Home › Forums › Methodspace discussion › What is the best writing/editing software?
Tagged: essay, research paper, writing service
- This topic has 27 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 3 months ago by
jenny.
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28th February 2012 at 10:16 pm #2571
Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantCan anyone suggest the best writing software that edits, checks grammar, spelling, vocabulary, etc, suitable for editing a paper, dissertation, or thesis. There are several online. I would like something one has used before and knows that it works very well.
5th March 2012 at 5:59 pm #2594Ylva Rancken-Lutz
MemberIam right now working in Scrivener! It is great – online and free!
15th March 2012 at 9:41 am #2593Rafia Faiz
MemberI used “whitesmoke” and loved it. Unfortunately, it is free to download as a trial version for seven days.
21st March 2012 at 11:48 pm #2592Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantThank you Ylva Rancken-Lutz.
I will try it. I never heard of it, or even came across it browsing…
Cheers
21st March 2012 at 11:51 pm #2591Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantHey Rafia Faiz!
Thank you for confirming that whitesmoke is great. I came across it thru browsing, it was ranked 1st of the top 10.
Cheers
4th April 2012 at 10:31 am #2590Francicsa Nkadi
MemberThank you for confirming whitesmoke. I just bought but I have not tried it yet.
4th April 2012 at 2:28 pm #2589Laurence Moseley
MemberWhy use one tool?
I have found that a combination (rather than one tool) is useful. For example:
For multi-dimensional planning, Mind Genius or some other mind-mapping software works well. You can export it then to another tool such as:-
For linear structuring, use the Outline View in your main word processor
For organising references, use End Note
After that initial work, you should have a structure and should be able to avoid repetition or lack of clarity
For the actual writing: Word or Open/Libre Office which can be saved in any format, including .doc and more recent versions
For PDF output, Page Plus X6 is pretty good, and will produce E-books inter alia
The important point is that in writing, as in the research itself, it is not the doing it which matters; it is what you do in preparing for it and what you do after it has been completed, that makes the difference.
Good luck
Laurie.
5th April 2012
4th April 2012 at 7:46 pm #2588Clive Sims
ParticipantI believe that Scrivener is only a month’s free trial.
4th April 2012 at 7:48 pm #2587Clive Sims
ParticipantI’m using Celtx. originally a screenwriting tool the latest version has is much more versatile. It is also free, not a trial version.
6th April 2012 at 4:41 pm #2586Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantDear ALL,
I have noted all your brilliant contributions. Have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers
10th April 2012 at 5:59 am #2585Dr Jens J. Hansen
ParticipantI need to add to this discussion by telling you about “The Writer’s Diet” which is both a book and a smart little computer programme. The Writer’s Diet as a book (Sword, Helen, 2010) details what is called a wasteline test. That test refers to a computerised mechanism that can be applied to a sample of writing that indicates if your writing is Lean, Fit and Trim, in Need of Toning, Flabby or Heart Attack Material. It then explains how you can err with respect to verbs, nouns, prepositions, adjectives and excessive written ornamentation.
The wasteline test that can be found on the web (http://www.writersdiet.ac.nz) allows you to insert a sample of writing and literally check out the fitness level of that sample. Of course, the thing with a programme such as this is to treat it with caution – it’s a tool , not a writer’s elixir. The author of this book and the inventor of this test is currently working on developing a desktop version that can be applied as you write. And she agrees that because it is a tool, matters such as style must not evaporate from the writer’s mind.
By the way, the advice about using mind managing/mind-mapping tools and then converting map items (and accompanying notes) into an outline that is then exportable to a word processing programme, makes a whole lot of sense. So does the advice about using EndNote and outline from the view menu within MS Word. Another tool top use is ‘Auto summarise’ although the 2010 version of word, regrettably, has left that function off the tools suite.
For more advice on writing, can I suggest that people have a look at my website http://www.woodhillpark.com There are a range of resources within the ‘Articles’ drop down menu and also within the Categories section. One of the more recent Blogs, for instance, details an alternative to EndNote and even though I personally have no quarrels with EndNote, I know many students have had issues with the software just weeks before thesis submission. Happy writing, revising and yet more revising folks – remember, that’s the way of it all for successful writers.
Cheers
Jens
10th April 2012 at 9:25 am #2584Mark
MemberYou could look at Stylewriter, which is a plain english guide. It has a setting for academic texts, as well as technical reports, memos, student essays, and other categories of writing. It scores Word documents (only – I think) from Excellent to Poor on three dimensions: the style index (use of jargon, technical terms, over-used words and phrases), average sentence length and passive verbs (to which academic texts seem particularly prone).
http://www.clearest.co.uk/editorsoftware/stylewriter-software/index.html
15th April 2012 at 11:11 pm #2583Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantJens!
Thank you for replying informatively. I went to your website. I read about several issues, but A letter about referencing, http://www.mendeley.com in particular, was interesting because I use it for easy referencing. I hope that others might use it as well. It has several search engines, which makes it easy to access various academic papers online…In-text and bibliography is great with mendeley…
Cheers
Chipo
15th April 2012 at 11:22 pm #2582Laurence Moseley
MemberAs a general guide book for writing a very useful text is
Jean-Luc Lebrun
Scientific writing: a reader and writer’s guide
World Scientific,
My paperback edition is dated 2007, but I would guess that there have been more recent ones.
Although many of the examples are from the hard sciences, the principles apply to the social sciences as well
Best wishes
Laurie
15th April 2012 at 11:25 pm #2581Chipo Gift K. Muponisi
ParticipantMark!
Thank you for contributing to this discussion. I’m actually reading about style writer… it looks like it is a good software…I have to compare it with whitesmoke, celtx, scrivener (suggestions by other bloggers)…This is exciting…
Cheers…
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