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Research Methods Using Writing Tools on a Computer I. Some helpful software tools for writers. A. Idea processor or outliner. 1. An idea processor is special type of word processor program that is optimized for creating an outline. 2. An idea processor or outliner is very useful for planning a paper or sermon. It is excellent for writing the rough draft. You focus on getting down your ideas, not the order of presentation. You can easily rearrange the orders of point and subpoints. It is great for brainstorming alone or with a group. 3. An idea processor compared to a word processor: a. Advantages: An idea processor is more powerful for manipulating changes than the automatic outline feature in most word processors. It is easy to move points around. If you move a point, all the subpoints move with it. You can hide the details and view only the desired levels of points. The outline feature in a word processor is fine if you do not move things around too much. A word processor does not carry subpoints with higher level points when you move them, unless you mark the whole section as a block. Because a word processor is concerned with the appearance of text, it is easier for your outline to get messed up so you lose your train of thought when you are brainstorming. With an idea processor you only focus on the concepts and not the appearance. b. Disadvantages: It may not be easy to transfer your outline to a word processor. Usually you can move the text, but the outline structure may not convert to the desired appearance in your word processor. 4. The heyday of Idea Processors was the 1980's (ThinkTank, Ready!, PC Outline). In the 1990's, Word and WordPerfect added outlining features, but they have less flexibility than a dedicated idea processor. a. The WordPerfect outline feature is close to the capabilities of an idea processor. You can move or indent a whole section, including all subpoints. But it does not happen by default. You must reveal outline icons and work move the icon with the mouse. By default moving or promoting a point does not carry the subpoints with it. b. Microsoft Word has 2 ways of working with outlines: (1) Outline View works on any document and has a icon for moving and promoting a whole section with the mouse. When you are finished outlining your can change to the regular document view and write a paragraph oriented document. This is the easiest way to convert from outline to regular prose. (2) The number format (Format menu, Bullets and Numbering) creates an outline, but there is little capability of rearranging the outline. 5. PC Outline: An excellent, popular shareware idea processor for DOS that is now available for Windows, though it is no longer being developed. (shareware $39 US; http://www.atlantic-coast.com) See http://www.outliners.com for further discussion of idea processors. Free versions of older commercial programs like ThinkTank (PC) and More (Macintosh) are also available. 6. Other outliners are listed at http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/807/0/list-of-outliners B. Speech recognition software 1. This is another excellent way to focus on organizing your thoughts. Dictate your ideas and record your stream of consciousness. It is great for taking notes on a book. You can use it with a portable voice recorder and transfer your notes from the field to your computer later. 2. Speech recognition technology has been “almost ready for primetime” for a number of years. It is almost good enough for production work. It is great for notes but not accurate enough for actual writing, since correcting misunderstandings will waste too much time. It is no use for editing since it is too hard to select and move text. It is better to dictate your ideas and then edit them with a word processor. It takes practice to speak in a consistent way that will result in accuracy. The faster the computer the better speech recognition works. 3. Naturally Speaking: Preferred Edition can be trained for multiple users. It improves in recognizing your speech in time if you correct its errors. ($199; http://www.dragontalk.com) Copyright © 2012 Dr. Harry A. Hahne Research: Computer Writing Tools Page 2 C. Bibliography formatting software. 1. A personal bibliographic database manager saves students and scholarly writers time and ensures accurately formatted references. You can store your research notes and bibliographic references in these programs rather than on paper 2. These programs format the citations, footnotes and bibliography in your document in any style, such as Turabian, Chicago, APA and MLA. They know such details as when to italicize or quote a title, the order of citation elements, the different citation styles for different types of materials. Although many are oriented toward science, some programs (e.g. Library Master) automatically format footnotes, including properly distinguishing differing first and succeeding citations and properly using Ibid. 3. Library Master: The most flexible bibliographic database manager available, particularly suited for the humanities. It includes unique features for biblical and theological studies, such as cataloging articles by Scripture passages and formatting in styles used by all the major theological journals and publishers. (Windows and DOS. Students: $124.95, professors: $199.95; http://www.balboa- software.com/lmw.html. 800-763-8542; 480-632-1901). Endnote is less powerful, but is available for Macintosh and IBM PC ($299.95; http://www.endnote.com). D. CD-ROM and online writer's reference books. 1. There are CD-ROM and online versions of reference books, such as dictionaries, manuals of writing style, books of famous quotations (e.g. Microsoft Bookshelf). 2. Encyclopedias: a. Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.britannica.com): An electronic edition of this authoritative 32 volume encyclopedia. You can access summary articles for free online, or you can read the full articles for a nominal subscription fee that is considerably less than the print edition ($69 per year vs. $1399 in print!). Unlike print or CD-ROM editions, the online version never goes out of date since the information is frequently updated. b. Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org): A free, collaboratively written encylopedia. Anyone can add or edit articles and thousands of changes take place in an hour. The Website uses “wiki” software that makes collaboration easy and keeps track of changes. Inappropriate changes are usually removed quickly, and repeat offenders can be blocked from editing. Although many articles are written by experts in their field and all changes are scrutinized, the accuracy of articles should not be assumed. Some famous errors crept in, such as the article on the Holocaust that was edited by a Holocaust denier and stayed online for some days before it was corrected. c. Xrefer provides subscription access to over 250 books in history, biography, language, science, religion and other fields (http://www.xrefer.com). 3. Dictionaries and thesauruses: a. Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com) searches multiple dictionaries at one time and provides audio pronunciation of words. b. Onelook (http://www.onelook.com) searches hundreds of dictionaries at once. c. A-Z-Dictionaries.com (http://a-z-dictionaries.com/online-dictionary.html) provides a directory of online dictionaries in various fields. d. Thesaurus.com searches numerous online thesauruses at the same time. e. Visualthesaurus.com provides a visual display of words with related and opposing semantic domains ($19.95 per year or $39.95 on CD-ROM). f. Logos Libronix Bible Software includes Websters Collegiate Dictionary and Websters Thesuarus in most standard sets. The words can be looked up from any article in the collection with a mouse click on the word. When Logos is running a Windows Taskbar icon allows quick access to both the thesaurus and dictionary. g. Some word processors provide access to a basic dictionary and thesaurus while writing. Microsoft Word provides access to the Encarta Dictionary (online) and a simple thesaurus. WordPerfect provides access to an abridged Oxford Dictionary and a thesaurus. Research: Computer Writing Tools Page 3 II. Some underutilized word processor features that can save you time and help you write better. A. Style Sheets 1. A style sheet lets you specify formatting characteristics of a document once for the entire document or a section of a document (e.g. main font, margins, table font, paragraph spacing, level of indentation for quotations). 2. The advantage is that you can change the format of the whole document by changing it in only one place. Without a style sheet, if you decide to change the spacing between paragraphs or use a smaller font for a table, you must change every table paragraph separately. 3. For example, in a two volume book with 650 pages, I was able to experiment with font sizes, margin settings, tab settings to make it fit the required space and to make the appearance the way I wanted. Simply by changing one style sheet, I was able to change all 50 chapters, even though they all were in separate files. 4. Both WordPerfect and Word include styles, but implement them slightly differently. Styles particularly make Word much simpler to use, since its paragraph formatting is changed for each paragraph separately, unlike WordPerfect which uses the new format for each subsequent paragraph. B. Footnotes 1. Most modern high end word processors will automatically number footnotes, place them at the bottom of the page (or as endnotes at the end of document) and split long footnotes between pages. 2. Simply press a key and a footnote is numbered and created for you to fill in.