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Research Tools: Visualize Data

An index of useful tools and software for the research process.

Turn raw spreadsheets into engaging charts and infographics to make patterns easier to understand. Good data visualizations are useful in any discipline and help to communicate complex information clearly in papers, presentations, or posters.

Tableau

 

Interactive data visualization and business intelligence platform.

Type: Data Visualization

Access: Commercial (Limited free features)

Where Can I Access It?: Personal computer through Vlab

Availability: Vlab

Skill Level: Intermediate

Potential Use Cases: For making interactive dashboards or research infographics.

Datawrapper

 

User-friendly tool for creating charts, maps, and tables.

Type: Data Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: From personal computer or any campus computer lab

Availability: Web-based

Skill Level: Basic

Potential Use Cases: For students creating visualizations for papers, posters, journalism assignments, or presentations.

Cytoscape

 

Open-source platform for visualizing complex networks and integrating them with any type of attribute data, especially biological pathways.

Type: Network Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: Must be installed on personal computer

Availability: Desktop

Skill Level: Advanced

Potential Use Cases: Best for biology or bioinformatics students mapping pathways, interactions, or genetic data relationships.

Power BI

 

Business analytics service by Microsoft for interactive visualizations.

Type: Data Visualization

Access: Commercial

Where Can I Access It?: Through V-lab desktop

Availability: Vlab

Skill Level: Intermediate

Potential Use Cases: Useful for producing visual summaries or case studies.

RAWGraphs

 

Open-source tool for easy, drag-and-drop chart creation.

Type: Data Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: From personal computer or any campus computer lab

Availability: Web-based

Skill Level: Basic

Potential Use Cases: Great for visualizing datasets from Excel in creative formats for posters, slides, or class presentations.

Gephi

 

Open-source network analysis and visualization software for graph-based data.

Type: Network Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: Must be installed on personal computer

Availability: Desktop

Skill Level: Advanced

Potential Use Cases: Used to visualize data relationships in digital humanities and social sciences.

ChartBuilder

 

Basic limited chart creation by copy-paste of data.

Type: Data Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: From personal computer or any campus computer lab

Availability: Web-based

Skill Level: Basic

Potential Use Cases: Best for simple visualizations in essays or class reports.

Communalytic

 

A computational social science tool for collecting, analyzing, and visualizing publicly available social media data and online community interactions.

Type: Network Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?: From personal computer or any campus computer lab

Availability: Web-based

Skill Level: Intermediate

Potential Use Cases: For social science or media students analyzing Reddit, YouTube, or X/Twitter networks in digital culture projects.

LitMaps

 

Tool that helps visualize citation networks by mapping relationships between academic articles.

Type: Network Visualization

Access: Free

Where Can I Access It?:  From personal computer or any campus computer lab

Availability: Web-based

Skill Level: Basic

Potential Use Cases: Students conducting literature reviews or visualizing the development of research topics over time.

LSU Resources

Further Resources