Online Continuing Education

December 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

As high school students reach the end of this stage in their educational experience, the next step can often feel daunting and even frightening. With so many options available for the next few years, many do not know where to turn for guidance on choosing the option that will help them to achieve their goals. Many choose college, as the next step, which is a great choice as they prepare to enter the working world. Students have the options of going to a traditional college or getting an online degree, which has become very popular.

A college degree is one of the best ways to set one job applicant apart from another. A degree shows employers how hard-working the applicant has been. However, for many, a college degree is simply unattainable, whether due to cost, timing, or other factors. Today many people are busy with everyday life, and the only option would be an online degree. Getting a degree online is a great way for one to boost their writing career.

Continuing education is offered at the website onlineeducation.com, students can find the degree they desire, and receive information from many of the top online colleges. Online courses can help a student develop great writing and communication skills. If you are looking for a career in writing, online schooling is one was to develop these skills.

Students can view what type of degree would be most useful in each field, as well as what it will take to obtain this degree. If you are interested in online schooling, please visit onlineeducation.com for more information about grants, financial aid and degree offered. This online education site is giving every student a chance to enjoy the college experience at their own pace and in a field of study they enjoy

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Style or Structure: Writing

November 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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You have received an insult, a red ink smear. Your pages were branded inaccurate – all clever phrases deemed weak, all inventive punctuation refused. The stylish form you crafted (letting lyricism flow throughout the paragraphs, the perfect meet of fact and fantasy) has been noted as wrong; and the grade it’s received is far from the expected perfection. Your professor has named you instead a failure, and your paper is to be ignored by all.

There is far too great of an appeal is spicing history with sensationalism, in transforming dry text into a fascination. You wish to make writing interesting; and so you choose unexpected words and unique devices. You manipulate commas and colons. You change the accepted rules of grammar. This is not meant to be a slight against language. It’s instead to be an embracing of it. Your research is to become dynamic.

Too often, however, is it also to become a mistake.

Style over structure is a source of contention within the academic world. While most understand the desire to layer pages with the techniques of novels, more still understand the disaster this can bring – the purpose of a paper is lost, shaped into a fiction instead of a truth. It becomes an excess of punctuation changes and nonsensical ideas: entertaining but ultimately flawed.

It is therefore recommended that all writers choose to follow the established patterns, instead of forging new ones. While poetry and prose can allow you to experiment, research is meant instead to be given respect – and this includes taming all of your wilder grammatical instincts. The pages do not have to be brittle, simple recitations of statistics and percentages; but they do have to remain unbiased. Avoid the hyperbole and exclamations. The purpose is instead to convince through fact, not dazzle with empty style.

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Critical Reading Within Writing

October 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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It’s an assertion of skill, a belief that all words are the precisions you wish them to be. Papers are formed from wisdom, the careful examinations. No theories are betrayed by personal opinions; no obscure statistics are used to battle the accepted standards. You wield facts as certainties, not occasional allies. You have learned to understand more than text, but instead the application of it. Every choice is therefore deliberate and well intended – branding you a student of critical reading.

Simply defined: critical reading is the understanding of subtleties within any form of literature (whether it be fictional masterpiece or scholarly treatise). The purpose is not merely to comprehend what has been written, but it is instead to acknowledge the influences hidden within. Individuals are to look for signs of bias, uncertainty or a manipulation of facts – such as choosing unknown sources to verify a claim instead of listing reputable academics.

It is through this process that research can take on an entirely new form: one of truth. When pages are read with more than a desire to find proper grammar or spelling abilities, their context becomes apparent. This leads individuals to have a greater understanding of what the author intends and what may merely be implied. Influences of philosophy, ideology, social status and more can become known – simply by dissecting paragraphs and finding their slants of bias.

Such slants, of course, are meant to be avoided in academic work; and critical reading assures they can quickly be found (and then just as quickly be eliminated). Look for use of language, frequently emphasized points, sensational meanings and a lack of foundational proof. If a statement cannot be validated it must be removed. If phrases have been chosen purely for their descriptive abilities they must be reconsidered.

Critical reading serves as the first (and last) defense against a failed paper. It must be utilized to maintain high standards and higher competency.

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A Proactive Approach to Minimizing Plagiarism

October 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Throughout your writing career, you will undoubtedly experience issues with regard to plagiarism. Because the Internet makes copying other people’s work so easy, institutions and employers are increasingly concerned with academic integrity and/or unique content. Sometimes you may accidentally plagiarize without knowing it, because due to the size of the Internet, someone may have written a similar phrase or sentence. Protecting yourself from plagiarism is simple with Internet services and proper writing.

Do not write after Reading an Article

The Internet enables people to read and write content instantaneously, but consider the repercussions of doing so beforehand. If you go to write a chapter or article based off something you just read, chances are you might accidentally plagiarize. This is achieved by accidentally writing down a key phrase or two that “stuck out” in your mind, which is detrimental to your writing career. Other similarities probably exist, but the programs cannot check for “similar” patterns… yet. Consider reading the article, letting the information mettle in your mind, then writing an hour later. If the information did not sink in, chances are it was not that important – or you are simply reading to “mimic” content, but in your own words. Either way, ditch the content for something more organic.

Strain Your Content through the Net

When submitting content for school or work, know that people are paranoid about clean and unique content. Whether you are being paid for it or need it to graduate, if you submit questionable content, your livelihood and reputation is on the line. Use services such as CopyScape and TurnItIn to verify your writing before submitting it. While it is not a foolproof system, these are the most popular websites used by employers and schools across America. If any matches are found, revise the content and resubmit until no results are found.

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APA, MLA, and AP Oh My!

October 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Students are accustomed to writing news and academic research, but no matter the assignment, they seem to hate creating the bibliography page. For many, finding and documenting sources takes more time than it does to write the paper itself. Depending on your discipline and institution, you may be using the American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), or Associated Press (AP).

APA Style

The APA style is most commonly used in the social sciences, and determines how you cite sources, format your paper, and organize content. The APA style values organization, making your paper easier for editors and professors to evaluate while simplifying the reader’s experience. Since the APA style is straightforward, it leaves nothing for guesswork. You always know how to format documents, and the official guide provides guidelines for every scenario known. The format is very formal, abides by academic standards, and establishes your reputation and credibility in the social sciences.

MLA Style

The Modern Language Association format is most commonly used in the Arts and Humanities fields, such as English and communications. The MLA style defines how you format your paper, cite sources, and add stylistic elements, such as block quotations. Compared to the other citation styles, MLA is the most universal – used by institutions throughout the world, and is often accepted in other disciplines, such as psychology (where you would normally use APA). It is the universal format taught in schools throughout America and abroad.

Associated Press

The Associated Press style of writing is reserved for communications and journalism programs. It is the industry standard style guide used in newsrooms across the country. AP Style defines how you document sources, format text, and write your paper. It’s main focus is on the text itself, as it defines how you write the paper or article, such as having universal principles for writing the date, spelling city names, and other textual elements.

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Research Papers Are More than Evidence

September 7, 2010 by Leave a Comment
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Chances are if you attended school in the United States, you learned how to write a research paper using the traditional style taught across the world. The traditional research paper teaches students how to source material and cite their research, but fails to teach them how to make assertions and claims of their own. Most students know how to paraphrase and quote text, but when it comes time to create thesis statements, arguments, and judgments, they are lost in the woods.

The sources you use are often referred to as evidence in your paper, but while an important element of academic prose, it is not the only thing you need to include in the paper. Theoretically, researching topics for papers is supposedly an essential component of the learning process. In the age of the Internet and electronic media, researching is a matter of reading the text and translating (i.e. paraphrasing) the author’s ideas into your own. The information read during the process is often lost a few minutes later. Students do not retain information because the process of taking notes is skipped because they paraphrase on-the-fly switching between a web browser and word processor.

The byproduct of technology and laziness is a (possibly) well-written essay that contains tons of ideas, statements, and evidence, but none of it is organic. All of the information comes from someone else, but is presented in a diluted form students claim to be their own work. They often forget plagiarism is also considered stealing someone else’s ideas not just words. Claiming a work as your own constitutes paraphrasing each paragraph of an article into your own, even if it passes TurnItIn.com or CopyScape.com, known plagiarism detection search engines.

Has the Internet and widespread use of computers caused students to become lazy, or have younger generations forgot the true meaning of plagiarism?

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The Global Reach of the Sprint Coverage Map Extends

August 23, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Changes and Developments in Chechnya

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and formed an independent movement, known as the Chechen National Congress. Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev, who was an ex-Soviet Air Force general, helped form and lead the union. This has made for a wonderful source of inspiration for writing especially in the academic community.

These changes in government in Chechnya were unsettling and caused even more unrest in the country. They sparked the formation of Boris Yesltsin’s Russian Federation, which argued feverishly that Chechnya wasn’t an independent entity existing within the Soviet Union. These conflicts and struggles went on for a lengthy period of time and caused territory to be locked between various factions in the union.

The United States, meanwhile, wanted to gain access into the country through technological opportunities and signify a key area of the country where companies could install American-based telecommunications. Cellphone providers wanted to expand, which led to the Sprint coverage map including a broad region of the country.

Initial attempts at reaching an agreement were unsuccessful, but after numerous talks and discussions, Chechnya granted the United States permission for American business to come in and establish a presence in the telecommunications industry. This was not only beneficial for the U.S. but for Chechnyans, as well.

Technological Outreaching

The United States is very diligent and proactive about establishing its presence in certain areas of the world. The U.S. is based on a customer-driven capitalistic society and is consistent about wanting to establish the nation in all aspects of business telecommunications all over the world.

In addition to telephone communications, the United States markets and promotes other forms of communication such as writing. This can include devices like cellular phones (including Smartphones) and other devices that operate on wireless technology, such as laptop computers, iPhones, and iPads. America’s approach to business and working with other countries focuses on showing other countries how they can benefit from having a U.S. relationship and pointing out the profits both parties can enjoy.

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