back | 2024-05-15
Universities tend to favor Windows, and often provide a Microsoft 365 account (or whatever it’s called these days), along with an MS Word license. However, the web version of Word has a limited feature set, and there’s no native support for Linux, meaning you'll need to find an alternative if you're using Linux.
Enter LibreOffice Writer—a powerful, open-source alternative that can easily replace Word, provided you take the time to customise it. If you’d rather not go through the hassle, feel free to use my template as a starting point.
Referencing is crucial for academic work, and MS Word includes a built-in tool for this. Some universities also push third-party tools like RefWorks, but unfortunately, most of these don't integrate with LibreOffice Writer.
If you’re looking for a free, fully-featured alternative, Zotero is a great option. It offers browser extensions, cloud synchronisation, and, most importantly, a plugin for LibreOffice Writer.
If your university uses a custom referencing style, you can usually find and import it into Zotero from this CSL repository.
One common frustration with both Word and Writer is inconsistent formatting. While it’s possible to produce high-quality documents, it often requires a lot of tweaking, and things don’t always go as planned.
Enter LaTeX—a "document preparation system for high-quality typesetting"[^1]—which solves many of these formatting issues. Essentially, LaTeX is a typesetting programming language designed to create professional-quality documents.
It’s especially useful for academic papers, though it has a steep learning curve. You’ll likely need to create a template that matches your institution’s preferred format. I’m currently working on a template that might serve as a good starting point; you can find it here.
[^1]: LaTeX Project