Great Book for Writers

Writing is something we learn as small children and continue to craft for a lifetime. In today's world, where ordinary people communicate to the world through social media, good writing is more important than ever.

I recently read On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser. This post is really one I am writing to myself, one where I am simply listing some of the points that got my attention. While many are no "news flash," they provide clarity in areas where writers often err.

Sentence Structure:

• Wordiness—Strip sentences to remove all unneeded words.
• Length—Keep sentences short.
• Voice—Use active voice.
• "That" versus "which"—Use "that" unless it makes the meaning ambiguous. If the sentence needs a comma to achieve its meaning, use "which."
• Sexism—Instead of "him," use "we" or "our." Use plurals, so that later in the sentence, the pronoun will be "them" instead of "him."

Paragraph Structure:

• Sequence—The first sentence is the most important one. It must lead you to the next sentence, the second sentence to the third, and so forth.
• Mood—Alert the reader to mood changes as soon as possible. The following words at the beginning of the thought accomplish this purpose: but, yet, however, nevertheless, still, instead, thus, therefore, meanwhile, now, later, today. The last four in the list are helpful because they establish a time frame for the reader.
• Troublesome though—When a passage is giving trouble, leaving it out altogether is often the best idea.

Punctuations:

• Adverbs—Most adverbs are unnecessary.
• Adjectives—Most adjectives are also unnecessary.
• Qualifiers—Prune the "little qualifiers" such as "a bit," "a little," "pretty much," "kind of," "sort of," "rather," "quite," "very," "too," "in a sense," etc.
• Exclamation—Use exclamations only to achieve a certain effect. Do not use them to illustrate something cute or funny or to make a joke. Humor is achieved by understatement.
• Semicolon—Use a semicolon to provide the "on the one hand"; "on the other hand" balance to sentences.
• Dash—Use a dash amplify or justify the first part of the sentence. Use a pair of dashes —one before and one after a group of words—to enclose a thought which would otherwise require parentheses.
• Colon—Use a colon to introduce a list.

I was fortunate to have some great English teachers along the way. We all need review to keep bad habits from creeping into our writing. On Writing Well provides a good start.

Has anyone else read this book? What other books do you recommend for improving the craft of writing?

Need a Free Plagiarism Checker?

Plagiarism has been the scourge of English teachers for generations. With the advent of the Internet, the problem of plagiarism has only become worse.

Face it, back in the days when term papers were produced on a typewriter, the plagiarizer had to do a little work. If you were going to lift someone's words, you at least had to go to the trouble of typing them onto your paper. In fact, it was often  just as easy to paraphrase, to combine ideas from multiple sources, and to insert some of your own thoughts as it was to blindly steal word-for-word from another source.

Today, the easiest thing is to copy entire paragraphs or pages from a single source and paste them into ones own paper. With this temptation. what is a teacher to do?

Problems caused by technology often have their solutions with technology. If technology is encouraging plagiarism, let's use technology to solve plagiarism.

A free site called Plagiarisma.Net gives the teacher a way to spot-check student work.Copy and paste a selection from a student's submission into the site and watch the results. You will see URLs for the various pieces of text which were plagiarized.

It's just enough help to the teacher battle the problem a good Google search can cause. It may be just enough to keep students from replying on a cut-and-paste to pass for a term paper.

Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?

Some questions are easy:
Is it important that kids write well?
Do we want them to write better than they do?
Would we like to use some of the technology available to help with the process?

Some questions are hard:
How?

A new book written by a 5th grade teacher answers that question. Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? by Julie D. Ramsay walks us through a year in Mrs. Ramsay's classroom, a year in which students take the kind of ownership for their learning we wish could happen everywhere. The book is written in language even the techno-novice can understand, yet touches on such a wide variety of tools that even the most tech-savvy will learn something.

Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? contains so much dialogue, I truly felt I was right there in the classroom with the students. I started reading one afternoon and found I was two-thirds of the way through before I could put it down. By the next day, I was finished. It's specific enough, a teacher can use it as his/her guide for improving writing, finally figuring out how to incorporate technology, and finally making learning irresistible.

If you are looking for a "how to do it" book that delivers, this one is a must-read! School's about to start. You need to pick up your copy now.

HARO...Help A Reporter Out

Those who write, and from time to time, need someone with specific expertise to provide input on their area. Some of us have expertise in certain areas, and our input would be valuable to authors whose work dips into our corner of the world.

Whichever your camp, HARO may be for you. Simply go to http://helpareporter.com and complete the free registration.

Every weekday, I receive three mails from HARO (one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening). Each e-mail gives a brief sentence summarizing what a particular author is looking for. Clicking on the link reveals more information. The list of links are grouped by general topic.

When I was writing Organization Made Easy!, I used HARO to gather input on several topics within the book. I received more information than I could use, and what I was able to use indeed added to the quality of the book. So, whether you are a writer or someone with particular knowledge and skills in your own corner of the world, HARO may be for you. Give it a try.

What I Did on My Holidays

I look forward to the day when the answer would be "yes." What if children were interested enough in writing that they chronicled the events of their lives? What if they chose to share their writing with the whole world? What if they developed a sense that if the world will be reading their work, their work needs to be quality stuff? What if children got interested in writing that is interesting?

Yes, young lad, instead raising your hand to ask, "How long does it have to be?" and scrawling down just enough to get by, please do e-mail me that link to your blog. Let me read the vivid details of the days as they are unfolding. Share with me the pictures you take on your vacation and fashion into an Animoto presentation. Explain to me why some of those pictures are significant, realizing that of all the things I could be doing, I am choosing to read your work. So, don't disappoint me.

And young lad, I dare you to write so well and make your story so interesting that I add you to my RSS feed and continue to read your work, because you have the creative spirit for which this world longs. Yes, please e-mail me that link...

Thanks to Jennifer Malone, Principal of Eaton Elementary in Lenoir City, Tennessee for bringing this cartoon to my attention.