In today’s academic landscape, writing tools like Grammarly have become essential companions for students seeking to enhance their writing skills.
However, a prevalent question arises: does leveraging Grammarly constitute cheating or breach academic integrity?
This article delves into this debate, examining the reasons why Grammarly isn’t inherently cheating, scenarios where its use might be questioned, and how students can maximize its benefits while upholding academic honesty.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Is Grammarly Cheating?
Grammarly is not cheating since it doesn’t provide content or generate ideas.
At its core, Grammarly is a writing enhancement tool. It helps users identify grammar mistakes, improve sentence structure, and enhance overall writing quality.
When used correctly, it doesn’t compromise academic integrity.
In fact, many educational institutions advocate its use to improve writing skills.
Let’s dive deeper to support our claims.
Reasons Why Grammarly Isn’t Cheating
A. Promotes writing skills:
– It educates on grammar, structure, and style.
Grammarly serves as an educational tool by offering explanations for suggested corrections, helping users understand and improve their writing skills progressively.
B. Encourages self-improvement:
– Users learn from suggested corrections
By providing detailed suggestions and explanations, Grammarly aids users in recognizing and rectifying their writing errors, fostering self-improvement and learning.
C. Widely endorsed by educators:
– Many institutions support its use for learning
Several educational institutions and educators endorse Grammarly as a supplemental tool to improve writing skills and aid in language proficiency.
Grammarly Student Survey
This is an actual survey conducted by Grammarly across it’s users.
As a result, the information presented here are student responses hence, optimally valid.
72% of students use Grammarly at least once a week for academic writing tasks. The majority of those use Grammarly on a daily basis.
What is Grammarly Used for?
Students mostly use Grammarly for school-related writing tasks, such as course papers, research papers, reports, presentations, and dissertations.
Students use Grammarly for a variety of courses, ranging from Theology and Philosophy to Engineering, from Physics to Art and Music.
Unsurprisingly, most students (31%) use Grammarly for writing courses.
Other most often cited courses were:
- English/Literature (21%),
Business (20%), - Education (17%),
- Psychology (13%),
- Communication (11%),
- History (11%), and
- Sociology (11%).
Students also use Grammarly for non-academic purposes, such as writing emails, resumes, cover letters, etc.
Grammarly’s Effect on Student’s Writing
How Does Grammarly Influence Users’ Writing Confidence?
The table below provides average student ratings of confidence in their writing ability before and after using Grammarly.
| Confidence Level | Students, n = 307 |
|---|---|
| Before Grammarly | 3.34 |
| With Grammarly | 4.78 |
| Gain | 1.44 (29%) |
Grammarly is especially effective in boosting confidence in writing among students.
70% of students reported an increase in the confidence in their writing skills.
On average, the students’ confidence level before Grammarly use was 3.34.
Since the student respondents started using Grammarly, their confidence level increased by 1.44 points (29%) and reached 4.78.
How Does Grammarly Affect Academic Achievement?
99% of the survey respondents reported that Grammarly had some impact on their writing grades.
43% of students indicated that Grammarly helped them to improve their writing grades “a lot”.
On average, the students felt that Grammarly impacted their writing grades quite significantly.
Survey Summary
Grammarly is used by students pursuing various studies and degrees worldwide.
Students use Grammarly on a weekly or daily basis and mostly for school-related writing tasks, such as course papers, presentations, and dissertations.
The survey shows that:
- 70% of student respondents report that Grammarly has increased their level of confidence in their writing ability;
- 93% of all respondents report that Grammarly has helped them save time on their writing;
- 99% of student respondents report that Grammarly has improved their writing grades;
- 84% of student respondents report that Grammarly has improved their grades in general;
- 39% of student respondents report that Grammarly has helped to increase their grades by a full grade or more.
The bottom line is that those who use Grammarly more often tend to feel more confident in their writing, save time on writing, and get better grades in general.
Scenarios Where Grammarly Use Might Be Questioned
– Not Endorsed By Supervising Lecturer or Professor
Okay, let’s face it.
Even though we’ve stated that Grammarly isn’t inherently cheating, you’ll agree with me that not all professors that that way.
For instance, in every 20 professors, there might just be that very one that’s an antagonist to any sort of digital ease. These set of professors and lecturers believe if things aren’t done the hard or traditional way, then it’s done wrongly.
The prayers and wishes of students is not to have such anti-technology lecturers or professors as supervisors.
However, if you find ever yourself in a position where it’s not endorsed by your professor, it’s best to not make use of it.
I’d suggest you consult with your Professor to ascertain his stand.
– Institution’s policy
Some educational intuitions might also have policies that prohibits or restricts the use of A.I writing tools.
Grammarly isn’t specifically an A.I writing tool as it doesn’t generate content.
However, your institution might not see it that way especially if they aren’t tech-savvy.
It might just be up for debate putting you on the line.
Understanding these policies is crucial for students to maintain academic integrity.
– Over-reliance without understanding
Over-reliance on Grammarly’s suggestions without understanding the reasoning behind the corrections may hinder the learning process and constitute academic dishonesty.
Best Practices for Ethical Grammarly Use Among Students
– Familiarize with Institutional Policies
Students must acquaint themselves with their institution’s policies on external writing aids to ensure compliance and avoid unintended violations.
– Use Grammarly as a Learning Aid
View Grammarly as an educational companion rather than a shortcut. Grasp the logic behind suggested changes to improve writing skills progressively.
While Grammarly is often 85% correct, it can never replace a human proofreader, so always remember to cross-check your work before submissions.
Grammarly Student Video Walkthrough
My Personal Opinion As a Professional Writer
I started using Grammarly 4 years ago in my engineering finals. I started with the free version, it was truly amazing and I paid for the premium to access all it’s advanced functionalities.
I integrated the Grammarly app with my Google Docx and it simplified all my writing processes.
I’m glad to have discovered it back in school.
Fast forward to now, 4 years later, I’ve grown multiple successful blogs like this one, My team and I produce over 120 articles per month for our fleet of niche blogs and Grammarly has been a major part of our writing workflow.
The benefits of using Grammarly as a student cannot be overstated.
If you don’t have an account yet, sign up using this link: Grammarly for Students.
And if you want to have access to premium features like better formatting, better tone delivery, advanced plagiarism detection, citation style formatting, consistency in spelling and punctuation, then go for Grammarly Premium, it’s worth the investment.
Grammarly Premium for Students
You can read my in-depth review of Grammarly Premium here: Grammarly Premium Review.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
– Is Grammarly allowed in college?
Yes, in many instances, educational institutions permit the use of Grammarly as it functions as a writing enhancement tool, but students should always check their institution’s specific policies to ensure compliance.
– Is it OK to use Grammarly on college essays?
Using Grammarly for college essays is generally acceptable and recommended as it assists in error correction, language refinement, and overall writing improvement, benefiting students.
– Can teachers tell if you use Grammarly?
Identifying the specific use of Grammarly by teachers can be challenging, as its primary function is to enhance writing quality rather than being tracked for usage.
– Do college professors like Grammarly?
The opinion among college professors about Grammarly varies; while most college professors appreciate its utility in aiding students’ writing enhancement, a few might hold different perspectives based on their teaching approach.
– Does Grammarly get flagged as AI?
Grammarly’s AI nature is not typically flagged as cheating; it’s widely recognized as a tool designed to assist and refine writing skills rather than as a form of academic dishonesty.
– Is Grammarly detected by Turnitin?
Turnitin doesn’t flag the use of Grammarly, as Grammarly serves as a writing enhancement tool focused on improving language and grammar, not generating content.
– Should I get Grammarly as a student?
Yes, don’t miss out. For students, utilizing Grammarly can be beneficial as it aids in error correction, enhances writing skills, and improves the overall quality of academic work.
– Is it OK to use Grammarly for a dissertation?
Using Grammarly for dissertations is generally acceptable, mainly for language refinement, error correction, and improving the overall quality of writing without violating academic integrity.
Final Thoughts
Grammarly is an excellent writing aid for students.
At a university level, stylistic modifications, such as what is offered by Grammarly, are widely accepted and even suggested for use by Professors to help improve writing making it an excellent choice for colleges, universities and high school classrooms.
If you intend to give it a try then start with the free version.
Join over 10 million global students who unlock the power of Grammarly every day to write with care and confidence.
Till we meet again on another article,
..do have a nice day.
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