CliffsNotes

CliffsNotes (formerly Cliffs Notes, and often, incorrectly, CliffNotes) are a series of student study guides available primarily in the United States. The guides present and explain literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Endorsers say the guides help readers understand complex works, while detractors say they let students avoid even reading them.

CliffsNotes was started by a Nebraska native named Cliff Hillegass in 1958. He was working at Nebraska Book Co. when he met Jack Cole, the co-owner of a Toronto book business, Coles, and publisher of a series of Canadian study guides called Coles Notes. Cole suggested that Hillegass create an American version. Hillegass started with booklets covering sixteen William Shakespeare titles. CliffsNotes now exist on hundreds of works. The term CliffsNotes has now come into modern usage, as a noun for notes of a similar nature to the original Cliffs Notes books.

John Wiley & Sons, a publisher of scientific and technical publications, bought CliffsNotes in 2001 from IDG Books.

Other guides

In addition to guides for literature, the company produces several other series of guides, including:

• CliffsQuickReview - a quick reference for information on many scholastic subjects, such as sciences, mathematics, and history.

See also

• SparkNotes
• York Notes

External links

• CliffsNotes website