Histology for Biology…. Hey that rhymes!

For anyone trying to learn Human Anatomy and Physiology this site is an excellent resource.  It was created by Karen Hart at peninsula college for her biology students.  She took the time to post pictures of all the slides she uses in the class.  It has great labeled images of epithelium cells, bone tissue, connective tissue, cross sections of epipyseal plates, sebaceous glands, nerve cells, lymph nodes, cardiac muscle… It has so much available to help review for lab tests.  So if you need to be able to identify cells check this out.  It is free, and doesn’t require any logging in.  Therefore you do not have to be a student at Peninsula College to use this resource.

Check it out here at at Peninsula College’s histology Site

http://www.pc.ctc.edu/hart/

How to make full use of your textbooks

Many textbooks now come with online resources.  Although you may loose the ability to sell books back to your campus bookstore, you should consider using them.  These options are great study aids, especialy when learning complex new ideas.  When learning about things in cellular biology for instance, Pearson (publisher) gives online animations and movies to help you grasp the Kreb cycle.  It is rather complicated so seeing each step and how the chemicals change and reform is a wonderful study aid.  In human anatomy many publishers have anatomy guides, interactive disections, and physiology animations.  Overall most textbooks have quizes, reviews and games to help you remember in thier online resources.  So don’t forget this study tool, when you purchse your next textbook.  You can usualy find all of the information inside of the front or rear cover.

If you have a website you particularly like, please post it as a comment.  I will put a few up later tonight.  Even if you do no thave the textbook access code, publishers allow students to purchase access. So esentially anyone can study the online resources.

Here is a good place to check if you would like access to online resources but do not have a particular text book.  You can purshase access to the ir products for a small fee.  Usualy $20-$30 per subject.  Click HERE for Pearson Publishing.

Microbiology and Immunology

For those of you that are struggling with microbiology here is a great online tool for you. The university of Southern Carolina’s Medical school posted it’s full Microbiology and Immunology text book online in an e-book format. So if you are struggling in class or with your text, you may want to try a different explanation. This site also has more than 80 audio lectures streaming or down loadable, covering the major points of this class. I am also amazed it has everything in English, Spanish, Albanian and Portuguese.

Check it out here

Taking requests…

I just finished up summer quarter and have some time before I have to start Fall quarter.  I am going to be doing some writing for Nursing Linkup, a new site for nurses and nursing students.  I am also going to be devoting some time to my blog and helping my readers find the information they need to be successful in college.

So if you are having trouble finding something specific or have a question please post a comment and ask.  I will gladly help my readers figure out anything I can and you never know it may make a great post topic.

Thank you!

Pros and cons of Office 2007 for college students

I just started using Office 2007, word in particular. There are several things that I find very great about this new edition. However, there are a few downsides to consider as well.

PROS

The 2007 version offers great formatting for writing in APA, MLA and several other formats. It manages your references and can input properly styled citations into your paper. I am currently writing a term paper and it is so much easier.

Instead of drop down menus across the top, there are a series of tabs. I am surprised by how much more I like it. When I am working on page layout, everything I need for layouts appears across the top of the page. When working with references, I can click the reference tab and everything needed to manage my sources and insert citations is readily available.

Best though is that you can save any new document is a format that old versions of word can open-no more incomparability across versions!  Next time you have an instructor that needs an electronic version you don’t have to worry about what version they have and if they can open it.

CONS

The student version does offer a discount at $149.00 but I still find it expensive. Especially because you can only install it 6 times. If I pay that much money for something, then I want to use it forever on anything I want. Like the old versions of office.

The other downside, is that it does take some getting used to. Especially if you are just getting used to something new like Vista. If you don’t have some time to play with it i wouldn’t suggest swtiching. So three days before a term paper is due…not the time to upgrade!