Top 10 Essay Writing Tools in 2023 | Plan, Write, Get Feedback

• Jan 09, 2023
• 6 min read

• Tags: Academic Writing, Essay

Writing an essay is not that difficult once you have all your sources in place and an outline of your major ideas. There are essay writing apps that help you achieve this. So, we’ve made a list of the top ten essay writing tools that can help you improve your essay and score better grades.

Of course, when we speak of essay writing apps, we mean essay editing and writing tools that improve your work and NOT apps that provide ready-made essays. That is cheating, and it can get you expelled from your course.

As your loyal editors, we want the best for you. So, none of the entries in our list of top ten essay writing tools will help you cheat. They will, of course, help improve your essay to make it your best work. If you’re looking for a list of the best essay editing services, visit this article.

Can writing tools help improve your essay?

Well, they certainly help.

The problem with automated tools and software is that they don’t understand writing like human beings do. So, editing tools like Grammarly or Hemingway are likely to point out mistakes where there are none or fail to spot more complex errors.

Obviously, a human editor is always more reliable than software. But it can help to have a writing assistant that improves your essay while you write it. So, write your best essay using these tools, and then be sure to send it for proofreading.

Top ten essay writing tools

Our top ten essay writing tools are a diverse list. They help you in various essay writing tasks such as planning your essay, writing it, improving it, and getting feedback when it’s complete.  So, let’s begin!

1. Essay Map

This tool helps you develop an outline for your essay. Although it is targeted toward school-aged students and not college-going researchers, its basic format is helpful. It helps you develop a map of your central ideas around which you can write your essay.

The main structure, although limiting, is also the basic outline that you would expect from essays. There are five main checkpoints: introduction, idea 1, idea 2, idea 3, and conclusion. You can also jot down three key points for each of these ideas.

2. MindNode

This isn’t strictly an essay writing app, but it can help you develop your thoughts into an outline. It has many modes which many can be useful in your mind mapping process.

Other features like the focus mode and task tracker are also useful when you have a lot on your plate. Which, we understand, happens often as a student! Assignments pile up and focusing on individual essays gets tougher. That’s exactly where this app can prove helpful.

3. Evernote

Evernote is a note-making and planning app, but also more than that. It is designed to help organize tasks and deadlines, which is extremely useful to students. It connects to Google Calendar, which is an added bonus.

The app allows you to create tasks in your notes and assign dates, flags, and markers to them. It also lets you scan important documents, upload useful content in various formats, and save relevant web pages.

You can save the finished map on your device or print it out. This is a great tool, especially for people who struggle with outlines or are new to developing structured essays.

4. Voice Dictation

Voice recognition technology has advanced enough to allow users to write entire essays with just their voice. Suffice it to say, the voice dictation tool is indispensable for people who can’t use a keyboard.

Even if you’re just a student with far too much on your mind, the tool is useful. After all, using note-taking tools to make elaborate mind maps isn’t for everyone. People have different methods of working, and speaking our thoughts out loud as they come is one of them!

Voice Dictation also allows you to utter simple commands to provide punctuation, like “new line” or “comma.”

5. Grammarly 

Grammarly is one of the best essay editing tools, offering users a choice between American and British English. Its A.I. helps you find problems with spelling, punctuation, grammar, and style to help you write better essays.

The free version highlights basic grammar mistakes while the paid version optimizes your use of language. This means that it flags things like repetitive phrases, vague wording, and excessive use of words.

Grammarly is available as both a download for MS Word and as a Chrome extension for Google Docs or other online formats.

6. Hemingway

The app makes your writing clear and direct. It highlights lengthy and complex sentences so you can reconsider whether splitting them up would be a good idea. The app keeps you aware of how you use adverbs, passive voice, complex phrases, and lengthy sentences by using color-coded highlights.

You can use the app or upload your text on the web page to get similar results. Be cautious about taking the bot’s advice, however, because it is prone to machine error.

7. Cliché Finder 

Everyone uses clichés while writing. However, if you use them too often, your writing becomes trite and uninteresting. This tool helps you avoid exactly that.

The checker uses a unique algorithm that marks any overused and stale phrases in your writing. Making changes based on these suggestions is completely up to you, but it’s certainly important to identify patterns in your writing.

8. Thesaurus.com

Half the struggle in writing an essay is to figure out the exact word you need to use! There’s always a word that’s at the tip of your tongue but somehow, keeps eluding you. This is exactly the case where a thesaurus can come in handy.

Just put the word you can think of, and the tool will provide a number of similar words. You can find the exact word you’re looking for, or even end up with a better alternative!

If you’re looking for the exact antonym of a word, the thesaurus can help here, too! Just scroll down and you’ll find a variety of antonyms.

9. Citation Machine

Perfect citations are key to scoring well on academic writing tests. There are methods to cite sources in academic essays, like APA, MLA, or Chicago. These citation styles follow different rules, and you can’t afford to fumble between them.

Citation Machine is a quick, time-efficient tool to generate citations in your desired style format. It allows you to create citations in more than 7000 styles, and also keeps a record of your entries. So, once you’re done citing all your sources, you also get a ready bibliography!

For its paid plans, the tool offers a plagiarism check, expert help on your essays, and other useful features. It’s certainly a great tool for any essay writer!

10. Paper Rater

This tool comes into play once you’re done writing. Upload your essay and the tool will give you feedback using Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

The tool checks your text for grammar and plagiarism. It also offers suggestions based on its evaluation. For school students, it also gives a score!

Of course, feedback from an A.I. tool has many limitations. No matter what essay writing tool you use, it can’t match the expertise that an essay editing service has.

So once you’re done with your essay, just send it over to us for some real feedback. Good luck!

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Prasanna

Prasanna is on a little break from academia and spends his time compiling fiction writing tips. He enjoys poetry, mythology, and drawing lotuses on any surface he can find.