Transcribe your Dissertation?

Your dissertation is potentially the most difficult paper you will ever write. The most trying aspect of writing a dissertation is without a doubt the sheer volume of note taking, transcribing and source referencing that accumulates over the course of researching. Transcribing notes has been an okay (some would say less than okay) option in the past for those who find speaking easier than writing. Or for people like me, who can’t read what’s been written when I go back! Transcribing notes for a dissertation has just become a whole lot easier.

It’s only available in the Beta version now but it should be on the market in time for Christmas. This new product promises to make dissertation writing agonies a thing of the past. AudioScribe are currently beta proofing a new product based on unique technology and methodology. It will enable users to transcribe from their smartphones. Voice data is taken and transcribed by a real human and then sent to your inbox. The company claim that single voice transcription will happen in real time and multiple voice transcription will take just a little longer.

Anyone who has endured the frustrations of current transcribing options when writing their dissertation will know exactly what I’m talking about. Lag, staggered text and pages of garbled garbage are par for the course. The way this new technology applies to writing your dissertation is simple. Using your smartphone you dictate notes, source citation information, and any other data you may find relevant while researching your dissertation. You get home from the library, or up off the couch, open your email and start placing your text data within your dissertation. The best part is you won’t have to try and shuffle text over multiple online or hard copy pages; you just place your data where it sits best in the document.

This is so cool because it will help those writing a dissertation in so many ways:

• No more procrastination: Surveys show that students’ biggest complaint about writing a dissertation is procrastination. If all you have to do to get started is speak to your cell phone - it just isn’t going to be that hard.
• All you need is an app: No software, no new equipment, these guys at AudioScribe are actually saying all you’ll need is your existing smartphone and an app.
• 98% Accuracy: Writing your dissertation would be no less frustrating if you had to edit volumes of badly written content. This app goes straight to a living typist which means that the edit is done before it comes back to you.
• It’s cheaper than any transcription service has ever been before.

We’ve blogged some pretty cool gadgets in the past but for those writing a dissertation and especially dissertation writers who loath taking and organizing notes; this is the best new option on the market. It’ll cut back on the time it takes to write your dissertation and the time it takes to organize your copy. That means more time for research or hey, more free time.

Other non-technological ways to make your dissertation dynamite:

• Write a dissertation that opens the door to future dissertations: become the expert in your field.
• Make the dissertation high impact: write about something new or a new perspective on something old. Even better, solve an age old problem!
• Write a dissertation that is easily understood: Academic writing may require a degree of complex language but it doesn’t have to be complicated to read. Make sure your dissertation is well organized, that it flows from one category or topic to the next and that it is substantiated by easily glanced data and charts.

Writing your dissertation is never going to be simple, but isn’t it great that the technology is finally catching up to the real needs of those writing their dissertations.