Sponsored | 05 Aug, 21
How This Writing Assistant Has Helped With My Essays
I finally transferred a bunch of old credits and enrolled in a local college. I’m only two semesters away from my B.A. in communications! But getting to this point wasn’t easy. I was super stressed about the slew of essays and PR, marketing, and promo materials I’d have to write.
My professor was reassuring. She told me that the point of writing essays is to teach me to clarify ideas, analyze source material, and develop critical judgment. It’s the key to confidence and success in the classroom, in the workplace, and in my life.
Then she mentioned Grammarly. It’s not just a glorified spell-checker, she said, but a sophisticated AI-powered writing assistant helping both novice writers and professionals alike compose clear, engaging, mistake-free writing.
Grammarly catches run-on sentences, checks grammar and punctuation, offers suggestions for clarity and conciseness—and, yes, it does check spelling. But the features don’t stop there. Grammarly can also suggest restructuring long run-on sentences, flag the passive voice, and so much more.
I had to admit it sounded good. And when my professor told me there’s a free version to download that I could use with Microsoft Word, I was sold.
I downloaded Grammarly’s desktop app, the Grammarly browser extension, and the Grammarly Keyboard on my mobile device. In all these product offerings except the Grammarly Keyboard, I can set writing goals tailored to my needs. Some of these customizable goals include audience (general, knowledgeable, or expert) and formality (informal, neutral, or formal). As a student going into communications, this is a game-changer: I can shift my writing easily from an academic audience for an essay to a professional audience for a business email or a press release.
Grammarly was so excellent that after two weeks, I upgraded to Grammarly Premium. Premium includes advanced features and suggestions such as a plagiarism checker, clarity-focused sentence rewrites, fluency suggestions, and a tone detector that helps my writing come across just as I intend.
Grammarlytakes care of the details while I focus on shaping, polishing, and perfecting my essays.
Here are a few top tips for essay writing with Grammarly:
1. Don’t skimp on brainstorming.
Collect your thoughts before you begin writing. Generate as many thesis ideas that are potentially pertinent to your essay. Outline the piece, collect evidence, identify, organize, and select only the themes that support your essay’s structure.
2. Embrace the first draft.
After preparing your content, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and churn out the first draft. Remember that this is your first draft, not your final draft, so you can give yourself the freedom to make mistakes.
3. Seek out another pair of eyes.
After focusing intently on a topic for hours, it’s easy to lose your perspective. That’s why it’s a smart idea to share your writing with someone else before sending it to a teacher, editor, or colleague. A fresh perspective can illuminate things you’ve missed or that require elaboration. If you don’t have a buddy who’ll give it a quick read-through, close the doc, take a break, and pick it up the next morning.
4. Revise with care.
Pay attention to both word choice and clarity. Remove common mistakes such as run-on sentences, fragments, the passive voice, and word redundancies. (This is where Grammarly helps—I wasn’t aware of how often I used to use really, actually, and great.) I’ve also found that during this stage, Grammarly helps me hone my writing and ensure my sentences are clear and concise.
5. Proofread.
When it’s time for the final polish, Grammarly examines formatting issues, catches grammatical mistakes, and helps you tighten up loose ends by flagging misspelled words.
It’s a fact: Our writing says a lot about us—which means that when our writing is honed and professional, it can go a long way. Whether it’s in polishing an essay or writing a cover letter, Grammarlyhelps writers present their best—and most persuasive—selves to the world.
If you want to start writing like a pro, I’d highly recommend Grammarly.
