Using Scribo 3.0 

A series of quick introductory videos are available on the Scribo 3 Intro page.  

To learn more, see the note or view the slides.

The Writing Check can be most beneficial when early use focuses on these aspects:

If students use only one button / tool:

• Overall provides feedback a teacher might give (Ov)

(Unfortunately, "Step 1 - Overall Feedback" in Scribo 3 currently requires far beyond "one click" and is too buggy to recommend its use by teachers or students. If/when the issues are fixed, a revised guide will be created).

If students use more than one button / tool, these are suggested in order. The videos below show in detail how the software can be used.

• Checking grammar and spelling (GS)

• Avoiding redundancy and improving clarity (GS)

• Reviewing word choice - Vocabulary (Vo)

• Improving use of Cohesive words (e.g., connectives, conjunctions, transitions) (Co)

• Use of Keywords / glossary terminology (Ke)

• Editing long sentences (Se)

Reinforcing Focused Use

When teachers support and encourage use of the Writing Check, students get practice focusing on what you think is important. Here are some suggestions to promote this.

Making the Most of  Overall Feedback

If you and students are just starting to use The Writing Check, getting comfortable with the Overall feedback is great.  Spend enough time with it so that students consistently follow through on your basic requirements, such as:

• meet the word / paragraph count targets

• submit writings free from spelling mistakes

• master basic punctation

• take care with editing 

• only make grammatical mistakes that show misunderstanding or lack of knowledge

From Overall to Specific Buttons

As suggested in the first introductory video for The Writing Check, writers get most help when they move beyond the Overall (Ov) feedback button.  You may have your own goals, such as promoting fluency where correctness is not the main priority.  Let's assume that when students use the Writing Check, they are getting ready to submit their work. Of course it's great to use Scribo for first drafts, but certainly it's worth having students use the tool for editing and picking up errors on their own. This reinforces their own "editor's eye" as well as saves teachers time commenting on things students could have corrected themselves.  

From Correctness to Clarity - "GS"

Because it moves from the cognitively more simple toward more complex, this flow or pattern of use is suggested.

Use the GS (Grammar and Spelling) button. 

1. If any any Spelling mistakes are found, these will be shown in a red box with the number of errors noted. Click the red box to highlight only the spelling mistakes.  Hover-over each highlighted word to see what is suggested. If students believe the suggestion is correct, they click the radio button and "Accept Changes". If the suggestions are not correct, but students see what it wrong, they can simply click in the text to edit and make changes.

2. Repeat this process for possible grammar mistakes by clicking on the purple Grammar button.  This is more challenging: sure it may help students catch careless mistakes like not using capital letters to start sentences, but errors might require explicit teaching. For example, use of a comma after an introductory / subordinating clause. Fixing grammar mistakes often requires students to re-write more than a word.

3. Even more challenging - and open to reflection and personal decisions - are issues identified by the Writing Clarity button.  Students should fix what they can and pay particular attention to any suggestions to omit words (wordiness) and repetition of sentence starters.  In this way, the Writing Check is helping student to actually improve the clarity of their writing!

Wordsmithing - Vocabulary (Vo) and Cohesives (Co) 

Once basic errors are corrected, a relatively easy way to quickly improve writing is to focus word choice.  This includes choosing more precise and engaging vocabulary, varying sentence structures with cohesive words and reducing repetition.

Use the Vo (Vocabulary) button. 

1. All writers use many of the "most common 1000 words."  Nothing is wrong with this. However, using "intermediate" (the second most common 1000 words) and academic words can make writing more interesting.  So click on "Common" Words" to highlight them.  Most of these words are fine, but consider looking at nouns (people, places, things, ideas) to change more general words to those that are more specific.  To get a sense of this, students can click on "Intermediate Words" or "Academic Words" and try to include more like these.  

2. At the bottom of the Vo panel, the most repeated words are listed.  Students should try to either replace some instances of the most repeated words or at least edit their writing so that the repetitions do not occur close together in the text. Almost every writer unwittingly uses some words too often or in close proximity. The Writing Check provides a helpful  "extra set of eyes."

Use the Co (Cohesives) button. 

Cohesives are both the connecting words that make sentences more interesting as well as more advanced types that signal explanations or elaborations of ideas.  Both of these are good.  Students can focus on two things: reduce repetition of the most common cohesives and expand their use of "advanced" or "idea" cohesives.

1. The Co panel lists the most frequently used common cohesives. Often, these are "and," "as," and "then."  These words are fine to use, except when over-used.  This is particularly the case with developing writers who can use "and" in place of correct sentence punctuation.  If students generally connect separate sentences with repetition of "and" or "then", this is a good opportunity for an explicit lesson on simple and compound sentences.

2. Students can use the "Cohesive Explorer" to find replacements for "and" (see "Connectives > Adding"), but also to expand their use of "Ideas" cohesive words / phrases. Notice that some of these are more appropriate for developing writers (the blue "common" bulleted words), whereas more advanced writers and senior students should consider using more of the red "advanced" examples.

Remember to encourage students to be the master of their writing, to use the software for feedback, not as its "slave."

Developing Concepts - Keywords (Ke) 

Keywords only appear when they are added. This may be when students choose to run the "Advanced"  Writing Check and add the words themselves, but most likely when teachers assign a writing activity that includes keywords. This is done in the "Set-Up" of an Activity.  Teachers also decide if students see the keywords when they are writing (as a prompt to use them) or only afterwards (as feedback).

Use the Ke (Keywords) button. 

1. Especially for senior HSC students, use of Keywords can be helpful.  These may be the glossary terms found in Course Syllabi, but can also be topic-specific.  If you feel certain words are important to use, it's worth including them.  

2. Separate groupings are listed of "Keywords Used" and "Keywords Missed." Teacher guidance will help students know how extensively to use the keywords (e.g., should all be used?).  Later sharing of students' texts (see the "Insights Panel") is helpful to review the sophistication with which the keywords are used.  

Remember to encourage students to be the master of their writing, to use the software for feedback, not to change everything that's highlighted.

Thinking Aloud

Another useful strategy is to simply Think Aloud. In this approach, teachers (or student volunteers) read their way through an anonymous student text, highlighting how a more advanced writing / reader makes decisions about the Scribo feedback.  Students will benefit from hearing the inner cognitive review that more sophisticated writers engage in as they try to make a text more effective in communicating its purpose. Invite students to analyse the feedback in relation to their goals for the text.