Improving Writing with

Docs

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by Eric Curts

www.ericcurts.com

Last updated 2/8/2015

Eric Curts

Authorized Google Education Trainer (GET)

Google Certified Teacher (GCT)

www.ericcurts.com

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Copyright 2014-2015 - Eric Curts - This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 United States license.  For more information about this license see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (In short, you can copy, distribute, and adapt this work as long as you give proper attribution and do not charge for it.)

Improving Writing with Google Docs - Table of Contents

Student Writing

Research tool

Bibliography tool

Read&Write for Google

Speech Recognition

Student Collaboration

Peer review with comments

Collaborative Writing

Teacher Input

Feedback with text comments

Feedback with voice comments

Feedback with GradingHelp

Rubric feedback with Goobric

Document revisions with Revision History

Document revisions with Draftback Chrome Extension

Sharing Student Writing

Public Access with View Rights

Publishing to the Google Play Bookstore

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Improving Writing with Google Docs

Student Writing

by Eric Curts

In this section we will look at Google Docs tools and features that a student can use on their own to improve the writing process.

Research tool

The Research tool built into Google Docs allows students to investigate and add information from the Internet to the document they are writing. This includes web results, images, quotations, scholarly articles, dictionary definitions, and more. Additionally the Research tool will add citations to the document for items chosen.

To use the Research tool:

  • Click Tools and then Research, or right-click on a word and choose Research from the pop-up menu.
  • By default many types of results will display, but you can narrow down to just the type you want by clicking the down arrow in the search term box and choosing types such as Everything, Images, Scholar, Quotes, and more.
  • You can also determine which citation format you wish to use by clicking the down arrow below the search term box. The choices are MLA, APA, and Chicago.

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If you choose Everything you will get Web results as well as others

  • If can click on any of the Web results, you will get a pop-up preview of the website, along with a link to visit the site.
  • You will also get an Insert link button to add a hyperlink of the site to your document.
  • You will also get a Cite button to add a footnote to your document for that website.

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If you choose Images you will get thumbnails of pictures related to your search term.

  • To add an image to your document, simply drag and drop the image where you want it to go.
  • A footnote will also be added to your document to cite the image.

If you choose Scholar you will get a list of scholarly articles.

  • If you click on an article you will get a Web link or PDF link to view the article, along with an indication of how many times this article has been cited.
  • You can also click the Insert button to add a citation of the article to your document wherever you want.
  • Or you can click the Cite as footnote button to add the citation as a footnote.

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If you choose Quotes you will get a list of famous quotes related to your search term.

  • If you click on a quote, you can then click Show sources to see where the quote is referenced.
  • You can then click the Insert button to add it to your document.
  • A footnote citation for the quote will automatically be added.

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Bibliography tool

Although the research tool can be used to add footnotes to your document, the EasyBib add-on can be used to create a detailed bibliography page.

First you need to install the EasyBib add-on if you have not already done so. This is a one-time procedure.

  1. Click Add-ons in the Google Docs menu bar and then choose Get add-ons in the drop down menu.
  2. This will open up a window with available add-ons for Google Docs.
  3. Scroll down or search for the EasyBib Bibliography Creator.
  4. Once you find it, click the +Free button to install it.
  5. You will get a pop-up window asking for permission and you will need to click Accept.
  6. The add-on will now be installed and available for use.

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To use the EasyBib add-on:

  1. Click Add-ons in the Google Docs menu bar and then click EasyBib Bibliography Creator and Manage Bibliography from the drop down menu.
  2. This will open the EasyBib tool in a side panel.
  3. You can choose to search for a Book, Journal Article, or Website.
  4. You can type in title, ISBN, website, or other keywords in the Search box
  5. When you click the Search button you will get a list of matching results.
  6. When you find the result you wanted, click the Select button to add it to your bibliography list.
  7. Repeat this process as needed to add more items to your list.
  8. You can choose the format for the citations by clicking the buttons for MLA, APA, and Chicago.
  9. When you are ready click Add Bibliography to Doc and a Works Cited section will be added to the end of your document.
  10. As needed you can return to the EasyBib tool to add and remove sources, and to update the Works Cited section of your document.

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Read&Write for Google

Read&Write for Google is a powerful Chrome extension that adds lots of tools for use within a Google Document. One of the tools is a text to speech feature that will read aloud your Google Document. This can be very helpful for a student to hear what they have written to check for mistakes, clarity, and flow.

There is a paid version with all the tools and a free version with a subset of the tools. Educators can get the paid version for a year at no cost by filling out the form at: http://rw.texthelp.com/drive/home/RegisterTeacher

The text to speech tool we will be looking at is available in both the free and paid version.

First you need to install the Read&Write for Google extension for Chrome if you have not already.

  1. In Google Chrome, go to the Chrome Web Store at https://chrome.google.com/webstore
  2. Next search for Read&Write.
  3. Note: Alternately you can go directly to the Read&Write extension using this web address: http://tiny.cc/readwrite-app
  4. When you find Read&Write for Google in the Extensions section, click the +Free button to install it.
  5. Read&Write for Google will now be installed for your Chrome browser.

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To use Read&Write for Google:

  1. Open any Google Document and you will now see a pull down tab at the top of the screen.
  2. Click on that pull down tab and the Read&Write toolbar will appear.
  3. There are many features included with Read&Write for Google including word prediction, dictionary, highlighting, and more. The feature we will focus on is the text to speech tool.
  4. To have your document read to you simply click the Play button in the Read&Write toolbar. You can likewise use the Pause and Stop buttons as needed.
  5. If you only want certain text read, select the text first and then click the Play button.
  6. If you want to change the speed or accent of the voice, click the Settings button on the right of the Read&Write toolbar.

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Speech Recognition

Students also have the ability to speak to their Google Doc and have their words automatically turned into typed text with the Speech Recognition add-on for Docs.

This could be helpful for a student who has difficulty typing, or for someone who works best by thinking aloud. The extension is not perfect, but does a good job of transcribing what is spoken. Students will need to go back through to clean up some inevitable errors as well as add in punctuation and capitalization.

  1. To use this tool, first install the Speech Recognition add-on from the Docs add-on screen - link
  2. Then click Add-ons, then Speech Recognition, then Start.
  3. A panel will open on the right of your document.
  4. Click Start to begin dictating, and click Stop to end.
  5. The add-on will turn your speech into text as you talk.

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Improving Writing with Google Docs

Student Collaboration

by Eric Curts

In this section we will look at Google Docs tools and features that a students can use with other students to improve the writing process.

Peer review with comments

One powerful way to improve the writing process is for students to get feedback on their writing from their peers. Google Docs makes it easy to accomplish peer review.

First, the student needs to share their document with other students, and only give them Comment rights.

  1. Begin by clicking the blue Share button in the top right corner of the document.
  2. This will open the Share with others window.
  3. In the People box, add the email addresses of the students to share with.
  4. In the drop down box to the right, be sure to choose Can comment for the permissions, rather than Can edit or just Can view.
  5. Optionally add a message.
  6. Finally click the Send button at the bottom.
  7. The document will now be shared with the other students. It will show up in their Incoming folder in Google Drive and they will receive an email with a link to the document.

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Now that the document has been shared with the other students, they can open it, read it, and leave text comments as feedback.

  1. To insert a comment, click in the document or select the words where you want the comment to be linked.
  2. Next click Insert in the top menu bar, then click Comment (you can also press Ctrl - Alt - M on your keyboard if you prefer).
  3. A comment box will appear to the right of the document, where you can type in your comment.
  4. This comment will now be visible to others who share the document, although the comments will not display when the document is printed.
  5. If desired the student can reply to any comment by typing in the box labeled Reply to this comment...
  6. Finally you can click Resolve to close a particular comment.

Collaborative Writing

Beyond just adding comment for peer review, students can also work together collaboratively on a writing project. The process is similar to peer review except the document is shared with Edit rights rather than just Comment rights.

First, the student needs to share their document with other students, and give them Edit rights.

  1. Begin by clicking the blue Share button in the top right corner of the document.
  2. This will open the Share with others window.
  3. In the People box, add the email addresses of the students to share with.
  4. In the drop down box to the right, be sure to choose Can edit for the permissions, rather than Can comment or Can view.
  5. Optionally add a message.
  6. Finally click the Send button at the bottom.
  7. The document will now be shared with the other students. It will show up in their Incoming folder in Google Drive and they will receive an email with a link to the document.

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Now that the document has been shared with the other students, they can all open it and collaboratively write in the document.

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Improving Writing with Google Docs

Teacher Input

by Eric Curts

In this section we will look at Google Docs tools and features that a teacher can use to help improve the writing process for his or her students.

Feedback with text comments

One powerful way to improve the writing process is for a teacher to provide feedback on student writing. There are several ways to do this with Google Docs. One option is through text comments.

First, the teacher needs access to the student’s document. One of the easiest ways to achieve this is by using Google Classroom to create and share assignments with students. When shared through Classroom, both the student and the teacher will have access to the documents all throughout the writing process, allowing the teacher to observe and give feedback every step of the way.

Other options include sharing folders and files individually. Full details on sharing options can be found here:

If needed the student can simply share the document through the blue Share button:

  1. The student should begin by clicking the blue Share button in the top right corner of the document.
  2. This will open the Share with others window.
  3. In the People box, the student should add the teacher’s email address.
  4. In the drop down box to the right, choose either Can comment or Can Edit for the permissions.
  5. Optionally add a message.
  6. Finally click the Send button at the bottom.
  7. The document will now be shared with the teacher. It will show up in their Incoming folder in Google Drive and they will receive an email with a link to the document.

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Now that the document has been shared, the teacher can open it, read it, and leave text comments as feedback. This provides a digital, asynchronous way for a student and their teacher to discuss the writing assignment, offer suggestion, give feedback, and track what has been said.

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  1. To insert a comment, click in the document or select the words where you want the comment to be linked.
  2. Next click Insert in the top menu bar, then click Comment (you can also press Ctrl - Alt - M on your keyboard if you prefer).
  3. A comment box will appear to the right of the document, where you can type in your comment.
  4. This comment will now be visible to others who share the document, although the comments will not display when the document is printed.
  5. If desired the student can reply to any comment by typing in the box labeled Reply to this comment…
  6. Note: You can also leave general comments that are not tied to a specific part of the document by clicking the Comments button in the top right corner of the document or presentation.

Feedback with voice comments

Beyond just text comments, teachers can also record themselves to add voice comments to a student’s document. This is a powerful and easy way to provide personal feedback to a student on all parts of their writing.

To do this you will use a tool called Kaizena. Kaizena is a free third-party app that allows you to highlight text, then record and attach voice comments to any shared Google Doc.

You can access Kaizena in three ways:

  • Go directly to the Kaizena website at https://kaizena.com
  • Install the Kaizena Chrome Web App - link
  • Install the Kaizena add-on for Google Documents - link

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To use Kaizena do the following:

  1. Go to the Kaizena website and then open a shared document from your docs list, or open the shared document first and then launch the Kaizena add-on from the Add-ons menu.
  2. On the left side of the screen you will see the users who have access to the document. Click on the user you wish to share the comments with (such as the student who shared the document with you).
  3. Next highlight any text in the document you wish to leave a comment for.
  4. You will get a pop-up menu with three options:
  1. Voice comment - Click to record a voice comment. You may need to grant Flash permission to your microphone.
  2. Text comment - Click to type in a text comment.
  3. Resource - Click to add a helpful web link.
  1. Repeat as needed for other text in the document.
  2. When you are done adding comments, click the Send Feedback button on the left side of the screen.
  3. You can choose to alert the user of your comments in two ways:
  1. Share via Comment - Click this to add a traditional comment to the Google Doc which will contain a hyperlink for the user to click to open the doc in Kaizena and access the comments.
  2. Send Email - Or click this to send the user an email with a hyperlink for the user to click to open the doc in Kaizena and access the comments.

Note: As a user makes changes to the shared document, you can access the different versions of the document and leave comments specific to any particular version. Simply click Versions in the top right corner of the doc when opened in Kaizena to see the different versions.

Feedback with GradingHelp

If you do wish to give text comment feedback to students, a useful tool to make it easier for you is the GradingHelp add-on for Google Docs. With this addon you can choose from a large list of pre-made comments arranged by category such as punctuation, style, and document design. You can even add your own commonly used comments.

Note: This is not a free add-on. It has a free trial, but does cost money if you wish to use it beyond that.

  1. To use GradingHelp, first install the add-on for Doc at: link
  2. Next click Add-ons, then GradingHelp, then Grade Paper
  3. A panel will open to the right of your Google Doc.
  4. You can now browse through the categories and comments to choose which comment you would like to insert.

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Rubric feedback with Goobric

Another valuable way to provide feedback on student writing is through the use of a rubric. An easy way to do this in Google Docs is by using the Goobric web app for Chrome. Goobric is a free tool that works in conjunction with Doctopus, a Google Sheets add-on. It allows you to choose a pre-made rubric you have created in Google Sheets, and then copy the graded rubric onto the bottom of student documents. You can even record your voice to include spoken feedback.

Even better, Goobric and Doctopus can integrate with Google Classroom, so you can use them as a nice add on tool to provide rubric feedback for your Google Classroom assignments.

To use Goobric you need to:

  1. Install the Doctopus add-on for Google Sheets - link
  2. Install the Goobric web extension - link
  3. Launch Doctopus in a new Sheet, and choose Ingest Google CR assignment in the Select roster menu
  4. Choose the class and assignment you want, and then click Ingest Assignment
  5. Now click Attach Goobric
  6. Click Select your rubric to pick the rubric you created in Google Sheets
  7. Then click Attach Goobric to this assignment
  8. You can now click on the assignment links in the spreadsheet to open a student document
  9. When open, click the Goobric icon on the far right end of the address bar at the top of the screen to open Goobric
  10. You can now grade the document with the rubric, record your voice if you want, and Submit the rubric to add it to the student’s document.

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Document revisions with Revision History

Another teacher tool to improve the writing process is Revision History. Google Documents keeps a record of every change made to a document over time, along with who made the change. This allows a teacher to be able to view earlier versions of a student’s writing document to see what changes the student has made and how they have implemented your text or voice feedback. This can provide a teacher with more feedback for the student on how to continue improving their writing.

To access the Revision History for a Google Document:

  1. Click File and then See revision history.
  2. This will open a side bar on the right side of the screen where a history of changes will be listed by user.
  3. If you click on any time stamp on the right, the document will show what changes were made, highlighting the changes by color based on the user.
  4. If you want to go back to an earlier version of the document, click Restore this revision on the time stamp for the version you want.
  5. If you need to see smaller, more detailed changes, you can click the button at the bottom that says Show more detailed revisions.
  6. To exit the revision history mode, just click the X next to Document history at the top of the side bar.

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Document revisions with Draftback Chrome Extension

You can get an even better view of the student writing process by using the Chrome Web Extension called Draftback. This extension plays back the entire revision history of the document like a live video so you can see exactly how the document has been written and changed over time. You can even control the speed of the playback as needed.

  1. To use Draftback, install the extension from the Chrome Web Store here: link
  2. Now open a Google Doc that you have edit rights to.
  3. In the top right corner you will see a Draftback button indicating how many revisions have been made.
  4. Simply click on the button to generate the playback of all the document changes.

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Improving Writing with Google Docs

Sharing Student Writing

by Eric Curts

In this section we will look at Google Docs tools and features that allow for a student’s writings to be shared for viewing by a larger audience.

Many times a teacher may be the only person to read a student’s writing. The student writes it, the teacher grades it, and then that’s the end. However, a student’s motivation to write more, write better, and revise their work can be greatly influenced by the audience that will be reading their work.

With Google Documents and the power of the Internet, student’s can write for a much larger audience that includes their peers, their community, and even the world.

Public Access with View Rights

One simple way to expand the audience for a student’s writing is to change the visibility settings on the document to make it viewable by their school or the entire world.

To change the visibility settings for a document, the student needs to do the following:

  • First click the blue Share button in the top right corner of the document.
  • This will open the Share with others window.
  • Click the Advanced link at the bottom.
  • This will open the Sharing settings window.
  • At the top you will see Private - Only you (or the people listed below) can access.
  • Click the Change... link next to that line.
  • A new window will open up where you can change the privacy settings.

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  • You can now change the privacy to one of four new sharing settings:
  • Public on the web - Anyone can find and view the document.
  • Anyone with the link - You will get a web link for the document to share with others (through email or posting online).  Anyone who has that link can click it and view your presentation.
  • [your school domain] - Anyone logged in with their school Google account can find and view the document.
  • People at [your school domain] with the link - Only people with the link who also are logged into their school Google account can view the document.
  • Click Save when done.

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You will now return to the Sharing settings window but now you will have a link for the document that can be shared with others.

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Since the link for the document will be very long and confusing, you will need to consider how to make it available to others so people can easily find and read the student’s writing.  Options might include:

Publishing to the Google Play Bookstore

To really expand the audience, student writing can be published in the Google Play Bookstore for worldwide access. This could include a compilation of student essays or short stories or poetry. Or the entire class could work on writing a themed book. The Google Play Bookstore allows ebooks to be sold for free, making it very easy for the widest possible audience to have access to the students’ writings.

Note: You must 18 years or older to publish to the Google Play Bookstore, so this is something a teacher or the school in general will need to sign up for on behalf of the students.

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The basics steps for publishing to the Google Play Bookstore are:

  1. Go to the Google Play Books Partner Center at http://play.google.com/books/publish/
  2. Create an account - This will use an existing Google account, either a teacher’s account or an account for the school.
  3. Agree to the terms - This will be the standard terms and conditions.
  4. Add a payment profile - This will include basic contact information.
  5. Add sales territories - This determines where the ebooks can be sold. You can enter “WORLD” for all countries.
  6. Add a book - Provide bibliographic information for the ebook.
  7. Set prices - You can enter “0” to make the ebook free.
  8. Configure distribution and preview settings 
  9. Upload the book - You can use PDF and/or ePub format.
  10. Enable the book for sale 

For much more details, see Google’s help sites:

The Google Play Bookstore allows for files to be in either PDF or ePub format. You can convert a Google Document in both of those formats as follows.

PDF - To convert a Google Document into a PDF:

  1. Click File in the top menu bar.
  2. Choose Download as.. and then PDF document.

ePub - To convert a Google Document into the ePub format:

  1. Sign up for an account at Liberio at http://liber.io
  2. Once you have an account, it will connect to your Google Drive.
  3. Add a Google Document from your Google Drive.
  4. Tweak some optional settings as desired.
  5. Click the Create button and Liberio will generate an ePub version of your Google Document.

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