mac research paper software

Your personal research assistant

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, annotate, cite, and share research.

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and iOS

Just need to create a quick bibliography? Try ZoteroBib .

Meet Zotero.

Collect with a click..

Zotero automatically senses research as you browse the web. Need an article from JSTOR or a preprint from arXiv.org? A news story from the New York Times or a book from a library? Zotero has you covered, everywhere.

Organize your way.

Zotero helps you organize your research any way you want. You can sort items into collections and tag them with keywords. Or create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as you work.

Cite in style.

Zotero instantly creates references and bibliographies for any text editor, and directly inside Word, LibreOffice, and Google Docs. With support for over 9,000 citation styles, you can format your work to match any style guide or publication.

Stay in sync.

Zotero can optionally synchronize your data across devices, keeping your files, notes, and bibliographic records seamlessly up to date. If you decide to sync, you can also always access your research from any web browser.

Collaborate freely.

Zotero lets you co-write a paper with a colleague, distribute course materials to students, or build a collaborative bibliography. You can share a Zotero library with as many people you like, at no cost.

Zotero is open source and developed by an independent, nonprofit organization that has no financial interest in your private information. With Zotero, you always stay in control of your own data.

Still not sure which program to use for your research? See why we think you should choose Zotero .

Ready to try Zotero?

Mendeley brings your research to life, so you can make an impact on tomorrow

Search over 100 million cross-publisher articles and counting

Popular searches: COVID-19 Bioenergy Obesity

Create a free account

Access your library, everywhere

Add papers directly from your browser with a few clicks or import any documents from your desktop. Access your library from anywhere. Windows, Mac, Linux and all browsers.

Learn about the library >

Easy referencing

Generate references, citations and bibliographies in a whole range of journal styles with just a few clicks.

Learn about citing >

Join millions of researchers using Mendeley

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Top 10: Reference Management software for Mac

Top 10 Article Management software

Download Center

Take advantage of all the reference management and citation writing tools that ReadCube has to offer and enjoy seamless syncing across all of your devices.

Desktop App

Save your library to your desktop for offline access

Papers, by ReadCube, synced across all of your devices.

Seamlessly cite as you write

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1 click PDF downloads

Best Academic Writing Software: 21 Top Options (2024)

In this article, you’ll discover the best academic writing software options based on their features, prices, and usability. 

I remember spending countless hours in my University’s library, desperately trying to format my thesis correctly, surrounded by half-empty takeaway coffee cups. If only I had known that the right academic writing software could have helped me save time and improve the quality of my work. 

Whether you’re a university student struggling to finish your thesis like I was or a researcher with deadlines looming, you can rest assured that the right academic writing software will take an enormous weight off your shoulders. What is academic writing? Read our guide to find out!

Academic writing requires meticulous attention to detail which is why we’ve scoured the web looking for software that will support you in the following areas:

• Concise sentences
• Readability improvements
• Chapter, footnotes, and bibliography automation

The academic software options in this article will help you unlock your true potential as an academic writer by improving your grammar, structure, style, and planning.

1. Grammarly

2. prowritingaid, 3. scrivener, 4. google docs, 9. obsidian, 11. microsoft word, 13. mendeley, 14. endnote, 16. turnitin, 17. copyscape, 18. chatgpt, 20. authorea, why should you trust me , our testing criteria, is grammarly good for academic writing, 21 best free & paid academic writing software.

Pricing : Free version available, Premium $12/month, Business $15/month Use for : For plagiarism and grammar checks of academic writing

Grammarly is the most popular writing software on the market, and it’s being used by all types of writers, from high-school students to academic writers in top institutions and universities.

I personally never submit work to my clients without running it through Grammarly first, and I’ve even shelled out for the yearly premium subscription to get access to the plagiarism checker. To find out more, read our Grammarly review .

Some new students also wonder if it’s ok to use this tool to edit their essays and papers. It’s fine to use but if you need more context, in this article, our writer answers the question, is using Grammarly cheating ? 

• Grammarly is user-friendly, allowing you to either copy and paste your work directly into the application or have it check your documents while you type
• Makes Suggestions to improve sentence structure and explains why the change has been suggested
• Picks up on adjectives that could lead to exaggeration
• Encourages you to write in the action instead of the passive voice
• Works for British English, American English, and Australian English
• Plagiarism checker is only available to premium customers
• Plagiarism checker doesn’t cover academic papers
• Live checker is not available for Microsoft Word

We tested dozens of grammar checkers, and Grammarly is the best tool on the market today. It'll help you write and edit your work much faster. Grammarly provides a powerful AI writing assistant and plagiarism checker.

Pricing: Free version, $20/month, $79/year, $300/lifetime Use for: As an alternative for grammar and plagiarism checkers of academic writing

ProWritingAid is an affordable grammar checker that leverages artificial intelligence and a personal support system to help you improve your writing by pointing out specific areas of weakness. 

ProWritingAid presents suggestions similarly to Grammarly through bold pop-up boxes that are easy to navigate. However, this software targets professionals looking to make fundamental changes to their writing style. To find out more, read our ProWritingAid review .

• Reasonable prices, especially with the lifetime option
• Compatible with Microsoft Word
• Includes a digital writing coach
• Style score gives you a guide regarding the quality of your work
• Plagiarism is not included in the free version
• PLagiarism checker less accurate than Grammarly

ProWritingAid is a powerful, accurate grammar checker and style editor. It's suitable for non-fiction and fiction writers and doesn't require a monthly subscription. Save 20% per month or year.

Price: 30-day free trial, student/academics discount $50, IOS $19.99, Standard macOS and Windows $58.99 Use for: For managing large academic papers, organizing research, and references

Scrivener may not be as well known as the last two software options, but it has much to offer academic writers. For example, the platform will help you get your references in order, and it will help you integrate large chunks of text into one, which is useful when you’re moving big paragraphs.

Although bloggers and journalists overlook Scrivener, if you’re someone who is dealing with long research papers, this could be the ideal software choice. To find out more, read our Scrivener review .

• Great formatting tools for academic writers
• Affordable prices, especially with the academic discount
• Helps organize your reference 
• Keep all your files, including PDFs and web pages, inside your Scrivener account
• Take a snapshot of your work and return to early versions if you want to make retrospective changes
• No plagiarism checker
• No live checker for editing on external platforms such as Google Docs and Word
• A learning curve

Scrivener is our go-to app for long-form writing projects. It's popular with best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. 

Price: Free Use for: General writing, collaborative writing, and editing

Google Docs is probably the most well-known writing software, and it’s used by professional writers, bloggers, and academics worldwide. I’m personally using Docs to write this post, as its sharing feature makes sending your work to an editor a breeze. 

Docs offers many valuable features for academic writers, including headers and footers, collaborative comments, citations, and the new document comparison tool. 

This platform is useful when combined with Grammarly, its spell checker, and writing tips are highlighted clearly in Google Docs, and you can accept and reject suggestions with one click. 

• Easy to use, familiar software
• Collaboration made easy
• Easy to format text with citations, headers/footers, and Headings 
• Grammarly compatible
• Export in PDF
• Document comparison does not make up for the lack of a plagiarism checker
• Native spell checker is a little unreliable, but adding Grammarly makes up for this

Price: Free Use for: For writing scientific papers

LaTex is a writing software designed to help people improve the structure of their academic papers. It’s worth noting that LaTeX doesn’t offer a spell-checking service, so you’ll want to use it in combination with Grammarly or ProWritingAid. 

The software interface may not boast a high-quality-looking interface, but the underlying features are impressive, especially considering the software is free to use. 

• Automatic indexing and bibliography generator 
• Automatic chapter and paragraph macros
• Math typesetting
• No spelling and grammar checker 
• Not as user-friendly as some competitors

Price: 30-day free trial, $3/per month for students, $5/month for academics, $10/month for business Use for: To manage, read, annotate, and share your research references

Papers help you gather your research materials across multiple devices, making your books, articles, and journals easy to access and organize. 

If you’re writing a long research paper, manually collating all your references into one library would be extremely time-consuming. Papers automate the process, letting you focus on writing, 

Although Papers isn’t a stand-alone academic writing software due to the lack of most expected features, it will be handy for academic writers struggling to organize their references and sources.

• Low price for academics and students
• Import references to your library from multiple platforms
• Access all your research sources in one place
• Collaborative annotation of notes and sources
• $10/month is a little expensive, considering you don’t get plagiarism or a spell checker

Price: Free Use for: As a markdown editor and for organizing academic notes

Zettlr is an open-source markdown editor software that lets you focus on your writing without worrying about making it HTML compatible manually. Zettlr is excellent for academic writers looking to include citations or export their work in multiple formats. 

• Export in multiple formats
• Citation system.
• Tags to help you organize information
• Writing goals tracker
• Preview documents without opening them
• You may need some CSS coding knowledge to get the best out of the software.
• No plagiarism checker.

Price: $5.99/month or $39.99/year Use for: Writing on IOS devices

Ulysses is a writing software designed for use on Mac, iPad, and iPhone, so if you aren’t an Apple user, then this one isn’t for you.

Although academic papers are usually full of data, graphs, and charts, you sometimes need to focus on your text, which is where Ulysses can help. Ulysses is minimalist in design with a clutter-free interface, so if you’re someone that quickly gets distracted from writing, it could be a great option. It supports Markdown. You can also use it to prepare an academic paper for publication. To find out more, read our Ulysses review .

• iCloud synchronization
• One payment plan for three devices
• Minimalistic design.
• Set and track writing goals.
• Lacks academic writing features such as a bibliography, references, and chapter organization
• No option for collaborative writing
• Not available for Windows

Price: Free, but you can make a one-time payment of $25 for special developer features and a yearly $50 for commercial use rights Use for: Note taking and organizing

Obsidian is a note-taking and personal knowledge management tool for improving how research writers organize ideas and notes. 

Academic writing often involves developing complex ideas and presenting them clearly. Obsidian can help you develop your theories by organizing your ideas and notes into mindmaps and information stacks. 

Obsidian won’t be the standalone app you use as an academic writer, but it can help you develop ideas and connections within your papers. To find out more, read our Obsidian review .

• Unique mind mapping system
• Many plugins offer features such as voice recording, formatting, and writing templates
• If you have some knowledge of coding HTML or Java, you can customize parts of the software for your specific needs
• It will take some time to get to grips with all the features
• Lack of specific academic writing needs such as a plagiarism checker

Price: Free Use for: Organize your notes across various platforms

Joplin is an open-source note-taking software that operates across various devices and has a thriving community developing free tools to improve the platform. You can share your notes from Joplin across different platforms, and it runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. 

For academic writers, Joplin offers a space to collect web clippings and notes from online sources and access them from multiple devices. 

• Accessible on all major operating systems
• Web clipping system is excellent for researchers gathering notes
• The community is constantly developing new features
• No collaborative feature
• No free storage/cloud
• Like other note-taking apps, it doesn’t check for plagiarism or spelling

Price: $6.99/Month Use for: General writing, editing, and note-taking

Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used word-processing applications for academic writing. Known for its user-friendly interface, it offers various formatting options and tools. It has an inbuilt spell checker, dozens of fonts, and various formatting options.

It’s a fairly general writing tool that lacks some of the more specialized features of some of those mentioned in this article. Nonetheless, Word is a tried and tested writing companion you should consider using with a good referencing software from this list.

• Robust formatting tools for academic writing
• Familiar to most writers
• Available on almost all PCs
• Solid offline writing tool
• Collaboration features are not as good as other options
• Additional cost for extra cloud storage
• Outdated UI
• Lack of specialist tools

Price: Free Use for: Organizing references

Zotero is an open-source reference management software ideal for anyone struggling to keep their bibliography neatly ordered. If you’re writing a lengthy academic paper and haven’t settled on a referencing software, Zotero is worth a try, especially as it’s free.

If you’re working on a group project, Zotero’s collaborative features are helpful when organizing citations in various formats, including Chicago and APA. Naturally, as this is citation software, you’ll want to combine it with a writing platform such as Docs or Word.

• Free version
• Over 10,000 citation styles
• Collaboration features
• PDF reader built-in
• Compatible with Google Docs and Word
• Limited customer support
• Limited offline access without a paid subscription
• Not the easiest to use without spending several hours practicing

Price: Free with optional premium plan Use for: Researching and referencing

Mendely is a free-to-use reference management tool that PhD students created. You can tell from the software that the people who created it had wasted hours manually referencing and wanted a more streamlined and efficient way to add citations to their papers.

The Mendeley Library has millions of papers and can be easily browsed from tablet, PC, and mobile. Combining it with a reference management tool will help you organize your research.

• Social networking for research collaboration
• Over 100 million articles in the database
• Clean UI, even on smaller screens
• It can be used to generate bibliographies
• Storage is limited in the free version
• Reports of poor synchronization on collaborative documents
• The downloadable version for PC is no longer available

Price: $269.95/Full License Use for: Referencing, annotating, and journal matching

EndNote is a premium academic research and writing software that is a market leader in providing reference management, citations, and bibliography creation. The premium price tag might be worth swallowing if you’re a serious academic writer.

EndNote can help you match your research papers with potentially compatible journals via its Manuscript Match tool. This software is easy to integrate with popular writing software like Google Docs and makes reading and annotating PDFs very easy, even on your phone.

• Excellent reference management
• Smooth integration with word processors
• Top-class PDF reader and annotator
• Novel journal matching tool
• Collaboration is made simple
• The price tag is out of most people’s range
• The learning curve for new users
• The student discount isn’t very generous

Price: Free trial or $1000 Use for: Collaborative reference management and writing

Citavi is an academic writing and reference management tool. The software combines a seamless collaborative writing experience with an automatic citation tool with over 10,000 styles. 

The software automatically links citations, creates a bibliography, and allows you to export directly to Microsoft Word. The software is impressive and has received great reviews, but the price tag naturally means most people will probably settle for something cheaper.

• Covers citations and writing
• Easy export process to Word
• Collaborative writing is as good as with Docs
• Complex academic search queries can be narrowed down with several filters
• The price is high as the product is aimed at companies, not individuals
• Lacks Google Docs compatibility
• The free trial is very limited

Price: Free Use for: Plagiarism checker

Turnitin is a plagiarism detection tool that anyone writing research papers should consider using. Most major research institutions use Turnitin to ensure they don’t publish plagiarized work.

The software is easy to use and rates the uniqueness of academic rating based on its massive pool of papers. Turnitin doesn’t just give a yes or no answer. It points out sections of your work that may be plagiarized and links them to citations of the work that appears to be being copied.

• Trusted by major institutions and leading universities
• Easy to use
• The feedback system gives a detailed breakdown of where you’ve plagiarized and helps you avoid it in the future
• Not the most modern user interface
• Does occasionally flag non-plagiarized copy as plagiarized
• No in-depth writing support or cross-compatibility

Price: Free version or pay per word Use for: Plagiarism checker

Copyscape is a plagiarism checker designed for online content creators and anyone who runs a blog or a website. Although it’s probably less helpful for academics than Turnitin, it’s still worth mentioning, as it can help academics in the early stages of research that involves collecting information from sources other than official journals. 

The software is straightforward to use as it is a simple copy-and-paste system. There is a limited free version, but even the premium per-word rate is very reasonable.

• Great for someone running a blog that posts academic content from multiple writers
• PDF compatible
• Generally, Turnitin is more appropriate for academics
• The website has a very cheap feel

Price: Free version or $20/month Use for: AI-enhanced writing, editing, and researching

ChatGPT has been the most talked about technological innovation this year. Its impact on the world of research and writing is still evolving, and the model is still developing. It’s a fantastic tool for researching if you’re willing to spend a few hours learning how to create effective prompts. 

ChatGPT can rapidly search the web for content published before 2021 and present it concisely. Regardless of the topic you’re researching, this software is going to be able to help you research and write more efficiently.

If you want an in-depth review of ChatGPT and how you can use it to become a better academic writer, check out our ChatGPT review . 

• Rapid response to even very niche research requests
• Finds sources from all over the web much faster than a traditional Google search.
• Speeds up the writing and editing process
• It is a useful tool to master, considering the likelihood of more large language models hitting the market in the future
• It does make factual mistakes.
• Sometimes, the AI suffers from so-called hallucinations that can result in very strange answers.
• Its access to the web was cut off in 2021, so it can’t find the latest research papers.
• You’ll need to spend some time learning about writing prompts to get the best out of ChatGPT

Price: Free version or $4.99/month Use for: Spelling and Grammar

Ginger is a spelling and grammar software that offers an interesting alternative to Grammarly. This software is compatible with most popular writing platforms and goes beyond basic grammar and spelling checks.

Ginger offers unlimited rephrasing suggestions and can translate documents into dozens of languages. In addition, they’ve managed to undercut Grammarly’s prices, so this could be worth a try if you feel Grammarly is too expensive.

• Solid grammar and spell checker
• Very nice UI
• The rephrasing tool will help you add new life to your writing
• Well priced particularly if you pay for a yearly subscription
• The translation feature makes it stand out from the crowd of grammar checkers
• The free version isn’t as comprehensive as the one offered by Grammarly
• Only available on three browsers

Price: Free version available Use for: Writing and publishing

Authorea is a collaborative writing tool designed for researchers working in small teams. Importantly, Authorea goes beyond just helping you write by offering several tools that help researchers publish their papers once it’s completed. Beyond the basic collaborative writing features you may expect, it also offers automatic citation formatting even when multiple people are editing one document.

The software can automatically format research papers to suit 40 of the biggest publishers in the world. The free version is fairly comprehensive, but frustratingly, it’s unclear how much they charge for the premium service, as the price has to be negotiated directly via email with the team. It appears to vary depending on the insulation you work for and the size of your team.

• The publishing feature will be beneficial for academic writers.
• Free to use
• Elegant website and UI
• Collaborative writing and automatic formatting of citations
• The premium pricing plan is not clear
• It’s specialized software, so using it will require some practice
• If you only publish in one journal, then the formatting feature won’t be that useful

Price: Free version available Use for: Specialized academic spelling and grammar checker

Trinka is an AI-powered technical writing grammar and plagiarism checker. This is essentially a more technical version of Grammarly that’s been designed specially to help academic writers. It can help you create a more formal tone, introduce technical terms, and even have the option to focus suggestions on specific scientific areas such as medicine, chemistry, and physics. 

In addition, it has a publication feature that can help you get your paper into the format required by most publishers. If you’ve been using Grammarly as an academic writer but feel that its suggestions are too general, then Trinka could be a great alternative.

• A spell checker designed for academic writers
• Suggestions tailored to your scientific field
• Formatting tool and an in-house plagiarism checker
• Tone enhancement designed for academic papers
• Premium version reasonably priced at $80/year
• The free version is slightly limited
• Only 5,000 words per month with the free version
• Slow response times from customer support, according to some reviews

If you need a good grammar checker, Grammarly is our top choice due to its accuracy and speed. Scrivener excels at managing long-form papers, but Ulysses is easier to use. Obsidian is great for managing research as it Papers.

My work as a journalist has been published in major news outlets such as The Daily Mirror, Newsweek, Zenger, and Yahoo. In a hectic newsroom, there’s no time to waste, and mistakes are rarely forgiven, so I’ve spent hundreds of hours using writing software to guarantee accuracy and clarity in my copy. 

In my opinion, you can make the best use of academic writing software by combining different options based on their individual strengths. I recommend using Google Docs if you collaborate with a team combined with Grammarly or ProWritingAid for spelling and plagiarism and then adding something like Papers to help organize your sources. 

We update this roundup of the best academic writing tools regularly. We test key features by checking MS Word documents, blog posts, essays, articles and even book chapters. 

These writing samples range from several hundred to several thousand words. Typically, we use the web, desktop and browser apps and plugins, factoring in price, ease of use, and functionality. We’ve reviewed many of these tools individually and included links to those reviews.

FAQs About The Best Academic Writing Software

Grammarly is useful for checking academic writing for grammar and spelling mistakes. It can also help academic writers improve the readability of their reports or papers. However, Grammarly isn’t meant to function as a tool for planning and writing academic papers. For that use, a traditional word processor or a dedicated academic writing app.

Paperpile 4+

Manage research papers, paperpile llc, designed for ipad.

• 4.6 • 121 Ratings

Screenshots

Description.

Get a head start for you research and finally beat the paper chaos on your desk. With Paperpile you have all your research PDFs in one place — nice and tidy. Paperpile makes it easier than ever to collect, manage, read, and annotate your papers. FIND & COLLECT - Search millions of papers from 20,000+ academic journals right in the app. - Add new papers to your collection with one tap and the PDF will be downloaded automatically. - Save directly from your browser to your Paperpile library - User your university's off-campus proxy access to get restricted content behind paywalls. MANAGE & ORGANIZE - Bring structure to your library with folders and subfolders - Organize your library visually with colored labels - Mark important papers with stars. - Search your library to find the paper you need fast. READ & ANNOTATE - Read like on paper with a fast and slick PDF viewer experience - Highlight important sections in different colors - Add notes and never forget an important idea. - Add hand-drawn annotations - with your fingers or your Apple Pencil The Paperpile App requires a Paperpile account.

Version 1.3.7

- Fixes and improvements for PDF imports from Science Direct and other publisher sites.

Ratings and Reviews

121 Ratings

Yes this is your best reference manager!

This is probable my first review on AppStore. The reason I start this review is because you should not miss this wonderful app because this is your best reference manager! As a researcher, I have used zotero + papership to manage the papers I read in the past few years. One of the biggest issue is I am not able to label or categorize my papers very well. But Paperpile saves my life and provides this feature! This app is wonderful, and I definitely recommend this app to everyone who has the need to read and annotate many academic papers! One feature I would highly expect is to support browser. Currently you can only use it on chrome, which means they only provide the extension on chrome for you to save the paper as well (from arxiv for example). It would definitely be a huge help if we can support safari and other browsers in the future! Love Paperfile ❤️

Makes life so EASY!

This is a wonderful reference manager! I’ve been needing to find a great manager that allows me to organize and sort my papers as I wish and this app does just that! I love how easy it is to organize my references as well as sort out certain papers based on a label. It was so easy to sign in to my university account to get access to all the journals out there AND I don’t have to re-sign in! It’s so seamless everytime!! I also think that annotating the document is pretty easy and smooth. There is one thing I will say though that I wish Paperpile did offer, and that is the ability to “cite while you write”. I know some other managers offer that and I really think it would be a great way to level up this application to a different level. Overall, a really great reference manager that I enjoy!

Great but a little bare bones

I prefer this reference manager over all of the others on the market, but I do find it lacking in a few features that would add so much to the user experience. For one, it would be great if we could upload PDF files of journal articles directly from the iPhone or iPad app instead of having to go on the Chrome web app to do so (because of the way my institution proxy access works, automatic downloads only work around ~80% of the time). It would also be nice to see some more configuration options in the settings menu. I also want the ability to manually edit citation fields. In the case of some older papers going back decades, the digital archiving isn’t perfect so my collection of citations doesn’t look as neat & tidy as I’d like. These minor grievances aside, it is really a great system and I will continue to rely on Paperpile for my references.

Developer Response ,

Thanks so much for your nice words. Our goal is to have all the features in our web app also on iOS eventually. That will take a bit more time. You already should be able to share PDFs from your iPad with the Paperpile app to add it to your library.

App Privacy

The developer, Paperpile LLC , indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .

Data Linked to You

The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:

• Contact Info
• Identifiers
• Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

Information

• Developer Website
• App Support
• Privacy Policy

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5 Mac Word Processors To Help You Write That College Paper

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I Use This App to Run Windows 11 on My Mac: Here's How

New roku update adds fresh content to your tv... but only when it's off, this tv "tip of your tongue" search function is a game changer.

Finding sources to cite is easy . Planning a paper is easy. Sitting down and writing the thing? Much harder, and though there's no shortage of word processors, not all are well-suited to academic writing.

As someone currently working on my dissertation, I know this problem all too well. So I found five popular Mac applications commonly used for academic writing and  reviewed each in order  to see which excelled the most when it comes to writing college papers and dissertations.

Here's what I found.

Ulysses  ($45)

At just short of $45, Ulysses is one of the more expensive applications in this rundown. I reviewed version 2.0, which runs exclusively on 64-bit Macs running Yosemite. There's also an iPad version  ($19.99), which Bakari reviewed recently .

Ulysses is, like Desk and iA Writer, a markdown-oriented text editor. Markdown allows you to format text using a special syntax, rather than pressing a button in an application. The advantage of this is that it doesn't break your workflow, and text written in MarkDown can be copied between applications without losing formatting.

Another advantage of Markdown is that it's incredibly easy to learn, not just because we published a guide to it last year. Ulysses is different from other markdown editors in a number of ways that distinguish it from the pack.

Firstly, it allows you to separate texts into individual sections, each within their own writing space. This is handy if your university project is effectively an anthology of texts, as most dissertations are.

Secondly, Ulysses allows you to change the theme from a bright one, to a more subdued night-mode version which looks great when working in the dark. It also comes with a command palette that feels oddly reminiscent of Sublime Text 2 , which allows you to navigate your document without endlessly scrolling,  just like Vim .

Ulysses also makes it easy to set goals, which is handy when you're unmotivated and trudging through the tedium of a literature review. Unfortunately it doesn't natively support any major reference managers, such as EndNote and Zotero , and it doesn't allow you to embed images or graphics.

Despite these limitations, it's a perfectly adequate markdown editor, and one that lends itself favorably to academic applications.

iA Writer Pro ($20)

I'm a fan of iA Writer. We  reviewed the non-pro version of it back in 2013 and it immediately became my writing application of choice. Why?

The app is markdown-based, so you can add formatting as you write without getting distracted or having your writing pane filled with superfluous toolbars and ribbons. It also allows you to focus on the writing, as it puts the text in the center of your screen and a simple, readable typeface contrasts with the austere, white background.

That's the cheaper, non-pro version. I've since moved on to the professional version, and I'm convinced it too is an excellent choice for markdown aficionados tasked with academic writing.

iA Writer Pro comes all the same features of the cheaper version that allow you to focus on the writing, but brings with it a 'night mode' theme, which is great for late night work.

It also allows you to drill-down on your text and identify parts of your writing you can remove and refactor, such as adverbs, verbs, and prepositions. Given academic writing strongly emphasizes conciseness and precision, this is really helpful.

But iA Writer Pro is lacking some features that are helpful when it comes to academic writing. It doesn't support third-party plugins, which makes it hard to import your citations in from Zotero, or any other reference manager. It also only lets you to work one document at a time, unlike Ulysses's multi-sheet approach to document editing.

Despite those drawbacks, it's only $20  and makes it easy to be focused and productive, and is therefore worth a consider.

Scrivener 2 ($45)

Scrivener is an inexpensive application with an excruciatingly steep learning curve. It's commonly used by people working in the creative industries, and has found a niche as a tool for writing screenplays and scripts. But despite this pedigree, it is also worth considering for your next academic paper.

Scrivener, like Ulysses, lets you break your document into manageable chunks, and tackle them one at a time. Editing is done through a graphical interface, with formatting added through the application, rather than using Markdown syntax.

But perhaps the killer feature of Scrivener is its 'cork board'. This allows you to manage, collect, and collate resources you might want to use in your paper, such as images, notes and references.

Scrivener supports a handful of popular third-party bibliography applications, which means you don't have to adjust your system of managing citations and references. It also allows you to create snapshots - or versions - of your text, and revert back to them when you want to return to an earlier form of your work. This is similar to how Git works , which is a version control system used by programmers.

However, Scrivener lacks the sleek, distraction-free aesthetics of iA Writer and Ulysses, which makes it less than ideal for long writing sprints where your focus might wander. It's also rather expensive, and takes a few hours (and a lot of reading) to fully get to grips with.

Microsoft Word 2016 Preview Edition (Free)

It's hard not to talk about word processors, and not mention Microsoft Word. It's the incumbent, and has been for a couple of decades now. Go to any university, and you'll find Microsoft Word is the de-facto word processor. This due to that fact that it's well understood, supported by Microsoft, and works well with other the packages in the Microsoft Office family.

Microsoft recently released the preview version of Word 2016 , and is currently available as a free download before being publicly released.

This latest version represents the biggest change to Microsoft Word on OS X for almost 5 years. It comes with a sleek new aesthetic that makes it feel like the modern, premium word processor it is. For once, you're going to want to write with Word.

But as a tool for writing Academic papers, how does it stand up? Well, it's not a distraction-free editor like iA Writer is, but that's fine. It makes up for that by being well-rounded and complete, boasting all the features any university student or academic could possibly need.

One of the most compelling features for any student is its built-in citation manager, which offers many of the features of Zotero, and can produce references in APA, MLM and Chicago style.

Unlike iA Writer Pro and Ulysses, Word allows you to insert and embed figures and graphics, and create charts that underscore the points you make.

This makes it one of the more compelling packages for academic writing. The only problem is that when it exits the beta phase, it will ultimately cost a good chunk of change. This free version will eventually cease to work, so you'll have to purchase Word as part of the Office 2016 release if you want to keep the functionality you've gotten used to. In the Apple Store, Office 2011 costs $139.95, so expect Office 2016 to cost something approaching that.

It's also worth noting that beta applications can ship with bugs that might end up destroying all your hard work. With that in mind, it's a good idea to make regular backups if you decide to use it.

Pages (Free/$19.99)

Pages is part of iWork , Apple's flagship productivity suite. Apple made it available free of charge to anyone who purchased Mac on or after October 1, 2013. Everyone else can purchase it for $19.99 on the Mac App Store, which is pretty good for a fully-fledged word processor.

As a tool for getting words on a page, it's solid. It comes with a number of templates for academic writing. However, these overwhelmingly are geared towards a style of academic writing that's more common in the American university system, than in the British and Antipodean ones. That said, it's easy enough to tweak a template, and formatting text in Pages is simple enough for this not to be too much of a barrier.

Pages also supports academic citations through EndNote , a perfectly competent though expensive reference manager, with a license costing around $250. The closest free alternative, Zotero, hasn't released a plugin for iWork and given the niche status of Apple's iWork when it comes to productivity software, I doubt they ever will.

Pages can also produce incredible graphics and charts with a button's press. This makes it ideal for those writing papers with a somewhat data-driven emphasis.

For those on a tight budget, it remains the best option, and poses a serious challenge to the likes of Scrivener and Ulysses.

No Surprises Here

It should come as absolutely no surprise that the two packages I'm ultimately going to recommend are ones made by Microsoft and Apple; both giants in what they do. Pages and Word are just too complete and functional to not recommend, and offer the most value for money (at least while Word is free).

As a close second, I'd also recommend iA Writer Pro, which despite lacking a number of killer features like EndNote integration and bibliography management, offers the best writing experience of any application listed in my opinion.

What do you use to write your academic papers? Leave me a comment below and we'll chat.

Image Credits: student with laptop Via Shutterstock

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LITERATURE REVIEW SOFTWARE FOR BETTER RESEARCH

“Litmaps is a game changer for finding novel literature... it has been invaluable for my productivity.... I also got my PhD student to use it and they also found it invaluable, finding several gaps they missed”

Varun Venkatesh

Austin Health, Australia

As a full-time researcher, Litmaps has become an indispensable tool in my arsenal. The Seed Maps and Discover features of Litmaps have transformed my literature review process, streamlining the identification of key citations while revealing previously overlooked relevant literature, ensuring no crucial connection goes unnoticed. A true game-changer indeed!

Ritwik Pandey

Doctoral Research Scholar – Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Using Litmaps for my research papers has significantly improved my workflow. Typically, I start with a single paper related to my topic. Whenever I find an interesting work, I add it to my search. From there, I can quickly cover my entire Related Work section.

David Fischer

Research Associate – University of Applied Sciences Kempten

“It's nice to get a quick overview of related literature. Really easy to use, and it helps getting on top of the often complicated structures of referencing”

Christoph Ludwig

Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

“This has helped me so much in researching the literature. Currently, I am beginning to investigate new fields and this has helped me hugely”

Aran Warren

Canterbury University, NZ

“I can’t live without you anymore! I also recommend you to my students.”

Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

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KU Leuven, Belgium

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Franklin Jeffers

South Oregon University, USA

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Clarkson University, USA

As a person who is an early researcher and identifies as dyslexic, I can say that having research articles laid out in the date vs cite graph format is much more approachable than looking at a standard database interface. I feel that the maps Litmaps offers lower the barrier of entry for researchers by giving them the connections between articles spaced out visually. This helps me orientate where a paper is in the history of a field. Thus, new researchers can look at one of Litmap's "seed maps" and have the same information as hours of digging through a database.

Baylor Fain

Postdoctoral Associate – University of Florida

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30 Tools and Resources for Academic Research

Merriam-Webster defines “research” as “careful or diligent search; studious inquiry or examination; the collecting of information about a particular subject”. It’s not easy to conduct academic research, so here we round up 30 academic tools and resources that will facilitate your research in managing, indexing, and web scraping .

Looking for data resources for your research? Find it in  70 Amazing Free Data Resources you should know, covering government, crime, health, finances, social media, journalism, real estate, etc.

10 Research Management Tools

1. marginnote.

License: Commercial

MarginNote is a powerful reading tool for learners. Whether you are a student, a teacher, a researcher, a lawyer, or someone with a curious mind to learn, MarginNote can help you quickly organize, study and manage large volumes of PDFs and EPUBs. All-in-one learning app enables you to highlight PDF and EPUB, take notes, create the mind map, review flashcards, and saves you from switching endlessly between different Apps. It is available on Mac, iPad, and iPhone.

License: Free

Zotero is a free, easy-to-use tool to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research. It is available for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It supports managing bibliographic data and related research materials (such as PDF files). Notable features include web browser integration, online syncing, generation of in-text citations, footnotes, and bibliographies, as well as integration with the word processors Microsoft Word and LibreOffice Writer.

3. RefWorks

RefWorks is a web-based commercial reference management software package. Users’ reference databases are stored online, allowing them to be accessed and updated from any computer with an internet connection. Institutional licenses allow universities to subscribe to RefWorks on behalf of all their students, faculty, and staff. Individual licenses are also available. The software enables linking from a user’s RefWorks account to electronic editions of journals to which the institution’s library subscribes.

EndNote is the industry standard software tool for publishing and managing bibliographies, citations, and references on the Windows and Macintosh desktop. EndNote X9 is the reference management software that not only frees you from the tedious work of manually collecting and curating your research materials and formatting bibliographies, but also gives you greater ease and control in coordinating with your colleagues.

5. Mendeley

Mendeley Desktop is free academic software (Windows, Mac, Linux) for organizing and sharing research papers and generating bibliographies with 1GB of free online storage to automatically back up and synchronize your library across desktop, web, and mobile.

6. Readcube

ReadCube is a desktop and browser-based program for managing, annotating, and accessing academic research articles. It can sync your entire library including notes, lists, annotations, and even highlights across all of your devices including your desktop (Mac/PC), mobile devices (iOS/Android/Kindle), or even through the Web.

Qiqqa is a free research and reference manager. Its free version supports supercharged PDF management, annotation reports, expedition, Ad-supported, and 2GB free online storage.

Docear offers a single-section user interface that allows the most comprehensive organization of your literature; a literature suite concept that combines several tools in a single application (pdf management, reference management, mind mapping, …); A recommender system that helps you to discover new literature: Docear recommends papers which are free, in full-text, instantly to download, and tailored to your information needs.

9. Paperpile

Paperpile is a web-based commercial reference management software, with a special emphasis on integration with Google Docs and Google Scholar. Parts of Paperpile are implemented as a Google Chrome browser extension

JabRef is an open-source bibliography reference manager. The native file format used by JabRef is BibTeX, the standard LaTeX bibliography format. JabRef is a desktop application that runs on the Java VM (version 8), and works equally well on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Entries can be searched in external databases and BibTeX entries can be fetched from there. Example sources include arXiv, CiteseerX, Google Scholar, Medline, GVK, IEEEXplore, and Springer.

10 Reference/Index Resources

1. google scholar.

Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. It includes most peer-reviewed online academic journals and books, conference papers, theses and dissertations, preprints, abstracts, technical reports, and other scholarly literature, including court opinions and patents. You can extract these academic data easily by scraping Google Scholar search results .

arXiv (pronounced “archive”) is a repository of electronic preprints (known as e-prints) approved for publication after moderation, that consists of scientific papers in the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, electrical engineering, computer science, quantitative biology, statistics, and quantitative finance, which can be accessed online. In many fields of mathematics and physics, almost all scientific papers are self-archived on the arXiv repository.

3. Springer

Springer Science+Business Media or Springer, part of Springer Nature, has published more than 2,900 journals and 290,000 books, which covers science, humanities, technical and medical, etc.

4. Hyper Articles en Ligne

Hyper Articles en Ligne (HAL) is an open archive where authors can deposit scholarly documents from all academic fields, run by the Centre pour la Communication Scientifique direct, which is part of the French National Centre for Scientific Research. An uploaded document does not need to have been published or even to be intended for publication. It may be posted to HAL as long as its scientific content justifies it.

MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, or MEDLARS Online) is a bibliographic database of life sciences and biomedical information. It includes bibliographic information for articles from academic journals covering medicine, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, and health care. MEDLINE also covers much of the literature in biology and biochemistry, as well as fields such as molecular evolution.

Compiled by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), MEDLINE is freely available on the Internet and searchable via PubMed and NLM’s National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Entrez system.

6. ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers[3] to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators.[4] According to a study by Nature and an article in Times Higher Education, it is the largest academic social network in terms of active users.

7. CiteSeerx

Owner: Pennsylvania State University

CiteSeerx ( CiteSeer ) is a public search engine and digital library for scientific and academic papers, primarily in the fields of computer and information science. Many consider it to be the first academic paper search engine and the first automated citation indexing system. CiteSeer holds a United States patent # 6289342, titled “Autonomous citation indexing and literature browsing using citation context”.

Owner: Elsevier

Scopus is the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed research literature. With over 22,000 titles from more than 5,000 international publishers. You can use this free author lookup to search for any author; or, use the Author Feedback Wizard to verify your Scopus Author Profile.

9. Emerald Group Publishing

Emerald Publishing was founded in 1967, and now manages a portfolio of nearly 300 journals, more than 2,500 books, and over 1,500 teaching cases, covering the fields of management, business, education, library studies, health care, and engineering.

10. Web of Science

Owner: Clarivate Analytics (United States)

Web of Science (previously known as Web of Knowledge) is an online subscription-based scientific citation indexing service originally produced by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)

10 Information Collection Tools

This part divides the 10 information collection tools into 5 information survey tools and 5 data collection tools for further use.

5 Information Survey Tools

1. google forms.

Google Forms is a simple option for you if you already have a Google account. It supports menu search, a shuffle of questions for randomized order, limiting responses to once per person, custom themes, automatically generating answer suggestions when creating forms, and an “Upload file” option for users answering to share content through.

Moreover, the response can be synced in Google Drive, and users can request file uploads from individuals outside their respective companies, with the storage cap initially set at 1 GB.

2. Survey Monkey

Survey Monkey is quite a well-known name in the field but is also costing. It is a great choice for you if you want an easy user interface for basic surveys, as its free plan supports unlimited surveys, however, each survey is limited to 10 questions.

3. Survey Gizmo

SurveyGizmo can be customized to meet a wide range of data-collection demands. The free version has up to 25 question types, letting you write a survey that caters to specific needs. It also offers nearly 100 different question types that can all be customized to the user’s liking.

4. PollDaddy

PollDaddy is online survey software that allows users to embed surveys on their website or invite respondents via email. Its free version supports unlimited polls, 19 types of questions, and even adding images, videos, and content from YouTube, Flickr, Google Maps, and more.

5. LimeSurvey

LimeSurvey is an open-source survey software as a professional SaaS solution or as a self-hosted Community Edition. LimeSurvey’s professional free version provides 25 responses/month with an unlimited number of surveys, unlimited administrators, and 10 MB of upload storage.

5 Web Data Collection Tools

1. octoparse.

Octoparse is the most easy-to-use web scraping tool for people without a prior tech background. It is widely used among online sellers, marketers, researchers, and data analysts. With its intuitive interface, you can scrape web data within points and clicks. If you are looking for a one-stop data solution, Octoparse also provides a  web data service . Or you can simply follow the Octoparse user guide to scrape website data easily for free. It also provides ready-to-use web scraping templates to extract data from Amazon, eBay, Twitter, BestBuy, etc.

https://www.octoparse.com/template/email-social-media-scraper

Its free version offers unlimited pages per crawl, 10 crawlers, and up to 10,000 records per export. If the data collected is over 10,000, then you can pay $5.9 to export all the data. If you need to track the dynamic data in real time, you may want to use Octoparse’s premium feature: scheduled cloud extraction. Read its customer stories to get an idea of how web scraping enhances businesses.

2. Parsehub

Parsehub is another non-programmer-friendly desktop software for web scraping, which is available to various systems such as Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Its free version offers 200 pages per crawl, 5 public projects, and 14 days for data retention.

3. Docparser

Docparser converts PDF documents into structured and easy-to-handle data, which allows you to extract specific data fields from PDFs and scanned documents, convert PDF to text, PDF to JSON, PDF to XML, convert PDF tables into CSV or Excel, etc. Its starting price is $19, which includes 100 parsing credits.

Scrapy is an open-source and collaborative framework for extracting the data you need from websites. In a fast, simple, yet extensible way.

Feedity automagically extracts relevant content & data from public web pages to create auto-updating RSS feeds. Instantly convert online news, articles, discussion forums, reviews, jobs, events, products, blogs, press releases, social media posts, or any other Web content into subscribable or publishable notifications. The starter version offers 20 feeds and 6 hours update interval, with a cost of $9 per month.

Final Thoughts

Hope it’s helpful for you after learning the top 30 tools for academic research. Data is becoming more and more important in today’s world, not only for academic research but also for other industries. The basic step of data analysis is data collection, so using a web scraping tool like Octoparse can really save you time and energy.

Explore topics

• # Web Scraping 225
• # Octoparse 52
• # E-commerce 52
• # Big Data 48
• # Lead Generation 32
• # Social Media 15

Get started with Octoparse today

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Since 1987 takes care of formatting details (references, margins, cover pages, page numbers, section headings, etc.) so you can concentrate on your writing. , APA 6th edition, MLA 8th edition and Turabian 9th edition. Dr Paper Software works with Word (or Google Docs) to help you create APA, MLA, or Turabian formatted documents and references easily and correctly. --> --> and that citation? -- it's a very freeing experience! Being able to focus on analysis and word choice, rather than on commas and citations, will make writing papers more enjoyable for any student. . . . " gives them a better chance at doing well on research writing assignments." Medical School styles, Anthropology Style, and Bluebook (Legal Documents). text editor. You can use it with Google Docs, Power Point, Word Press, First Draft -- whatever you use to write! (2010 (Win), 2011 (Mac), 2013 (Win), 2016 (Mac & Win) and 2019 (Mac & Win) (that can be used with Powerpoint, GoogleDocs, HTML, or any other program) --> © 1987 - 2023 The Write Direction Inc. Publishers of Dr Paper Software, Citation, and the Collegiate Bookshelf. All Rights Reserved. Try Out New Papers Pro! Download Center Take advantage of all the reference management and citation writing tools that Papers has to offer and enjoy seamless syncing across all of your devices. Desktop App Save your library to your desktop for offline access Papers synced across all of your devices. Seamlessly cite from your library as you write. Browser Extensions 1 click PDF downloads Library Home Library Guides Citation Management Which Tool is Best For Me? EndNote Web Other Citation Tools Citation Guides How to Choose a Citation Manager I Need to: Use: Why: Work from multiple computers or locations Zotero Mendeley EndNote Web saves your citation library to your local computer, but syncs with multiple computers so you can work from home, work, or school. is a program that lives on your local computer, but syncs with a web account. is web based. Your citation library is accessible from any computer that is connected to the web. Work without an Internet connection Zotero Mendeley EndNote and can store your citation libraries locally on your computer. Archive web pages and import citations from sites such as Amazon, Flickr, and ArtSTOR Zotero allows you to easily save snapshots of web pages and annotate them within your citation library. It is a great tool for saving citation information from some web-based publications and commercial and social networking sites. Work on a group project or share my citations with others Zotero Mendeley EndNote Web allows you to share your citations through shared folders -- you can give individuals or groups permissions to add and edit the citations in the shared folder. allows you to share citations and documents with a group of up to 10 other users, or create a public reading list that is open to all. allows you to share groups with anyone who is registered with the service. You can allow others to view or edit your citations. Adapted with permission from “ Choosing a Citation Manager ,” copyright © 2011 The Pennsylvania State University. Citation Manager Comparison Table Citation Manager Comparison Table   Zotero Mendeley EndNote EndNote Web Access Zotero software with browser add-on (Firefox and Chrome). Desktop software, but can sync with an online account which is editable Desktop software with an online version (EndNote Web) Web-based Where is my database stored? Local computer with web based syncing between computers.  Local computer with web based syncing between computers Local Computer with cloud storage and syncing via EndNote Web Web-based How does it work? Detect citations that can be captured from databases or web pages. Search and import records using PMID, DOI, or ISBN. Extract citation information from PDFs. Import from many popular databases. Extract citation information from PDFs. Export from databases into EndNote. Can search catalogs from within EndNote. Browser bookmarklet can import from many databases. Can also import using text files Ability to work offline Yes Yes Yes No Cost Free to anyone Free. UChicago faculty, students, and staff can register through Web of Science fro more features   Free to UChicago faculty, students, and staff Word-processor compatibility MS Word, Google Docs, Open Office MS Word, Open Office, LaTex Microsoft Word, OpenOffice (EndNote X3+), Pages (X4+) MS Word Import from Library databases Yes Yes Direct export from specific databases Yes Import from Library Catalog As of summer 2022, no, but expected.  Yes Yes Yes Integration Yes, via Library Lookup feature No Yes, but must be configured Yes Import citation info from web pages Yes, also archives the page and you can add annotations Yes, with a bookmark for a limited number of sites (mostly publishers or databases) No Yes, with bookmarklet Manage large libraries Easy Moderate to difficult Easy Moderate to difficult Storage capacity Unlimited local storage. Unlimited data syncing if you use your UChicago email address. Unlimited local storage and data syncing; 2GB personal and 100MB group free Mendeley file syncing ( ; must sign in to view prices) Unlimited local storage. Software purchase provides term access to unlimited storage via EndNote Web Limited to 10,000 citations Attach associated files (PDFs, etc.) Yes, with option to attach automatically Yes, and can highlight and annotate PDFs Yes Yes Search full text of PDFs Yes Yes Yes No PDF Annotation and Notes Yes Yes No No Create group or shared libraries Yes Yes, but limit of 3 members in a private group No, but can share through EndNote Web Yes Create bibliography w/ different styles Yes, limited number included by default; hundreds can be downloaded from Yes Yes, hundreds of styles available. Yes Edit output styles Extremely difficult No Easy No Strengths - Easy to learn -Quick for collecting citations and organizing PDFs - Free unlimited storage and syncing with UChicago address. - User friendly features such as tagging, attachments, and notes.   - Automatic citation extraction from PDFs - Sync library over multiple computers - Sync with Zotero library automatically - Best for organizing large collections of citations and managing PDFs - Wide variety of citation styles - Easily customized - Easy to work in multiple locations - Easy to share access with colleagues << Previous: Home Next: EndNote >> Subjects: Biomedical Sciences , Business , Physical Sciences , Social Sciences Updated: Dec 15, 2023 11:25 AM URL: https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/citation_management Report a problem Login to LibApps Open sourcetools The best AI tools for research papers and academic research (Literature review, grants, PDFs and more) As our collective understanding and application of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, so too does the realm of academic research. Some people are scared by it while others are openly embracing the change.  Make no mistake, AI is here to stay! Instead of tirelessly scrolling through hundreds of PDFs, a powerful AI tool comes to your rescue, summarizing key information in your research papers. Instead of manually combing through citations and conducting literature reviews, an AI research assistant proficiently handles these tasks. These aren’t futuristic dreams, but today’s reality. Welcome to the transformative world of AI-powered research tools! This blog post will dive deeper into these tools, providing a detailed review of how AI is revolutionizing academic research. We’ll look at the tools that can make your literature review process less tedious, your search for relevant papers more precise, and your overall research process more efficient and fruitful. I know that I wish these were around during my time in academia. It can be quite confronting when trying to work out what ones you should and shouldn’t use. A new one seems to be coming out every day! Here is everything you need to know about AI for academic research and the ones I have personally trialed on my YouTube channel. My Top AI Tools for Researchers and Academics – Tested and Reviewed! There are many different tools now available on the market but there are only a handful that are specifically designed with researchers and academics as their primary user. These are my recommendations that’ll cover almost everything that you’ll want to do: Find literature using semantic search. I use this almost every day to answer a question that pops into my head. An increasingly powerful and useful application, especially effective for conducting literature reviews through its advanced semantic search capabilities. An AI-powered search engine specifically designed for academic research, providing a range of innovative features that make it extremely valuable for academia, PhD candidates, and anyone interested in in-depth research on various topics. A tool designed to streamline the process of academic writing and journal submission, offering features that integrate directly with Microsoft Word as well as an online web document option. A tools that allow users to easily understand complex language in peer reviewed papers. The free tier is enough for nearly everyone. A versatile and powerful tool that acts like a personal data scientist, ideal for any research field. It simplifies data analysis and visualization, making complex tasks approachable and quick through its user-friendly interface. Want to find out all of the tools that you could use? Here they are, below: AI literature search and mapping – best AI tools for a literature review – elicit and more Harnessing AI tools for literature reviews and mapping brings a new level of efficiency and precision to academic research. No longer do you have to spend hours looking in obscure research databases to find what you need! AI-powered tools like Semantic Scholar and elicit.org use sophisticated search engines to quickly identify relevant papers. They can mine key information from countless PDFs, drastically reducing research time. You can even search with semantic questions, rather than having to deal with key words etc. With AI as your research assistant, you can navigate the vast sea of scientific research with ease, uncovering citations and focusing on academic writing. It’s a revolutionary way to take on literature reviews. Elicit –  https://elicit.org Litmaps –  https://www.litmaps.com Research rabbit – https://www.researchrabbit.ai/ Connected Papers –  https://www.connectedpapers.com/ Supersymmetry.ai: https://www.supersymmetry.ai Semantic Scholar: https://www.semanticscholar.org Laser AI –  https://laser.ai/ Inciteful –  https://inciteful.xyz/ Scite –  https://scite.ai/ System –  https://www.system.com If you like AI tools you may want to check out this article: How to get ChatGPT to write an essay [The prompts you need] AI-powered research tools and AI for academic research AI research tools, like Concensus, offer immense benefits in scientific research. Here are the general AI-powered tools for academic research.  These AI-powered tools can efficiently summarize PDFs, extract key information, and perform AI-powered searches, and much more. Some are even working towards adding your own data base of files to ask questions from.  Tools like scite even analyze citations in depth, while AI models like ChatGPT elicit new perspectives. The result? The research process, previously a grueling endeavor, becomes significantly streamlined, offering you time for deeper exploration and understanding. Say goodbye to traditional struggles, and hello to your new AI research assistant! Consensus –  https://consensus.app/ Iris AI –  https://iris.ai/ Research Buddy –  https://researchbuddy.app/ Mirror Think – https://mirrorthink.ai AI for reading peer-reviewed papers easily Using AI tools like Explain paper and Humata can significantly enhance your engagement with peer-reviewed papers. I always used to skip over the details of the papers because I had reached saturation point with the information coming in.  These AI-powered research tools provide succinct summaries, saving you from sifting through extensive PDFs – no more boring nights trying to figure out which papers are the most important ones for you to read! They not only facilitate efficient literature reviews by presenting key information, but also find overlooked insights. With AI, deciphering complex citations and accelerating research has never been easier. Aetherbrain – https://aetherbrain.ai Explain Paper – https://www.explainpaper.com Chat PDF – https://www.chatpdf.com Humata – https://www.humata.ai/ Lateral AI –  https://www.lateral.io/ Paper Brain –  https://www.paperbrain.study/ Scholarcy – https://www.scholarcy.com/ SciSpace Copilot –  https://typeset.io/ Unriddle – https://www.unriddle.ai/ Sharly.ai – https://www.sharly.ai/ Open Read –  https://www.openread.academy AI for scientific writing and research papers In the ever-evolving realm of academic research, AI tools are increasingly taking center stage. Enter Paper Wizard, Jenny.AI, and Wisio – these groundbreaking platforms are set to revolutionize the way we approach scientific writing. Together, these AI tools are pioneering a new era of efficient, streamlined scientific writing. Jenny.AI – https://jenni.ai/ (20% off with code ANDY20) Yomu – https://www.yomu.ai Wisio – https://www.wisio.app AI academic editing tools In the realm of scientific writing and editing, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are making a world of difference, offering precision and efficiency like never before. Consider tools such as Paper Pal, Writefull, and Trinka. Together, these tools usher in a new era of scientific writing, where AI is your dedicated partner in the quest for impeccable composition. PaperPal –  https://paperpal.com/ Writefull –  https://www.writefull.com/ Trinka –  https://www.trinka.ai/ AI tools for grant writing In the challenging realm of science grant writing, two innovative AI tools are making waves: Granted AI and Grantable. These platforms are game-changers, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to streamline and enhance the grant application process. Granted AI, an intelligent tool, uses AI algorithms to simplify the process of finding, applying, and managing grants. Meanwhile, Grantable offers a platform that automates and organizes grant application processes, making it easier than ever to secure funding. Together, these tools are transforming the way we approach grant writing, using the power of AI to turn a complex, often arduous task into a more manageable, efficient, and successful endeavor. Granted AI – https://grantedai.com/ Grantable – https://grantable.co/ Best free AI research tools There are many different tools online that are emerging for researchers to be able to streamline their research processes. There’s no need for convience to come at a massive cost and break the bank. The best free ones at time of writing are: Elicit – https://elicit.org Connected Papers – https://www.connectedpapers.com/ Litmaps – https://www.litmaps.com ( 10% off Pro subscription using the code “STAPLETON” ) Consensus – https://consensus.app/ Wrapping up The integration of artificial intelligence in the world of academic research is nothing short of revolutionary. With the array of AI tools we’ve explored today – from research and mapping, literature review, peer-reviewed papers reading, scientific writing, to academic editing and grant writing – the landscape of research is significantly transformed. The advantages that AI-powered research tools bring to the table – efficiency, precision, time saving, and a more streamlined process – cannot be overstated. These AI research tools aren’t just about convenience; they are transforming the way we conduct and comprehend research. They liberate researchers from the clutches of tedium and overwhelm, allowing for more space for deep exploration, innovative thinking, and in-depth comprehension. Whether you’re an experienced academic researcher or a student just starting out, these tools provide indispensable aid in your research journey. And with a suite of free AI tools also available, there is no reason to not explore and embrace this AI revolution in academic research. We are on the precipice of a new era of academic research, one where AI and human ingenuity work in tandem for richer, more profound scientific exploration. The future of research is here, and it is smart, efficient, and AI-powered. Before we get too excited however, let us remember that AI tools are meant to be our assistants, not our masters. As we engage with these advanced technologies, let’s not lose sight of the human intellect, intuition, and imagination that form the heart of all meaningful research. Happy researching! Thank you to Ivan Aguilar – Ph.D. Student at SFU (Simon Fraser University), for starting this list for me! Dr Andrew Stapleton has a Masters and PhD in Chemistry from the UK and Australia. He has many years of research experience and has worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate at a number of Universities. Although having secured funding for his own research, he left academia to help others with his YouTube channel all about the inner workings of academia and how to make it work for you. Thank you for visiting Academia Insider. We are here to help you navigate Academia as painlessly as possible. We are supported by our readers and by visiting you are helping us earn a small amount through ads and affiliate revenue - Thank you! 2024 © Academia Insider Google News 7 Best Research Paper Writing Software in 2022 Female student listening webinar online flat vector illustration. Cartoon people at training, video conference or lecture. Computer study and education concept The popular opinion is that writing research papers takes a lot of work, time, and energy. While that is true, it could also be an exciting avenue for learning if you have the skill and tools to make it the best among many. Using writing apps is an upgrade that increases your writing stress and makes your edits and submission standard. The following are the top tools for research paper writing in 2022. Trinka – Primarily for Academic and Technical writing Trinka is one of the best writing tools for college students due to its efficiency, unique layout design, and user-friendly interface. The app features consistency checks and writing suggestions and can be used for editing and proofreading. The unique design of this writing software is that you can submit your academic and technical writings to experts for reviews and edits. To edit your auto-file, you must upload your essay on the app, which quickly, through tracking, gives corrections. The software also helps organize research papers through categories by summarizing submitted projects. It is a reliable writing app that has been used for a long time, and you can trust upgrading and improving your academic work. Basic plan: Free Premium: $6.67 per month Paperell – Complex Solution for Academic Writing Paperell is one of the latest and most used community-driven platforms, which provides outstanding content with optimum professionalism. It is an excellent website where you can hire professional writers who offer high-quality help to students that find it hard to keep up with deadlines or are busy with other activities. They provide diverse academic services such as various types of research papers, essays, reports, and assignments in different fields or disciplines for any school, college, or university student to solve their writing problems. Students can pay someone to do research paper from any location and device. The website is easy to navigate, and the setting up and ordering process is straightforward and safe to make your order. Paperell is the best option if you are unsure how to do an assignment, research work, or an essay. The price varies based on the service needed and the expert hired to do the job for you. Hemingway Editor – Free and Powerful Editor Hemingway is popular among academic writers because it is a quick and easy way to get a great paper. Essays go through spell checks, grammar checks, and feedback on the platform. The great part about this website is that it makes you focus on writing from any location or device. Using the site is straightforward; you just copy and paste your work. It is quick and efficient. This app’s unique and most significant feature is color coding. Submitted essays are edited, categorized, and coded according to the sentence part of speech. For example, it could be a verb or an adverb and states the advisable limit that should occur in a sentence. Colour coding has its uses and helps in organizing and identifying what the problem is to correct; for instance, the purple-colored highlights are used for suggestions. Hemingway Editor is a free and powerful editor for essays, easy to access, and just as efficient. A premium plan for Mac and PC: $19.99 Citavi – Designed for Academic Paper Writing From many reviews, Citavi has been rated one of the best apps for writing. It features add-ins, which enable you to add images, quotations, and links to your document. It is for project attachments like footnotes, text citations, and references. You can insert categories of preference listed in the options. There are also heading and content styles. To organize your essays, it is best to insert content after the heading to ensure clarity. Also, images are inserted in the same easy step and multiple citations. The chapter tab views relevant information to write your academic paper. Students: 36 Euros Academic: 81 Euros Government and Non-Profit: 91 Euros Commercial: 127 Euros Grammarly – Effective and Efficient for Editing and Proofreading This is one of the best writing tools that are very efficient and accurate. Many students use Grammarly as their research writing software. It provides direct and immediate assistance that helps to improve and organize essays. Grammarly is usually paired with writing apps such as Google Docs to function. It simply detects errors in the written paper and gives suggestions on changes and the accurate organization of a sentence. Wordy and redundant sentences are compressed and simplified. Grammarly, apart from editing, proofreads essays and documents and then provides feedback on the tone of the work and how it might seem to readers. Experts and newbies at writing who want a straightforward method of improving their research should employ Grammarly to do the work. Basic: Free Premium: $12 per month Business: $15 per month Scrivener – Combined Typewriter, Ring-binder, and Scrapbook Authors and writers explore the use of Scrivener. When opened, its first display asks for the type of document uploaded. This is not a mistake or a redundant question. It is simply to organize and manage the document according to its style. These forms of writing include academic, fiction , and nonfiction essays. After selecting your preference, the available templates are provided to suit your essay. These designs are related to the uploaded document. The special feature of this writing tool is the website’s design and layout, which gives a binding area different from the main workspace. This area is used to plan ideas, notes, and possible suggestions for your essay. You can also use a layout of your choices, such as a corkboard and outline layout. Standard License for Windows/Mac: $49 Educational License for Windows/Mac: $41.65 Bundle for Windows and macOS: $80 Paraphrased.io – Designed for Text Rewriting and Modification From its meaning, the app is used for clarity in essays and documents. To use this writing tool, you have to highlight, copy, and paste the text, and then the software uses AI to give a subsequent suggestion and rewrites it. A color code feature highlights the text modified in blue, so it can be identified by a user and reviewed. Colour codes are also used to measure the confidence of sentence replacement. Green represents very confident, blue stands for moderately confident, and yellow for not very confident. However, using Paraphrased.io offline is very limited and not accessible to its full speed or potential; for the best results, it is important to be connected to the Internet. The rate of plagiarism with the app is very low among its users. Research paper writing is a difficult part of the student’s academic life. Aside from producing refined ideas and being up-to-date with your future profession, you’ll need to create perfect material. This might be difficult, especially if it’s a graduate-level research paper that has never been done before. Many students and graduates have trouble writing unique papers, essays, and theses because they don’t know where to start and don’t have the best sources or writing software. Choose from one of the top research paper writing software above to get your work done. Alexia is the author at Research Snipers covering all technology news including Google, Apple, Android, Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung News, and More. More Stories RV Removal: The Complete Guide to Getting Rid of Your Old RV Unique Holiday Traditions in the Netherlands Top attractions in Hobart City Today’s latest. 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Any suggestions? By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy . Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account. Enter a 6-digit backup code Create your username and password. Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it. Reset your password Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password Check your inbox An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account Choose a Reddit account to continue 280 COMMENTS Zotero Zotero | Your personal research assistant 20 Best Academic Writing Software in 2024 20 Best Academic Writing Software in 2024 Mendeley Mendeley brings your research to life, so you can make an impact on tomorrow ... Access your library, everywhere. Add papers directly from your browser with a few clicks or import any documents from your desktop. ... Mac, Linux and all browsers. Learn about the library > Easy referencing. Generate references, citations and bibliographies in a ... Top 10: Reference Management software for Mac BibDesk - may be the best bibliography manager for Mac. BibDesk is a free and open-source bibliography manager designed for macOS users. Users can drag and drop or copy and paste references from the web and other files, and edit and search their reference database with ease. The software allows for the automatic filing of PDF copies of papers ... Best Reference Management Software in 2024 RefDB is a research management software and bibliography and reference database tool for SGML, XML, and LaTeX/BibTeX documents. It is accessible through a web interface, command-line tools, and text editors like Emacs and Vim. It has an integrated SRU server. RefDB allows users to share databases over a network. Download Center Download ReadCube for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and our browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox & Edge. ... Papers, by ReadCube, synced across all of your devices. iOS App Store ... 1 click PDF downloads. Chrome. Firefox. Safari. Edge. Ready to enhance your research experience? Get Started. Your centralized, smart reference library solution to ... The Best Mac Apps for Planning and Writing Your Next Research Paper Outline and Mindmap: MindNode ($30) Now that you have completed your research, it is time to organize and structure your thoughts. Mind mapping is an excellent way to organize your ideas into a complete structure. MindNode is a great app to do so. MindNode is great because it is effortless to build a complex mind map. Best Academic Writing Software: 21 Top Options (2024) Price: $269.95/Full License. Use for: Referencing, annotating, and journal matching. EndNote is used by academic writers to manage citations and references. EndNote is a premium academic research and writing software that is a market leader in providing reference management, citations, and bibliography creation. Getting Started We are here to help! Book a time with one of our experts or take a peek at our quick-start guide. Go to the web app. Easily add citations and full-text articles directly into your library with the new ReadCube Papers web importer available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. ‎Paperpile on the App Store Get a head start for you research and finally beat the paper chaos on your desk. With Paperpile you have all your research PDFs in one place — nice and tidy. Paperpile makes it easier than ever to collect, manage, read, and annotate your papers. FIND & COLLECT. - Search millions of papers from 20,000+ academic journals right in the app. Reference Management Solutions for Students, Academic & Corporate Papers: Reference Management Solutions for Students ... 5 Mac Word Processors To Help You Write That College Paper Ulysses ($45) At just short of $45, Ulysses is one of the more expensive applications in this rundown. I reviewed version 2.0, which runs exclusively on 64-bit Macs running Yosemite. There's also an iPad version ($19.99), which Bakari reviewed recently. Ulysses is, like Desk and iA Writer, a markdown-oriented text editor. Essential Software and Academic Tools for a successful PhD 2. Ulysses. Ulysses (Source: https://ulysses.app) If you like Markdown writing method, you will love Ulysses. It might seem like a simple writing app for your Mac or iPad, but this one packs a ... Litmaps Litmaps | Your Literature Review Assistant Top 30 Academic Resources and Tools 5. Mendeley. License: Free. Mendeley Desktop is free academic software (Windows, Mac, Linux) for organizing and sharing research papers and generating bibliographies with 1GB of free online storage to automatically back up and synchronize your library across desktop, web, and mobile. 6. APA & MLA Format Software for Windows and Mac Reference Point Templates. Format works cited with commas, parentheses, underlines, and indents in exactly the right spots with zero hassle. Testimonials - Our customers at over 1,000 schools and universities nationwide who have bought our APA format style and MLA style templates have told us how much they appreciate our software. The Write Direction: Smart Software for Research and Writing The Dr Paper package is compatible with Word 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, and the new Word 2019 included in Office 365. Each Dr Paper Software package includes licenses for both Mac and PC versions. No need to purchase different packages when you upgrade your Microsoft Office Word, or if you use both the Mac and the PC! Download Papers Apps, Browser Extensions and SmartCite Download Center - Papers Library Guides: Citation Management: Which Tool is Best For Me? Which Tool is Best For Me? - Citation Management Best app for research and writing? : r/macapps RoamResearch and RemNote as also great if you want to build connections between all the data using backlinks and tags. Reply. brevity142. •. Typora (markdown) Reply. joller. •. Scrivener is by far the best for big research and writing projects. The best AI tools for research papers and academic research (Literature AI for scientific writing and research papers. In the ever-evolving realm of academic research, AI tools are increasingly taking center stage. Enter Paper Wizard, Jenny.AI, and Wisio - these groundbreaking platforms are set to revolutionize the way we approach scientific writing. 7 Best Research Paper Writing Software in 2022 A premium plan for Mac and PC: $19.99; Citavi - Designed for Academic Paper Writing. ... Choose from one of the top research paper writing software above to get your work done. Alexia Hope. Alexia is the author at Research Snipers covering all technology news including Google, Apple, Android, Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung News, and More. ... What software do you use for reading papers? : r/AskAcademia I highlight grammar and usage errors on the first 1.5 pages and then stick to stamps and a terminal comment. Adobe Reader for reading and annotating the pdfs and Microsoft Onenote for taking quick notes. Onenote can be used for searching your notes instead of searching the pdfs. Linux user here, Mendeley all the way. assignment essay homework phd report resume review speech thesis