How to Write an Outline What is it? An outline is a general plan of the material that is to be presented in a speech or a paper. The outline shows the order of the various topics, the relative importance of each, and the relationship between the various parts. Order in an Outline There are many ways to arrange the different parts of a subject. Thesis Statement of Summarizing Sentence All outlines should begin with a thesis statement of summarizing sentence. Types of Outlines The two main types of outlines are the topic outline and the sentence outline. Rules for Outlining 1. Example: I. 2. Examples Topic Outline Choices in College and After Thesis: The decisions I have to make in choosing college courses, depend on larger questions I am beginning to ask myself about my life’s work. I. A. 1. B. 1. II. A. III. A. Sentence Outline Thesis: The decisions I have to make in choosing college courses, depend on larger questions I am beginning to ask myself about my life’s work. I. A. 1. B. 1. II. A. III. A.
11 Design Tips for Beautiful Presentations Presentations often receive a bad rap—for good reason. We’ve all sat through those long-winded speeches and hot mess PowerPoints, which completely undermine the point of visual presentations. So, what differentiates a good presentation from a poor one? Content and design. While your speech may be perfect, the images you show can greatly add or detract from your message. 1) Skip the Stock Template Using the slide themes included in your software is presentation death. 2) Don’t Use More than 6 Lines of Text Packing too much information into a slide will completely undermine its purpose. 3) Ditch the Bullet Points Too many presentations are bullet point crazy. 4) Use Sans Serif Fonts With typography, go for legibility over fun. 5) Size Fonts Appropriately Chances are you’re designing your presentation on a laptop—and that’s a much different size than the final presentation screen. 6) Maintain a Strong Contrast Between Text and Background 7) Use No More than 5 Colors 9) Use Single Images
How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly - StumbleUpon Translations: Belorussian Introduction: Four Types of Discursive Writing From time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much done. Begin by writing - in your head, at least - your second paragraph (that would be the one you just read, above). But how do you write this paragraph? You have more options because there are four types of discursive writing. These are your choices of types of article or essay: Argument: convinces someone of something Explanation: tells why something happened instead of something else Definition: states what a word or concept means Description: identifies properties or qualities of things An argument is a collection of sentences (known formally as 'propositions') intended to convince the reader that something is he case. An explanation tells the reader why something is the case. A definition identifies the meaning of some word, phrase or concept. Finally, a description provides information about some object, person, or state of affairs. Argument:
How to Capture, Save, Record or Download Streaming Audio for Free Ever wonder how you could possibly record or rip a song that’s being streamed across the Internetonto your computer for free? Trying to download streaming audio directly to your computer can be quite difficult because sites usually have different security measures put in place, making it near impossible unless you’re a hacker. However, one surefire way of recording streaming audio from any web site is to simply capture it via the sound card on your computer. It’s worth noting that trying to capture or record audio streams over the Internet can violate copyright laws, so hopefully you’re only trying to record non-copyright material! There are a couple of free programs that you can use, though the choice is very limited. Audacity If you’ve haven’t heard of Audacity, it’s a free open-source sound editor and recorder. Basically, you have to go to Preferences and change your recording settings. Krut CamStudio
How to write a book – the short honest truth Every author I know gets asked the same question: How do you write a book? It’s a simple question, but it causes unexpected problems. On the one hand, it’s nice to have people interested in something I do. If I told people I fixed toasters for a living, I doubt I’d get many inquires. People are curious about writing and that’s cool and flattering. But on the other hand, the hand involving people who ask because they have an inkling to do it themselves, is that writing books is a topic so old and so well trod by so many famous people that anyone who asks hoping to discover secret advice is hard to take seriously. Here’s the short honest truth: 20% of the people who ask me are hoping to hear this – Anyone can write a book. If you want to write, kill the magic: a book is just a bunch of writing. Writing a good book, compared to a bad one, involves one thing. Getting published. 30% of the time the real thing people are asking is how do you find a publisher. Discouraged yet?
Brainstorming and Voting Amazingly Easy. Free Online Tool | tricider 50 Essential Tools I Use For Blogging and Freelance Writing - BestVendor.com Getting Things Done with Todoist (GTD) Many Todoist users use David Allen’s excellent Getting Things Done methodology (GTD®) to manage their life. The GTD method rests on the idea of moving planned tasks and projects out of the mind by recording them externally and then breaking them into actionable work items. This allows one to focus attention on taking action on tasks, instead of on remembering them. Read more... Collect all your tasks using our apps for your mobile device, browser, email client or desktop. Our apps Process your captured tasks and make sure that they are actionable things with concrete next steps and successful outcomes. Watch a short video of how this works: GTD and Getting Things Done are registered trademarks of David Allen & Co.
8 Writing Techniques to Win You a Pulitzer Today’s guest post is from writer Joe Bunting, who blogs at The Write Practice. We all know there are novels and then there are “literary” novels. When you read Margaret Atwood, it just feels different than when you read Tom Clancy. And for some reason, these literary novels are the ones that win all the most prestigious awards like the Pulitzer Prize, the Man Booker Prize, and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Literary authors are known for their unique voices and experimental styles. This is both good and bad. So if you’re salivating to win a Nobel Prize, and just don’t think your diplomacy skills are good enough to win the Peace Prize, here are eight techniques you can use to make your writing more “literary.” Long sentences can make for beautiful, complex prose that you want to read again and again to fully appreciate. Isn’t that beautiful? Writing long sentences can get old. One thing. Try reading it aloud. Literary writers are well read. Also, it makes those who “get it” feel special.
Encyclopedia of Philosophy Amanda Hocking, the writer who made millions by self-publishing online When historians come to write about the digital transformation currently engulfing the book-publishing world, they will almost certainly refer to Amanda Hocking, writer of paranormal fiction who in the past 18 months has emerged from obscurity to bestselling status entirely under her own self-published steam. What the historians may omit to mention is the crucial role played in her rise by those furry wide-mouthed friends, the Muppets. To understand the vital Muppet connection we have to go back to April 2010. Then it comes to her. "I'm going to sell books on Amazon," she announces to her housemate, Eric. To which Eric replies: "Yeah. Let's jump to October 2010. So let the historians take note: Amanda Hocking does get to Chicago to see the Muppets. I've come to Austin, legendary birthplace of Spam (the canned as opposed to the digital version), to find out what this self-publishing revolution looks like in the flesh. But step inside and convention gives way to a riot of colour.
Sketchnotes 101: The Basics of Visual Note-taking Welcome to the second article in the the new Core77 "Sketchnotes Channel" (www.core77.com/sketchnotes) where we'll be exploring the application of visual thinking tools in the worlds of design and creative thinking. So you say you're ready to start sketchnoting. Maybe you're not much of a sketcher but you take a lot of notes, and are interested in making them more meaningful and interesting, but you're afraid your drawings are too crude. For you, it's important to stress that sketchnotes—although they are inherently a visual medium—do not require drawing ability of any kind. Essentially they're about transforming ideas into visual communication; structuring thoughts and giving hierarchy to concepts can be completed with strictly text and a few lines. Maybe you're perpetually drawing and want to try and make your notes more useful and engaging but you are afraid of imposing structure to your normally freeform way of sketching. In the end, it's up to you. So let's get tactical.
10 Tips on How to Write Less Badly - Do Your Job Better By Michael C. Munger Most academics, including administrators, spend much of our time writing. But we aren't as good at it as we should be. I have never understood why our trade values, but rarely teaches, nonfiction writing. In my nearly 30 years at universities, I have seen a lot of very talented people fail because they couldn't, or didn't, write. It starts in graduate school. The difference is not complicated. Rachel Toor and other writers on these pages have talked about how hard it is to write well, and of course that's true. 1. 2. 3. 4. Writers sit at their desks for hours, wrestling with ideas. The articles and books that will be read decades from now were written by men and women sitting at a desk and forcing themselves to translate profound ideas into words and then to let those words lead them to even more ideas. 5. Years pass, and they still have the same pat, 200-word answer to "What are you working on?" 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Michael C.