My Fave AI Tools (And Why They Fucking Rock)
Four AI tools I use almost every day — what each one actually does for me, and why it earned its spot.
Academic literacy for people academia expected to figure it out alone
Learn the rules.Question whowrote them.
yes, all of them.
Academic tools, evidence-based criticism, and practical resources for people who refuse to confuse institutional authority with unquestionable truth.
Free tools. No catch.
no signup, eitherRead the Fine Print: Syllabus Quick Check
A two-page fillable worksheet for decoding attendance, late-work, participation and grade-appeal rules, plus the fog words and grade-weight math that hide in a syllabus.
Get the PDF: Read the Fine Print: Syllabus Quick CheckLog It. Keep It.
A fillable paper-trail log for every call, email, and office visit about your aid, classes, and records, so you have the receipt when it matters.
Get the PDF: Log It. Keep It.Grade & GPA Impact Terminal
A browser tool for seeing how a grade changes your GPA before it lands.
Open the tool: Grade & GPA Impact TerminalDecode Your Assignment
A guided worksheet for turning an assignment prompt into what is actually being asked, what counts as evidence, and what to do first. Includes a worked example and a fill-in section.
Get the PDF: Decode Your Assignment
New tool · free open beta
Your handwritten notes,typed up.
Snap a photo of a notebook page. PageMark reads your handwriting into clean Markdown — headings, to-dos, flashcards, tables — ready for Obsidian, Notion, or anywhere else you keep notes.
- Keeps your wording. It transcribes; it doesn't summarize.
- Flags the words it isn't sure about so you can check them.
- Free during the beta: 10 pages a month. No card.
Fresh off the photocopier
still warmHow to Ask for an Extension Without Groveling
An extension request is a scheduling question, not a confession. Here's how to ask for one like the students who were taught that.
I Refuse to Stop Writing by Hand, So I Built PageMark
PageMark turns a photo of a notebook page into clean Markdown. It keeps your words, admits what it can't read, and exists because I refuse to stop writing by hand.
The series index
Every file has a drawer
Each article lives in one series, so you can follow a thread instead of a feed.
- § 01Whose Peers?Who certifies knowledge, and who is missing from the room.0 files →
- § 02Academic AutopsyCut open neutral-looking language, conventions, policy, or statistics and show what they hide.1 file →
- § 03Receipts or It Didn't HappenSource verification, citation tracing, statistics, funding, and methodology.0 files →
- § 04Field Notes From the Other SideLived knowledge in conversation with institutional claims, without spectacle.1 file →
- § 05The Syllabus Left This OutRecover histories, scholars, movements, community knowledge, and political context omitted from standard explanations.2 files →
- § 06Use the Damn ToolPractical research methods people can use today.4 files →
- § 07Dog-Eared DissentActivism, prison, abolition, bail, inequality, policy, political theory, research, and movement books — by argument, not inspirational quotes.0 files →
- § 08Where the Work IsPoint toward active, transparent, accountable, directly affected-led work and resources.0 files →
Help keep knowledge harder to hoard.
DA's educational tools are free. If the work helps you, optional contributions and future merchandise help keep new resources coming.
Mabbit & Whonah merch coming soon.
Not here to make the gate prettier.
Mabbit Rountree is a nontraditional student and freelance researcher who learned academia's hidden rules the expensive way, then started writing them down. Whonah is here because every evidence trail deserves a German Shepherd.
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