Previously students had to write papers and hand in them. After that, they had to wait for their tutors’ replies. Today one can use online tools to type homework and send it in via email or by giving access to the document. For example, Google Docs is a perfect online tool to perform home assignments and share the document in a couple of seconds. One should just click the blue button ‘access settings’. After that, a person inserts the email address of the tutor and chooses the option for correction so that the instructor could comment on mistakes.
Nevertheless, good writing tools do not guarantee success. A person must present high-quality work. It must not have mistakes. Nobody speaks about perfect papers but they should be corresponding. A professional team of essay writers from AdvancedWriters recommends the top 5 free editing tools for your successful academic writing in college and university.
#1. ProWritingAid
This tool allows users to type texts that will have fewer mistakes. The program underlines grammar and spelling mistakes and suggests improvements. For those who want a deeper analysis of the text, there are Pro functions that require subscription and payment. The tool helps to sharpen writing skills and hand in the homework of better quality.
#2. Hemingway Editor
This app helps to improve the readability of the text. The tool scans the text and reflects problematic elements using 5 colors. A person sees and corrects the text to make it more readable. Adverbs complicate the readability and they are marked as blue. Writers suggest using active voice instead of a passive one. Passive voice complicates the understanding and the app highlights passive sentences by green color. Purple words identify weighty lexical units that have simpler variants. Hard and too hard for reading sentences have peach and pink markings.
#3. ClicheFinder
Sometimes professors say that the text is too simple and has many cliches. What is a cliched text? It means that the phrases are overused by many people and it is better to change some sentences to make it sound better, more logical, and wiser.
#4. GoogleDocs and Other Tools
Google Docs and Word are tools that can identify mistakes and suggest corrections. Academic papers and publications also contain links to the cited sources. Consequently, a person has to provide the bibliography section. As a rule, educational institutions ask their students to present sources separately and at the end of the paper. They ask to format the ABC list in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Harvard style. There are free tools that can help to do it quickly and without mistakes.
Moreover, some tools have installed formats a person can choose. Due to that, the document will have the right margins, size of the font, spaces, type of the font, etc. Unfortunately, these apps are not free because they are multi-functional and increase chances to get higher grades.
#5. DupliChecker
Everybody knows that each academic writing is to be unique. Plagiarism is the reason for expelling from the institution and acquiring a bad reputation. Today all tutors, teachers, and professors ask their students to send the ready papers via email or give access to them if they are uploaded or created on the virtual cloud like OneDrive or Google Disk. What for? Thanks to that, they can scan each paper using plagiarism checkers to reveal cheaters. Generally, a college buys a licensed checker and each employee can use it. It lets a college be reputable and objective when approving and denying research proposals or giving high and low grades to students.
A person should select a good checker. For example, Quetext shows only the percentage of plagiarized information. So, if one sees 1%, the paper will be 99% unique (100-1). That is why it is better to choose the tool that can give more options. For example, Dupli Checker reflects the number of words, plagiarized and unique extracts, and articles in which ideas might be related. Besides, there is a button for checking grammar that makes the tool more useful and precious.
5 Tips for Students before They Proceed to the Editing of the Paper
Despite the existence of many free editing tools, a person should follow 5 basic rules to present a supreme paper.
- Take enough time
- Rest first and check after
- Do not completely depend on editing tools
- Proofread twice or three times if possible
- Let someone read it and give objective remarks
To sum up, editing is as important as the creation of the paper. Being tired students can omit several important things or mistakes. For example, a person could forget to check the formatting peculiarities or miss a comma. If a computer provides autonomic corrections, a student might not notice spelling mistakes. That is why the best option is to have a good rest, check everything, edit, rest again, and proofread everything again.
Experts also recommend giving papers to someone who has experience in writing. It could be a senior student or professional editor. It is better not to depend on editing tools completely. Computers identify typical mistakes, cliches, mistyped words but can correct things that do not need correction. For example, a person writes a dissertation about mistakes in translation. Consequently, he or she types wrong to explain how to do it right. Online tools are helpful but cannot substitute people.