Free essay writing help software programs have become popular study aids for students at all grade levels. While they cannot replace human tutors, the best free programs provide structure, feedback, and tips that can guide students through the essay writing process. This article explores some of the top free essay writing help software options available online and how they work.
Grammarly
One of the most well-known free essay writing help tools is Grammarly. This software works as an extension for common web browsers and writing programs like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. Students can easily use Grammarly to check their writing for grammatical errors, incorrect punctuation, proper capitalization, subject-verb agreement issues, formatting problems, and more.
Grammarly analyzes writing on a sentence-by-sentence level and provides suggested corrections in context. Users can accept or reject each recommendation with just one click. The free version covers basic grammar, punctuation, and spelling checks. Premium subscriptions unlock more thorough plagiarism checking, advanced vocabulary suggestions, clarity feedback, tone analysis, and human writing reviews.
While Grammarly is not designed to completely write essays for students, it helps catch small mistakes that teachers typically dock points for. Using Grammarly ensures writing is polished and error-free before submitting final drafts. The feedback also helps students learn proper writing conventions over time.
Hemingway Editor
Another useful free essay writing help tool is Hemingway Editor. Similar to Grammarly, it works as a web plugin and word processor extension. Hemingway Editor has a unique focus on writing style and clarity versus just grammar. It analyzes documents on a sophisticated level to flag complex wording, long sentences, passive voice, and redundant phrases.
The program then highlights these problem areas directly in the writing. Students see exactly which passages need simplification or restructuring for optimum understanding and impact. Hemingway Editor even generates readability statistics on demand so users know the grade level of their text.
This analysis creates an objective perspective that can be hard for student writers to achieve on their own. It leads to clear, concise essay composition that engages readers from introduction through conclusion. Hemingway Editor essentially serves as a second set of eyes to perfect writing style without manual editing.
LanguageTool
LanguageTool offers many of the same error-checking capabilities as Grammarly but specializes in detecting issues specific to certain languages. It flags grammar, spelling, punctuation, style, and lexical mistakes in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Java, JavaScript and more. LanguageTool can check essay writing or any typed text.
One unique advantage is that this software provides detailed, contextual explanations for each error. So students truly understand why something is wrong and how to fix it, not just that a mistake exists. Teachers and tutors can even use LanguageTool to supplement lessons on style conventions.
The open-source nature means LanguageTool is free for all personal and educational uses. It runs within web browsers, directly on websites, and as extensions for word processors. Students can experiment with writing in different languages and receive robust feedback to expand linguistic skills.
WriteClub
While the above tools focus on mechanical writing support, WriteClub guides students through the entire essay planning and structure process. After signing up for a free account, users choose a common paper prompt to work on individually or collaboratively in real-time.
WriteClub breaks assignments into discrete stages – researching, outlining, drafting intro/body paragraphs, and revising. At each step, the platform provides templates, example responses for the prompt, and peer examples to draw ideas from. Users get feedback from other students as well as built-in style checks and grammar corrections as with Grammarly.
This staged writing environment promotes effective time management, use of rhetorical techniques, and self-monitoring that many students struggle with independently. WriteClub almost walks users through the full cycle of high-quality essay generation to build competence. Teachers can even assign projects and monitor whole-class progress.
Slick Write
Slick Write takes a unique spin on writing assistance by focusing entirely on outlining. After pasting or typing a topic in the online editor, Slick Write automatically generates a filled-out outline at five different levels of detail based on common organizational structures.
Students can easily accept, edit, or ignore parts of the suggested outline. The tool also provides example topic sentences to get ideas flowing for each section. As an outline develops, Slick Write seamlessly turns it into a polished zero-draft essay in proper formatting with all body paragraphs started.
This outlining approach relieves the initial stress of starting from a blank page yet still holds students accountable for development and organization. With Slick Write, educators gain insight into student thinking processes before final writing begins too. The tool simplifies a foundational but tricky part of the writing process.
Conclusion
These free online essay writing help software programs offer students structure, feedback, writing models, collaboration, and new perspectives that are difficult for the average writer to achieve independently. While technology cannot fully replace careful planning, drafting, and revision by hand, utilizing helpful tools strengthens self-editing skills over time. Choosing the program that fits an individual’s strengths and needs leads to competent essay production within any assignment guidelines.
Andrew Stroud