Video Tutorials

Richard Byrne from Free Technology for Teachers produced some helpful videos about using Slick Write.

General Usage

This preset checks for common indicators of deception, either by lying or omission, and is based on the findings of this study . Areas with high concentrations of these indicators should be viewed with skepticism. Note that the presence or absence of these indicators does not guarantee that a statement is true or false, and that the study was done on spoken communications, so it might be more applicable to interviews and speeches. As always, use your brain.

Use this preset when you're only interested in the stats tab. Critique and Flow will be hidden.

Resubmit to see configuration changes take effect.

Enter a word or phrase, and hit enter to see a list of associated words.

This is a measure of the sentence variety, and a major contributor to flow. Most novels score between 0.5 and 0.9, and popular ones often score near the high end of the range. You can increase this number by making long sentences longer, and short ones shorter.

This is a measure of the amount of variation in the length of a text's sentences. In texts that have broad appeal, this tends to fall between 50 and 90% of the average sentence length. You can increase this number by making long sentences longer, and short ones shorter.

Sentence length is a major contributor to the level of education required to read a body of text.

This is an estimate of the minimum grade level required to understand the text. For more comfortable reading and better comprehension, aim three to five grade levels below the target audience's expected level of education. Popular novels aimed at American adults tend to be written in the 7th to 9th grade range, which mirrors the reading capability of the average American adult.

This is a measure of how frequently prepositional phrases are used. Consider revising your document if it scores over 100.

This is a measure of how frequently the passive voice is used. Consider revising your document if it scores over 100.

This tab shows repeated words and phrases plus a wealth of other statistics.

Word length is a minor contributor to overall flow, but even minor variations are signs of good rhythm.

Sentence length is indirectly related to sentence type, and is a good indicator of flow. Flow can be altered by adding, removing, lengthening, shortening, combining, or splitting sentences. Long sentences will be indicated by a red line on the graph. Sentences that flow poorly with their surroundings will be orange, and the source of the problem can often be found in a nearby sentence.

Pieces with good flow will make use of all four sentence types, varying them to keep the reader interested.

Variety is an important factor in the reader's level of interest. This tab shows graphical distributions of sentence type, length, and word length. Each is a moving average, with word length weighted to the sentences before and after. Remember that rolling waves are good, flatness is boring, and choppiness is jarring. Flow can be altered by adding, removing, lengthening, shortening, combining, or splitting sentences. If you don't see the peaks and valleys in the graphs, try tilting your head to the right. Click each type of meter for more specific explanations.

This tool helps you eliminate or enhance repetition. For ease of use, the areas with the least variety will always be bright red, and those with the most variety will always be bright green. Therefore, red regions are not necessarily mistakes, though they do warrant a closer look. Clicking on a word will display a list of the most common words that are nearby. This will help you decide if the area needs to be reworked.

This tab shows your quotations highlighted as Slick Write sees them.

This tab shows sentence structure within the context of the document. Hover over a sentence to see its word count. Select a word or phrase, or click a sentence to get more information.

This tab shows stylistic features and flaws within the document. Click an underlined region, or highlight a word or phrase to get more information. If you make any changes here, remember to resubmit to get updated feedback.

This is where you'll find tools to help you critique your work.

It looks like you forgot to enter your document. Paste it in and try again.

There is a limit of 200,000 characters, which is approximately 30,000 words. Anything longer should be submitted in smaller chunks, or it will be automatically trimmed.

Your document is automatically saved to your browser's local storage. You might want to disable this feature if you are working on a shared computer. If you are working on a novel, submit it one or two chapters at a time to avoid the limit. Don't forget to click "Check" after altering the document.

Style Tips

Filter words are verbs that can distance the reader from the action by removing the sense of immediacy. Consider rephrasing sentences that contain them.

Function words carry little meaning, but serve as glue for sentences. We recommend that you use this detector by itself, since function words are so common. For the sake of convenience, we've created a special preset for this.

These words and phrases often show the author's bias.

According to this study , high concentrations of third person pronouns may indicate deception.

Like abstract words, weasel words and phrases lack specificity. At best, they convey uncertainty. At worst, they can be used to "weasel out" of telling the truth in a straightforward manner. When checking a document that is speculative by nature, you might want to disable this detector.

Avoid using gender-specific pronouns in formal writing when the subject's gender is unknown.

Her dress was long, and it touched the floor.

Using any form of "be" before an adjective weakens the description. Try rewriting the sentence without the unnecessary verb. This will give it a more lively feel, which improves the flow of the surrounding paragraph.

Some people think that these substitutes for "said" are weak or obnoxious, especially if overused.

Similes and metaphors should be used sparingly. This option will detect most common types of similes.

The critic's scathing review hit the nail on the head.

These over-used, informal phrases should be avoided like the plague under most circumstances.

Profanity should not be used in formal writing outside of direct quotations.

Slang can add character to fiction, but should be avoided in formal writing

In formal writing, the use of contractions is considered a fault.

They aren't bad in small quantities. A few of the words on this list can also function as other parts of speech. You have been warned.

They aren't bad in small quantities, but consider revising your document if more than 5.5% of its words are adverbs. Adverbs ending in "-ly" are considered the worst offenders.

Double negatives are almost always poor style.

These antiquated, arcane words and phrases will make your writing look like a contract.

These phrases make your writing more difficult to understand. In most cases, they can be replaced with one or two words, or even deleted.

Abstract words lack specificity and overusing them can make even simple concepts difficult to understand. There are times when abstract words are desirable or even necessary; it would be difficult to write about math or programming without mentioning variables or functions, but you should use more specific terms whenever possible.

Words like "very" and "really" make sentences wordier and weaken your message. These can be deleted in almost all cases without affecting the meaning of the sentence.

It is said that one day, passive voice will bring weakness to your prose.

A transitive verb is preceded by an auxilliary verb such as "be" or "get." It is the standard in scientific writing, but is frowned on in most other genres.

Hidden verbs are wordy substitutes for verbs. They are usually considered poor form.

Many people believe that prepositions don't belong at the end of a sentence, though Grammar Girl disagrees

Transitions connect ideas, and help the reader progress.

Using more than three prepositional phrases in a sentence can make it cumbersome.

It is considered poor style to place coordinating conjunctions at either end of a sentence. Placing a subordinating conjunction at the end of a sentence is against the rules.

Reusing linking verbs can make a sentence sound repetitive and boring. Keeping this to a minimum will pep your sentences up.

A word should not be used to start more than one sentence in a single paragraph.

Sentences starting with the same word

This will check for the internet's most frequently confused words and notify you if it looks like you misused one. It is experimental and probably the least reliable feature. Consult a dictionary when necessary.

A word used twice in a row may be a typo.

Terms

Long sentences tend to be more difficult to read, making them good candidates for trimming or splitting. Alternatively, parallelism may be used to improve their readability, though this will not decrease the ARI score.

A compound-complex sentence has more than one independent clause , and one or more dependent clauses

A complex sentence has one independent clause , and one or more dependent clauses . If this app detects an overabundance of complex sentences, it probably means you are missing punctuation. See the independent clause section for help with this.

A compound sentence has more than one independent clause , and no dependent clauses

A simple sentence has one independent clause , and no dependent clauses

A sentence must have at least one noun and one verb. Anything that does not is a fragment, and if it occurs outside of dialog, it should probably be rewritten.

Since burritos taste good, I like to eat them.

A dependent clause is a group of three or more words that contains a noun and a verb, but can't form a sentence. They will usually be preceded by a subordinating word.

Hot peppers burn my mouth, but I eat them anyway.

An independent clause is a group of words that contains a noun and a verb, and could stand alone as a sentence. Every sentence has at least one, and any additional ones must begin with a comma or semicolon. If this app detects an overabundance of complex sentences, it probably means that they are missing punctuation.

External resources

Tips and Tricks

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Add or subtract prepositional phrases and adjectives to modify your work's flow by changing sentence lengths.

Use the settings tab to tailor the stats and critique to your needs.

Flow is an important factor in reader engagement. Be sure to check it at the end of your polishing process.

Play the word association game in the tools tab when you have writer's block.

Need a writing prompt? Plug a word or phrase into the associator , and try to write a story using as many of the associated words as possible.

The critique tab highlights more than mistakes. Click highlighted text to get more information, and decide for yourself what the best course of action is.

When editing a large document, check it in smaller chunks to get fast responses.

Novelists and journalists might want to critique dialog separately or not at all. You can change how dialog is handled in the settings tab.

When you're only interested in one or two stylistic features, use the Blank Slate preset to turn everything else off.