Grammarly

Grammarly is a website that checks writing for grammatical mistakes and provides information about grammatical rules. To begin, users must log into their Grammarly account. Next, users click the “New” button, which lets them upload a document to the website. Grammarly then loads the document, and it will show users both critical and advanced issues with their writing. For each issue, users can click the “down carrot” button to view the grammatical rule, the “X” button to ignore the issue, and the “Add” button to include a misspelled word to their Grammarly dictionary. When ready, users can correct any mistakes by typing directly in the document. When finished, users can tap the “Down Arrow” button to either copy all the text and then paste it into a new document or download the document directly from the Grammarly website. In addition, users can tap the “Blank Document” icon to begin a new document, upload an existing document, or paste text saved to the computer’s clipboard. As users upload documents to Grammarly, the website automatically stores them, and the documents can be accessed by clicking the “My Grammarly” button.

Please Note: Users are only able to view the “Critical” issues for free. Users will need to purchase a subscription to view the “Advanced” issues. Also, users will need to purchase a subscription to access the “Plagiarism” and “Vocabulary Enricher” tools.

Instructional Ideas

1. After writing a draft, teachers can have students upload it to the Grammarly website for an initial proofreading and editing of the document. Once complete, students can download their draft and save it again.
2. After students write a draft, students can upload it to the Grammarly website. Next, a peer can read the draft and view the issues Grammarly identified. The two students can then meet and the peer who read the draft can provide feedback, both about content and writing conventions. The student who wrote the draft can make notes of the peer’s suggestions.
3. After students revise a paper using Grammarly, they can write their teacher a brief explanation of the issues Grammarly detected, if there was common issue that was marked repeatedly, and steps they can take to improve their writing. Students can write this information using an Office app or word processing program and email it to their teacher.
4. Over the course of a class, students can regularly upload documents to Grammarly. At the end of the class, students can review the different documents and choose their best three to create a portfolio. Students can create the portfolio by downloading each document, importing it into a word processing program, numbering the pages, creating a cover page and table of contents, and then saving it as a PDF file. Students can submit their portfolio to their teacher via email.