how to grade your essay on google docs

Google Assignments, your new grading companion

Aug 14, 2019

[[read-time]] min read

Instructors lose valuable time doing cumbersome tasks: writing the same comment on multiple essays, returning piles of paper assignments, and battling copy machine jams. These frustrations are most often felt by instructors with the highest teaching workloads and the least time. For the last five years, we’ve been building tools—like Classroom and Quizzes in Google Forms—to address these challenges. Now you can take advantage of these tools if you use a traditional Learning Management System (LMS). 

Assignments brings together the capabilities of Google Docs, Drive and Search into a new tool for collecting and grading student work. It helps you save time with streamlined assignment workflows, ensure student work is authentic with originality reports, and give constructive feedback with comment banks. You can use Assignments as a standalone tool and a companion to your LMS (no setup required!) or your school admin can integrate it with your LMS. Sign up today to try Assignments.

If you're one of the 40 million people using Classroom: you've got the best of Assignments already baked in, including our new originality reports . For everyone else, Assignments gives you access to these features as a compliment to your school’s LMS. 

Assignments is your tireless grading companion

Using an LMS can create more work than it saves: students turn in all kinds of files, you have to download and re-upload student files one-by-one, and what if students can keep editing after they already turned in their work? Assignments handles all this for you.

Assignments streamlines the creation and management of coursework, and tackles some of your biggest frustrations:

Stop typing the same feedback over and over by using a comment bank, and never worry about pressing the “save” button again

Check student work for originality and automatically lock work once it’s turned in

Assign files with the option to send each student a copy (no more copy machines!)

Grade assignments for an entire class with a student switcher and rubrics, and review any file type without leaving your grading interface

Comment and leave suggestions on student work with Google Docs

Instructors and students can attach anything to assignments: Docs or Word files for papers, spreadsheets for data analysis, slides for presentations, sites for digital portfolios or final projects, Colab notebooks for programming exercises, and much more. 

Help students turn in their best work with originality reports

With originality reports in Assignments, you can check student work for missed citations and possible plagiarism without interrupting your grading workflow. When students turn in a document, Assignments will check students’ text against hundreds of billions of web pages and tens of millions of books. 

If you enable originality reports on an assignment, students can also check their work for authenticity (a limited number of times) to correct issues, turn in their best work, and save instructors time grading. Since both you and your students can see originality reports, they’re designed to help you teach your students about authenticity and academic integrity. 

Getting started with Assignments

Starting today, you can sign up to get access to Assignments when it becomes available in a few weeks. Assignments will be available for free as part of G Suite for Education and can be used by instructors alongside or integrated with an LMS. 

Instructors can use Assignments even if your school has an LMS. There’s no setup required, all you need is to sign up and have a school-issued Google account. 

Admins can turn on access to Assignments within your LMS. Assignments is available as an LTI tool, which provides a more integrated experience and enables roster syncing and grade transmission to your LMS gradebook. Assignments is an improved and expanded version of Course Kit, so if you’re already in the Course Kit beta, you’ll automatically have access to Assignments. 

If you use Canvas, we’ve worked with their team to complement the Assignments LTI tool with a set of additional features that make Docs and Drive work seamlessly across all Canvas assignments. 

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Here is How to Use Google Docs Compare Documents

By Med Kharbach, PhD | Last Update: May 15, 2024

Google Docs, a widely adopted tool in the realm of education and beyond, boasts a plethora of features designed to streamline the collaborative process of document creation and editing. Among these features, the ‘Compare Documents’ function stands out as a particularly innovative and practical tool, especially for educators and students alike.

As an educator with a passion for integrating technology into the classroom, I’ve found the ‘Compare Document’ feature to be a game-changer. It offers a straightforward way to juxtapose two documents with just a few clicks, allowing teachers to meticulously compare essays and track revisions.

This is not just a trivial feature—it represents a significant time-saver in the grading process. Imagine effortlessly pinpointing the changes made between drafts, facilitating a more comprehensive and nuanced feedback process. This tool doesn’t merely compare; it reveals the progression of a student’s thought and writing process, offering invaluable insights into their learning journey.

But the utility of this feature isn’t confined to the teacher’s desk. Students, too, can harness the power of ‘Compare Documents’ to monitor their own progress. It allows them to keep a meticulous record of the changes they’ve made to a document, essentially capturing the evolution of their writing style over time.

This can be particularly enlightening for students, helping them to visualize their growth and identify areas for improvement in real time. Moreover, when it comes to collaborative projects, this tool becomes an essential asset, enabling students to document new edits and seamlessly share feedback with their peers, fostering a collaborative and constructive learning environment.

How to Access Google Docs Compare Documents

Accessing this feature is a breeze. It’s built right into the Google Docs interface. To get started, simply open the Google document you wish to use as your ‘base document.’ Then, navigate to the top toolbar, click on ‘Tools,’ and select ‘Compare Documents’ from the dropdown menu.

From there, the process is intuitive: click on ‘My Drive’ to select the comparison document from your Google Drive. It’s worth noting that the person whose name you choose will be displayed as the author of the suggested edits in the ‘comparison output file.’ Once you’ve made your selections, click ‘compare,’ and watch as Google Docs efficiently generates a detailed comparison of the two documents.

Courtesy of Google

The Benefits of the ‘Compare Documents’ Feature

Here are some of the key advantages The ‘Compare Documents’ feature in Google Docs offers, especially in an academic setting:

• Efficient Feedback and Grading : For educators, the ability to compare versions of a document streamlines the grading process. It enables quick identification of changes and additions, making it easier to provide targeted feedback. This not only saves precious time but also enhances the quality of feedback by focusing on specific revisions.
• Tracking Student Progress : This feature offers a clear, visual representation of a student’s progress over time. Educators can compare early drafts with final submissions to gauge improvement, understand a student’s writing process, and identify areas where further support might be needed.
• Enhancing Collaborative Work : In group projects, ‘Compare Documents’ proves invaluable. It allows team members to view individual contributions, ensuring transparency and accountability. This feature fosters a collaborative environment where feedback and constructive criticism can be shared efficiently.
• Documenting Writing Evolution : For students, seeing how their work evolves from the first draft to the final submission is profoundly insightful. It encourages self-reflection and self-assessment, empowering students to take ownership of their learning process.
• Facilitating Peer Review : The tool is perfect for peer review sessions. Students can compare their work with that of their peers, learn from each other’s strengths, identify common pitfalls, and collectively enhance their writing skills.
• Minimizing Plagiarism : By comparing documents, teachers can effectively spot similarities with other texts, which can be a deterrent to plagiarism. It’s a way to uphold academic integrity while teaching students the value of original work and proper citation.
• Ease of Access and Use : Being integrated into Google Docs, the feature is incredibly user-friendly and accessible. There’s no need for additional software or complicated processes, making it a seamless part of the digital classroom.
• Time-stamped Revisions : This aspect of the feature helps in understanding the sequence of edits and contributions, which can be particularly useful in project management and meeting deadlines.
• Building a Portfolio : Students can create a portfolio of their work, showcasing their improvement and the feedback received. This can be a valuable resource for one-on-one meetings or parent-teacher conferences.

Related: Here is How to Insert a Page Break in Google Docs

Concluding thoughts

For educators, ‘Compare Documents’ is akin to having an extra set of eyes, offering a detailed and nuanced view of each student’s writing journey. It’s a tool that respects the uniqueness of each learner’s path, providing tailored feedback that recognizes their individual growth and challenges. For students, it’s more than a writing aid; it’s a mirror reflecting their progress, encouraging self-reflection, and fostering a sense of achievement as they see their ideas and skills evolve.The ‘Compare Documents’ feature in Google Docs definitely stands out as a bridge connecting ideas, facilitating clearer understanding, and nurturing a culture of shared learning and collective growth.

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Meet Med Kharbach, PhD

Dr. Med Kharbach is an influential voice in the global educational technology landscape, with an extensive background in educational studies and a decade-long experience as a K-12 teacher. Holding a Ph.D. from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada, he brings a unique perspective to the educational world by integrating his profound academic knowledge with his hands-on teaching experience. Dr. Kharbach's academic pursuits encompass curriculum studies, discourse analysis, language learning/teaching, language and identity, emerging literacies, educational technology, and research methodologies. His work has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in various esteemed academic journals.

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Use Google Docs for the Classroom to Grade Papers Faster

May 4, 2020 //  by  Lindsay Ann //   2 Comments

Sharing is caring!

Want to know more about how using Google Docs for the classroom helps students to give timely feedback to student writers? Don’t worry, boo, I’ve got you covered like PB&J on toast.

In this post, we’ll be talking all about how to leave voice comments to streamline your grading AND three tips for helping students write & revise in Google Docs.

Why Use Google Docs

With Google Classroom, Schoology, etc, it is easy to have students write using Google Docs.

In fact, I can’t remember the last time my students didn’t write in Google Docs for an assessment. 

Though writing may be started in a writer’s notebook, eventually it has to come on the screen. I use Google Docs for the classroom to make sure that I can monitor and easily respond to students during the writing process. I also can easily check their revision history as they work in the same document from start to finish.

I want to make sure that I’m helping my students to grow as writers, so my grading strategies are varied. I frequently make use of technology to make sure feedback is timely and accessible.

Voice Comments for Grading Tutorial

I used to be kind of shy about leaving voice comments. I mean, c’mon, I can type pretty fast. Would it really save me time or be any more helpful than a written comment? 

The answer is yes…and yes. 

I have found that leaving comments in Google Docs is a must-have strategy to streamline feedback in google docs. For the classroom teacher, this can make your feedback MORE accessible to students. 

Follow These Steps:

First, you will need to have the Read & Write for Google Chrome extension installed on your computer. You will also need to have your students install this extension so that they’re able to access your voice comments. 

To install the extension, go to the Chrome Web Store, type in “Read & Write for Google Chrome” and click the blue button to install. 

Once you have the Chrome extension installed, to the right of your address bar, you’ll see a purple puzzle piece icon. 

When you’re responding to student work in Google Docs and you want to add a voice comment, you will need to then click on that purple icon to activate the Read Write Google extension within the Google Doc that you are using. 

From here, it’s very easy to leave a voice comment!

➡️ Click on the voice note icon in the toolbar. ➡️ Once you click on the icon, you will see a little microphone pop up with an insert button. To record a comment for a student, simply click on the microphone and say what you’d like to say.  ➡️ When you’re done speaking, click the stop button. You can replay your comment if you like.  ➡️ Then, click on the insert button, choose your account, and your voice comment will pop up to the right of the document just like a regular comment. The only difference is that there is a play icon instead of words! 

Now, all the student has to do, so long as he or she has the same extension installed , is click on the play button to listen to your comment. 

This is a very quick and easy way to leave feedback for students, especially for those students who are verbal and tend to have lightbulb moments when talking it out or listening to you explain something vs. reading written directions. 

And who says this strategy is limited to teachers? Students can be a part of the feedback loop, as well! 

Why not have students leave voice comments for YOU or for their readers/peer editors? Boom. This facilitates metacognition. It can be a preliminary step for students to complete prior to a writing conference or peer review session. So. Many. Possibilities.

Google Docs for Student Writers

I find that students are generally pretty savvy with using Google Docs to write and edit their work. However, sometimes I have to help them help themselves. 

Here are three ways to help students write better using Google Docs. For the Classroom teacher, these tips may be obvious, but for students, they may not be. 

Tip #1: Use Read Write Google

Read & Write for Google is helpful for students in the writing process, as well. 

Students can use the talk and type feature to facilitate the brainstorming process. It is also quite helpful for writers (though they don’t always want to do this at first) to use the playback feature to listen to their writing in order to catch errors they might otherwise miss.

Tip #2: Use Google Docs Find & Replace 

By going to Edit → Find and Replace, students can type in a frequently-misspelled word and correct it instantly throughout the document. 

I also have students use CTRL + F to find “to be” verbs (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been) in their writing. If a student types in “are,” for example, every single “are” will be highlighted in the document. Then, the student can go through the paper to focus on concise writing and combining sentences to omit these words when possible. 

Tip #3: Use Distraction-Free Mode

When students are drafting, it’s easy to become distracted! If you want students to focus just on getting their ideas down, have them to go to View → Fullscreen and the toolbar will disappear. Press ESC to return to a normal view.

All-in-all, Google Docs is a basic necessity for the 21st century English language arts teacher and student. I hope you’ve learned more about how to make the most of it!

Hey, if you loved this post, I want to be sure you’ve had the chance to grab a  FREE copy of my guide to streamlined grading . I know how hard it is to do all the things as an English teacher, so I’m over the moon to be able to share with you some of my best strategies for reducing the grading overwhelm.

Click on the link above or the image below to get started!

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 19 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

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How-To Geek

Google docs features to help you ace your college papers.

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Quick Links

Research with the explore feature, use the built-in dictionary, add citations and a bibliography, include footnotes, open the equation editor, take advantage of collaboration features.

Google Docs can be great for writing school essays and other projects. From citations to research to collaborating with classmates, take advantage of these helpful features for your college papers.

Related: Learn These Microsoft Word Features to Make College Easier

Just like the Researcher tool in Microsoft Word , the Explore tool in Google Docs helps you locate sources and get your research done. Select the Explore button on the bottom right of the Google Docs screen.

When the sidebar opens, enter a search term at the top. You'll see three tabs for your results. So, you can choose Web, Images, or Drive (your Google Drive) to find the item you need.

You can add a citation as a footnote or insert an image that includes a link to the source. Or, simply select a result to read up on the topic. It's easy to research your paper using Explore in Google Docs.

For correcting spelling , checking verb tense, or finding synonyms, check out the Google Docs Dictionary. You can look up any word and save yourself a trip to an online or physical dictionary.

Related: How to Check Your Spelling in Google Docs

Either select a word in your document and go to Tools > Dictionary or open the tool from the menu and enter your word into the Search box in the sidebar.

You'll see everything you need to use the word correctly, spell it right, or get another word that means the same thing.

For including your references in the text and in the form of a bibliography, Google Docs gives you the Citations feature. Go to Tools > Citations to open the Citations sidebar.

Select your writing style from APA, MLA, or Chicago in the drop-down box at the top. Then, click "Add Citation Source" to add the type and reference details for your source.

Save the citation and then insert an in-text reference easily. Hover your cursor over the source in the sidebar's list and pick "Cite."

Once you have a citation in the sidebar, you can insert a bibliography . Place your cursor where you want the list and head to the bottom of the sidebar. Choose "Insert Works Cited" or "Insert References" depending on the writing format you picked.

Google Docs automatically inserts and formats your bibliography so you can continue writing without worry.

Related: How to Automatically Insert a Bibliography in Google Docs

When you have additional details or notes you want to include but not directly in the main content, use a footnote.

Place your cursor next to the word or select the word in your text. Go to Insert > Footnote in the menu.

You'll see the footnote number where your cursor was placed, and the cursor then appears in the footnote area for you to add your text.

Add more footnotes the same way and they'll be numbered automatically per page.

If the paper you're composing is for a math class, you can use the built-in equation tool . This saves you time by providing the letters, symbols, and operators you need to enter an equation instead of hunting them down elsewhere.

Related: How to Use the Equation Editor in Google Docs

Select Insert > Equation from the menu and you'll see the Equation Editor bar at the top of your document.

Make sure your cursor is in the spot in your document where you want the equation. Then, use the drop-down boxes in the Equation Editor to select what you need for the equation. As you choose each equation element, you'll see it added to your document.

When you finish, use the X on the right side of the Equation Editor bar to close it.

If you're working on a group project with other classmates, Google Docs has the features you need to collaborate. Start by sharing the document with editing permissions and then use the following tools to work together.

Related: How to Share Documents on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Leave Comments

Select an item in your document such as a word, sentence, or image and then click the Comment icon on the top right or in the floating toolbar. Add your comment , use the @ (At) symbol to mention a specific person, and click "Comment."

Everyone with access to the document can see the comments. And as you take care of the notes or tasks, click the Resolve icon (checkmark) to keep track.

You can also use the emoji feature for quick reactions to parts of the document and the comment assignment feature to delegate tasks.

See the Version History

When several people are working on a document at the same time, it can be tough to recall who did what and when. You can select "See Version History" in the File > Version History menu to view all changes to the document.

You'll see a list of dates and names, and you can select a version to view it. This does not immediately change your current document; it's simply a way to see what's changed and by whom. If you do want to use a particular version, select the three dots to the right of it and pick "Restore this Version."

When you finish viewing the Version History, click the arrow on the top left and you'll return to the document.

Quickly Email Your Classmates

For a quick and easy way to get in touch with your classmates, you can email all collaborators for a document at once. Select File > Email from the menu and pick "Email Collaborators."

A message window opens with your collaborators already included and the name of the document as the subject line. Type your message and press "Send."

This gives you a terrific way to check in with your classmates on the project without creating a separate email in another app where you have to track down their email addresses.

For other collaboration tools, look at how to suggest an edit , or specifically, how to track changes in Google Docs .

With these Google Docs features, you can find what you need, cite your sources correctly, and work with your fellow students to create a paper that wows your professor.

Related: 7 Time-Saving Google Docs Features You Need to Know

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How to Format Your Essay in MLA Style Using Google Docs

by Mel Beasley | Jan 23, 2021 | Academic Writing

Information is taken from the 8th edition MLA Handbook, latest version, 2022. 

MLA format was created by the Modern Language Association and is a widely used styling for research papers and academic essays. If you’re a college student, you’ll notice that MLA format is required in liberal arts and humanities subjects. 

Most professors will strongly recommend that you use Microsoft Word to format your essays, but some students might not have access to this paid software. If this is the case, it is possible to format your essay in MLA style correctly while using the free Google Docs app within your Gsuite. This guide will show you exactly how to format your essay properly in MLA style using Google Docs. This guide only covers the basics of formatting such as margins, spacing, etc., so please see our other resources for further MLA formatting guidelines

What will we cover?

• Proper MLA font style and size
• Margins and header
• First-page title information
• Body-paragraph spacing

1. Open your blank document

To get started with your essay, you’ll need to log in to your Gmail account. Once signed in, you should be looking at your email dashboard.

• Look to your profile image and name at the top right.
• Click on the squared dot icons to view your apps.
• You should see “Docs” as one of your options.
• Click on “Docs.”

2. Set the font and size

In MLA format, you may only use Times New Roman font at size 12. It’s understandable if you’re feeling the urge to get creative with styling but don’t. Stay focused on following the MLA style guidelines and you’ll save yourself valuable grade points later. 

When you open Google Docs, the font and size are set automatically, so make sure you manually make tweaks to these settings. Unlike MS Word, Google Docs only has one main view with all options listed in dropdowns. This simplicity should help you easily set up your document without getting lost.

How do you do it?

• In Google Docs, you’ll see your font and size dropdowns slightly off-center left of the page.
• Select Times New Roman .
• Select size 12 .

2. Set the margins in MLA format

MLA Style requires that your margins stay set to 1 inch around the entire page.

• Click on File at the top left of the page.
• Click on Page Setup.

• Next, you’ll see a popup appear in the middle of the screen.
• Check to make sure all the boxes for the top, bottom, left, and right are set to 1 inch.

3. How to add your name and page number in Google Docs 2020

Properly formatting your essay in MLA Style using Google Docs has a few extra steps compared to doing the same thing in MS Word, but as long as you follow this guide, you shouldn’t have any issues making it happen. Keep in mind that not adding your name and page numbers to your document could count against your grade. This part of formatting is very easy to do, and it’s not worth losing grade points over, so don’t forget this step!

• Select Insert.
• Hover over Headers & Footers .
• Select Header .

• A header section should appear.
• Change your font to Times New Roman and your font size to 12 .
• Make sure the box next to “Different first page” is unchecked or the header won’t show on every page.
• Type your last name only and make a single space .

• Before navigating out of the header, you’ll need to insert the page number.
• Select Insert again.
• Hover over Page Numbers .
• Select the first option .
• When your page number appears in your header, you can simply select the middle of your page with your cursor to make the header changes stick.

4. How to set double-spaced lines in Google Docs

MLA Style requires that all your body text be double-spaced. This helps your essay look cleaner and easier to read. 

• Click on the Line Spacing icon.
• In the dropdown, select Double . 

5. How to set name and title information

The name, assignment type, date, and essay title are the first things your professor sees in your essay because they’re at the top of the first page.

Before you begin writing the first draft of your essay, go ahead and enter the name, course, and date information. MLA Format requires a very specific setup for how this information is listed in your essay. You should list your first and last name, the professor’s name, the course number, and the date all on designated lines. This information should be neatly aligned to the left of the page. 

How do you format your name and course info in MLA Format?

• You’ll need the first page of your MLA Style essay to contain your name , professor’s name , course number , and the date in that order. 
• Align the essay information to the left of the page.
• Hit Enter once before writing your essay title in the Center of the page.  
• Hit Enter once, Align Left , and tab over a half-inch before you begin writing your essay text.

The finished title information should look like this:

Not sure how to set your indent to a half-inch in Google Docs?

Google docs should already have your half-inch indentation automatically set, but here’s how to do it just in case.

• Select Format .
• Hover over Align & Indent .
• Select Indentation Options .

• You’ll see a popup appear in the center of the screen.
• Enter .5 in the box beside Left .
• Hit Apply .

That’s all there is to properly set up your essay in MLA Format using Google Docs. Good luck!

Mel Beasley has a bachelor’s in creative writing and journalism from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He brings 9+ years of digital marketing and writing experience to the table by writing for publications such as Lumina News and Encore Magazine. He spent 2 years as a college-level writing tutor, and is a certified writing tutor through the CRLA, which is a prestigious cert recognized by the Association for the Coaching & Tutoring Profession. He is a professional SEO blogger with experience writing for brands such as Boardworks Education and The Greater Wilmington Business Journal. One of his latest website and marketing projects has been building the website for the now New York Times Bestselling author, Nina de Gramont .

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Google Classroom is turning 10. Find out what we've learned and what we're doing next. 🎉

Easily distribute, analyze, and grade student work with assignments for your lms.

Assignments is an application for your learning management system (LMS). It helps educators save time grading and guides students to turn in their best work with originality reports — all through the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education.

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Bring your favorite tools together within your LMS

Make Google Docs and Google Drive compatible with your LMS

Simplify assignment management with user-friendly Google Workspace productivity tools

Built with the latest Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standards for robust security and easy installation in your LMS

Save time distributing and grading classwork

Distribute personalized copies of Google Drive templates and worksheets to students

Grade consistently and transparently with rubrics integrated into student work

Add rich feedback faster using the customizable comment bank

Examine student work to ensure authenticity

Compare student work against hundreds of billions of web pages and over 40 million books with originality reports

Make student-to-student comparisons on your domain-owned repository of past submissions when you sign up for the Teaching and Learning Upgrade or Google Workspace for Education Plus

Allow students to scan their own work for recommended citations up to three times

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Protect student privacy — data is owned and managed solely by you and your students

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Compatible with LTI version 1.1 or higher and meets rigorous compliance standards

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Experience google workspace for education in action. explore premium features in detail via step-by-step demos to get a feel for how they work in the classroom..

“Assignments enable faculty to save time on the mundane parts of grading and...spend more time on providing more personalized and relevant feedback to students.” Benjamin Hommerding , Technology Innovationist, St. Norbert College

Classroom users get the best of Assignments built-in

Find all of the same features of Assignments in your existing Classroom environment

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Explore resources to get up and running

Discover helpful resources to get up to speed on using Assignments and find answers to commonly asked questions.

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Get a quick overview of Assignments to help Educators learn how they can use it in their classrooms.

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Get started guide

Start using Assignments in your courses with this step-by-step guide for instructors.

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Teacher Center Assignments resources

Find educator tools and resources to get started with Assignments.

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How to use Assignments within your LMS

Watch this brief video on how Educators can use Assignments.

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Contact your institution’s administrator to turn on Assignments within your LMS.

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4 Ways to Improve Student Writing with Google Docs

Google Docs is more than a free and incredibly useful word processor. It’s the ultimate writing tool that can improve a student’s workflow.

Just think about it: it’s free, so you won’t obligate your students to pay for the Microsoft Office Suite.

Plus, Google Docs doesn’t require any downloads and installations. It doesn’t take up any space on the student’s device. It’s way easier to use than MS Word, and it makes collaboration easy.

If you’re wondering how exactly Google Docs can improve a student’s writing process, we’re willing to share the ways. A teacher has a lot of responsibility to inspire their students to write. Thanks to this online word processor, they can do that.

4 Ways for Teachers to Use Google Docs to Help Students Write

1. use google docs for collaborative brainstorming.

When you assign a general theme for an essay, students often have trouble narrowing it down to a specific topic. They know that they are supposed to get creative. They use an essay title generator to get some ideas, but they may still get stuck during this stage.

Google Docs is a great tool to use for brainstorming. However, you should make this process collaborative. As a teacher, you’ll get into the role of a facilitator. You have a deeper understanding of the topic. You know if a certain idea is worthy of elaborating. You know if the students can find enough resources to support that idea.

You’ll invite everyone to join the same document. Google Docs features a convenient chat. You’ll discuss the ideas with your students there. Whenever someone gets an idea worthy of consideration, you’ll include it in the document.

By the end of the process, your students will have a list of specific topics that trigger a creative writing stage.

2. Teach Them How to Eliminate Distractions

There are many sources of distractions for students. Technology is one of the main ones.

The student may have a great idea. They will go through an essay sample at https://samplius.com/ , and they will complete an outline based on that sample. They will note down their concept for argumentation. Somewhere along the way, they will end up an entire hour on Instagram. After that, they will realize that they have other responsibilities and they already wasted the time they should’ve spent on the paper.

That’s the scenario we need to avoid.

Google Docs can easily turn into a distraction-free environment. The full-screen option under “View” leaves the student alone with their thoughts. A distraction blocker like Pomodoro Timer will contribute towards a focused session of writing.

3. Open Documents in Separate Tabs

Google Docs has a major advantage over MS Word: the student can open several documents in tabs, and easily navigate through them. They will only use the Control + Tab keyboard shortcut.

They can have the document from the brainstorming session open in one tab, the notes from the research process in another, the outline in a third one, and the current document that they edit in a separate tab. If you offer feedback with comments, they will have that document in a new tab.

This prevents them from working in a single messy document, which would get them distracted.

4. Use Google Docs to Provide Students with Feedback

You’ll inspire your students to start writing better if you clearly explain where they are making a mistake. Google Docs give you an option to join their documents while they are still in development mode.

You can check out their document when it’s still in the outlining stage. If you think that the thesis statement idea is flawed, explain how they can improve it.

But remember: feedback is not only about constructive criticism. It’s also about inspiring students by telling them what a good job they did with a certain aspect of the paper. Whenever you notice a cool point, tell them that it’s brilliant and they should emphasize it.

Google Docs Is the Perfect Tool for Essay Writing

It’s simple, reliable, and effective.

It’s available for free, and it’s extremely easy to use. When compared to MS Word and other word processors, it has many advantages. That’s why more and more people use it on a daily basis.

Google Docs can help students eliminate distractions. It connects them with their peers and teachers, so the brainstorming stage becomes more inspiring. The teacher can provide timely feedback, so they will improve the flaws on the go. Experienced writers at CustomEssayMeister also use Google Docs when writing essays and assignments for students.

Teachers can rely on this tool to encourage collaboration and inspire students to write better.

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Suggested Edits: Editing Google Documents Just Got Easier!

Today I took my classes to the computer lab to do synchronous editing  on an essay they are writing. As they continued to work on their essays, I edited them. This way we can work simultaneously on their documents and use the instant chat window to discuss questions or problems.

While I was working, I saw a new feature in the upper right hand corner of their Google documents below the grey “Comments” button.

Now, any user with “can comment” access to a document can make suggested edits to the document. These suggestions are marked by a green bracketed box and a comment is automatically attached. For example, if a student did not indent the first line of his/her body paragraph and I indent it for them, it marks the change in green and leaves an automatic comment.

If I delete a word or phrase, it appears in green with a strikethrough and a comment is generated. This allows me to make in text changes that are easy for students to see. They can either keep the “suggested” change or remove it.

My favorite part of this new change is that it highlights my in text comments in green. I’ve shared my trick for customizing preferences in Google documents to make grading faster in a previous blog titled “Google Docs: Grading Tips and Tricks.”

Teachers can create shortcuts in their Google docs so that if they write “awk,” it automatically becomes [awkward wording – rework for clarity]. In the past, these changes appeared in black. Now they appear in green when a teacher is in “suggesting” mode. They visually stand out on the page and are easier for students to see.

In the example below, my student misspelled the word society. I have my preferences set so that if I write “sp” with a space in any Google document, it automatically becomes [spelling error]. Now, that phrase is highlighted in green and a comment is generated.

I’m so thrilled about this new feature, I had to share! It acts like track changes in Word making it even easier to provide valuable formative feedback as students work on their documents. I also appreciate that students have the freedom to decide whether they want to make the suggested change or not. This encourages them to think more deeply about the changes that have been suggested.

For anyone interested in setting their preferences in Google documents to create automatic shortcuts for comments, check out the screencast below.

31 Responses

[…] Today I took my classes to the computer lab to do synchronous editing on an essay they are writing. As they continued to work on their essays, I edited them. This way we can work simultaneously on their documents and use the instant chat window to discuss questions or problems. While I was  […]

[…] “Today I took my classes to the computer lab to do synchronous editing on an essay they are writing. As they continued to work on their essays, I edited them. This way we can work simultaneously on their documents and use the instant chat window to discuss questions or problems. While I was”  […]

[…] Source: catlintucker.com […]

[…] Today I took my classes to the computer lab to do synchronous editing on an essay they are writing. As they continued to work on their essays, I edited them.  […]

[…] Today I took my classes to the computer lab to do synchronous editing on an essay they are writing. As they continued to work on their essays, I edited them. This way we can work simultaneously on their documents and use the instant chat window to discuss questions or problems. While I was working, I saw a new feature in the upper right hand corner of their Google documents below the grey “Comments” button.  […]

[…] thing that I learned was from the very first tweet listed in my #gafe hashtag. It was a link to this article. I would rate our school as being advanced in our use of Google Docs and so I’m always […]

Catlin, do you do ALL of your essay grading online? Or is this something that you only do when their work is in progress. I left the classroom before Google Docs was around, and I’m trying to understand exactly how much of this can be done with a computer. No need to bracket or circle any text – with a pen? I love your workflow, but all just seems too “in line.”

Appreciate your feedback.

Hi Michelle,

95% of everything I grade is online. I do have my students complete timed essays occasionally. Since I don’t have any computers in my classroom, I collect those on paper and grade them.

I’m not sure what you mean by “in line.” I do leave a lot of comments on their papers, but I also complete a rubric (created using Google Forms) and provide them with more complete feedback about the elements of their writing.

Take care! Catlin

[…] more quickly when working with Google documents. In addition to those tips, I recently wrote a blog about the new editing feature in Google Documents, which is making it easier to provide formative […]

Can you please share with me a copy of the peer edit form you use – you mentioned to Blue Valley staff this summer at our leadership conference.

Sure! I just emailed it to you.

My apologies for the delay!

Hi Catlin, I tried setting up some comments in preferences, but when I type them in a student’s work and hit “return,” I don’t get the pre-defined comment, only the short-cut code that should trigger the comment. Any suggestions?

If I press the space or return buttons, the comments should automatically pop up. If you’ve set up the “Preferences” with the shortcut, the phrase you’ve entered to replace the shortcut should pop up. I’m not sure what is happening.

I would love to have a copy of your peer editing handout. Would you mind emailing one to me or sharing on google docs?

I love what you have done with the grading in google docs; our district recently went with Classroom. I love it and have incorporated doctopus and goobric in classroom. Do you use this? If not, doctopus/goobric is right up your alley!

Thank you for sharing this information. I would love to have a copy of your peer editing form. Would you be so kind as to email it to me?

Also, have you ever used doctopus/goobric with your grading in google docs?

Which peer editing form do you want? I make them specific to the assignment – digital storytelling, argumentative essays, etc.?

Catlin, Can you please share with me a copy of the peer edit form you use for argument essays. Thanks for the tips!

My students use the same rubric to peer review that I use when I assess their essays. Here is a link to a copy of my argument essay rubric. It’s in the form of a spreadsheet because I use Goobric for my rubrics.

[…] Google Docs: New Suggesting Feature Just Made Editing Students Documents Easier! […]

I’m trying to set this up, but I’m finding that the shortcuts don’t work in the “comment” feature, only when I’m editing directly on the document. Do you find this to be true? I’d much rather add something like “great paragraph” in the comment feature at the end of a paragraph rather than highlight the entire paragraph or put the comment on the actual paper.

Hi Melissa,

The shortcuts don’t work in the comments. If you want to leave a comment like, “Great paragraph,” I’d just highlight the last word in the paragraph and attach your general comment to that word so the whole paragraph isn’t highlighted.

o.k. a comment was added and the text was bracketed in green. How do I delete them? I even tried deleting the whole line, which just extended the brackets. lu

You will need to go to the corresponding comment and click the “X” to remove a comment made in Suggesting Mode.

thanks for this great post.Now a days we use google doc too often.So your ideas are quiet effective for today’s. Liked it very much.

I teach 8th graders, and I’m afraid that when I use the delete/replace, that they will just hit the check mark without really reading what the correction is. Any thoughts about what I could do differently? Thank you!

If you set your preferences to insert comments, like capitalization error, they still have to make the actual correction even if they click “delete.” That comment won’t change the actual error but rather alerts them to the problem.

Nice Information! I personally really appreciate your article. This is a great website about students documents. It is really a nice and helpful piece of information. I’m happy that you shared this useful info with us. Thanks for sharing.

[…] been using shortcuts in Google Documents for years to save time editing student papers. However, I do a lot of work online outside of the […]

Thanks for this post. I’d never considered using shortcuts to cut down on typing time in Docs. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hello Ms. Tucker: This information is superlative and august (synonym for great). Thank you so much!

Thanks, Ryan!

Take care. Catlin

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16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms

July 31, 2016

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As you probably know, Google Drive is far more than a place to store files online. It also includes a suite of versatile creation tools, many of which perform the same functions as the ones we use in other spaces. These include  Google Docs,  a word processing program that behaves similarly to Microsoft Word,  Google Slides,  a presentation program similar to PowerPoint, and  Google Forms,  a survey-creation tool similar to Survey Monkey.  Although Drive also includes other tools, these three are particularly useful for creating rigorous, academically robust projects. If your school uses Google Classroom or at least gives students access to Google Drive, your students are probably already using these tools to write papers or create slideshow presentations, but there are other projects they could be doing that you may not have thought of.

Below I have listed 16 great ideas for projects using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms.

Annotated Bibliography By the time a student reaches the later years of high school, and certainly by the time she’s gotten to college, it’s likely that she’ll be required to write an annotated bibliography, a list of resources that not only includes the bibliographical information of each source, but also a short paragraph summarizing the resource and reflecting on its usefulness for a given project. Usually an annotated bibliography is required as a part of a larger research paper, but it could stand alone as an assignment that tasks students with seeking out and evaluating sources just for the practice of doing so. And the research tools in Google Docs allow students to locate, read, and cite their sources all in one place. To learn more, see this guide from Cornell University Library on How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography .

Book Review Instead of a book report, have students write a book review instead. This is certainly not a new idea, but publishing the work electronically allows students to enhance the final product with the book’s cover image, a link to the book’s page on Amazon, and even links to other titles the author has written or articles on related topics. For models and inspiration, elementary and middle school students can read student-written reviews on sites like Spaghetti Book Club . Older or advanced students might work toward more sophisticated, nuanced review styles like book reviews written on Oprah.com .

Collaborative Story Because Google Docs is cloud-based, multiple people can work on a Doc at the same time. So students can work together on a story, a script for a play, or any other kind of group writing project. They can use the comments feature to give each other feedback and make decisions together. And because students can work from any location with an Internet connection, collaboration isn’t restricted to school hours; each group member can work on the project from any location whenever they have time.

Media-Rich Research Paper Any kind of research paper can be given a big boost when done in a Google Doc, because students can insert images, drawings, and links to other relevant resources, like articles and videos. Using the research tools built into Docs, students can research their topics and include in-text citations with footnotes.

Super Simple Blog If you don’t want to mess with actual blogging platforms, but want students to be able to experience writing blog posts that contain images and hyperlinks to other websites, this could be accomplished easily in a single running Google Doc.

Table Being able to organize information visually is an important skill, and students who understand how to build a table in Google Docs will have a skill for presenting all kinds of information in the future. They can be used as a compare and contrast exercise, to display data from an experiment, or even put together a schedule. Yes, you could do these things yourself, print them, and have students fill them out, but why not have students practice creating the tables themselves? 

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Story Because slides can contain hyperlinks to other slides, students could build a whole story where the reader chooses different options at key points in the story, leading them down completely different paths. The reader would consume the content as a slideshow, clicking on the links themselves as they go through. This could be a pretty massive undertaking, but we all know students who would be totally up for the challenge.

E-book These could take a variety of forms: mini-textbooks, children’s books, cookbooks or how-to manuals, personal art or writing portfolios, even yearbook-style memory books. To learn more about the possibilities, see my post from earlier this year on  Student E-Books .

Magazine Along the same lines as an e-book, students could use a similar template to create a PDF magazine or newsletter that is shared online on a regular schedule. The possibilities here are endless, useful for student clubs or sports teams, classroom or grade-level newsletters, or magazines put out by groups of students who share a common interest, like gaming systems, soccer, or books.

Museum Kiosk Imagine if we could enhance science fair projects with a looping video display that provides the audience with vivid visuals and text about our topic. Or imagine an art show, where a self-running informational slideshow could be placed beside an art display to share the story behind the piece and photos of the work in progress? This is possible and EASY in Google Slides: Simply create a slideshow, then use the “Publish to the Web” feature to create a slideshow that auto-advances and has no need for a presenter. Pop that up on an iPad or laptop and you’re all set. This mock-up of a slideshow on Coral Reefs shows you what it could look like (click the image to open in a new window).

Short Film Students can upload their own images and add text boxes to a slideshow to create an animated story, then record the slideshow with a Google extension called Screencastify . They can either record their own voice as narration, add background music, or both. There are so many different kinds of films students could produce: illustrated stories or poems, final reflections for a 20 Time or Genius Hour project, video textbooks on content-related topics, or news-like feature stories of school or community events. In this quick sample, I added music from YouTube’s library of royalty-free music that anyone can use to enhance their recordings:

Video Tutorial Using the same screencasting software mentioned above, students could also create their own video tutorials by creating a Slides presentation on their topic (such as “How to Open a Combination Lock”), then recording the slideshow with narration. This would make a nice final product for a unit on informational writing or a way for students to demonstrate their learning at the end of a unit in science (“How to Take Care of Lab Equipment”), social studies (“How to Measure Distance on a Map”), or math (“How to Multiply Fractions”). Student-made tutorials could even be created to teach classroom procedures. And any tutorials students make could be stored for later, so other students can also benefit from them.  Learn more about how Screencastify works right inside Chrome .

Peer Survey Whenever students need to gather data to support an argumentative essay or speech, let them gather data quickly and easily by creating a survey with Google Forms. Links to the survey can be sent out via email, QR codes , or through a post in a learning management system like Edmodo or Google Classroom. When results come in, students can use them to support whatever claim they are trying to make in their argument, or make adjustments based on what they discover in their research.

Feedback Form Have students provide feedback to each other’s presentations, speeches, even videos using Google Forms. Here’s how it would work: Each student creates her own form, asking for the kind of feedback she wants on the project. As other students view or the project, they can be sent to a form to offer praise or constructive criticism, which the creator would then be able to view privately and use to improve the project. Students could even use their feedback to write a reflection on their process after the project is done.

Quiz One great way to learn material is to create a test or quiz over the content. Have students use Google Forms to create their own multiple-choice, True/False, fill-in-the-blank, or open-ended quizzes on the content they are learning.

Visual Representation of Data Sets Whenever people enter responses to a Form, Google allows the form creator to view responses in charts and graphs. Have students gain a better understanding of how data can be represented visually by accepting responses (or entering their own fake ones) into a Form, then looking at how the numbers are represented in graphs. This could work well as a series of math lessons.

Way Beyond Worksheets

Just this morning on Twitter, someone posted a comment along these lines: “A worksheet on a Google Doc is STILL a worksheet. Students should be using tech to create!” I’ve heard this sentiment over and over, and it’s exactly why I’ve put this list together. Google offers some incredibly powerful tools if we know how to use them. I hope this list has given you a few new ideas to put into your students’ hands. ♦

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Categories: Instruction , Technology

Tags: assessment , content area literacy , English language arts , Grades 3-5 , Grades 6-8 , Grades 9-12 , project-based learning , teaching with tech , tech tools

51 Comments

This is wonderful.

This is my first year teaching in an alternative high school. All students have IEP’s as well as social and emotional disabilities. I really want to focus on literacy as many are well below grade-level, ability wise. Writing of course is a big part of literacy. I’m looking for ideas that they can collaborate on, via Google Docs, Slides, etc. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Check out Boomwriter: A Fun Twist on Collaborative Writing . Lots of good resources there that you might like. Also take a look at Student-Made E-Books: A Beautiful Way to Demonstrate Learning .

I am an RSP teacher in Anaheim. For summer school I am going to have them build a “Bucket List” in Google slides.

Thanks for compiling these resources. I use many already but haven’t tried Screencastify yet. My district uses Google Classroom, but the forms app is blocked on student accounts- I think because it’s a perfect medium for under-the-radar cyberbullying (“How much do you hate Linda?…A little, a lot, a ton…”). Before teachers plan a lesson using forms, they should make sure the feature is enabled for students in their district. In my district, students can access forms and create them but they cannot send them to other students.

Thanks, Robyn. Good to know!

I love these ideas! You are so creative and now I have GREAT ideas for my SS project! Thanks! XD

this is all true

Our district is allowing extra credit this year and I have always been totally opposed to offering extra credit. These ideas are worth extra credit, and my focus this year is on what the students can teach me and the rest of their peers.

This gave me some good ideas for culminating activities. Thanks!

Thank you so much for sharing these ideas about creating projects by using the Google Drive! The middle school I teach at implemented a 1:1 program last year with Chromebooks, so the students have easy access to all of the Google apps. I had always grown up using Word docs and I was a little hesitant to start using Google docs at first. After just a few weeks, I absolutely fell in love with it! It is amazing how you can access all of your docs, forms, slides that you create from any device you’re using and the fact that everything automatically saves is just the cherry on top. I am grateful for this feature, especially working in a middle school where it is easy for students to forget to save something before exiting out. Although I teach Math, I found a lot of your project ideas to be utilized cross-curriculum and I truly appreciate it. I got my feet wet last year and had my students create google slides presentations in groups. At the beginning of this year, I started with a google form I created where students answered review questions from 6th grade Math. I love that when you get the results from all of the forms, you can easily see which areas students are struggling in and which areas they are proficient in because it is presented the results in graphs and charts. I just learned recently that you can create quizzes now, which is awesome because all of the testing in my district is done on the computers, so this will help prepare my students. I want to borrow your idea of having students create peer surveys that they can post on Google classroom in order to gather information and analyze results. This is a great skill for students to have. Thanks again, I truly enjoy reading your blogs!

Be positive at all time

Great collection of resources! Easy to read and very helpful for teachers who often do not get the tutorials they need to instruct with GAFE. I particular like the Museum Kiosk idea. It will work great will my history classes.

– Kevin

Hi everyone! I also would like to suggest my own (free) templates site. Im designing these presentations using “free” resources from other sites such as FreePik, FlatIcon,… and I think the result is pretty good. I invite you to have a look. The site is https://slidesppt.com

In the section of student blog posts, can you clarify how all the students in one class could be writing and posting a running blog which everyone in the class can read and respond to ?

This is Holly Burcham, a Customer Experience Manager. The idea Jenn laid out here is to simply create a shared Google Doc where each student would basically be responsible for his/her own page (literally page 1, page 2, etc.). Within a shared Doc, everyone with permission can be in and typing at the same time. Once “posts” are written, students can go in and add comments to others’ work. The comments would show up in the margins and would be arranged by corresponding content, not time like a typical blog post.

But, as you can imagine, this could quickly become very convoluted and a bit messy. The thought behind using Docs as a student blog is more for writing practice, getting the feel for writing a blog post without doing the real thing…

So, if you’re interested in your students truly creating a blog, we highly recommend checking out Edublogs and Kidblog . Hope this helps!

How are these good for projects? you said that these are for kid presentations, all I see are essay templates and idea’s for teachers to map out their classroom jobs(other then the coral)

Hi, Isaac! I’m not sure what could be used to map out classroom jobs specifically from this post, and I think the ideas here go way beyond essay outlines–please get back to me to clarify exactly what you’re referring to, because we believe all the ideas here are good for student use. Thanks!

You might update this post. Google Forms now supports branching which would be much easier to create a “choose your own” adventure type experience.

Thanks for the suggestion. I can picture how that would work, yes, but I guess the aesthetic experience might be lacking in a Google Form. With Slides you have complete creative freedom to design the slides like a real book. I guess it would be a matter of personal preference?

Where do I go to find accessibility features of Google docs, slides, and forms? I am a teacher of the blind and visually impaired. This technology is wonderful but without the ability to navigate the site independently, my students are at a lost. Can you direct me?

Hi! A couple of things that may be of help: Go to “Tools” in the menu bar and select Voice Typing (use Google Chrome). You can also click on Add-Ons in the menu bar and add the Speech Recognition Soundwriter extension for free. Here’s a link to find more Google Accessibility features — you just have to spend a bit of time looking through the list to see what may be relevant to your needs. I hope this helps!

You can also combine Google forms and docs to simplify book reports for elementary students: https://electriceducator.blogspot.com/2016/03/elementary-book-report-machine.html?m=1

Is there an available rubric or assessment piece for the museum kiosk activity?

Hi Colleen! No, sorry, I don’t have anything on that!

Hi I am a teacher at a elementary school and I was wondering if you had any ideas for what I could do for an autobiography book report.

Hi Madison,

There really are so many things you can have the kids do — I would first think about what you’re expecting the kids to be able to do in the end. What will actually be assessed and what will they be accountable for? (I suggest checking out Understanding Backward Design if you haven’t already.) From there, they can choose how to present what they learned, meeting the assessment criteria. I think using some of the ideas in the Slides section of the post could work really well, especially Student Made E-Books , or making a short film.

Madison, I love the idea of using Google Slides for autobiography book report. I’m thinking about Jennifer’s Slides suggestions and just tailoring it to your book report criteria/rubric. Thoughts?

thank you very much!!

Thank you! I can’t wait to explore some of these options more. This list is very much appreciated! 🙂

I really appreciate your kindness and your efforts and I’m going to try everything you have mentioned in this wonderful article

Thanks. Higher Ed ESOL Prof -no lesson prep for me… but I DO have my reading list for the next several (10-12) hours! All suggestions added to the original post are appreciated.

I am a huge fan of Google resources, but you have showed me some new ways I can use these. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for some great ideas! I have another suggestion that I have used before- my students really liked it- a collaborative Google Slides presentation. I did this for types of organic molecules as an intro to organic chemistry. Each pair of students in the class was assigned a specific molecule to research. They had to create 1 slide with some specific information and add to a collaborative google slides presentation that I shared on Google Classroom. When the slideshow was complete, they could all access it, and they used it to take notes.

Great suggestion Susan! Thanks so much for sharing this idea.

I am wondering if I can find similar google instructions to send to my students now that we are teaching remotely and 90% of them probably don’t know how to use Google. This would be a fantastic use of their time. Thank you

Take a look at Jenn’s Google Drive Basics video course ! I think it’s got what you’re looking for – it’s for teachers and students!

I am thinking about doing a Rap Challenge in which they (as teams based on which class period they are in) create lyrics using WWII vocabulary we have used.

I create raps for my students and my though was that I would take parts of ALL of their submissions and create a WWII rap to add to the collection they have heard already.

Which of the Google Drive features would be my best bet for collaboration like that while the students are all working from home?

Hi Jim! I think this could be done in Google Docs pretty easily, as they are just writing a script, correct? If you want to share video or audio, you can just put these files into a shared folder in Drive and give all students access to those files. I hope this helps!

Amazing ideas

An innovative way to eliminate paper.

Hi! I love this site. I am beginning to use technology in my higehr education classroom. Could you help me to suggest some kind of game to use in Communication Skilss? Thanks a lot

Hi! Check out our Gamification Pinterest board and see what might be relevant. Hope this helps!

I’m a college student (who is now a nanny which brought me to this page) and for the screen recording, I highly reccomend Loom over Screencastify. In my experience using both during the remote learning period, the video quality is much higher on Loom, the user interface is easier, and you can’t edit Screencastify videos in an external editor like iMovie. (I had to do a group presentation and since partner lived in Kuwait we used this vs Zoom, etc. to record the presentation since we weren’t recording at the same time. It was very difficult to figure out how to merge our parts of the presentation into a single file.)

Also with screencastify the time limit per video on the free version (5 min I think) was frustrating as my work was longer. May not be a problem for students but for educators using the tool who don’t have the premium, this could be highly inconvenient. With Loom there isn’t a time limit.

What an adventure for me, who’s relatively new to this google drive thing. Mind blowing resources. It’s amazing. I’m excited as to what I can do with and in google drive. I’m definitely taking it one day at a time, will surely enjoy this ‘CRUISE’. Thank you Jennifer.

What does it mean to type I am from Germany?

Hi Flannery! It can mean a few different things depending on the context–either typing on a keyboard or the “kind” of something (“What type of ice cream do you like?”). We’d love to give a specific answer, so please let us know which part of the post or which comment you saw that you’d like more clarification on. Thanks!

Thanks for sharing these ideas. July 2021

I love all the awesome ways to incorporate technology in the classroom. This post had so many options to choose from and some that I personally loved when I was in school. There are so many different ways to make learning fun with technology!

So glad you enjoyed the post!

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Free Essay and Paper Checker

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Correct your entire essay within 5 minutes

• Proofread on 100+ language issues
• Specialized in academic texts
• Corrections directly in your essay

Correct your entire essay in 5 minutes

Why this is the best free essay checker.

Tested most accurate

In the test for the best grammar checker , Scribbr found 19 out of 20 errors.

No signup needed

You don’t have to register or sign up. Insert your text and get started right away.

Long texts, short texts it doesn’t matter – there’s no character or word limit.

Don’t wait for ads or distractions. The essay checker is ad-free!

Nobody's perfect all the time—and now, you don’t have to be!

There are times when you just want to write without worrying about every grammar or spelling convention. The online proofreader immediately finds all of your errors. This allows you to concentrate on the bigger picture. You’ll be 100% confident that your writing won’t affect your grade.

Correcting your grammar

The Scribbr essay checker fixes grammar mistakes like:

• Sentence fragments & run-on sentences
• Subject-verb agreement errors
• Issues with parallelism

Spelling & Typos

Basic spell-checks often miss academic terms in writing and mark them as errors. Scribbr has a large dictionary of recognized (academic) words, so you can feel confident every word is 100% correct.

Punctuation errors

The essay checker takes away all your punctuation worries. Avoid common mistakes with:

• Dashes and hyphens
• Apostrophes
• Parentheses
• Question marks
• Colons and semicolons
• Quotation marks

Avoid word choice errors

Should you use   “affect” or “effect” ? Is it   “then” or “than” ? Did you mean   “there,” “their,” or “they’re” ?

Never worry about embarrassing word choice errors again. Our grammar checker will spot and correct any errors with   commonly confused words .

Improve your text with one click

The Scribbr Grammar Checker allows you to accept all suggestions in your document with a single click.

Give it a try!

Correct your entire document in 5 minutes

Would you like to upload your entire essay and check it for 100+ academic language issues? Then Scribbr’s AI-powered proofreading is perfect for you.

With the AI Proofreader, you can correct your text in no time:

• Upload document
• Wait briefly while all errors are corrected directly in your document
• Correct errors with one click

Proofread my document

A Grammar Checker for all English variants

There are important differences between the versions of English used in different parts of the world, including UK and US English . Our essay checker supports a variety of major English dialects:

• Canadian English
• Australian English

Why users love our Essay Checker

Save time and upload your entire essay to fix it in minutes

Scribbr & academic integrity.

Scribbr is committed to protecting academic integrity. Our plagiarism checker , AI Detector , Citation Generator , proofreading services , paraphrasing tool , grammar checker , summarizer , and free Knowledge Base content are designed to help students produce quality academic papers.

We make every effort to prevent our software from being used for fraudulent or manipulative purposes.

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Frequently asked questions

Our Essay Checker can detect most grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes. That said, we can’t guarantee 100% accuracy. 

Absolutely! The Essay Checker is particularly useful for non-native English speakers, as it can detect mistakes that may have gone unnoticed.

The exact time depends on the length of your document, but, in most cases it doesn’t take more than a minute.

• Help Center
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• Submit feedback
• Create, edit, and format

Create & grade quizzes with Google Forms

Make a new quiz & answer key.

Tip:  The quickest way to create a quiz is to go to  g.co/createaquiz  .

• Open a form in Google Forms .
• At the top of the form, click Settings .

You can make an answer key on certain question types:

• Short answer
• Multiple choice
• Multiple choice grid
• Checkbox grid

Create an answer key

• Fill out your question and answers.
• In the bottom left of the question, click Answer key .
• Choose the answer or answers that are correct.
• To add a written or YouTube video explanation to an answer, click Add answer feedback .
• You can edit questions or answers when you click on them.

Note: You can assign points and add feedback on all question types.

You can choose if people can see missed questions, correct answers, and point values.

• Open a quiz in Google Forms .
• At the top of the quiz, click Settings .
• Under "Respondent settings," change settings as needed.
• Under “Responses,” turn off Restrict to users in [your domain] and its trusted organizations .

L earn how to send your quiz to others .

Grade quizzes

You can see automatic summarie s for  all quiz responses, including:

• Frequently missed questions
• Graphs marked with correct answers
• Average, median, and range of scores

Grade individual responses

If you collect email addresses, you can assign points and leave feedback on individual responses. After you grade each response, save your changes.

• In Google Forms , open a quiz.
• At the top, click Responses .
• Click Individual .

• In the top right, enter how many points the response earned.
• Under the answer, click Add feedback .
• Enter your feedback and click Save .
• To save your changes, at the bottom, click Save .
• Click Summary .
• Under "Responses," click Question .

• Partial points:  Enter the number of points you want to award.

• To add written or YouTube video feedback for a question, click Add feedback .
• When you’re done grading, at the bottom, click Save .

Share results

If you collect email addresses in your form, you can send results immediately or wait until you’re ready to share them.

By default:

• Grades will release immediately
• Email addresses won’t b e collected .

Change how you release grades

• In Google Forms, open a quiz.
• Click Settings .
• Immediately after each submission
• Later, after manual review

Email results after review

• At the top right of a response with a recorded email address, click Release score .
• Check the boxes next to the people you want to email.
• Click Send emails and release .

Need more help?

Try these next steps:.

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