Academic paper writing requires extensive research, information gathering, and collating of the information discovered during the process. When it comes to higher level education, such as PhD courses, this entire process can become overwhelming without proper methods of managing the resources and information. The following programmes and tools may be just what you need to deal with all of your information in a way that keeps everything in one place so that it is easy to access and find the information for which you are looking.

Evernote

Evernote has been around for a while, which is a testament to its usefulness. This free tool allows you to take notes and collect information, including entire documents, PDFs and images, and store them all in a single location. You can then add keywords or other tags to help you keep the information in order. The great thing about Evernote is that it stores copies of these items, rather than just a link. This means that if the link is ever removed, or the webpage taken down, you still have access to the information you have collected. Evernote is also versatile, and allows you to use it on a computer or mobile device.

Diigolet

Diigo is an interesting research tool that you can add to your toolbar so that it is available whenever you need it. This tool allows you to add annotations using various highlighting colours and sticky notes. It also features a handy bookmarking tool so you can find your place if you have to walk away. You can also save photos and other graphics that may be useful later on. All of the information is saved into your library, where everything, including webpages, is archived and available when needed. Diigo also allows you to add tags and lists to keep everything straight. This researcher tool also allows you to create both public and private lists for sharing with others. This tool is available in both a free and paid premium edition.

Scrivener

Scrivener is one of the pricier researcher tools available, but it also includes project management capabilities and a word processing tool all in one. Scrivener is an interesting tool that allows you to create content for those academic papers in sections, so you can go back later and rearrange them to suit the style, format, and flow of your paper. The programme also helps you collect research information via note-taking, and create outlines to help you create the finished project. Scrivener also allows you to view your individual ideas in conjunction with your research to help make sure you have the ideas down properly. Once completed with the researching portion, the programme also helps you build your paper using the proper formatting – including the addition of footnotes – so you can create PDFs, HTML, Word, and RTF documents.

There are plenty of researcher tools available, but these are some of the best ones out there to help you gather the information you need for those detailed PhD papers.