EazyPaper is a suite of software products that integrate as a plug-in to Microsoft® Word[1]. It offers the tools and flexibility for writing professional documents according to the APA 7th edition[2], MLA Handbook 8th edition[3], Turabian 9th edition[4] / Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition[5], and AMA 11th edition[6] formats.
If your papers need to be formatted in these formats, then you know how long it takes to get the title page, table of contents, footnotes, bibliography, etc. in the correct format. EazyPaper does the formatting for you.
EazyPaper generates references that look like this:
AMA is supported only with the EazyMedical module, and generates references that look like this:
Installing EazyPaper is as easy as downloading the trial version and double clicking the installer stub. The EazyPaper system requirements are:
To start your trial, simply enter your name and email as shown in Figure 1:
Figure 1. Welcome to EazyPaper
You will only be prompted with this welcome form on the first time you launch EazyPaper. You can then use all of the EazyPaper Pro and EazyMedical features free of charge for two days.
EazyPaper Pro has all the features of EazyPaper, plus support for:
EazyMedical has all the features of EazyPaper Pro, plus support for:
Also, EazyPaper can only be licensed by students, professors and teaching assistants, and only for academic uses. All other users of EazyPaper, and all other uses of EazyPaper (including professional research) require you to license the Pro edition. EazyMedical can by licensed by anyone, for any personal, academic or professional use.
You can buy a license for EazyPaper at any time, or uninstall the program to remove it from Word. However, you will need to license EazyPaper after the two-day trial is over. There are several ways to buy EazyPaper through EazyPaper; you could:
Figure 2. The EazyPaper toolbar
You can use the Buy form of Figure 3 to buy or upgrade a permanent license, an annual subscription to EazyPaper, or a short-term rental. The annual subscription is 25% cheaper than the permanent license and will email you a week before its auto-renewal, but is cancelable at any time. The rental is 80% cheaper than the permanent license per day, and is designed for those who want to use EazyPaper for just one last paper.
Figure 3. Buy or upgrade EazyPaper
After you buy a license, you may need to login to EazyPaper in order to activate your license for a particular computer. You could either manually login by entering your email and password into Figure 4, or automatically login by checking “Automatically log me in next time” in Figure 1 or Figure 4. Click the help link of Figure 4 for answers to frequently asked questions about activating your license.
Figure 4. About EazyPaper / Login to EazyPaper
If you want to revert to manual logins, you can always bring up Figure 4 by going to the “About EazyPaper / Login to EazyPaper” menu entry of Figure 2, and unchecking “Automatically log me in next time.”
EazyPaper is licensed on a per computer basis, so if you bought one license, you can use EazyPaper only on one computer. However, you may move your license to another computer by simply installing EazyPaper on the new computer and logging in. EazyPaper will show you Figure 5, giving you the opportunity to buy a license for this new computer, or move your license from the old computer. Click the help link of Figure 5 for answers to frequently asked questions about moving your license.
Figure 5: Moving an EazyPaper license
Buying a license will allow you to use EazyPaper on both computers, while moving your license will disable EazyPaper on your old computer as shown in Figure 6:
Figure 6. Warning that you cannot move your license back to the old computer
Clicking 'No' will dismiss the form without any changes. Clicking 'Yes' will move the license from the old computer to the new one and allow you to use EazyPaper on the new computer. When you try to use EazyPaper on the old computer, it will show you Figure 7:
Figure 7. You cannot move your license back to the original computer
If EazyPaper cannot contact the licensing server for the initial login, it will show Figure 8. You can either connect to the Internet and try again, or use another computer with Internet access to obtain your licenseId. Enter that licenseId and click “Go!” Thus, you can install EazyPaper on a computer without an Internet connection.
Figure 8. Logging into EazyPaper without an Internet connection
There are four steps to writing an EazyPaper:
The easiest way to create a new EazyPaper document is to start a blank Word document, and click the EazyPaper icon to apply EazyPaper as shown in Figure 9:
Figure 9. Applying EazyPaper to a document
If you want to start EazyPaper without first starting Word, double-click the EazyPaper icon that was placed on your desktop as shown in Figure 10:
Figure 10. The EazyPaper icon
After starting EazyPaper, it will display the startup form of Figure 11:
Figure 11. EazyPaper startup form
Select APA, MLA, Turabian / Chicago Style, or AMA as your formatting style, and click the sections you want to have in your paper. Some sections are only in Journal Articles, and are therefore only available in EazyPaper Pro and EazyMedical.
You can also fill in the name of the document, author, and college under the section “Enter the title page information (optional)” as illustrated in Figure 11. This information will be stored between papers, so that you do not have to enter your college or degree‘s name for every paper that you write.
You can decide whether to generate short instructions from the formatting manual and/or Professor Randy on how to write each section of your paper. Click OK to generate a paper with the sections that you selected, and then move to step 2 Outline your Paper.
For an
A sample of Professor Randy's hints is shown in Figure 12. Click “Delete” to delete that particular hint, or “Delete All” to delete all of Professor Randy's hints from your document.
Figure 12. Professor Randy's hints
If your institution requires modifications to your APA, MLA Turabian, or AMA papers, you can configure EazyPaper to handle these customizations by clicking the “Configure...” button of Figure 11, or selecting “Configure EazyPaper” from Figure 13:
Figure 13. Configure EazyPaper
Figure 14 shows the resulting configuration form:
Figure 14. Configuring EazyPaper
Show Outline in left-hand pane: Toggles the outline pane for your paper. As you add headings to your paper, an outline is automatically generated in the left-hand outline pane. You can click any of the section headings in this outline to jump to that section heading in your document. See Figure 16 for a screenshot of the outline pane.
Show Quick Bookmark location: Toggles the I beam that shows you where you put the quick bookmark. See Use Quick Bookmarks: A Navigation Shortcut for more details.
Set Margins: You can set the page margins to your institution‘s specifications. APA, MLA, Turabian, and AMA require 1" margins all-around, but many institutions prefer a wider left page margin when the document is to be professionally bound.
Place page numbers at: Turabian allows for setting the page numbers at the upper center, upper right, or bottom center of the page, as long as it is consistent. APA, MLA, and AMA require page numbers to always be at the upper right-hand corner, and vary the distance between the edge of the page and the page number. This section allows you to customize these default settings to your institution‘s specifications.
Change heading: Turabian allows for a range of heading styles for each section, but APA, MLA, and AMA are stricter in their specifications. You can customize these headings to the style that you prefer.
Configure footnotes: Turabian 6th edition specifies superscripted footnote numerals, but the later editions do not. You can also change the font size and whether footnote numbering restarts at every section (i.e. chapter), or continues from the previous section.
Section headings are encouraged for most papers, but should only be used sparingly, and at most, to four heading levels, not including chapters. These headings form the outline for your paper. To create a heading, select the text that you wish to be a heading in your document and apply the appropriate heading level: chapter heading (Alt+C), heading 1 (Ctrl+1), heading 2 (Ctrl+2), heading 3 (Ctrl+3), or heading 4 (Ctrl+4) as shown in Figure 15:
Figure 15. Applying a heading level
Figure 16 shows a document with all the headings on one page and the resulting outline in the outline pane. You can click any of the section headings to jump to that section in your document. To toggle the outline pane, refer to Show Outline in left-hand pane.
Figure 16. Sample document with the headings and outline pane on one page
EazyPaper can generate a Table of Contents from your section headings, and a Table of Figures and Tables from your figure and table captions. EazyPaper will update these tables, as well as the page numbers each time you run the update command (Ctrl+Shift+U) as illustrated in Figure 17:
Figure 17. Update pages, figures, and tables
Since it is quite common to forget to update your pages, figures, and tables before printing the document, EazyPaper will automatically update these settings for you when you print the document (File -> Print).
Unfortunately, EazyPaper cannot write the paper for you :-). However, it does have some features that make writing the paper a little easier.
Have you ever wished that you could bookmark your place in the document, so that you could quickly refer to it? EazyPaper fulfils that wish; first, set a quick bookmark (Ctrl+F2), navigate to any place in the document, and then return to your place in the document (F2) as shown in Figure 18. Need a second bookmark? Use (Ctrl+F3) and (F3) instead.
Figure 18. Setting and returning to a Quick Bookmark
The Go to Quick Bookmark menu entry will be disabled until you set a quick bookmark.
If you know which page you would like to go to, select “Go to Page” (Ctrl+G) as shown in Figure 19:
Figure 19. Go to page
To insert a table (Ctrl+Alt+T), figure (Ctrl+Alt+F), or cross reference[7] (Ctrl+Shift+C), select the appropriate entry from the EazyPaper menu as shown in Figure 20:
Figure 20. Insert a table, figure, or cross-reference
EazyPaper will insert the table or figure and caption it according to your paper’s formatting style. You can update these captions by running the update command (see Update your Pages, Figures, and Tables).
When inserting tables, EazyPaper provides a list of table templates that are appropriate for your paper's style. The APA-specific list of tables is shown in Figure 21. Simply click a table template to insert it into your document.
Figure 21. Insert table form for APA
There are two types of quotations: inline quotations and block quotations. Inline quotations must be surrounded in quotation marks and are four lines or less, such as, “Do unto other as you would have them do unto you.” A block quotation must be footnoted to credit its source.
Block quotations are five lines or longer like this quotation; otherwise, inline them with the text. They are single spaced, and should have a blank line before and after them. The whole quotation should be indented as far as you would indent the first line of a paragraph. These rules were taken from the Turabian manual,[8] but EazyPaper will follow your formatting manual’s rules when you format text as a block quotation.
To do that, click the paragraph that contains the quotation and select “Set as Quotation” from the EazyPaper menu (Ctrl+Q). To format a paragraph back to the normal paragraph format, select “Set as Paragraph” (Ctrl+Shift+P) as shown in Figure 22:
Figure 22. Formatting text as a block quotation or paragraph
As shown in Figure 23, EazyPaper supports:
Figure 23. The EazyPaper reference form
Whenever you insert a footnote or endnote (used in the Turabian style), EazyPaper will also create the corresponding bibliography entry, and sort the bibliography. EazyPaper will also detect and generate the Ibids and ________.’s in the footnotes and bibliography respectively, even if you entered them manually.
Similarly, whenever you insert a citation (used in the APA and MLA styles), EazyPaper will create the corresponding reference entry, and sort the references. For AMA, EazyMedical will insert the references in numbered reference order. Click the help link of Figure 23 to view an online demo on how to
To give you more flexibility in dealing with special cases such as multiple editors, a context-sensitive detail form will popup on the right to provide you with the extra fields as shown in Figure 24:
Figure 24. Entering extra information
The easiest way to enter references into EazyPaper is by copying and pasting them in. Let’s enter the following Turabian footnote into EazyPaper as an example:
Ann Light, and Des Watson. Enhancing Your Website. (New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000), 45.
Figure 25. Pasting a footnote into EazyPaper
You should see a reference form similar to Figure 23 with your reference filled in for you:
Copy and paste multiple references in any format from any Windows program into EazyPaper and it will import them, converting from APA, MLA, Turabian / Chicago, or AMA to your target style as needed. Thus, importing references from any bibliography database, including the bibliographies of your existing papers into EazyPaper is just a matter of copying and pasting. Follow these steps to use EazyImporter:
Copying and pasting references into EazyPaper is a convenient way to saving typing, but references that are not already in an electronic format must be entered manually. Using the Enhancing Your Website example,
Figure 26. Insert reference
Figure 27. Expanded author options
The reference form should now look like Figure 23. Note that you can consult (i.e.: click) other entries in the table while working on the <current unsaved entry> EazyPaper will remember what you have typed in so far when you click <current unsaved entry> again.
Say if you wanted to enter another reference to Enhancing Your Website, but to a different page number. Instead of entering the reference all over again, use the EazyPaper database of previously entered reference as shown in Figure 28:
Figure 28. Reuse a previously entered reference
EazyPaper inserts the footnote and bibliography entry into your document just as if you entered it manually. So to manually edit the footnote or bibliography entry after it has been inserted, just edit it in the document! EazyPaper will recognize the new footnote when generating Ibids and shortened references.
However, if you also wanted to update the reference database for future use, it would be better to delete the footnote or citation in the text, and then immediately reinsert it through EazyPaper‘s database after making the necessary changes to the reference entry.
Thus, EazyPaper‘s database of previously entered references becomes a real time-saver as you do not have to type everything out again. There are a few things you can do to manage the database:
You can remove database entries as shown in Figure 29:
Figure 29. Remove database entries
You can also sort references by title, author, date, or location by clicking on a column header as shown in Figure 30:
Figure 30. Sort references
EazyHunt is EazyPaper's search functionality; it is composed of four addons:
EazyHunt has the single unified interface of Figure 32. To begin a search:
Figure 31. Starting EazyHunt
Which will launch the EazyHunt popup window of Figure 32:
Figure 32. Using EazyHunt
That was easy! But now for the details: when you click “Hunt”, EazyHunt searches each of the search locations you selected; in this case, EazyDatabase, EazLibrary (configured to the Library of Congress), PubMed, and EazyExample (configured to the APA style manual).
EazyDatabase always searches two places: 1) your entire reference database as you type, and 2), the aggregate reference database for EazyPaper users on the EazyPaper server when you click “Hunt”.
Did you notice the “Votes” column in Figure 32? EazyDatabase stores the references from all your papers in an encrypted database on your computer, and backs it up to the EazyPaper server when you exit Word. Log on to any computer with an Internet connection, and new/updated references will be uploaded to your master EazyDatabase, and existing entries will be downloaded to your computer.
You can force this synchronization as shown in Figure 33 by clicking
Figure 33. Synchronize with server
If your database gets corrupted, click “Rebuild EazyDatabase” instead. In any case, you do not have to worry about losing your life’s research as a copy is stored on your computer, in your EazyPaper document, and on the EazyPaper server.
Now that everybody‘s EazyDatabase is in a searchable database, clicking “Hunt” will return results that anyone, anywhere has ever entered into EazyPaper. When someone adds a reference, they “vote” for it. When they remove a reference from their database, they “unvote” for it. So, when you search for something in EazyDatabase and notice that a reference has 25 votes, it means that 25 of your peers have included that particular reference in their bibliography, which sounds like a good candidate to look up in your local library.
Note that these search results are updated in real-time on your computer. Try adding a search result, and see that the votes increment by 1. Then remove it from your database, and see that the location has been changed to “My EazyDatabase,” which means that the reference is not in any of your papers, but you want to keep it in your database of references for future use. Click “Remove” again, and the reference is deleted from your database, and the votes are decremented by 1.
Or more subtly, enter a new reference that has your search term in the author, title, or keywords box of Figure 32. Note that the reference is added to your search results, and that the votes have been set to 1. That‘s your vote for this reference, and you‘ll publish it to the wider community when you synchronize your database with the server. For privacy reasons, your personal notes and E-source references will not be shared with other researchers, but publicly available information like the author and title of a published work is fair game.
EazyLibrary searches the library you chose in the library dropdown box of Figure 34:
Figure 34. Configuring EazyLibrary
EazyLibrary defaults to the Library of Congress, but you can choose from over a hundred libraries from around the world, and search up to three libraries at the same time. EazyLibrary searches by author, title, and subject, and includes works that were written about that author too, so the search results can be quite exhaustive. But, you can filter/show search results by unchecking/checking the appropriate checkboxes of Figure 32; or if you like, you can sort search results by title, author, location, and votes by clicking on the appropriate table header, similar to the instructions of Figure 30.
Once configured, use the full range of PubMed features as shown in Figure 35:
Figure 35. Using PubMed
EazyExample searches the style manual for examples how to cite a reference type. For example, Figure 36 shows how to cite a dissertation in the APA format:
Figure 36. Using EazyExample
Purchase these optional addons to enhance the writing and editing phases of your paper:
EazyXray is an add-on feature that allows you to quickly view the synonyms, antonyms, spelling corrections, or underlying reference of a word under your mouse cursor. View the
Figure 37. Hovering over 'like' with EazyXray
If you purchase EazyDictionary, you will get an expanded list of synonyms and antonyms, as well as their dictionary definitions. Figure 38 shows EazyDictionary’s popup for the same word:
Figure 38. Hovering over ‘like’ with EazyXray and EazyDictionary
If you hover over a misspelled word, then you get a list of spelling suggestions as shown in Figure 39:
Figure 39. Hovering over 'thier' with EazyXray
If you hover over a citation or a footnote entry, you will x-ray the underlying reference, saving you from having to scroll to the bibliography to view the whole reference as shown in Figure 40:
Figure 40. Hovering over a citation with EazyXray
Finally, you can turn EazyXray on or off through the toolbar as shown in Figure 41, or by using the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+X).
Figure 41. EazyXray toolbar button
EazyTyper is an add-on feature that suggests word completions based on the words you have already typed in your document as in Figure 42. View the
Figure 42. EazyTyper visual sample
You can now complete the word by pressing the enter or tab key. EazyTyper's intelligent completion algorithm means that you may only need to type three, or even two keys to spell a long word, increasing your typing speed and spelling accuracy. And, as you type more letters, EazyTyper will display only the words that match the prefix you have already typed, to the point where there is only one match, as shown in Figure 43. At this point you can press enter or tab to complete the word.
Figure 43. EazyTyper with only one match
To toggle EazyTyper on or off, use the toolbar button as shown in Figure 44 or the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+T).
Figure 44. EazyTyper toolbar button
The final step before submitting your paper is to edit it for grammar and consistency, preferably by a professor who has graded papers and knows what he is looking for. EazyPaper Inc. has teamed up with Professor Randy to bring you EazyEditing, a grade estimation and editing service built right into EazyPaper. First, select “Submit Paper for Grading or Editing” from the EazyPaper menu as shown in Figure 45:
Figure 45. How to submit a paper for grading or editing
Then select the service you wish to purchase, enter the style and type of English of your paper, and click “Buy” as shown in Figure 46. Clicking “More Info” will redirect you to a webpage where you can learn more about Professor Randy and the EazyEditing service.
Figure 46. Submit paper for grading or editing
Once you have entered your contact and purchase information in a form similar to Figure 3, EazyPaper will upload your document for grading or editing. Professor Randy will return your paper by email within the turnaround period.
You can uninstall EazyPaper in four steps as shown in Figure 47:
Figure 47. Uninstall EazyPaper
Documents created in EazyPaper will now behave like normal Word documents; however, if you edit the document on a computer with EazyPaper installed, all of the EazyPaper features (including your reference database) will be re-enabled for that machine. Thus, EazyPaper documents are fully compatible with computers that do not have EazyPaper installed – they just act as normal Word documents.
American Medical Association, The. American Medical Association Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 11th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020.
American Psychological Association, The. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2019.
Modern Language Association, The. MLA Handbook, 8th ed. New York: The Modern Language Association Of America, 2016.
Light, Ann, and Des Watson. Enhancing Your Website. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000.
Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
University of Chicago, The. The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 17th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017.
[1] Microsoft® is a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.
[2] American Psychological Association, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2019).
[3] Modern Language Association, The, MLA Handbook, 8th ed. (New York: The Modern Language Association Of America, 2016).
[4] Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018), 23.
[5] The University of Chicago, The Chicago Manual of Style: The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers, 17th ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017).
[6] American Medical Association, AMA Manual of Style: A Guide for Authors and Editors, 10th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
[7] A cross reference is an automatically updated link to a heading, figure caption, or table caption. This is useful when you want to say “see figure 5 on page 23”, and that figure may no longer be the 5th image or on page 23 by the time you finish your document. Just click EazyPaper‘s Update button, and these cross-references will be updated for you.
[8] Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 361.
[10] Compare Turabian's reference:
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th ed., 23. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2018.
to APA's reference:
Turabian, K. L. (2018). A manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (9th ed., p. 23). University of Chicago Press.
The Turabian reference has the place of publication as well as the author’s full name, whereas the APA reference has only the initials.