Write an Effective Blog Post

No matter your motivation for blogging, you’ll want to make sure each post is high…

Hearing the Music: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Writing (Again)

There’s no rule saying that academic articles can’t be written in muscular prose, no law…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Still More Figures of Speech (Anaphora, Merism, Antonomasia)

The kinds of figurative language described in this installment are not appropriate for most academic…

How to Make Your Writing More Inclusive

You should shun discriminatory language as you should shun discrimination; doing so also allows your…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Analogy, Part 2 (Metonymy and Synecdoche)

This time, let’s go way out there and look at a pair of related poetic…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Analogy, Part 1 (Simile and Metaphor)

The guidebooks’ prohibition on colorful language is really just a plea for clarity. Used sparingly,…

AP Style Quick Guide

In today’s post I’ll discuss some AP basics and differences from other style guides you’ll…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Varieties of Rhyme

Rhyme can be understated, and it comes in more flavors than you might think. Repeated…

One or Two: The Case Remains the Same

Adding in a second (or third or eighth) subject or object or modifier doesn’t change…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Rhythm

The glorious and intimidating thing about the English language is its bounty of options. Whatever…

Poetry Tools to Enhance Your Prose: Meter

Poetry is simply a way of thinking about language, a theory that words can be…

When Writing Rules Conflict

You can write a passage of ornate prose, passive voice willy-nilly, telling without showing, and…

Christian Publishing Standards: Part 2

In this blog, we’ll dig deeper into matters of formatting in Christian publishing, paying particular…

Christian Publishing Standards: Part 1

If you’re looking to get your Christian writing published professionally, though, it’s not enough to…

What Is IMRaD Format?

Use Caution with Idioms

even when used properly, figures of speech and idioms, what we might generally call “poetic…

Tips for Effective Use of Quotes

Quotes from outside sources are useful and necessary in research papers. If your paper includes…

The Modern Writing Muse

Today, seeing as artists come in all manner of genders, and not many of us…

CSE Referencing Style

The physical sciences (e.g., physics, chemistry, genetics, biological sciences, astronomy) often rely on CSE referencing,…

The Vocative Comma Is Important, People!

The whole point of grammar is that the audience shouldn’t have to guess at what…