PERRLA/For Schools/Case studies
Six programs, six starting points, one decision they all kept
From a required rollout to one with no requirements at all. Each case study is two pages, written with the program's own faculty and staff, with the numbers from PERRLA's own usage data for the program's students.
Programs can start with a free pilot semester. The case study is what we ask for in return.
- Stephen F. Austin
- 250 RN-BSN and MSN nursing students, six-month pilot
- Western Washington
- 9.5 out of 10 on APA with PERRLA, 7.5 without
- Campbellsville
- 130 papers in the first 30 days, the only program to require PERRLA
- Western Nebraska CC
- About 125 TRIO students; the college bought a site license
- Galveston
- Started mid-semester; 77 papers and 122 references in one 30-day spring window
- Moravian
- Offered, not required; 78% of surveyed students would recommend it
Results from our partners.
Five nursing programs and one TRIO program. Download any case study as a two-page PDF.
A 6-month pilot with 250 nursing students cut formatting errors dramatically, freed faculty grading time, and gave students a reliable APA workflow they didn't have to think about.
- Students
- 250 RN-BSN and MSN nursing students, DeWitt School of Nursing
- Pilot
- Six months
- In the window
- 300 papers, 683 references, about 800 citations
- What stuck
- A faculty champion drove adoption at scale. PERRLA became a core tool in the MSN program.
Faculty stopped teaching citation formatting in class, and the grade data showed exactly why that trade-off worked.
- Students
- Nursing students, graded for APA on an annotated bibliography
- APA grade
- 9.5 out of 10 with PERRLA. 7.5 without.
- Activation
- 92% of the cohort activated their accounts
- In 6 months
- 224 papers, 617 references, 346 citations
When Campbellsville required PERRLA instead of offering it, both faculty and students felt the difference by mid-semester.
- Students
- Online RN to BSN and MSN students, School of Nursing
- Approach
- The only program in our case studies to require PERRLA
- First 30 days
- 130 papers, 489 references, 516 citations
- What stuck
- Faculty and students both felt the difference by mid-semester
A grant-funded experiment became a permanent site license after TRIO students made one thing clear to leadership: don't take it away.
- Students
- About 125 TRIO students
- Funding
- A grant-funded pilot
- What happened
- TRIO students told leadership: don't take it away
- What stuck
- The college bought a site license
A program director who had used PERRLA in graduate school brought it to her RN-to-BSN students partway through the fall semester. The lesson the program took: show students what PERRLA can do at the start.
- Students
- RN-to-BSN students, working nurses writing papers nearly every week
- Start
- Mid-semester, without a live onboarding session
- One spring month
- 77 papers and 122 references in a single 30-day window
- What stuck
- Students who picked it up kept using it
The school was mid-way through a curriculum redesign and preparing for accreditation, so the rollout was deliberately quiet: students got access, and the choice to use it was theirs. Then the school's own surveys measured what changed.
- Students
- Nursing students across the Helen S. Breidegam School of Nursing, from BSN to DNP
- Approach
- Offered, not required: no mandate, no required training, no points attached
- Final 12 months
- 129 papers, 595 references, 539 citations
- What stuck
- 78% of surveyed students would recommend PERRLA, and they asked for it in the first course
Papers, references, and citations are counts from PERRLA's usage data for each program's students during the case-study window. Grade data comes from the program's own faculty.
How a case study works.
A free semester for your students, and two pages we write together at the end of it.
Before the term: a free pilot semester
Your students go on a roster and get full PERRLA in PERRLA Online, Word, Google Docs, and the Chrome extension. Faculty and staff get free accounts. No invoice for the semester.
During the term: students write, faculty grade
Nothing changes in the syllabus beyond one line. We handle student support, every day until 10 PM Central.
End of term: two pages, written with you
The situation your program started in, what changed, and the numbers from PERRLA's usage data, in your faculty's words. Your faculty sign off on the final text.
After the term: shared with programs like yours
The finished PDF goes on this page and in front of programs considering PERRLA. Your program decides whether to continue on a site license.
From the faculty who read the papers.
No tool replaces learning APA. Students still need to understand why they cite sources and how scholarly writing works. But removing unnecessary formatting friction has allowed us to focus on the purpose of evidence-based writing rather than the mechanics alone.
As an educator, I’m always looking for reliable tools that support strong academic writing, and PERRLA has consistently proven trustworthy. I recommend it to my students because it provides accurate, easy‑to‑use citation support that helps them build confidence and good habits…
I love PERRLA because I'm a little chaotic and have lots of things going on. It helps me be concise, have good recall, and have easy access. Bottom line – work smart and not hard!
Questions about the case studies
Who writes the case study?
What does the pilot semester cost?
What do the numbers count?
Is there a case study from a doctoral program?
How do we start?
Your program can run a free pilot semester before anyone signs a license.
After the pilot, $9.95 per student per year, faculty free, and ADN and ASN nursing programs free. A 15-minute call is enough to set it up.
- [email protected], Graysen Pack, CEO and Co-Owner
- Book a call
- Pick a 15-minute slot
- Site license
- How a site license works