Deadlines and Robot Voices

With essay deadlines looming, we’ve seen an uptake in appointments with students and it’s got me thinking about what advice I’d give myself if I wanted to check over an essay before handing it in.

Often, by the end of an essay (particularly a longer piece of work), the author will be sick of reading it, and may develop a ‘blindness’ to any improvements which can be made.

In order to overcome this I use a "robot voice". Microsoft Word has a great feature called Read Aloud and it does exactly that. 

By clicking the Read Aloud button in the Review tab, you can listen to a computerised voice reading your work. While the consequences are often entertaining, this variation in reviewing your work can really help you to proofread and find any improvements which you may have previously missed. Try it out and let us know whether it works for you!