ALL ABOUT: Productivity Tools

Figure out which tools are the most popular, reliable, or useful for the kind of work you need to do.

Popular tools

Ask the right questions

Researchers may skip this step only to experience some kind of heartbreaking loss down the road. Before you invest too much into a productivity tool, make sure you've vetted it properly.

Tip: Use the company's own help page or product blog to answer your questions. Double-check the tool's Wikipedia article for information or controversies. Find additional details and tips in online reviews and blog posts, from friends and colleagues who use the tool, or from a Google search (add terms like con, drawback, limitation to surface negative reviews).

Questions to ask:

Can you rely on it long-term?

  • How stable is the company that makes this software? How long will updates and support continue?
  • Can you easily export your data out of the tool? Into what formats?

    E.g. Evernote is a very popular free tool with no export function. You may lose access to your notes if Evernote goes out of business or starts charging more than you're willing to pay.

  • Do you need to create an account? Does the tool host your account or does it rely on another platform (Facebook, Google, etc.)?
  • Does the tool’s interface work well across multiple browsers and/or devices?

Does it do what you want?

Consider which of these features matter to you

  • Sync across devices: how many devices? Is it possible to work offline?
  • Storage: quantity of cloud storage, option for local storage
  • Searchability: is there OCR (optical character recognition)? Does the search function work as expected?
  • Multimedia input (voice, text, picture, handwriting)
  • Integrations: calendaring, alerts, etc
  • Sharing & collaboration: can you give access to others? Can you control how much or which information is accessed?
  • Privacy & security: do you own the data you put in this tool? Does the tool meet security standards?

Find out more - what are your colleagues using?

Many researchers develop hacks for adapting software to suit their research. They might share their thoughts about a new tool, or describe the ecosystem they’ve developed for their needs. You can find scholars talking about what they like to use in places like social media, blog posts and newsletters, interviews, and user forums.

Search tips: how to find colleagues' recommendations

  • Identify the name of a tool or a scholarly process such as the discipline or methodology or type of publication.

    E.g. ethnography, literary history, archival research, digital humanities, oral history, journal article, first book.

  • Add some words that describe the concept of an academic research hack.

    E.g. academic, dissertation, project, PhD, research, thesis, productivity, workaround, tool, hack, solution.

  • Think about where you're searching

    Search a specific blog site or social media platform (e.g., Medium Links to an external site., Blogspot Links to an external site., Wordpress Links to an external site.) or try a Google alternative like Bing Links to an external site. or Duckduckgo Links to an external site.

    Tips:

    • Use the site: search operator to search within a specific domain (e.g. twitter.com).
    • Exclude sites that are clogging up your search (e.g. -site:*.library.*.edu or -site:zotero.org)

Example searches