Tips for Writing Theses, Dissertations, and Longer Works

At some point, you may be faced with the task of writing something longer and…

Tips for Better Sentence Structure

My two tips today deal with the most common mistakes in sentence structure I see…

Between vs. Among: Commonly Confused Words

Before we consider the question of between vs. among, let’s look at the distinctions of…

When to Use Who and Whom

I see this one done incorrectly all the time—not just at work, but also in…

Harvard Citation Style Explained

Harvard is just another parenthetical author-date citation style. If you can learn a few key…

Using PDF/A Format to Make Digital Files Permanent

Your PDF may not be compatible with future versions of PDF reading programs. To ensure…

Top 4 Misspelled Words

I’m interested in writing about these four words in one post because, apart from being…

The “Misunderstood” Scare Quotes

Scare quotes should rarely be used. For one thing, they frequently send the message that…

Comparison and Contrast: Commonly Confused Words

Expressions of comparison and contrast are a vital part of language. It’s useful to be…

2 Tips for Professional-Looking Fiction

The following come from my own mentors, most of them editors for publishing houses. I’ve…

MLA’s 8th Edition: Nothing and Everything Have Changed

The authors of the leading academic style guide for the humanities write that “The problem…

How to Avoid Fragments

A sentence is a complete thought, almost always with a subject and a verb. At…

5 Times to Write Good Transitions

There are many transition words and phrases out there. I’ll highlight some of the most…

We’re Hiring Work-from-Home Proofreaders

ProofreadingPal LLC paid out over $471K to work-from-home contract proofreaders in 2016, and we're looking…

“I Feel Badly”: Argh! No, You Don’t!

People like to say, “I feel badly," but it's wrong. Let’s look at exactly why…

Affect vs. Effect: Commonly Confused Words

Let’s look at a word pairing that can trip up even experienced writers (and some…

Editing Grammar in Poetry

A good poetry editor fixes bad grammar just like a good prose editor does. But…

Keep Editors Separate in MS Word

Here’s a quick guide to how you restore individual editors to a document in Word…

Keep It Simple, Seriously!

Professional and academic documents demand the principle of “Keep It Simple.” While some document styles…

Does Fanfiction Improve Writing? Part 2

I recommend writing fanfiction for people who need to work on their dialogue skills, pacing,…