Computer Hacks for Writers and Researchers

Gwynn Scheltema

If there’s a faster, easier way to do something I’m in. I love life hacks. Here are a few computer hacks I’ve collected  to make writing and researching easier. Try them. And if you have other hacks to share, tell us about them in the comments.

When writing or editing

• Want to find an opposite, a rhyming word, a word for a phrase? Head to Wordhippo.com. They also have translations and pronunciation help.
• Paste your finished prose into “Google Translate” and listen to it. Sometimes hearing sentences uncovers clunky bits and mistakes you might not notice by simply looking at it.
• If you don’t have a grammar program, try Grammerly or Hemmingwayapp.com to help uncover passive voice, identify adverbs (so you can decide if you have overused them) and give you an overall reading level. (especially useful for non-fiction article writers).
• Looking for a special font? Google.com/fonts is a collection of open source fonts, all optimized for the web.
• When reviewing, change your font to something you don’t like. It will force you to slow down and read more critically.

Research hacks

• Is your research article “Too Long Didn’t Read” or TLDR? Add Chrome’s TLDR free plugin to your browser screen to be one-click away from getting a condensed synopsis/summary view of news, blog posts, and other articles online. The plugin analyzes content and creates four different-length summaries.
• Simple.wikipedia.org will condense the main points of any Wikipedia article
• Does your Google search turn up too many options? Not sure which are most reliable? Search with scholar.google.com instead for more relevant choices.
• When you copy from the net, use crtl + shift + V to paste it. This will prevent the text from formatting.
• If you accidentally close a tab while researching, hit ctrl +shift+ t to reopen it.
• Use the space bar to scroll down a webpage. Use shift + spacebar to scroll back up.

Keyboard magic

• Instead of hitting the backspace key multiple times to erase a word., hit crtl + backspace to erase the whole word at once. It works the same for deleting a whole word with crtl + delete.
• Although you can add symbols (like the copyright symbol ©) to your text using the insert tab, it is worth learning the shortcut keyboard codes for the ones you use most often. Note that these codes work only with a numeric keyboard, but on some laptops adding in the fn key allows them to work too. (e.g. alt + fn + 0169 = ©) You can look up the keyboard codes on the character map (insert tab; symbol; more symbols).
  Here are a few to get you started:
  • © Copyright symbol = alt +0169
  • ™ Trademark sign = alt + 0153
  • ° Degree symbol = alt + 0176
  • ¢ Cent sign = alt + 0162
  • £ English pound = alt + 0163
• The control key also allows you to keyboard commands without stopping typing. Hold down the control key as you hit the shortcut. The keys themselves are also intuitive as they often stand for what you want to do. S for save. P for print, etc. The ones I use all the time are ctrl + f = find and crtl + z = undo.
  Here’s a full list:

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There you go. Hack away, writer, and see if all this doesn’t make your writing and researching life easier.