Formats | The Mighty Pen

Ways to Express Your Opinions

A university classroom. (Jones Hall at Princet...

Image via Wikipedia

Opinions–everyone seems to have one. To some, expressing their opinion is not very important and they just keep it to themselves. To others, expressing their opinions is a very important matter. There are many avenues to pursue if you want to share your opinions.

Education

Education is a great way to express an opinion. Classrooms are lively forums for debate and intellectual discussions. It doesn’t matter if you are in a traditional classroom setting or in an online classroom, both offer opportunities for expressing opinions. If you like the idea of sharing your opinions in writing through an online class, you can find online courses at eLearners.com.

Art

Art has been a powerful form of expression for centuries. Works of art can depict strong opinions about social and political issues. These opinions can be expressed through paintings, sculptures, and the written word including poems and music.

Public Forums

Public forums such as city council meetings, school board meetings, student council gatherings or letters to the editor are active outlets through which opinions can be expressed. Letters to the editor usually have to be signed. Most newspapers will not publish anonymous letters. Most of these meetings are open to the public but protocol must be followed. If you wish to express your opinion at public meetings, you may be required to be on the agenda and your time may be limited.

You can express your opinions constructively. Just decide how and where you want to discuss your opinion. It doesn’t have to be just one way; you can take advantage of many outlets such as the ones listed here.

Filed Under: Formats, General Tagged With: Letter to the editor, Opinion, Writing

Authors: Writing a Research Paper Means Knowing Your Scholars

Having reliable sources is the key to writing a successful paper, as these sources will be the support for your argument. There are at least three things that you must know about an author when deciding if you should rely on them:

When. You need to know when the author wrote, and when he studied. Did he stay in the academic field long? Did he write recently enough to be able to encounter and address any key arguments in his field? Have other writers responded to his writing? Note that your research should be composed of a wide variety of sources from several years, but that you must always have sources that were published very recently.

Where. It is very important to research not only where this author wrote, and what publication they were published in, but to know where they studied as well. Did they study under an important scholar? What influence can be seen from this in their work? This will help you decide just how this author fits into your paper. Before getting to this, however, you must address how credible the source is by addressing where he or she worked, or where they were published. Is he a professor at a well-known university? Was his book published by the Oxford University Press? These are important questions to consider, as they show you just how well-known and influential this scholar was.

What. After deciding how credible the scholar is, you need to research what he primarily wrote about or studied. Is the writing you have from him in his usual field? If it is not, you may not want to rely on it so heavily. What did he write about mostly? Besides what he himself wrote, you should also be aware of where he has been cited. If he is a source that you found obscurely, you will need to prove his other credentials to make him seem the most credible.

Understanding all of these things will allow you to make sure that you are the most informed researcher, and that your argument is the best supported.

Filed Under: Formats, Publishing Tagged With: Author, Publishing, Writing

Writing a Credible Paper

Learning to write well and effectively essential for any student. Here is how you can improve your papers.

Sources. In order to be a truly credible paper, you must have solid support for your argument. This means proving that you have done your homework by listing at least one to two sources for every page of your paper. That means that if you are writing an eight page paper, you will need to have at least eight to sixteen sources.

Know the main authors. In order to be credible, you need to prove that you are familiar with the main authors who discuss the topic you are writing about. You do not want your professor to dumbfound you when asking if you are familiar with an argument, and then going on to explain how this argument completely changed the way your topic is understood. Missing a source of this kind could undermine your whole paper. Even if a main author or argument is not a large part of your paper, you should at least mention it or put it in your bibliography to show that you are familiar with it. To ensure that you have not missed an important source, look up the bibliographies of your sources to see if you are missing a book or article often listed.

Cite and support everything you say. Nothing you say should be assumed. Absolutely everything you write must have support in some research, and be sure to cite it. For example, if you are working on a poem of Wordsworth, and write that the poet Wordsworth suffered from depression, be sure to have a source that says specifically that he did. Assuming that Wordsworth suffered from depression because most Romantic poets did is poor scholarship and will not be looked on favorably. Even more particularly, you should also discover if Wordsworth was depressed while writing the poem you are analyzing, or even the fact that he did occasionally suffer from depression is irrelevant.

Knowing your sources and citing them is one of the best ways to improve your writing.

Filed Under: Formats, Publishing Tagged With: Education, Paper, Writing

Tips for Improving Your Writing Skills

: Image via Wikipedia

Your writing makes an impression about what kind of person you are. Always strive to write clear, direct messages that will be of interest to your readers. If you are responding to someone’s correspondence, make sure you respond promptly. All of these will put you in a positive light whenever you attempt to persuade the reader.
Always start with the main idea. This is the purpose of writing your document. Whether a short story or a business letter, the main idea should be the first sentence of the first paragraph.
Make your writing interesting by changing your sentence length. Write your ideas in clear concise sentences. Use shorter sentences for emphasis of the main through.
Use key words at the beginning of the sentence and at the end of the sentence. Placing main ideas in the middle of the sentence will bury your main parts of the document.
Avoid using the same sentence style throughout. The occasional question will break up the monotony of the writing. Use a variety of compound, simple and complex sentences.
Select active verbs and avoid the passive voice. If you write in forms of “to be” you are using passive voice.
Avoid being vague. Use nouns and verbs with clarity. Make the readers become engaged in the story with concrete words that show rather than tell what you mean.
Be concise and eliminate words that are not necessary to your story. If it doesn’t move your main idea along, take it out.
Read the revision out loud. It is often easier to hear the tone and emphasis of your word choices when than it is to read them.
Never look over your work for a final draft. Read it well and look for common pitfalls.
No matter how many words you know, always consult a dictionary. Never trust the spell checker entirely. It can only identify a misspelled word, not a wrongly used word.

Filed Under: Formats, Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: Spell checker, Voice (grammar), Writing

How to Write a Poetry Analysis

A poetry analysis is also called an explication. This analysis explores the elements of the poems plot, imagery, interpretations and themes. Writing a poetry analysis can be complicated in the beginning as you develop deeper understanding of poetry and the authors of major work you will be able to walk through a poetry analysis with confidence.
Obviously to analyze a poem you will first need to read the poem thoroughly. Although it may seem like an elementary idea, read the poem aloud to help understand and identify the basic elements.
Identify the dramatic structure. Attempt to learn who the author intended the speaker of the poem to be. Then ask questions from that point of view. Who is he talking about and why is the story being told. What was the setting of the poem and how does the speakers style fit with what we know of this place and time in history.
Develop an understanding of the genre and sub-genres of the poem. This can help understand additional meanings through the characteristics. After you have answered the previous questions, work to understand what the poem is about. Some poets describe a common object in uncommon ways, work to understand the thought process and style of the author. Knowing what the poem is about, is essential to analyzing the poem.
Note any details and metaphors used in the poem. Don’t ignore parts that appear insignificant on the surface. These can hold the most valuable truths about the poem.
Make sure the written analysis follows an organized pattern. Write the analysis in the fashion of an essay using strong opening sentences, formal paragraph structures, and perfect grammar. Your analysis should be as professional as possible and void of personal opinion. When all of these components come together the reader of the poetry analysis will have a complete understanding of the poem.

Filed Under: Formats, Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: Arts, Online Writing, Poetry

Tips for Writing Epic Novels

: Image by mshea via Flickr

Several people have ideas about writing a novel but never take the plunge. Getting started and sticking with it just seems to overwhelm most writers. There is no hard definition for an epic novel but many work under the assumption that an epic novel is much longer than the basic novel. The epic novel generally has more elements such as subplots and characters. Quit putting it off and get started on your epic novel with these tips.

Determine what you need the length of the epic novel will be. A good story can be told in less than 400 pages. If your story will require about 600 pages, it may be the right story for your epic.

Start the creative process by succinctly stating your novel into a few sentences. Write these down. These sentences will keep you focused on the message as you create the epic. Writing the epic takes a large commitment and a large amount of energy. Never take on a project of this magnitude that does not have a significant message.
Take the time to write an outline. Creative geniuses typically like to jump in with both feet. However, taking a few hours to prepare and set your stage now will save valuable creative time later. Don’t be intimidated by the outline process. Because an epic novel will be so long and there will be many characters to manipulate, an outline is a necessity.
Start writing your epic novel and work within milestones and goals. An epic will take about 6 months to a year to complete. You will need to set milestones to reach in order to stay motivated. A good goal is to write at least 600 words a day for one year. That will give you a more manageable goal than looking at a daunting task of another 200,000 words.
Most importantly record details for your epic on a voice recorder throughout the day.

Filed Under: Formats, Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: Arts, Creativity, Writing

The Source of Inspiration

For a writer, inspiration can come from anywhere. Writers are people who have ideas they just can’t keep inside them. They want to record all their thoughts and feelings, even if no one reads them but themselves. This applies to all sorts of writers from magazine writers to essayists to novel writers and short story writers. People who write stories or poems for their own amusement may get ideas from everyday life. People who write factual or informational articles and essays often observe things that inspire them to put pen to paper. Even technical and sales copy writers often draw inspiration from simple observation of the world.

How the inspiration is applied, however, is another story. For the more amateur writer, she may be content just scribbling a few words in her journal or posting them on her blog or social media page. For writers more experienced with writing for the business world, organization is of the utmost importance. They put extra consideration into making sure the text they produce is easily understood by any and all readers. Professional writers make sure to adhere to professional writing standards, eliminate any excess, and follow set rules and regulations. These writers are also able to perform the same tasks as the other groups, but they’re more likely to be able to receive compensation for their work.

Regardless of your preferred type of writing, there are always ways to improve it. A popular way to step up one’s writing abilities is to take a writing course. Some even take things a level beyond that and aim for a degree. It’s easier than ever to do so, too, since sites like elearners.com offer educational resources that you can use from home. You can pursue an English or Journalism degree without leaving your bedroom, if you want. You may be able to turn your natural hobby into a lucrative career.

Filed Under: Formats, Publishing Tagged With: Arts, Short story, Writers Resources

Use the Pyramid Plot to Write Short Stories

The pyramid plot is a writing model that uses the pyramid as a graphic representing the flow of the story. The first upward slope is a place to record the characters, plot, settings, background information and builds tension. As you reach the to tip of the pyramid you will have climaxed your plot. On the downward slope, write the resolution of the story.
Select the narrative viewpoint. Write the story in first person with the author being a character, also called first person. A second choice is to have the story narrated by a third person who observes the other characters, also called limited third person. The omniscient third person will be a narrator from many different characters views.
A short story will always include a main character. This character is the one readers will remember and can relate to.
Develop a conflict for your main character. Make the conflict believable and realistic. The conflict should be one that readers can relate to.
When developing characters make it believable. Do not make the characters, super human. Give each character dialog and descriptions that will let the reader know exactly who the character is. Readers will care about characters they can relate to.
Create tension in the story. Don’t let the main character be a winner all the time. Give the reader a cause or goal to support. The main character should have a crisis to overcome. Many main characters become heroes by overcoming personal crisis and displaying personal growth during the unfolding of the story. Always resolve any tension before the end of the story. Readers don’t like to be left without a resolutions. Your resolution segment can become a focal point for a short story that will tell a moral lesson.
Successfully exit all characters. Never introduce a character and leave them hanging on the page.

Filed Under: Formats, Inspirations Tagged With: Arts, Protagonist, Short story

Generate Ideas for Your Writing

Writers block is difficult to overcome without some form of inspiration. Here are a few tricks to boost your creativity and generate ideas.

Practice writing just for fun. Avoid writing exclusively for others. Do your work and your assignments but also take time out to write what you are interested in. This can take just 10 minutes a day to write for fun. This practice will help keep your skills sharp and in tune. Just as a musician needs to practice so do writers.
Look for inspiration in things that interest you. Look at a magazine but don’t look at the photographed subject. Look in the background of the image. You will find lots of inspiration in the background objects. Pick out your favorite element from a flower. Don’t simply look at the flower as a whole but choose a petal. Better yet choose just one portion of the petal and see how many ways you can describe it.
An idea book can be kept all the time. The ideas will be recorded and you can refer back to them. An idea one year ago may now be relevant and interesting to you.
Try meditating this is used by many people and can clear your mind to allow other thoughts to enter. Some find this is the best way to generate new ideas and unwind.
Brainstorm your subject matter. Before you start to write. Write down any thought that pops into your mind. This can help you to get inspiration by developing topics that you wouldn’t ordinarily think of.
Don’t write the beginning and don’t write the ending until the last thing. The beginning can get many good authors stuck and a lot of time can be wasted on this part. When you write the beginning last, you know how to fold it into the story.

Filed Under: Formats, Publishing Tagged With: Arts, writer block, Writers Resources