CliffsNotes (formerly Cliffs Notes, originally Cliff's Notes and often, erroneously, 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. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. In contrast, the company claims to promote the reading of the original work, and does not view the study guides as a substitute to the reading.
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CliffsNotes (formerly Cliffs Notes, originally Cliff's Notes and often, erroneously, 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. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. In contrast, the company claims to promote the reading of the original work, and does not view the study guides as a substitute to the reading. CliffsNotes was started by a Nebraska native named Cliff Hillegass in 1958. He was working at Nebraska Book Co. of Lincoln, Nebraska, when he met Jack Cole, the co-owner of Coles, a Toronto book business. Coles was also the publisher of a series of Canadian study guides called Coles Notes. Jack Cole offered the American rights to Hillegass. Hillegass and his wife, Catherine, started the business in their basement at 511 Eastridge Drive, with 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 CliffsNotes books. IDG Books purchased CliffsNotes in 1998. John Wiley & Sons acquired IDG Books (renamed Hungry Minds) in 2001.
