Written by Clinton Wanjala
ONLINE ACADEMIC WRITING TUTORIALPART 1 CONTENT
Content entails the requirements in the rubric or order instructions. This is the most important order element that one must keep in mind to excel in this online “oil industry. First, a writer should be able to digest the order instructions for some minutes. Second, the writer should develop an intrinsic critical thinking whenever he or she comes across order instructions. Failure to critically approach the instructions can make a newbie spend the whole day in agony. It usually results in late submission of orders and heavy penalties to the writer. Therefore, CONTENT is very important if you want to rise through the ranks and get to the top as fast as possible.
Illustration
Question: ‘write a 10 page paper on the United States
The above instructions can run a spasm of fear across the spine of a newbie for lack of comprehensive content. Therefore, to make it easier, one needs to develop the table of contents (outline) on the same.
PLEASE DON’T BE SUBJECTIVE IN REASONING. BE OBJECTIVE AND AVOID
MASS FALLACY.
Most newbies will be like, “the united states is a very good country with a lot of opportunities. The country is big and has everything that an individual needs to survive. The current president is Obama. His father is Kenyan and the mother is American. Kenyans want to associate themselves with him although he does not want them. America is all over in the mainstream media because…”
Such content is very shallow, incoherent, absurd and subjective. You should think critically outside the box and instantly create an outline that uses topical organization rather than chronological organization or continuous prose organization as in the above excerpt. 5 pages and above make a “long order. Therefore, you must include an introduction (with a thesis statement), body, and conclusion. An experienced writer would approach the same instructions using the following outline:
The United States Introduction
Write a vivid description of the US in 150 words. Include the thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph e.g. “This paper discusses the United States in terms of its geographical, social, political, and economic status”
Body
- Geography (2 Pages)
- Social/Cultural (2 Pages)
- Political (The Most Important About A Country. Should Be 3 Pages)
- Economic (2 Pages)
- Conclusion
NB: The Introduction + Conclusion = 1 Page (Or slightly less)
This will make writing the paper easier and interesting. Without the outline and critical thinking, one is likely to be repetitive and bored. Therefore, covering the 10 pages becomes consummate without the punishment of thinking about the next sentence. In this case, writing the 10 pages should take at most 4 hours, but not 2 weeks with additional problems of power blackouts and computer malfunction.
How to Earn with Online Article Writing
PART 2
SEARCHING FOR CONTENT AND SOURCES
Searching for content can be a great challenge especially when the order question is not from the newbie’s area of specialization. However, you should note that nothing is impossible as far as the applicability of your critical thinking skills and Google are concerned. If you cannot find something on the internet, chances are high that it would not form a subject of study at a reputable institution.
Where can one find content?
The easiest way to search for content is by „googling the main sentence/key word/phrase. A number of websites; including Wikipedia, will appear on the first page. Select any three or four sites that look genuine. Please avoid obsolete the blogging sites. Triangulation is the best technique of searching for content.
Select websites that end: dot gov, dot edu, and some dot org.
Using Wikipedia is usually discouraged in all cases. However, I use it most of the times to cover more than 60 percent of my content. Using Wikipedia is not a problem. The problem is how to use it effectively like a prolific academician. Some academic Institutions categorically state that Wikipedia is not a source of information. This does not make it a crime to use
Wikipedia!
You can use Wikipedia and escape unnoticed. However, don’t copy paste and then paraphrase!!!!Just read the content and digest it then let it come out in its own way. Some people are not good at paraphrasing at all. The paraphrased content sometimes fails to make
sense while others do not relate perfectly with the neighboring sentences. Therefore, use antonyms and your own words to kill the plagiarism in such sentences.
To find book previews, go to http://books.google.com/ .
To find eBooks, go to http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23?msg=welcome_stranger
To find journal articles, use http://www.elsevier.com/
Additionally, while searching for key phrases, add something like „PDF at the end e.g. “marketing strategies: PDF. With this, you will find a list of readable articles that can be downloaded as well. These articles are usually written by professionals who are considered to be authorities in the areas concerned.
Now some people are terrified when they discover that they are required to submit tens of sources. Where do you find such ungodly amounts of sources from? It is easy. Just revisit the Wikipedia page that you were using to research and drop down to the bibliography area at the end. Copy all books and journal articles that were not published more than 10 years ago. You can also visit Google books and type the key words of the area of interest and pick some related books. Additionally, you can download a related journal article and copy paste its bibliography.
What should you do when some of the elements of the found sources are missing? Remember all academic sources should be inclusive of the author(s), title, city, date, publisher, and edition (sometimes). When you find a source that lacks at least one of the above, go to http://www.bibme.org/ , type the title, and make a bibliography of the sources
on the same website before copy pasting.
Rule: Never List A Large Number of Websites In The Bibliography Even If You Got 100% of The Content From Websites. Make a Related Bibliography Using Books and
Journals and Cite Them in The Text.
How to Earn with Online Article Writing
PART 3
PARAGRAPHING, PLAGIARISM, WRITING STYLES, AND PAPER FORMATTING
1) Paragraphing
Majority of new writers fail to decipher the real meaning of paragraphing. Therefore, it is intuitive to firmly assert that paragraphing is a technique that requires specific paradigms of arranging words or sentences. The following are the most applicable principles of paragraphing:
- A paragraph should never be ONLY one sentence LONG.
- It should be composed of ideas on the same topic. Never mix ideas or talk of different ideas in the same paragraph. Start a new paragraph for a new idea. c. It should be composed of at least three related sentences.
- It should contain an introduction sentence, at least one supporting sentence(s), and one conclusion sentence (See Example.1).
Example 1
Reliable resources allege that the United States is the greatest nation in the world. The country boasts of a strong military, stable political environment, and a great economic power.
The only competition that the US faces is from Russia and other rising economies such as the Republic of China. However, it will still remain the world’s super power for unknown number of years.
Note: The first sentence is introductory, the second and third sentences are supportive (they can be several including descending opinions and other arguments), and the last sentence is conclusive.
- A good sentence should not be in excess of three lines. I.e. a grammatically correct sentence should be 1.5 lines in length. This technique mitigates gibberish such as the use of “because etc.
- A good paragraph should have at least six lines and at most 12 lines (if requested by the client).
- The unintelligent use of “however usually creates ambiguous sentences. Make sure the “however comes after a period and should be followed by a comma. (See Example 2) Example 2
There is no difference between human beings and the other animals. However, human
beings are intelligent because they can queue.
OR There is no difference between human beings and the other animals; however, human beings are intelligent because they can queue
- The word “therefore should always be placed between two commas.
- Insert at least one citation in every paragraph unless the paragraph is made up of your opinion.
- Reduce the use of passive voice.
- Use Office first to check for spelling and grammar mistakes in the text before subjecting it to any other software.
Example 3
Wrong: “Jackie was promoted by the Manager to head the department.
Correct: The Manager promoted Jacky to head the department. NB: You should only reduce the use passive voice because it can be totally unavoidable in some circumstances.
2) Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a killer disease in the writing industry. Avoid Plagiarism by using original ideas, paraphrasing, or by using direct quotes and citing them. After you complete the paper, you should run it through a plagiarism checker to confirm and reduce the percentage of plagiarism detected.
A reliable checker is Grammarly.
You can also check via http://www.customwritings.com/check-paper-for-plagiarism.html
Note: Some words or phrases usually appear as plagiarized but you can do nothing to avoid it. These may be undisputable facts, headings, or names of organizations, among others.
3) Writing Style
Do not concentrate too much on the writing style. Put down a grammatically correct paper first before thinking of citations and the list of resources. The main writing styles are APA, HAVARD, MLA, and CHICAGO/TURABIAN. OSCOOLA is mainly used for law papers only. (Arranged in the order of complexity)
Preview of Citations
- APA (author, date) e.g. (Smith, 1999)
- 2 authors (Smith & Howard, 1999)
- MLA (author page) e.g. (Smith 22)
- 2 authors (Smith and Howard 22)
- Harvard (author date: page) e.g. (Smith 1999:22)
- 2 authors (Smith & Howard:22)
- Chicago/Turabian (footnotes)
4) Formatting
Formatting is the process of placing the whole paper in the context of the writing style, instructions and paragraphing.
It includes the Title page, Font, Grammar, spacing and List of Sources. The most popular font with academic institutions is font 12 Times New Roman.
Note: For your work to look neater, you should justify it. This does not mean proof of what your work is about! It means making your work have uniform margins on both sides. You can do this by highlighting the work and using CTRL + J. Alternatively, you could select then proceed to the Microsoft word Menu Bar. Move to the Paragraph section and click on the fourth option (immediately before the Line and Paragraph Spacing Tab) to justify your work.
How to Earn with Online Article Writing
PART 4 GENERAL TIPS
1) Revisions
No one is perfect. Occasionally, that ten page paper may be returned to you for revision even five days after you submitted and forgot about it. Do not panic and sulk. A request for revision often indicates that you did not follow some important instructions that would make the paper better. Read the revision instructions carefully and follow them to the letter. If you revise the paper diligently and according to the instructions, you will earn your
money. You should take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes and move on. Some clients are too difficult to please and may make you revise the paper even four times or more if a particular effect is not realised. That should not stop you from writing though.
2 Language Use
You should be familiar with both British and American English. A paper from an institution in the UK will demand that you use British English while one from an American institution requires American English. There are differences in the spelling of some words in British and American English. Sometimes, the same thing is identified by different names depending on the type of English.
Examples
- In British English, „trouser is commonly used while in American English, the equivalent term is „pants
- Example of words with different spelling but same meaning
- Tire (U.S. English) and Tyre (British English)
- Center (U.S. English) and Centre (British English)
- Meter (U.S. English) and Metre (British English)
Practice
Find out about color and colour, favour and favor, liter and litre, honour and honor… Note: when American English is used to spell when writing in British English, spelling mistakes arise due to the clash in spelling as demonstrated above.
3) Country specific Requirements
Some papers require the use of materials from specific countries. If such materials are not used, the paper will be rejected due to irrelevance. For instance, when handling a law paper or anything that requires legal knowledge, find out from which country or state it is from. No one will accept a paper that uses Zimbabwean law instead of US or UK law. It will be totally
Irrelevant. NEVER USE BOOKS WRITTEN BY AUTHORS FROM YOUR COUNTRY ONLY FOR INTERNATIONAL ORDERS!!! CITE AUTHORS FROM DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD
Parting Shot
To be a successful writer, you don’t have to be a genius. You just need to focus on delivering quality work and work towards it. Keep an open mind and learn new tricks every day. Always share knowledge with others whenever you come across something new. Be patient and learn quickly.
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