Technology is a wonderful thing, and it has made many aspects of life including academics much easier. Writing tools are a gift of technology that give college students the extra assistance they may need to improve their writing skills and achieve a greater level of academic success.
There are several academic writing tools college students can use as needed. And while a poor craftsman may well blame his tools when things go wrong, even professional writers find that good writing tools give them the help and inspiration they need to keep going when work gets challenging. Tapping away at the keyboard everyday can never be easy, but using the right tools can make it seem like a breeze.
Here are five popular writing tools to make every college student’s life easier.
5 Great Tools for Writing
1. Microsoft Word
Although one of the earlier word processing programs, Microsoft Word is powerful and sophisticated and has been specially designed to perform a variety of word processing tasks, such as typing, editing, and formatting.
It offers several tools and features that students may find useful. These include:
- Basic drawing and graphic design tools
- Word count feature for statistical reports of documents
- Sound and video editing tools
- Wizards for creating and disseminating form letters, merged faxes, envelopes, and labels
- Text auto-correct
- Spelling and grammar check
- Built-in thesaurus to find appropriate synonyms
- Wizards to create complex documents such as resumes and large volume documents with multiple sections or headers
With advanced features like these, students can accomplish a variety of tasks with ease. These tasks include:
- Typesetting novels and magazines
- Creating and revising articles, essays, book reports, memos, term papers, and other types of academic documents
- Creating and maintaining mailing lists, personalized documents, and newsletters
- Sending documents for feedback to a group of people
- Importing files or other items from other programs and using them in Word documents
- Exporting documents to other packages such as WordPerfect, Lotus Notes, etc.
All these features and facilities make MS Word superior to other word processing programs as well as to other word processing devices such as typewriters.
2. Google Workspace
For obvious reasons, Google Workspace is extremely popular with student groups collaborating on essays or presentations.
Here are some ways in which this tool helps students do better on writing assignments:
- It comes with an online word processor, presentation editor, and spreadsheet – tools that students can use to collaborate on assignments, blogs, newsletters, projects, and more.
- Students can work in groups to create and/or edit documents without having to download multiple files and swap emails back and forth.
- Two or more people can simultaneously work on a Google Doc.
- Students no longer have to worry about using different software at home and at school – there is no software to download.
- The Version History feature available in Google Docs allows students to view the entire revision process of a particular document. Sometimes deleted ideas and information that actually deserve to be included in the document can be easily restored.
- Students in different locations working on the same project can conduct brainstorming sessions in real time.
- Individual contribution and content can be accurately gauged with the help of the Version History.
- Teachers can ensure students are following guidelines, check on student progress, and provide feedback and advice within the document, thereby possibly leading to higher grades.
3. Coggle
One of the most challenging things about college writing projects is organizing one’s ideas. Coggle is an online tool for creating and sharing flowcharts and mind maps. The flow chart feature helps users organize and visualize complex ideas, outline systems and processes, and make presentations. Coggle allows students to arrange their ideas visually and helps them discover important connections, thus leading to a better understanding of content.
Coggle is also very effective for collaborative work where groups of students can take notes, brainstorm, and plan projects together. Changes made by one user instantly show up in group members’ browsers, regardless of their location. The best thing about Coggle is that users do not need to download or install anything; the tool works online on their browser. Coggle is also visually appealing and provides a pleasant space for individual as well as collaborative learning.
4. Evernote
Evernote is a cross-platform online tool that helps students organize their coursework and assignments so they can easily find what they are looking for. This software program syncs digital items across devices so they are accessible from all gadgets.
Benefits of Using Evernote
- Evernote helps users create an organized structure. Many students prefer creating a virtual notebook using Evernote for each of their classes. It helps to know that everything they need to study for Economics 101, for example, is available at their fingertips.
- Tags are another useful feature available on Evernote. There may be times when a document or note is helpful across multiple courses. Students can tag it and sort their notes by tags to make them easier to find and access later on.
- Google Docs users can link their documents from Google to Evernote. This way they can get the benefits of Evernote while retaining their current note-taking method.
- One of the best features Evernote has is the ability to attach documents to notes. Users can attach documents from Google Docs or Dropbox – all they need to do is click on the attachment icon and upload. Students can use this feature to store copies of assignments along with the relevant notes.
- Another useful feature that comes with Evernote is the ability to annotate PDFs. Students can attach PDFs of journal articles to their class notes and underline, highlight, and add notes to the PDF. This gives them quick access to source documents as well as their annotations.
For most students, the value of Evernote lies in its ability to organize class notes in a digital format. It is, in essence, a well-designed app that functions as the perfect study buddy.
5. Citation Machine
An important rule in college writing is that authors must properly acknowledge the sources they consult while writing their papers. Improper citation of sources can lead to accusations of plagiarism, which can have serious consequences for students. Citation Machine is a simple, easy-to-use online tool for citations and bibliographies.
Benefits of Using Citation Machine
- Students can create citations in all 4 major citation styles – APA, MLA, Chicago, and Turabian. They also have access to a vast library of over 7,000 citation styles used in different fields.
- The tool offers a guide to help students create proper citations in APA, MLA, and Chicago.
- A paid subscription to this platform comes with a plagiarism checker.
- Citation Machine allows users to cite content from a variety of sources – books, journals, newspapers, magazines, films, etc.
