Free Software Resources
There is a wide range of technology available that you can use to support your studies even if you don’t receive DSA (Disabled Students’ Allowance). We’ve listed some of the software you might find useful here.
Tools for reading
Part of Word in Office 365 (online), Immersive Reader can read text out loud and change the appearance to make it easier to read. It works better in the online version.
- Go to the Microsoft Office website and sign in with your university email and password
- Open Word
- Click the View tab then Immersive Reader
- You can hear text read out loud (bottom arrow)
- You can change the font and background (Text Preferences)
- You can see one or a few lines at a time (Reading Preferences)
An online text reader with good voices and some formatting options.
- Go to Natural Reader Online
- Paste your text into the box or click Document on the left of the screen to add a Word or PDF file
- Click the play arrow to hear text read out loud
- Daniel is a good free UK voice – premium voices cost more
- You can switch on a dyslexic font and change the reading speed if you want
An online tool which simplifies texts by defining difficult words.
- Go to Rewordify
- Paste text into the box and click Rewordify
- Go to Settings to change the way difficult words are shown and defined
- Add words to a list to learn later
Tools for writing
In Word in Office 365 (online), you can dictate your ideas straight into your document, provided your device has a microphone. If you download Word to your smartphone or tablet, you can dictate directly into that.
- Go to the Microsoft Office website and log in with your university email and password
- Open Word (or a Word file in your OneDrive)
- In the Home tab, click the Dictate icon
- Dictate into your Word document - you'll need a microphone
- You might need to edit it afterwards
- You can also download Word to a smartphone or tablet and dictate into that
Grammarly is an online tool which helps you proofread your writing. The free version will help you find most, but not all, mistakes and allows you to type, paste or upload documents for checking. There is also a Chrome extension for online writing.
- Go to Grammarly and register for a free account
- You can type or paste text into a new document…
- … or upload a document from your computer
- Grammarly will suggest changes…
- Click suggestions to keep or discard using the dustbin
- There is also a Chrome extension for writing online
Academic Writing
You can get tailored writing support and advice about your academic writing from ASK Academic Skills, this does not include proofreading.
Planning and organising tips
In Word, use Heading styles and the Navigation Pane to plan, structure and navigate around your writing. Heading styles also make it easy to create a table of contents at the end.
- Open Word in your desktop
- In the Home tab, click the heading style you want, then start typing
- Or, highlight text and click a heading style to add it later
- Go to the View tab and tick Navigation Pane to see headings
- Click a heading in the pane to jump to that section
- Create a Table of Contents in the Reference tab
Coggle is a free and easy-to-learn mind-mapping program.
- Go to Coggle and create a free account
- Click Create Diagram
- Type in your central idea then click + to add branches
- Branches can contain text, images, links or icons
- Right click branches to edit colour and shape or add sub branches
- Drag branches around to reorder
- Collaborate, share or download your Coggle
Note-taking tools
Otter will record audio and transcribe the words at the same time. Record from your computer, smartphone or tablet and edit or copy the transcript later.
- Go to Otter and create a free account
- Download to your smartphone or tablet to record from there
- Record audio and Otter will transcribe what it hears
- Use in lectures, tutorials, seminars etc.
- Edit your transcripts to remove errors
Google Keep is a simple note-taking app that you can use on your phone or in your browser to make notes, lists, reminders, audio notes or doodles. Add the extension to Chrome to easily save webpages.
- Download to your phone or tablet and consider adding the extension to your browser
- Create or sign in with your Google account
- Save links using the extension
- Add notes, lists, pictures and reminders
- Use your phone to add a photo or create a sketch or audio note
- Use colour coding, tags and pinning to organise your notes
