The Google Operating System blog points out that Google's integration of Scholar results means that students and researchers have to settle for "subscription required" firewalls when trying to pull up a paper. Hit the "All (x) versions" link, and you'll often find a readable copy on Google's servers.

We've already seen many different ways to use Twitter for recreational or informational use, but weblog academhack has shown how Twitter can be extended to academic use. When assigning his students to learn how to use Twitter, Professor Dave Parry observed that class chatter went well beyond the classroom and built stronger student communities. He also mentions that since Twitter forces you to express your thoughts within 140 characters, it can improve one's grammar skills. Based on this character limit, Twitter also helps establish rules for effective communication. It's also a great way to follow someone famous (presidential candidates come to mind) or a professional whose interests align with yours. Have you used Twitter for your coursework and academic well-being? What are your findings? Share your secrets in the comments. Twitter for Academia

Students banging out their final papers this semester with Microsoft Word 2007 will be interested in this tutorial on creating and managing references, courtesy of Microsoft. The references tab on Word 2007's new ribbon offers a slick way to enter your sources and choose a style to display them, from APA to Chicago to MLA. As I write my paper, all of the citations that I have been inputting are stored in this awesome tool called the source manager, which can be accessed by clicking "Manage Sources." This means that instead of my list of books I have been poring over going into the ether I call index cards, all of my work is stored in one little handy database. Enter incredible time savings. From the Bibliography drop-down, choose whether you want a bibliography or works cited section and Word automatically generates and formats it for you. Handy.

Final paper time