5 tools for students & academics that make your university life easier

Although summer is just around the corner, some of us continue our academic journey, while others start to prepare for the year ahead. Here are the five tools I wished I knew about while at university:

1. PaperPanda – Access millions of research papers with the PaperPanda chrome extension

You’ve probably run into this problem – you want to read a paper, but it’s locked behind a paywall. Maybe you have access to it through your library or university, maybe it’s available to download for free through an open-access portal, maybe the author uploaded a PDF to a website somewhere – but how are you going to find it? PaperPanda is here to help!
One-click access to millions of research paper PDFs on thousands of academic websites.
Save time navigating paywalls, logins, and redirects.

2. Citationsy – Referencing for people who value simplicity, privacy, and speed

Perhaps one of the easiest and most accurate reference managers out there. Citationsy is a clean, annoyance-free environment to get your bibliography work done. Say goodbye to flashing ads, notifications, cookie banners, and downloads. It’s just you and your references.
Use the iPhone and Android apps to cite books on the go with their barcode scanner and add the Chrome or Firefox extensions to cite websites in 2 clicks.

3. Citationsy Archives – Find, summarize and download over 50 million open access research papers

Are you writing an essay and don’t know where to find more relevant sources of information to cite? Citationsy Archives is a great place to start. With millions of research papers available to download for free, you can not only search by topic, you can also summarize and extract highlights, you can check how a scientific article has been cited and if its findings have been supported or contrasted by others, and you can create interactive citation maps that show you who else has cited the article. This is a great way to save yourself some time when looking for relevant scientific articles.

4. Supernotes – The best note-taking app for ideas, records, tasks, and lists

Note-taking reinvented. Create simple yet powerful digital notecards with rich and varied content, like math equations, tables, images, checklists, and emojis. This is the perfect way to organize your study material and keep your information organized. You can keep your cards to yourself, or share and collaborate on them with friends and colleagues in real-time.

5. Perlego – Get unlimited access to all of your learning resources

Think of it as “Spotify for Textbooks”, Perlego offers an affordable textbook solution for learners around the world. With one membership you can access all the books you will need throughout your university degree. This is a lot cheaper than buying books you most likely only use for a year or two.