Writing Check Text Features

The writing check Styles section gets a revamp and a new name

The Styles section of the Scribo writing check for teachers and students has been updated and renamed Text Features, which better describes the way it helps students look at their writing through many different lenses.

While Scribo overall and paragraph feedback covers adherence to instruction words, the text features section lets students and teachers focus in on many other aspects of writing. Does the text respond to the instruction words in the writing prompt? Is the text written in the right voice? Are enough examples being given? Does the text use subject-specific language?

Text Features doesn't just highlight writing styles, voice and subject words. It helps extend the student's use of each by showing the words and phrases that could be used, often with definitions.

Here are the highlights:

1. Track whether the text responds to instruction words

Most essay prompts have instruction words - simply a verb or verbs that set the style of writing required. For example, 'discuss', ‘compare and contrast’, ‘give advantages and disadvantages’.

As students write, they should use writing styles (rhetorical moves or signalling words) that signal to the reader that they are responding to the instruction word. For example, that a point is being made in a discussion, or a comparison is being made in a 'compare and contrast' response.

The writing styles Scribo can highlight include:

Account for, Analyse, Compare, Contrast, Criticise, Define, Describe, Discuss, Evaluate, Explain, Illustrate, Interpret, List, Outline, Prove, Recount, Relate, Review, State, Summarise, To what extent, Trace, Rhetorical Question, Inference, Background, Notation or Quote. 1st, 2nd, 3rd person, Place.

By simply choosing their instruction word in the Text Features section of writing check, the signalling words in the student's text can be highlighted with one click.

Scribo will also give Overall and Paragraph level feedback about the student's adherence to instruction words. For example if there is more of an emphasis on compare than contrast, or if there are no words that signal a discussion.

2. Check whether the text makes use of subject-specific vocabulary

The Text Features section of the writing check can also help students to develop their subject-specific vocabulary. Firstly, Scribo can highlight the subject words that the student has used in their text. Then, Scribo then helps extend their vocabulary by presenting a comprehensive list of subject words, many with definitions.

This opens up a new level of writing analysis across multiple subjects that demand the use of particular domain or technical language.

3. Check academic collocations

Collocations are pairs of words that occur regularly together, for example 'academic achievement', 'physical health'. Using academic collocations an important way to build an academic vocabulary, and the 'Academic Collocations' option in writing styles helps students identify collocations in use, and explore other academic collocations that could be used.

How to use Text Features

As a student or teacher, go into Writing Check and then select the ‘TF’ or 'Text Features' bubble in the left menu.

To check for adherence to instruction words, choose the instruction word used in the writing prompt in the 'Instruction word' dropdown. The corresponding writing styles will be defaulted, and the words belonging to those styles will be tagged in the text.

To check specific writing styles like academic collocations or voice, using the named checkboxes to select the features you'd like to highlight. For example, if you are writing in third person tick the 'First Person' and 'Second Person' checkboxes to make sure your voice is consistent.

To highlight and explore subject-specific vocabulary, choose the subject in the 'Subject Word Lists' dropdown. If we don't have your subject listed, please send your word list and definitions if possible to [email protected] with the subject name and year level, and we will add them.