Antidote RX

What is it?

Antidote is the best and the latest in software designed specifically to help students with their writing assignments by including a very complete spell checker, an on-board French dictionary, a sophisticated thesaurus as well as grammar and syntax guidelines. It goes well beyond the capacities of Microsoft French spell-check and we strongly suggest that you do not use any other tool when submitting a paper for a French class at Brown.

(For purchase over the internet go to http://www.druide.com/ and follow the links for a vendor in Canada or go to amazon.ca. Remember, you are looking for Antidote RX, by Druide Informatique. You can also try to find it on the US market but make certain you have the latest version. Neither the LRC nor the Bookstore resell any copies)

Before you start:

1. You must type your paper outside of the lab on a Mac or a PC in a commonly used application (Word, Text Edit, etc.) that can be read by all the machines in the Language Resource Center (on your personal machine or in a CIT lab). Do not come empty handed to the LRC since there are only 25 machines. Please type the accents and make a first attempt at correcting your mistakes before trying to correct with Antidote. The information on how to type accents is available on the LRC website: Go to "See specific information for Windows or Mac users> Input accented characters. A PDF file will donwload on your machine. At the lab, you will find an info sheet next to the door. Moreover, allow yourself enough time to write your first draft since the correction takes some time and machines may be overused right before the deadline.

2. You must then move your paper to the computers at the LRC in order to work with Antidote:

  • The best way to have your paper available to you when you come to work in the lab is use MyStuff, Brown's Personal File Service.
  • Do not bring a diskette or USB key to the LRC as they will not be read or crash the machines; go first to a CIT lab and copy the paper into MyStuff or your Brown webmail account.
  • You can transmit your paper to the LRC by using your webmail account, but you need to remember that since Antidote works as a PC application within Word, you will need to retrive it using Internet Explorer from the left side PC menu.
  • For Antidote to work, you need to remain on the PC side of the computer. It has not been installed under MAC OS.

3. Open you document in Word. The Antidote symbols will appear in green in a small toolbar window. If you cannot see it, go to View (top menu), select "View toolbar", "Antidote" and it should reappear. Follow the instructions of Antidote (do come to a training session or speak to your instructor if you experience trouble).

V Correcteur (Checker): To spell check your document.
D Dictionnaire (Dictionary): To check on words, their meaning, expressions and figures of speech, synomyms, etc.

Antidote will interactively react to any changes you make and should correct the Word document as you accept or reject changes but remember that it does not understand the meaning of the words you type. It tries to understand the grammatical relation between them. That being said, it will offer a large number of suggestions based on the structure of your sentences. Whenever you see a yellow line within a sentence, that means that Antidote has stopped working on this sentence and cannot give you suggestions. You must then rework the sentence until the yellow line disappears. This process can take quite a while but if you do it correctly, you will also learn some French. All the dictionaries have been linked, so you can click on any word within Antidote and it will take you to its definition.

Antidote tools also allow you to review your text for repetitions, use of connectors, and much more. Come to a training session or pick up the insturction sheet by the door in 201 CIT.

4. Save your word document frequently. Do not type for an hour without saving your document. Use a file name that you can easily remember and that won't be confused with other students documents (e.g., your name with a number appended to it). Once you are done, copy the paper back to MyStuff. or back to the mail account prior to printing. If the machine freezes, you will still have access to your original.

5. Do not leave a copy of your paper on the machine after you have printed and saved it. Others can read it and you are responsible if someone uses your work: you would also be found responsible for plagiarism. Moreover, the machines will be frequently erased and you will lose all your work.

6. Several training sessions for new students in FREN0500, FREN0600, FREN1510 will be organized during the first few weeks of the semester, before papers are due. A teacher will be on hand to guide you through the program if it is your first time, or help you get better if you are already familiar with it. At any point during the semester, talk to your course chair if you feel you are not getting the program to work properly.

7. New tools have been added to the basic functions of Antidote. These new features allow you to scan the entire body of your text after you have corrected itand to spot repetitions, style errors, use of pronouns, etc. While at first you may find this information overwhelming, after a while, it will allow you to improve your writing style.

8. Purchase Antidote. Finally, if you are planning to take several classes in French, we suggest that you purchase your own copy of Antidote. (See the company web site for more information)

Where to Find Antidote on Campus ?:>>LRC, Room 201 CIT 25 copies, Mac and PC (available Fall 07)

How to type foreign characters: >>input accented characters

 

Home - Faculty & Staff - Graduate Program - Undergraduate Program
Courses - Resources & Links