Year: 2018
5 Tips for Writing a PhD Application
on June 25, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Admissions Essays
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The most critical part of a PhD application is the research proposal and accompanying letter. These elements explain just what you plan to do for the next three to five years of your life, how you’ll contribute to the goals and recognition of the department you’re applying to, and why, exactly, you want to do something as crazy as pursue a PhD in the first place.
CONTINUE READINGHow to Format Math and Equations
In a mathematical expression, numbers, variables, and operators act like the parts of speech. Numbers and variables are nouns; operational symbols may variously act as conjunctions, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, or transitive verbs.
CONTINUE READINGGuidelines for Quoting and Paraphrasing Sources in Your Writing
If you’re writing on a topic in literature, medicine, engineering, history, or anything else academic, you need to use outside sources to support your ideas, and whether you get a solid A or you flop depends a lot on how effectively you use your sources.
CONTINUE READINGHow to Write Stock Characters: Good Villains
on May 12, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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The audience must believe a villain would actually behave that way, which means understanding and even identifying with the villain’s motivations.
CONTINUE READINGThe Optional Comma
on May 1, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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The optional comma can go or not go somewhere depending on what you think works best. It sounds great, but actually, it’s grammar’s version of giving you enough rope to hang yourself.
CONTINUE READINGMistakes New Fiction Writers Make: Dialogue
on April 28, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Using terms like "uttered," "exclaimed," or "interjected" can pull your reader out of the flow of your narrative and make them focus more on the words than on what you’re conveying with those words. And let’s not even get started on "ejaculated," the biggest dialogue-tag offender of all time!
CONTINUE READINGNesting in Lists and Outlines
on April 18, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Let’s focus on the pre-writing phase of your project and how list making can be a useful method for organizing your words, and with them your thoughts
CONTINUE READINGWhen Grammar Check Is Wrong
on April 4, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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I’ve already talked about the limitations of spell check, but grammar check is actually a trickier beast, sometimes offering what look like perfectly reasonable “improvements” to your work that actually are the opposite.
CONTINUE READINGGuide to Style Guides
on March 30, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Students learn that in addition to effectively applying the rules of English grammar and usage in their writing, they often must also follow conventions of a particular style guide. Style guides are primarily differentiated by their rules on documentation of sources. They also vary in terms of their formatting requirements.
CONTINUE READING3 Tips for Using a Thesaurus
on March 16, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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When used correctly, a thesaurus can help you punch up your writing by using just the right word when you want it. Here's three times a thesaurus can come to the rescue.
CONTINUE READINGCheat Sheet for In-Text Citations by Style
on February 27, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Uncategorized
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In today’s post, I’ll explore the intersection of punctuation and in-text citations and the troubles that can arise.
CONTINUE READINGUsing MS Word Lists: Bullets & Numbers
on February 20, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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All writing tools or techniques should help you express yourself more clearly. Lists can be particularly useful for this, especially in dense academic writing. Presenting important information in discrete items, rather than a block of text, can alleviate visual clutter and even provide a key to structuring your piece.
CONTINUE READINGHow to Write Stock Characters: The Likeable Superman
on February 16, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Headhopping: New Fiction Writers’ Mistakes
on February 1, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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All too often, new fiction writers get excited by the different perspectives their characters have to offer and jump between them in a single scene. This is intensely disconcerting—whose head are we in now? What are they thinking? Why did we leave the other character?—and should be avoided.
CONTINUE READINGWorld Building: How to Cut Down on Exposition
on January 22, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Fiction
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Creating a world for your story, whether based on the real world or not, involves a series of challenges, especially when it comes to not smothering your reader in exposition. Here's a straight-forward approach to the dreaded "exposition dump."
CONTINUE READINGHanging Indents with MS Word Ruler
on January 13, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Editing Tools
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the first-line indent, by virtue of being so ubiquitous, seems quite intuitive and natural. But there’s another kind of indent, found almost exclusively in academic writing: the hanging indent.
CONTINUE READINGQuick Guide to Pronouns and Antecedents
on January 2, 2018 by ProofreadingPal in Writing Guides
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Problems with pronouns and antecedents can significantly interfere with your readers’ understanding, so make sure each pronoun’s referent is crystal clear.
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