CurTask vs Scrivener: modular thesis writing with your sources built in

This page is for researchers who like writing a thesis or long review in sections, on index cards and in an outline, and want their papers and evidence in the same place as the draft. Scrivener is much loved for long-form writing: its binder, corkboard and outliner let you build a large manuscript piece by piece and compile it into a finished document. CurTask offers the same modular way of writing, inside a project that also holds your papers, your analysis and your citations.

At a glance

The writing you like, with the evidence beside it

CurTask's Writing lens is built around sections you can reorder. The binder shows the manuscript as a tree, the corkboard shows each section as an index card with its synopsis, and the outline shows the sections as a table. You can draft one section at a time or read the whole manuscript in a continuous view. The difference is what sits beside the draft: the papers you are writing about. Drag a passage from a paper into your section and it arrives as a quote with its citation, still linked to the page it came from. AI text stays marked Suggested until you accept it, so the words in your thesis are yours.

The writing sidebar builds on the analysis you have accepted — your matrix values, coded passages, themes and links — and shows what contradicts, extends or supports the paragraph you are on, in up to three cards with contradictions first, each labelled with where it comes from and backed by its page and a verified quote.

Citations without a round trip

In Scrivener, citations usually come from a separate reference manager, often with placeholders that are turned into formatted citations after compiling. In CurTask you cite with @ as you type, choose from APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, IEEE, Nature, AMA and ACS, and the bibliography follows. Change the style and the bibliography is rebuilt. Each citation can carry its page number, and the evidence line takes you from the citation straight to the passage in the PDF it came from. Optional marks show the sentences that have no citation yet, which is useful before you send a chapter to your supervisor.

Your papers and your analysis in the same project

A thesis chapter rests on the literature behind it. In CurTask the same project that holds your draft also holds your papers (Library), your analysis (Analysis) and your writing (Writing). The literature matrix fills columns you describe in plain words, every value with its page and a verified quote, or "No source found" if the paper doesn't say. A paper you saved without its PDF is kept with its details and marked "No PDF", so you can add the file later; the AI reads only papers that have their PDF.

In the coding workspace you mark passages with codes shown as coloured strips, by hand on every plan. On paid plans, the AI can also code every paper of a project at the push of a button and sort your codes into categories and themes on the Synthesis Map, with each suggestion yours to accept or dismiss. You can send a theme to Writing with its passages, so a section starts from organised evidence rather than a blank page.

Nothing to install, nothing to save

CurTask runs in the browser. Everything saves by itself, and writing keeps saving offline on your device until you reconnect. When the chapter is ready, compile to Word, PDF, Markdown or HTML. Your writing and papers are stored in Malaysia, private to you, and never used to train AI. You can download all of it at any time as one ZIP file in open formats, with your manuscripts and notes as Word and Markdown files and your references as BibTeX, RIS and CSL-JSON. The interface is in English and Bahasa Melayu, and there is a free plan to try it.

When Scrivener might suit you

If you write long manuscripts on Mac, Windows or iPad, prefer a one-time licence, and want deep control over compile formats such as ebooks and screenplays, Scrivener is a mature and well-regarded writing environment.

Using both

Some writers plan in Scrivener and do the evidence-heavy chapters, such as the literature review, in CurTask. Bring the papers in by dragging the PDFs into CurTask; details are filled from each DOI for you to check. To move text across, paste your sections into CurTask's sections, then cite as you go. When finished, compile to Word and continue in whichever tool you prefer.

Start your literature review chapter on the free plan and keep every citation one click from its page.