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More Back to School Tips and a Contest! Win Scrivener!

August 21, 2010 By 9 Comments

Over on the Future Shop blog, Krypto has given you her tips for getting a great laptop—Student Laptop Buying Tips – From a Perpetual Student’s Perspective—well here are some more tips from someone who spent a good amount of time in class, and in front of it. Okay, truth be told, these aren’t all my tips but a list of great sites I found on App Storm—20 Back to School Apps and Tools for Students—and they are a good selection of things to help you out. To make this a little more than a link list, I’m going to chime in on a subtle problem with all these resources—too many great choices that you spin your wheels.

Let’s take note taking apps for a moment. There is no doubt that Evernote is an awesome app. Almost any OS, platform, or device, they’ve got you covered. I’d be hard pressed to give you any significant downsides (personally I don’t like the UI or how it’s “Notebook” based…those are small details really) to using Evernote to take class notes to research notes, but…

You could use Yojimbo if you’re on a Mac. Or there is Simplenote on iOS devices which then syncs into a myriad of apps on your desktop as well as the web. Or like me, use Scrivener for all your writing which also has a great way to gather notes and research.

Yeah, I’m even looking at these choices and thinking … hey, why do I gather notes in Yojimbo instead of Scrivener when I’m working on a project… And this is my real back to school tip:

Find a good app, learn it, use it, and stick with it.

Oh sure if someone says a particular app is really, really awesome take a gander at it, but unless the new app solves a problem you’re having, just file it for checking out later. I didn’t switch to Pages and iWork until Word corrupted a critical file for the third time. No, iWork isn’t perfect, but it’s been doing a better job for me than Word did. I didn’t start using Scrivener until I was struggling with keeping my first book organized (moving around sections and such) and tried Ulysses (after reading about Ulysses on TUAW and then Scrivener later).

So, to offer a good set of tools for a student (sorry this is a rather Mac centric list, but I’ll note Windows options I know about) that are simple and straight foward and work:

  • Dropbox. Use it for backup or sharing or access to files out and about. It’s great and if you have a little extra cash, go for the upgrade. If not, get a group of friends to all refer together and get referral credit)
  • Evernote. Yeah I like Yojimbo more, but it’s also commercial, and this is also about doing stuff on a budget.
  • Simplenote (combo with Notational Velocity or other desktop app). Catherine Winters keeps things organized as well as jot notes on the go with this awesome tool. At the moment, you can’t download the app from the App Store, but they promise a new version soon.
  • Office suite: Yep Open Office is free and getting better all the time. Yep Google Docs is fantastic—Catherine and I are collaborating on a project using it—and has nearly every tool you’d need. Apples’ iWork suite certainly is visually appealing and mostly compatible with MS Office, but … We all know MS Office rules the roost. It’s almost a requirement to get through life if not school. My advice: see if you can live without it, but don’t weep crocodile tears if you can’t.
  • Scrivener: Yeah I’m biased. I’ve written two entire books in it, plus almost all the posts I’ve written for Future Shop, plus a number of other longer articles and documents, so yeah I’m cool with the bias. Yes, it’s Mac only. Yes, the current version seems a tad out of date (it’s not, I use it everyday), but my inside sources say that the beta program is going very well and the long-awaited version 2 is due out this fall. And to show you how cool the folks behind Scrivener are, they have a list of not only Windows versions you might like, but links to their competitors too. Yeah, damn straight.

Contest:
Now, for a contest. You know I don’t do them very often, but I think students need to have great tools to use. The folks at Literature and Latte have given me two codes for Scrivener…which of course are for the current version but … they will be honored for a free upgrade to version 2.0 (it’s going to be a pay update)! So … the contest (Yep you have to work for this one).

Leave a comment, or link to a post, of at least 250 words why you need Scrivener to write better papers (instead of Word or Pages). If you’re not sure why, download the demo version first! Yes, this is aimed at students. I’ll keep this contest open for a week (until August 28th). Who will pick? Well, I’ll let you in on that later.

Good luck and pass it along!

In case you don’t win: Buy Scrivener (Regular Licence) or Buy Scrivener (Education Licence)


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  • http://twitter.com/mrwakiki MrWakiki

    Mia’s Mom

    I have a young adult novel in mind.

    It is a coming of age for Mia, the daughter of divorced parents. She lives with her mom, who she argues with, and adores her dad — who she hardly sees.

    Mom and Mia see a therapist once every two weeks, who suggests they begin to work out their problems by each keeping a journal. The novel is those journal entries.

    Since each journal entry is a letter to the reader, it would be nice to have a word processor that keeps tab of those entries and allows for moving them around as the structure of the novel is created.

    I have the framework in mind — even an outline, but little more than one or two entries. It would be great if when I think of an entry I could enter it into Scrivener for use later, or moving around to inspire new entries. Since the novel will seem as if they are responding to each other — though not really — it will be good to have these in the form of note cards to remind me which ones that have been written, needs to be responded to.

    For example: Mia in soccer camp writes about not missing mom, but glad she is going to see dad when camp is over; the response to that entry is the mom is writing about how the dad isn’t going to pick up Mia because he is in the Caribbean with his new girlfriend. Depending how the flow of the novel goes, either of those could go first, or maybe in camp Mia isn’t writing much — or a lot — and the entries take place in an order that needs to be changed.

    To be honest, I have the novel fixed in my mind, I just can’t move myself to write it. I am hoping Scrivener is my incentive.

    Mr. Wakiki

  • Bernie

    I am a graduate student, taking course work through the University of South Africa. All assignment papers, as well as my research work has been accomplished on Scrivener. It is the most helpful application on my Mac. I have supported the folks over at Literature and Latte for the past three years, and have been excited to watch this application come into its own.

    I could write multiple essays about Scrivener awesomeness. The software is profoundly simple and, yet, I keep finding new features which never cease to amaze me.

    Upon completion of my current coursework, I will continue to the DTh level at the University of South Africa, thus could really make use of the Scrivener 2.0 upgrade. Having used Scrivener for smaller assignments, I am truely looking forward to using my favorite app for the larger and more complex work involved with Doctoral Disserations. Scrivener’s way of handeling research and the ability to work in the same way my brain works makes it the ideal tool for longer research oriented work. I am very much looking forward to utilizing Scrivener in this way.

    Apart from academic work, I also have several other writing projects I am currently working on, including two novellas and a screen play.

    As an avid Scrivener user and fan, and as someone who will be doing a large number of writing projects in the near future, the generosity of TrisHussey dot com would be absolutely appreciated! (I will refrain from begging … but I am not above such behavior if required…)

  • http://trishussey.com Tris Hussey

    Begging in contests is certainly acceptable! I was thinking of this contest as a way to get people using Scrivener, but you make a great point for helping you with the upgrade… Hmmm.

  • http://trishussey.com Tris Hussey

    Well, there is nothing like a good tool to help you get started! One of the best things about Scrivener is that there isn’t much to learn about it … it’s pretty easy to just start working with it!

  • http://twitter.com/mrwakiki MrWakiki

    I’m finishing a play I am working on right now, as soon as it is finished — as in should have been yesterday — gonna open Scrivner and play some.
    thanks

  • fellowweb

    Tris,

    I am currently researching for my doctoral thesis. As it’s not too long ago that I’ve made the switch to Mac OS X, I’ve tried to postpone the decision on which software to use for writing the thesis.

    After a short look on Pages, I don’t think it would be an interesting option for writing academic publications. It feels too limited (or reduced to mainstream functionality). Although Office for Mac 2011 looks promising, its 2008 version still seems to have difficulties regarding interoperability with its Windows versions – especially on larger documents. So the major benefit of still using Microsoft’s Office suite seems limited. Due to their experiences, a couple of friends couldn’t recommend using OpenOffice/NeoOffice for my purposes. Eventually, Latex seems to be more targeted towards those heavily involved in formulas, which I’m not. ;)

    In contrast, Scrivener looks like a great way not only to write but also to prepare and organize the actual writing process (e.g. with the corkboard or outliner). I had already heard very positive things regarding Scrivener from David Sparks on the Mac Power Users podcast (http://macpowerusers.com/2009/06/mpu-005-word-processing-and-writing), its review on his blog (http://www.macsparky.com/blog/2007/12/8/review-scrivener.html), and another screencast (http://www.macosxscreencasts.com/en/review/scrivener-review-teil-1-gewinnspiel-rabattaktion/ and http://www.macosxscreencasts.com/en/review/scrivener-review-teil-ii-gewinnspiel-rabattaktion/). Having had a first look at it during a test run, one can get a good impression how it’s really taylor made to the needs of “professional writers”.

    Writing a doctoral thesis means a lot of initial research. Scrivener seems to be of great value especially in this field. Its integrated research support functions would sure be of great help to me and would probably facilitate the switch from researching to actually writing – which seems to be the most tricky part.

    Especially with the 2.0 version (and its new features) around the corner, Scrivener would be a great tool. I’d be very glad to win. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your contest.

  • Alizandum

    I’ve been a student for longer than I care to admit. A series of misfortunate events have rather delayed my graduation… I have always had difficulties as a result of a genetic condition but over the course of my degree they have become almost insurmountable. The last few years have been a real struggle as I have lost more function in my hands and have developed a significant mobility impairment among other things. If I can find a way round these difficulties I would very much like to continue on to further study and perhaps teach if I am well enough.

    By some coincidence I’m currently researching tools to help me through and found your contest. I’m no longer able to do traditional paper and pen note taking, outlining and drafting. It’s very painful and the results are illegible. I still haven’t adjusted to a paper free workflow and I hope Scrivener can be part of a solution. I love doing research and mind mapping my ideas but the writing is where I fall down. It’s become a recurring nightmare. Any tool to help is welcomed. An iPhone has become a replacement for my memory. I fill it with random thoughts that pop up through the day and in the middle of the night. I want to have somewhere meaningful to put them so I can actually make use of all these snippets. I think Scrivener may be the perfect home for them.

    I’ve had some help with equipment but not much can be done about my inability to sit upright for long, poor concentration or general cognitive problems. Efficiency during writing time is essential as I’m so limited in capacity. The prospect of writing on my Alphasmart Dana and importing to a Scrivener project for editing really excites me. Sitting in a painful position at a computer staring at a blank, disorganised or disjointed word processing document is utterly soul destroying. I have dictation software but when it comes to free flowing thought I’d rather type. Also, I’m plagued by vocal problems, both physical production and word finding, so dictating will never be a panacea for me.

    Scrivener would completely revolutionise my workflow and give me the ability to be academically successful again. As a student (and a disabled student with extremely limited capacity to supplement my income at that) I would be delighted and very grateful to receive a free copy of Scrivener. Like another entrant I don’t want to beg but needs must! I must also apologise for any errors in my entry as I’m extremely tired but unfortunately I only stumbled across this contest just before the deadline so it couldn’t wait.

    Many thanks for considering my entry.

  • Bernie

    If such behavior is acceptable, then consider yourself begged … from … something like that. :)

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