Konspectus for Students
Konspectus provides groundbreaking tools for students to achieve transparency in writing and achieve improved learning outcomes while improving the writing experience. Konspectus navigates students through their writing assignments using a focused 3-step approach - from an outline to a final paper. Konspectus formats and stores references and citations in a selected format and enables communication between students and professors within each document or assignment.
Students can start writing a paper through the use of preloaded outline templates which correspond to a variety of standard paper types such as analysis/research, argumentative/persuasive, compare/contrast, and others.
Konspectus brings the process one step beyond the standard graphic organizer by embedding the outline within the student’s new document so the student may work directly from the outline within the same software program. This approach makes the writing process much easier as students use the outline as a plan for their writing instead of starting with a blank sheet of paper, and helps students maintain focus and stay on topic by promoting structure and organization.
Students can quickly and correctly format papers according to the latest MLA/APA/Chicago Style standards by using Konspectus’ auto-referencing feature. Students can also format and store references and citations in a selected format while working on their assignment. Konspectus further permits global shifting of references and citations from one formatting standard to another should this be required. The effective organization and management of bibliographic materials translates into better grades as students using Konspectus submit well-formatted, error-free, standards-conforming assignments.
Notably, Konspectus empowers students to manage and conduct research within the application. Students can utilize a search tab on the right hand side of the screen to find information on the web or they can limit their search to the largest scholarly publishers of peer-reviewed online journals by searching in Google Scholar.
Students can also save their research materials in the form of note cards. Konspectus encourages students to specify a source of information for each note card. This serves as a reminder to cite their sources and enables students to easily access the main source if necessary. Students can also “pin” each note to an individual outline section which will help them to better organize their research and keep track of sources they have used, and students may build and retain a personal reference library collected over time.
Beyond its core mission supporting the teaching and learning of writing, Konspectus provides important administrative tools to help students learn and refine the time management and organization skills that are critical to success in high school and college. Konspectus equips students to manage and prioritize their own database of assignments, with collaborative features to share ideas about topics and writing assignments. These collaborative features are then integrated with the unique and innovative architecture Konspectus uses to support student/teacher communication.