Top Five Inexpensive or Free Tech Tools for Grad School

I’ve been a bad blogger, A very bad blogger. I can’t promise I’ll write more often, but I’ll let you know when I do! So, I haven’t written in ages and decided that right now, instead of doing the work I’m supposed to be doing, I’m going to write a blog entry instead ^__^. Mostly just because I’ve found soooo much cool stuff recently that does help me me fitter, happier, more productive… Get ready for a total nerdfest, I have no shame. I’ve often said I’m an information junkie fortunate enough to live in the information age. Case and point:

1. ZOTERO

Every graduate student really should get this. It’s a way to organize all of your sources for papers. If you want to get an online log-in, you can even sync two computers together. I sync my netbook and my laptop because I carry my netbook to class (since it’s teeny) but generally work on my laptop at home. This way, even if I had a bunch of new sources to Zotero at home, they’ll be on my netbook when I go to class. They also have Word and Open Office add-ons (and whatever you Mac people use, too!) so that as you type a paper, you can add in your sources. At the end you tell it to ‘create bibliography’ in whatever style you like (Chicago, APA, MLA, etc etc). Of course double check it because it makes mistakes, but it still cuts tons of time out of making a bibliography. Here are some screen shots of mine:

I also bought extra storage space on Zotero and have an online log-in. One wonderful thing about it is the ever growing online community of scholars. You can share your library with others and see what people in your field are reading. Love it.

2. Google Reader

Google Reader is an RSS Feed reader. For those who are unfamiliar, RSS feeds can be found on any webpage you read regularly, or if not, you can create one for it. So, for example, if there are blogs in your field that you read often but sometimes forget to check, add them to your reader and they’ll be updated daily. Rather than sifting through your bookmarks, just open your reader and read all the latest news in the morning over breakfast. You can also add friends blogs to the feed, podcasts, and your Hulu queue, if you have one. There’s a screenshot of mine in the gallery at the top of this page. You can read the whole post directly from your Reader, or you can click on it to go to the page if you really want to.

3. Dropbox

I can not emphasize enough what a life saver this has been! If you use two computers or if you would like to be able to access files from your home computer at any computer without constantly emailing them to yourself, this program is for you! It add itself to the files on your computer and you save your documents in it (It’s its own little folder just like My Documents). Then it syncs  the files online. You can either install a dropbox on your secondary computer and it will sync them up, or you can access your dropbox online from any computer. So, if I am working on a paper on my home computer and I save it to my dropbox, if I go to open it later on my netbook, the document and all recent changes are updated. I can then work on it some more, save it again, and open it back up on my new computer with changes updated. I never had to email the document to myself or put it on a flash drive. It’s as easy as ctrl+S and getting on with my life. No hassle at all.

4. Good Reader Ipod Touch/ Iphone App

Why waste time on the train? Good Reader makes it insanely easy to upload PDFs to your Ipod (even super large ones) and read them with ease. Since most of my class assignments are PDFs, I don’t have to miss a beat staying on top of things. If I’m behind on readings, I just add them to my Ipod and read them on the train. At first glance the App may seem complicated, but the tutorials that come with it are great at explaining how it works. I can’t emphasize enough how much this app has changed my life! I recently had to give a presentation using PowerPoint.. I just converted my PowerPoint to a PDF (use a PDF converter like Adobe) and added it to my Ipod. Then I could go through the slides on my Ipod and practice m presentation on the way to class. It could also be used as a replacement for notecards if you were presenting on something. Your Ipod is about the same size as an index card, and flipping through a PDF with this program is just as easy as flipping through index cards. I love it.

5. Ambiance Ipod Touch/ Iphone App

Do you have trouble studying when it’s noisy? Or trouble focusing? Or maybe you can’t think when it’s too quiet and you need the low murmur of people talking in a coffee shop to concentrate? Either way, this app is for you! It gives you hundreds of calm background sounds to choose from to help you focus. Once you have the program, you download as many sounds as you want for free through the app using WiFi or internet. Some examples are ‘crowd’, ‘French cafe’, ‘American cafe’ ‘Thunderstorm’ ‘white noise’ ‘Gregorian chant’. Literally… hundreds… You can also download a number of binaural beats/ tones that help with focusing and relaxation.

If I think of any more, I’ll make an updated list. Also, if anyone has any questions about any of these, come talk to me! I learned about every single one of them by having someone else kindly take the time to explain to me how they worked, so I’m more than willing to pass on the knowledge!

Ok, nerdfest over.

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