12 Essential Chrome Extensions for Student Researchers

May 28, 2016
After writing about some of the best textbooks on research methodology, today we are sharing with you this collection of useful Chrome extensions ideal for research students. We have tried to come up with add-ons that cover the different stages in a research process: apps to help you search for and curate content (Diigo Web Collector, Google scholar, Evernote Web Clipper, Save to Google Drive), apps that provide you with an enhanced reading experience (Readability, DocHub, Notable PDF), apps for taking notes ( Google Keep and Note Anywhere) and apps for bibliography and citations (EasyBib, Cite This for Me, Zotero Connector).

1- Search for and curate content

A- Diigo Web Collector

Diigo Web Collector allows you to easily annotate, bookmark and archive webpages. It also lets you highlight and add sticky notes to webpages. You can even use it to create groups to curate content and collaborate on a research project. All your notes and annotated content can be accessed across different platforms.

B- Evernote Web Clipper

This is  add-on allows you to instantly clip web pages and save them to your Evernote account. You can use tags to organize your notes. Other interesting features provided by this extension include: highlighting text in any web page, using callouts to draw attention, sharing clipped content through email or via a unique URL.

C- Google scholar

'This extension adds a browser button for easy access to Google Scholar from any web page. Click the Scholar button to: Find full text on the web or in your university library, transfer your query from web search to Scholar, format references in widely used citation styles' and many more.

D- Save to Google Drive

This extension allow you to save web content directly to Google Drive through a browser action or context menu. You can save links to documents, images, and HTML5 audio and video all by right clicking and selecting 'Save to Google Drive'. You can save the currently viewed page using the 'Save to Google Drive' browser action.

2- Enhance your reading experience

A-  Readability

Readability is an excellent Chrome extension that allows you to read the web in a more comfortable and clutter-free environment. Once activated, Readability turns web pages into ‘reading mode’ with no surrounding distractions. You can customize the reading view, change background templates and type size the way you like. It also allows you to save your articles to read later and if you use Kindle Amazon, Readability enables you to easily send your reading materials to your Kindle.

B- DocHub

DocHub is a tool that you can use to perform a variety of tasks on your PDFs and documents. It lets you sign, edit and share your PDFs and docs. You can also use it to fill forms, merge documents and create templates.

C- Notable PDF

This is another popular app that allows you to both view and annotate your PDFs. Annotating features offered by this add-on include:  highlighting, underlining, strikethrough, posting comments and notes, add text and many more.It can also help you collaborate, gather feedback, and work with other people in real-time.

3- Taking notes
A- Google Keep 

'Found a webpage, image, or quote that you want to save for later? With the Google Keep Chrome Extension, easily save the things you care about to Keep and have them synced across all of the platforms that you use — including web, Android, iOS, and Wear. Take notes for additional detail and add labels to quickly categorize your note for later retrieval.'
B- Note Anywhere

Note Anywhere is a great note taking tool to use on your browser. It is not as powerful as Evernote or Google Keep but this Chrome app has some interesting distinctive features. It allows you to easily make notes anywhere on a webpage. And even when you close the webpage and come back to it the notes load automatically. This is definitely a great tool for annotating content you curate online.

4- Bibliography and citation
A- EasyBib

'EasyBib is the world's largest bibliography maker and citation machine. Our EasyBib toolbar will let you cite web sites with one click. Receive advice on the credibility of the web site you're citing. Cite as many sources as you need to build a fully-formatted, alphabetized, and Word-processor-ready bibliography. '

B- Cite This for Me

'Automatically create website citations in the APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard referencing styles at the click of a button.Simply browse to the page you wish to cite and click the button to generate a correctly formatted citation. Then copy-and-paste the citation into your assignment, or add it to your online bibliography for safe keeping until later.'

 C- Zotero Connector

Zotero is...a tool that automatically senses content and saves it your personal library with a single click. Whether you're searching for a preprint on arXiv.org, a journal article from JSTOR, a news story from the New York Times, or a book from your university library catalog, Zotero has you covered with support for thousands of sites.

 Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest .