Voice to Text for Graduate Students
Your dissertation is not going to write itself, but your voice can help. Blurt lets you dictate your thesis chapters, research notes, and academic papers while your thoughts are still fresh. Hold a button, speak your ideas, release. Text appears wherever your cursor is — in Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, Overleaf, anywhere. No more staring at a blank page. No more losing brilliant insights because you could not type fast enough. Just talk and write.
The Typing Problem
Staring at your thesis chapter for hours without progress
You have done the research. You know what you want to say. But translating complex academic ideas into written paragraphs feels like pulling teeth. The blank page mocks you. You type a sentence, delete it, type another, delete it. Three hours later, you have 200 words and a growing sense of dread. Meanwhile, your advisor expects a draft by Friday.
Losing research insights before you can write them down
You are reading a paper and suddenly everything clicks. You see the connection between three different theories. This could be your contribution to the field. But by the time you open a new document and start typing, the insight is already slipping away. You type fragments, grasping at the clarity you had moments ago. Half your best ideas never make it to the page.
Writing emails to your TA section while exhausted
You have been writing your dissertation all day. Now you need to respond to twelve student emails about the midterm, write feedback on three problem sets, and prepare tomorrow's section notes. Your brain is fried. Your fingers ache. But your TA responsibilities do not care about your thesis deadline. You type slowly, making typos, knowing each reply is eating into your research time.
Racing to finish conference paper submissions
The deadline is in 48 hours. Your paper needs three more sections, a proper conclusion, and significant editing. You are thinking faster than you can type. Ideas are bottlenecking at your fingertips. Every minute spent hunting for keys is a minute not spent articulating your argument. The submission clock is ticking and your typing speed is the limiting factor.
Your wrists and shoulders hurt from endless typing
Graduate school means typing for 8-12 hours a day. Dissertation chapters. Literature reviews. Grant applications. Student emails. Your wrists ache by Wednesday. Your shoulders are permanently hunched. You are 26 years old and already worrying about repetitive strain injuries. The ergonomic keyboard helped, but you are still typing tens of thousands of words a week.
How It Works
Blurt works in every app graduate students use — Word, Scrivener, Google Docs, Overleaf, Notion, Zotero notes, your email. Anywhere you can put a cursor.
Hold your hotkey
Press your chosen shortcut. A small indicator shows Blurt is listening.
Speak your thoughts
Dictate your argument, research notes, or email reply. Blurt handles punctuation automatically.
Release and done
Text appears at your cursor. Edit as needed. Keep writing.
Real Scenarios
Dictating dissertation chapters during your productive hours
You have a three-hour block before your brain shuts off. Instead of typing slowly and watching the word count crawl, you speak your arguments out loud. Your literature review section flows naturally as you explain why Smith's framework does not account for your findings. In one hour, you have drafted 2,000 words. Yes, they need editing. But they exist. That is the hard part done.
Capturing research insights while reading papers
You are deep in a journal article when a connection suddenly clicks. Instead of scrambling to type before the insight fades, you hold your hotkey and speak: 'This framework contradicts Miller's assumption about causality. Could explain the inconsistent results in chapter three. Follow up with the 2019 replication study.' The note is captured in seconds. Your insight survives. Your reading flow continues.
Writing feedback for your students without burning out
Twenty essays need comments before tomorrow. Instead of typing the same feedback variations over and over, you dictate: 'Your thesis statement is clear but needs more specificity. In paragraph three, you introduce a new argument that deserves its own section. See the rubric for citation formatting requirements.' Each piece of feedback takes 30 seconds instead of 3 minutes. Your students get better feedback and you still have energy for your own work.
Drafting conference paper sections under deadline pressure
The submission deadline is tomorrow night. Your methods section exists only in your head. You open the document, hold the hotkey, and start speaking through your methodology step by step. What would have taken two hours of typing pours out in 25 minutes of talking. The section is rough but complete. Now you can actually spend time on revisions instead of first drafts.
Responding to your advisor's lengthy emails
Your advisor sent a detailed email with seven questions about your methodology chapter. Typing thoughtful responses to each would take 45 minutes. Instead, you work through each question out loud: 'For question three, I chose the mixed-methods approach because the quantitative data alone cannot capture participant motivation. The interview protocol is attached in appendix B.' Ten minutes, email done, back to writing.
Taking notes during research meetings and seminars
The visiting scholar just made a point that directly relates to your dissertation. Instead of typing notes and missing their next sentence, you hold your hotkey and whisper a quick summary. Your notes capture the insight. You do not miss the followup. When you review the seminar later, your notes actually make sense.
Writing grant applications without the agony
The NSF application requires a detailed research plan. You know exactly what you want to do but articulating it in grant-speak is exhausting. Instead of agonizing over each sentence, you dictate your research vision naturally, then revise into formal language. The first draft takes one hour instead of five. The editing is still work, but the blank page problem is solved.
Why graduate students choose Blurt over built-in dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Single hotkey, instant start | Click microphone or double-tap function key |
| Speed | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay before transcription |
| Academic vocabulary | Handles discipline-specific terminology | Struggles with technical and theoretical terms |
| Long-form dictation | Reliable for extended speaking sessions | Often stops listening or loses connection |
| Punctuation | Automatic punctuation, minimal editing needed | Requires saying 'period' and 'comma' out loud |
Frequently Asked Questions
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