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Thesis Writing: 5 Things You Must Know (Guest Post)

admin — Tue, 02 Aug 2016 12:00:24 +0000

When you are writing your thesis, it is not uncommon to become overwhelmed by the sheer amount of organization and sections involved with the format. In order to keep you from feeling too much stress from the writing process of your thesis, we’ve gathered five tips of things you must know when you are writing.

Three Questions You Should Ask Yourself

When you are first formulating your thesis, there are three things you should ask yourself so make sure you are on the right track. Once you have gathered your thesis statement you should ask three questions. These three questions are:

1) Is my thesis statement general or specific? : You want to make sure that your thesis statement is very specific. Not only to make it clear and to the point, but a specific thesis statement will allow you to stay within the strict formatting. Getting to the point of your thesis is what the dissertation is about. If you make a statement that is too general you will not have success in sticking to the style format and explaining or proving your statement. An example of comparing specific and non-specific statements would be:

Non-Specific: “People are more likely to object to horror films than they did before.”

Specific: “The horror films of today do not provide audiences the same emotional catharsis as the horror films of the 1930’s-1950’s.”

2) Is my thesis statement clear? To be sure you are very clear with your thesis statement, follow these tips:

– Do not use technical language (unless your dissertation is based on a technical subject).
– Do not use jargon.
– Do not use words that are vague – (interesting, unusual, negative, exciting, difficult, etc.)
– Do not use abstract words – (culture, society, values, etc.)

Did I make sure my thesis is original? Originality is absolutely essential. In all cases you should avoid formula sentences and generic arguments.

Placing the Thesis Statement

While you will follow a specific structure, you need to be aware of the placement of the thesis statement. The purpose of the thesis statement will structure the entire dissertation. Your thesis statement should appear at the beginning. The statement should be in the introduction or the last sentence of the paragraph. You should also keep in mind that your thesis statement should be no more than two sentences long.

In addition, your thesis should not be a question. Thesis statements are designed to ask questions, not be one.

The Topic is Important

While it might seem obvious, you should be careful when choosing your topic. If you are writing an educational subject, make sure the topic is something you are very well versed in and have a lot of knowledge about. In contrast, if you are writing an objective dissertation, make sure that you choose a topic that you are passionate about.

Throughout the thesis, it is important to remember:

– do not bring in ideas or topics that will not be discussed.
– Do not write in first person
– Avoid being combative.

Strict Structure is a Must

Depending on the institution or department you are a part of will determine the style manuals that you can choose from. Most often your committee, board, or any other dissertation writing services will advise you to use the style that is most popular or most often used in your field of study. You should follow their guidance to ensure you start off writing your thesis in the correct format for your department.

Once you have chosen a style manual that is the structure you will need to follow throughout the entire thesis writing and formatting. It is absolutely vital to stick to the strict structuring in order to follow the guidelines of your department and for easy binding as well.

When you format your thesis the following items will need to be assured that they are in accordance to the manual style:

Font (styles and sizes)
Margins and spacing
Page numbering
Citations
Using tables, charts, pictures, etc.
Using bibliographies
Implementing a table of contents

In addition, you will need to follow the exact layout of the manual style you have chosen. For the most part, manual styles will provide a layout such as:

Cover or title page
Copyrights
Section of Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of any: charts, tables, illustrations, graphs, etc.
Preface – if you are using one
Actual text of your thesis (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion)
Bibliographies
Appendices (if applicable)

Drafts and Reviews

When you are drafting your thesis it is not uncommon for your view to change slightly. This happens naturally as you learn more about the subject and discover more in your research. If you find this happening to you, adjust accordingly to ensure you do not stray from your original thesis with the supporting information in your paragraphs.

You will also write several drafts to make sure the final product is perfect. Along the way you need to make sure of:

Spelling errors
Grammatical errors
Overall flow of the dissertation
Making sure to connect ideas or facts appropriately so your thesis is not disjointed
Analyze your thesis to make sure you avoid mistakes that will weaken the thesis statement.

Once you have had the chance to draft your thesis and make adjustments accordingly, give yourself time to read it out loud. When you read it out loud, you will hear the flow of your thesis and it will be clear if it is making sense or is suddenly disjointed. Reading it out loud will also allow you to see the strength of your argument and you can adjust as needed. After you are sure you are happy with the final result, turn it in- and be sure to turn it in on time!

About the Author
Laura Carter has decent experience in educational field. Right now she works with dissertationwritingservices.org. She’s keen on academic, creative writing and passionate about language learning. Follow @carterlaura15 to hear more from her!

This Year’s Youngest Spelling Bee Competitor Provides Excellent Tip To Spelling Tricky Words

admin — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 03:43:19 +0000

… and you won’t believe he is still 6-Years Old!

5 Simple Exercises to Become a Proofreading Master

admin — Wed, 18 May 2016 12:00:57 +0000

Joan Selby

Take a moment to think: how much text have you written throughout last week? No, we’re not talking about actual writing with pen on paper; it seems like no one does that nowadays. We’re talking about texts, emails, social media updates, comments on blog posts and Reddit, reports for your boss if you’re working, homework assignments if you’re a student…

Now think: did you proofread all that content? If you’re like most other people, you probably thought that proofreading was a waste of time because you were in a hurry to send the messages and updates. You’re wrong! The least you could do is starting using the Ultimate Spelling spellchecker, which will instantly improve the impression you’re leaving with your writing.

Michelle Roberts, a professional proofreader from EduGeeksClub.com, explains how important it is for people to proofread every single sentence they write: “Weak instead of week, your instead of you’re, bitch instead of beach… I’ve seen plenty of misspellings throughout my career and let me tell you one thing: they are embarrassing. Are you one of those people who don’t care about spelling because they think no one else cares? Guess what: your teachers care, your potential employers care, and all people you contact definitely care about the way you spell.”

An automated spellchecker will help a lot, but keep in mind that it lacks the human element, so you’ll have to make at least some effort to proofread on your own. Don’t worry; that’s not an overwhelming challenge. Continue reading and you’ll find few simple exercises, which will help you to become the proofreading master.

5 Proofreading Exercises to Try

Exercise 1: Find 7 errors in the following text:

Do you think practice make perfect? It does, but only when you’re practice is proper. When your used to wrong spelling, your contunuously practicing the mistakes. If you have doubts of the way you spell, than you need to check a dictionary. Write the misspelled words in your personnel dictionary and practice proper writing.

Exercise 2: Retype the following text in a word processor, but make sure to correct the mistakes along the way. You should identify 7 mistakes.

Margaret Thatcher was one of the most famous politician in the history of Great Britain. She was the leader of the conservative party for 15 years, and a Primer Minster of UK for 11 years. She got the nick name Iron Lady because of her tough leadership style.

Before becoming a barister, she was a research chemist. Thatcher became the first women to lead a major political party in the UK.

Exercise 3: Read this passage out loud. Is there something wrong with it? Then, retype it to correct the mistakes!

I have an inovative idea: lets practice mispeling and usage wrong gramar as much as possible. Who cares if people cant understand what I write? Ill leave it all to spelcheck to corect. I beleive in the prinsiple of freedom, we shouldnt waste time on proofraeding.

Exercise 4: Retype this text without reading it first. Try to correct the mistakes as you go.

It was realy cold yesterday. Everyone were wearing coats. There hands were cold and there faces unhappy. People were standing like statues waiting for the next bus, and they were verry quet to. Yesterday wasnt a good day.

Exercise 5: Make sure to correct the following sentences regarding proper use of apostrophe.

In my honest opinion, those were our table’s. However, Richards children looked so disappointed, that we had to look for another place to sit. We found four table’s near the windows and everyone was happy at the end. Seeing the childrens’ smiles was a precious moment for us, knowing that we did something good.

Answers to the Exercises

Be careful; don’t read these answers before you practice the exercises above. The point in practicing is to make your own efforts. With time, you’ll get better at proofreading and you’ll start writing much cleaner text. Now, check out the answers to the exercises above, and see if you got the right answers:

Answer to exercise 1

Do you think practice makes perfect? It does, but only when your practice is proper. When you’re used to wrong spelling, you’re continuously practicing the mistakes. If you have doubts of the way you spell, then you need to check a dictionary. Write the misspelled words in your personal dictionary and practice proper writing.

Answer to exercise 2

Margaret Thatcher was one of the most famous politicians in the history of Great Britain. She was the leader of the Conservative Party for 15 years, and a Primer Minister of UK for 11 years. She got the nickname Iron Lady because of her tough leadership style.

Before becoming a barrister, she was a research chemist. Thatcher became the first woman to lead a major political party in the UK.

Answer to exercise 3

I have an innovative idea: let’s practice misspelling and using wrong grammar as much as possible. Who cares if people can’t understand what I write? I’ll leave it all to spell-checker to correct. I believe in the principle of freedom. We shouldn’t waste time on proofreading.

Answer to exercise 4

It was really cold yesterday. Everyone was wearing coats. Their hands were cold and their faces unhappy. People were standing like statues waiting for the next bus, and they were very quiet too. Yesterday wasn’t a good day.

Answer to exercise 5

In my honest opinion, those were our tables. However, Richard’s children looked so disappointed, that we had to look for another place to sit. We found four tables near the windows and everyone was happy at the end. Seeing the children’s smiles was a precious moment for us, knowing that we did something good.

Now, Practice Proofreading!

You’ll find chances to practice everywhere around you. Billboards, Facebook statuses, tweets, and blog posts – all these resources are great for finding spelling mistakes. Remember: every single thing you write makes an impression. When you want to leave an impression of a smart, well-educated individual, you have to proofread your text!

Author’s BioJoan Selby is an ESL teacher and blogger from sunny California. Former CalArts graduate and fancy shoelover. A writer by day and reader by night. Giving creative touch to everything. Find her on Twitter and Facebook

7 Great Online Tools To Improve Essay Writing Skills (Guest Post)

admin — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 03:18:32 +0000

Kenneth Waldman

Essay writing skills are imperative for success in any professional field or lifestyle choice. And whether you dream of working in advertising or accounting, or if you want to be a journalist or a business owner, it really makes no difference. Everyone benefits from honing his or her writing and communication skills.

Essays can be a daunting task for some. And individuals who have no desire to become a writer may not see the importance of perfecting their essay writing skills. However, it’s important to be able to communicate ideas and thoughts clearly, and writing skills work in conjunction with reading and listening skills. Overall communication is key, and forming educated and knowledgeable essays is essential to anyone’s future success.

Review the following 7 online sources to get started. You can begin writing better essays today, if you understand where you look. And regardless of where your skills are lacking, there is most likely a tool or software available to help. First, identify your own weaknesses, and then try using one of the tools listed below that best suits your specific needs.

Ultimate Spelling – This spelling resource can be used as a spellchecker, however it’s also a spelling teacher. Users can access spelling lists for study to increase their focus and productivity, as well as track and note their progress. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, as your spelling will drastically improve and you will begin to make fewer mistakes.

Help.Plagracker – You never want to submit an essay that has copied material or improperly sited references. You will ruin your reputation and possibly your future academic and professional career. Double check documents before submitting them by using Plagtracker’s unique checking algorithm. Their scan can assure your work is always 100% unique.

NinjaEssays – This writing service is composed of highly qualified writers and professionals, and is a great place to gain one-on-one essay proofreading assistance. Their team can help with structure and format questions, as well as with overall readability and proofreading. And some may prefer this type of help, instead of an automated system or service.

Thesis Builder – The Thesis Builder from Tommarch is a free resource, however they do accept donations. Users can find and discover essay topics and gain useful advice on how to format and and create an effective thesis. The site also helps generate an outline and can be extremely helpful when starting the essay writing process.

Hemingway – This online editor and app offers users the ability to type directly on the site, or copy and paste text, and to receive a readability score in addition to highlighted suggestions for correction. The app, like Hemingway, focuses on using easy to read sentences, avoiding the overuse of adverbs and eliminating hard to read or repetitive language.

AskPetersen – This site offers access to everything you need to know for writing the best essays. Readers can obtain essay samples, study guides, educational articles, reviews and even posts on student Lifehacks and advice. The blogs cover other academic tools as well, and can be a great daily reference for any type of essay or writing assignment.

Readabiltiy Test – This online source offers the ability to test the readability of a webpage or directly inputted text, and also offers a thorough report for reference. The tool has been featured in Mashable, Buffer and Design Shack and is useful for editing essays to be sure information is communicated properly.

With so much information available today and so many options, it can be hard to know where to start when seeking help. These useful websites, apps and editors are reputable and a great place to begin improving your essay writing skills. And they are a great point of reference whenever and wherever you feel stuck in the writing process.

Developing honed writing skills is simply important, whether you like it or not. And they will be a necessary skill to have throughout your entire life. Whether it is an academic paper or professional cover letter and resume, writing skills are used in all of our daily lives. And can make or break your success and future opportunities.

Take advantage of what technology and the web provide and use the tools listed above to your benefit. Remain motivated and confident, and understand you will have to put in the work. The tools will not write your essay for you, but they can definitely help push your essay writing skills to the next level.

Author: Kenneth Waldman is a professional content writer with over 5 years of experience. His expertise includes education, marketing, freelancing. Get in touch with him on Twitter.

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4 Skills Every Millennial Needs In 2016

admin — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 12:00:45 +0000

Where do I start? A study by Change for Education recently revealed that 6 in 10 millennials lack basic tech skills. Mind-boggling, right?

It turns out that even though we spend about 35 hours per week on digital media, millennials tend to be unexpectedly illiterate when it comes to using technology to solve simple problems. The result, the nonprofit group says, is that about 13 million US millennials are oblivious to the impact their poor tech skills are having on their future success.

The research brought to light a paradox: that digital natives are not necessarily tech savvy.

The good news is that this is something we can, and should, fix.

I’ll only highlight one more thing from this particular research study, but it’s critically important.

You can boost your earnings by one-third with a small boost to your tech skills.

Yes, that’s all it takes to land a more profitable job – simply improve some easy tech skills.

So which skills are essential?

Vocabulary Improvement

Okay, okay, it’s not like your life always depends on the exact words you choose to use (although I could think of a couple of scenarios where specific words could put you in great danger). The thing is, words matter. Words create our reality and help us make sense of our experiences. But more importantly, words help us think better, think critically, and think more.

Improving your vocabulary means having more concepts to think about and speak with. A good vocabulary helps you make the best first impressions, whether that’s with a new acquaintance or a job interviewer.

Speed Reading

Going through your Facebook feed with lightning fast speed doesn’t qualify as speed reading. (What a pity, I know!)

Being a speed reader is fun. Scratch that. It is essential. Just consider the sheer amount of reading you need to go through every day right now. Now think about all of the text you could be absorbing if you could do that reading even faster. The knowledge you can potentially accumulate in just a few weeks is mind-blowing.

Touch Typing

Yes, we might be speaking in emojis these days rather than actual words, and retinal scanning may replace passwords for online banking at some point, but for now, written communication via conventional words is not going away.

So learn to touch type. And learn it the right way – not that awkward hunt and peck method that makes you look like you’re a Martian seeing a QWERTY keyboard for the first time.

Digital communication is here to stay. From catching up with your friends to taking online courses boosting your knowledge in multiple fields, you need touch typing efficiency more than ever.

Your soft skills and personality might impress a potential employer, but you also need hard skills like how to make a presentation and efficiently operate software. You need the ability to present data in a comprehensible visual way, using words as well as images, and your keyboarding speed has an impact on how well you do that.

IT Skills For Everyone

If you think that IT tech skills are only something designers, programmers, and other tech-related professionals need, think again.

Basic skills such as email etiquette, understanding and compiling spreadsheets, interpreting and reporting graphic and numeric illustrations, and of course doing sound online research are survival skills in the competitive marketplace – and if you don’t have those skills, you won’t be winning that competition.

To take your career into the next decade, even a millenial needs to focus on keeping up to speed on these essential tech tools.

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Check out eReflect’s Profile on Wikipedia, Youtube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Crunchbase and Training Industry as well!

3 Spelling Patterns Activities Worth Playing To Master Spelling

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 12:32:35 +0000

Repeat after me: “No more boring spelling activities!”

You can learn spelling the fun way. It doesn’t have to be a boring process of memorization and endless word lists. And to prove our point, here are 3 spelling activities to help you master those tricky spelling patterns today!

Word study

This approach to learning spelling patterns rests on the combination of vocabulary, phonics, and word recognition. Instead of learning to spell through memorization, you learn to recognize spelling patterns and to apply those to the new words you’re learning.

The activity starts with sorting the words on your list to group them by pattern. For example, you might have words such as day, rain, may, grain, paint, gray, way, say, and train on your list. First, you need to visually sort these words. In this case, you’d group them like this:

day, may, gray, way, say

rain, grain, paint, train

Next, start studying these two groups and make a generalization as to when ‘ay’ and ‘ai’ are used.

One thing you’ll notice is that the ‘ay’ letter group is generally only used at the end of a word, while the ‘ai’ pattern is almost always followed by another letter.

Exploring and actively acquiring new knowledge by studying patterns is significantly more interesting for you, and you’ll find it easier to remember.

What’s more, word study helps you develop a working knowledge of spelling rules you can apply to unknown words you come across in the future.

Spelling Board

For this pattern activity, choose a spelling pattern to study each day. For example, try a group such as the short ‘a’ sound, as in the case of words such as flag, lap, pass, glad, hat, and jack. Try to come up with other words that use the short ‘a’. Using paper, cut out and pin these onto a spelling board for weekly practice.

Create stories with word groups.

Let’s say you’ve learned the soft ‘c’ spelling pattern (as in the case of the word ‘cent’). Gather and study words with this spelling and pronunciation and write a story including words such as cell, ceiling, slice, voice, face, celebrate, juice, and romance.

Spelling doesn’t have to be a bore. Amp up it up with fun spelling activities and watch yourself learn faster!

Spelling Tip: Watch Out For Similar Words With Different Meanings

admin — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 12:00:34 +0000

When you’re typing, you need to watch out for those inadvertent slips of the finger that create typos – misspelled words that you might not catch with your computer spellchecker because the misspelling actually creates a new word that’s correctly spelled, but not at all the word you meant to use. For example, if you mistype the word complaint as compliant your computer won’t flag that as a mistake, but your readers certainly will!

You need to also watch out for “audible typos” when you’re speaking, to make sure that you don’t use words with similar appearance and pronunciation incorrectly. Sometimes words that are easy to mistype or misspell don’t cause problems when you’re speaking, because the pronunciation of the words is so different. It’s not likely that you’ll say the word complaint (pronounced kuhm-PLAYNT, “a stated grievance or disapproval of a situation”) instead of the word compliant (pronounced kuhm-PLY-uhnt, “easy-going, agreeable”) because the words are not really alike in pronunciation, even though the spellings are almost identical.

On the other hand, the words credible and creditable are probably easier to misuse when speaking than when writing or typing, because there’s an extra set of letters in the second word. This also creates an extra syllable, but since it’s not emphasized, it’s easy to slur over it and confuse the two words. Credible is pronounced KREH-dih-bull and means “believable, trustworthy.” Creditable is pronounced KREH-dih-tah-bull and means “deserving of praise.”

Keep your eyes open to watch out for spelling mistakes and your ears open to avoid pronunciation mistakes, and you’ll be sure to speak and type typo-free!

5 Things Teachers Can Do to Improve Their Teaching Style Outside the Classroom

admin — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:00:51 +0000

As a teacher, you might love teaching, but do your students love learning? To make learning engaging for students you can integrate the following five tactics and instantly improve your teaching’s impact.

Tech-Driven Learning is More Fun

If you’re teaching new vocabulary, for instance, use vocabulary improvement software that will help your students learn through fun games and interactive activities. Young people by definition are more adept with technological skills, so by integrating software and social media into your teaching routine you will instantly get your students’ attention – a prerequisite for advanced learning.

Use classroom management software and apps to get your students and their parents engaged with learning, and you’ll reduce the number of “I forgot there’s an assignment” excuses, and get students used to taking responsibility.

Give Responsibilities

Students love being thought of as reliable, knowledgeable human beings. Boost this assertive self-image of your students by asking them to take up projects and initiatives of their own, in ways that illustrate what they learn in the classroom.

Being confident in your own capacities and knowledge is a valuable skill to teach to your students.

Make Teaching Interesting

Social media, intuitive educational apps, empirical learning. Need we say more? There are so many resources online and offline to spice up learning. Stop thinking of technology as something that will only distract students, and don’t be tempted to and exclude it from your classroom. Its power to promote learning is beyond imagination!

Students get bored easily, so your goal is to be unexpectedly interesting. Surprise your students with a vocabulary lesson on vocabulary software, initiate a Twitter Q&A session to discuss a history test, or have online-based assignments that teach the topic – and how to use technology responsibly.

Don’t Forget About Yourself

No matter how passionate you are about education, you need to set aside ample time to yourself. If you cannot seem to find time for your hobbies and friends, schedule time for them. If it’s in your schedule it will be done.

Cultivate new skills, engage and be exposed to different kinds of social circles and experiences, and play with technology yourself in your free time. All of this will spruce up your own teaching methods and multiply what you can give to your students.

Don’t Forget the Parents

Parents are your most loyal allies when it comes to boosting your students’ performance and counteracting their weaknesses. Start cultivating a nurturing, trustworthy relationship with the parents of your students, and take advantage of modern communication to make this relationship easy and enjoyable.

Although it might not be easy to keep in touch and keep up with all your students’ parents in person, technology is now making it a bit easier to do so on line. A weekly newsletter or an online teacher’s conference with them gives you a more accurate context as to the best way to approach each parent, and how to discuss any issues related to the student. Don’t forget to include well-deserved praise for the student!

Running volunteering programs, or getting parents involved in school performances and events, can be another way to recruit parents in your mission to offer knowledge. Let parents know that their child is important to you, and you’ll get the behind-the-scenes support you need with the students.

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Enhancing Writing Capacities: Principles & Resources

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2015 11:55:17 +0000

Kenneth Waldman

There are numerous professions where the ability to write is absolutely essential. Novelists, journalists, lawyers, freelance writers, managers, teachers, college students, you name it. It is fair to say that writing, and writing well, requires at least a modicum of talent. But writing, just like any other skills, can be improved and polished until it has reached a certain level of quality.

In the past, an individual needed to put in a lot of time and effort to perfect their writing skills, but today, there is a whole myriad of different tools, techniques and apps which can improve your writing almost instantly.

The writing process can be divided into 5 different stages, or elements. We have provided you with a list of all the best writing tools and resources for each of the 5 stages. Keep on reading.

Brainstorming

The first stage of every writing process involves digging through the chaos inside your mind and finding an idea which has some value. You can do it the old-fashioned way, by using just a pen and some paper, or you can rely on one of the following tools:

MindNode. This online resource relies on the mind mapping technique in order to help the writer come up with useful ideas and concepts. The entire process is represented graphically, which makes it really easy to get a hang of.

FreeMind. FreeMind is somewhat similar to MindNode, because it relies on the use graphics for mind mapping, but it can also be used to keep track of all your projects, as well as all your research data, bookmarks and notes. You can use the notes to create your own knowledge database which you can dip into whenever you need an idea.

The Story Starter. Sometimes, the only thing you need to get your creative juices flowing is that first sentence, and this is exactly what The Story Starter does. It generates a random starter sentence which you need to get the ball rolling.

Writing.com. This location is one of the top online communities which gathers thousands of writers into one place, and offers a whole multitude of different tool, tips and techniques to improve your writing, as well as a creative environment which is guaranteed to kick-start your inspiration.

Research

Once you have your ideas and your topics figured out, before you can start writing, you need to start doing research on the subject. Unless the topic you are writing about just happens to be your field of expertise, you will have to dedicate some time to research different sources and gather all the necessary data. For instance, even if you are writing your autobiography, you still need to consult people that are close to you that were there when certain events occurred in your life.

If you are looking for online resources, check out the following locations:

LibrarySpot. LibrarySpot is a free online data resource center which lets you search libraries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, research studies, paper, and so on. If you are looking for information on just about anything, we advise you to start here.

Google Scholar. If Google isn’t turning up any useful results, try Google Scholar, which is Google’s search engine designed to index and search scholarly content based on both metadata and full texts. Its database contains around 160 million documents!

Encyclopaedia Britannica. One of the largest encyclopedias in history needs no special introduction. With Nobel Prize winners among its contributors, it’s hard to beat in terms of quality.

Project Gutenberg. What started off as a volunteer project back in 1971 become one of the largest digital libraries in the world, with almost 50,000 public domain titles available for reading and downloading in popular formats.

Writing

In order to enhance your writing, you are going to need a good text editor, and several reputable resources which can help both with practical advice on how to improve your writing, as well as high quality work by the best writers online:

Write My Essay. If are looking for practical advice on how to write papers and essays, you can find plenty of it on this website. Furthermore, you can get in touch with professional writers and ask for custom guidance, or even commission an essay and see how it should be done.

yWriter. If you are using a standard text editor like Microsoft Word and you’re writing a novel, you will quickly find yourself overwhelmed because you won’t be able to keep track of all the notes, footnotes, and chapters. yWriter, on the other hand, was conceived with that in mind. The best thing about it is that it was designed by an author, and it definitely shows.

Google Docs. For those who prefer to write using different platforms, without having to carry their work around with them, Google Docs is probably the best solution, because you can synchronize all your work and access it from anywhere, using anything. Those that are familiar with Microsoft Office or OpenOffice will feel right at home here.

Proofreading

No written work is complete before it’s properly formatted, checked for spelling errors, and proofread for other mistakes. Luckily, this particular segment of the writing process is rich with high-quality tools and services that will assist you in proofreading your documents and check them for plagiarism:

Hemingway App. Ernest Hemingway was a master of saying a lot with as very few words as possible. This app won’t help you write like Hemingway, but it will improve the readability of your work, by breaking down overly long and complex sentences.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. If you are not sure about how some word is spelled, or if you don’t like to rely on your text editor to find spelling errors, Merriam-Webster Dictionary is your go-to destination, not just because it’s owned by Britannica, but because it is one of the best online dictionaries out there, hands down.

Grammarly. Hunting for spelling errors is relatively easy with the help of dictionary, but finding grammar mistakes in your work and correcting them is a lot more complex issue, and that’s why recommend you check out Grammarly. It is a powerful online tool which will analyze the structure of your sentences, detect plagiarism and provide suggestion on how to improve your texts, among other things.

Publishing

Unless you have a book deal signed with a publisher, chances are you will be publishing your work online, on a blog, or a website. There are several excellent blogging platforms on the web, but the following two are the most popular:

WordPress. Want a professional-looking blog or a website created in a matter of hours? Go with this one. WordPress has so many features it’s impossible to name them all in a single article.

Blogger. Does pretty much what WordPress does, so if you don’t like WordPress, give Blogger a shot, and vice versa.

If you work hard enough and dedicate yourself, with the help of these tools, you will be able to elevate your writing skills within a relatively short time frame.

Remember that the best tool in your toolbox is your own talent, and these apps are just here to shine a spotlight on it. Start becoming a better writer today.

Author: Kenneth Waldman, a freelance writer and English tutor. Get in touch with him on Linkedin.

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The Apostrophe Unmasked! (Guest Post)

admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 12:00:30 +0000

The apostrophe has two main functions.

The first is to show omission of letters and the second is to show possession, which is what we’ll look at here.

Using the apostrophe to indicate possession

It’s easy when you write about the dog’s dinner; the man’s stunningly beautiful wife, Lavinia; Lavinia’s personal trainer, Lars, and so on.

It starts to get tricky (for Lavinia’s husband and for us) when we get to Lars. Is Lavinia Lars’ best client? Could it be that she is Lars’s ticket to that new Porsche he’s had his eye on for some time?

If he was plain old Bill there wouldn’t be a problem — she would be Bill’s best client and the ticket to Bill’s new Porsche.

We’ll assume (rightly, as it happens) that Lavinia is a Lady Who Lunches, and when she does lunch with her friends, they visit a women’s club. It’s not a womens’ club. When a word is made plural by changing some of its interior bits, you don’t make it doubly plural in the possessive.

When a word ends in ‘s’ and an additional syllable is pronounced in the possessive, add apostrophe S (even if you end up with 3 s’s). So you’d have the ladies going to their tennis class before lunch, and Lavinia being very chuffed when her coach, Mr Harris, told her she was the class’s best player. Although it’s difficult to know whether Mr Harris’s opinion is very reliable — he’s a push-over for a pretty face and a flash of a shapely thigh.

When writing about joint ownership, possession is shown only on the last noun, but where individual ownership exists, possession is shown on each noun.

Lavinia and her husband’s new yacht was the venue for a fancy-dress party.

Lavinia’s and Raoul’s sailor suits were a hit with their guests.

T’riffic Tip

The very best way to remember when to use the possessive apostrophe — in any circumstance — is to substitute the word ‘of’ …

The women’s club – the club of the women

Lavinia’s personal trainer – the personal trainer of Lavinia

Her husband’s new yacht – the yacht of her husband

This is also the way you test for those really tricky ones:

three months’ experience – the experience of three months

So, if you’re tempted to use an apostrophe but you can’t substitute “of” … then leave it out!

Banana’s only $2 kilo – the … of … bananas, kilos? … @#!

All these shop’s sell clothes – the … of … shops, clothes? … @#!

OK … you get the message. Don’t just whack in an apostrophe every time you end a word with S!

About the Author: Jennifer Stewart is a freelance writer whose site, http://www.write101.com has been helping people solve their writing problems since 1998. Visit now to read numerous articles on how to write well — for profit or pleasure — and sign up for your free Writing Tips: mailto: WritingTips -subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Originally Posted at http://www.write101.com, July 13, 2001