Every night on campus, students stay up late putting final touches on English papers only to realize they still have to create a bibliography page.

Thanks to students Darshan Somashekar and Neal Taparia, who created Easybib.com, this process has become much easier.

Easybib, which was created in 2000, cuts the time it takes to write a bibliography page in half by organizing the information into MLA format.

“Once a user’s bibliographic information is in our system, the code then formats it accordingly. The only information we need from students is simply the bibliographic information of their sources,” Taparia said.

The Web site also allows students to create annotated bibliographies in the same way. All students need is the source information and a short description of the source. Once the information is entered into Easybib’s database, the site neatly orders it into MLA format.

“I have used Easybib a lot because it saves you all the hassle and it takes care of putting all the details in order for you,” sophomore nursing major Vince Botta said.

While many students see Easybib as a savior, some NIU professors see it as the easy way out.

English professor Deborah DeRosa, who teaches upper division English and literature classes, encourages her students not to take the easy way out.

“A chemist knows how to use a Bunsen burner, so a student pursuing an English major should know how to use MLA format,” DeRosa said.

According to Taparia, Easybib averages about four million page hits a month from a wide spectrum of students from elementary to high schools as well as college students and Ph.D.-level scholars.

Easybib is free to use, but the site also offers its EasybibPro service for $6 a year. EasybibPro includes footnotes, APA style and a search engine to find more sources.