Today, communication is one of the major keys to survival. The ability to communicate effectively, however, is partly inherent and partly learned. Therefore, it is possible for even the most diffident of us to improve our communication skills with effort and dedication. Since writing is one of the most crucial modes through which the exchange of thoughts and ideas takes place, even the best of us can greatly benefit from feedback on our writing skills.

Paper Rater, which is a free, web-based tool, is very handy in this regard as it provides real-time analysis of your writing and gives you feedback on your style of writing, originality, grammar and spelling.

To use Paper Rater, you simply have to copy and paste the text which needs to be analyzed into the provided field and also mention the nature of the text by choosing from the options given. Once you submit your text for reviewing, it takes only an instant for your report to be compiled.

Your report will not only highlight errors in spelling, grammar and word usage, but will also provide you with feedback regarding your vocabulary usage and writing style. Another useful feature of Paper Rater is that you can check for possible plagiarism. The application compares the text that you have submitted with other writing available online and gives your submission an originality percentage. This is especially helpful to students writing their research papers.

However, one of the limitations of this service is that it cannot analyze short documents. Nevertheless, it is hardly a bad option for cross-checking one’s work!