It it wise to learn some important essay writing taboos not just the elements of a good and well-written essay. You will have an edge if you know the things you need to avoid.

Here are some essay writing taboos you should consider while writing your essay:

1. Do not make up things. Essay writing is a nonfiction type of write-up. It is factual, based on general truth, theories, . You could write down your opinion but it should backed up by supporting details. Your readers will notice it when you are basically lying, if not, because you write folly things so well, it is still not a good idea.

2. Do not write using your stock knowledge only. An essay is not supposed to be limited by the knowledge you already know. Do some research, intensive is better. Read books and other printed materials related to your topic or thesis statement.

3. Do not under or over support your argument. Do not over-support your argument specially when you are writing a short essay and vice versa. The trick is “just enough.” Sometimes, you do not notice at once if have committed this taboo, so let others read your essay and ask for feed backs.

4. Do not write an essay on something you are not knowledgeable about. There is an exemption to this. If the topic is assigned to you, whether you know about the topic or not, you still need to write about it, therefore study and do some readings and researches about it.

5. Do not be obliged to agree all the time. As the one writing the essay, you still have a voice in your write-up. You could express your opinions and views about the assigned topic, argument, or the supporting details you will come across with during your readings or researches. You can disagree, if you really feel like it, just concretely explain why and present supporting details.

Among these essay writing taboos, this one is the most critical because this means taking a risk. Your readers might raise an eyebrow on your brevity of disagreeing on experts’ wisdom or a universal truth. So be prepared to take this challenging move and strongly and believably defend something you do not agree on.

To be able to compose a well-written and plausible essay, take note and remember to avoid these essay writing taboos!

As promised,here are some characteristics of a good writer, a post similar to my previous one entitled Qualities of a Good Writer. But this one will give you additional ideas on what characteristics you need to attain to become a good and effective writer while is it enriched by great quotations from great writers.

There are a number of characteristics of a good writer, here are but a few of them:

1. Patient. Good and effective writing do not come overnight. You need to be patient. Good things happen when you wait and have an anticipating heart.

“Beginning writers must appreciate the prerequisites if they hope to become writers. You pay your dues—which takes years.”–Alex Haley

“Start early and word hard. A writer’s apprenticeship usually involves writing a million words (which are then discarded) before he’s almost ready to begin. That takes a while. –David Eddings

“However great a man’s natural talent may be, the act of writing cannot be learned all at once.” –Jean Jacques Rousseau

2. Hardworking. Every good thing one attains could be attributed to his hard work. If you work hard in your desire of being a good and effective writer, and not cheat or turn to undesirable shortcuts, you will have this feeling of fulfillment — one that money can’t buy…only through hard work.

Besides, writing is not always easy. It is challenging. It is not that easy to formulate ideas, convert ideas into words, construct good and comprehensible sentences and paragraphs, more so to create a strong and good influence to your readers.

“Writing is physical work. It’s sweaty work. You just can’t will yourself to become a good writer. You really have to work at it. –Will Haygood

“Easy reading is hard writing.” –Nathaniel Hawthrone

“When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” — Enrique Jardiel Poncela

2. Adaptable or Flexible. As a writer, specially if you’re still a student, you will not be able to choose all the topics you need to write about. Half of them if not all would be picked for or assigned to you. There could be negative moods that may prevent you from performing well in writing but you should beat and overcome those.

“I don’t wait for moods. You accomplish nothing when you do that. Your mind must know it has to get down to work.” –Pearl S. Buck

3. Inspired and Motivated. You need to have an inspiration in order to be motivated in writing. But you should not always depend on inspiration. Do not make this the only basis whether or not you can produce a good story or not.

“Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time… The wait is simply too long.” –Leonard Bernstein

4. Passionate about writing. Just like what I have mentioned in my post Qualities of a Good Writer, you must have a passion in writing. Among these five characteristics of a good writer, this is the most important one because once you have this, a love and passion for writing, everything else comes with it — you will be willing to be patient, hardworking, adaptable or flexible, and inspired and motivated.

“Obsession led me to write. It’s been that way with every book I’ve ever written. I become completely consumed by a theme, by characters, by a desire to meet a challenge.–Anne Rice

“You may be able to take a break from writing, but you won’t be able to take a break from being a writer.” –Stephen Leigh

“Only write from your own passion, your own truth. That’s the only thing you really know about, and anything else leads you away from the pulse.” — Marianne Williamson

You really can’t tell the exact time, day, or moment when you can exclaim “Tadah! I’m already a good and effective writer!” For me, becoming one is a continued and never-ending process, as there is always room for improvement and learning never ends.

So continue on learning, continue on writing, continue on gaining and enhancing the characteristics of a good writer!

There are qualities of a good writer which you should learn to possess and develop.

If you want to attain them, you need to be determined and committed in doing whatever it takes that would help you better your writing skills. It would take a lot of work and practice.

The qualities of a good writer do not come overnight, much more when you want to gain the qualities of a better writer. There are differences between a good writer and a better one.

You need to have lots of writing experiences, so you could hone your writing skills and learn from your experiences. A good writer’s teacher is also his personal experiences.

Here are some helpful tips in your quest of being a better writer:

1. Have a passion in writing. Everyone gets good, better, and eventually best in whatever endeavor one chooses if he is but passionate about it. You should not write just because you needed to, but because you loved to. If you do not love writing, then learn to like it first. Forcing yourself to do something you do not like would not give you good outputs. When you force yourself to write, it will radiate into your writing, your readers will feel and notice it, and most probably, you will not be successful on being an effective and good writer.
2. Learn some simple writing styles and then apply in into your writing. Browse the internet, do some researches. There are tons of tips on the internet on how to attain and hone writing skills and be a good writer. And they are mostly for free! Take note of them, remember them then apply them into your writing.
3. Learn from good writers. Read and study their stories or write-ups. Find out what writing styles they use, how they compose their sentences and paragraphs. You may also want to check out the words they use, check how they enrich their piece with appropriate vocabulary words. Take a close look at their diction, or their choice of words as well. Find out if they use other writing gems to improve their writing. Do they use Figures of Speech like metaphors? Similes? Personification? Hyperbole? How do they use them?  You may adopt their style just for a guide, then later on if you have already mastered it, you could create your own writing style that is unique and ideal.
4. You should be persistent and determined. Your stories or write-ups may not come out as you expected, but never give up. If you give up too early, too soon, then that’s the end of your progress. You will never reach your goal of being a good writer. Continue on writing. It does not come in a wink of an eye. Be patient.

These are but some of the qualities of a good writer. Study harder and find out more.

Watch out for more articles coming up on the subject: Qualities of a good writer.

Public speaking skills just like any other skills are gained and polished through determination, persistence, patience, practice, and a lot of work and experience.

To be an effective speaker, you need to posses and hone the following public speaking skills.

1. Focused. “You get what you focused on.” In public speaking, your goal is to have a successful presentation, and to attain such success you should be an effective speaker, and to be so, you need to be focused. You need to put your mind, attention, body, and spirit into your speaking task. Do not be caught up by anything that goes outside your speech, anything that may disrupt you. You may have personal problems at the moment but just like what my choir teacher taught me, “you can not do anything about it right now, so focus on what you’re supposed to do and leave all distractions aside.”

2. Fluent in the language used. The word fluent is defined as: able to speak or write smoothly, easily, or readily. The smoothness, easiness, and readiness when speaking is a must. You should have a good command of the language you are to use in public speaking. Use the language you are most comfortable with. But this still depends on the setting or of your public speaking task. If it is an English class, of course you need to present your speech in English.

3. Powerful. You should be a powerful speaker, powerful in speech and in appearance for you to be able to create an impact or good effect on your audience. A speaker with not enough force is like a physically weak carpenter banging a nail with a hammer. Your message will not sink in like the nail which failed to be drilled into concrete. Sometimes your audience could be as ‘hard” as such concrete.

4. Convictional. This public speaking skill is the twin sister of “powerful.” They should go together. Even if you are powerful and display an agreeable force or strength if your audience sees a loop hole because you are lacking something — the appearance of being convinced, you are still half effective. If you want your audience to believe in your message, you should initially evoke a sense of conviction. Among these public speaking skills, this is the most difficult to possess and enhance, because you can not fake this, unlike being powerful. In a way you can sound and look powerful without much effort.

5. Prepared. This public speaking skill should come in handy before and during your public speaking assignment. Way before your presentation, prepare. And prepare well. During your speech, you should likewise be prepared specially for unexpected circumstances. Be prepared to answer questions to be thrown at you, if it was an interactive presentation. Be prepared in handling technical disruptions. Some speakers are too caught up by this kind of interruption that it triggers nervousness. Sometimes they can even be “lost” in their speech specially if it was a memorized speech. Be prepared in instances your memory may fail you. Be prepared to adlib; and make sure your audience do not notice you were startled. It is ok to be alarmed by such untoward happening, but make sure your audience could not tell. But the best thing to do is to expect the unexpected so you will not be caught unaware. Be prepared.

(Aside from these public speaking skills, use also some public speaking tools that would better your speech delivery)

You can not just go up the stage, grab the microphone, and deliver a speech, you need to have public speaking skills. Otherwise you will most probably make a huge mess or fail to accomplish your purpose of speaking.

You will have much of an advantage if you first work hard to gain and develop these public speaking skills.

In order to write a good essay, there are a number of important things you need to take note of.

1. The first thing you need to do so you can write a good essay is to analyze the given question or the essay topic. Once you have misunderstood it or poorly examined it, it will lead you to a wrong direction and make your essay disconnected from that your teacher or professor wants you to touch on or write about.

2. You should have a well-composed and concise thesis statement. Teachers or professors give much emphasis on the thesis statement. They scrutinize it because it is like the heart of your essay. It is where all the rest of your sentences or paragraphs revolve around. The argument it carries should be strong and be persuasive enough, if it was a persuasive essay you are writing.

2. The facts you present on your essay should be strong and believable. Present it also in a an equally strong and believable way. A nature of anything could be changed by the way it is presented. Even if your facts are strong and believable by nature if you presented it poorly, it will also be perceived poorly.

3. You should have well-supported arguments, specially the argument laid down in the thesis statement. Present enough back up information.

4. Your references should be equally good. A well-written essay for a school assignment should be done with thorough researching and wide reading. Read from and refer to reliable sources.

5. Clarity is also a must. Even if you presented strong facts and good references if you presented it ambiguously, you will fail to write a good essay anyway. The clearness of the way messages are brought across in any form of writing is critical. An idea could be presented and perceived in totally different ways. Make sure your readers do not misunderstand the facts, arguments, and ideas you present in your essay.

6. There should be unity in your essay. The thoughts, arguments, supporting arguments, and details should be intertwined with each other. They all should be strongly connected with your thesis statement.

7. Follow the 3.5 essay format or style. It is an ideal format in essay writing. Learn its ins and outs and be guided to write a good essay.

The previous article I have posted entitled Tips in Essay Writing should give you additional important ideas that would enhance your essay.

Study more and do a lot of writing because it requires more than tips to be able to write a good essay.

To improve writing skills and be a better writer, you must be determined to do the requirements. It may be tough at some times and could take you a while, but it would be worth it. Be patient. Good things happen when you are.

But here are some easy and simple tips that would help you improve writing skills.

1. The first key to improve writing skills is to have a good command of the language you intend to use in writing. If you are to use your second language, master it first. Study its grammar, and sentence and paragraph construction. If you are to use the English language, study its Parts of Speech, verb tenses and parallelism, syntax, etc. This may take years which possibly start from your preschool years. But even if you are writing in your mother tongue, you still need to do further study to master it and be better in writing using it.
2. After gaining a good command of the language you will use, increase your vocabulary. If you are really serious in increasing your word bank of say, English words, make reading the dictionary your new and bizarre habit. I remember, when I was in 2nd year high school and was reading a pocket dictionary, another student stared at me. I sensed he finds me a bit silly reading a dictionary. But it was worth it. That practice, increased my vocabulary, and the new words I learned from that day, I still use until now.But do not just read, study. Get a notebook and write down the new words you learned with its meaning, and pronunciation. After studying them, apply them. Otherwise you will forget those new words. Use the new words in sentences, write it down in your notebook, or better yet, use them in the articles, stories, or essays you are writing.
3. The next thing you need to do to improve writing skills is to read. A lot. A good writer should also be a good reader, not necessarily a book worm, but someone who likes if not loves to read. But do not just read like any everybody else does. You are a writer, read like one. Go beyond reading for what the story is about. While reading, you are studying. Dissect. That’s the perfect word. Look into writing styles, choice of words, vocabulary words, grammar and composition etc. Learn from good writers, study their well-written write-ups.
4. Write, write, and write. This is a must if you really want to improve writing skills. Make writing a daily habit. If you skipped a day or worst, couple of days without writing anything, your writing skills will turn dull just like a knife that is left unused, that gets blunt, rusty, and eventually useless.
5. Ask for feed backs. Other people’s opinions regarding your essay or story are important. To improve writing skills is getting constructive criticisms and applying them. Just like the principle of the Johari Window: there are things which other people know or see which you do not see and vice versa. They could spot an error or something you can improve which you do not notice.
6. Learn how to proofread, rewrite, revise, and edit. There’s a difference between a good writer and a better one. A good writer is one that writes wonderful stories or essays, a better writer is one that also knows how to proofread, rewrite, revise, and even edit his own write-up or others’.

Consider these important tips and through a lot of work and experience, you will surely improve writing skills!

How to deliver a speech effectively is way too different from merely delivering a speech. You could just read or present your speech but was it effective? Was the message you wanted to impart to your audience sunk deep in their minds and hearts? Did your audience remember anything you said in your speech? Was your speech strong enough that it brought about change and made a difference at least to the lives of the ones who have heard it? Was your speech delivered effectively?

It takes a lot of preparation and work in order to deliver a speech effectively.

One of the challenging things to accomplish in delivering a speech is to be of good influence to other people, to persuade them, educate them, enlighten, and motivate them , urge them to act on or change something. Once you have accomplished these, you have delivered an effective speech.

To deliver a speech effectively is indeed a tough job, but here are some simple tips that will help you.

1. An effective speech delivery first depends on an equally effective and well-written speech. When writing your speech, make sure you take note of the things an effective writer would consider.

2. Before going into your speaking engagement, be sure you “look effective” as a speaker. Dress appropriately, not under-dressed or over-dressed. Radiate the essence of effectiveness initially by your over-all look.

3. Prioritize your audience. Your speech is mainly about them, about educating them, inspiring them, motivating them, satisfying them. Your speech is basically for their welfare.

4. Use public speaking tools appropriately: gestures, body movements, volume of voice, tone of voice, and facial expressions.

5. Speak with conviction. If you want your audience to believe in what you are speaking about, you need to sincerely sound convincing and believable.

Why put much emphasis on effectiveness? It is because the effect or the impact of your speech is critically important. You’d better not deliver a speech if it will not have any good effect to your audience.

That is why it is important that before your public speaking engagement, you study and learn how to deliver a speech effectively.

Public speaking tools are necessary in order to effectively deliver a well-written speech. It is not enough that you have written a perfect speech. It is more like eating just the patty without the buns. No matter how juicy and tender your patty is when you eat it alone, it would not still be pleasing to the taste buds since one important thing is missing, something that balances the taste.

A nicely written speech plus some ideal public speaking tools equals successful presentation.

a. Gestures. Gestures are important but do not overdo these. Otherwise your gestures might turn into annoying and disrupting mannerisms, which are a taboo. These are used to emphasize a thought and should be used always with a purpose and good timing.

b. Body Movements. These are likewise an effective tool to improve your speech delivery if used wisely. These also highlight a point or idea. Just make sure your body movements are not intimidating or lousy. Avoid being too jerky. It is a manifestation of nervousness and timidity.

c. Volume of Voice. You do not need to speak with a loud voice the whole time, or speak in a soft voice. A loud voice emphasizes a strong point, while a soft voice suggests thoughts that depict mellowness, subtlety, peace, quietness, even sadness. Or it is simply used in words that do not need emphasis.

d. Tone of Voice. The tone of your voice should likewise change with a purpose. It should match the emotion your words suggest. If you are uttering a happy line, make your voice sound happy. If it is a sad line, make your voice sound sad. It’s that simple. But do not overdo it, or you will sound like a theater actor.

It should vary or else you will sound monotonous which is an absolute no-no. No matter how well-written and effective your speech is if you are monotonous, you will just bore your audience and your message will not sink in.

e. Facial Expressions: Do not display a blank or a poker face the whole time or majority of the time. A face like such communicates nothing but nonchalance or disinterest. If you bring across such message, do not expect your audience to be interested or excitement about you and about your speech also.

f. Eye-to-eye Contact: Rapport-building is a canon in public speaking. You need to connect with your audience, and the eye-to-eye contact is the most popular way. Do not bow your head majority of the time.It is okay to glance at your paper, but not too often.

Stooping likewise evokes timidity and shyness. Face your audience, look at them in the eye. Have talking eyes. Communicate with them not just with words.

Take into consideration these simple but essential public speaking tools and be successful in delivering an effective speech. Rehearse so you can master them. But do not over practice so it would still come out naturally.

Remember to use these public speaking tools properly so it will serve to your advantage because the absence or improper usage of these public speaking tools will make your speech less than effective, persuasive, or believable.

Do more browsing and find out more public speaking tools in our website!

You would definitely say “Stop SOPA,” if you are a daily internet user, if your past time mainly is surfing the internet, if you are an online seller or if you are someone whose everyday routine revolve mainly on the internet.
This is quite an alarming matter that could greatly affect how you use the internet in its entirety. It is a bill headed through the U.S. Congress called the “Stop Online Piracy Act,” or SOPA. The SOPA with its accompanying bill called the PROTECT-IP impends to dramatically change how information is carried out online. This will be done by implementing massive restrictions on contents generated by users like videos and images uploads, podcasts, or forum posts.

It will also give the U.S. government the power to censor the web using systems and methods comparable to those used by other countries like Malaysia, Iran, and China. An example of this internet censorship is China’s Great Firewall.

For example, you took a video of your cousin, niece, or daughter taking her first few steps, edited the clip, played an audio on the background and posted it on YouTube then on Facebook for your relatives abroad to see. The company behind the soundtrack you used could file a complaint without being required to notify YouTube or Facebook. These web services would be prosecuted and could be imprisoned for not preventing the video from being posted. In other words, the users of Uniform Resource Locator (URL) http://www.youtube.com or http://www.facebook.com domain in the U.S. would be redirected to a “This site under review for piracy/copyright violations” page.

Once the SOPA gets approved this would mean that YouTube or Facebook ought to completely alter their approval system for all posts, be it in text, audio, video, or image form. They will have to approve every single comment, thread; even the simple captions you type under the images or pictures you upload would be scrutinized. The effects with these giant sites would be a total devastation considering that the changes and innovation would put everyone (including users) on a long and annoying halt if the new restrictions were to be implemented.

Many site owners in the U.S have already brought across their desire to stop SOPA and oppose the PROTECT IP Act. But websites which domains are in the US are not the only ones to be greatly affected by the SOPA. Since the internet is a worldwide tool, its effect would also be worldwide, not limited to US internet users alone.

So what do you think, do you oppose and would likewise want to stop SOPA?

If you are a feature writer and preparing for the next Campus Journalism contest, here are some feature writing contest tips that will be useful for you.

1. Remember that your target reader in a feature writing contest is the judge or the judges (in Campus Journalism, usually there is one judge in each slot). So make him your ultimate consideration.

Every individual has different preferences, has varying likes and dislikes. Every person thinks differently. Every judge judges differently. If it’s possible, know him/her personally. Get an idea on how he thinks, or behaves. You will have an edge if you know the writing style your judge prefers or sees better than any other writing styles.

2. Just like what I’ve told my favorite feature writing student a lot of times: “write not of your age.”

She’s a very young writer, I started coaching her at the age of 9 and now she’s 13. I told her when she was in 4th grade, “Try to write like a 5th grader does.” When she was in 5th grade I advised her, “Write like a 6th grader writes.” Now that she’s a 6th grader, I gently push her “Write like a high school student would write.”

There is an awe created when readers or judges encounter a very well-written feature article and get doubled awed to see that it was a nine- or ten-year old who wrote it!

3. Compose your feature story so as to radiate a positive energy to the judges.

One thing young feature writers tend to overlook is the whole outcome of their feature story. Sometimes, if they are asked or assigned to write a story based on tragic, or saddening events, their stories will end up tragic and gloomy as well.

If you are to write a feature story on such topics that do not suggest a positive disposition, compose and end your story with one that still enlightens, motivates, and inspires.

For example: In a feature writing contest, you are to write a story on something that evokes hopelessness, end your story with a tinge of bright hopes. If you are to write a feature story on something that is full of grief or struggle, angle or end your story with a touch of comfort and peace. If you are to write a story on something that is anger-filled, compose and end your story in a way that would mellow down the wrath.

4. Joining a feature writing contest is not just a matter of mental preparation. You do not only need to study, gain and hone your writing skills, but you also need to prepare yourself emotionally, and if you are religious, spiritually as well.

A writing contest could be very stressful from the first few weeks before the contest to the actual one, and if you do not know how to manage the stress and pressure coupled with it, it will greatly affect your writing performance.

Even if you are so well prepared and came fully equipped with ideal writing skills but succumbed to emotional elements like nervousness, fear, and other psychological distractions, you would most probably under perform.

So before your actual feature writing contest, or even way before that, prepare yourself emotionally. Have a good and positive mind set. Brush away all negative emotions until you finished your story.

I hope these tips would help you succeed in the feature writing contest you are in.