Writers Blog

Now that your paper is done, you want to make sure it’s as perfect as possible before publishing.  Obviously, the first step toward that goal is to proofread your work. Here is a short and sweet proofreading guide. “Huh? My word processing program includes a spell checker, and it even checks grammar,...

So the degree-culminating paper is done, after months—maybe years!—of work.  Now you’re ready to kick back and relax a bit before submitting it to your prof—after a thorough proofreading, of course. But wait—should you just rely on your word processing program’s spell/grammar check, or do you need...

What is formatting? Simply put, formatting is taking your document and ensuring that it conforms to the style guide or publishing manual of your school or publisher. “Well, that’s easy enough; I can do that myself,” you say smugly. Of course you can! But when your document is 100 pages or more long and...

What’s the difference between proofreading and editing? Many people assume they are one and the same, but they’re not. Does it matter which option you choose when you have a document edited? Well, that depends on what you want from your editing experience. Do you want nothing more than a quick read-through...

“I’ve written this great article/short story, and I am submitting work to magazines for possible publication, but I’m not sure how to go about that—isn’t it pretty difficult?” Submitting work to magazines is not as mysterious or difficult a process as you’d think; in fact, it can be quite easy if you...