Based on the actions of the more than 40,000 visitors to my Writing Help Central website every week, it seems that many people are unsure about which format to use when writing their letters.
There is considerable confusion as to whether they should be formatting their letter as a business letter or a personal letter. In fact, as I have pointed out in previous articles on this blog, many folks are confused as to exactly what a “business letter” is, and what differentiates it from a “personal letter”.
This is an important thing to know, since there are different formats/layouts for business and personal letters. Depending on the situation, a letter can be printed on either personal or business stationery. Following are some guidelines that I suggest you follow when deciding whether to use business format (stationery) or personal format (stationery)…
When it comes to writing essays, term papers, and research papers the most prevalent international writing standard is APA format or style. These are style guidelines or standards that dictate the formatting and citing of sources when writing academic and professional papers.
Every day, literally thousands of visitors arrive at my Writing Help Central website looking for information and samples on how to apply the APA international standard. To serve the needs of those visitors I have set up a number of information and sample format pages that explain and demonstrate APA writing format.
During my 30-year career in a variety of professional positions in both the private and public sectors I have written literally thousands of letters and memos and hundreds of reports. If I had to boil–down everything I’ve learned about practical day-to-day writing for both personal and business purposes into 10 key points, the following would be my “Top 10 List”.
In March of 2001 I posted the first few pages of writing help info on my free content website: writinghelp-central.com. Now almost six years later, there are over 180 pages and 150,000 words of free writing help info available on that site. During that time, more than 7 million people from over 170 countries have visited the site and consulted the material.
The Top 5 Topics consulted by visitors to my website during that time are as follows:
Following last month’s post on Resume Writing Tips, I thought I would continue on that theme with an article about “cover letters”. However, just before I get into my article on the 9 Cover Letter Tips, there is something that I need to clear up.
Frequently there is confusion about the exact meaning of the term “cover letter”. That’s because when most people use that term, they don’t realize that there are TWO main types of cover letters. There are “document transmittal cover letters”, and there are “resume cover letters”.
Some people have even gone so far as to name ALL letters “cover letters”. That’s plain wrong of course, but there are some actual books/ebooks that have been published referring to cover letters as if ALL types of letters are cover letters. Go figure? So, to find out the real scoop on cover letters, keep reading…
Many people arrive at my “writing help” Websites looking for help with writing their resume or c.v. Although I don’t specialize in resume writing, I do end up writing a number of them each year when requested by clients.
Following is an article I wrote that is based on both my personal and professional experiences writing resumes over the years. If you follow these 10 Tips you won’t go wrong.
As I’ve mentioned before; because my two “writing help” Web sites receive well over two million visitors per year looking for information to help them with their writing, I get a pretty accurate idea of exactly what people are looking for on the subject of letter writing. In fact, it turns out that a significant number of people arrive at my site using the search phrase “business letter”.
Now, at first glance the term “business letter” seems to makes sense, right? But, just wait a minute here, let’s think about this a little! What “exactly” do people mean by “business letter”? Keep reading and I’ll tell you…
Writing a report can be one of the most difficult writing tasks we face, whether it’s for work or for school.
In my various professional incarnations over the years, as bureaucrat, administrator and private consultant, I have been required to write literally (no pun intended) hundreds of reports of just about every description you can imagine. In fact, when I did my MBA in the mid-1990s it was like a total immersion course in report writing; they seemed to be never ending.
So, to help people with their report writing I have put together a few tips that I have picked up over the years.
One of the most common weaknesses I see in day-to-day writing is poor logical flow from one idea or point to the next. This usually takes the form of a bunch of seemingly unrelated phrases thrown together with little or no sense of sequence, continuity, or relativity. I call it “disconnected writing”, and it’s all around us.
I see many blatant examples of disconnected writing every day in the newspaper. I also hear it on the radio and TV news on a regular basis. In fact, when I come across an item containing this type of writing I often find myself asking more questions at the end of the item than it answered for me in the first place. It’s especially frustrating when the way an item is reported raises very obvious questions that just about anyone would naturally ask, yet it doesn’t answer or even acknowledge those questions.
Are you guilty of “disconnected writing”? To find out exactly what it is and how to overcome it, keep on reading…
I believe that most people are “experiential learners”. I know that I definitely am. An “experiential learner” is someone who learns through experience or “by doing”, as opposed to learning passively through lectures or book learning.
If you are an experiential learner there is an amazing new training tool that is starting to sweep the Web and it’s called “Online Video Tutorials”.
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