How Does Technology Affect Student Writing?

Students at high school and college get to complete multiple types of assignments. These projects include creative writing, journaling, research papers, essays, short responses, and all the way up to PhD dissertations. 

The frequency and type of written assignments varies by subject and professor’s preferences. What most teachers will tell you is that many students have trouble writing proper academic content. The quality of education remained the same, but something changed. Technology may have something to do with it. On the other hand, various digital tools improve students’ writing skills, so the influence depends on the way students use it.    

The Negative Influence of Technology on Student Writing

1. Students Rush to Complete Papers

Technology speeds up our lives. Thanks to the Internet, students can easily find the resources they need. Instead of spending hours in the library, they type a term in Google and find some sources within minutes. This seems like a good thing, but many students don’t realize that many of those sources are unreliable. They may make unsupported statements and plagiarize other writers’ work. As a result, students end up with poorly researched content that doesn’t get a good grade. 

Fast typing is also a problem. It leads to grammar and spelling mistakes, missed words, and gaps in logic. Those who tend to skip the editing stage always submit unpolished content. Their grades suffer, too. 

2. Plagiarism Is on the Rise

Plagiarism has always been an issue in education. In a rush to complete good papers, students tend to duplicate content that was written by someone else. In the era of the Internet, this is really easy. But even when you don’t intend to plagiarize content, you may end up with unintentional duplicates when forgetting to mention the author of some of your ideas and arguments. When you read so many online sources in a hurry, that may easily occur. A free plagiarism checker for students may save you from unintentional plagiarism. But many students intend to duplicate, so they can save time to study or do something more fun. Technology helps them do that.   

Everyone should be aware of the fact that professors can easily recognize plagiarized content. They use detection software, which compares students’ essays against online sources and papers that have been submitted by other students. 

3. Formal Writing Becomes an Issue

Young people are used to communicating on online forums and social media platforms. They use brief sentences, word abbreviations, and informal tone when doing that. It’s only natural to use such language in informal communication. The problem is that when faced with an academic assignment, students continue writing in the way they are used to.

If you embraced some slang from the Internet, you must be careful about all expressions, phrases, and terms you use in papers. Words like facepalm and troll, as well as acronyms like IRL and LOL, are rarely acceptable in academic content. 

The Positive Effects of Technology on Student Writing

4. The Research Stage Is Much More Effective

Yes; online research can be a problem when you’re not careful about the authority and relevance of your sources. But when you’re attentive and you check all your sources, you can collect far more material when compared to what you would find in the university’s library. You will also spend less time when you research on the web. 

Forget about Wikipedia and use academic, scientific, and governmental sources for your papers. Professors pay a lot of attention to the references. You can use Google Scholar to find reliable sources in a matter of minutes. 

5. Technology Supports Collaboration

Team projects have never been easier. Instead of getting together to discuss the matter, create a plan, and split the work, the team members can communicate through video conferencing tools. They can also work together in a single document. Google Docs is a very effective tool that keeps track of the versions, so everyone with access to the document knows who made a particular edit. The tool also includes a chat, so the team members can stay in touch while completing a paper. 

The advantage of collaboration is important not only for the completion of the task, but for gaining soft skills as well. Through this type of work, students improve their communication, develop patience and empathy, and learn how to encourage teammates to do better without being overly demanding. 

6. Technology Enables Student to Write Faster

Rushing through the research, writing, and editing stages is NOT a good thing. But you can be diligent and fast at the same time. You don’t have to wait for the library to open and start your research. You don’t have to stop the session after the library’s working hours. You can do the research whenever you feel like it; you just need an Internet connection and access to a good database. 

Editing software also saves you time. You still have to read your paper, as software cannot replace the human mind. However, it can help you fix some issues that you failed to notice: misspellings, illogical sentences, redundant phrases, punctuation errors, and more.  

The Way You Use Technology Is Up to You

Technology can make the process of writing easier and more effective, as long as you use it properly. Students have found multiple ways to abuse its power, but professors can identify unethical academic practices in most cases. 

Never use technology to rush through the process of completion or duplicate someone else’s work. Be mindful of the slang you usually use in informal communication! You’ll boost the quality and speed of your writing if you use technology thoughtfully, you collaborate with other students, and access credible online resources.   

Technology gives students an opportunity to be effective at academic writing, but it also gives them chances to cheat. What road they choose is solely up to them. 

BIO: Madeline Shields lives by the motto “learn something new every day!” She researches new themes online all the time, and tries to learn from relevant sources. Madeline shares research and writing tips in her blog posts. Everyone can improve their writing skills as long as they dedicate some time and effort to that goal.