February 22, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Writing

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: , ,

Write and Submit To Article Directories, Part 2

When writing an article, there is no limitation on the amount of words, however a count of about 350 or 400 words is concise enough. If you’re passionate about a general topic and have already written more than 1000 words, why not take the opportunity to transform it into three or four smaller items with different titles.

The title of your article is the first thing to be read, it absolutely must contain the main keywords of your topic. However, needless to say that your title should be catchy, as it can lead readers to think about the topic and also make people want to read the article.

The content must also be very precise, catchy, and using the right keywords in your title and first paragraph, preferably early in the first paragraph, can attract the reader’s curiosity, which will ensure that a wide amount of visitors will read the article. In short, the headline and first paragraph should serve as bait.

The advantages of this technique are:

1) This is good for SEO building.
2) blogs or sites that mention your articles have a common subject to develop good backlinks.
3) It is a good technique for targeting the interest given by the visitors.

All things that have advantages, can also have drawbacks:

1) Sometimes writing and submitting articles can be a long process
2) Submitting articles in some directories can be restrictive if you write larger articles.

If you would like to submit to directories, look for a program that lets you do so quickly and easily. You can place your articles in hundreds of directories without spending hours and hours doing it manually.

Filed Under: General, Publishing Tagged With: , ,

Getting Started in Content Writing

Without generalizing, sometimes the content writing sites are trying to attract customers with low prices and then you suddenly realize that you absolutely cannot pay the writers a proper wage. This is not a great business strategy for most of these companies. Instead try to write for content sites that will provide a variety of writing services to their customers.

If you find that the most important is just making money, over time you will not enjoy the work. Writing is something that should be a job you enjoy. Just make sure that besides being a good writer, you are able to create content that is engaging and can be used as samples to apply for other writing jobs. To get the best writing job,  you just know how to make wise choices and not compromise on your options. Very often, a little research and common sense is enough to reach your goal. Unfortunately, content writing with one website might not have the capacity to fully make up for a regular full-time or part-time income. It might not have any impact on your earnings.

This does not mean that you will have to quit writing for a living,  but can supplement your income by applying to work with many sites or choosing a second way to bring in extra income.  The difference in the amount of money you need to survive and what you are making might be small, but it is important. When looking for other content sites, you will need to conduct research, especially on forums to identify any problems with the company. You should look for anyone who is happy to work for the company and is willing to let everyone know.

Filed Under: Publishing Tagged With: , ,

Finding a Topic to Write About

365-2011-045: The Stacks (featuring Fancy Froglin)

Image by plural via Flickr

When looking into a research topic, you should choose a topic that you are able to research and enjoy. Wondering what your topic should be? It should be all of the following:

Something you know. You do not want to begin with a subject that you have little knowledge about, as you will not know what work will be required in order to get an excellent grade on the research paper. Understanding the topic at the beginning means that you will know that you have a viable topic that you will be able to research, and that your topic is just narrow enough to not be overwhelming.

Something you enjoy. You should choose a topic, if you can, on something that you would gladly keep reading and learning about. If the topic is interesting to you, you are more likely to be zealous in your research and faster in your comprehension. If it is a long term project, you should find something that will keep your interest for more than a few days, as this will not only keep you excited about the paper longer, but will make your time more pleasant. Also, if you enjoy a topic, you are more likely to be able to make connections and fuller arguments because you will have a fuller background to pull from. This is because your mind is more fully engaged in a project when you are interested in it.

Something to challenge you. If you are working on a long-term project, it is best to create a topic that, while still familiar to you, breaks into new ground, requiring fresh analysis and research. Finding this balance between familiar and new can be difficult to learn, but makes a project so much more fulfilling when it is reached. While you should be able to pull from the large background of what you already know, you should also be required to encounter new ideas and theories. Connecting these new theories to each other and to what you already know is the core and beauty of your paper.

Filed Under: Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: , ,

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: , ,

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: , ,

Writing Strategies

Sometimes just getting started is the worst part of a writing project. If you are looking for strategies you can use there are some things you can do to keep the creative juices flowing.

If you are having trouble getting started, you can sometimes be inspired by just looking out the window. If this doesn’t work you can also try keeping a notebook. As you go about your day you can jot things down that come to mind. There are no rules and no limits as far as what you write. Write phrases that catch your attention, or describe images that you see. You never know what these will trigger when you sit down to write.

Writing on a regular basis is also helpful. Even if you are not in the mood, writing a few sentences or freewriting will keep you on a schedule. Reading is also one of the most beneficial things you can do for your writing. Read anything and everything and take what you can away from it.

Another good strategy is to start with a clear head. Often times a project will get off the ground much more successfully if you do something to clear everything else out of your mind before you start. This could be a walk for some writers, or cleaning out a closet for others. The time you spend doing this can be well worth it if you get down to business as soon as you are in front of the computer. Once you are ready make sure you have a quiet room and are in the right frame of mind to be productive.

Each writer is different and strategies that work for one writer may not work for others. It may take some trial and error before you find a system that works for you. The key is to keep trying and pushing through if it is something you really want to do.

Filed Under: General Tagged With:

The importance of dialogue

Strong dialogue is the foundation of a successful story. Properly, and well thought out dialogue can help make each individual character more dimensional beings that the reader can relate to, and join them on their journey that the story takes them on.
Here are some reasons that the dynamic of dialogue serves the purpose of making the story stand out.

Defining characters. Take a moment to listen to those around you interacting and talking. This will help you to get an ear for the variances of different peoples speech patterns. How the character is described with speech (accents, stutter), and their posturing will help individually define them. Thus, giving them specific and distinct traits that will allow the reader to visualize and understand each different personality.

Progressing the story plot. Dialogue is intertwined throughout the story plot, and it keeps the story from stalling, and helps move it forward. You want the dialogue to be as realistic as possible. The focus is to keep it the way everyday speaking occurs, which will pull them the reader in and keep them there. Let the flow of words come as naturally as possible without giving the reader so much information it overwhelms them.

Motivations revealed. Through dialogue it helps to reveal each characters motivations, and can also foreshadow whats to come. This will assist in keeping the reader intrigued to see how the scene will turn out.

Stereotyping and Slang. An important tip to keep in mind is to keep the stereotyping and slang to a minimum unless it is an important facet of the story being told.

Be careful to not stray away with the many ideas you want to share. This is where an outline is a good idea to have handy while working on your story. It will help keep you on task, and help to not forget all those details you want to include.

Filed Under: Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Poetry Prompts

Exploring the depth of poetry has a different look to it depending on the reader, but the important part is getting the reader to read it. Here are some templates that will hopefully help get the process going.

• Formulation. Using this technique limits the use of extra language (fluff) keeping it at a bare minimum, while maximizing a set of directives. This style writes from the imperative mood angle, which is basically expressing direct commands or requests. The sporadic and straightforward nature of this method changes what is a normally complicated topic into a simplistic idea.

• Suggestion. This technique has no typical guideline, which gives the author the ability to use a subject and voice that they can really dig into. This type of poem has the potential to become a friendly suggestion from a friend or complete stranger, but it comes across as familial advice. However, it can also act as a provocation to an enemy or adversary. The writer has the autonomy to direct the writing however they feel at that moment.

• Objective method. This method allows the writer to maintain a distance from the topic that influences both the speaker’s outlook and the reader’s response of the poem. With this technique the writer uses more academia language than the use of layman wording.

Take the time to test out each method to see which one of them fits the style of writing, and one that meets the writer’s comfort level. As time goes on, and the writer becomes more confident with their work, they can begin to challenge themselves on other techniques.

When writing poetry it helps to look deep down into the soul. It is imperative, when doing “real” topics to list feelings and views with a passion. These topics are difficult to teach, so try to focus on the more technical aspects of writing poetry when starting out.

Filed Under: Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Writing inspiration

Writers find inspiration in many different places. Sitting quietly outside taking in a sunset, at the park watching the laughter and play of young children, even observing at a funeral.

These locations evoke some form of emotion, whether it is positive or sadness, they get a writer to contemplate, analyze and feel. This is one of prime times to write all thoughts and emotions down on paper.

Find different locations to write. Don’t always stay in the usual spots. Venture out to places like a coffee shop, a library, or a secluded garden area. The best way to write in these instances is to just write, don’t over think, just write. Don’t worry if it is going to be a publishable work, just write until there is nothing left.

Another option is to try a completely different writing genre. For example, if the norm of your writings is fiction, do some research, and try out writing a fascinating non-fiction topic. It will help to stretch your writing “muscles” to keep it challenging, but also to keep it interesting.

Another idea is to take a writing of your past work and change the viewpoint. Basically if you originally wrote the piece in first person, switch it up, and re-write it in second or third person. Furthermore, go so far as changing the tense from past to present or the other way around.

The technology that is available in this day and age, gives writers the option to join other writers groups that are online to brainstorm through ideas and issues. The groups are other writers who understand the business, and will understand your struggles specifically.

If you are in a writers slump, the best bet is to change it all up and walk away for a time. This will give you the ability to come back with a fresh mind and perspective, and hopefully many ideas!

Filed Under: Inspirations, Publishing Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts