Top 5 Online Resources for Writers

in college life by Casie Forbes — June 15, 2011 at 11:19 am | 0 comments

…Offering Relief For Authors

The clock is ticking as you’re scrambling to compile a flawless paper before the deadline, and now is not the time for errors.
You no longer have to fret in this situation because there are plenty of free online writing resources available for you to use.

Dictionary.com

Starting with the basics, you should always keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy. Whether it’s a research paper or a quick blog post, having this tool will prove useful. Dictionary.com offers definitions, antonyms, and synonyms to help boost and diversify your writing. If you’re not sitting in front of a computer but still needs a definition, you can easily access the Dictionary.com application through other gadgets like iPhones, BlackBerrys, Androids, iPads, and iPods.

WebSource.it

You’ve no doubt caught yourself—at one time or another—using Google search to find a word’s use or spelling. Most times you’ll have to do at least two searches if you’ve misspelled the word, and then you’re presented with thousands of results. Use WebSource.it instead of Google to refine your search with less effort. According to WebSource.it, you will type in a word or phrase into the search field. The site will then limit the results to popularity and correctness.

Confusing Words

Sometimes you find yourself questioning whether a homonym is being used correctly. For example, is it affect or effect? Or how about lay, lie, and laid? Confusing Words has 3210 words that are commonly confused for its counterpart. You simply type in the word, or words, in question to receive the difference between the homonyms, examples of each word in a sentence, and any other useful notes that could help you remember the correct usage.

After The Deadline

After the Deadline is a must for any writer. This tool allows you to copy and paste your writing document into the document editor. Simply click the check writing button below, and this online editor will display any spelling, grammatical, or style errors along with commonly confused words. You can click on the error to see the editor’s suggestions and the explanation for the suggestion. You can also choose to ignore suggestions permanently, which is helpful with names, jargon, and other terms that may not be commonly listed in a spell checker. No more deadline worries!

Viper Anti-Plagiarism Scanner

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is plagiarizing. Sometimes you may not know that you are doing it, but most people will consider it just as serious a problem than if you purposely plagiarized. Viper Anti-Plagiarism Scanner will help you search your work for any unattributed information. A free download is only available for those with Microsoft Windows, but the company is working on producing a Mac version. This application checks over 10 billion resources and links to the plagiarized work. According to its Web site, Viper will give you a percentage score of how many resources were plagiarized within the work. There is also no limit on the amount of words uploaded into its scan.

 
If you have always wanted to become a writer, see how distance learning can help you!

 

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