Top Ten
If I could only have ten applications for my computer these would be the ones I would want. Well not the only ten, but the ten I would most want for my academic work. . .in order. . .sort of. (I didn’t include apps. like The Gimp which I use all the time, but not really for working in Academia.)
- Mellel:Perhaps obviously the first program I would want is a Word Processor, and this is my favorite, especially for academic writing. I am not sure how I ever got by without it, and I am forever finding features that other Word Processors don’t have. Not the most intuitive program ever, the learning curve is a bit steeper than some, but this is mostly the fault of other bad applications and learning to do things their way than Mellel being badly made. In fact Mellel is near perfectly made, including the well written instruction manual, the tutorial, and the forum to help make the transition easy. They offer an educational discount.
- Quicksilver:Not your usual type of application, and not specifically “academic” but, if someone asked me why they should switch to Mac this would be one of the top reasons. I always have Quicksilver running (configured to launch at start-up) and this program really saves me probably an hour each day. On the most basic level Quicksilver is an application launcher/task manager, which means that I can, with a couple of keyboard strokes (in some case only one) launch or move to any application (no mouse needed). But even more importantly you can use it to send attachtments to people, collect screen captures, eject disks, move documents, copy files, look up words in a dictionary, append notes to a file (in other words I can add a text line to a document without even opening it), and pretty much get anything done you want. Like Mellel this program takes a bit of getting used to, but is more than worth the effort. When I had to reinstall everything on my computer (hard drive problem) this was the first thing I put on. The Apple Blog had a nice set of tutorials that will show you how to get started with Quicksilver. And the most ridiculuos part of this whole thing—this program is free.(For you Windows users out there, you can try Launchy.
- TextExpander: This program is ridiculously useful. With this program you can create custom abbreviations. So, for example I was teaching Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried for class. I got tired of typing “The Things They Carried” every time I wanted to name the book in emails, or an assigments, etc. (typing this title takes 22 key strokes). Instead I set up an abbreviation, now when I type “TTTC” (minus the quotes) up pops “The Things They Carried” (minus the quotes). You can set abbreviations for anything, your email address, web sites, phone numbers, dates, or for foreign words (now when I type “differance” up pops differánce, this way I don’t have to stop spell check, or use a special key stroke to get the accent mark). My only complaint about this program is it used to be free, and now it costs $29.95. Still more than worth it.
- Net News Wire: Another not strictly “academic” application but . . . I have noticed over the last two years when asked what computer application has made the biggest difference in the way you work, the most common answer, regardless of where people work (in technology, business, academia . . .), has been RSS readers. I am not going to get into here what RSS is, maybe at a later date. But what is does let me do is keep up to date on a long list of blogs (The Chronicle, Wired, Grand Text Auto, about 70 in all), without ever visiting those sites. There are many readers out there, Net News Wire is my favorite, but, it costs $30.00. You can get RSS Owl for free, and it works on Mac, PC and Linux.
- Act-On: This isn’t really an application either, but a plugin for Mail.app (there are similar plugins for those using Thunderbird). I will get into this more in a later post on how I use this, but until I update . . .This plugin lets you sort with a keyboard stroke (no mouse) all of your emails into seperate folders. This makes it easy to manage all of those emails you get from students. I have two folders set up for classes, one called “classes” and one called “students needing a response”. When I get an email I file it into the appropriate folder, and maybe twice a day, check the students needing response folder and email them all back at once, quick easy, and keeps students emails sorted. Like Quicksilver this one is free.
- Devon Think. Describing this application is a bit difficult. You know that old commericial about google (or Yahoo) being like herding cats. Well Devon is like herding academic cats. This program manages a searchable database of all the documents, web sites, pieces of information etc. that I encounter and want to be able to reference, search etc. But it does so much more than this, it actually thinks for you . . .yeah, that’s right this program thinks. I will also cover some of the ways I use this program in a later post, but for now you can check out two other articles here and here. They also offer an educational discount. And, the tech support people are great, I was having a bit of trouble with one feature, and they quickly got back and recommended a work-around.
- iClip: This is clipboard on steroids. It has oh so many uses. But for academics the one I like best is in grading papers. I often find myself saying the same thing over and over again (and by saying I mean typing, as I type my comments-I find I am much more verbose when I type and faster) I load the comments into the clipboard. As I read the paper I think “this student needs to have an example of how to format a block quote” I press “ ctrl-v and select the desired box. You can load up to ten common comments into the boxes and just select the desired box and the text appears. I is like having ten seperate clipboards, and you can use any one of them at any time.
- Bookends or Sente: (These programs work the same I think in the end it is a matter of preference.) A bibliography database on your computer that will format your citations and bibliography for you, never going searching for that reference again. These programs can also search the web to keep you updated on recent publications, and get information from libraries like the library of Congress. There is also Refworks and Endnotes for the PC, but they seem pricey to me, and to not have the same kind of functionality (I have heard many complaints).
- skEdit: If you are going to start managing your own websites, or writing HTML you need a good text editor. There are several choices out there (many people use TextWrangler (which is free) or Textmate (which is not)) but I prefer the reasonably priced ($24.95) incredibly well written, lifetime upgrade policy, friendly supported skEdit. It is intutive, and plays well with everything that I use. I use it to update and write all of my coursepages and to compose longer blog entries.
- Del.icio.us: Not really an application but a web site that allows you to get an account for free and collect bookmarks. There are many ways to use this for your classes. The simple one would be to list links for your students, but I also use it to collect links for a lecture allowing people afterwards to go back to the lecture and see the links. You can manage the links with any web browser, or get upgrade your del.icio.us prowess with Cocalicious or Pukka.(Yes the name of the program is pukka, I didn’t name it I just use it.)
July 16th, 2006 at 4:52 am
Digg it!
http://digg.com/apple/Top_10_Mac_Applications_For_Students
July 16th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
iClip’s functionality is actually rendered redundant by QuickSilver’s shelf. Man, QuickSilver’s like a Swiss-Army Kinfe. It does everything. I’m just waiting for the plugin to let it write my papers for me.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:17 pm
Pukka is British slang for delicious. I’m not sure of its etymology, but I think it’s almost certainly derived from an Indian language.
July 16th, 2006 at 5:24 pm
Might suggest …Hydra … its a collaborative distributed text editor, combining the simplicity of TextEdit and the power of Rendezvous. Hydra features true simultaneous editing for multiple users allowing them to share documents on a local network (with Rendezvous) or on the internet.
There are some others but this was the first there are some for windows as well now, basically you and your study partners tackle a document in realtime. Great for producing results quick on research topics and what not.
July 16th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
I would add a notetaking program to this set. The suggestions are NoteBook, NoteTaker, Mori, or OmniOutliner.
Otherwise, thanks for the list. Very similar to my own list.
July 16th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
good list, i would also add Flock as an internet browser, partly for its amazing integration with del.ici.us but also because of its integration with flickr and many blogging software.
July 16th, 2006 at 7:09 pm
Personally I’d add freemind to the list, as it probably made the biggest difference in how I studied for some subjects. The speed and easiness of it really made a difference.
July 16th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
This is an invauable list of apps, Especially Sente! I have to write papers all the time for my classes that often have 5+ sources and the most tedious part is always finding required source types and then citing them. If only I had Sente last semester my life would have been so much easier but alas I have next year to look forward too.
July 16th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
I have a completely different list:
- forget about word processors: Use LaTeX, so TeXShop (free)
- for managing bibliographies, use the excellent BibTex (free)
- for plotting and data analysis, pro Fit ($95)
- for presentations, Keynote ($79)
- for equations, LaTeXIt (free)
- a free, office-compatible application: NeoOffice (free)
- as an electronic notebook: NoteBook ($29.95 academic)
- as a text editor, TextWrangler or Smultron (both free)
- for drawings, OmniGraffle ($79.95)
A completely Microsoft- and Adobe-free list!
July 16th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
It is a good list, im starting college this fall and i like the way bookends works, itll make writing some term papers easier thank you for this great list, im for sure adding your blog to my home pages.
July 16th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
[...] academhack: Top 10 Mac Applications For Students (Mellel, TextExpander, Act-on, Devon Think, iClip, Bookends) [...]
July 16th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
i like the new mac version of imeem so far. it’s a little beta-ish, but it’s got multi-im chat and social media networking features that i can use with my iphoto, itunes, and blogs. they just added some video and music features as well, which pretty much rounds out all the digital content i work with and junkie off of. oh and they have shared folders features – which is fresh for sharing docs with my friends and promoter friends. i’ll check it out some more and let y’all know…
July 16th, 2006 at 9:28 pm
Surprised by your comments re Refworks. I use it cross-platform as it’s a web app, with plugins for Word on Mac and PC. I find it very easy to use and trouble-free. I have also used Endnote, but found it to be a buggy disaster. I’ll check out your suggestions on these.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:03 pm
Hello.
Great list, great apps.
May I suggest the addition of Hyperwords? Quick navigation on the web, + references and many useful commands. http://www.hyperwords.net Works with Firefox.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
You failed to mention FreeMind. It’s an outlining program that is amazing. It’s intuitive to learn and is much quicker than hand taking notes or using a normal word processor.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:12 pm
Good stuff. Thanks.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
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July 16th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Soon you’ll be able to add firefox scholar to your list, for all your web and online library citations…
July 16th, 2006 at 11:56 pm
Two others that are very useful: recorder.xhead to record class notes and lectures and info.xhead to store all my passwords and personal information. I use them both on
a daily basis.
July 17th, 2006 at 12:06 am
Nice one. Some good links in there. As for the ‘pukka’ reference, I think you’re pronouncing it ‘pyookah’ whereas it should be ‘puhkkah’. It’s a common british word meaning ‘good’. I think it was originally an Indian word. Not such a bad word, really.
July 17th, 2006 at 12:14 am
Thanks, for all of the suggestions. I will write a follow-up article on this in the near future. But to answer a few responses/thoughts so far:
I think Latex is great but it is not the easiest program for people to use, especially those who are not tech savy. And part of my focus is helping those who are not.
I like freemind, and for all those who listed here thanks, I had skipped it.
Look for a future post on presentations both using keynote, and how to record. I will be working on this over the next week (so suggestions are also welcome).
And for those who had questions about Mellel-the longest document I currently have in is over 20,000 words and it handles it with easy. (I keep my dissertation chapters separate so I don’t have a document that is quite book size.)
And finally for those who commented on notetaking, I would be interested to see others models for this, as I am sure there hundereds of effective styles. In the future I will add one on how I use Devon to do all of this. (Really if Devon had a shorter learning curve it would be even closer to the top.)
July 17th, 2006 at 12:40 am
[...] read more | digg story [...]
July 17th, 2006 at 12:55 am
Let me see here… all Macintosh software, all commercial software. Remind me again how this is relevant to *anyone*, *anywhere*?
July 17th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Great article. I hope i could get a MacBook ASAP
July 17th, 2006 at 1:17 am
[...] academhack » Blog Archive » Top Ten (tags: bibliography osx reference tools academic) [...]
July 17th, 2006 at 1:43 am
I’ve found so far that Smultron to be the best text editor for me. It’s very useful for many different types of file formats. Give it a try if you get a chance.
I’d also recommend a program like Yasu to fix the occassional system problem.
Chronosync is a must have backup utility.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:28 am
Dave,
Great list. I’m continually amazed at how many apps are available for Mac-using students. I’m a big fan of OmniOutliner Pro, which I use for notetaking and GTD in law school, but I’ve also heard good things about Mori from Hog Bay Software.
July 17th, 2006 at 3:05 am
Frankly I think that replacing MS Office isn’t going to happen for years. These are very mature programs that do some very cool things. That being said, they are memory hogs (especially in Rosetta).
Mellel is a great word processor and much easier on resources.
I think SOHO Notes (which used to be StickyBrain) is the coolest junk drawer (and the Sync features rock). For just text snippets
I think TAO or OmniOutliner are great. OmniOutliner is free with most new macs and TAO is free period.
There are a lot of others, but those are the high points.
July 17th, 2006 at 3:14 am
Pukka means “pure” or “real” or “of the essence”, heavily used in Hindi, punjabi and other associated north indian languages. Puk by itself (probably the root of pukka) means “ripe”, “cooked”.
July 17th, 2006 at 6:27 am
[...] If a student could only have ten application installed for academic work, these are what they should have.read more | digg story [...]
July 17th, 2006 at 8:11 am
there actually already exist a program similar to quicksilver for windows. it is called launchy and can be found Here. So quicksilver for me is not a good reason for people to switch over to mac. of course there are million other reasons to switch, but quicksilver is not one.
July 17th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
[...] I use most of the apps mentioned in this post.. =) [...]
July 17th, 2006 at 2:27 pm
Funny how closely your list corresponds with mine. I’d move DEVONthink up closer to the top (and maybe the very top). It took a while for it to make real sense, but now: wow. I have hundreds of articles and pages and pages of notes and it frequently shows me things I’d forgotten, lost sight of, or never would have otherwise seen the relevance. It’s the research assistant I wish I had.
Everything else on your list is right on, if not the specific product at least the right categories. I don’t use iClip but rather Jumpcut (though I’ve got iClip on my machine); I’m a TextMate man myself; I like how Sente looks but didn’t want to hand code MLA support, IIRC.
Finally, Mellel is absolutely worth every penny. I own MSOffice (and have owned every version since, er, 1993?), but I write with Mellel. When I worked in the software industry, I used Word because that seems like the right tool for software marketing docs. But for serious academic writing, Mellel is the tool. Period.
Finally, I would add VoodooPad. It’s my universal capture system, my note taking system, and my brainstorming tool. When I need to write something down, it goes in VDP. Later I might reformat and file it in the Finder or DEVONthink, but just about everything starts out in VoodooPad. For me, who does not think naturally in hierarchies but rather relationships, VDP is a much more natural fit than an outliner.
July 17th, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Hey gmillerd
Where can I get Hydra? It’s not listed on MacUpdate. It sounds cool!
Thanks!
July 17th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
I think the Hydra application gmillerd refers to is now called SubEthaEdit. It has not been called Hydra for years (possibly since v1.0).
http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/
The older version is free for non-comercial use.
Hope that helps,
Andy
July 18th, 2006 at 1:06 am
For research, an absolutely indispensible tool is ‘Clipmarks’. I use it allllllll the time – Absolute must for any researcher – http://www.clipmarks.com
July 18th, 2006 at 5:14 am
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July 18th, 2006 at 9:36 am
[...] Ok, I’am a student and now i haven’t a Mac, but i want to suggest this post: is a top ten about many Mac Application for students. There aren’t software as Gimp. [...]
July 18th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
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July 20th, 2006 at 3:15 am
[...] Top Ten Mac apps for Academics A list of useful Mac apps for academics Keywords: academia, mac, topten [...]
July 21st, 2006 at 9:07 pm
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July 23rd, 2006 at 5:36 am
Might I also suggest checking out stu.dicio.us, pretty nice little web 2.0 app with social notetaking.
July 25th, 2006 at 4:08 pm
TextExpander can be replaced with Typeit4Me. i own both, and it seems that Typeit4Me is faster and more stable.
Mithoo
July 25th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
Good to hear that there is another option, when I first tried Typeit4Me it wasn’t stable, I had a lot of problems. I haven’t had any problems with TextExpander, but now it is no longer free.
August 3rd, 2006 at 2:47 pm
wow. textexpander really is going to change my life. this is great! is it integrative with mellel as well? i’m assming so, as that is what you use. i’m still a bit nervous about switching over b/c of the learning curve.
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:32 pm
Both textexpander and typeit4me work across all applications. This makes the program beyond useful, now when I type “achack” in a line (say on a comment forum) up pops “http://www.academhack.org”.
August 14th, 2006 at 10:17 am
If you read a lot of papers and have them all stored on your hard disk, you must – must – get pik. I’ve written more about it here, but it’s basically a .pdf organizer that’s been enormously helpful to me in keeping track of the research articles I read. Free now, but not for long.
August 14th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
I took a look at pik, and for free not bad. But once they start charging $50.00 for it, Devon is a much better option.
September 4th, 2006 at 6:19 am
[...] If a student could only have ten application installed for academic work, these are what they should have.read more | digg story [...]
September 12th, 2006 at 4:30 am
Just a quick plug for Ulysses. I write and looked at all the usual options for organizing a writer and concluded (perhaps prematurely) that DevonThink was overkill– to much to learn. I mean, if I was organized enough to learn DevonThink I wouldn’t need an organizer, right? Ulysses is simple and elegant, yet expensive. I use it for writing but it’s far from perfect. MS Word is suicide for a writer because, over time (years) your files automatically corrupt. I mean, I might as well go out and shoot myself as use MS Word. Too bad I didn’t learn this until after I wrote my dissertation. Mellel is tops, too, and Bookends.
October 3rd, 2006 at 10:39 am
I would encourage every academic to give Scribe 3.1 a go, a brilliantly integrated notetaking programme. It’s designed specifically with historians in mind, but I cannot stress how extraordinarily useful this piece of software would be to pretty much anyone working in the humanities (and beyond, I imagine). It can be downloaded from here: http://chnm.gmu.edu/tools/scribe/. I might sound a little over-enthusiastic, but, honestly, it just is that good.
December 30th, 2006 at 10:05 pm
[...] academhack » Ten Tools for Academics (tags: apps academic education) [...]
January 5th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
[...] If a student could only have ten application installed for academic work, these are what they should have. Click here to view list. [...]
January 19th, 2007 at 2:02 am
Another vere helpful student application is Gradefix. It actually works on a Macintosh or Windows or Linux, or anything else with internet access and a web browser. You tell it how much time you have available to spend doing homework and studying, and what assignments you need to finish, and it will figure out a way to fit all your homework into your schedule, so you know exactly what to do each day to stay caught up on everything.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
For people doing long distance sports like running, biking or hiking there’s also a MacOS X freeware to plan routes and journalize workouts. TrailRunner integrates well with the Nike + iPod Sports Kit and with GPS devices like the Garmin ForeRunner or Garmin Edge. http://www.trailrunnerx.com
August 17th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I would be interested in hearing pros and cons of Sente vs Bookends.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
[...] could only have ten application installed for academic work, these are what they should have.read more | digg [...]
January 26th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
[...] Some paperless office links: stevenberlinjohnson.com Devonthink and other Mac Apps for History and Humanities Research Top Ten tech tools from academHacK [...]