Traditionally, writing a PhD thesis was a more difficult task that required extensive manual writing, proofreading, correction, re-writing, and editing. It was tedious, time-consuming, and depressing, and no one wanted to pursue a doctorate. However, the current scenario is completely different; we now have numerous thesis writing tools, such as computers, mobile phones, and several online apps to assist you better with the thesis writing process. With just one click, everything can be done at your fingertips!
We now have apps for writing, proofreading, organising documents, taking quick and important notes, citing and referencing, and doing other things while researching. This article explains how a PhD student can make use of useful tools, such as:
- Mendeley
- Grammarly
- Evernote
- BibMe
- Hemingway Editor
I’ll also explain how to use such tools for writing your PhD thesis.
Mendeley:
Citing articles and organising references is a time-consuming and exhausting task. But what if a tool could do all of this work for you efficiently, effectively, and precisely? Mendeley is the one tool you require!
Mendeley, a reference management tool, is required for all PhD students. Elsevier Publication created Mendeley, which is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Since this web portal is solely for managing bibliography and citations, it must be installed on every PhD student’s laptop.
The most amazing specifications of the Mendeley are the following:
- Your articles and PhD journals can be stored in your Mendeley.
- A reference format will be automatically created for you.
- Mendeley will seamlessly and precisely cite each bit of information when integrated.
Let’s explore some other best features of this thesis writing tool.
Features of Mendeley:
Some of the top-notch features of Mendeley are listed below:
- It generates a bibliography automatically
- You can import PDF files and research papers from other websites
- You can find articles that are related to what you are reading
- Online collaboration with other researchers is possible
- By logging into your account, you can access all of your article libraries from any location
How to use Mendeley?
- Navigate to www.mendeley.com on your computer.
- Click the “create a free account” button.
- Continue working after entering your email address.
- Get the ‘Mendeley for desktop’ software.
- Begin by accumulating reading materials, PDFs, and research articles, or start your library.
Grammarly:
Grammar, spelling, and synonyms are common issues that every research student faces, especially those who are not native English speakers. What if some software or tool could do everything automatically?
Grammarly is just such a tool. They offer both free and paid plans, but the free version is sufficient for most students. It offers numerous services, the best of which is the Google Chrome “add-on” extension. When activated, it detects and corrects English errors in all documents.
Features of Grammarly:
The super-beneficial features of Grammarly are the following:
- Grammar and spelling correction
- Correct overly wordy sentences
- Suggestions for punctuation
- Make the sentence more structured.
- Check for plagiarism.
- More transient words and synonyms are added.
- And much more!
How to use Grammarly?
- Visit www.grammarly.com.
- Sign in or create an account.
- Go to Google Chrome and search for Grammarly.
- Install Grammarly as a Chrome extension.
- Make a quick setting based on your needs.
In conclusion, Grammarly is the one tool or software that every PhD fellow’s laptop must have. Its technology is based on AI, which means that as you write more, it learns your writing style and makes suggestions accordingly. It also emails you about your performance, common problems, and ways to improve.
Evernote:
A PhD student’s daily life includes “notes” as writing, images, PDFs, articles, and news paragraphs. Whatever you read, note anything relevant to your PhD topic.
And believe me, taking notes isn’t easy. You’ll forget about it the next morning if you don’t make it up. Evernote is a tool that syncs your notes from your desktop, mobile, and other devices!
Features of Evernote:
Some of the prominent features of Evernote are the following:
- You can scan and save documents, label them, highlight important sentences, and create PDFs.
- You can also save rich notes, images, audio recordings, and ideas.
- You can even save whole or partial web pages.
- Every note you take can be marked, highlighted, underlined, and pinpointed.
- And guess what? You can access it from anywhere.
How to use Evernote?
- Navigate to www.evernote.com and click the sign-in button.
- Now, click ‘create account’ and enter your email address.
- You can also use the desktop app as well.
To summarise, the Evernote tool is required to keep notes seamlessly and organised. Users can also create keyboard shortcuts, note links, and anchor notes to help them remember and share notes.
BibMe:
Chegg created the tool or service BibMe, an online writing centre. It has numerous features that will help you improve your academic writing and PhD work.
One of the best features is that it cites your work in various styles, including their most recent version of the style.
Features of BibMe:
Some of the distinctive features of BibMe are listed below:
- You can generate correct citations in a variety of styles
- Citations and references should be included in your article or paper
- Enhance your writing by working on sentence structure, grammar, and spelling
- It can also detect and correct plagiarism
How to use BibMe?
- Visit www.bibme.org.
- Click the ‘Create an account’ button.
- Create an account with your email address and take advantage of their features.
In conclusion, a BibMe app is an excellent tool; however, it is not available as a Word plugin. You can use either the free or paid version to explore more features. You can also consider hiring PhD thesis writing services online, such as Affordable Dissertation UK, to craft the best thesis for you. It will save you both time and effort!
Hemingway Editor:
This software is similar to Grammarly, but it has a distinguishing feature. It is an online editor that allows you to quickly edit your article. It detects common mistakes, sentence structure, and grammatical errors and then precisely corrects them.
Features of Hemingway Editor:
The notable features of Hemingway Editor are mentioned below:
- Highlight long and complex sentences, as well as corrections
- Identifies common writing errors
- Looks for active or passive voices
- A different colour quote denotes each error
- It can also insert headings, count the number of words, and perform other functions
Wrapping Up
Apps and software make your daily life easier, which is especially important when studying for a PhD. It would help if you used all these thesis writing tools to facilitate the writing process. In my opinion, research candidates should, at the very least, have Grammarly, Mendeley, and Evernote. These three are sufficient to complete a substantial amount of work. Mendeley is useful for citation, bibliography generation, and other PhD-related tasks, Grammarly is useful for writing assistance, and Evernote is useful for keeping notes and important things.