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!

Do You Treat Your Books Well?

As I’ve told before and won’t miss the opportunity to mention this again, I am a reading geek. You also know that I have a clear book weight, a waterproof book cover bath bag and a handmade reading nook to support the fact that I’m a true reading geek. I will not go on rambling about how books are important, why I love them because people who understand me definitely get everything without words. This post is not for this. I am writing now because I need your help and soon you’ll know why.

To tell the truth I can’t pass any bookstore without stopping by and eventually buying another thrilling story that goes up in the line of my to-read list. By the way, my last purchase was “Warlock” by Wilbur Smith. It is really good. Can’t tear myself way from it.

But that’s not the point. Over the past 5 years I have gathered a massive collection of books and it is great because I have always dreamt of my personal library. However, I have faced another problem: I don’t really have space to keep them. Me, two girls, my husband and two pets: you know what I mean when I say that it’s really difficult to squeeze some free space. So, as a result all my books are scattered around the house: in drawers, on coffee tables, bedside tables, window sills or even on the floor. And when I realized the fact that I’m committing a book crime and eventually I won’t be able to call myself a book lover, I decided to change my attitude and find a perfect place for them. I decided to make a perfect book case. 

I’ve already have chosen a place in the living room without direct sunlight and not close to the heater. I think that’ll help to keep them safe from damaging.

But my biggest concern is the design of the bookcase. I can’t really figure out whether it has to be a book case or just compact book shelves. Of course, I’ve searched the Internet and found a lot of beautiful variants as you can see here. But what I really need is a good advice.

So, my dear friends, do you treat your book well? Where do you store them? What do you think is better: a bookcase or book shelves?

I will be really grateful for your response cause I need help to go on being a true reading geek and only you can help me!

P.S. Actually can’t afford it but it’s my dream!

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. Think Critically

Everybody says that critical thinking is an essential part of academic writing. But not all of you know what critical thinking is and how it helps to make your papers become better. So, let’s dig deeper here to eventually get to the point. Critical thinking is the ability to thoroughly analyze the information, evaluate it and draw conclusions. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it truly isn’t that difficult to doubt theories and hypotheses, check the facts and form the judgements from the given material. It’s not that you discover new lands. However, your conclusions must be sound and consistent and not like “If the global banks climb down, then African grey bird species will migrate to the North”.

Now, let’s see what critical thinking does to your academic writing and how it instantly upgrade your papers.

Advantages of critical thinking:

•         Distinct Difference between Opinions, Hypotheses and Facts

You will not only be able to distinguish between solid truth and unconfirmed theories. Your papers will be full of proficient information and the reader will know that he/she doesn’t have to doubt your writing.

•         Deeply Analyzed Material

Due to this fact your paper will consist of statements and arguments that will not need further revision and discussion.

•          Various Approaches

Critical thinking presupposes examining an issue from different angles. That’s why when you write a paper on a certain topic you check if there are different approaches to analyzing it. This way you’ll have the full picture.

•          Your Own Opinion on the Issue

When you try to draw conclusions from the given facts you form you own attitude towards the issue. Consequently, your world outlook widens and you can use these arguments/conclusions in other papers.

•          Skill to Prove the Point

While supporting some evidence with arguments you learn how to prove the point. It means that when you state the point, people will listen to you and consider your opinion and that is a very useful skill.

As you can see, critical thinking provides great upgrades to your academic papers. So, next time you need a consistent and proficient writing, don’t hesitate to use critical thinking while researching and analyzing information.

Too Long … Wait! Too Short (the Fate of Academic Writing Sentences)

Every time you start writing your academic paper, the first things you think about are a structure, proper language style and grammar. Then, you consider different arguments, refer to authoritative sources and bla bla bla. But you never stop on the sentence length in your writing because you take it for granted. When the thought is covered, only after that you put the full point. The same thing was with me until I realized that sometimes I lose the thread of my point myself, not to mention the reader.

So, let’s face it. Sentence length is a common problem for academic writers. Why? Because too short sentences make you look incompetent and too long – presumptuous. That’s why I’ve decided to develop a formula for a standard academic sentence.

Let’s have a look at the sentence:

‘The methods of qualitative and quantitative research possess different focus points as the former aims at a detailed and more explanatory description of the research topic while the latter concentrates its tools on counting and categorizing features or gathering essential figures to prove the point in research but they are both widely applied in studies due to their complementarity.’

It’s clear that the sentence is about methods of research but the main point is not really detectable. It is said that 20-25 words is an average length of a sentence for academic writing. So, let’s try to divide and shorten it.

‘Qualitative and quantitative research methods differ due to their focus points. Hence, the former aims at a detailed and more explanatory description of the topic while the latter concentrates on counting and categorizing features and  gathering essential figures. However, taking into account their complementarity, together, both methods make an integral part of any consistent research.’

As you can see, I’ve divided it into three sentences, each carrying one separate point, cut some words from too long clauses and added where it was necessary. And it became much easier to distinguish the main idea and message of this extract.

So, my formula for the average sentence is:

1 clause   +   1 clause = standard academic sentence

(7-10 words)       (7-10 words)

Or

1 clause   +   1 clause   +   1 clause = standard academic sentence

(5-7 words)         (5-7 words)        (5-7 words)

That’s the formula I use BUT you should bear in mind that it’s not perfect and shouldn’t be used all the time because your writing must be balanced with long and short sentences to appear natural. Moreover, different kinds of academic writing may have different requirements. For example, sentences in natural science texts turn out to be shorter than the ones from social science and humanities.

And the last thing that must be kept in mind is sticking to the point. Believe me, I know the urge to use more and more words to describe some approach or explain the difference. But be careful with that; don’t try to squeeze in unnecessary details that won’t do more than trash your sentences. The shorter, the better.

All in all, things that you must take into account while writing academic papers are sentence length (the formula), sphere of academic writing and sticking to the point. That’s basically it.

Hope it helps you in your writing endeavours!

What Is the Best Time to Write?

I've recently bumped into an article by +Tanya Golash-Boza in her blog Get a Life, PhD. Her article deals with productivity and shares some tips on when it is better to write and how often you should engage in this activity. From her personal experience, she says that she gets up before everybody's awake and devotes this time to writing because that's the time when she's the most productive. Moreover, she mentions a study that looked into 3 groups of writers. One of them was called “the forced writers” who were to write five days a week. The findings have shown that other writers, who had to produce texts only when they had inspiration to, wrote much less than the forced writers and had few creative ideas. So, the conclusion here is that daily writing is a really fruitful activity especially when you have a lot of deadlines.

I decided to try this method and scheduled to write for two hours from 7 a.m. till 9 a.m. five days a week. I have been following this plan for 4 weeks so far and I have to admit that the results are amazing and you’ll understand why. The timing was perfect because my husband was already at work and my kids were still sleeping (school holidays could not have come at a better time). I was able to arrange my writing space in an ultimate order, turn on my favorite music and plunge into words without being bothered.

As it appeared, I’m really much more productive in the morning because my previous experience of being awake at 2 a.m. and doing what is called “writing” ended up in multiple revisions and editions. But my morning endeavors have brought about lots of original texts with minimum changes afterwards. Isn’t that great?

But let’s move to the actual numbers. So, before my experiment, I wrote approximately 1-1.5 page a day (together with drafting, revising, editing, etc.). But at present, when I follow the schedule I produce 2-3 pages and sometimes even more! Apart from my planned writing sessions, from time to time, I return to my texts several times a day, just because I have inspiration.

Well, you can see it for yourself that the results are incredible, at least for me! It’s totally worth trying, even just because you must always try something new.

So, write and enjoy, my dear friends.

Thank you, +Tanya Golash-Boza for such valuable tips!

The Book Fangirling Blog Award

I have been nominated by A J Colher to take part in a very interesting cross-blog thing. I am pretty excited because it's all about books and you know that I'm a true reading geek and will always be one! So, let's see what it's got.

According to the rules of this blog award I must:
- create a post to accept my award (and I'm doing it right now. It's always cool to accept awards, especially just for loving books!);
- add the blog award button into my post and put it on the side of my blog as a widget (you see the button, as for the widget I'll try to realize it. I'll try hard:);
- answer the questions by A J Colher (the part with the most fun);
- nominee 5-10 book bloggers who also deserve this award;
- make up 5 questions for my nominees;
- notify my nominees that they must link me to their posts for me to see their answers.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it?

Here go the questions:

1. What book would you love to see made into a movie?

Actually, there are more than one story that I'd like to watch on the screen. I am a sci-fi fan and like all the supernatural things but recently I've bumped into a new author, Wilbur Smith. He writes realistic (a bit romanticized) novels about Africa and Egypt and they are so exciting that I just can't pull myself from them (totally worth reading). They are full of bright pictures and I would love to see them in the movie. When you read the books, you'll get what I'm talking about.

2. If you could rewrite the ending of any book, which and why?

"Christine" by Stephen King. I adore this writer and love all of his books. And this one, in particular, attracts me with its extraordinary plot and creative idea. But from the very beginning I could predict the ending and the death of the main character. It was too obvious, so I would modify it by adding a bit of unexpected twists. This way, it would make the book even more interesting.

3. Which fictional character would you love to date?

Khal Drogo from "Game of Thrones". He is gorgeous both in the book and in the TV show. Of course, I would prefer a more contemporary version of him but, you know, if I had an opportunity to date even a tribe man Khal Drogo, I would definitely give it a shot.

4. What is your best memory of early childhood reading/ the book that has had most impact on the rest of your life?

Undoubtedly, "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling. The best memories of dreaming about Hogwarts and flying broom.

5. Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to reading?

Of course, "50 Shades of Grey". I won't join the club of its haters. I've read all the books and they are written unquestionably good. Interesting plot, popular types of characters and sex, everything that makes this book successful. But I just can't stand all the fuss that has grown around this book and film. All the people rambling about how fantastic it is or how stupid Anastasia Still is irritate me very much. So, I'll just stop here before I haven't started to expand on it.

My questions:

1. Do you think there are some film adaptations that are actually better than books?
2. Name the book that you used to like in the childhood but now it is not so appealing to you anymore. Give your opinion on why it happens.
3. Which books make you laugh?
4. Does reading help you writing? If yes, then how?
5. Which book do you think your children must definitely read?

My nominees:

1. Nick from Nick's Book Blog
2. Natalie from Book Lover's Life
3. Brittanie from A Book Lover 
4. Kayleigh from A Book Lovers Playlist
5. Becky from Becky's Book Reviews

Hope that my questions are interesting for you!
I am eagerly waiting for your responses.

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?