Gone are the days when researching and gathering information for a specific topic require a lot of effort and time. You can now easily use your online search engine to collect data that may be related to your article and improve your writing proficiency. Further, many writing tools are available that will allow you to write faster and avoid some common grammar mistakes.
In this article, we give you an explanation of how new technology affects writing proficiency. Also, it will point out some of the helpful tools that you may use or install on your computer to enhance your writing skills. Scroll down to know more information.
Essential Tools for Writing Proficiency
If you visit the internet, you will find various editing tools for writers. And because of these numerous choices that you have, you might wonder what among them should improve your skills. Hence, we have here some of the tools that we think might help you in writing.
1. Grammarly or other editing tools
This tool is an online proofreading tool that allows users to correct all misspellings and grammar. It comes in the free and premium version. For the free version, it has limited features, but you can use it anytime you want. Meanwhile, the Grammarly Premium contains comprehensive functionalities which help edit your whole document. For instance, it can point out the passive voice or lengthy sentences. It can also correct prepositions or punctuation.
This editor can be integrated into your Word document or incorporated on your browsers. That means that you may utilize it whether you are working online or offline.
2. Trello
Having excellent organization skills can also lead to your writing productivity; after all, writing is all about organizing thoughts. That’s why you should have a project management application that will allow you to note down essential ideas.
Trello is an excellent choice. It allows the user to create new notes (similar to an actual post-it note) and input tasks to be accomplished in a day or week. Thus, there is constant monitoring.
3. Microsoft Word or Google Docs
These two can help writers to turn their ideas into their written form quickly. What makes them a suitable choice is that they provide various options to users. For example, you may change the font style, make something italicized, place an image, among others.
Microsoft Word and Google Docs also have grammar and spelling checkers. For the latter, the user may collaborate with another writer and simultaneously work on a specific project. That said, performing works is faster and smoother.
4. oTranscribe
In case you need to transcribe something, then oTranscribe is an application that will make your life easier. It allows you to play audio on the same window where you write the texts from the file. This feature means that you won’t have to switch between your audio player and your word processor program to finish the task.
5. Google
Well, Google can answer your every question. Thus, making the research part of writing easier than visiting a library and looking for a specific book. The information that is provided by this search engine is sufficient in numbers and substance (advantage if you have subscriptions to journals).
These are just among the applications that may be used to enhance your writing skills. Given these tools, does it improve the way one writes? Let’s find out in the next section.
How Does New Technology Affect Writing Proficiency?
Of course, we cannot say that there are only advantages to using technology concerning writing. There might be times that reliance on such will lead to an unsatisfactory result. However, most of the time, technology is advantageous to writers. Here is some proof.
- Saves Time in Collecting Information. In terms of researching, using technology is helpful. You can open your Google and input a keyword to gather data. Within a second, the search engine will then generate content that may be related to your topic. From there, you may choose what you think will provide you with sufficient information to craft your ideas or arguments.
- It improves grammar and vocabulary. As for editing, you can upload your document in an online proofreader or install a tool like Grammarly. This kind of software will then analyze your work and notify you about the apparent mistakes in your writing. Keep in mind that this does not guarantee that your article will be free from error. With the complexity of grammar rules, only humans can discern some inaccuracies.
- On a further note, some tools suggest a word that can be used to replace another word in your article. This tool can help you widen your vocabulary and enhances the overall tone of your writeup.
- Some proofreaders provide definitions and explanations of grammar rules. Thus, writers can learn while they are working on their documents.
- Allows Collaboration. Technology also helps in encouraging collaboration between writers. There is a different program that allows different individuals to work on a similar project simultaneously. This tool can spark a healthy exchange of ideas, especially when working on a story or novel.
- It helps in organizing ideas. Writing in an organized manner helps once to create a coherent article and persuasive arguments. With the help of task managers, writers can easily input ideas and arrange their paragraphs accordingly. Further, they may take down notes or articles to read that may help in their writing. They can track the progress of their projects or projects if they have so much on their plates.
- It avoids plagiarism. Since many tools are out there that allow checking for plagiarism, many writers can avoid this issue. There might be times when you think that the idea you have is unique. However, it can be because you’re very familiar with such. Fortunately, plagiarism checker can help you scrutinize your work for possible infringement. Some also illustrate how you can properly cite a source.
Conclusion
Generally, technology can help in improving the efficiency of writers. With the help of the writing tools, one can conveniently write and edit his works. However, this does not mean that there are no downsides in using technology. Too much reliance may also be detrimental to the way you write. For instance, when you no longer have access to such, you don’t know how to spell a word correctly anymore because of the thinking that the app will correct it for you.
Since you are already into writing, why not share your files through apps like SHAREit and have more people read and critique it for your better improvement.
For your queries, do not hesitate to leave a message at the comment box below. We’ll get back to you for the answer to your questions.
