Articles about ProWritingAid reports
Create Your Own ProWritingAid Report: The Combo Report
by ProWritingAid Jan 18, 2018
Did you know that you can create your very own ProWritingAid report? The Combo Report lets you select a combination of reports so you can focus on areas you know are weaknesses. For example, a Combo Report could run checks on overused words, sentence length, writing style, and sticky sentences if those are areas you commonly need to address.
The beauty of the Combo Report is that you select what reports you want included. There are 27 options from which to choose.
Read More »Take a FREE copy of our newest ebook: "Turn Yourself into a Prosperous Copywriter"
by Lisa Lepki Jan 17, 2018
Turn Yourself into a Prosperous Copywriter is our way of tipping our hat to all those who earn a good living as a copywriter. Years of copywriting experience went into each chapter of this book. We hope you find nuggets of gold in these pages.
Read More »Use ProWritingAid’s Readability Stats to Improve the Clarity of Your Writing
by Kathy Edens Dec 19, 2017
If you haven’t been using ProWritingAid’s Readability Report and Summary Report to take your work in progress (WIP) to the next level, you’re missing out. Your WIP might be an article you plan to post on Medium or it could be a 75,000 word manuscript of the next, great novel. And the Readability Report can make suggestions on how to make it sparkle and shine so it catches any reader’s eye.
Read More »Getting Started with ProWritingAid’s Google Docs Add-on.
by Lisa Lepki Dec 07, 2017
Have you tried out our Google Docs add-in yet?
We've put together a step-by-step guide to help get you started as soon as possible. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
Read More »Using an Editing Tool Does Not Make You a Lazy Writer
by Kathy Edens Jun 12, 2017
Do you always check your work for repeated or overused words or phrases? I know I don't. Sometimes I can be so close to my writing that I don't notice when I've used a certain word too many times in the space of 3 or so paragraphs. In my mind, it sounds natural.
Read More »4 Ways an App Can Make You a Better Writer (Yes, Really!)
by Lisa Lepki Feb 08, 2017
One of the biggest problems that creative people face is how to take their imagined ideas and communicate them clearly and effectively in writing. I dread to think how many incredible adventures, concepts, and viewpoints are locked up in the brains of people who struggle with the technical elements of writing. The part of the brain that we use for imaginative thinking is quite different from the part that actually crafts the sentences. And the quickest way to lose a reader’s confidence—even if your ideas are water-tight—is to present them with clumsy, awkward, error-filled writing.
Read More »The Top 5 Manuscript Editing Software
by Lisa Lepki Jan 18, 2017
Here at ProWritingAid, we’re constantly evolving our manuscript editing software, as we have for the past four years. In fact, we’re so certain that our manuscript editing software is miles above the competition, we’re discussing their pros and cons and linking to their websites below so you can check for yourselves. (Crazy? No, just incredibly confident.)
Read More »How to Use the Combo Report
by ProWritingAid Jan 09, 2017
If you haven’t tried ProWritingAid’s Combo Report yet, check it out. It will save you time and effort.
The Combo Report allows you to run more than one report at a time. This is helpful if you have limited time before your content needs to be submitted, or if you know exactly which errors need your focus. Rather than running each individual analysis, you can bundle several together into one report.
Read More »Summary Report: The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread
by Kathy Edens Nov 21, 2016
We have just released the new (and much improved) ProWritingAid editing tool and we wanted to tell you a bit more about one new feature that we are particularly excited about.
What is it? A Summary Report is an all-in-one look at the statistics in your writing. Not just the basics like word count, sentences, and paragraphs, but it also points out the key actions you need to take to strengthen your writing.
Read More »Check Out These New ProWritingAid Features
by ProWritingAid Nov 16, 2016
The newest version of ProWritingAid comes with some shiny new features to check out including a Word Explorer, summary reports, easier navigation, contextual thesaurus, detailed explanations and more. Take it for a spin now.
Read More »How-To Techniques to Establish Pace
by ProWritingAid Oct 28, 2016
Pacing your story is like using the throttle to give an engine more gas. With more throttle, the engine revs up and speed increases. Less throttle slows you down so you can see the passing scenery.
Controlling the pacing of your story is like maneuvering through city streets, main thoroughfares, and high-speed highways. You need different speeds to maintain control of your vehicle in each situation.
Read More »Want to be a beta tester for ProWritingAid’s new online editor?
by ProWritingAid Oct 14, 2016
We have been working away on this new tool for months now and we are excited to share it with you.
Please put it through the wringer. We want to know every glitch you encounter, every link that doesn’t work, every error message you receive.
Read More »How to use... The Diction Report
by ProWritingAid May 23, 2016
The Diction Report helps you avoid unnecessarily complicated writing by analyzing your word selection and sentence construction.
When it comes to writing, less is more. Make every word count. If it's not essential, cut it. Too often when writers are trying to sound authoritative, they choose the wordy ways of saying something simple. Why write “has the ability to” when you can write “can”? You’re just using more words to say the same thing, which actually makes your writing much less clear.
Read More »How to use... The Vague & Abstract Words Check
by ProWritingAid May 19, 2016
There are two types of words that muddy the waters for clarity and concise writing: vague and abstract words. Replacing them with strong specific words can make a huge difference to your document.
Read More »How to use... The Sensory Check
by ProWritingAid May 18, 2016
It’s important to use all five senses in your writing. Every writer has a tendency to favor one or two of their senses over the others, and this affects the way that he or she experiences the world, processes information and makes memories. This means that we tend to describe characters, settings or actions using words related to our own favored senses. Writing that skews too far toward one sense over the others will resonate more with readers who favor the same sense and less so with those who do not.
The term “NLP predicate” refers to those words (primarily verbs, adverbs and adjectives) associated with the specific senses.
Read More »How to use... The Pronoun Check
by ProWritingAid May 18, 2016
When you are writing in creative mode, you often rely on pronouns to keep your narrative moving: “He did this,” “She did that,” “They ran there,” “I found out.” That’s fine. It’s more important to keep your writing momentum up than it is to get every sentence just right.
When you go back and edit, however, you should check your pronoun percentage. Ideally it should fall somewhere between 4% and 15%. Any more than this and your writing can feel dull. This is especially so with initial pronouns – those at the start of the sentence. Your initial pronoun percentage should be under 30%.
Read More »How to use... The Thesaurus Check
by ProWritingAid May 18, 2016
Often, changing just one word in a sentence allows a writer to present a more nuanced or specific idea. The contextual thesaurus allows you to explore a wider vocabulary. Unlike most thesaurus suggestions, our report takes into account the context of the word in the sentence and offers replacement words that fit within that context.
The Thesaurus Report helps you expand your vocabulary and enrich your writing.
Read More »How to use... The Consistency Check
by ProWritingAid May 17, 2016
The Consistency Check checks your writing for consistency in four key areas: 1) Spelling, 2) Hyphenation, 3) Capitalisation, and 4) Punctuation.
Read More »How to use... The Grammar Check
by ProWritingAid May 09, 2016
The Grammar Check is similar to the grammar and spelling checkers that you have probably used in within your word processor. It highlights any word that’s not in our dictionary in case it’s misspelled. It also looks at the construction of the sentence to make sure that the structure, punctuation and tense are correct.
But, in addition to these standard grammar checks, our team of copyeditors have been inputting thousands of specific checks that they have come across in their years of editing. Our goal over the next couple of years is to have a simple explanation associated with every grammar issue that the software picks up.
Read More »How to use... The Writing Style Check
by ProWritingAid May 03, 2016
The Writing Style Check is one of the most popular and comprehensive reports that ProWritingAid offers. It highlights several areas of writing that should be revised to improve readability, including passive voice, overuse of adverbs, hidden verbs, overused words, clunky phrasing, repeated sentence starts, and more.
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