English
NEW ONLINE VIDEO COURSE: Write a Great Research Paper!
© Ugur Akinci We are proud to offer yet another high-quality ONLINE VIDEO COURSE: Write a Great Research Paper for Success in School! In this course you will learn how to Think creatively and correctly about your research paper Brainstorm creatively Outline and structure the topic Select a variety of sources and conduct a research…
Read MoreHow to Apply CHICAGO Style Bibliography Citation
(Copyright-free photo courtesy of unsplash-dot-com) Bibliography is an important part of every thesis, academic essay, article, or book that requires substantiation of the claims made in the work. Every student and researcher should know how to write a book bibliography. Why? Because a bibliography provides the reference against which the truth value of the statements…
Read MoreHow to Apply APA (American Psychological Association) Style Bibliography Citation
(Copyright-free photo by Unsplash dot com) Bibliography is an important part of every thesis, academic essay, article, or book that requires substantiation of the claims made in the work. Every student and researcher should know how to write a book bibliography. Why? Because a bibliography provides the reference against which the truth value of the…
Read MoreHow to Apply MLA (Modern Language Association) Style Bibliography Citation
Bibliography is an important part of every thesis, academic essay, article, or book that requires substantiation of the claims made in the work. Every student and researcher should know how to write a book or article bibliography. Why? Because a bibliography provides the reference against which the truth value of the statements can be checked.…
Read MoreWatch Your Misplaced Modifiers — Importance of Positioning in English Sentences
Just like in life, positioning is important in writing as well. Place the wrong modifier in the wrong spot, and the meaning of your whole sentence changes and you end up creating the wrong impression for no good reason at all. Sometimes even professional writers writing for important publications fall into this trap. Here is…
Read MoreThe Discipline of Punctuation in Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci Today let’s talk about the discipline of punctuation Technical writing is nothing if it’s not about discipline, precision and consistency. That’s how tech writers impose order on disorder. One of the most basic we impose that order on an otherwise unruly collection of information is the application of stringent punctuation rules. When…
Read MoreSurvey: British Office Workers Hate Business Speak
If you’re miffed to hear hackneyed expressions like “think outside the box” you’re not alone: a lot of office workers in Britain reported they also can’t stand the expression, according to a British survey of 2,000 cubicle dwellers. Tweny five percent of those surveyed ranked “blue sky thinking” and “hit the ground running” as number…
Read MoreThe Difference a Comma Makes
© Ugur Akinci Technical writers must watch their punctuation like a hawk because of the dramatic difference a misplaced punctuation mark makes. Here is a great example from the Understanding Uncertainty web site: “how unlikely the result is due to chance” versus “how unlikely the result is, due to chance” Click here to read the…
Read More5 Things That Will Never Change Despite Technological Changes in Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci The technology of technical writing is changing really fast. But the thing is we don’t really need to keep up with all of it, depending on where we stand in the overall landscape of technical communications. Or let me put it this way: there are things that will never change as long…
Read MoreThe Politics of Plain English vs. Obfuscation
Usually people don’t write in plain English because they don’t know any better. Sometimes a banker, an engineer, a doctor will write a business letter or a technical document in a way that he or she best knows how – by using jargon and long-winded sentences; clauses awash in passive voice and unparallel construction, with…
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