Dissertation Girl Writes in Technicolor, plus: the best writing guides on the web

This is a moment of heavy writing and editing for me -- revising dissertation chapters, cobblng together the next ones, marking up sheafs of undergraduate responses. So I have a reason for thinking about writing, and what's more, enormous incentive to think clearly.

My writing has slumped and slumped in graduate school, spiralling in a decline born of exhaustion, overwhelm, and neglect. Writing literature reviews for the economic literature about industrialization, for instance, wasn't the most titilating prompt for me. I entered a phase of neglect and sloppitude, from which I'm only now starting to emerge. Time to put bad habits to right.

Top priority: juicify my paragraphs about the roads. Aim for a pulitzer-worthy introduction, bursting with color and punch. Something like this:

The eighteenth-century traveler looked himself around for inspiration, directional information, and signs of the harvest, but he learned about his government in other ways. Ecstatic messengers on the post wagon told him about recent battles, and then he learned about government. Outraged neighbors told him about a case in court, and invited him to riot in protest, and then too he learned about government. The nineteenth-century individual, however, was never more alert than when on the road, and then he noticed every monument and slum around him. Government, for him, was observable in the everyday realities of life. He understood his daily walk to market as the product of government activity, and he watched it carefully for clues as to how the nation was doing. He met his friends at the coffeehouse, and they too discussed the proper realm of government control over property, alternative models of political organization, and the limits of collective and private philanthropy. They backed up their accounts with stories about other villages, harvested from the accounts of other travelers. The nineteenth-century observer was alert, critical, and precise in its assessment of the politics encoded in the signs of everyday life.

To that end, I'm revisiting the writing guides of the greats. I'm circulating them to my students, and reviewing their clear rules for vibrant diction and concise phrasing. From my del.icio.us page, here's the list:

1. Poynter Online - Writing Tools

   edit / delete

   Usethis quick list of Writing Tools as a handy reference. Copy it and keepit in your wallet or journal, or near your desk or keyboard. Share itand add to it.

   
   
   
   to writing history7b ... saved by 76 other people ... 13 hours ago



2. AskOxford: Plan Before you Write

   edit / delete

   planout a core statement which says what you will cover in the main sectionof the document – normally the discussion section. It helps youto focus on the task and the audience.

   
   
   
   to research thesis writing history7b ... 13 hours ago



3. AskOxford: Use Accurate Punctuation

   edit / delete

   Punctuationshouldn’t cause as much fear as it does. Only about a dozen marksneed to be mastered and the guidelines are fairly simple. A goodcommand of punctuation helps you to say more, say it more interestinglyand be understood at first reading. Li

   
   
   
   to punctuation writing history7b ... 13 hours ago



4. Guidelines for Using Apostrophes Correctly

   edit / delete

   Theapostrophe may be the simplest and yet most frequently misused mark ofpunctuation in English. Here we'll review six guidelines for using themark correctly.

   
   
   
   to history7b writing ... saved by 6 other people ... 13 hours ago



5. Poynter Online - Fifty Writing Tools

   edit / delete

   Attimes, it helps to think of writing as carpentry. That way, writers andeditors can work from a plan and use tools stored on their workbench.You can borrow a writing tool at any time. And here's a secret: Unlikehammers, chisels, and rakes, writing to

   
   
   
   to writing history7b ... saved by 27 other people ... 13 hours ago



6. UCLA College Library: How To Narrow or Broaden Your Topic

   edit / delete

   help narrowing a research paper topic from UCLA

   
   
   
   to history7b research writing ... 4 days ago



7. Research Papers: Hunting for Sources

   edit / delete

   advice on effective researching and note-taking from Purdue.

   
   
   
   to history7b research writing ... saved by 1 other person ... 4 days ago



8. Developing a thesis

   edit / delete

   Comingup with your central idea is the biggest problem you have to solvebefore you begin to craft a defense of your ideas or write a draft ofyour essay

   
   
   
   to history7b writing thesis ... 4 days ago



9. The Economist Magazine style guide

   edit / delete

   doing away with extraneous words, simplifying your language, basic capitalization for politics and history, punctuation aid.

   
   
   
   to writing punctuation history7b style ... saved by 1044 other people ... on feb 10



10. George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946

    edit / delete

    rules for simple writing. skip to the end for summary. never use a long word when a short one will do.

    
    
    
    to writing history7b orwell language communication ... saved by 211 other people ... on feb 10



11. Writing an Annotated Bibliography

    edit / delete

    how to research and write an annotated bibliography

    
    
    
    to research writing bibliography history7b history ... saved by 12 other people ... on feb 02



12. History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web

    edit / delete
    to americanhistory history teaching writing research syllabi ... saved by 104 other people ... on feb 02



13. Effective Writing | Grammar Rules

    edit / delete

    rules for clear writing

    
    
    
    to writing history7b clarity ... saved by 2 other people ... on feb 02



14. Dictionary.com Style Guide

    edit / delete

    punctuation, grammar, and more

    
    
    
    to grammar writing punctuation history7b ... saved by 17 other people ... on feb 02



15. Thesaurus.com

    edit / delete
    to reference history7b writing ... saved by 1751 other people ... on feb 02



16. Half an Hour: How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly

    edit / delete
    to lifehacks tutorial writing tips ... saved by 698 other people ... on nov 10