Relative Advantage Chart for Using Technology for Writing and Composition
By Mark C. Frank
Higher Education: My experience conducting peer reviews for fellow students
Learning
Problems
Technologies
Relative
Advantage
Expected
Outcome
s
Writing Concise
Web sites:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/conci
se.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes
/wordy_quiz.htm
http://www.usi.edu/acadskil/OWL/concisbh.htm
Book Doctor:
http://www.recipes4word.com/BookDoctor.htm
College Writing Department: Email your paper to
writing experts or run paper through college paper
checker software.
Microsoft Word: Grammar checker – set software
functions to flag wordy sentences.
Flags lengthy sentences
and teaches students
the different problems
while writing or upon
completion of draft.
Assists students during
the writing process or
provides feedback after
draft.
Students will learn
the best sentence
structure after
consistently making
the same errors.
Technologies will
explain to students
the precise problem
and how to fix
them.
Punctuation
Web sites:
http://www.elitewritingenterprises.com/writing_tips
.html
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/566/01
/
http://www.perfectlywrite.co.uk/punctuation.html
http://www.grammarmonster.com/grammarlessons/punctuation_howlers
.htm
Microsoft Word: Grammar checker – automatically
flags punctuation errors.
Flash or Software for Punctuation.
WebQuest: http://www.bellmoremerrick.k12.ny.us/webquest/english/writing.html
Provides students
references and tools for
researching
punctuation formatting.
Flags punctuation
errors during the
writing process.
Drills students about
most important issues
for correct punctuation.
Students will learn
correct formatting
for punctuation
while writing formal
papers. Students
will memorize
punctuation issues.
Using “Best
Words” or word
choice
Web sites:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/word_
choice.html
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/6
65056
Online writing community:
http://www.writing.com/page/writing_a_book/writi
ng_a_book.html
Amazon writing forum:
Provides access to
experts or
knowledgeable people
for ideas on correct
word choice.
Provides easy access to
dictionary or thesaurus
for finding better
words.
Expands student’s
vocabulary and
provides tools for
students to learn
the wrong words to
use when writing
formal papers.
Writing and
Composition
http://www.amazon.com/tag/apa%20writing/forum
?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=&cdPage=1&cdAnchor=
1557987912
Online Dictionary and Thesaurus:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Passive Writing
Web sites:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g
_actpass.html
http://www.dailywritingtips.com/passive-writing/
Online tutor:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/online.html
Microsoft Word: Grammar checker for formal papers.
College writing center or labs: email paper to writing
experts or run through software that checks paper
for passive voice problems.
Writing Software : http://www.whitesmoke.com/
Provides tools or
immediate help
correcting passive
sentences. Easily
identifies passive voice
in writing.
Students will learn
to avoid writing
passive sentences,
which will provide
more effective
papers and better
grades depending
on the class and
whether teacher
grades down for this
writing problem.
Formatting
Web sites: http://apastyle.apa.org/
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01
/
Formatting Software:
http://www.formatease.com/cgibin/cartscript.cgi?page=home.html&cart_id=
WebQuest: http://www.bellmoremerrick.k12.ny.us/webquest/english/writing.html
Students can follow
material to format
papers correctly.
Software will format
paper automatically.
Students can focus
on content of paper
rather than
worrying about
formatting issues.
Spelling
Spell Checker: MS Word, Works, or most word
processors
Online Dictionary:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Students will hand in
assignments free of
spelling errors.
Subject Choice
Online Encyclopedias:
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/
http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Login?ed=wb
http://encarta.msn.com/
http://www.britannica.com/bps/home
Provides students easy
access to reference
materials to find
excellent subjects for
school projects.
Reference
Choice
World Wide Web
Online Libraries:
http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/
http://www.ipl.org/
Missing
Information
Online Encyclopedias:
http://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/
http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Login?ed=wb
http://encarta.msn.com/
http://www.britannica.com/bps/home
World Wide Web
The WWW provides
students unlimited
access to resources for
papers and projects.
Provides students with
easy access to
periodicals,
newspapers, and
books.
Student has no excuse
for handing in paper or
project that is
incomplete. With
access to unlimited
reference material,
student can identify
Students will see
mistakes and learn
to spell better—
especially on
difficult or easy to
misspell words.
Students will
improve on choice
of subjects and
learn from
resources and
project based
assignments.
Minimizes time for
research so student
can learn about
subject. Student
learns more about
subject because of
vast number of
resources available
through WWW.
Student will learn
more about subject
and get better
grades for paper or
project. Student will
learn to include
most important
Missed Word
Count
Online Libraries:
http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/
http://www.ipl.org/
Online Dictionary:
http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
College writing center or lab for peer review
Email to fellow students for peer review
Email to expert about subject
what should be
included in paper or
project.
information about
subject in paper or
project.
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Works
Other Word Processors
Student can gauge
relative number of
words throughout
writing project.
No excuse being under
word count, which is
most common
problem.
Student will hand in
paper based on
correct word count
assigned by teacher
and not lose points
if word count is part
of paper’s grade.