The Internet: An Important Tool to Improve Student Writing

The Internet is changing the flow of ideas, and with it, the way people process and communicate ideas. Before the internet, Andrea Lunsford of Stanford University found out, students did all their writing inside the classroom. But a major paradigm shift has happened, with only 38% of writing by young people still done inside the classroom. But this is not the only change discovered. According to Lunsford, students today have learned to assess their audience and adapt their tone and technique based on who will be reading their work. And thanks to Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites, students have intuitively learned the mechanics of good writing because they are always writing for an audience. Even the types of writing engaged in by students today are changing. From a simple expository essay, students are now writing mostly on a critical topic, to debate, organize or to persuade. In fact, many students reported that they are enthusiastic about writing because they are no longer doing it just to earn grades but to get their points across. But Lunsford’s work is just one of the many studies that stress the importance of the internet in enabling students to write better.

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In a 2013 study which involved more that 2,400 teachers from the Advanced Placement (AP) and National Writing Project (NWP), it was discovered that a huge number of digital technologies are helping teach writing to students in middle school and high school. Echoing the results of Lunsford’s study, AP and NWP teachers claim that social networking sites, cellphone and texting have provided teenagers with new opportunities and platforms to express their creativity and personal experiences. Social networks have enabled young students to write for a variety of audiences, as well as support greater collaboration among students. And writing teachers are happy, because now, students invest more time and effort in what they write, and they are more engaged in the writing process.

While the benefits of digital tools to writing are undeniable, teachers are concerned with its effects. For one, teachers are becoming aware of the blurring boundaries between formal and informal writing as students are starting to use the informal language to in formal writing assignments. It is in this respect that digital tools like the essaytopicgenerator.com become important.
Developed with the young student in mind, the Essay Topic Generator is simple, intuitive and effective. It does what it is supposed to, and more. By simply identifying topic keywords, subject and the kind of writing that needs to be done, students can get more than 20 suggestions for essay titles. These titles can be used as to create a focus for the essay, and because all titles are returned in formal language, students are guided on how they can approach their formal writing requirement.

The Essay Topic Generator was built for all students, from middle school to college. It is useful even to professionals and teachers. The tool is still new, but its developers have integrated the new technology of crowd sourcing to improve its entries. By simply sharing on Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus, students can add topic lists, and in effect, help other students, too! Through this strategy, Essay Topic Generator can remain free, open sourced and relevant to students.