Contents

Signing Up

• Click Sign Up!
• You can sign up for two types of accounts:
  • Premium Accounts
  • Free/Trial Account
• There are three ways to purchase premium accounts:
  • Credit card
  • Gift card
  • Purchase order (for schools only; fax to 877-360-WRIT)

Signing In

• Click Sign In
• Enter your Username and Password
• For lost usernames or passwords, choose one of these options:
  • Forgot your user name?
  • Forgot your password?
• IMPORTANT: Enter "Group Username" for all sub-accounts (e.g. Student and Family Member). The Group Username is the username of the top-level account; typically the account the subscription was purchased under.
• To prevent having to sign in again in the future, click "Remember me"

Reading Books

• Click READ tab
• Find hundreds of books using Browse, Search or featured lists (e.g. Top 100); click thumbnail to select a book
• Click Read Now button or book thumbnail
• While reading a book (inside the Big Universe Reader software):
  • You can zoom in/out and even view it full screen mode
  • Use the sound icon to turn on page flipping sounds
  • Use thumbnail button to view all pages of a book
  • Jump to specific pages using the page number drop down.
• After reading a book, you can:
  • Rate it
  • Add to your bookshelf
  • Add it to your recommended list
  • Take a quiz to test comprehension
• Books you read are automatically logged in your Reading Log (located under My Account)

Click here for more help on the reading tool.

Creating, Print and Publishing Books

• Sign in
• Click CREATE tab
• Click button to CREATE & PUBLISH your own books. Or, select "Edit/Publish Books I Created."
• Inside the authoring tool, you can:
  • Create, edit, delete, save or print existing books
  • Create books from scratch or using existing templates
  • Print books to your printer, privately submit them (only for FAMILY and SCHOOL accounts) or publish it BigUniverse.com
  • Use our pictures or upload your own

Click here for more help on the authoring tool.

Organizing and Sharing Books

• Sign in
• After reading a book, you can either add it to your bookshelf or your recommendation list
• To access you your bookshelves, click on the HOME tab
• To share books:
  • Use the TELL-A-FRIEND button for individual books or on your home page
  • Add friends via the SHARE tab
  • Use the "Link to us" images (see bottom of page)
  • Bookmark on social media sites
• To delete books and friends, go to your home page and delete using the "X" icon

Assessment with Quizzes

• Sign in
• Find books
• Click "Take Quiz" button
• Take quiz and see scores in My Account > View My Quizzes
• School and Family accounts can assess progress via My Account > View Student Quizzes, which enables you to:
  • Assess progress at a classroom/family level
  • Assess progress at a student level via:
    • Reports for specific student
    • Actual Q&A for a given test

Managing Your Account

• Sign in
• Click My Account
• To personalize your account, choose one of the following options:
  • Change Background
  • Change Password
  • Change Username
  • Change Email
  • Update Profile
• To view/manage your activity, choose one of the following options:
  • Manage My Home Page
  • Edit/Publish Books I Created
  • View My Reading Log
  • View Quizzes I've Taken
• To control your premium subscription, choose one of the following options:
  • Update Billing Information
• View Purchase History
• Cancel Billing

Adding and Managing Sub-Accounts

• Sign in
• Click My Account
• To add sub-accounts, click Add Student/Child Accounts. Accounts can be created in two ways:
  • Using the Big Universe username/password generation system
  • Importing existing username/passwords using a CSV file
• To manage existing accounts, click View Existing Accounts
• To assess progress, click View Student/Child Quizzes
• To view reading logs, click View Student/Child Reading Logs
• To view published books, click View Student/Child Published Books

Click here to see an image on how school accounts are organized and managed.