papers before JStor... I guess just the school library... which didn't have as many good and interesting articles as JStor... so it does make it a lot easier.
And I like the App a little better than the actual website because once you find an article that you like, you can download it straight to ibooks for free.
Again, I'm not sure if every campus uses JStor specifically for their research paper things. I know Rutgers does for sure... if you are having trouble finding something, ask your professor if you have JStor or if you have anything like that where you can get articles... your teacher will likely know what you're talking about. I had a Professor that didn't text, didn't use email... if she needed to contact us she would ask for our cell phone numbers and call us... and she knew about JStor and told us about it. So even if you aren't allowed Ipads in class and your professor doesn't use many online sources... they likely know about JStor or other similar websites... so definitely find out and look up if they have an app that would be useful.
IBooks- This is pretty basic... but IBooks makes everything easy and free. I probably saved a lot of money on text books because of my ipad. Lol. I was an English Major, so a lot of my classes were Shakespeare, Chaucer... books of the 19th century... plays and just a lot of older books that you can get for free with Ibooks. You may not be able to use Ibooks for the exams... you probably won't... but you can read, take notes... idk. I've used Ibooks for books and hadn't had the physical text on the Midterm and I've still passed the classes with like an A or B... so if this idiot can do it you can too! Lol.
Its also useful because if your professor does powerpoints or something, you can just download them to ibooks. If they have required reading not from a text book but from like an online article that they posted online? Just download it to Ibooks... It just really made everything a lot easier... don't know what I would have done if Ipads weren't invented before I went to college lol. They were literally just invented when I went to college... so that is fortunate!
Also idk how these things work on other e-readers and tablets... I know that the free books are public domain so they should still be free on a Kindle or whatever. I don't know if like the Windows tablets or whatever else has an ereader with it... I wouldn't recommend getting a Surface or Window Tablet if you want to keep it 100... lol. But that's none of my business now is it. (kermit voice.)
Note Taking
Penultimate- This is kind of a weird note taking app... but I found it really useful for college. This is an app where you can take notes... but your hand is the pen. I think they upgraded it so that you could use a stylus too... but if you can kind of read your handwriting when its a little sloppy... this is kind of like that. And once you learn how to control it... its good.
This was useful to me because 1st off... its cheaper than the Pages App. This was like .99 at the time... Idk if it changed or if thats even what it was... but it was significantly cheaper than the pages app. I kind of hate bringing a lot of different notebooks to different classes... it just doesn't work all that well for me... it makes it easier to just have it all in one place. Sometimes I felt like I learned things better when I actually wrote it down instead of just typing it on Pages... and also if you wanted to copy a drawing or if you have like a math class or something, this is really easy. You can erase it and its just nicer to use than a pencil in my opinion. This is kind of an underrated app gem. I heard some people in some of my classes making fun of me for using it... but to be honest it worked and I didn't really care. It might not have been "making fun" of me but they just said its hard to use... I'm a writer. I like to handwrite things sometimes... and I just found this useful because it combines handwriting with using a computer and note-taking.
Pages-
This is useful too. Although its screwed me over a few times lol. I remember some paper I was writing for my class about The Wire... it didn't save. And whenever I was using just this for writing papers... it didn't work all that well... so this is more of a note taking thing.
This is good for note taking and to just kind of keep your papers on if you don't want to write them from this app just because it again, keeps it all in one place. Plus you can organize folders based on what classes you are using to take the notes in. You can print out anything you need to. Its just good for that.
Momento- This is a weird app... I kind of only used it freshman year. Its good because you can schedule things on it, but you can also write down different things throughout the day. Its kind of like a diary thing... I used it Sophomore year... not freshman actually lol... Just to brainstorm. If you need to kind of think of what a book is about and you want to brainstorm about it... I found this app useful for doing that. That sentence was terrible lol. But the way that the app was formed it its kind of like theres no pressure to writing something completely ridiculous and funny that will really help you remember what something is about.
I used it before taking a written exam about Sir Gawin and The Green Night and what I wrote was just a basic summary of what happened... but I made it funny, I used modern language which I think helped A WHOLE LOT and it just worked. Sometimes you just kind of need to take a little bit to tell the story how you would tell the story, just to understand the language and things like that. I probably only used it once for an academic thing... and mostly as a diary... but it was quite useful for what it was.
Celtx- Thought I'd randomly throw this in here. If you're in a Screenwriting class, this is useful. For some reason the Celtx website didn't work well on my computer and I didn't think I could actually get it for free... idk if I can fully recommend this because my professor could tell that it wasn't the professional Celtx version from the website... but I think you can adjust the margins and spacing better to make it actually resemble the online version.
And if you just like screenwriting, its useful to just have cause it'll save everything with the cloud and stuff... so if you want to keep it there before switching to Final Draft or something... that would be good.
Reminders- I set so many reminders and made so many lists in college that I need to mention this! Lol.
Fun
hulu- I don't want to list every obvious fun app. Obviously Netflix and Hulu... but I like the layout of Hulu for the ipad a lot. I could watch Hulu on my Tv in the living room, which has a very big screen... but the layout isn't as easy to use as the app... so I really like the app for that reason. The Youtube App has a nice layout too. The Netflix Layout is fine too... but not the easiest. The Hulu and Youtube apps are almost easier on apps than they are otherwise.
All In One Solitaire- This is like a .99 cents app that is just fun. Its not the easiest of solitaire games... but it gives a lot of different options in case you get bored with the same type of solitaire. Its good for taking a break! Lol.
Spotify- Fun music app. I like listening to Cds here before investing in them. Lol. I don't think I used the app in college cause I think you could only use it if you had spotify premium... but this is good. I'm not a huge fan of the randomness of Pandora Radio. I kind of like making my own playlists with the songs I like.
HBO GO- GOT ALL DAY ERRRY DAY! Lol. I don't actually watch GOT that much... but it helps.
Byee! Hope this was helpful!
-Shannon
College Specific/ Research Papers
Rutgers App- Now I'm just using the Rutgers app as an example because I went to Rutgers, I have the app on my phone... I'm sure pretty much every college has their own app. The two features I used most on these were the features for the online classes and especially the bus schedule. I only commuted to school during my last semester, and I went to a smaller Rutgers campus that just got a bus service this year... so this was good timing for the app and it ended up being super useful. I also took 2 online classes this semester and both of the sites that they ran them through were featured on this app. So I couldn't quite do all of my homework from this app alone... but I could read for my history class while I was on the train for my other classes and do notes for that. Its really easy... just check out your school in the App store and see if they have anything. I think Blackboard was available also for Rutgers... which is something I used for most of my semesters, so that would have been very helpful for most of when I was there... but of corse it wasn't relevant then. I think you could check your RU Email there... but I never did, I just connected it to Gmail.
And the Bus Schedule also helped a lot too. It was sometimes a little inaccurate... but for the most part, it knew when the bus would be there and when you should wait at the stop for it.
JSTOR- I'm not sure if this is a website that all campuses use... but there is probably something like it. This is for writing research papers. Basically if there is a topic that you're looking for, just search what you're researching and it will give you scholarly sources that you can use for quotes. Lets say your research paper was about Ancient Greek Substantive Law... Idk what that means... but thats what I have typed in here and I remember I pretty much just started this paper at 10pm the night before and then finished like right before class which was at like 10am in the morning... so I was up like 12 hours doing this... it was crazy. I rewarded myself after by going to the mall and getting Gloria Jeans and then my friends texted me "hey do you want to go to New York tonight' and I was like "okay." So I was up for forever that day and it was crazy. Lol.
But yeah, I looked it up, I found an article that was interesting and that I could understand and write about and I did it. There are lots of great articles with JStor and... its just wayyy easier than trying to find things out at the library or whatever. I don't even remember what I used for research papers before JStor... I guess just the school library... which didn't have as many good and interesting articles as JStor... so it does make it a lot easier.
And I like the App a little better than the actual website because once you find an article that you like, you can download it straight to ibooks for free.
Again, I'm not sure if every campus uses JStor specifically for their research paper things. I know Rutgers does for sure... if you are having trouble finding something, ask your professor if you have JStor or if you have anything like that where you can get articles... your teacher will likely know what you're talking about. I had a Professor that didn't text, didn't use email... if she needed to contact us she would ask for our cell phone numbers and call us... and she knew about JStor and told us about it. So even if you aren't allowed Ipads in class and your professor doesn't use many online sources... they likely know about JStor or other similar websites... so definitely find out and look up if they have an app that would be useful.
IBooks- This is pretty basic... but IBooks makes everything easy and free. I probably saved a lot of money on text books because of my ipad. Lol. I was an English Major, so a lot of my classes were Shakespeare, Chaucer... books of the 19th century... plays and just a lot of older books that you can get for free with Ibooks. You may not be able to use Ibooks for the exams... you probably won't... but you can read, take notes... idk. I've used Ibooks for books and hadn't had the physical text on the Midterm and I've still passed the classes with like an A or B... so if this idiot can do it you can too! Lol.
Its also useful because if your professor does powerpoints or something, you can just download them to ibooks. If they have required reading not from a text book but from like an online article that they posted online? Just download it to Ibooks... It just really made everything a lot easier... don't know what I would have done if Ipads weren't invented before I went to college lol. They were literally just invented when I went to college... so that is fortunate!
Also idk how these things work on other e-readers and tablets... I know that the free books are public domain so they should still be free on a Kindle or whatever. I don't know if like the Windows tablets or whatever else has an ereader with it... I wouldn't recommend getting a Surface or Window Tablet if you want to keep it 100... lol. But that's none of my business now is it. (kermit voice.)
Note Taking
Penultimate- This is kind of a weird note taking app... but I found it really useful for college. This is an app where you can take notes... but your hand is the pen. I think they upgraded it so that you could use a stylus too... but if you can kind of read your handwriting when its a little sloppy... this is kind of like that. And once you learn how to control it... its good.
This was useful to me because 1st off... its cheaper than the Pages App. This was like .99 at the time... Idk if it changed or if thats even what it was... but it was significantly cheaper than the pages app. I kind of hate bringing a lot of different notebooks to different classes... it just doesn't work all that well for me... it makes it easier to just have it all in one place. Sometimes I felt like I learned things better when I actually wrote it down instead of just typing it on Pages... and also if you wanted to copy a drawing or if you have like a math class or something, this is really easy. You can erase it and its just nicer to use than a pencil in my opinion. This is kind of an underrated app gem. I heard some people in some of my classes making fun of me for using it... but to be honest it worked and I didn't really care. It might not have been "making fun" of me but they just said its hard to use... I'm a writer. I like to handwrite things sometimes... and I just found this useful because it combines handwriting with using a computer and note-taking.
Pages-
This is useful too. Although its screwed me over a few times lol. I remember some paper I was writing for my class about The Wire... it didn't save. And whenever I was using just this for writing papers... it didn't work all that well... so this is more of a note taking thing.
This is good for note taking and to just kind of keep your papers on if you don't want to write them from this app just because it again, keeps it all in one place. Plus you can organize folders based on what classes you are using to take the notes in. You can print out anything you need to. Its just good for that.
Momento- This is a weird app... I kind of only used it freshman year. Its good because you can schedule things on it, but you can also write down different things throughout the day. Its kind of like a diary thing... I used it Sophomore year... not freshman actually lol... Just to brainstorm. If you need to kind of think of what a book is about and you want to brainstorm about it... I found this app useful for doing that. That sentence was terrible lol. But the way that the app was formed it its kind of like theres no pressure to writing something completely ridiculous and funny that will really help you remember what something is about.
I used it before taking a written exam about Sir Gawin and The Green Night and what I wrote was just a basic summary of what happened... but I made it funny, I used modern language which I think helped A WHOLE LOT and it just worked. Sometimes you just kind of need to take a little bit to tell the story how you would tell the story, just to understand the language and things like that. I probably only used it once for an academic thing... and mostly as a diary... but it was quite useful for what it was.
Celtx- Thought I'd randomly throw this in here. If you're in a Screenwriting class, this is useful. For some reason the Celtx website didn't work well on my computer and I didn't think I could actually get it for free... idk if I can fully recommend this because my professor could tell that it wasn't the professional Celtx version from the website... but I think you can adjust the margins and spacing better to make it actually resemble the online version.
And if you just like screenwriting, its useful to just have cause it'll save everything with the cloud and stuff... so if you want to keep it there before switching to Final Draft or something... that would be good.
Reminders- I set so many reminders and made so many lists in college that I need to mention this! Lol.
Fun
hulu- I don't want to list every obvious fun app. Obviously Netflix and Hulu... but I like the layout of Hulu for the ipad a lot. I could watch Hulu on my Tv in the living room, which has a very big screen... but the layout isn't as easy to use as the app... so I really like the app for that reason. The Youtube App has a nice layout too. The Netflix Layout is fine too... but not the easiest. The Hulu and Youtube apps are almost easier on apps than they are otherwise.
All In One Solitaire- This is like a .99 cents app that is just fun. Its not the easiest of solitaire games... but it gives a lot of different options in case you get bored with the same type of solitaire. Its good for taking a break! Lol.
Spotify- Fun music app. I like listening to Cds here before investing in them. Lol. I don't think I used the app in college cause I think you could only use it if you had spotify premium... but this is good. I'm not a huge fan of the randomness of Pandora Radio. I kind of like making my own playlists with the songs I like.
HBO GO- GOT ALL DAY ERRRY DAY! Lol. I don't actually watch GOT that much... but it helps.
Byee! Hope this was helpful!
-Shannon
Comments
Post a Comment