Books for Business Academic Writing

Business academic writing has a specific set of types of writing like projects, reports, business plans, etc.  but that’s not all that makes it stand out from the usual academic writing. The style of business papers can be less formal than the one in academic papers and the text can be written from any point of view (while academic writing mostly prefers the third person). Writing business projects or reports, an assignee can add his/her personal opinion. Academic writing, on the contrary, relies mostly on facts. In addition, the length of sentences in business writing tends to be shorter than in academic papers. These are the main differences but, obviously, not all. That’s why you shouldn’t neglect these specifics if you are a freelance academic writer. You must dig up all the details of business writing and to accomplish it successfully I advise you to go through these books that’ll be of great help in mastering your business writing!

•      Academic Writing for International Students of Business by Stephen Bailey

A perfect guide for your development in this direction! It deals with academic writing in the context of business studying specifics and tackles all the aspects of the writing process including the important elements, necessary vocabulary and models. You can buy it on Amazon or partly check it out on Google Books. 

• Writing Guidelines for Business Students by Lisa Emerson
  

A full-scale textbook on business writing that deals with essays, reports, research proposals, note-taking or briefings. You can find there tips on how to organize the paper structure and referencing which is really important and seems to be the most difficult part.  Get this book and start to upgrade your business writing!

• HBR Guide to Better Business Writing (HBR Guide Series) by Bryan A. Garner

This is a book written by a writing expert in business communication. It is not targeted at business academic writing or the types of papers business students usually write at universities. However, it contains interesting advice on general concept of business writing and will help you understand the mood and atmosphere in this field.

If you think that you don’t need these books, don't judge me if I tell you that you are wrong. Even if you know a thing or two about business plans or reports, it never hurts to enrich your knowledge. I hope these great manuals will definitely help you to improve your writing and you’ll ace in it!

Under the Dome or What the Hell?

You know I like the word geek because you can fit it to any other word and make it sound cool. It doesn’t mean that “I love reading” sounds lame. But when you present yourself as a reading geek it certainly takes you to another level.

So, as you’ve already got it, I am a true reading geek. And I have all the necessary things to hold that title: clear book weight, a waterproof book cover bath bag and a handmade reading nook. And also I’m a Stephen King’s fan.

To tell the truth, when I heard that there would be a TV show “Under the Dome”, I hadn’t covered the book yet and that wasn’t my priority. First, I decided to watch the series and understand all the fuss around it. And I did.

After the first season, I wasn’t impressed and all this egg thing kind of perplexed me. That was the time when I started a book. As a result, the novel was fabulous as always and the TV show made me quite angry. Finally, my next step was watching the second season of the series. And it went totally wrong. I mean guys, have you opened the book? I’ve got the feeling that the directors only took the names of the characters and the motive of the dome.

The whole deep point of this novel is the power that drives people towards committing horrible things. However, the directors of the TV show considered that the pink stars falling nonsense and the four hands security that must kill Big Jim would be much more interesting. But that’s their call.

The first difference between the book and the show that has struck me much is “Big Jim” Rennie. In the novel it is the most vicious character that wants to transform the dome appearance into his benefit. He encourages the panic, makes people scared and arranges riots and clashes to sabotage the order in the city and all this is done to turn people into the flock of sheep. He doesn’t care about anything (even about his son), he sees only the perspective of taking over the power and ruling. The perfect villain. But what do we see in the show? Although Big Jim is a bad guy, has a meth laboratory, tries to kill Barbie, he also worries about Junior, suffers when his wife dies (who is killed, by the way, by Rennie in the book) and, most importantly, has guilty consciousness. I know that it may draw more attention to the character and people will feel with him maintaining hope that Big Jim will change. But it rarely happens in real life.

The next thing that is greatly different in the book is Junior. The novel says that Junior is a crazy sociopath with a brain tumor who kills two girls and keeps their corpses in the basement. He hates Barbie and by all means tries to mess with him. But in the show he has a kind of relationship with Angie (one of the killed girls in the book) and is very jealous. In due course he changes and has a noble will to help people affected by the dome. Oh, really?

Dale 'Barbie' Barbara is also one of the protagonists that has a controversial character. On the screen he is depicted as a forced-by-the-consequences “criminal” who killed Julia Shumway’s husband and is involved in some shady affairs with debt collection. He is one of the good guys in Chester’s Mill and tries to help the citizens to cope with the dome issues. Well, the book tells us more about his military past, says that he lives in Chester’s Mill for a while and works as a cook in the Sweetbriar Rose. It doesn’t mention anything about his criminal involvement. And I truly don’t understand the reason why this has been added to the show. Maybe to tag more sympathy to the “bad” boy who returns to the good side or more drama to the relationships with Julia, who knows.

Well, I can chew over all the mismatches for a long time. You know, these changes in the TV show really disappoint me. Phil Bushey, the meth cook by the book, is a popular radio DJ? Are you kidding me? And according to the novel the dome doesn’t contract or cause the North Pole. I’ll just stop before I start boiling over the egg thing and the crazy attempts to breed a virus. From pigs. By the school teacher. Genius.

All I want to say is that the TV show has missed all the main points of the novel: bad people very seldom become better; important facts, that can save everybody, don’t always appear on time and the evil triumphs over the good much more often than vice versa. The dome is created to show how people change when they are boxed in. Stephen King wrote a letter to his fans saying that “If the solution to the mystery were the same on TV as in the book, everyone would know it in short order, which would spoil a lot of the fun (besides, plenty of readers didn’t like my solution, anyway). By the same token, it would spoil things if you guys knew the arcs of the characters in advance.” I agree with him at some point but the fact that he was forced to write this letter says it all. Apparently, I’m not the only one who doesn’t like the pink stars falling thing.

I didn’t keep on watching the series because I’m not ready for the new “Easter eggs” the directors have prepared for us. I know that the TV show is not the book but Stephen King’s fans put it on the first place in their watching list simply because it’s done on the motives of their favorite author’s book. And what do they eventually get?

But it’s only my opinion.

And what is yours?

Have a Writer's Block? Take a Light White Noise Pill

Writers are special people not because they create something beautiful or can draw clear images in your mind with just words. They are special because they need particular conditions to successfully produce their share of writing. They are special because they can’t sit from 9 to 5 in the office, make quarterly reports for the boss and talk about baseball with colleagues. Every writer needs their personal space with their own flexible “decor” that changes very often due to the weather, taste of morning breakfast or mood.

There have been lots of talking about writer’s block and creativity. There are many ways that can improve your productivity and help overcome this barrier that sometimes makes you stuck in one place. However, they are very individual and what greatly boosts one writer’s work can disturb the concentration of the other. But I bet it’s always good to try new things and then share your experience with others.

Well, recently I’ve made a discovery that really surprised me. You know when you need to write something deep and thought-provoking you always search for silence. You think that a quiet place will definitely let you focus on this difficult stuff. But I’ve started to notice that I work better when there is some white noise on the background and I’ve tried to analyze why’s that so.

When you face with something unknown what do you usually do? That’s right. You google it. And that’s what I did. It appears that, in general, noise is considered to be stressful and causes problems with concentration. But there has been one research that has shown the opposite results. It says that light white noise can boost your creativity only if you are a highly original individual because it encourages abstract thinking and, thus, pushes mind to generate ideas. The findings are quite interesting but they lack enough proofs to be claimed as solid statistical data. I also found some people with ADHD who say they are more productive in noisy coffee shops and sometimes they sneak out from quiet offices to work in the environment of people ordering lattes and music playing in the background.

So, quite curious about that, hah? I suppose it never hurts anybody to try something new and I will definitely take a shot and visit cafés or parks to work on my writing projects.

And, will you?

After-Birthday Talks or What You Need to Do to Be a Happy Writer

I bet you know the feeling when you enjoy everything that surrounds you: morning coffee (even if it’s without milk), your old but dear laptop (even when it doesn’t want to collaborate) and your neighbor’s golden retriever Bumblebee (even if it sometimes wakes you up in the middle of the night). So, that’s the feeling I have now and that inspires me to write. Thus, I’ve decided to make an after-birthday blog post, analyze my previous year and think what I should or shouldn’t do.

First of all, I clearly decided to avoid a few things: leaving for the airport without plane tickets, following all tips from LifeHack.org and adding too much baking soda to the pizza dough. But these are little things. The most incredible discovery I made last year is free writing. Seriously, it’s one of the best things I’ve learned during my writing career. I’m sure that every writer eventually faces that unfortunate block and I’m not an exception. In fact, it was a real problem for me to overcome and I tried a lot of things: changing environment, listening to music or drawing mind maps. But there were times when even those pills didn’t work. Finally, I came across free writing and understood that when you have a writer’s block and nothing works out, you just write continuously for a certain period of time about anything that comes to your mind. And it fades away. And then even your Transformers-loving neighbor’s dog can distract you from the creative process. 

Now, when I am surrounded by people I love, when I do what I really like and know how to overcome the obstacles and enjoy every bit of my life, I can surely say that I feel happy and delighted. That’s what the life must be for me. So, it means that I’m doing great J

Why Jack London Is My Favorite Writer and What We Can Learn from Him

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it.

(c) Jack London

You know, when you have favorite writers in childhood, growing up makes you re-evaluate the reasons which influenced your taste in reading. Going through the same books again and again doesn’t give you the same feelings as when you were 10 years old and your heart thumped and jumped out of chest while main characters were fighting for their lives. And it’s all the same with me. I can’t find that joy and happiness or fear and anxiety that I felt as a child living through the adventures from the printed pages, except for one writer who still instills those emotions with the only change – the deeper understanding of human nature. The first book by Jack London that I came across was “The White Fang” and, of course, I immediately fell in love with it. I won’t tell you about the excitement from his novels and stories because you all already know it and that’s not the point. As I was getting older I started to take interest not only in books but in authors as well and Jack London wasn’t an exception. So, you can imagine how impressed I was when I found out that he wasn’t born with such a talent. It was earned due to the hard and persistent work. To seek inspiration he hopped the trains, was an oyster pirate and worked like hell on ships. When he pursued the dream to create real fiction, Jack London barely slept and ate (simply because he either forgot or felt twinges of conscience “wasting” time for sleep). He wrote, wrote and wrote essays, short stories, verses, pamphlets and novels. At the same time he educated himself as much as possible to improve and develop.

Jack London made writing his work and his life. He devoted all his time and strength to become a decent writer and it is a good example of a struggle for a dream. This eminent personality and his not easy but noble path show us that talent can be acquired by hard work and patience. We can’t produce a masterpiece without the preceding tries and fails. So, if you want to write but don’t know where to start, look at your favorite writers. I bet they can teach you a lot of things.

How to Get Good Essay Orders

When you are just a beginner and have no particular client base, the easiest way to get orders and money is to find a custom writing service and work there. However, even clients of a custom writing service prefer authors with experience to newbies, and because of that a beginner rarely gets a decent order. You either get to write a difficult assignment for a low price, or a small and insignificant text for a low price. Both ways you don’t get the credit and the payment you deserve.

However, I know several tips that might help you attract a good customer.

First, don’t forget to provide work samples. Yes, I know you haven’t got a single order so far – so what? Just write an essay on any topic you wish. There is no need to make it long – 350-600 words will be enough. The essay sample is necessary, because in most cases this is the only way a customer might find out about your skills and writing style (by looking at your previous work).

Second, at the beginning of your career always put an average price for your services. You should never use dumping as your pricing policy – not because it is unfair, but because it will hurt your interests more than it will hurt your competitors. Customers have a good memory – if they remember that you evaluated your own work cheap, they won’t be much willing to give you more money in future.

Third, try to be relatively creative when offering your services. Make sure there is something in your account, appearance and messages that differs you from other writers – and by “something” I don’t mean the lack of experience. Think of a special detail that will help people remember you. Just don’t get carried away – customers usually get scared off by extremely creative authors. After all, you work in the field of academic writing, not in a clown academy.