Let’s be honest: freelance writing sometimes gets insufferably dull. If the top classical recipes about being grateful and passionate don’t work for you, you may want to try something new.

And here’s what you can do. Check these 10 new ideas for writing, which may help you break your routines.

10 Fresh Ideas for Writing Awesome Papers

1. Create a scrap file. Collect useful links, unused ideas, witty quotes and brilliant examples, all in one place. A scrap file can be your rocket fuel when you suffer from an unexpected writing crisis.
2. Look through previous writing. Check your previous papers to see how well you can write and get the ideas rolling again. Sure, you can’t copy from your past papers. Yet, you can get inspired in no time.

Read the rest of this entry »

Reading is the reverse side of writing. Just like yin and yang or like Internet Explorer and Windows, reading and writing are inseparable. By becoming better readers, we inevitably become better writers at the same time.
Interestingly, it’s never too late to improve our reading skills (and we don’t mean speed reading here). We mean becoming critical readers – reading between the lines and getting the most from any text.
Here are top 3 proven critical reading strategies which will assuredly help you become a better reader and writer.
Read the rest of this entry »

Aren’t you tired of switching between different types of writing?
It’s absolutely normal if you feel that skipping from critical writing to creative writing and then to persuasive writing and so on is distressful. Here are some good starters for major types of writing, which will help you make effective transitions without too much effort.
Critical Type of Writing
Book, movie and other art critiques require careful analysis. Critical doesn’t mean negative. In most cases, critical means objective and unbiased. Here are the main parts to include:
Read the rest of this entry »

The introductory paragraphs take only up to 10% of the total word count of a paper, but they play a very important role in your projects. Let’s be honest, some busy readers would only skim through this first part and judge the whole paper.
You probably have your own strategies for writing good introductions. Yet, it’s always interesting to look also at what your colleagues are doing. Here’s our view on how to write a good introduction.

Once Upon a Time Part

The first common introduction mistake is to start on a too general note: “English literature has many outstanding masterpieces” or “Universe is full of mystery.” It may seem that introducing readers to the subject matter is a good idea. On the other hand, however, it may seem more like a mere waste of readers’ time and precious words. They already know the title of your paper and they already have certain expectations. That’s why, speaking about the problem itself from the very beginning is a much better idea.
Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys!
Did you hear that JSTOR now offers a free (though limited) public access to its online academic library?
Rumors say that JSTOR decided to reconsider their access policy, after the tragic scandal involving the former Reddit co-owner, wunderkind and digital activist Aaron Swartz, who stole 4.8 million documents from JSTOR in 2011 and probably wanted to upload them freely to the web.
So, JSTOR extends its free access, and now you can:

• register for a free MyJSTOR account;
• enjoy free access to 1.200 journals from 700 publishers;
• download book chapters for further reading;
• use additional options: save searches, export citations, receive email alerts for tracked journals etc.

Read the rest of this entry »