1. Reference managers
Let’s be real here: managing your references manually is a pain in the butt. You read an article here or there and found something that might be useful, but then – oh, shoot. You’ve lost the reference in a sea of other academic references, and now you can’t remember which paper it was due to the million other tabs you have open. And now that you’ve spent the last ten minutes finding the paper, you think to yourself, wouldn’t it be useful to just copy the reference, put it into LaTeX or whichever other software you’re using, and be done with it?
That’s where reference managers come in. I use Scribbr, since it’s the most straightforward and does the job, but there are other options as well.
- Scribbr - Your path to academic success – Straightforward citation generator.
- Mendeley - Reference Management Software – Best for PDFs.
- EndNote - The Best Citation & Reference Management Tool – Hundreds of citation styles.
- Zotero | Your personal research assistant – Good for non-PDF content.
2. Academic research websites
Unless you’re new to writing research papers, your professors will have already grilled you on the importance of peer-reviewed, academic research at this point in your academic career. However, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded once again, since we’re all guilty (at least once) of rejecting scholarly articles for the easy-to-read, first result on Google that seemingly has all the information you need.
- Google Scholar – Easiest to use, great starting point.
- Scopus – More powerful search filters, ideal for literature reviews, shows citation statistics.
- IEEE Xplore – A must if you’re in engineering, computer science, or anything tech-related.
- PubMed – For anything health, biology, or medical research related.
- ScienceDirect – Thousands of articles across all fields.
- FindUT – The University of Twente’s own library search tool, meaning that you don’t have to comb through non-accessible content.
Remember that you might not always get the full text immediately, especially on websites like ScienceDirect, where UT doesn’t have full access to all the journals. One handy tip I’ve found is to email the author of the paper you want to read directly, and this usually works because authors want people to read their work – usually, it isn’t up to them to lock their content behind a paywall.
3. Smart research tools
Just typing in ‘airplane anti-icing temperature’ into the search bar is enough. Google is filled with weird results, and if you don’t curate it properly, you’ll end up with a weird paper. Fortunately, Google is also filled with a goldmine of information under all the weirdness, so just make sure you’re able to find it properly as easily as you can.
- ResearchRabbit – Upload a few papers, and it maps out a network of related articles. It’s like Spotify but for articles (their own words).
- Perplexity – Generative AI that spits out information with references and sources to back it up. It’s good for finding specific articles using specific keywords.
- Elicit – Similar to Perplexity.
- Consensus – Also generative AI backed with academic sources (and therefore similar to Perplexity), but has a more ‘chatty’ interface like ChatGPT.
4. Writing and editing tools
Once you’ve done your research, writing it down in a way that is understandable and coherent (and flows!) is just as important as the results you’ve procured – how else are you going to tell the world what you’ve found?
- Grammarly – I used Grammarly before all of the generative AI came to be, and I think it was better before. Regardless, it’s still good for catching grammar, tone, and style issues.
- ChatGPT – Great for outlining, rephrasing, and summarising (though obviously not for writing your thesis from scratch, as it does hallucinate).
- TablesGenerator – Perfect if you’re writing your paper on LaTeX (engineering students: I’m looking at you). If you’re familiar with LaTeX, then you’ll know that it’s tedious having to create every single table from scratch – this tool does it for you, and all you have to do is edit the cells.
5. Organisation tools
I like having a dedicated note-taking app for my laptop when I’m brainstorming. Before you ask why I don’t just use Google Docs or Microsoft Word, there’s just something nice about having different environments for different things – it comes down to personal preference anyway. I write my ideas down on Notion, write my rough drafts in Google Docs, and put it all on LaTex/Overleaf once I’ve got something going.
- Notion – I find Notion really easy to use, and it’s great for organising my notes and ideas. I like the layout and the look of the website, and it looks neat no matter what kind of information you put in it.
- Obsidian – Similar to Notion, though I’ve never used this one so I can’t really comment on it.
6. Graphic design tools
If you ever need to make nice-looking graphs or sketches that aren’t from MatLab or any other programming software, then use the ol’ reliable click and drag of your mouse. Sometimes, you want to convey something really specific in a drawing, but obviously, a pen and paper sketch is going to look unprofessional.
- draw.io – Perfect for designing your power plants, your airfoils, your charts, and everything in between. You can make some really crude drawings using draw.io, but you can also make some extremely professional-looking graphics here.
- Canva – Who hasn’t used Canva? It’s a great, simple website that can be used for most designs.
Writing your thesis doesn’t need to be a nightmare. Tons of apps and services can make your experience much, much easier (reference managers are a godsend). Regardless of what you do, whether it’s something that requires laboratories or field work, or even just collecting literature and reading papers, hopefully, your thesis will go smoothly. Good luck!
