Signpost Words Guide

Point the reader in the right direction whilst making connections between ideas and arguments in your essay or presentation.

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XMind

Xmind is a concept mapping program, (much like Mindview, Mindmanager, and Inspiration), which allows you to create 'spider diagrams' or 'mind maps' on your computer. Creating a mind map can help you to plan and write essays, revise for exams, and organise large projects.

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Natural Reader

NaturalReader is a text-to-speech (TTS) program that can be used to listen back to Word documents, PDF files and web pages using a synthetic voice.

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Open Office

Open Office is a suite of open source software containing word processing, spread sheet, presentation, graphics and database applications. It works with most operating systems and supports of 120 languages. It can also handle other file formats including those from Microsoft Office.

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PEC Handout

Provides a useful and effective way of structuring your paragraphs.

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Read & Write Chrome Plugin

Read&Write for Google Chrome is a Text-to-Speech program (TTS) that can be used to listen back to text that appears in web pages or in the online word processor Google Docs.

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Ways of Referencing Guide

This handout shows different ways of referencing in an essay (Harvard Style).

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Mind Genius

This isn't a regular piece of software that's used in D&A training; it's very similar to Mind View and Mind Manager with time management help, but designed more for business projects. It helps you to capture, visualise and manage ideas and information in clearly structured ways.

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Microsoft Word

Word is the foundation for so much of what we do with our computers. Many of the programs described in this page, like concept mapping and text-to-speech programs, work closely with Word. Word is also very familiar. But there are hidden depths to the program and new features are added all the time.

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My Study Bar

My Study Bar is free assistive technology software for PCs. It is a toolbar at the top of your screen from which you can open a range of different free programs.

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Essay Writer 3D

Essay Writer 3D is a concept mapping program, (much like Mindview, Mindmanager, or Inspiration). It allows you to create "spider diagrams" or "mind maps" on your computer. Unlike other similar programs, Essay Writer 3D pitches itself as being a tool specifically for turning your maps into essays, (as opposed to, say, creating a revision map).

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Essay Breakdown Guide

A guide to breaking down an essay, before you even start to think about writing it.

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