One of the best research apps, just 'cosmetic' complaints This is one of the best research apps for iPad. Search capabilities are excellent, it has a briefcase option, as almost all apps, but most importantly, you can open reports in other apps such as GoodReader - for annotation - and DropBox - for storage. Read and annotate them on the go, search your entire library, and easily sync everything between your iPhone, iPad, and Mendeley Desktop (available on Windows, Mac, and Linux). 5- Endnote Find, store, create and share from anywhere with EndNote® - the most powerful research productivity tool on the market. Best Essay Writing App For Mac, graphic organizer for 5 paragraph essay, sat how to add essay, example of title for argumentive essay. An online course to help you save time, organize your notes, and master the best writing app for Mac and iOS: Ulysses. Best Research Note Taking App: Evernote Evernote allows you to create multiple notes in the form of text, file, sketch, to-do list, handwritten, picture, and audio according to your preferences. You even can highlight the crucial content or write a short summary and create a tag for it to ease your writing in the future.
For the past few months I have been researching some research apps…
On our sister site, The Focus Course, I recently wrote an article detailing my process for how I build my own, alternate index of notes and ideas when reading a book.
You can get much more detail in the link above, but in a nut, an alternate index is no more than something you list out in the back of the book you’re reading that you create and update as you read through the book. It’s a list you create in real time that is comprised of the book’s themes and topics that most resonate with you, as well as the pages that have the best quotes and ideas around those topics.
Digital Paper App Mac
Within that article, I dropped in a brief aside about my desire to begin organizing the notes, highlights, and takeaways from the books I read into a digital database of sorts. As such, I’ve been looking at different research apps to find just the right one.
I’ve been writing for a living since 2011, and despite my greatest fears, I’ve never had a shortage of ideas. For nearly a decade all of my ideas and notes have been kept in Simplenote, but for the past year or so I’ve been wanting a system that is just a little bit more complex than what I’m currently using.
In short, what I’m looking for is something to store all of the ideas, bits of inspiration, notes, quotes, takeaways from the books I read, and more. (Something akin to Ryan Holliday’s notecard system — but digital.)
Since I’m already creating an alternate index of ideas in the back of each book I read, what I’d like to do is create a digital and universally-searchable version of that index: a single repository to organize, sort, and search all my highlights and notes.
Best Research Paper App For Macbook Pro
As you can imagine, there are a LOT of notes and research apps out there that do this. The issue wasn’t finding an app that was capable — it was finding an app that works for me and my workflows.
I want to do more than simply jot down my ideas and notes. I also want to have them compiled and structured (rather than a giant list sorted only by modification date), but not wholly cut off from one another.
And I also want some pretty fancy search capabilities. For instance, I’d love the ability to bring up all the highlights related to “focus” from all books I’ve read. Or, perhaps, to view my notes and highlights related to “time management,” but only from those books that are about entrepreneurship, and then compare those same notes and highlights against books that are only about creativity.
That said, here are a few of my initial thoughts on some of the different notes and research apps out there today.
Simplenote: This is the app I’ve been using for idea capture and other miscellaneous note taking since it shipped nearly a decade ago. I love how easy it is to use, how — ahem — simple it is, and how reliable the sync is. But for my current use-case, I’m looking for something that can handle images and has a more robust folder structure beyond just tags.
Bear: If you haven’t tried out Bear, you really should (Mac / iOS). It’s spectacular (and may even replace Simplenote for me). You can insert photos into notes in Bear, but otherwise it’s still pretty simple. That’s not a knock against the app — it is simple by design. But that means that, for my needs in this case, it’s too simple to be my go-to research app.
Day One: This app is one of my all-time favorites, but, as with the aforementioned apps, Day One is not built for what I need in this scenario.
Apple’s Notes App: There is a lot to love about the Notes app (and even more once iOS 11 ships). You can drop all sorts of cool things into a note, and even draw and sketch, and more. But the search and sort functionality within Notes is not quite what I’m looking for.
Evernote: I love the power of Evernote and its strong emphasis on making idea capture as easy as possible, but I don’t love the way it ruins the formatting of my text and the way all my content is a silo inside the app. There are many, many smart folks who use Evernote, but so far, for me, it still just doesn’t feel right.
Together: An alternative to Evernote, Together is a pretty classy app. But, at least so far in my experience, the process of getting information into the app is far too tedious, as is the process for properly tagging that information. I may just need to spend more time learning the app, but if something isn’t easy to use then I know from experience that I won’t use it.
Other Apps: There is also Microsoft OneNote, Scrivener, plain text files with nvALT, DEVONthink, Papers, and probably a few others. Some of these simply don’t appeal to me, and some of them I haven’t yet tried out.
Ulysses (My Pick)
I’ve been using Ulysses for quite a long time, but only as a writing app — not for collecting notes and other tidbits related to research.
Ulysses is a fantastic app, and it does a great job at simplifying it’s vast complexity. However, I didn’t initially consider it for my researching needs because I didn’t think it had a robust search engine. But, turns out, I was wrong.
Thanks to a new project we’re working on here at The Sweet Setup, I just discovered the Smart Filters in Ulysses, and whoa. These filters are basically smart folders. You can create all sorts of variables for how you want sheets to be filtered, and you can even move the filters around within different groups so as to bring up different results based on the group.
For example, here’s a filter I set up to search within all my book quotes for any notes that contain the keywords “business” and “creativity.”
And here’s a filter I set up that shows me any and all notes I’ve created or worked on within the past 48 hours.
Input and Organization Within Research Apps
The two things that matter most to in my use of notes and research apps are: (1) ease of input and (2) powerful search and categorization. It seems that many apps excel at one or the other, but not both.
It’s also critical that these research apps be full-featured on both Mac and iOS.
That’s why Ulysses smart filters are so exciting to me. You can get more complex than what I’ve shown above. You can include parameters that search the entire text of a note (not just the keywords/tags), and you can also include “negative” search parameters that exclude notes with certain words. And, these smart filters also sync between Mac and iOS versions.
My biggest quibble with Ulysses right now as a note-taking, researching tool is the way it handles inline images. If the image is inline with a note, you see an IMG markdown tag. Or, an image can be attached to a note, but otherwise not shown inline. It’d be great to be able to have images displayed inline.
Zs4 video editor mac download softonic. Though, I do like how you can attach images to a note (if you want an image / screenshot nearby as reference material, but perhaps not as something you want to be in-line with your actual text).
So, all that said, I’m obviously now using Ulysses (Mac / iOS) as my writing and researching app of choice, and I’ve already begun transcribing all my book notes and highlights into the app.
And, as I mentioned, we’ve got something brand new related to Ulysses in the works. Click here to find out more.
Stop losing your ideas and notes to multiple apps…
An online course to help you save time, organize your notes, and master the best writing app for Mac and iOS: Ulysses.
8 Best Research Note Taking App That Replace Your Notebook & Paper
Getting stuck in organizing research notes and struggling to remember every single detail can be awfully infuriating for every PhD research student.
So, you’ve officially bought yourself a notebook and wrote every single piece of information from journal articles and research planning on it. At first, you’ll feel inspired and motivated. Then, you start to feel bored and tired eventually. You start to highlight the paragraphs on journals and save them in specific folders accordingly on a desktop. Over time, you realize that there’re so many folders and every single folder is full of research journal articles. When starting to write a research proposal or thesis, you need to open every article to help you generate ideas for drafting, but, you just can’t find it. Again, you’re facing the same problem when inserting a citation. Sadly, you forget where you save the articles. Later, you need to google again. You realize that you’re wasting most of your time goggling for articles instead of writing. You start to think why on earth such thing happens to you. Perhaps, it’s just another bad day to you. Do you know that all the above troubles can be avoided if you’re using the best research note taking app from the beginning? You can make your writing process much more efficient and happy.
We have stumbled upon the deepest ends of the internet to gather key tactics that will help you in taking and organizing research notes. The best research note taking app for smartphone & laptop that replaces your notebook and papercan get the results you crave. Are you ready to make a change?
1. Best Research Note Taking App: Apple Notes
If you’re using one of the IOS devices, then the optional note taking app would be Notes. Although the design of Notes seems very simple, you’ll be amazed by it features after you use it. You even can use it offline as it is automatically synced on iCloud.com. You can attach photos, videos, sketches, audio, and research articles onto it, add links, and create to-do lists within a second. If you want to restore the deleted notes, Notes give you the opportunity to recover them within 30 days. You can also organize notes in folders and add people to view the content of your notes. As always, you can format notes according to your favorites and share them over social media and email such as Outlook and Gmail or export as PDF. What about if you don’t have Apple devices with you, can you still access Notes? Well, the answer is yes. You can always edit or view your notes through iCloud.com.
Apple Notes Pricing: Free with any IOS device. You have free 5 GB of iCloud storage.
Support: IOS, Mac, and Web
Related: Similarity Index & Plagiarism In Academic Research Journal Article Writing
2. Best Research Note Taking App: Box
Box app makes it convenient to get work done from everywhere and anytime. You can create research notes using the familiar office-style toolbar and stored in specific box folders as simple as a push of a button. You can securely upload PDFs, Microsoft Office files, photos, and other documents or even add a link without attachments to Box. Box can preview more than 200 file types with high quality either online or offline using hundreds of partner apps. This makes your writing and editing processes become much more easy and productive. This app has become the Winner of PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice Award. With its reputation and recognition, you should feel more confident to try it out. Your box notes, a truly elevated experience.
Box Pricing: Free for download with the storage up to 10 GB of free cloud storage.
Support: IOS, Android, and Web
Related: 3 Types & Consequences Of Plagiarism Committed By University Students
3. Best Research Note Taking App: Evernote
Evernote allows you to create multiple notes in the form of text, file, sketch, to-do list, handwritten, picture, and audio according to your preferences. You even can highlight the crucial content or write a short summary and create a tag for it to ease your writing in the future. It’ll make your life easier as you just need to connect the ideas without the need to reread the whole article. Say goodbye to bookmarks as it’ll make your browsing lag. Sometimes, the link that you bookmarked a few months ago disappeared. All the notes you saved can be found easily with just a single search. You can also access digital notebooks offline, present notes in one click, and search for specific note on all platforms, but the features depend on your plan. With Evernote, you can access and share your notes with anyone and anytime.
Evernote Pricing: Free for basic features and limited to 60 MB of new uploads each month; Unlock more features for Plus plan (1 GB/month for only RM49/year) and Premium plan (10 GB/month for only RM99/year)
Support: IOS, Mac, Windows, Android, and Web
4. Best Research Note Taking App: Google Keep
Even though Google Keep look like classic sticky-note with stripped down style, you shouldn’t judge anything until you try it first. It is a simple app that suit the user who has a tight schedule or tend to forget things easily. As a PhD research student, you may have many findings from your research. It would be best if you can list them down in Google Keep before you forget totally. You even can add a few important journal title or link in Google Keep for future reference. Moreover, you can list down research planning and schedule and set a time-based reminder to alert you so that you never miss a thing. The good thing about Google Keep is you can filter and search for notes by keyword, color, label, and other elements. You can also save relevant information from the web with a single click using its extension. You can also convert the notes into editable Google Doc for drafting thesis or journal manuscript later. Let Google Keep be your best friend in PhD research journey.
Google Keep Pricing: Free for download.
Support: Chrome, IOS, Android, and Web
5. Best Research Note Taking App: Microsoft OneNote
The release of Microsoft surface tablets has empowered OneNote in several ways. It can become your digital notebook in your PhD journey. You can use the device’s pen to sketch or draw your ideas or send your research articles to OneNote using various relevant add-on apps such as OneNote Web Clipper, Zapier, Office Lens, and many more. It also gives you freedom to type anywhere as you like. You even can create to-do lists in OneNote and mark them once you have accomplished the tasks. The feature of tabs allows you to keep your notes organized. If you’re the fan of Microsoft Word, definitely you’ll like OneNote as the stylish yet simple toolbar will make you feel right at home. The best thing about OneNote is you can access and share your notes with anyone and anywhere, even if you’re offline as your notes are automatically synced when connect to internet.
OneNote Pricing: Free to use after purchasing Microsoft Office (the pricing is depending on the selected package).
Support: IOS, Mac, Windows, Android, and Web
Related: 17 Tips: How To Deliver Presentations with Ease and Confidence?
What is office 365 for mac. 6. Best Research Note Taking App: Paper
If you like to create simple yet attractive notes, perhaps you should consider Paper. Paper is a digital paper app like a wall of sticky notes, which allow you to create notes using the combination of sketches, images, and text notes. You can create checklists within few seconds, spotlight details in photos, and outline illustrations easily. The swipe-to-style feature makes the notes creation process fun and faster. Sound cool? Besides, you can save the created notes as PDF or presentation form. Don’t worry if you’re not born with artistic skills as there are many available tools that can help you to design stylish drawing and writing.
Paper Pricing: Free for download. For most natural and expressive way to create beautifully designed notes, you should consider Pencil Stylus, starting at $49.95.
Support: Web, iPhone, and iPad
7. Best Research Note Taking App: Simplenote
Simplenote is the simplest way to keep your research notes. This cloud-based note taking app is clean, crisp, simple, easy to use, and load faster in any devices. You will love notes tags and quickly group notes. What makes Simplenote a remarkable app is that your notes remain updated across all devices. You can share your research notes with your lab mates and instantly search for your notes. In addition, you can retrieve accidentally deleted notes easily starting from the first version. The markdown feature in this app makes it’s suitable for blogging.
Simplenote Pricing: Free for download
Support: IOS, Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, Kindle Fire, and Web
Related: Top 11 Popular Recreation Sports And Other Leisure Activities In Malaysia
8. Best Research Note Taking App: SomNote
SomNote is a note taking app with well-designed user interfaces. You can save your research articles or notes in folders in any color according to your styles. Furthermore, the beautiful theme and fonts definitely will enlighten you. You can protect your notes or files by setting pin. Even if you lose or change your phone, SomNote can still keep every single note created by you in one piece. You can always activate the automatic backup so that you can recover deleted notes from recycle bin anytime. To find the note, you just need to enter the keyword in the search menu. With SomNote, you can organize your research articles or any imported files systematically and retrieve easily.
SomNote Pricing: Free for download. Get the premium plan to enjoy 30 GB storage capacities ($3.6/month or $37.4/year) and unlock more awesome features.
Support: IOS, Android, and Web
Over to You
Do you know that note taking by outsourcing your memories to an external source (typing and writing) through the best research note taking app is much more effective than simply highlight the original journal research articles? Note taking should be done on an earlier stage and should parallel with reading journal research articles as it can enhance your long term retention, facilitate and improve the ways you connect main points, help you to understand better, and for future reference. From there, you know how to connect ideas, design plausible research methodology, and conduct your research effectively. Throughout your PhD journey, you’ll realize that the notes that you created over time can assist you to write better in the research proposal, journal manuscript, or thesis easily.
There it is! With the advancement of mobile technology in this 21st century, you can change the way you taking research notes in the simplest way. The best research note taking app for smartphone and laptopas listed above definitely bring more fun to your PhD journey.
Free Apps For Mac
What you should do is select the one that you like and according to your accessibility. Which note taking app suits you the most? Do you have other recommendations on note taking app that didn’t mention above? We ‘d love to hear from you in the comments below!