Hullo scientists, fellow researcher here with a question for peers:
Do you have any suggestions for closed-off writing software (no AI scraping, no school oversight, no cloud storage with mysterious and unknown security). As we are all aware, formatting an article can take as much effort as writing the damn thing some days, especially if you do not want to use Microsoft or Google for ethical and privacy reasons.
My peers and I work with a lot of students who want to study and work with vulnerable populations, the sort of populations that some companies and (shameful) universities are attempting to delete evidence of. I am attempting to address some concerns coming up in the classroom without putting my career at risk. What better way than with a lesson and a resource list for secure writing and storage tips?
The school doesn’t pay for a Microsoft license, and some students have expressed feeling unsafe and uncomfortable supporting google. I have suggested Libreoffice as its what I use but some of the students are really struggling with formatting their papers to academic standards in this software. Admittedly, I agree, Libre takes 7-14 steps to do some things google can do in two clicks. I would like to look into alternatives.
Most of the writing applications I’m seeing both free and paid tend to be for creative writers or note taking and I am not seeing tools to make running titles or easily format your sources.
What are you all using, do you have recommendations? I
I can relate to their feeling. The same with with MS Word.
I see mentions of LaTeX, imho forget about it. It’s great but if your students already are complaining about clicking a few buttons and menus in LO Writer, I doubt they will enjoy configuring LaTeX at all as it’s really complex to setup and it’s also very, very technical. (It is also very much English focused by default, which means there will be a few more tweaks required to make it support other languages and where that turns out to be real fun is that said tweaks may vary depending the libraries you’re relying on since you install various ones and, of course, the doc will not always be reflecting that exactly.)
Have you considered using templates (and Styles), with LibreOffice Writer?
You could have all your formatting exactly like you need it to be and you (or anyone else) would only need to prepare it once and then make it available to all your students. So, the template being 7 or 14 steps would not mean much since they would not need to do it at all and the person doing it would do it only once.
What they would need to (learn to) do is to use Styles, in Writer. Like they are supposed to (learn to) use them in Word, and like in a very limited way they can do in Google Docs too. Imho between the three word processors, Writer is the best at managing Styles but it will still require some basic learning like showing them what Styles are and why they’re so useful, where they are and how to apply them in Writer.
Without using Styles in a word processor, you will need to rely on LaTeX or some lighter markup language (like Markdown combined with say Pandoc, which are way simpler than LaTeX but also much more limited in terms of page layout and notes management).
Also, there is no ready-made tool available that you ‘simply use’. They all need to be tweaked in some way to meet expectations and being taught to the students. The simplest way I can think of is by using Styles. What are Styles you may ask? Think one type of content (title, simple paragraph, notes, illustrations, …) being associated to a set of formatting rules that are automatically applied to it whenever it is used).
It could help to share some real example of the type of settings you’re looking for (what do you want to do?) so others may be able to tell you if and with what app it’s doable ;)
In summary, LibreOffice:
Is Libre software.
It use an open format that is documented, ODT.
Behaves like any word processor is expected to, mostly.
Can be used to write in many languages.
Works great with Styles, allowing documents to be (easily) precisely (or loosely) formatted.
Doesn’t push AI crap, or any other type of connected crap.
Doesn’t spy on anyone (you can even deactivate the little banner that pops up once in a while asking for a donation)
Can do Styles and can use templates to create very neatly formatted documents, that one can easily share.
Is preinstalled with most Linux distributions out of the box, and is easy to install on Mac and on Windows.
DO not rely on some mega corp good will.
is NOT as precise as LaTeX, but is also much simpler to learn and use.
is NOT available for mobile, but I have yet to see anyone writing a full book or even an article on a phone screen ;)
is NOT as simple as using Markdown and Pandoc but offers all formating control 99% of users wil ever need AND offers a much easier way to work collaboratively between non-geek users.
Edit: typos/clarifications.
All good suggestions, but this part is iffy. I’ve had course instructors provide boilerplate for students so that they don’t need to worry about formatting. There are also WYSIWYG LaTeX editors like LyX. Finally, language support for LaTeX has expanded considerably over the years.
Don’t get me wrong, I framed my remark in regards to the context given by the OP: their students already have complained about too much configuration (clicking buttons/menus). So, in that context, I think telling them to use LaTeX even if using the Lyx or any other GUI (Lyx, which I would favor, is not bug free and has its own quirks, we should not forget that) or any simplified subset of LaTeX, well, that won’t be fun for those student and I’m willing to bet most of them will even hate the experience. Something I would not wish to happen.
And then, always in that context, I suggested that maybe learning to properly use Styles and templates in LO Writer could be simpler since they already are using it… just not in the most optimal way, as it is so often the case since almost everybody think they already know how to use a word processor and there is nothing they need to learn. Not and instant and no-sweat solution but still should a less demanding one than starting to use LaTeX from scratch. At least, I think so.
I understand the context in which you’re responding. It’s a learning curve to adjust to a new writing environment that would be more apparent to students now, considering the last time they have learned about the editors they’re switching from was years ago. Since OP is compiling a list of alternatives rather than one recommended product for graduate students studying OT and psychology, there’s no harm in having LaTeX (+ editor) as one of those options. Considering the improved language support, templates, and the different editors out there for LaTeX, the barrier isn’t as steep as coding from scratch IMO. People learn, it’s not a big deal.
Sure, LyX has (had?) its quirks and isn’t bug-free, but so did Excel with parsing gene names into dates for years, leading to scientists renaming genes as a bypass until MS provided a solution in 2023.
Largely I want to focus on APA since Im working cross departments in the graduate occupational therapy program and the undergraduate psychology program. So things like running headers, simple reference lists formatted correctly with hanging indents. Running page counts. The ability to insert figures easily without altering layout dramatically.
The OT program also uses a few alternative writing formats for publications, assignments, thesis work and public health handouts in various languages and reading levels (some are essentially comics for small children). Largely it is APA again though some publications ask for proprietary formatting in submissions. (Very similar to APA but slight differences in margin size, text alignment.
So I’m not looking for an intensive academic suite by any means so much as a simple workhorse that will be easy to use and wont require there a dedicated 2-3 hour class just walking through the concept of writing out your references (yes I need you to write them out and not ask the AI, how else will you understand if its been done wrong!) followed by how to set them all to a hanging indent. A plus if we can use the same software in both labgroups and the public handouts!
I like libre because of the comments feature too which makes feedback easier and less intrusive. Im embarassed to say I am unfamiliar with styles and will be looking into learning more about them. I’ve gotten sadly complacent with the familiarity of working in the school reccomended google apps for so long. Never too late to learn though! Thanks for your thoughts
Edit, and the AI is rampent! Some of the instructors even are having it write out assignments then smacking their heads at the students following their example. (Sigh)
I enjoy that the AI isnt forced or even a distracting temptation in libre. Im sure it has a time and a place but not with such little regulation and perhaps NEVER around the sensitive and highly regulated PHI we are handling! It isnt even that I cant trust students so much as Id love to trust that my software isnt intentionally or unintentionally ripping private health information.
Styles (Paragraph, characters and pages styles) should be able to deal with most of that.
In a program like a word processor, any added image will more or less dramatically screw up the existing layout. There is no workaround that as things on the page need to move around to make room for the new one, or to fill the space left by the one that you just removed.
Also it’s important to keep in mind that apps like Word, Writer, Google Docs or Apple Pages do rely on the availability of the fonts used in the original document to correctly display the document on the viewer’s computer. So, if you open a document on a second computer n which there is not the same fonts, another font will be used which may not share the exact same properties as the original one and may screw up the layout more or less completely. Or you need to create a PDF file that anyone on any computer will be able to opne and display exactly as it was created but not to edit or certainly not as easily and in a much more limited manner that just opening the wordprocessor file itself. Here again, there is no perfect solution.
The good news is that LibreOffice comes with its own preinstalled fonts and they are the same on Linux, Mac and Windows so it would be safer to stick whit those fonts and not use anything fancy. It can also easily create PDF.
But, imho, the real good advice would be encourage your students (and maybe their teachers too) to not worry about page layout while they’re writing the paper. And to only work on the layout after they have finished writing it. Just don’t care about margin or look, colors, anything. It’s wasted time and energy while one is writing.
They should only use a few Styles to format Headings and paragraphs of text, things like that’s it. Doing that, it will be much simpler when they start working on the layout to format everything at once exactly like they want or need it. And it should be much faster too because they will only have to do it once, and won’t have to constantly be adjusting things here and there every time they add or remove a picture, or change some text.
That being said, Styles in LO Writer are not a magic wand that will do stuff automatically. They help a lot but one still need to learn to use them properly—never, ever use direct or manual formatting, never use the Enter key to add space between two lines or to create a page break, and so on. So, I insiste, but I don’t think there is a solution that will simply work out iof the box… beside hiring someone to do the layout for them (what many publishers do, btw: they have their own in-house design team or a freelance guy/team they hire to do exactly that).
More info on Styles and templates in Writer:
There is no need to be ;)
Indeed. I learned to mend clothes aged 40, I learned to solder electronics aged 45 and to write Linux scripts aged 50+.
You’re welcome.