Thing #9: Scrivener App

A large project that I have recently worked on was for my technical writing class last semester. I wrote a set of instructions on how to brew beer at home and it was over 30 pages long. The project was really all-encompassing in terms of what I needed to do to make it successful. For example, I needed to research the process in the first place as well as find applicable images, an easy recipe for beginners, and the proper layout for the instructions. In terms of taking note for my research I did what I typically do for my papers that require research: I write and research at the same time. I’m not sure if this is a good habit but it has worked great for me for as long as I’ve been writing at Coe. Basically what I do is open a word document on my computer since I feel that doing my prep is best done on a computer rather than a notebook. Next I open my refrences button in Word and make sure to do end notes since I don’t like to see my citations except at the bottom of the page –I think it is better to have less clutter that way. As I find what I need I write my paper and incorporate my research and citations.  

In terms of the Scrivener app, the feature that I think would be most useful is the automatic backups. I have struggled in the past with backing up my information and I even had a regretful incident where I thought everything was saved and my computer crashed and I ended up losing everything. Since then I have started using Dropbox but I think it is great that Scrivener has the automatic zip file saving feature. This would eliminate any stress that comes from backing up files. However, I don’t think I will download the free trial since none of the other feature are all that crucial to me right now.  This isn’t to say that if I go into a field where writing is my primary task, that I wouldn’t invest in this tool since it does seem quite useful.