eLearning (technology in learning) has become a buzzword in the education industry. Thanks to the ability to meet the needs of diverse learners, it has a vast presence in almost every academic subfield. Writing an essay is one of them. Any essay writer who wants to improve their skills can benefit from various eLearning
technologies by using online tools, courses, and tests.
If you need to improve your writing skills, check out the list of helpful eLearning tools that we’ve compiled to assist you. They use interactive content, graphical organizers, artificial intelligence, and other fantastic eLearning content to help you become an outstanding essay writer.
1. No Red Ink
The first item on our list is a free online platform (premium subscription also available) that provides an interest-based curriculum and adaptive exercises to teach essay writing. The creator of the platform, English teacher Jeff Scheur, said that the primary purpose behind No Red Ink was to give students tips and strategies they need to address errors in essay writing quickly. Besides, the curriculum stems from learners’ interests, which improves motivation.
2. Study Smart
If you prefer the visual presentation of the information, this tool could be a great find for you. Developed by the Griffith University in Australia, this mini-course consists of a series of videos that teach viewers everything they need to know to become a better essay writer, including:
- Developing an argument
- Essay editing
- Essay writing checklist
- Critical thinking
- Essay structure
- Outline development.
3. Wordcounter
Do you tend to overuse certain words in your essays? Or maybe you have the habit of including redundant words while writing an essay? If your answer to both questions is yes, check out this free tool. Wordcounter is a simple online app for detecting the most frequently used words to ensure that your writing doesn’t include redundant or repetitive words.
4. Thesis Generator from Ashford
Do you need to learn how to create better thesis statements to become a better essay writer? The Ashford University has a good tool for you, then. It’s called the Thesis Statement Guide Development tool, and it gives you several steps you need to complete to formulate an excellent thesis for your essay. During these steps, the information you need to provide includes your topic, opinion/idea, supporting points, an opposing point of view, and a possible title. When you’re done feeding the tool this information, you click on Submit, and it’ll generate your thesis.
5. Paragraph Essay Graphic Organizer
A downloadable form of a 5-paragraph essay outline that you can use to begin shaping the thesis statement, introduction, body, and conclusion. It works great for students who prefer to structure their work using graphics tools.
6. Academic and Business Writing Course from UC Berkeley
If you think you should take an online course to become a better essay writer, this one is a great option. It’s an entirely self-paced, five-week course that provides materials on tone, diction, vocabulary development, editing, and other academic writing requirements. According to the creators of the system, anyone taking this course will learn
persuasive writing techniques and essay development, strong English-writing and communication skills, and proofreading, revision, tone, and self-editing skills.
7. Essay Punch
This tool takes a user through the process of writing an essay by using online interactive exercises. They are designed to enhance the skills of planning, pre-writing, organizing, editing, and revising by giving the users a wide range of tasks. For example, a pre-set writing prompt lesson teaches to develop ideas and write different types of essays, including informative, descriptive, and persuasive. The user can save the progress and print the materials for references.
8. Write Lab
An excellent online platform that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to give feedback on essay writing. The technology is powered by Natural Language Processing and other tools that provide automated feedback about grammar, punctuation, word selection, passive voice overuse, and other factors. Using Write Lab allows getting personalized and continuous feedback for anyone that wants to be a better essay writer. If this sounds interesting, you could try the online interactive demo to see what the tool can do for your writing.
9. Quill
The last item on our list is a unique online tool that provides free interactive writing and grammar activities for elementary, middle, and high school students. The users can learn sentence structure, outline, sentence construction, thesis statement building, writing style, and other helpful knowledge. In addition, quill Diagnostic provides feedback and generates a personalized learning plan based on a user’s performance.
Using eLearning tools to become a better essay writer makes perfect sense because the technology is sophisticated enough to allow you to develop your skills quickly and efficiently. So feel free to use the tools from the list above to meet your writing goals.
