You’re conducting linguistic research. What tools are essential for your work?

1 Corpus software

A corpus is a large and structured collection of texts or speech samples that represent a particular language or variety. Corpus software is a tool that allows you to search, manipulate, and analyze corpora for various linguistic purposes. For example, you can use corpus software to find out how often a word or a phrase is used in a certain context, how it collocates with other words, how it changes over time, or how it varies across different genres, registers, or dialects. Some of the most popular corpus software are AntConc, WordSmith Tools, Sketch Engine, and Corpus Workbench.

2 Transcription software

Transcription software is a tool that helps you to convert speech into written text, or to add annotations and symbols to existing transcripts. Transcription software can save you a lot of time and effort when you need to transcribe audio or video recordings of natural or experimental speech, such as interviews, conversations, lectures, or tests. Transcription software can also help you to align your transcripts with the audio or video files, to mark pauses, intonation, stress, or other prosodic features, and to code and categorize your data for further analysis. Some of the most widely used transcription software are ELAN, Praat, Transana, and CLAN.

3 Analysis software

Analysis software is a tool that helps you to perform statistical or qualitative analysis on your linguistic data. Analysis software can help you to test hypotheses, find patterns, compare groups, identify relationships, or explore meanings in your data. Depending on the type and level of analysis you need, you can choose from different analysis software that suit your research questions and methods. Some of the most common analysis software are R, SPSS, NVivo, and Atlas.ti.

4 Visualization software

Visualization software is a tool that helps you to create graphs, charts, maps, diagrams, or other visual representations of your linguistic data. Visualization software can help you to communicate your findings, illustrate your arguments, or highlight your main points in a clear and engaging way. Visualization software can also help you to explore your data in a more interactive and creative way, by allowing you to manipulate, filter, zoom, or animate your visualizations. Some of the most popular visualization software are Tableau, Gephi, ArcGIS, and D3.js.

5 Collaboration software

Collaboration software is a tool that helps you to work with other researchers, share your data and files, communicate your ideas and feedback, or manage your projects. Collaboration software can facilitate and enhance your research process, especially if you are working in a team, across different locations, or with different disciplines. Collaboration software can also help you to keep track of your progress, organize your tasks, or document your research activities. Some of the most useful collaboration software are Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, and Trello.

6 Citation software

Citation software is a tool that helps you to create, store, and manage your references and citations for your research papers or publications. Citation software can help you to avoid plagiarism, follow the required citation style, or format your bibliography. Citation software can also help you to find and access relevant sources, organize your literature review, or annotate and highlight your readings. Some of the most widely used citation software are Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and RefWorks.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?