Writing Around the Web ~ Writing Simplified

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Writing Around the Web

3/14/2013 Derpy Derps 1 comment

Internet neon signs

As overflowing as the Internet is with websites of every shape and kind, it’s still difficult to find fresh blog posts and articles that deal with academic writing. Posts about grammar are a bit easier to locate (for example, Grammar Girl provides short, painless tips for mastering the intricacies of English grammar), but they focus almost exclusively on syntax, only rarely covering the full writing process. I’ve put together a list of several fairly recent posts about academic writing that people not actively searching for help with school and workplace writing may have missed.

Dave Kerpen’s post “Want To Be Taken Seriously? Become a Better Writer” describes not only why writing well is important for everyday people, but it also lists ways to improve your writing skills. As the CEO of LinkedIn, a very successful business-oriented social networking site, I’d consider him qualified to instruct others how to improve their professional social standing.
One of my pet peeves is needlessly long writing, making Melissa Donovan’s post “Improve Your Writing By Eliminating Redundancies” near and dear to my heart. Although she caters to creative writers, her tips for identifying redundancies can easily be applied to academic writing.
Paul Graham explains the steps involved in writing an essay, start to finish, in one short, well-packed paragraph. “Writing, Briefly” is more than just a list of tasks, though; it includes tips and suggestions that took me years to discover on my own.
Every teacher has a different way of teaching the same concept, some instructors teaching it better than others. Kate and Maggie Roberts are former middle-school teachers who teach persuasive writing with a twist. Their article “Learning the Language of Lawyers: Writing Compelling Arguments” demonstrates persuasive writing using an approach I wish I’d used with my own.