What’s all this talk about "author platforms?" And how do fiction writers figure out what their platforms are?

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Research before writing

Introduction:

The dissemination of research results and findings is an integral part of both the research process and the career in academia. Researchers write to keep records of their work for themselves, but more importantly for the readers and peer researchers who are expecting a standard form, language, and style when reading research papers.

Main Idea:

Elements of the Research before writing:

• Title
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Works Cited
• Appendices

While all scientific research reports share a common organizational setup, you will find variations within reports. The common structure of the report is to ensure ease of reading. Researchers must quickly filter the huge amount of information available in scientific publications. A common organizational structure helps readers move quickly through reports. In fact, often scientists do not read entire reports and rarely read them in chronological order. For example, they may skip directly to the findings and not read the methods.

Title:

• Informative and specific
• Concise
• Understandable

Eg: “Genetic Underpinnings of Neuroticism: A Replication Study“

Notice:

• The title is on a Cover Page
• The title is descriptive. It tells the reader what effect you measured and on what organism
• All nouns are capitalized in the title
• The title is centered on the page
• Your names and date appear below the title

Abstract:

The abstract is a one paragraph (<100 words) summary of the report, including the question investigated, the methods used, the principal results and conclusions.

• Offers a complete but selective summary of most significant ideas and information.
• Uses clear, precise wording (increase precision through successive revisions).
• Accurately reflects the paper’s organization, emphasis, and content on a very small scale.

Notice:

• The abstract summarizes your research in one paragraph.
• The abstract includes results
• The language is concise and easy-to-read.

Introduction:

The introduction is a brief section (no more than 1 page usually) designed to inform the reader of the relevance of your research.

• Focuses on the overall issue, problem, or question that your research addresses. What is the context of your study (i.e. how does this relate to other research)?
• Provides sufficient context and background for the reader to understand and evaluate your research, including appropriate visual aids (drawings, etc.). Warning: Don’t be too long-winded here. You do not need an entire history of frog biology, for example.
• Defines terms which your reader may not know. Remember other students are your audience.
• Defines abbreviations that will be used in the report.
• Develops the rationale for your work:  poses questions or research problems and outlines your main research focus. What was your research question?

Methods:

The Methods section chronologically describes the process you undertook to complete the re-search. The method is written as a process description, not as a lab manual procedure.  Be precise, complete, and concise: include only relevant information—no unnecessary details, anecdotes, excuses, or confessions.

• Details experimental procedures.
• Describes techniques for tracking functional variables (timing, temperature, humidity, etc.) and rational for tracking those variables.
• Explains analytical techniques used.

Results:

The Results section DESCRIBES but DOES NOT INTERPRET the major findings of your experiment. Present the data using graphs and tables to reveal any trends that you found. Describe these trends to the reader. The presentation of data may be either chronological, to correspond with the Methods, or in the order of most to least importance. If you make good use of your tables and graphs, the results can be presented briefly in several paragraphs.

• Organize logically and use headers to emphasize the ordered sections.
• Report; don’t discuss or interpret.  Findings are matters of fact; interpretation
• Fluctuates with perspective, opinion, and current knowledge.  Reasoned speculation
• Belongs in Discussion; important facts and objective observations that are
• Unambiguously true belong in Results.
• Illustrate and summarize findings: organize data and emphasize trends and patterns with appropriate visuals.
• Integrate visuals with text: the text offers claims and general statements that the visual details support.

Discussion:

This section offers your interpretations and conclusions about your findings. How do your results relate to the goals of the study, as stated in your introduction, and how do they relate to the results that might have been expected from background information obtained in lectures, textbooks, or outside reading.

Interpret your results: evaluate, analyze, and explain the significance and implications of your work generalizations that you can draw from your results, principles that you support/disprove, and conclusions about theoretical and/or practical implications.

Appendix:

Appendices include the original data taken during the laboratory session. Appendices should be numbered A, B, C, etc.

Conclusion:

A conclusion of a research should contain the following specifications like Title, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Works Cited, Appendices in the research paper or final document.

I don’t meet many people who enjoy taking exams! Most of us approach them with dread at worse, or at least a degree of reluctance.

Exam build-ups can be hard. I always find getting a balance of preparation / fresh air / rest helps. If you spend too much time revising, your brain gets tired and inefficient.

One tip I recommend is building Worry Times into your day. Many people find these work well.

You allocate two 5 minute Worry times into your daily schedule – say at 12.55am, before lunch, and 5.25pm, just before you finish work. Try to choose times that mean the sessions have to end after 5 minutes, because you have to take lunch, go home etc.

Then – during the rest of the day, every time you find yourself thinking anxious thoughts, say ‘Stop’ out loud (or under your breath), jot down what you were worrying about – and move on to do something else. You’ll be able to do this, knowing that you have a slot later in the day when you ARE allowed to worry! Then – during Worry Time, think through all those worrying thoughts as much as you like, but also try to think of a positive solution to each one. For instance, if the worrying thought is ‘I’m sure I’ll fail my exam’ – then also think ‘Yes, but I have passed all my mocks, and my tutor thinks I’ll be OK’. Then — be disciplined, and END the worry time after 5 mins, and get on with something else.

It takes a bit of practice, but you will soon find that this technique helps you to do something constructive with your worries!

You could also try doing an entirely unrelated type of activity for a while – something that keeps your brain active but in a different way. For instance, one student did a proofreading course alongside her revision. She found it exercised her brain, but also introduced some welcome variety. So not only did she do well in her exams, but she completed her distance learning proofreading course as well, so ended up with two sets of qualifications.

Try using both of these methods, and you’ll find you’ll get the best out of your revision time.

There are so many reasons why books get banned. Even in today’s forward thinking society books are feared by some individuals and those are the people that take it upon themselves to start a crusade to end the existence of that book. There are many reasons why books get banned but the main ones are, political views, racism, vulgar language and anti religious statements.

In many countries around the world the local religion has more power than the government. This leads to the views of some people getting banished by the church. Today, books still get burned by religious fanatics but it was not many years ago that humble authors would get tortured and burned at the stake for publishing and distributing anything other than what the local religious authorities approved.

Another reason that books get banned from libraries and schools is because they are considered racist. Racism is not cool and I am in no way condoning it but in cases like Huckleberry Finn where the word n_____ is used, it is used because it was common during the time that the book was written.

Sometimes it is the political views of the author that can get a book banned. I am not referring to democratic or republican views, but the the political affiliations such as communism and Nazism. The cold war might be officially over but there is still a fear that communism could rise again and be a powerful force to be reckoned with. This is why some people have taken it upon them selves to make sure that these views do not get spread to the general public.

A reason that many people consider valid to ban a book is the use of vulgar language within its contents. Some times it is just the authors way of expressing a strong emotion that no other words can express and some times it is just to be vulgar and get noticed. It is mostly parental watchdog groups that find and banish these books. This is for the benefit of their children but words are only letters on a page unless you give them the power to affect you.

As for the other reasons that books get banned, there are hundreds. All of these reasons are considered valid to someone and if you don’t agree then you are going to have to be the one that is complaining about your local school or library or book store to the good folks in your neighborhood that deal with the enforcement of peoples right to freedom of speech.

As a child, author Tahir Shah was always encouraged to do things differently, which led to many opportunities in life. Over the years, he became disillusioned with the conventional publishing model, leading him to self publish his novel Timbuctoo. This allowed him, for the first time, to produce exactly the book he wanted, a book he was proud to be associated with. It was a hugely steep learning curve. Find out some of the things he has had to deal with along the way.

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Do you work in the media and communications industry? Maybe your day to day working load involves your ability to read and interpret content, quickly and accurately?

Well if so, why not enrol on an Online Proofreading and editing course?

It is such a vital skill to have, yet one that so many people lack today in the media. And the best thing about an Online Proofreading course is that you can study in your own time, without it getting in the way of your other work or commitments.

This is exactly what Sue Bailey did. She enrolled and studied whilst still working for a local newspaper. The course took her around 4 months to pass, and once she did, she then felt confident to undertake tougher tasks within the workplace.

This is what Sue had to say about the course, when we caught up her:

“I’m in a communications role and although I did a module on media law in a previous course, I felt that proofreading course was an interesting and essential subject for me as I deal with content, copy and articles in my day to day job.

“The course and the resources, such as online podcasts, links, and articles were very helpful – they more than met my expectations.

“The tutorial support was very good because my tutor was professional but also very friendly from the start which helps you over your fears when you’re in a new learning and virtual environment. I could also ask questions outside of the resource provided which was very helpful.

“I enjoyed the course content. I also love the fact that there are courses such as this available to full-time workers like me, they meet the needs of modern society. I feel more informed and a little more confident now rather than vague as I was before. Proofreading is such a useful skill to possess, especially when you work in the media industry like I do.

“All in all, I was very impressed with the Proofreading course I undertook, I was professionally delivered, represented excellent value for money, and only took a few months to complete.”

Let us go back to our early childhood, when we first began to go to kindergarten school. We must have been around twenty students in a class, the class teacher would have taught all of us to write the same way, and yet as we grew up, our handwriting became different and distinct from one other. Similarly, as we became older, various traits of our personalities began to emerge and we became distinct individuals in our own rights. Co-incidence? Not exactly. Years of study by experts knowledgeable in the field of psychology have established that there is a direct linkage between an individual’s handwriting and the characteristics that make up her personality. The neuro-physical mechanisms which contribute to the movement of our hands and fingers during the act of writing are directly sourced from the central nervous system and hence every letter formed with a pen on paper tells the hidden story of a person’s mind.

Graphology Analysis is the study of an individual’s personality traits through a close assessment of the handwriting. The pattern, form, spaces, flow, quality and the overall consistency of the handwriting is closely studied as a part of Graphology Analysis to make deductions of the person’s inherent nature. It is an interesting, non-invasive skill for understanding human behavior without intruding into a person’s privacy by asking questions. The singular nature of this skill attracts people to this activity and the analytical sessions more or less turn out to be very interactive.

For a person who is interested in studying human nature in all its manifestations, it would prove to be a very insightful experience to learn graphology. Graphology Analysis has many uses such as:

1. Self-analysis of handwriting helps a person understand herself better, so that she can work towards improving the flaws in her personality.

2. Gaining an insight into the inner working of a persons’ mind.

3. Guiding a person towards a career or vocation that is in keeping with her personality traits.

4. Helping children especially those who are disturbed for some reason but are unable to express themselves verbally.

5. Assessing the compatibility of people in any kind of relationship – romantic, marital, platonic or professional.

6. Providing forensic evidence by assessing the veracity of the signatures and writing on a document.

Most importantly, a person who has prior knowledge of human psychology can learn graphology and work as a graphotherapist. A graphotherapist uses graphology analysis to identify the weaknesses and barriers in a person’s character and guides the person towards improvement by suggesting alterations in the person’s handwriting and coaches her through the process of change.

In conclusion, we have learnt about the interesting potential of graphology analysis and we now know that we can surely consider spending the time and effort to learn graphology from a well-versed mentor.

Doing research is an essential part of writing a paper. Research is important because reading through other people’s work can help a person form ideas. It can also help you find other people who have similar ideas to your own and use them as evidence to support your ideas. And since these works and ideas will have become entwined with your own once you write your paper, it is important that you give credit to those who helped you along the way. You can accomplish this by listing down your sources. Listing down the people whose work you have used in the course of writing your paper will also make your paper more credible to readers as well as enable them to easily find those sources should they want to learn more about the topic or make sure that the source you used is legitimate. Another important reason why you should cite sources is to avoid being accused of plagiarism.

There are several formats used in writing a paper thus there are also several ways to cite sources. References is used in the APA format, Works Cited is used in the MLA format, and Bibliography is something that’s entirely different. In “References” and “Works Cited”, the only sources listed are those that you mention within your paper. With a Bibliography, the list contains all the works you consulted in the course of writing your paper, regardless of whether they were mentioned in the paper or not. Now, the APA citation style can sometimes be challenging even for those of us who’ve used it a couple of times already. Fortunately, there are a number of apa format generators that can help us out. So, how does one use such a tool? Generally, all you need are the details required when citing sources in the APA format. These details include the author’s name, the date of publication, the title of the article, the title of the journal or periodical (if applicable), the volume number (if applicable), and the page numbers. Once you have all the details, you simply input them in the APA format generator and get all those details listed in the proper format. Simply copy and paste the result on to your paper. Of course, you just need to make sure that all sources are listed alphabetically.

For those who are interested in such tools, there are a number of them that can be found online. You can even get an apa citation generator free, no payment required. To find them, you can search using the following keywords, “APA format generator”, “son of citation machine”, and “apa format tool.” With the advent of APA format generators, citing sources isn’t as hard as it used to be. 

  Life is beautiful everyone known… but i belive in this when i feel this from mahh own experince my fell about life is like water it take shaps according to our thinking and mind whenever we are happy our about life is :

wow and when sad we think negitive about life i fel our life just depend on us if want a hapy life have to enjoy each n every color of life then only we will came to kmw beauti of life you know their is no one more beautiful then life every life every day every mnt have its own story

we have so much to say to define about this life but we have limit word so not able to define all felling in some limited words and these so many colours in some limited word how we define this aur every colour have its own defination his own story then how we define these so beautiful stories in our simple word it not possible what ever we try however we try but some few feels are cant define in words

life  have there own word ther own feeling a beauti which we fell but the feeling cant relate with any thing this was a real fell THe nature, A happiness , Joy full movment, A sweet smile, some few lovable movment, and so many thing these all have there on colour.  

I always try to know every think i fell so many color of life till but now also much more are left some times when we try to understand al abt this life we always try best on our level but nt able to do beause its so vast in reality evey time we get a new difination a new stroy which was never define by words so try to caugh few color or can say few movment as a memory always  and afer all this Aso at end of in mahh views about life……

I explain my life in a single line as i fell my life is much more beautifull  not explainable every minut have its own Story …………

If you’re looking for a good way to make some passive income you should look into Kindle digital publishing. Authors of digital books are finding it easy to make passive income these days and with the high sell of digital e-book readers its no wonder. Millions of people are buying these devices and buying books to read on them. These devices have also freed up authors from publishing companies and allowed them to take control of their own writing careers.

E-readers have also given the writing novice a chance to become a published author and get their writings out to the public. Because of e-book publishing an average person with little to no writing skills can be a published writer. There is good and bad in this. The good is that a gem that might have never been discovered otherwise will have a chance to shine. The bad is a lot of junk can be put out on the market.

Never the less a lot of folks are making a pretty good passive income by publishing e-books. The Amazon Kindle is the biggest selling e-reader around and more folks buy and read more books on it than any other. That is why it is more appealing for authors to do Kindle digital publishing.

The old way of submitting your book to publishing houses and waiting to see if it gets accepted was depressing to say the least. More times then not authors ended up pulling rejection letters out of their mailboxes. Heck, even Stephen King got several rejection letters. The point is a lot of good writing went undiscovered with this method.

But digital publishing rescued authors from all of that. Now you have people like Amanda Hocking, who’s books were rejected many times by many publishing companies, have a best selling e-book and making millions of dollars. The best thing is when you self-publish on Kindle, Amazon will list your books for sell in their Kindle store and every time it sells you make money. You don’t have to do another thing. We’re talking passive income here. Amazon even promotes the book for you. And get this. It doesn’t even have to be books. You can publish poems, special reports, articles, essays, etc. There is no limit to how many things you publish. The more stuff, the more money you have the potential to make.

So if you like to write, want to get published and make some passive income, Kindle digital publishing just might be your ticket.