The draft and research sections allow you to create outlines to guide you in the process of writing and research. The binder is divided initially into three sections: draft, research, and trash. The list is not intended to be exhaustive.ġ) Outlining - One of the things that takes a bit of getting used to in Scrivener is the “binder” that is situated to the left of the text input window. Below are three of the features of Scrivener that I found to be the most helpful in the process of writing a dissertation. So yes-ironically, what began as an attempt to procrastinate ended up yielding what I now consider to be the single most important tool in my toolbox.Īnyone who uses Scrivener on a regular basis has an opinion regarding its most useful components.
After about an hour with it I was hooked I took a few of the tutorials and had a detailed outline set up in no time. Perhaps it was because I found the programs I had looked at thus far to be downright clunky, but Scrivener’s user interface struck me immediately as clean, well organized, and intuitive in many ways.
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I’m not sure why, but when I opened up the software for the first time something about it just clicked with me.
After toying around with these a bit, I remembered Scrivener.
I downloaded a few options to start with: Nisus, Mellel, Bean, LaTex (which I never did figure out). Realizing that I was deceiving myself into thinking that such pursuits were good uses of my precious time, I devoted one day-and one day only-to figuring out which font, paper, and word processing software I was going to use. And because I was a graduate student, I also began to search for clever and efficient ways to procrastinate: I started printing out test pages to determine which font I was going to use I began experimenting with alternative/therapeutic lighting schemes and furniture/book arrangements in my study I discovered that not all note-taking paper is created equal and I learned that Microsoft Word is neither the only nor the best word processor for long, book-length documents.
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Support this site by purchasing Scrivener for Mac via this link!Ībout two years later and after several other encounters with devotees of the software, I passed my comprehensive exams and jumped headfirst into the dissertation. How could this software be useful to ME, someone responsible for writing serious and scholarly things? I already had Microsoft Word, and it had brought me through college and two masters degrees, right? So what, I asked, was the point? I concluded (hastily, in hindsight) that it should be placed alongside font selection as one more way that graduate students could procrastinate while still appearing productive. I will confess that while he was explaining several of its features, I found myself wondering why he was so excited. In this post I would like to outline why I chose to use it while writing my dissertation, why I am glad that I did, and what I would do differently if I had to do it all over again.Ī fellow graduate student introduced me to Scrivener years ago. How do you keep your research and notes straight? How do you structure and restructure your argument? How do you motivate yourself to write on a regular basis? How do you do all of this without losing your precious sanity? Regardless of which question I am being asked, my response almost always involves a common refrain: Scrivener.ĭeveloped initially for novelists and other creative types, Scrivener is writing software that has earned quite the following in the academic community. My younger colleagues often ask me for dissertation advice.
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