Need a good novel to read? Wondering if your writing has a little Shakespeare in it? Websites like Teen Reads and I Write Like can show you just that.
One tool that students can use for researching books is teenreads.com.
It is a website about reading with book reviews, new and cool books, and new books on paperback,” Lee Mitchell, head librarian, said.
Teen Reads also provides information on book series, books being or already turned into movies, background information about authors, and author interviews
The site includes an “Ultimate Reading List” with over 300 books recommended from the websites readers ranging from the 1951 novel “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger to more recent choices like “Looking for Alaska” by John Green and “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer, both published 2005.
Mitchell says the website is helpful for looking for a book recommendation or something just to read.
“It’s a good place to get some research about books and book lists, and students should use it,” Mitchell said.
Another website that’s causing some interest is I Write Like (iwl.me). Created by Dmitry Chestnykh, a 27-year-old Russian, software developer, over the summer, I Write Like has been featured on CNN’s, the Huffington Post’s, and The New Yorker’s websites.
To find out what author you write like, all you have to do is submit a writing sample (preferably a couple of paragraphs) and click analyze. According to the website, the statistical tool “analyzes your word choice and writing style and compares them with those of the famous writers.”
“We used it to learn more about voice and sentence structure,” Melissa Burger, language arts teacher, said. Burger used the site with her senior composition classes.
I Write Like takes both modern and classic authors for comparison.
“The whole objective for students is to compare their own writing and see if they agree,” Burger said. “It’s not about accuracy [for the class], but 75% of students found it accurate.”
Noelle Clatto, language arts teacher, plans on using I Write Like with her classes.
“It introduces students to different writers,” Noelle Clatto, language arts teacher, said. “It’s more entertaining than anything.”
Upon completion, this article was analyzed by I Write Like, and it’s written like H.P. Lovecraft, a horror and science fiction writer of the early 20th century.
