8 Best Free Research Paper Writing Software for Windows

Here is a list of best free research paper writing software for Windows. These are basically the word processor software which are used to create various academic documents which include research papers too. You can also create thesis, reports, journal articles, dissertations, and more such documents using these free software. These software come in handy for students and researchers who are looking for a free software to write research papers and other documents. You can save your research papers in document formats like DOC, DOCX, RTF, PDF, TXT, ODT, HTML, etc.

As per the research paper format, these software let you design page layout, such as size, margins, borders, etc. You can even add multiple columns to a page as per your requirement. To add content to a research paper, you can use normal text, figures, graphics, tables, symbols, tags, headings, hyperlinks, etc. You can also add text from external sources. Besides that, most of these software let you add charts (bar, pie, line, column, scatterplot, etc.) to research paper. So, if your research paper has some statistics and estimations to show, you can directly add charts for data visualization.

These research paper writing software provide all tools and features which help you write research papers. For example, Thesaurus, Spellcheck, AutoCorrect, Word Count, etc. Many of these software also provide a feature to track changes made in your research paper. Apart from all these features, options to share research papers with others, password protect your research paper, restrict editing permissions, and more options are provided in these software. All in all, these research paper writers are featured which contain a lot more tools than the listed ones. You can explore this list to find a suitable alternative for research paper writing from this list.

If you want dedicated reference management and reference generator software, you can checkout these lists: Reference Management Software and Reference Generator Software.

My Favorite Free Research Paper Writing Software for Windows:

LibreOffice Writer is one of my favorite software to write research papers. It is one of the best alternatives to Microsoft Word which comes free of charge. It comes in an office suite, so you get more applications along with it to create spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, etc.

WPS Office is another good free research paper writing software. It provides all important as well as an advanced set of features to create academic documents.

You may also like some free Brochure Maker Software, Word Processors, and Document Management Software for Windows.

LibreOffice Writer

LibreOffice Writer is a free open source research writing software for Windows, Linux, and Mac. It is a featured word processor which can be used for academic writings including research papers, journal articles, thesis documents, etc.

LibreOffice Writer comes in a popular office suite which is called LibreOffice. In this office suite, you can find a number of office software which are useful in creating spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, etc.

Key features of this free open source research writing software:

• You can configure the page layout as per the specifications of your research paper. These specifications include number of columns, page size, orientation, margins, header and footer settings, borders, etc.
• To insert content, you can copy/ paste text from external sources or import text from local files like DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, etc.
• It lets you add text box, image, line, shape, section, table, data visualization chart, header, footer, and other types of content to your research paper.
• It contains a wide number of formatting options to customize added content.
• Furthermore, you get various handy tools which help you write research paper such as Thesaurus, Spell Check options, Auto Text, Word Count, etc.
• You get a Bibliography Database tool which is very useful in managing book references used in your research paper.
• It lets you add and manage Table of Content of a document too.
• It provides a Track Changes feature to record and manage changes made in the research paper.
• You can save your research paper in a variety of formats including PDF, DOC, DOCX, ODT, RTF, HTML, etc.
• It allows you to password protect the created research paper if needed.

These are some features of LibreOffice Writer. In actual, it provides a lot more tools and options which you can explore while using it. Additionally, extensions can also be added to it for enhancing its functionality.

Conclusion:

LibreOffice Writer is one of the best software to write research papers and other academic documents. It contains all tools which are required to easily pen down a research paper. If you’re looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Word, this one is your stop.

WPS Office

WPS Office, as the name suggests, is a free office suite for Windows. Using it, you can create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. It is good for various academic works which include writing research papers. You can write research papers using various professional tools provided in it. Let’s see what are the tools that you must look forward to in the context of research paper creation.

Main Features:

• You can customize page layout as per your requirements, such as page size, page border, margins, etc.
• It lets you add multiple columns to whole research paper document or from a point forward.
• To add text to research papers, you can use manual typing option or copy and paste or import external file method.
• It lets you insert table, images, section, page break, line, shapes, header & footer, and more to your research paper.
  
• You can also insert various kinds of charts to depict results and statistics of your research paper.
• All essential formatting options are provided to customize text and other content.
• It offers a Reference menu tab from where you can add and manage Table of Content, Table of Figures, Footnote, Endnote, etc.
• Some more tools to help you create research paper are available in it, such as Spell Check, Word Count, Thesaurus, Track Changes, Accept or Reject Changes, Share (with your co-authors), Restrict Editing, etc.
• You get a reviewing pane in it to view revisions made by your co-authors.
• After writing a research paper, you can save it in a variety of document files like DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, TXT, etc.
• You can encrypt the research paper document prior to saving it.

Additional Features:

• It provides cloud support to access saved documents wherever, whenever needed.
• You get a lot of templates for creating different kinds of documents in it, like brochure, resume, letterheads, etc.
• In it, you can find some additional utilities like PDF to Word Converter, File Repair, etc.

Limitations:

This software comes with a free and a professional edition. In this free version, some features are restricted which can only be unlocked by purchasing them.

Conclusion:

It is one of the best free research paper writing software in which you can find all features which are required to create research paper and other academic documents.

OOoLight

OOoLight is the next free research paper writer software for Windows. It is also an office software which can be used for academic and professional works. Its OOoLight Writer application can be used to create a variety of documents which include writing research papers too.

Features to look forward to:

• You can style various elements of a document such as page style, paragraph style, character style, etc.
• It lets you add multiple columns as per your research paper specifications.
• You can add images, charts, header and footer, Maths formula, text fields (date, time, author, title, etc.), and more to research papers.
• You can find Spellcheck, AutoCorrect options, Outline Numbering, Line Numbering, and more useful tools in it.
• When done writing a research paper, you can save it in a document format such as DOC, RTF, HTML, ODT, TXT, etc. By using the print feature, you can even save your research paper to a PDF document.
• It allows you to password protect your research paper.

Conclusion:

It is another nice and light office software which lets you write research paper and other documents. It is suitable for students who want minimal yet essential features to create academic papers.

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors

ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors is yet another free research paper writing software for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It is another word processor which can be used for writing various academic documents including research papers. You can setup page layout as per specifications, add multiple sections to it, manually type text or import content from external sources, format the content, and then save the research paper in various document formats. You can also collaborate with your co-authors to edit a research paper together, using a supported cloud service.

Key Features:

• To start with, you can design page layout as per the specifications of your research paper. You can insert multiple columns, configure page margins, select page size, add page breaks, etc.
• Apart from text, you can insert different content to your research paper, such as table, hyperlink, images, charts (to visualize dataset), etc.
• You can format text using options like font formatting, alignment, justify text, text style, paragraph indent, etc.
• It provides a handy OCR tool which lets you extract text from images and add the extracted text to your document.
• The created research paper can be saved as DOCX, ODT, RTF, PDF, TXT, or another supported document file.
• It also provides an encryption option to password protect your research paper to prevent unauthorized access.

Conclusion:

It is another handy research paper writing software to write different various documents.

Klumbu Word

Klumbu Word is one more alternative to a research paper writing software for Windows. It is also a word processor which is used by students and researchers for academic or professional document writing. It also provides all sufficient features which are required in the creation of a research paper.

Main Features:

• It lets you setup page configurations as per your requirements. You can insert multiple columns to a page, personalize page margins, choose a page size, etc.
• You can use textual content, figures and graphics, tables, hyperlinks, header & footer, tags, etc., in your research paper.
• It lets you insert captions to used figures and tables in your research paper.
• You can add a table of content to a document.
• All important formatting options are available in it which include font customization, content alignment, bullets and numbering, line spacing, increase/ decrease indent level, etc.
• You can also use spellcheck tool while writing down your research paper to avoid spelling mistakes.
• It lets you add a password protection and setup editing permissions for the research paper document.
• In order to save your research paper, you can use any of the supported document formats such as PDF, RTF, Text document, DOC, DOCX, etc.

Additional Features:

While writing a research paper, these features can come handy in various aspects:

• It provides search option to lookup for a question online on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Blogger Search, YouTube, etc.
• It provides a document backup feature.
• It also notifies to save your document after a specified time interval.

Conclusion:

Klumbu Word is a great word processing software which can be used for writing research papers or any general documents.

IBM Lotus Symphony

IBM Lotus Symphony is the next office software which lets you create documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Using it, you can also write research papers and other academic documents. In it, you can find all those tools which you need in order to create a research paper. Here is a sorted list of its features which you can find in it.

Key Features:

• As per the format of your research paper, you can design page layout including margins, size, number of columns, etc. You can individually customize paragraph, text, graphic, and other properties too.
• You can create sections, page breaks, header, footer, footnote and endnote, fontwork, images, hyperlink, etc., in a research paper.
• If your research paper contains survey results or any kind of statistics, you can directly use data visualization charts in your research paper.
• Handy tools including Spellcheck, Word Count, Instant Change, Instant Corrections, Record and Manage Changes, etc.
• To save research paper, it provides support to document formats including DOC, ODT, RTF, PDF, etc.
• You can encrypt created research paper document too.

Conclusion:

It is a nice free research paper writing software using which students can create various academic documents including spreadsheets and presentations.

AbiWord

AbiWord is one more free open source research paper writing software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It is a straightforward word processing software which can be used by students to create various academic documents. You can write research papers using it, create a thesis, write journal articles, etc.

Main Features:

• You can format page as per document specifications of your research paper, such as number of columns (at most 3), paper size, margins, etc.
• It lets you directly insert content like table of content, header and footers, footnotes and endnotes, text from external file, special characters, table, pictures, etc., to your research paper.
• Important word processing tools like spellcheck, word count, revision manager, etc., are also available in it.
• It supports DOC, RTF, HTML, TXT, and some more file formats to save your research paper. Also, by using its print option, you can create a PDF document of your research paper.
• Mail Merge is another feature of this software using which you can send a copy of your research paper to other people.

Conclusion:

It is a decent word processor which facilitates you with important tools and features to write research papers.

Rizonesoft Verbum

Rizonesoft Verbum is another one of word processors which you can use to write research papers. You can create a research paper document while customizing page layout, adding different content, formatting added content, and exporting the document to a supported format.

Features to look out for:

• According to your requirements, you can customize page margins, number of columns (at most three), line spacing, paragraph indent, etc.
• You can insert content to your research paper like images, table, hyperlinks, symbols, etc.
• All formatting features which you expect in a word processor are available in it. For example, font formatting, subscript, superscript, text alignment, etc.
• You can export your research paper to a DOCX, RTF, ODT, HTML, MHT, TXT, or XML document.

Conclusion:

It is a decent research paper writing software which is used for the creation of academic documents including research papers.