If you’re a research student, you know that research is one of the most tedious and time-consuming processes. When you’re so wrapped up in the research process, you don’t want to spend time thinking about document management, sorting through piles of data, or trying to focus on finding patterns amongst thousands of databases.
To help you stay on track, we’re suggesting five different research paper assistance tools for you to use. These tools will help you organize your notes, manage your tasks, collaborate with other contributors, find correlating phrases, terms, and concepts within your data, and make sure you’re in the clear with plagiarism and grammar errors.
Top 5 Research Paper Assistance Tools for Research Students
Here are the top 5 research paper assistance tools we recommend for research students in 2022:
- MarginNote 3
- ClickUp
- SEEKER
- Annotate
- Grammarly
Let’s take a closer look at what each one does, the devices that support it, and how much it will cost you (spoiler: all of them have free versions!).
MarginNote 3
E-reader and note organizer
With MarginNote 3, you can creatively pull information from your documents through this e-reader. Clip and lasso your reading notes from different sources and place them in one cohesive visual map. You can organize your ideas in different map sections using multiple sources. If you encounter unknown terms or keywords, conduct searches right from the application. One of our favorite features of this software is the ability to create flashcards from your map notes instantly! When you’re ready to export your notes, they can be exported into Word, PDF, Evernote, OmniOutliner, Anki, iThoughts, Xmind, and Mindnode formats.
Supported Devices
MarginNote 3 is available on Mac, iPad, and iPhone with nearly all the same features. With iCloud enabled, you are able to sync all updates through your devices.
Plans
MarginNote 3 has a 14-day free trial and discounts for students and educators. You can either make a one-time purchase or utilize a monthly subscription.
ClickUp
A cloud-based collaboration and project management tool
ClickUp isn’t just for workspaces; you can manage your work for yourself and with others through this project management tool. It’s a top-rated software to organize items, set deadlines, and monitor your work. Through the homepage you can see exactly what you should be prioritizing. Coordinate task deadlines with other collaborators in specific workspaces, set work assignments, and communicate on projects. You can even set up recurring tasks in your workspaces!
ClickUp has an entire article on how students can benefit from their software.
Supported Devices
ClickUp is available on Mac, iPad, and iPhone with almost all of the same features. You can access key ClickUp features outside of the platform through applications, extensions, email, and voice assistant tools.
Plans
Great news- ClickUp has a free version with unlimited tasks and members. It does have a 100MB storage limit, but uploads and tasks can be deleted once finished if you don’t need to have a record of all past work. For $5 a month, you can upgrade to unlimited storage.
SEEKER
Discovery tool for terms and concepts within your own data
SEEKER is a revolutionary discovery tool for your personal and professional files. Search through thousands of local documents, inspect targeted items and phrases, and gather the most relevant and accurate information in a matter of minutes.
With SEEKER, you can conduct a comprehensive search within your own database, upload folders in a cyber-secure environment, and view your results in an interactive 3D view. You can also upload research papers, ebooks, and articles to search within. Once uploaded, you’ll be able to search for keywords, reveal relational phrases, and see content connections within your documents. All of your information remains local and cyber-secure, so you don’t need to be concerned with threats to your data privacy.
Supported Devices
You can use SEEKER on any desktop, and mobile devices can also conduct searches. You will need to have internet access to operate the application.
Plans
SEEKER offers three different plans with a free version. The free version supports PDF uploads, up to 1,000 pages of data, and ad-free usage. The personal and professional packages range in additional features from customer support, extended data retention, increased storage capacity, and a NeuralNET AI tool that can help refine your search.
Annotate
Document collaboration tool
Annotate has many of the same features as Google Docs, but with more key features that streamlines your edits, team collaboration, and referencing your sources. When you copy and paste text from your research documents, Annotate will automatically auto-generate links to the original source. This makes fact-checking a breeze! Share your documents securely with other collaborators and have discussions within the document itself. There is also an approval feature to advance the next steps after they’ve been signed off.
Supported Devices
Annotate does not give specific information about what devices are supported besides desktops.
Plans
Annotate has three different plans with unique features. A free version of Annotate allows for collaboration and text annotation.
Grammarly
Editor tool
If you haven’t jumped on the Grammarly bandwagon, you should! Grammarly allows you to check your grammar, reviews for potential plagiarism, and determines your writing style. You can enable Grammarly on virtually any platform (Canva, MailChimp, email applications, and more!)
Supported Devices
You can use Grammarly on most desktop computers, through extensions across different browsers, and with an iPhone and iPad.
Plans
Grammarly offers three different plans depending on what features and usage you need. The free version of Grammarly offers spell-checking, grammar suggestions, and punctuation fixes. Premium and business plans offer additional features with plagiarism detection, brand tones, sentence rewrites, and more!
In summary, we hope that these unique websites, apps, and software products will make your research process smoother. Research is tough- from managing large amounts of data to compiling it for publication. Take advantage of the resources available in 2022 to help your better your process.