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Thesis and Dissertation Guide

Where do you start with your thesis/dissertation? Here's a reference point.

Resources for Dissertations

This page has a collection of resources for extensive research projects. This includes app and software recommendations, useful websites and videos, general advice, and more!

These tools are suggestions that may or may not work for you, and you are encouraged to explore other tools that may work better for you needs. These are just a sample of what is available! They may help with writing, citing, organizing, note taking, time management, etc. For every app mentioned, there are several others that perform similar functions. It's a matter of finding what works for you!

When working on a dissertation/thesis/big projects, it might be useful to use one or several things similar to any of these - note taking, organizing your writing, organizing your ideas, organizing your research, organizing your PDFs of research and/or citations, time and/or project management software. Your needs might also differ project to project. 

Please note that most paid products offer free trials and you are highly encouraged to use these to see if you actually like a product. Many things also have free alternatives. Please note we are not suggesting you buy anything, we are simply providing information on tools and types of tools we have been asked about.

Research is a journey - there is no single, correct way to do it. Do not feel like there is a single formula to follow, because there is not. If you are stuck please contact the library faculty, your course professor or advisor for assistance. 

Listed out are apps in the Top 5 video (next tab). In her essential apps video (next tab) she goes over open/free apps. I have included several additions for free or alternative apps as well, especially where he gives Apple only options.

  • Scrivener or Ulysses [Ulysses is Apple only] (both paid - look for student discounts in apps like UniDays)
  • Endnotes, Mendeley, Zotero or others -  You actually get Endnotes for free at ESU, contact the help desk if you want to download it. Mendeley and Zotero work pretty much the same, the interface is just different, and they're both free!
    • For software that integrates citations and formatting your papers you might want to try something like Perrla (subscription after a 30 day trial)
    • Mendeley and Zotero have Word extensions that allow you to cite in text and build bibliographies/reference lists at the end
  • Bear Notes (Apple only; free or paid) -  but any note taking app, like Google Keep for Android would work. You can also use OneNote through your ESU email account - you can try that too!
    • You could also try Scapple for a more notebook like experience (but more legible) that let's you connect ideas and make your notes any way you want. This one is also paid, but is by the same company that brings you Scrivener. They both have a small discount for .edu emails
  • Things 3 (Apple only; paid) - but any app that helps you keep track of your to do list would work.
    • For example you may want to try Asana which is free project management software that works for Apple and Android as well as being web based
  • Toggl - for those who really want to know where their time is going
  • Docear - this is free, open source software that collects PDFs and their notations in one place and helps create thought maps. It can also generate citations for these PDFs and has an area where you can create notes, draft ideas for a paper, and write a paper. This software has a lot of functionality in one place, which some of the above perform the same functions but not all in one place. There is a high learning curve but it may be worthwhile for you and is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. 

What next?

For assistance in how to structure and write a dissertation or master's thesis, go to our Thesis and Dissertation Guide. 

If you are new to reading and critiquing articles and academic writing, check out the "How to Read a Journal Article" box on this page. 

If you want to improve your digital literacy, this playlist from Crash Course is strongly recommended. If it's overwhelming watch videos 2, 3 and 4 - video 2 is the introduction to the video series and why digital literacy is important, video 3 is about fact checking and how to do it, and video 4 is about lateral reading which is imperative for digital literacy. 

For reading, note-taking and studying advice, you can visit this link for a bunch of great resources.

If you want help studying online, here is some advice for that as well. 

WriteThatPhD

I highly recommend the resources from @WriteThatPhD - there's great advice and frameworks shared here.