Every student knows that gadgets and technology can lead to time-wasting and derail study plans, but there are some great apps that can actually help you. Here are some of the best.

National Library of Australia Catalogue (and Trove)

Information is king for students – and this app delivers. Trove is an online library database containing an enormous amount of content from Australian libraries, museums, archives and research groups, making it an ideal web-based tool when doing your research for assignments. An app offshoot, the National Library of Australia Catalogue, lets you search the collection on your mobile.

iStudiez Pro

Getting organised is half the battle with study and iStudiez Pro will let you do just that. It can help you manage busy schedules and track assignments and other projects. Why not colour-code your work schedules and store information in this intelligent app? Best of all, it can send you notifications before assignments or deadlines are due, so there’s no excuse for not getting the job done.

 Dictionary.com

Words, words, words – they are crucial for assignments and Dictionary.com has about 2 million definitions on its mobile app to ensure you use the right ones. The main app is free and gives you features such as a search history, synonyms, antonyms and a thesaurus. If you need more, you can pay for extras such as a medical dictionary and an encyclopaedia.

Google Drive

We all know about the Google web browser, but its range of apps and assorted tools is also huge. Google Drive is one of them, allowing users to draw diagrams, take notes and create spreadsheets and presentations. You can keep all this in the cloud and access it online or through a mobile device at any time. It’s free, too; all you need is a Gmail account.

EasyBib

Everyone hates doing bibliographies for assignments – and this is where EasyBib becomes your best friend. This app helps you format references in any one of thousands of citation styles. Just take your pick. Type in the name of a book and EasyBib gives you options to choose from and then makes a citation for you. It’s even possible to take a picture of a book’s bar code and generate a citation for it. Easy as!

SimpleMind

Some students really have trouble visualising their approach to assignments and information gathering. Enter SimpleMind, a mind-mapping tool. Rather than just writing down your thoughts, you can brainstorm and then capture your thoughts with digital diagrams.

And last but not least … RescueTime

RescueTime helps you stop wasting time on social media or other non-study activities. This productivity-enhancing app tracks the time you spend on activities and then sends you reports and data while blocking offending websites if you spend too much time on them. Every student needs this!

 

For details on the great range of courses available at Australian Online Courses, view our course catalogue.