General resources

This page includes a list of useful resources that researchers might find useful and the rational for suggesting them.

Photo by Dan Dimmock on Unsplash

Writing

Whilst many people start-off writing with Microsoft word, there are limitations to the software, especially for larger documents such as a thesis. As an alternative, consider learning LaTeX which is a professional typesetting software. The easiest way to get going is to us an browser based system such as Overleaf, with this link being a great starting tutorial.

Figures and data visualisation

A well designed figure can communicate a vast amount of information. Here, there are a few tools which can help enhance these outputs.

Diagrams

Tikz is a package within LaTeX which is great for making vector images. Vector images are ideal as these retain their detail as they are scaled, are generally smaller in size and easy to edit. Overleaf has some great resources to get you started (link).

Data visualisation

pgfplots is built on top of Tikz, and is another package within LaTeX which is great for plotting and visualising data; with the output being a vector image. It integrates seamlessly with LaTeX and includes more advanced functionality with data processing capabilities also. When used with LaTeX, a key advantage is that there is consistency in style. Overleaf again has some great resources to get you started (link)