Conducting research is core aspect of higher education life for academic staff, professional staff and students. There are a range of great tools that can be used to make the task of conducting and managing research easier. The table below provides a series of links to a range of free tools, freemium and some paid tools that every researcher should have in their toolkit.
finding literature
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Inciteful | This free tool makes finding relevant articles for your literature review easier. Entering the title, DOI or other identifier from a paper you have already found, will provide you with a list of analytics relating to the article, similar articles, highly important articles in the field as well as many other useful pieces of information. Free. |
| Research Rabbit | Research Rabbit is an AI platform that allows researchers to locate and visualise scholarly literature as well as researchers and to create alerts for the latest research on nominated topics. Free. |
| Google Scholar email alert | You can set up multiple Google Scholar email alerts that will send you a link daily of the latest articles in your field. To set up an alert: 1. Go to the Google Scholar web page. 2. Make sure that you are logged into Google Scholar. 3. Click on the hamburger icon at the top left of the screen and select the Alerts option. 4. Click on the Create alert button. 5. Enter your topic. 6. Click the Create alert button. |
Academic writing
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Academic Phrasebook | This is an outstanding resource for researchers created by John Morely from Manchester University. This guide provides an extensive, organised list of phrases that can be used when writing research papers or dissertations, especially when you find that you are wishing to introduce variety into your work or are unclear about how to communicate your ideas. Free. If you are a Kindle user you can purchase the Academic Phrasebank from Amazon. |
| Verbs for reporting | This guide produced by the University of Adelaide, provides a range of reporting verbs that can be used in your academic writing. Free. |
| Purdue Online Writing Lab | This Purdue University web site has a range of guides, posters and resources relating to all aspects of academic writing including referencing guides. Free. |
| ColdTurkey | ColdTurkey is a great app for those times when you need to remain focussed on your writing. The app allows you to set a writing goal, in either number of words or time, and it temporarily locks your computer by blocking access to all other applications on your computer including the Internet until your goal is achieved. Your writing is added to a text file that can be saved when your goal has been reached. Free. |
data preparation and analysis
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Otter.ai | This tool is particularly useful for qualitative researchers who need to transcribe interviews or focus groups. Simply upload your recording and Otter.ai will with a high degree of accuracy transcribe your recording in a matter of minutes. It also includes a playback feature, which allows you to edit the transcript online. The transcript can be downloaded as a text file with timestamps. Freemium. |
| Open Refine | This application can assist you in cleaning up your research data prior to analysis. Free. |
| Nvivo | Nvivo is an application used widely by qualitative researchers to analyse text, videos, audio or images. It allows researchers to manage, create a codebook, code data, collapse codes into themes, make annotations, organise and visualise data. Paid license. At some universities staff can request a copy of Nvivo. |
| IBM SPSS Statistics | SPSS is a great tool for analysing quantitative data. Paid license. At some universities staff can request a copy of SPSS. |
| R and RStudio | R and RStudio is open-source software that allows researchers to analyse and model quantitative data. |
referencing
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| APA 7 Referencing guide | The American Psychological Association’s APA style page provides a range of easy to access examples of referencing in APA 7. Free. |
| Crossref | This site allows you to search for the DOI required for referencing academic literature. Clicking on the Metadata tab and entering the title of the journal article will return the DOI for the article. Free. |
choosing a journal for publication
| Resource | Description |
|---|---|
| Think-Check-Submit | This web site provides tips on how to evaluate journals to identify trusted journals and publishers. Free. |
| Springer Journal Suggester | The Springer Journal Suggester allows researchers to enter the title and abstract of their article, which returns a series of Springer journals that match your paper. It includes additional information including Impact Factor, Time to first decision and acceptance rate. Clicking on the recommended journal allows you to see more information about the journal including any charges. |
| Wiley Journal Finder (Beta) | This tool is currently in Beta version. It allows researchers to add the title and abstract of their article and it will provide a list of recommended Wiley journals. |
| Elsevier Journal Finder | The Elsevier Journal Finder tool enables authors to add the title and abstract of their article and search for Elsevier journals that match the topic of your paper. It provides a range of useful analytics important to researchers including cite rate, journal impact factor, acceptance rate, time to first decision, time to publication. Free. |
| Scimagojr.com | The Scimago Journal and Courntry Rank tool allows researchers to enter the title of a journal and to view its current and historical ranking as well as other information of interest to researchers. Additionally, this tool provides a direct link to the journal. |
Recommended readings
| Borup, J., Archambault, L., & Short, C. R. (2023). Maximising your academic conference experience through networking. In In West, R. E. & Leary, H., Becoming an LITD professional. https://edtechbooks.org/becoming_an_lidt_pro/conference_networking |
| Healey, M., Matthews, K. E., & Cook-Sather, A. (2019). Writing Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Articles for Peer-Reviewed Journals. Teaching & Learning Inquiry, 7(2), 28-50. https://doi.org/10.20343/teachlearninqu.7.2.3 |
| Healey, M. J., Matthews, K. E., & Cook-Sather, A. (2020). Writing about Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Creating and Contributing to Scholarly Conversations across a Range of Genres. Elon, NC: Elon University Center for Engaged Learning. |
| Jalongo, M. R., & Saracho, O. N. (2016). Writing for publication. Springer International Publishing. |
| Lodge, J., Corrin, L., Huijser, H., & Han, F. (2024). A step-by-step guide on how NOT to get published in a high impact educational technology journal. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 40(1). ttps://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.9492 |
| Miller-Young, Janice, Nancy L. Chick, eds. (2024). Becoming a SoTL Scholar. Elon, NC: Elon University Center for Engaged Learning. https://doi.org/10.36284/celelon.oa6 |
| Wilson, M., & Ritzhaupt, A. D. (2023). Where Should Educational Technologists Publish Their Research? In West, R. E. & Leary, H., Becoming an LITD professional. https://edtechbooks.org/becoming_an_lidt_pro/publishing_research |
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