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Grammarly.com

What is it? How to use it? Why do I need it?

Vic Simmons

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What is Grammarly?

How to check your paper using Grammarly - getting to the site, navigating the site, how to “read” the feedback, what to do with the feedback

An online “proofreader” to help check rough or final drafts for correctness in areas like spelling and grammar.

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Getting Started

opens your computer’s file explorer

opens a new grammarly document

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What does Grammarly tell me?

Overall Score

A numerical score that gives you a general idea of how your writing might be graded.

Goals

Questions about audience, formality, etc. to think about how your writing comes across.

Correctness

Grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors that have been flagged by Grammarly.

Clarity

How easy to understand your writing is and how clearly your ideas are communicated.

Engagement

Suggestions to make your writing more specific, vivid, and engaging.

Delivery

How the tone of your writing comes across: formal, casual, confident, funny, etc.

Plagiarism

Checks to make sure quotes and sources are properly attributed.

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Optional (but helpful!)

Consider the tone you want your writing to convey:

  • How much does your audience know about your topic?
  • How serious or formal should your tone be?
  • What is the purpose of your writing?

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Reading Feedback

01

Editing suggestions and what to do with them

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Types of Feedback

This is Grammarly’s best guess at how your writing might be graded (but don’t take this too seriously).

This section is our main focus. Here, we can see suggestions to improve grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Clicking on this section shows information such as your word count, readability scores, and average sentence length.

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Editing for Correctness

Next to your writing, Grammarly will show a list of suggestions to improve your writing. Clicking on a suggestion will provide a short explanation about the editing suggestion.

Clicking on the highlighted words will automatically apply Grammarly’s suggestion

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IMPORTANT

Do NOT rely on Grammarly to know exactly what you are trying to say in your writing. Grammar and correctness suggestions are highly dependent on the specific context you have used them in. Make sure to consider each suggestion for yourself and decide if you should apply Grammarly’s changes.

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If Grammarly Tells Me…

Should I Change It?

  • Think carefully about each Grammarly suggestion. Then decide if the author should change their writing or not.

Practice Activity

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Example #1

“…this drastic realization during my junior year of high school revealed to me…”

Original

“…this drastic realization during my junior year of the high school revealed to me…”

With Grammarly’s Suggestion

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Example #2

Specifically in the context of marginalized identities, this lack of representation prevents many adolescents and young adults from effectively exploring their own identities.”

Original

Specifically, in the context of marginalized identities, this lack of representation prevents many adolescents and young adults from effectively exploring their own identities.”

With Grammarly’s Suggestion

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Example #3

“Identity is how we see ourselves, but specifically how we relate our own experiences to the experiences of others.”

Original

“Identity is how we see ourselves, specifically how we relate our own experiences to the experiences of others.”

With Grammarly’s Suggestion

What other words could we use to replace “but”?

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Your Turn!

Log into Grammarly.com and explore using a piece of your own writing.

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While Exploring… Think: What

Do You Notice?

  • What editing suggestions are you receiving? What patterns are there?
  • What suggestions feel the most helpful to you? Which ones do not?
  • What questions do you have about the website, suggestions, etc?