Writer's Tips
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
 For writing to flow smoothly, effective transitions are a must. It does no good for you to have the most well-documented and perfectly researched paper if the reader can’t follow your logic because of ineffective transitions; likewise, writing the next great American novel is impossible without use of effective transitions.
But what exactly is a transition and how does one creative an effective transition? Simply put, a transition is a word, phrase or sentence that creates a logical connection between two thoughts or ideas. For example:
John sighed as he put away the last of the summer wine. Jill looked so silly in the photo.
Huh? What’s Jill’s photo got to do with the summer wine? Now try this:
John sighed as he put away the last of the summer wine. He smiled as the faded photograph above the cabinet caught his eye. Jill looked so silly in the photo. (more…)
Tags: editing, effective transitions, writing
Posted in Editing Books, Writer's Tips | No Comments »
Saturday, September 10th, 2011
 There are many different rules for comma usage, and unlike some other sorts of punctuation (e.g. the question mark, the period), the rules can be rather fluid. Here is a short-ish breakdown of how to use commas, and when to use commas:
- Use commas to separate items written in a series.
Example: The dog, the cat, and the goldfish agree that it is going to rain.
(There is current debate about the comma after “cat” in the above sentence. This is the serial or Oxford comma, and is being eradicated from modern usage.)
- Use a comma to separate two or more adjectives (descriptive words) before a noun if the word order of the two could be reversed and the comma takes the place of “and.”
Example: The slumbering, snoring dog awoke with a start.
- Use a comma after a nonessential clause (which begins with who, whom, which or that and includes a verb).
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Tags: commas, how to use commas, punctuation
Posted in Business Editing, Writer's Tips | No Comments »
Sunday, August 28th, 2011
 Although writing a thesis statement can be a challenging task, the following tips and examples will help you to achieve this goal much more easily.
The content of your thesis is usually determined by the kind of paper that you’re writing. Theses can take a number of different forms and structures, but the three main types of papers are: expository, analytical and argumentative. Expository papers are usually relatively straightforward, simply presenting the topic to the reader with explanations for clarity. Typically, expository papers do not argue a point or analyze an idea, and is a mere explanation. Analytical papers tend to go a step further; such papers evaluate issues and ideas, exploring the concepts and examining the ideas from various angles. Finally, argumentative papers generally involve both of the previous styles, expository and analytical. An argumentative paper can incorporate elements of exposition and explanation, before moving on to analyzing the ideas, and ultimately, drawing a conclusion. Argumentative papers are used to express the opinions of the author, using evidence and citing from other sources. Argumentative papers try to convince the reader of the accuracy of the author’s opinion.
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Tags: editing, Thesis Editing, writing
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Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
 Academic writing is a broad term that applies to all forms of communications at high academic level, including articles in peer reviewed journals, university and college papers as well as theses and dissertations. Despite a relatively broad spectrum of academic fields and versatility of publishing formats and media, academic writing conforms to some universal standards that should be kept in mind.
First and foremost, when writing an academic paper, it is important to remember that your primary audience are other academics in the same or similar filed. Thus, certain level of prior knowledge should be assumed and not much background information on the general topic is necessary. It is sufficient to give a brief introduction, in particular if your area of expertise, or an idea you are trying to put across, is relatively new and innovative. However, this can be effectively supported by referencing key prior works in this field, rather than giving extensive information in the paper itself.
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Tags: academic paper, editing, great Academic paper
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Friday, June 17th, 2011
So, you’ve finished your novel or your dissertation, and you want to give it that final read-through and polish…and what better way to do so than by using the spell-check function of your word processing program?
But wait, before we discuss ways to get the most out of your spell-checker, let’s remember that there are various word processing programs, all with their own particular spell-checkers. For simplicity’s sake—and because it’s the most commonly used—we’re focusing on MS Word here.
First, you have the option of turning spell-check on so that it reviews your spelling as you type. I highly recommend this, as it will save you loads of time later. It’s easy enough to do: Go to the MS Office button in the upper left-hand corner of your document and click on it. Then go to “Word Options” and click on it. To the left, there should be a list of various options, including “Proofing”. Click on that and you can customize how Word checks your document for potential errors. I’d recommend auto-correct for spelling errors—this would catch the most common typos, like “T-e-h” for “the.” Also, check that you want contextual spelling monitored and repeated words flagged. You can also have grammar checked and grammar-spelling verification. These are all good options to enable.
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Tags: professional editor, spell checker
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