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Best Applications for a University Student!
- Thread starter wnxgenral
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Some of the best academic tools for Mac OS, in my opinion, are these:
- Mellel: A great piece of software, the best word processor for academic writing. Fast and straightforward, Mellel works very well with very large documents, and has several features for outlining and for managing styles and cross-references. Not even the mighty Word may compete with Mellel in this department. However, you may struggle to open Word files - compatibility is definitely not the best.
- Nisus Writer Pro: Also a great word processor, not so unique as Mellel, but also very good for academic writing. It has better compatibility with Word files, and supports track changes (Mellel doesn't).
- Scrivener: Great for research and for long writing projects. A word processor strongly focused in outlining. Not layout driven, and you may miss some features of advanced word processors. But there is nothing like it for early stages of development of your school work.
- Microsoft Office: You really can't live without it, can you? You'll end up needing full compatibility with Microsoft Office files, because that is what everybody else uses. And only Microsoft Office can be fully compatible with Microsoft Office. You may prefer to use other piece of software, but you should have Microsoft Office just in case...
- OpenOffice.org: If you don't want to spend money on Microsoft Office, you may get this free alternative. Good one, but not quite Microsoft Office.
- Bookends or Sente: If you need to manage your references, you may want to try one of these. They both work with Word, Pages, Nisus and Mellel. You may also want to try Endnote or Papers.
- DevonTHINK: Nothing like it for organizing and searching documents. Just give it a try, it's very powerful.
- Mellel: A great piece of software, the best word processor for academic writing. Fast and straightforward, Mellel works very well with very large documents, and has several features for outlining and for managing styles and cross-references. Not even the mighty Word may compete with Mellel in this department. However, you may struggle to open Word files - compatibility is definitely not the best.
- Nisus Writer Pro: Also a great word processor, not so unique as Mellel, but also very good for academic writing. It has better compatibility with Word files, and supports track changes (Mellel doesn't).
- Scrivener: Great for research and for long writing projects. A word processor strongly focused in outlining. Not layout driven, and you may miss some features of advanced word processors. But there is nothing like it for early stages of development of your school work.
- Microsoft Office: You really can't live without it, can you? You'll end up needing full compatibility with Microsoft Office files, because that is what everybody else uses. And only Microsoft Office can be fully compatible with Microsoft Office. You may prefer to use other piece of software, but you should have Microsoft Office just in case...
- OpenOffice.org: If you don't want to spend money on Microsoft Office, you may get this free alternative. Good one, but not quite Microsoft Office.
- Bookends or Sente: If you need to manage your references, you may want to try one of these. They both work with Word, Pages, Nisus and Mellel. You may also want to try Endnote or Papers.
- DevonTHINK: Nothing like it for organizing and searching documents. Just give it a try, it's very powerful.
Well obviously, but then I could recommend apps like Xcode, SubEthaEdit and Querious for people that go to school for programming for example etc etc.
Anyway, here's another vote for Scrivener (they also have an academic discount, so it's not that expensive). For me it's the perfect app when you're writing academic papers and doing research.
I don't think I saw Circus Ponies NoteBook mention here, it's great for taking notes and has several handy features for the academic user.
iWork with Pages and Keynote is something I use daily as a student. I've abandoned Word, and I don't like Neo/Open Office nor the other word processors mentioned here (I don't consider Scrivener being part of this category).
With Pages I use EndNote X2 (expensive, but often at a great discount for academic users), which is just phenomenal at references. A free alternative that I would have used if I didn't have EndNote would be Zotero (Firefox add on, works great).
OmniGraffle, if you need to make diagrams, charts or such graphics.
OmniPlan might be a good app if you do a lot of planning and want an easy way to manage it and for example view it as a Gantt chart.
Last but not least I would recommend getting a GTD app. There are so many, and it comes down to personal preference. I currently use The Hit List which I love.
Academic Apps List
You didn't get my point. I meant that if students or children claim that they need computer to study and stuff it with games and players - that has nothing to do with academic purposes. That was my point.
The question here is which apps you can use to get benefits when you write thesis or any other academic project.
So I'll sum up what I have found "with a little help from my friends" to be the best choice so far.
1 Section - Writing apps
- Mac Office
- Pages (+Keynote)
2 Section - Notes taking
- Evernote
3 Section - Paper Planning
- Bento
- Scrivener
The situation here is not clear. Well they both can be used for Project planning. but they do a bit more than that so I don't know whether any of it could be a good project planning - i.e. the app that you can use to make plan of your paper.
4 Section - Bibliography
- Papers
- Bookends
- Sente
- smth else ... ? (It would be nice to have the app where you can sort your books with titles, names, library code, which you can edit) + attach your scans or ebooks to items in library.
5 Section - GTD
- Things
- The Hit List
So here it is. I would like to hear your thoughts about apps for Section 3 and Section 4.
You didn't get my point. I meant that if students or children claim that they need computer to study and stuff it with games and players - that has nothing to do with academic purposes. That was my point.
The question here is which apps you can use to get benefits when you write thesis or any other academic project.
So I'll sum up what I have found "with a little help from my friends" to be the best choice so far.
1 Section - Writing apps
- Mac Office
- Pages (+Keynote)
2 Section - Notes taking
- Evernote
3 Section - Paper Planning
- Bento
- Scrivener
The situation here is not clear. Well they both can be used for Project planning. but they do a bit more than that so I don't know whether any of it could be a good project planning - i.e. the app that you can use to make plan of your paper.
4 Section - Bibliography
- Papers
- Bookends
- Sente
- smth else ... ? (It would be nice to have the app where you can sort your books with titles, names, library code, which you can edit) + attach your scans or ebooks to items in library.
5 Section - GTD
- Things
- The Hit List
So here it is. I would like to hear your thoughts about apps for Section 3 and Section 4.
Ever tried out EndNote? If I understand you correctly, EndNote can do all of that. You can sort everything whatever way you choose, and you can attach files (like the article in a .pdf) to a specific entry I think it only creates an alias and doesn't actually copy the file into the library itself, but I could be wrong there.
For references/bibliography I haven't found an app that is more powerful than EndNote, but with the high price it might not be price worthy compared to the other alternatives.
Most of the software allows 30 day trial periods. Bookends will work great for bibliographic work. Developer is very responsive and helpful.
If you need scanned images and linked, then you probably need something like DevonThink Pro or Scrivener, depending on how you will use the scanned images. Check out the forums for Scrivener. There you will find many academics, researchers, and writers who have developed good work flow using any combination of these tools. If you really need heavy duty researcher tools, then try Tinderbox. Again, read the forums to get an idea of what can work and why and how. See also Learning Curve for Tinderbox.
Scrivener is a really handy tool but mostly for writers. Can be good when you write some book or paper.
MindMap apps (for brainstorming)
But I want to go further and ask about what mindmap apps would be the best to use.
iMindMap
XMind
ConceptDraw MINDMAP
Mindjet MindManager
MindMeister (Web Application)
What are your thoughts ?
Paper Plan apps
What can be a good app if you want to construct plan of your paper or thesis.
MindMap apps (for brainstorming)
But I want to go further and ask about what mindmap apps would be the best to use.
iMindMap
XMind
ConceptDraw MINDMAP
Mindjet MindManager
MindMeister (Web Application)
What are your thoughts ?
Paper Plan apps
What can be a good app if you want to construct plan of your paper or thesis.
Unison (for grabbing files on usenet)
Transmission (torrent client)
Macpardeluxe (par file management)
Split&Concat (same as above)
OurTunes (music sharing via itunes, not sure if it still works)
Transmission (torrent client)
Macpardeluxe (par file management)
Split&Concat (same as above)
OurTunes (music sharing via itunes, not sure if it still works)
You already got it. It's called Finder (Folders / Files) and Spotlight (metasearch, in-document search) and perhaps Smart Folders.
I like simple. It comes with the os. Works fine for me. And don't get me wrong. I got a SH*TLOAD of documents for my study to keep up with.
Check out Cram. It allows you to make flash card & multiple-choice tests. You can also print out the multiple-choice tests which appear as handouts a student will typically receive.
We've also recently updated the app to allow access to thousands of public Quizlet flash cards(Which Cram automatically changes to multiple-choice questions.
http://www.simpleleap.com/cram/mac.htm
Let me know if this fits what you're looking for.
There's a lot of Mac programs
But the question remains. what you are going to school for. lolol
If there's no specific program, go for the basics, text edit, presentation, calendar, notes, whatever.
If doing something specific at school, probably also go for basics (need to make good presentations
) and the programs you need
But the question remains. what you are going to school for. lolol
If there's no specific program, go for the basics, text edit, presentation, calendar, notes, whatever.
If doing something specific at school, probably also go for basics (need to make good presentations
) and the programs you need
I loved openoffice, but i had to switch to microsoft office when i went to college, due to compatibility problems. The openoffice compatibility is not the best.
There was a good blog post on this here: http://nullagenda.com/ten-great-mac-apps-for-college-students-130
hope it helps
hope it helps
There's a lot of Mac programs
But the question remains. what you are going to school for. lolol
If there's no specific program, go for the basics, text edit, presentation, calendar, notes, whatever.
If doing something specific at school, probably also go for basics (need to make good presentations
I don't know whether you address this to me or to the topic creator.
Name them. keep naming good apps that can be used for academic purposes, that's what I inspire you and others.