It’s hard to imagine your little brother being so popular that when you do a Google search, he’s at the top of the results.

But one Northwestern student who considers his business to be like his little brother, that’s exactly what has happened.

Neal Taparia, a Weinberg senior who finished his class requirements Winter Quarter, is the co-creator of EasyBib.com, now the most popular bibliographic Web site on the Internet according to Google analytics. The site creates an MLA-formatted bibliography for users after they type in components such as a title and an author.

“It kind of became a baby brother you had to take care of,” Taparia said of the site.

Now the baby brother has a sibling.

The success of EasyBib has led Taparia and the site’s co-creator, Brown University alumnus Darshan Somashekar, to expand upon the concept they created when Taparia was a high school junior. They recently released EasyTopics, a searchable database of essay topics ranging from mathematics to current events.

EasyBib and EasyTopics are both part of Taparia’s umbrella company, ImagineEasy. Taparia said he expects the company to make more than $100,000 this year.

EasyTopics feeds off the information provided by EasyBib users, Taparia said. When the site’s visitors enter their source information, they’re asked for basic data on their research topic. EasyTopics retains this information so students can search the site to get ideas for their own writing. The site provides suggestions for middle-school-aged writers through university students.

“We realized we had a whole wealth of info that documented people’s research habits,” Taparia said. “Why not organize that?”

Students first search EasyTopics by general subjects such as ‘classics’ or ‘environment.’ Then they can look at more specific categories There are brief descriptions and source suggestions listed among the specific topics. Students even have the option of directly importing the formatted bibliography into their own paper.

“You just need that spark, that light bulb,” Taparia said. “You can go there and get lots of ideas.”

But English Prof. Martin Mueller said he wouldn’t recommend it to students.

“It sounds like the kind of thing that makes students think less rather than more,” said Mueller, who had never seen the site.

Weinberg freshman Mallory Horejs said she liked the idea of a site like EasyTopics.

“It sounds really organized, a good way to get reputable information,” she said.

Taparia said working on the two sites has become like a full-time job. He contacts news sources and sends press releases to get publicity for his sites. He also reviews essay topics submitted for EasyTopics.

The work is tedious, but Taparia said he doesn’t mind.

“You can’t consider it an opportunity cost,” he said. “But this great obligation you have to nurture and care for.”

Reach Kate Diaz at [email protected].