<P> 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 . The company claims to promote the reading of the original work, and does not view the study guides as a substitute for that reading . </P> <P> CliffsNotes was started by a Nebraska native named Clifton Hillegass in 1958 . He was working at Nebraska Book Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, when he met Jack Cole, the co-owner of Coles, a Toronto book business . Coles published a series of Canadian study guides called Coles Notes, and sold Hillegass the U.S. rights to the guides . </P> <P> Hillegass and his wife, Catherine, started the business in their basement at 511 Eastridge Drive in Lincoln, with sixteen William Shakespeare titles . By 1964 sales reached one million Notes annually . CliffsNotes now exist on hundreds of works . The term "Cliff's Notes" has now become a proprietary eponym for similar products . </P>

Where did the term cliff notes come from