Noodlebib (at Noodletools.com) is a good choice of software for someone who must write term papers for elementary school, high school, or even college.
Months ago, I told you I'd subscribed to Noodlebib, software for creating bibliographies in APA or MLA style. My sister the librarian had to show me how to use it, but once she did, I became a fan.
Noodlebib, available at noodletools.com, is easy to use (I *could* have figured it out myself). After you select APA or MLA and the kind of source you want to record (book, article, etc.), Noodlebib offers and explains meaningful alternatives. It opens a questionnaire that solicits all the information that it will need. Before you close the questionnaire, it even checks for errors. Noodlebib is filled with help features that are easy to access.
I paid $6 per year to have the notecard feature. (Without that feature, Noodlebib is free.) I wasn't able to use notecards in my Safari (Mac) browser, but when I queried Noodletools, they responded promptly that I just needed to upload Firefox, which I did. So the support for Noodletools wins my praise.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Breaks and Brakes; Breach, Breech; and Broach, Brooch
Commentator Julie is correct: a car does not use breaks to stop, it uses brakes.
Unless you read that cars have brakes, your spellchecker and your habits will not help you.
A related and embarrassing misspelling is breach for breech. Breeches, the noun, was the old word for pants. (Personally, I suspect they were called breeches because they broke or separated into two legs.) The breech is also where a gun breaks into two parts for loading. Breech today refers to that part of the body upon which one sits; in a breech delivery, that part of the baby's anatomy appears first.
On the other hand, breach is a break, violation, or gap; there can be a breach of trust. And breach can be a verb: They will not breach the contract. (The past tense is breached.)
Unfortunately, breach is often confused with broach. To broach is to open or break into. One can broach a subject or broach a keg of liquid. From this word we may have gotten the woman's pin-held jewelry, the brooch: it pierced or broke into the dress.
Yes, friends, good proofreading requires a dictionary. And a dictionary can bring out the sleuth in anyone.
Unless you read that cars have brakes, your spellchecker and your habits will not help you.
A related and embarrassing misspelling is breach for breech. Breeches, the noun, was the old word for pants. (Personally, I suspect they were called breeches because they broke or separated into two legs.) The breech is also where a gun breaks into two parts for loading. Breech today refers to that part of the body upon which one sits; in a breech delivery, that part of the baby's anatomy appears first.
On the other hand, breach is a break, violation, or gap; there can be a breach of trust. And breach can be a verb: They will not breach the contract. (The past tense is breached.)
Unfortunately, breach is often confused with broach. To broach is to open or break into. One can broach a subject or broach a keg of liquid. From this word we may have gotten the woman's pin-held jewelry, the brooch: it pierced or broke into the dress.
Yes, friends, good proofreading requires a dictionary. And a dictionary can bring out the sleuth in anyone.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Proofread, Please
Your spell checker will not question the following errors:
1. X is non-complaint with rules.
2. The problem did not phase him.
3. I spent the evening pouring over books.
4. The appeal strikes a cord in Americans.
5. And, my favorite, here is an error that still lurks on a Web page designed to tell us how to write:
"...working at Coors purposes."
(Possibly the writer envisioned two people trying to collaborate while drinking beer?)
For those of you who are wondering, the corrections are
1. compliant
2. faze
3. poring
4. chord
5. cross
1. X is non-complaint with rules.
2. The problem did not phase him.
3. I spent the evening pouring over books.
4. The appeal strikes a cord in Americans.
5. And, my favorite, here is an error that still lurks on a Web page designed to tell us how to write:
"...working at Coors purposes."
(Possibly the writer envisioned two people trying to collaborate while drinking beer?)
For those of you who are wondering, the corrections are
1. compliant
2. faze
3. poring
4. chord
5. cross
Friday, March 09, 2007
They Used the Wrong Word
I gleaned these malapropisms from correspondence or websites. No spell checker will catch these:
"…without further adieu."
"Please review the attached daft proposal."
"We will give you a program you can sue."
"A deep-seeded desire for national sovereignty"
From the Research Channel, which should know better: “Barbara Cochran: Wither broadcast news?”
"Make sure the message of the e-card or e-mail that you are sending is apropos to the environment in which you know the recipient."
Finally, I found my horrifying favorite on a web page that advises people about business writing:
"Further, in the absence of adequate communication, colleagues would find themselves working at Coors purposes and perhaps pursuing opposing goals." http://business.clayton.edu/arjomand/business/writing.html
"…without further adieu."
"Please review the attached daft proposal."
"We will give you a program you can sue."
"A deep-seeded desire for national sovereignty"
From the Research Channel, which should know better: “Barbara Cochran: Wither broadcast news?”
"Make sure the message of the e-card or e-mail that you are sending is apropos to the environment in which you know the recipient."
Finally, I found my horrifying favorite on a web page that advises people about business writing:
"Further, in the absence of adequate communication, colleagues would find themselves working at Coors purposes and perhaps pursuing opposing goals." http://business.clayton.edu/arjomand/business/writing.html
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