Manage your time, organize your work, and be more creative in your research.
Most of us can imagine the academic who effortlessly turns caffeine into written words and might actually be a machine. It’s easy to think that everyone else is finding it easier to write than you do. But most academic writers don’t enjoy the writing process every single day. They often find that committing their research to paper is an unnecessarily slow and painful process.
Dissertation writing requires you to develop a complex argument supported by appropriate evidence. To do this effectively, you’ll need to learn how to organize your arguments, transition between ideas, and meet the demands of writing at an academic level.
The fear of the blank page, the stress of self-imposed writing goals, perfectionism—all of these can prevent academics from engaging in productive writing sessions. An academic himself as well as a former clinical social worker and therapist, Rich Furman has a flourishing career helping scholars overcome those obstacles. He’ll share his techniques in our free Writing Groups for Academics series, which run through to December.
Since the beginning of the year there have been a lot of changes made to Citavi, which we're excited to tell you about in this features roundup.
November is Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo)! Along with the bounty of resources and advice that Academic Writing Month brings, it is important to acknowledge the frustration and deep worry about failure that is part of the process. Towards that end, I advocate getting rid of the saying publish or perish and replacing it with Publish and Persevere!
Conducting a thorough critique of the literature is incredibly important, but as a writer, you may feel daunted by the enormity of the task. Following these 10 tips can help you focus your writing efforts. These tips can also help you write a literature review that moves beyond summarizing the research and toward critiquing it well.
I have been helping academics and others on their writing and writing productivity for over twenty years (and over ten years as a coach--time flies!!). While I have many technical tips and tools that explore with folks, much of what I do is helping scholars maximize their psychosocial resources and resilience.
I have been helping academics and others on their writing and writing productivity for over twenty years (and over ten years as a coach--time flies!!). While I have many technical tips and tools that explore with folks, much of what I do is helping scholars maximize their psychosocial resources and resilience.
Academic Writing Month runs in November and challenges participants to set and meet a writing goal during the month.
All good things must come to an end at some point. Our blog co-author Jennifer will be leaving Citavi this Friday, so we've decided to put the blog on pause until there is someone to step in. In today's post, Jana and Jennifer take a look back at some of their favorite insights and moments when writing the blog.
The blog team is taking a break this week, but we dove into our archive to find some posts from our very first year that we think are still worth a first or second look.
After one of our blog authors received a mention in the acknowledgements section for a dissertation, she wondered how people choose who they want to thank and why. Some of the answers might surprise you!
Want to lead a webinar but unsure about what you need to consider from a technical standpoint or otherwise? With our tips you'll soon be comfortable talking to your screen.
Many of our readers are likely aware that Citavi was recently acquired by QSR International, an academic software company that makes the leading QDA software NVivo. If you want to learn more about what QDA software is, when it's used, and how reference management software can be used with it, this post is for you.
Every two weeks for over three years, Jenny and Jana have published a new blog post on the Planned Accidents blog. In this interview, they discuss their process: how they come up with new ideas, how they research and organize their work, what their writing process looks like, and how they deal with creative blocks.
Creativity tools can help you generate new ideas, capture ideas, and get unstuck. In our new blog post, we look at some of the tools out there and explore how even your reference manager can help with creativity (yes, really!).
Creativity is imperative for original work, but in the many books and blogs for academics, it's barely mentioned. The book Creativity in Research is one of the few exceptions. It draws on creativity research and the authors' experience leading creativity workshops to help academics establish the conditions for new ideas to flourish. In this post, we share our takeaways from the book that can help any academic become more creative.
Chances are that you probably know one or two academics who don't use reference management software. Although it's hard to fathom when you're a fan, there are some good reasons for citing manually or using an alternative solution.
Is your paper deadline looming, and you still don't know what your central research question is or how it relates to your paper topic? Our latest blog post can help with tips and examples for formulating a research question.
Like a hammer, reference management software is a tool. And just like a hammer won't help you build a house if you don't have a foundational knowledge of building, you won't be able to use reference management software successfully without some knowledge of basic citation and academic writing principles. Learn what you need to know in this blog post.
Are the links in your footnotes or bibliography wrecking your formatting? Do you wish you could shorten long links? Read on for helpful tips for working with links.
Is there any advantage to starting on a big endeavor on January 1st? According to the fresh start effect, there is! Read on to learn more about this phenomenon and alternative approaches you might consider.
While it can be tempting to use breaks to finish up work you didn't get to this past semester, it may not be the best idea long-term. Not convinced? In this blog post we take a look at the many benefits of taking a break.
Almost time to turn in your paper or thesis but just need to do a final check? Make sure that you don't forget anything important by using our check list.
Writer's block happens to nearly all of us at some time or another. The next time you get stuck, take a look at this blog post for eight strategies to try depending on which type of writer's block you're experiencing.
For many academics, the month of November is associated with making progress on a writing goal. We discuss why that is, how Academic Writing Month started, and why so many academics find it useful in our new blog post:
For the past 20 years DOIs have been assigned to academic journal articles. These identifiers make it possible to automatically import citation information into Citavi. But what are DOIs and how exactly do they work?
Is it ever okay to re-use the work you did on a research paper for another class? What about copying whole sections of text into the new paper? Do you have to cite yourself, and, if so, how should you do that?
When you take notes in your courses, you're engaging in active learning, which can help you retain information long-term. But which format should you use and and what are the best methods? Read this blog post for our tips.
When you've been working on a dissertation or other long-term project for a while, you can feel like you already know your project inside and out. Taking a beginner's mind approach can help you find new ideas and view your project with fresh eyes.
Your library offers so much more than books and study spaces. Learn which 5 library resources every first-year student should get to know.
Need to write a proposal? Lucky you! Even though it might seem like a lot of extra work, this document can help you save time and stay on track when writing your thesis or working on another type of research project. We share some tips for what to include in this week's blog post.
Are unfinished tasks keeping you up at night? Creating a simple to-do list could help! In this blog post we look at why that is and share some of our favorite tips and tools for task lists.
Need to write a literature review? You might want to consider using Excel to keep track of your sources and notes. Our latest blog post examines the pros and cons and takes a look at some popular approaches.
With tens of thousands of different citation styles already available, why are new citation styles still being created by universities, departments, and individual professors? In this blog post we attempt to answer this question.
When writing a thesis, don't go it alone! Take a cue from your favorite heist movie and seek out specialists that can give you a leg up.
Have you ever marked up a text with highlighters only to realize at the end that you didn't understand it at all? You're not alone! Thankfully, there are a number of approaches you can use to help you better analyze your readings. Learn about five effective methods you can use with Citavi in this blog post.
Amidst all the uncertainty of the current pandemic, one thing has become crystal clear: misinformation can spread as quickly as a virus. Fortunately, the information literacy skills you learn during your studies can help you combat it. Read on to learn how.
Sick of hunting around for presentation slides, a syllabus, readings, or other documents from your courses?
Our latest blog post describes how you can create your own system to keep track of all of the paper and electronic handouts you get in your classes.
Stuck at home and bored out of your mind? Why not learn what's behind the emotion we all try so hard to avoid, strategies for dealing with it, and why boredom might actually have some positive effects.
It can be tough to adjust to working at home if you were previously working somewhere else. In this post, our Citavi team members who have worked at home for years share some of their experiences and recommendations.
This blog post is for any students whose courses have suddenly been moved online. Our veteran online course taker shares her top tips for getting the most out of the format.
ResearchGate, Academia, ImpactStory, etc. There are a number of social media platforms focused on academics, but why would you ever want to join one? And, if you do use one, what should you watch out for?
Want to learn a lot of material in a short amount of time? A slew of bestsellers promise to help you learn subjects faster than you ever thought possible. Is it all just hype or is there any method behind their message?
In a country where there's a law for the amount of beer that should be poured in a glass, you might expect citation practices to be similarly uniform. In fact, there have been some attempts at standardizing citation guidance over the years. But how successful have they been? The answer might surprise you.
A carefully researched YouTube video on quantum mechanics from a university professor and your friend’s Instagram picture of his lunch are both examples of social media. So, when and when should you not cite social media in a paper? Find out in this blog post.
Already given up on your many New Year's resolutions? We have a very doable alternative for you: be a better organized student. To ensure your success, we've broken this goal down into five easy steps. Now go make this your year!
Already made your resolutions for 2020? Fair enough, but before moving on to the next year, we invite you to sit back and take stock of all the positive moments from the year that was.
Has the holiday season crept up on you all-too-soon? Are you still looking for a present for the students, professors, and researchers in your life? We've got you covered! Check out our blog post for some ideas.
How did the APA citation style become one of the most popular in the world? In this blog article we attempt to answer this question by tracing the history of the style from its humble beginnings on up to the just released 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
The humble tag can be immensely useful when organizing your references or other documents. But just how should you go about creating a tag or keyword system?
Read on for some best practices from the Citavi team.
Does it feel like there's no end in sight to this semester? That's because you're smack dab in "the messy middle". Also known as "the mid-semester slump" or "mid-semester blues", our latest blog post examines this phenomenon and offers some tips to help keep you moving forwards.
Magicians never reveal their tricks, but for academics it's a different matter. They can and should reveal how they reached their conclusions!
The open science movement takes this transparency one step further by helping make knowledge directly accessible to the public.
Can you imagine going on a hike with no signs to guide you? You'd likely feel a bit lost.
It's the same for the readers of your thesis if you don't include some common "signposts" to help guide them in – and back out – of your writing.
Like an itinerary for a vacation, the humble outline can help keep you from meandering off course and wasting valuable time – whether you have a two-page essay or a dissertation ahead of you.
Learn how you can use outlines throughout your writing process and which apps can help in our latest blog post.
A new academic year is a great chance to say goodbye to the bad habits that may have plagued you in the past and start developing good ones to help you succeed.
We’ve culled some of our top learning and productivity tips from past blog posts to help you hit the ground running. Whether you’re a first-year student or a seasoned professor, we're confident you’ll find some strategies you can use to make this your best year yet.
Librarians are experts at identifying and describing sources. Take a cue from them when adding items to your reference management software! Our latest blog post shows you how to add difficult reference types using examples from Citavi.
Ever wondered what's behind the concept of “standing on the shoulders of giants”? Find out more about this phrase and what it has to do with citation in our latest blog post.
As a student you're expected to adhere to citation style guidelines for your papers – but that can be difficult if you're not familiar with all of the terminology. Our glossary can help.
Many of the online services we use today, both in academia and in our private lives, rely on metadata. But just what is metadata anyway? And why might you want to think about it the next time you're working with your reference management software? Find the answers in our latest blog post.