You know what they say: it’s not what you present, it’s how you do it!
How many times have you experienced seeing your classmates delivering a pretty average presentation, but using a cool tool and scoring a perfect “A”? Now it’s your turn! We personally tested all these tools and trust us – they will definitely help to create the WOW effect in your work! Check out the “Grades Boost Factor” for each tool (it’s basically to show you, what are the chances of increasing your grade if you use this tool).
1. Prezi
Ok, let’s face it: everyone is freaking bored with PowerPoint. The same plain slides and animations all over again. It’s time for something more exciting! So, if you haven’t yet – meet Prezi. Cool, more hipster and younger slide editor. Instead of changing slides, you can zoom them in and out, and put slides or images inside other slides! It’s a slide-ception! It comes with huge gallery of free templates, but you can also create one from scratch.
Grades boost factor: 10/10
2. Grammarly
As you prepare your essay or “smart-sounding” slides copy, you are probably trying to keep an eye on the grammar and typos. But well – we are all humans and it’s normal to make mistakes. Unfortunately, teachers not always think this way! They usually require you to be perfect – so how to achieve this? By using Grammarly, for example! In the free version you can download the app or use the web version to check all the typos and grammar mistakes in your text. The app will also detect some unnaturally-sounding words and suggest better fits. There’s also a paid version with even more options, but come on, we are students. Free is always good.
Grades boost factor: 3/10
3. Cite This For Me
Need to attach a bibliography to your essay? What if there was a way to do it faster, AND make it look super neat at the same time? Check out Cite This For Me. It creates a cool-looking page with all your references, and even includes pictures of each book there! It works brilliantly for the English literature, but you will find mostly English and American authors there. Oh, an there’s only one drawback – in the free version, you have to work fast – you only get a limited time on the page 🙁
Grades boost factor: 3/10
4. Piktochart
Now, this is cool! A free and easy way to create infographics, reports and posters if you are not best friends with Photoshop yet. It’s like building a Lego construction: you get all the design and pieces and blocks of pretty symbols – you just need to put the data in place (and you get the data from your books, so hello – it’s just minimum of work). And the result? Super pro-looking infographic! PS It’s a Malaysian company! Say hi to them if you’re in Penang 🙂
Grades boost factor: 8/10
5. PicMonkey
Basically, a free, simple version of Photoshop. Do you need a pretty image, but Paint is just not enough? PicMonkey will make all the easy tasks: crop the image, resize, add fonts, put filters, and then allow you to save it in a chosen resolution (without any watermarks). Only the pro features are additionally paid, but you can easily create some awesome work using the basic tools!
Grades boost factor: 4/10