{"id":3045,"date":"2014-02-17T10:06:07","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T16:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/?p=3045"},"modified":"2020-07-06T11:10:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T16:10:11","slug":"writing-with-the-ipad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/2014\/02\/17\/writing-with-the-ipad\/","title":{"rendered":"Writing with the iPad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Berlin Fang<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In one of our recent surveys on iPad usage at Abilene Christian University, we found a good \u201cword processing\u201d app is what students want most from an iPad. \u00a0\u00a0I do hope that someday someone can produce something like Microsoft Word for iPad, but I have already found iPad to be a great tool for writing. \u00a0\u00a0To do this, we have to dispel a myth that there is one single app that does all you need to do with a writing activity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0No, there is not. \u00a0Instead you use a combination of tools. \u00a0\u00a0Even on a laptop one uses for writing, a writer uses several applications, such as a web browser to do research, a PDF reader to read articles, some bibliography management software to manage references and a Word processor for the actual writing.<\/p>\n

Cloud computing has made it possible for us to work fluidly across platforms and devices. \u00a0\u00a0We can use applications on both a laptop and an iPad (or other mobile devices) for the production of a writing assignment. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Involving iPad as part of the process gives a writer certain advantages due to the voice input and touchscreen features that iPads have while many laptop computers don\u2019t. \u00a0\u00a0Here is a sample process how I write an article using both the iPad and the Laptop:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Gather references with iPad. \u00a0iPad comes with the Safari browser, but you can download some other browsers for easier gathering of information. \u00a0For instance, you can use Diigo<\/a>, a social bookmarking browser, to read and bookmark anything you read. \u00a0\u00a0Using a Diigo account, you can access your bookmarks anywhere on a mobile device or on a laptop. \u00a0\u00a0You can use Chrome<\/a> to do something similar to this.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    Take notes with iA Writer<\/a>, Evernote<\/a> or CamScanner<\/a>. \u00a0I take notes with an iPad app called iA Writer, which has an onscreen keyboard (with quotation marks, brackets) that is better than the one from iPad, for easier editing. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Evernote can also help you take notes, including notes in multimedia formats. \u00a0\u00a0When you are reading a print book, iPad can be extremely helpful as you take notes in a variety of ways, including taking pictures of a paragraph, which you will refer to in your writing, if typing notes is slower. \u00a0Camscanner allows you to scan print materials which you can then turn into text using its OCR feature.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Write with IA Writer. \u00a0\u00a0After gathering the notes and references, I can then produce a working draft with IA Writer. \u00a0This seems rather counter-intuitive, as iPad is not best known for the ease of input. \u00a0\u00a0This challenge can be addressed by purchasing a Bluetooth keyboard identical to the one you\u2019d use for a laptop. \u00a0I also love writing on the iPad as it is possible to dictate using the voice input method of iPads. \u00a0\u00a0The only weird thing about it is that I risk giving impressions of talking to myself.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    Syncing your draft to the Laptop for editing. \u00a0After you have finished writing your draft on the iPad with iA Writer, export it to Dropbox<\/a> or Google Drive<\/a> which you can then open on a laptop for editing and formatting.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  5. \n

    Minor editing on the iPad. \u00a0A piece of writing is never complete. \u00a0\u00a0Once I have the bulk of editing done, I sometimes continue to proofread it through Google Doc. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This is most helpful as I carry the iPad\/iPhone around and can use odd time for such purpose, for instance, when waiting during kids\u2019 extracurricular classes. \u00a0\u00a0Of course, it is not advisable for you to do that if you have rich formatting to preserve. \u00a0\u00a0A word processing software would do better.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \n

    This may seem to be a cumbersome process, but it actually works extremely well once I am in the flow. \u00a0\u00a0The combination of tools allows me to take advantage of the strengths of various devices (such as laptop for editing and formatting) and iPad for reading, notes and drafts. \u00a0\u00a0People\u2019s writing processes are personal or even idiosyncratic, so I assume you may find better combination of devices, tools, functions and features that work for your purpose.<\/p>\n

    Writing, whether for a class paper or for academic publication, involves both the consumption of information and the production of it. \u00a0iPad has been around for quite a while, but I noticed that many people use it predominantly to consume information, such as going to web sites, checking email, listening to podcasts, and watching video, \u00a0which are all fine. \u00a0However, the device can also be helpful for the \u201cproduction\u201d of things, such as notes, audio and video segments, and presentations. \u00a0Of course there are situations when the dichotomy between \u201cproduction\u201d and \u201cconsumption\u201d is an artificial one. \u00a0\u00a0The two can take place iteratively during the same project, such as the writing of a paper. \u00a0I hope this post gets you to think along those lines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Written by Berlin Fang In one of our recent surveys on iPad usage at Abilene Christian University, we found a good \u201cword processing\u201d app is what students want most from an iPad. \u00a0\u00a0I do hope that someday someone can produce something like Microsoft Word for iPad, but I have already found iPad to be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42246],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-3045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-instructional-design"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3045"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3047,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3045\/revisions\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3045"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/adamscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=3045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}