What do Brett Favre, Benedict Arnold, Disney's The Lion King, Hitler, Stalin, and Tupac Shakur have to do with the play Julius Caesar? (answer at the end)

PC Magazine includes Shmoop on its list of the Best of the Internet, and it is. Just take a look at the site, and you'll wonder how all this can be free. Shmoop's pages do contain advertisements, but they don't overwhelm the content; what I spotted were tasteful ads from companies like J.Peterman and Sprint. The San Francisco Chronicle writes that Shmoop "makes the learning process fun," and the School Library Journal calls it "a mix of rigor and fun." If you think Shmoop sounds like something created by clever graduate students, you are correct. Students and faculty from Ph.D. and Masters programs at schools like Stanford, Harvard, and Berkeley team to bring Shmoop to you and your students.

To better understand this site there's a quick tour to demonstrate what Shmoop can do-like "make studying less of a snooze-fest," give students "ammo to speak intelligently in class," and "kick start a paper." The study guides offer important facts, different sides of arguments, deep analyses, summaries, images; Shmoop even includes its own writing guide.

Shmoop invites students to Jump into Shmoop Literature and Fire Up Schmoop History. Topic areas covered include: Literature, Poetry, Bestsellers, US History, Civics, Biography, Music, and coming soon, AP Exams (English Language, English Literature, US History, AP Government). Considering that the product is in its beta edition, chances are that other categories will be added later. To be able to use the program's writing tools such as sticky notes, clippings, folders, dictionary, brainstorming prompts and info on plagiarism and citing Schmoop, students must register on the site.

Let's suppose your students are studying Hamlet. By linking to Shmoop, they'll find a Hamlet in a nutshell intro, a Hamlet Summary (How It All Goes Down); Hamlet Themes (Little Words, Big Ideas); Hamlet Quotes (To Float Your Boat); Hamlet Characters (Meet the Cast); Hamlet Analysis (Literary Devices); Hamlet Study Questions (Not Just One Right Answer); Hamlet Resources (movies, videos, audio, images, documents, etc.); and Hamlet Opinions (Discuss, Debate, Challenge). For you there's a Teacher Resources Center (with teaching ideas for assignments and activities, reading quizzes, current events and pop culture, discussion ideas, essay questions, challenges, related readings), an Educator's Tour, and a place to send your suggestions. There is a one-time fee of $5.95 for the Hamlet quizzes, current events and pop culture resources, and discussion and essay questions.

If students are studying Edgar Allan Poe, they'll find an intro, a biography, facts, quotes, resume, timeline, links to the best Poe sites on the Web, citations and opinions. Music guides cover modern artists such as the Beatles and feature the following categories for study: intro, lyrics, meaning, technique, influences, listen (not available yet), best sites on the Web, and opinions.

The Shmoop Writing Guide is a 12-Step process with Step 1 telling students to read whatever it is they are supposed to read and while doing so to take notes on Shmoop using Stickies and Clippings. Other steps prepare students for their writing groove with brainstorming exercises, provide food for thought to narrow focus, transform fuzzy ideas into thesis statements, bring out hard evidence, expand outlines, impress readers with great beginnings and endings, smooth out wrinkles with revision, and save a first draft.

According to Shmoop, "Shmoop will make you a better lover* (*of literature, history, life...)" Check it out-on computer, iPhone, iPad, Amazon Kindle, B&N nook, or Sony Reader. You might want to have your students try one of the most popular Shmoops such as The Great Gatsby, FDR's New Deal, Empire State of Mind, or one of the latest learning guides: The Life of Pi, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and Gulliver's Travels.

Answer: Notorious Backstabs Since the Ides of March.

Additional Information

Shmoop
http://www.shmoop.com/

About Shmoop
http://www.shmoop.com/public/about_us/

Shmoop Quick Tour
http://www.shmoop.com/help/overview/

How to Cite Shmoop
http://www.shmoop.com/help/cite-shmoop/

Shmoop's Take on Plagiarism
http://www.shmoop.com/help/plagiarism

Sign Up/Get on the Shmoop Mailing List
http://www.shmoop.com/signup/