TextHelp Read & Write Gold with Screenshot Reader grabbing references

TextHelp Read and Write Gold

I have been using TextHelp Read and Write Gold with Screenshot Reader for many years and today it was brilliant as I needed to grab some references from a PowerPoint presentation that was online.  The references were inaccessible and I really did not want to copy them all out!  I highlighted the area around the references, grabbed the content and the Text Reader window appeared.  I selected the text that had virtually kept its correct layout – Copy all and paste (Ctrl+A  and Ctrl+ V) they were added to the blog I was writing and I was able to acknowledge the original authors of the presentation and have an accessible version of their references!  See the result on our Arabic Symbol Dictionary blog!

I should add this can be achieved with any screen grab and text conversion program and programs such as ClaroRead

E.A. – Researcher – University of Southampton.

Easy Bib app for iOs and Android tablets and phones

Easy Bib appTeena has passed on advice about the EasyBib app for students that find it incredibly difficult or time consuming to provide a reference for written assignments. This free and useful iPad,iPod and iPhone 4 app is available through iTunes or as an Android app from Google Play. It will do most of the hard work for you but we have found issues using certain devices – anything post iPad3 seems to work well.

Hover over the ISBN number of a book with a steady hand. The app will automatically scan the barcode, and providing you are connected to Wifi, will generate a bibliography reference for you. Three styles are available including Chicago, APA (Harvard) & MLA.

Once your reference has been generated, email it to yourself (singularly or in a group) with other references.

Teena from Oxford & Cherwell Valley College

Extra Note – Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.  There is also a useful introductory YouTube video on EasyBib iPhone and iPad App

 

Wikipedia to help with writing

“I use Wikipedia before starting to write any reports or essays in order to have a broad idea    that may relate to a specific topic. Then I start to look for references, websites, journals and conference papers.”

But as is commented on the page that we have linked to on Wikipedia  “Do your research properly and wisely.  Remember that any encyclopaedia is a starting point for research, not an ending point.”  However, Wikipedia often provides references at the bottom of the topic page and can lead to other more academic resources and it even offers advice as to how Wikipedia should be used for researche

There is also a YouTube video describing the way Wikipedia can be used for Research

Google Scholar for research material

google scholar citation

“I use Google Scholar to search for materials and useful information for my studies and find this can lead to reading other papers as a result of the links to similar articles. It also helps when you want to cite a paper as it gives you the layout for the citation.” Katherine