Easy reinforcement for your students
No need to make up examples and worksheets for your students. Free courseware is available for instructors who adopt Good Writing.
The companion app marks weak sentences in their own drafts and explains the rule from the book. It never rewrites a word. The student has to find their own better sentence.
Instead of repetitive examples and worksheets, the student watches as the lessons of the book apply to essays and creative writing assignments from any class they’re taking. Pedagogically sound, the courseware’s reinforcement becomes a routine in their college life, including outside the context of your classroom.
Sample the app free here: goodwriting.app
Sadness hung from her like an overfilled bag, and she didn't have the words for it.
The app flags the weak sentence. Your student writes a better one.
Assign Good Writing by Neal Allen and Anne Lamott, and your students get the companion app free for the term. It marks weak sentences in their own drafts and explains the rule from the book. It never rewrites a word.
Free for you and your students. A two-minute form. Your course code arrives by email within two business days.
Your students learn as they go.
Here is what your student sees. The app marks the weak spots and names the principle from the book. The student clicks a mark to read why it is weak.
Rule 23: Give Your Sentence a Finale
Even if you begin your sentence strongly, end it even stronger.
Why this was flagged:
The most vivid image here — 'hung from her like an overfilled bag' — lands in the middle and then the sentence trails into abstraction. That concrete, surprising comparison is where the reader feels something; let it be the last thing they hear, and the sentence will hit harder.
It will never write for your students.
The app reads a student's draft, marks sentence-level problems, and explains the principle behind each one. It does not draft, rewrite, paraphrase, or suggest replacement text.
That aligns the app with such student aids as a basic grammar checker or visit to the writing center. Many college writing policies allow those and restrict tools that generate or rewrite text.
The Good Writing companion app is a sentence-analysis tool. It highlights sentence-level issues in your own writing and explains the craft principle behind each one. It does not generate, rewrite, or suggest text. You may use it in this course, the same way you would use a grammar checker or the writing center.
Student writing is never used to train anything. We do not ask for student names, ID numbers, or class rosters. Your school shares no student records with us.
What the app checks
Good Writing teaches 36 principles. The app checks 19 of them.
- Ch. 1Use Strong Verbs
- Ch. 2Question “Being” and “Having”
- Ch. 4Stick with “Said”
- Ch. 6Prefer Anglo-Saxon Words
- Ch. 7Sound Natural
- Ch. 9Question Transitions
- Ch. 11Drop “Very” and Other Crutch Words
- Ch. 12Jettison [All Those] Tiny Words
- Ch. 13Dress Up “This”
- Ch. 15Refresh Your Words
- Ch. 17Stay In Tune
- Ch. 19Twist Clichés
- Ch. 21Stretch Out
- Ch. 22Short Sells
- Ch. 23Give Your Sentence a Finale
- Ch. 24Crystallize Your Dialogue
- Ch. 28Once Is Enough
- Ch. 29Smell the Roses
- Ch. 30Don’t Filter
How to get it
- 1
Tell us about your course.
A two-minute form. Use your school email.
- 2
Get your code.
We email you one course code within two business days. You also get full access yourself, so you can try the app before your students do.
- 3
Share the code with your class.
Students go to goodwriting.app, sign up with an email, and enter the code. Full access, free for the term.
Get free access for your class
Two minutes. We read every request and reply by hand.
- Free courseware for you and your students
- No examples or worksheets to make
- Course code by email within two business days
Questions instructors ask
What does it cost my students?
Nothing during the term. After the term, 5 core checks stay free. The full set is $8.99 a month or $69 a year. The student price is $5.99 a month or $59 a year.
How long does free access last?
Through the end of the term.
Will this conflict with my course AI policy?
Probably not. Many policies restrict tools that generate or rewrite text. This app does neither. If your policy bans every automated tool, spell check included, then it falls under that ban.
Can I see my students' work or results?
No. Each student's drafts stay private to that student. This is on purpose: students revise more honestly when no one is watching.
What about student privacy?
Students sign up on their own with an email address. We do not ask for names, ID numbers, or rosters. Your school shares no student records with us. Student writing is never used to train anything. Read the privacy policy.
How do students use it?
They paste or import a draft at goodwriting.app in a web browser on a laptop or desktop.
Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences
New York Times bestseller · 208 pages
Starting where The Elements of Style leaves off, Good Writing gives students 36 plain principles for building better sentences. Thirty-six short chapters, one principle each.
Neal Allen developed the list of tips over the course of his journalism and corporate careers. Anne Lamott is the author of Bird by Bird, which writing teachers have assigned for three decades.
Spring orders are due soon.
Many campus bookstores close spring orders between October and December. Get your code now, and share it with your class on day one.
Get free access for my classFree courseware for your class. No examples or worksheets to make.