Prewriting Strategies for writers

Pre-writing strategies use writing to generate and clarify ideas. While many writers have traditionally created outlines before beginning writing, there are other possible pre-writing activities. Five useful strategies are brainstorming clustering, free writing, looping, and asking the six journalists' questions

Brainstorming

Brainstorming, also called listing, is a process of generating a lot of information within a short time by building on the association of previous terms you have mentioned.

• Jot down all the possible terms that emerge from the general topic you are thinking about. This procedure works especially well if you work in a team. All team members can generate ideas, with one member acting as scribe. Don't worry about editing or throwing out what might not be a good idea. Simply write down a lot of possibilities.
• Group the items that you have listed according to arrangements that make sense to you.
• Give each group a label. Now you have a topic with possible points of development.
• Write a sentence about the label you have given the group of ideas. Now you have a topic sentence or possibly a thesis statement.

Clustering

Clustering is also called mind mapping or idea mapping. It is a strategy that allows you to explore the relationships between ideas.

• Put the subject in the center of a page. Circle or underline it.
• As you think of other ideas, link the new ideas to the central circle with lines.
• As you think of ideas that relate to the new ideas, add to those in the same way.

The result will look like a web on your page. Locate clusters of interest to you, and use the terms you attached to the key ideas as departure points for your paper.
Clustering is especially useful in determining the relationship between ideas. You will be able to distinguish how the ideas fit together, especially where there is an abundance of ideas. Clustering your ideas lets you see them visually in a different way, so that you can more readily understand possible directions your paper may take.

Freewriting

Free-writing is a process of generating a lot of information by writing non-stop. It allows you to focus on a specific topic, but forces you to write so quickly that you are unable to edit any of your ideas.

• Free-write on the assignment or general topic for several 5-10 minutes non-stop. Force yourself to continue writing even if nothing specific comes to mind. This free-writing will include many ideas; at this point, generating ideas is what is important, not the grammar or the spelling.
• After you've finished free-writing, look back over what you have written and highlight the most prominent and interesting ideas; then you can begin all over again, with a tighter focus. You will narrow your topic and, in the process, you will generate several relevant points about the topic.

Looping

Looping is a free-writing technique that allows you to increasingly focus your ideas in trying to discover a writing topic. You loop one 5-10 minute free-writing after another, so you have a sequence of free-writings, each more specific than the other. The same rules that apply to free-writing apply to looping: write quickly, do not edit, and do not stop.
Free-write on an assignment for 5-10 minutes. Then, read through your free-writing, looking for interesting topics, ideas, phrases, or sentences. Circle those you find interesting. A variation on looping is to have a classmate circle ideas in your free-writing that interests him or her.
Then free-write again for 5-10 minutes on one of the circled topics. You should end up with a more specific free-writing about a particular topic.
Loop your free-writing again, circling another interesting topic, idea, phrase, or sentence. When you have finished four or five rounds of looping, you will begin to have specific information that indicates what you are thinking about a particular topic. You may even have the basis for a tentative thesis or an improved idea for an approach to your assignment when you have finished.

The Journalists' Questions

Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are writing assignments, 5 W's and 1 H: Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, How? You can use these questions to explore the topic you are writing about for an assignment. A key to using the journalists' questions is to make them flexible enough to account for the specific details of your topic. For instance, if your topic is the rise and fall of the Puget Sound tides and its effect on salmon spawning, you may have very little to say about Who? if your focus doesn't account for human involvement. On the other hand, some topics may be heavy on the Who?, especially if human involvement is a crucial part of the topic. Possible generic questions you can ask using the six journalists' questions follow:

• Who?:

  Who are the participants? Who is affected? Who are the primary actors? Who are the secondary actors?

• What?:

  What is the topic? What is the significance of the topic? What is the basic problem? What are the issues?

• Where?:

  Where does the activity take place? Where does the problem or issue have its source? At what place is the cause or effect of the problem most visible?

• When?:

  When is the issue most apparent? (past? present? future?) When did the issue or problem develop? What historical forces helped shape the problem or issue and at what point in time will the problem or issue culminate in a crisis? When is action needed to address the issue or problem?

• Why?:

  Why did the issue or problem arise? Why is it (your topic) an issue or problem at all? Why did the issue or problem develop in the way that it did?

• How?:

  How is the issue or problem significant? How can it be addressed? How does it affect the participants? How can the issue or problem be resolved?

The journalists' questions are a powerful way to develop a great deal of information about a topic very quickly. Learning to ask the appropriate questions about a topic takes practice, however. At times during writing an assignment, you may wish to go back and ask the journalists' questions again to clarify important points that may be getting lost in your planning and drafting.

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Free top 9 cloud based Operating System

Cloud Computing means Internet-based computing where your data and the software are present on the Web, and the application is used as a service rather than a standalone software. You can run a virtual application or operating system within a browser which preserves your user session and your data. It’s like travelling with your own computer but without carrying its hardware.

With a Cloud operating system (also known as a Web OS), you can manage your office work, prepare projects, etc quite similar to how you do on your desktop. The beauty of the idea is that everything is stored on the Internet and hence available everywhere you go!

1. ZeroPC

ZeroPC offers you 1GB of free storage and lets you to connect cloud storage services like Box, DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync and 4Shared for access to your paperwork. ZeroPC is also available on the Android, iPhone and iPad, giving you access while on the go.

For photo lovers, it is also a great "photo management tool", linking photo & video services like Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, PhotoBucket, Picasa and Recood. Plus, it also has native apps for instant messaging, a text editor as well as productivity tools for managing documents and spreadsheets online.

2. Jolicloud

Jolicloud offers you Joli OS, which you can download and install in your system (even if it’s 10 years old) or use it in the browser. Joli OS provides you with the full cloud experience – keep and use your favorite apps any time, any where. Jolicloud has over 15,000 web apps you can access using the system.

You can integrate your DropBox and Google Drive accounts with Jolicloud and there is also a ‘Jolicloud Me’ version where you can manage all of your online life at a single place Jolicloud Me currently supports Facebook, Flickr, Instagram, Picasa, Tumblr and Twitter.

3. Glide OS

Glide OS is a good choice if you’re collaborating for a group project. Glide team offers 30GB of free storage and you can add a total of 6 users in your account. The OS is not very pretty but is quite useful; it has additional features like email and profiles as well as basic tools like Calendar, Notes, Text editor, Presentation maker, etc required for your paperwork.

Glide also provides a syncing software for Windows, Mac OS and Linux so that you can easily sync your files between Glide HD (they call it the Glide Hard Disk) and your local storage. They also have browser extensions and a mobile version.

The Best Online PHP Editors

Most of us have a favorite PHP editor we use every time we feel like writing some code for our websites and applications.

However our favorite PHP editor may not always be available on other computers we use besides our own. In this post I’ve listed the best PHP editors you can use no matter where and no matter when. Choose your favorite!

phpanywhere

PHPanywhere is a web based free Integrated Development Environment or IDE for the PHP language, in other words it is an application that gives developers all the code editing capabilities they need to develop PHP applications online. It includes a real-time syntax code editor with support for all web formats and a powerful FTP editor.
check it out

Write Code Online

A simple code editor that lets you write and test your PHP code in one window.
check it out

Twitter Bootstrap Tutorial: Carousel

Hello friends...
Today I am going to show you the tactic about the twitter bootstrap Carousel uses. Its a very easy way to use image sliding as well as text.
Please take a look....

 

Thanks for watching....

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Take Part Idea Team

How to change the Mac address in Windows7

Step 1 : How to check your MAC address?

Go to Start and type "cmd" and there just type "getmac". By doing the above procedure you will get your MAC address. If you want you can note down your MAC address in your notepad or somewhere.

Step 2 : After getting to know your MAC address just drag yourself to 

Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center.

After getting down to "Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center". 

Click on "Change Adapter Settings" which is at the left top corner.

Step 3 : After getting down "Change Adapter Settings" you will be seeing "Bluetooth Network Connection", "Wireless Network Connection" and "Local Area Connection". 

Right Click -> Properties on "Local Area Connection".

Note : This trick works only on LAN, it doesn't work for wifi.

Step 4 : Click "Configure" and navigate to "Advanced" tab". Go to "Network Address". By default it will be "Not Present". You need to opt value and give the MAC address which you want. Don't alter much just change some 2 or 3 digits. Click Ok and wait till it gets redialled and gets connected. 

Step 5 : Verification, Already your MAC address has changed. So lets check it again. Again do the step 1 i.e., Go to start and type cmd and give the command "getmac" and now check whether your MAC address has been changed or not. Definitely it has changed to the given address in above step. Here is the proof of my computer's MAC spoof.

Learn how to write grate business letter in English

Hello everyone
Hope you are fine. Writing an English letter is very essentional for everybody. But, how much you are prepared yourself to write an interactive letter? Now lets go...
  
English is the language of international business communication, but do you know how to make a good impression when writing in English? A well-written business letter can make or break your business deal, so read on to become a writing pro!

A good first impression

Try to create a good first impression with the salutation or start of the letter. Make sure the person's name and title are correct e.g. Dear Ms. Jones. Use Dear Sir or Madam if you don't know their name.

Stating your purpose

You should state the purpose of your letter in the first paragraph, for example As per our phone conversation, I am writing to provide the information you requested.

Reason for writing

There are many reasons for writing a business letter, such as inquiry (to ask for information), request (to ask someone to do something), apology (to say sorry) or complaint (to complain about a problem). This will determine the style and tone of your letter.

Letter of request

If you are writing a letter of request, you could say Could you possibly... or I would be grateful if you could...

Giving bad news

If you are giving bad news or apologizing, you should be polite and tactful and state the reason for the problem. For example Unfortunately we are not hiring any new staff at the moment. or I am afraid that we will be unable to meet your order on time due to problems with our supplier.

Business Emails in English: 5 practical pointers

Hay all...
Now I am going to show how to write an effective email for business. Writing a business email is often easier than speaking: you don't have to worry about pronunciation, and you can take time to edit your message. But there are some rules to remember when writing emails. Here are some tips to keep in mind to ensure that your email makes a good impression.

1. Know your email terms: English email programs use lots of abbreviations, and if you don't know them, your email asking your boss for a raise might end up going out to the entire office!

"Reply to all" means your email will be sent to everyone who received the originally letter you're replying too. In the address section of the email, the "cc" (carbon copy) section sends copies of the email to the people you indicate, while the "bcc" section lets you send copies discreetly – the b stands for "blind" (hidden).

If someone asks you to "forward" an email, they mean to send a copy of the email to them using the forward feature, which is sometimes abbreviated as "fw."
 
2. Use the Right Greeting: Although opening an e-mail to your friend with "Hey" is fine, its best not to write a potential business partner that way. On the other hand, using extremely formal traditional phrases like "Dear Sir" is increasingly out of date. The best bet is to write "Dear Mr. / Ms." and then the person's last name. When you already have a working relationship, it's fine to just use their first name (e.g. "Dear John").

3. Keep it Short and Clear: While in some other languages using elaborate and complicated structures shows your intelligence and education, write your English emails in a clear and organized style. Clearly introduce the purpose of your letter in the first paragraph and follow a clear structure in the main paragraphs with good introduction sentences in each. Using words like "first, second, next, and finally" are guides to the reader that you're making a new point. You don't have to describe all the details in your email. You can always end the email with a phrase like "If you have any other questions please feel free to contact me," which invites the reader to ask you for more information.

4. Be polite and tactful: While it's good to be clear when you're writing an email asking for something, whether it's a discount on a shipment of shoes or a job interview, it's best not to use demanding words like "I want." "I would like" is more respectful, and "I am interested in" is a good choice if you're making an initial proposal or still exploring ideas.

5. Always end the email correctly: "I am looking forward to your reply," "Thank you," or "Sincerely" are all good ways to leave the reader with a good impression.

These are the five way to improve you business English in Email. Hope it will help you. Feel free to contact with me takepartidea@gmail.com.


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Take Part Idea Team