Essay writing is a process which takes a lot of time and effort, as well as skills on student’s behalf, so it doesn’t come as a shock that it’s not one of their favorite things in the world. Before they can even start writing, they need to focus on developing their ideas, which requires some serious brainstorming. Then they need to structure their essay and create an outline for it.
There is also the process of research, which deserves an entire chapter altogether, so we’re not going to get into it today, and actually writing the essay, going over it several times, editing, and looking to see if there are any grammar or spelling errors that need to be eliminated.
All of this leads to students’ procrastinating and losing a significant chunk of time which they’re going to miss later as the deadline for their essay approaches. The solution to this particular problem would be to part with all unnecessary distractions and focus on writing.
Seeing as students are very capable, and some would even say dependent, at using modern technology, it can be used to their advantage. The following list contains 9 amazing digital platforms which can help them write their essays with much less effort and improve the quality of their work.
1 Popplet
Popplet is a clever and wonderfully designed productivity app which can be applied inside a wide variety of contexts. This makes it an ideal tool during the early stages of essay writing, where students need to brainstorm and organize their initial ideas and concepts. The essence of this app are “popples”, which are boxes you can paste onto an empty board, and which can contain text, videos, images, comments, clip art, and links to one another. This type of visuals-based brainstorming is extremely effective and likely to get the students engaged.
2 EssayMap
Unlike all the other written assignments, essays are written with certain rules in mind, which also applies to the way they are structured. EssayMap is a browser-based app which can help students outline their essays and make sure all of their ideas and arguments are clearly presented. All of this takes place in a graphic environment, which is a plus, and the app doesn’t require any registration. However, users are allowed to save their essay outlines to their computers or send them via email.
3 Prompts
Writing prompts are a great method of getting students to practice their literary skills and warm up before they take on writing a challenging essay, which is why they should turn to Prompts, one of the best apps of this type online, which is able to supply its users with intelligent writing prompts on a regular basis. In addition to that, students can also use the app to track their writing efficiency, as it provides them with stats that show their average word count, days during which they were most active, and total writing time.
4 EduGeeksClub
EduGeeksClub is a writing service which can help students with every single aspect of essay writing. They can rely on it to hone their writing chops, receive direct feedback on their work from the most skilled professionals in the field, along with suggestions on how to improve, as well as advice and help from its professional editors that are capable of spotting grammar, spelling, and stylistic errors. Students can also learn from the examples, or commission an essay in order to learn how it should be written.
5 Write.app
While word-processing applications such as Microsoft Office or OpenOffice are hugely powerful, they may not be the best solution when it comes to essay writing. They contain too many distractions and tools students don’t need, which means they are better off with a more basic and minimalistic text editor. Write.app fits the description perfectly, and also features full-screen mode, which enables its users to really concentrate on writing and not much else. It includes some basic editing tools, as well as the ability to save one’s work.
6 StayFocusd
Since most of the research nowadays, as well as writing, is done on computers which have a 24/7 internet connection, it is extremely hard for students to focus on writing their essays, instead of opening up their browser and spending the next several browsing YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. For all the Chrome users out there, there is an awesome extension called StayFocusd, which is able to limit the amount of time that is spent browsing distracting websites. After the time limit has expired, students won’t be able to access none of the sites on the list, and will have to focus on their work.
7 Writer
Another minimalistic writing app which can be used to write essays is Writer. This browser-based app offers only the bare essentials, such as the ability to change fonts and spacing, and not much else, thus ensuring minimal amount of distractions. Once a student completes the registration process, they will also be able to save their work to their devices in either plan text format or PDF, or even share it directly on one some of the most popular blogging platforms.
8 Calmly Writer
Those who may not be too fond of Writer or Write.app would perhaps like to give Calmly Writer a shot. It is yet another application designed to provide the writer with an immersive, distraction-free environment. This one takes it one step further, by blurring everything the user has written, except for the current paragraph they are working on. Offers the most basic formatting options, such as the ability to change fonts and spacing, as well as subheadings, quotes, and hyperlinks.
9 Ilys
Ilys provides its users with the most unorthodox writing environment there is. Students need to enter the word count, and once they have done that, everything else disappears from the screen of their computer but the last letter they have typed. They aren’t even allowed to make any edits, until they have matched the word count. Sounds strange, but it’s actually a good way of getting rid of all the distractions.
Every students can benefit from these 9 tools and improve the quality of their essays, as well as develop their writing skills in the process. They can finally say goodbye to procrastination, distractions, and poorly written assignments.
Short Bio:
Antonio is a hopeless optimist who enjoys basking in the world’s brightest colors. He loves biking to distant places and occasionally he gets lost. When not doing that he’s blogging and teaching ESL. He will be happy to meet you on Facebook and Twitter.
