writing

Wikipedia: Fact or Opinion?

I’ve just concluded a writing assignment of a deeply technical nature. The assignment was in two parts, first of all dealing with the need for Solvency II in the context of life insurance companies and secondly, the factors that persuaded the Massachusetts legislature to implement a mandatory universal healthcare system, the first US State to do so.

By now, you are probably thinking “What?” or yawning. For the curious, click on the links above and they will take you to Wikipedia for a brief overview.

This assignment is not totally uncharted territory for me; I hold UK life insurance professional qualifications so grasping the general view and identifying the issues did not mean I was stumbling around in the dark.

My research took me first of all to Google – inputting search terms that related to the topics produced the usual, incredibly long list of results and in both cases, Wikipedia was featured on the top page of my queries.

Now this is one time when you really need to question the value of an online resource such as Wikipedia. Equally, you could be using some other voluntarily compiled reference work such as DMOZ, but my point is, you must question what you are being told by your source no matter who is providing it.
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What are style guides?

Michael has covered the APA and MLA writing styles in an earlier post that you can find here. There are numerous writing styles and you should always check to ensure which style you will be using for a particular piece of work. Simply putting “Style guide” into Google or other search engine will throw up a whole list of these guides.

Every publication will have it’s own writing style guide which you will be expected to follow for your own work if you expect to see it published. Fortunately, getting hold of a style guide is free if the publication has it stored online and is available for th elikes of you and me to download gratis. You can find the Guardian’s here and for the academics, the Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) has their’s here.

What are you going to uncover in these Style Guides?
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The Dynamics of Writing an Article: And How it Applies to Today

The art of writing articles has changed a bit due to the internet explosion. Yes, it still works the same way in many of the traditional venues. But, articles have changed mainly because of article submission sites and blogs.

Many people in the internet world consider blogs to be articles and in some ways they are. Blogs started as bits of information a writer intended to get across in an informal setting. Now, they are actually relied upon by many readers. If you Google a topic, you will find a hundred blogs compared to one authoritative site. And blogs have become very authoritative of themselves.

But, article submission sites such as EzineArticles and AssociatedContent have made it easy for anyone to write an article and get it published. I honestly love the internet and many of its venues for giving everyone the same leverage. There are things that need to be said and it’s critical that they get said at the right time. The internet offers everyone an instant voice for anyone who is willing to listen and I love that.

But, some art gets lost in the process. The years of college a journalist goes through and all the discipline that a writer suffers is thrown out of the window when just anyone can step up to the plate. People forget or were never taught the basics of article writing. [Read more…] about The Dynamics of Writing an Article: And How it Applies to Today

When to Use Who and Whom

I thought it time to nobble this particular English language conundrum – when to use Who and when to use Whom.

Supaproofread has a section that goes into far more detail than I will here on this post and you can find it in the writing tips section here.

Who is a subjective pronoun that describes what or which person.

Whom is a pronoun that acts as an object for a verb or preceding preposition.

Phew!

In plain English please!!

A subjective pronoun is a word that is used when the person is a subject of the sentence. So, “I like fast cars but he doesn’t” – “I” and “he” are subjective pronouns. We would ask “Who likes fast cars?” but not “Whom likes fast cars?”

A verb object is the person or thing the verb is acting on. So, “ERH flew the plane” has ERH as the subject, the verb is flying and the object is the plane. Except we would never refer to a plane as “whom” so how about “ERH flew her to Paris.” In the latter case, “her” would be the object and so we would ask “With whom did ERH fly to Paris?”

Got that?

Here’s a cheat tip then.

If you have a sentence using he/she then use “Who” and if it is him/her use “Whom”.

Writing the Dynamite Project Proposal

When you walk into a job interview, I certainly hope that you don’t wear jeans with holes in them and your favorite tee shirt. I hope you don’t slouch and talk to the interviewer like you would talk to your friends at a party. If you get my drift, you have to carry yourself into an interview showing respect and that includes what you wear and how you act.

It’s the same game in this online explosion. Just because you might be sitting in your shorts and sandals writing a project proposal doesn’t mean your proposal can be lacking in professionalism. You have to put your best foot forward and there are definite signals that will have your proposal flagged for the can or chosen for further consideration.

Content

The first thing in writing a project proposal is to identify what the client wants. Freelancers make the mistake of thinking that a template project proposal is all they need. I have to admit that it gets tedious writing the same things over and over. But, a good client does not want a template project proposal. They want to see a proposal that identifies their needs.
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Defeating Prevarication and Stating a Position Improves Your Credibility

You are a writer.

In my opinion, as you use the written word, then perhaps you should be considered eligible for the title “writer”.

Which statement makes you feel like you really are a writer? Me, telling you that you are a writer or me, waffling about an opinion I have, that maybe, possibly you can be called a writer?

It’s not a hard decision to make. Stating a position clearly and straight to the point without any caveat or ambiguous language makes my position clear to a reader, waffling does not. Adding language such as “perhaps”, “maybe” and Heaven forbid, “in my opinion” makes you appear to readers as if you are not sure of yourself or the position you are taking.

As a writer, you are taking a leadership role in the community of the written word. Many people may read your work, some may comment upon it, some may use it themselves but you as the creator of that piece of work have taken a lead at that point in order to deliver it to the written community. You are the leader so act like one. After all, if you do not truly believe in what you are creating, how can you expect anyone else to buy into your work?
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