Writers come in all shapes and sizes.
- There are students, of course, who must produce essays and papers throughout their academic careers
- There are commercial content writers who write copy for websites, blogs, social media posts, emails, and advertising
- There are authors of both fiction and non-fiction pieces – journal articles, short stories, and books/novels
- There are researchers who publish their findings in trade journals or who write up presentations for live audiences.
Obviously, all of these people need some type of writing software. And there are plenty out there to be used – some great, some good, some not so good.
Here are what most consider to be the 10 best pieces of writing software for Windows.
- Microsoft Word
There are several types of this software – for businesses, for professionals, for home and student, etc. There’s a very small learning curve and tutorials that come with the program. But this is the preferred software for the best essay writing website, as well as for most other online writing agencies. And most instructors require that their students submit their writing assignments as Word docs.
- Google Docs
This software will look amazingly similar to Microsoft Word, and, best of all, it is free. It has almost all of the features of Word and is obviously very popular with lots of people.
- Grammarly
What began as a simple editing software has now expanded into a full-blown writing tool. Users can compose right on the site and have their work edited and proofread as they go along.
- Scrivener
This is probably the most preferred software for literary writers. It has lots of features housed in a convenient toolbar, and it saves work automatically. While novelists love it, Scrivener is useful for other types of writers too. It has useful presets and templates, can import a variety of other documents, and has such tools as labels, metadata fields, etc.
- Writer’s Blocks
Again, this software was originally designed for novelists, but because of its cool features, students find it useful when they are crafting complex research papers and projects. Users can put content into blocks and see it all visually so that it can be organized logically.
- Fast Pencil
This is not a well-known software, but it has some nice features. First, it is wholly operated in the cloud, so there is no download. For those who are writing blog or social media posts and who may be coordinating with other team members, everything can be shared on a permission basis. Content can be published right from the cloud to its appointed place.
- Write Monkey
Write Monkey is a distraction-free software tool that lets users write on a plain background and interface. There are some things you can do, though. There are some preferences for font, size, and text color. One nice thing is a “progress” option, which will tell you how many words, characters, approximate reading time, and such. Users can also import other text files.
- Evernote
For students who are doing research, Evernote is a great piece of software that allows users to take notes and organize them for easy retrieval. If you need to import visuals, other media, even voice text, this is all possible. And for students who are working on a team project, there is full sharing capability.
- Ref-n-Write
This is a tool a student can add to Microsoft Word. Basically, it allows users to search for essays and research papers on specific topics, not for the purpose of plagiarizing, but instead, to see how these topics were organized, what resources were used, and to use these pieces of writing as models.
- Plagiarism Checkers
Everyone knows what plagiarism is, and there are examples of it in all fields of schooling and work. Not only is it dishonest, but plagiarism is also considered illegal. The most popular is Turnitin, but there are many others as well. Both students and professionals should watch self-plagiarism, too. If a piece has been written and run through a plagiarism checker before, and you use any part of that in a new piece, without proper credit, that part will show up as plagiarized.
Good writing is not easy for many. But certainly, there are tools that will help improve and polish written pieces, and that in itself can be a solid learning experience.
Author Bio: Henry McDowell is a freelance writer and editor who assists people from all sectors with their writing tasks – students, content copywriters, business professionals, grant writing, and more. When not on the job, McDowell buys up depressed properties and remodels them for resale.
