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150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively

Published on Monday 30th of July, 2007

WriterAs a student, writer, author, journalist, poet, or screenwriter, you know that you probably spend more time on research, editing, and proofreading than you do on the actual writing. Therefore, you might not have time to find resources to help you write better, faster, or more persuasively. This is where our list comes to your rescue, as the following links focus on places where you can conduct research, software that is free and easy to use, and services that will remove that "extra work" monkey from your back.

This list doesn't focus solely on students, as writing consists of many genres and styles. Once you graduate from any writing course, you might venture into technical writing or specialize in essays for magazines. You could moonlight as a poet and work weekends as a freelance cub reporter. All the while, you might work on that novel that you intended to write years ago.

The following list is categorized and listed alphabetically within those categories. Journals, listservs, writing communities, and job listings were not included, as this list focuses solely on those tools that can make your writing life easier.

Almanacs | Business and Legal Matters | Citation Styles | Dictionaries | English Language Skills | Genres | News Digests | New Media Resources | Organization | Professional Organizations | Rhetoric | Toolboxes | Writing Services | Writing Skills | Writing Software

Almanacs

Almanacs offer lists, charts, and tables filled with information on various topics, so they provide a way to gather information quickly.

  1. Answers.com: Answers.com is an encyclopedia, dictionary, thesaurus, and almanac rolled into one site. Although this site provides a broad resource for information to begin a project, is is not a good source to cite in papers.

  2. Black Facts Online: Online searchable database of Black History Facts that you can use to write your articles and papers. Black Facts Online is a collaborative project, much like Wikipedia, so use this site as a starting point rather than one that you would cite.

  3. ePodunk: This site provides the "power of place," as it provides in-depth information about more than 46,000 communities around the country, "from Manhattan to Los Angeles, Pottstown to Podunk." Find local newspapers, maps, airports, and even cemetery listings through well-defined navigation.

  4. FedStats: "Celebrating 10 years of making statistics from more than 100 agencies available to citizens everywhere." You might find what you need here on topics that range from abortion to women-owned businesses.

  5. GeoHive: This is another site you might want to peruse for information on global statistics.

  6. InfoPlease: Online version of the popular annual Time Almanac, InfoPlease is an all-in-one encyclopedia, almanac, dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and biography reference that includes the Random House Webster's College Dictionary and the Columbia Encyclopedia.

  7. Internet Public Library: Need a quote? Want to find any newspaper in the world? This resource will get you started.

  8. Kaiser State Health Facts: "Your source for state health data" that includes state comparisons and individual state profiles.

  9. NACo: The National Association of Counties (NACo) is the only national organization that represents county governments in the United States. You can find county representatives, issues, conferences and events, and more for any county within the U.S.

  10. Original Farmer's Almanac: Covers astronomical events, weather conditions and forecasts, recipes, and gardening tips.

  11. Refdesk: Refdesk is a free and family- and user-friendly web site that indexes and reviews quality, credible, and current web-based resources.

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Business and Legal Matters

The tools listed below provides tools that will help you create a freelance business and many of these sites focus on business and legal issues aimed specifically at writers. Also, check the Professional Organizations list further down to learn more about writer's guilds that can help you build a business and obtain legal advice.

  1. Copyscape: Use this free service to learn if anyone has plagiarized your work.

  2. Creative Commons: Creative Commons provides free tools that let you easily mark your creative work with the freedoms you want it to carry. The service and software is free to use.

  3. Designer's Toolbox: While this site is geared toward designers, writers can find useful legal forms and design tools for business print necessities like business cards and CDs.

  4. Guide for Unpublished Writers: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc offers information on topics that range from submitting material to your rights as a writer.

  5. Guide to Online Plagiarism Sources: This site provides plenty of resources that will help you avoid plagiarism's dark shadow.

  6. Intellectual Property Law: This list for online resources that focus on intellectual property will keep you busy for weeks. Some items focus on Canada, some on the U.S., and some on international law.

  7. Legal Guide for Bloggers: The Electronic Frontier Foundation provides a comprehensive summary into blogging and U.S. law.

  8. Literary Law Guide: Visit this site run by an intellectual property lawyer to get answers to legal questions about the latest copyright news.

  9. Performancing: Once you begin to write your blog, you might consider how you can streamline the process or - heaven forbid - make money. This blog is written in layman's terms (mostly), and provides information about tools, writing tips, and commercial aspects that can turn your blog into the prime marketing tool you need for your writing business.

  10. Podcasting Legal Guide: Want to share your writing and writing knowledge online through podcasts? Study this Wiki guide first before you take the plunge.

  11. Preditors and Editors: You'll save time and headaches by avoiding poor business deals that you'll learn about on this site. Use this and you'll be prepared to avoid author and writing scams altogether.

  12. U.S. Copyright Office: Your writing is copyrighted the minute you’ve put it in a tangible form, but if you want further protection for your work you can register it here for a fee. The FAQ is free, however, and it's and the best tutorial around on copyright.

  13. Work: Work.com is the entrepreneur's owner's manual to where to go, what to know, and how to get the most value from the ever-growing array of Web resources for the small business owner/operator.

  14. Writer Beware: Writer Beware is the public face of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Committee on Writing Scams. Don't let this limitation stop you from browsing this site, as the site Committee's efforts aren't limited by country or genre.

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Citation Styles

The list below provides several methods that a writer can use to cite information both from and on the Web and in print.

  1. APA: This guide is based on recommendations of the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association published by the American Psychological Association (2001). Use the APA's Electronic References guide for citing online resources.

  2. Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications: This guide provides examples of the most common government document citations. These examples are based on the Chicago/Turabian standard bibliographic style.

  3. Citation Styles Online: This site is easy to use, although you'll encounter some broken links. These links were retained as "illustrations of appropriate documentation style."

  4. Citing Electronic Documentation: This site contains information on how to cite online documents in APA, Chicago, and MLA citation styles. The information contained within this education module assumes a working knowledge of all three styles.

  5. Citing Lexis/Nexis: LexisNexis site managers show how to cite documents from their resources in both MLA and APA styles.

  6. Citing Sources: If you've never cited your writing, Duke University Libraries explains why (to avoid plagiarism, among other reasons) and how to cite your material with examples in APA, Chicago, MLA and Turabian styles.

  7. Comic Art in Scholarly Writing: A Citation Guide: The serious scholarly analysis of comic art needs an equally serious way to cite that material. This is the scholar's pop art guide to citation.

  8. Footnote and Citation Style Guides: You'll find a vast array of citation styles for business, education, engineering, science, social science, and general guides at this site. This information brought to you by Lehigh University.

  9. How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography: This site will help you compile a bibliography when you're ready to pull all those citations together.

  10. MLA Style: Unfortunately, the online MLA guide provides a summary of the guidelines that cover the World Wide Web. You'll need to purchase the book to get the full MLA citation styles.

  11. Turabian and Chicago Styles Citations [PDF]: A handy short summary provided by the UC Berkeley Library that follows the University of Chicago Press's Chicago Manual of Style and Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.

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Dictionaries

You can find a complete list of online dictionaries at the Internet Public Library, so the list below focuses on specialized dictionaries that you might use in your research:

  1. Acronym Finder: With more than 565,000 human-edited entries, Acronym Finder is the world's largest and most comprehensive dictionary of acronyms, abbreviations, and initials. Combined with the Acronym Attic, Acronym Finder contains more than 4 million acronyms and abbreviations. You might also try Silmaril's Internet Acronym Server.

  2. Alternative Dictionary: The Alternative dictionaries contain "slang, profanities, insults and vulgarisms from all the world" in many languages. At the moment, there are 2743 entries in 162 dictionaries. This is a collaborative project, and the pages are developed and edited by Hans-Christian Holm.

  3. DOD Dictionary of Military Terms: Browse the Department of Defense's Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. The DOD Dictionary and the Joint Acronyms and Abbreviations master data base are managed by the Joint Doctrine Division, J-7, Joint Staff. All approved joint definitions are contained in Joint Publication 1-02, "DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms as amended through 13 June 2007.

  4. Glossary of Poetic Terms: Robert G. Shubinski provides a poetic glossary through a first letter search or through a page with the entire glossary listing. Combined with Ian Lancashire's glossary of poetic forms, you'd be hard pressed to find a fuller resource.

  5. In Other Words: As enquirers explore the terminology of a new discipline and come to understand the generally accepted reference of terms, this dictionary serves as a basis for learning and communicating in that secondary arena.

  6. MediLexicon: Comprehensive dictionary of medical, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and health care abbreviations and acronyms.

  7. OneLook Dictionary: More than 5 million words in more than 900 online dictionaries are indexed by the OneLook® search engine. You can find, define, and translate words all at one site.

  8. Symbols.com: A fine resource for writers and for graphic designers, Symbols contains more than 1,600 articles about 2,500 Western signs, arranged into 54 groups according to their graphic characteristics.

  9. Tech Terms: The Tech Terms Dictionary is a constantly growing collection of computer and technology terms. Each definition is written in a way that is easy for the reader to understand and serves to explain the term, not just define it. Search by category, by first-letter reference, or by term.

  10. Your Dictionary: A basic and yet complex system that allows the user to find every known source for how a word can be used. This is a one-stop shop for acronyms, lexicons, a thesaurus, categorized dictionaries, and filters. You can hear the word (QuickTime), find words in one of many languages, learn etymology, and play word games.

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English Language Skills

No matter if you're a student or a seasoned pro, there may come a time when you need some help with your language and writing skills. The following links can help you write anything from a term paper to an article for The New York Times:

  1. 50 Tools to Increase Your Writing Skills: Offered by Poynter Online, these tips are clever and wise. Although Poynter is geared toward journalists, this list is geared toward any writer.

  2. English Grammar FAQ: A simple and easy-to-use list of common English language problems and how to solve them. This list was compiled through an extensive archive of postings to alt.usage.english by John Lawler, Linguistics, U. Michigan, Ann Arbor.

  3. Gender-Fair Language: This short guide will help you to avoid gender-specific discrimination in your writing and speech.

  4. Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization for Technical Writers and Editors: Although this comprehensive guide is geared toward technical writing, its easy-to-use format and easy-to-understand explanations would benefit any writer.

  5. Guide to Grammar and Style: Written by Jack Lynch, this site provides grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on usage that Lynch put together for his classes.

  6. Guide to Grammar and Writing: Choose from several modules that will help you to determine how to structure your writing. The Capital Community College Foundation sponsors the Guide to Grammar and Writing.

  7. Hypergrammar: The University of Ottawa provides a heavily linked explanation to all things proper in English grammar. This is a comprehensive one-stop shop for structure, spelling, and punctuation.

  8. Style Guide: This guide is based on the style book which is given to all journalists at The Economist. It provides hints on how to use syntax, metaphors, punctuation, and more.

  9. The Elements of Style: William Strunk, Jr. wrote the classic reference book for any student and conscientious writer. Bartleby.com offers the entire book free online.

  10. Verbix: Did he lay or lie? Which tense should you use? If you're confused, this English conjugator will help you to determine how to use verbs in the proper tense. You can also Ask Oxford if you'd prefer.

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Genres

This is a limited list, but a useful one for those who write in some of the genres listed below:

  1. Children's Literature Web Guide: David K. Brown from the University of Calgary maintains this list of resources for writers who prefer to pen children's literature.

  2. Essays on the Craft of Dramatic Writing: Learn about the craft of writing a novel, screenplay, or play through reviews of popular stories.

  3. How to Write a Novel: Don't let the Scifi site background turn you off to the wise advice offered in this article. Scroll down the page for a bonus - you'll discover links to the act of novel writing and to the business of writing.

  4. The Playwriting Seminars: The Playwriting Seminars focus on the kinds of new plays most often produced by the nation's 447 regional theatres. Whether you're starting from scratch or a seasoned scriptwriter, this site may have what you need to hone your craft. Once you've gained some basic skills, you might also want to farm Screenwriter's Utopia for more information about this genre.

  5. Poetry Magic: This guide not only provides approaches to writing poetry, it also offers other perspectives on the poetic form and how it has been and can be used in various milieus.

  6. Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers: The title is a short story. It tells it all.

  7. Technical Writing FAQ: This page contains answers to many questions that may be of interest to the technical writers, whether new to the trade or a seasoned pro.

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News Digests

Why visit a single news source when you can save time by gleaning current stories from digests and news roundups? The digests listed below are a mix of blogs and corporate news syndicates that you can use to gather story ideas:

  1. Daily Briefing: A categorized digest of press news from the Project on Excellence in Journalism.

  2. Free Press: Free Press is a national nonpartisan organization that provides news about the media from a 'democratic' perspective.

  3. Memeorandum: Top news stories and posts, mostly political, automatically updated.

  4. NewAssignment.net: The NewAssignment.Net blog, edited by David Cohn, will be tracking developments in open source journalism, covering related innovations on the Web, interviewing people who have wisdom to lend, and previewing some of what’s to come in 2007. This is a temporary test site, so you might bookmark and return to watch the progress.

  5. TechMeme: Top tech stories and posts, automatically updated.

  6. WeSmirch: Top stories and posts, mostly Hollywood and "dirt-digging", automatically updated.

  7. World News Digest: A broad swath of news from well-known global resources, updated automatically.

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News Media Resources

If you want to learn creative writing, rhetoric, or traditional journalism, you can find these courses at practically any college in America. But, "new journalism" courses that include bloggers and new media is rare. The following resources provide information and resources about and for the new media enthusiast:

  1. CyberJournalist.Net: CyberJournalist.net is a news and resource site that focuses on how the Internet, convergence and new technologies are changing the media.

  2. Digital Edge: The Digital Media Federation (Formerly New Media; renamed January 2007), one of eight skills-specific groups served by the Association, offers business strategies and tactics to nearly 900 online publishing professionals. Many of the articles are open to all readers at no charge. Federation members enjoy exclusive access to the reports and to The Digital Edge's robust archive, which offers articles about management strategies, editorial services, recruitment classifieds, technology and operations, and other essential categories.

  3. First Draft: Tim Porter's blog on "Newspapering, Readership & Relevance in a Digital Age." Porter doesn't believe print news is dead, but he bemoans a lack of quality in this medium. This blog provides interesting reading for any traditional or new media journalism addict.

  4. Hypergene MediaBlog: "How citizens are changing the future of news and information." Hypergene MediaBlog was launched in Oct. 2002 as a knowledge management tool about participatory journalism and citizen media for Hypergene, a media consulting and design firm with offices in Georgia and Utah. You'll find an interesting mix of news and observations that can shed practical light on new journalism.

  5. IRE: Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. provides educational services to reporters, editors and others interested in investigative journalism and works to maintain high professional standards.

  6. Journalism.org: The Project for Excellence in Journalism is a research organization that specializes in using empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press. It is non-partisan, non ideological and non political.

  7. NYU: An educational debate about online journalism.

  8. Poynter Online: "Everything you need to become a better journalist." This site includes journalism news, ideas, training, and more.

  9. Readership Institute: The Readership Institute is a division of the Media Management Center at Northwestern University. It focuses on actionable research, field-testing of readership-building ideas and measurement of their success, and education and training for the newspaper industry on readership-building best practices.

  10. The Center for Public Integrity: The mission of the Center for Public Integrity is to produce original investigative journalism about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable.

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Organization

Writers can delay their projects with lost notes, messy desks, and poor planning. The tools listed below can help you get your act together:

  1. Backpack: Backpack is a simple web-based service that allows you to make pages with to-do lists, notes, files, and images. Keep organized with a calendar and reminders, and with the ability to tag your notes so that they relate to each other, and send your messages via email or to your cell phone at predefined times. Sign up for free.

  2. Bubbl.us: Bubbl.us is a free Web-based mind-mapping product aimed towards literally anyone who needs help organizing their thoughts or any untidy information. Use linked text bubbles to create a new story line, plot, or to plan the next four weeks of your life and save that work as an image.

  3. Central Desktop: Central Desktop provides simple project collaboration tools for business teams so they can organize and share information efficiently, communicate with others and collaborate on projects. Use 25 MB free with two workstations and up to five team members.

  4. GMail + G-Drive: If you operate on GMail, you can download the GMail Drive to create a virtual file system around your Google Gmail account. This system allows you to move documents into the files and coordinate with Google's Calendar and Docs.

  5. iOrganize: Store all your notes, ideas, text extracts, web links in one place on your MacOS X. Low prices for various formats.

  6. The Organizer's Toolbox: This site contains all the information you might need to organize everything - and I mean everything - in your life.

  7. Simple GTD: This is a simple and easy-to-use task manager that can help you keep track of your day from any computer. Free to use, but you might donate if you find this tool indispensable.

  8. Stikkit: Stikkit's "little yellow notes that think" talk to the productivity applications you already use, as well as to others who matter in your life. Try and use for free.

  9. Viapoint: Microsoft users can gain control over "desktop chaos" with this tool by allowing you to relate emails, files, web and news content by Company, Contact, Project, Grouping and date range. Free trial.

  10. Webnote: If you have a computer handy, you can create a workspace and create notes in that workspace to save for later or to share with others. Test and use for free.

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Professional Organizations

Professional writers' organizations abound, and each one has a different focus. Some groups get together to share new work and critiques; other groups help writers with their legal rights. All groups provide some sort of networking capabilities, an essential tool to work your way up the writing career ladder quickly. The following list is a smattering of nationwide groups across genres:

  1. ASNE: The American Society of Newspaper Editors is a membership organization for daily newspaper editors, people who serve the editorial needs of daily newspapers and certain distinguished individuals who have worked on behalf of editors through the years.

  2. American Society for the History of Rhetoric: The American Society for the History of Rhetoric was organized, in 1977, as the American Branch of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric. Its purpose is to foster the study of rhetoric in all historical periods in American as well as other cultures.

  3. Author's Guild: The Authors Guild has been the nation's leading advocate for writers' interests in effective copyright protection, fair contracts and free expression since it was founded as the Authors League of America in 1912. It provides legal assistance and a broad range of web services to its members.

  4. Mystery Writers of America: MWA is the premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the genre.

  5. National Writers Union: The NWU is the trade union for freelance and contract writers: journalists, book authors, business and technical writers, web content providers, and poets.

  6. Online News Assocation: Several working members of the online press founded The Online News Association in 1999. ONA is open to journalists from around the world who produce news on the Internet and other digital platforms, and to others with an interest in online news.

  7. Romance Writers of America: If you're into romance writing, the Romance Writers of America will help advance your professional interests through networks and advocacy.

  8. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc.: SFWA's 1500 members include most professional writers of science fiction and fantasy in North America, and many from "elsewhere in the universe."

  9. Society for Technical Communication: STC is an individual membership organization dedicated to advancing the arts and sciences of technical communication.

  10. Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators: SCBWI is the only international organization to offer a variety of services to people who write, illustrate, or share a vital interest in children’s literature.

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Rhetoric

If you can't build an effective argument, then your writing might be boring. Spice up your writing with rhetoric, and you may find a job as a speechwriter (or a blogger).

  1. A Rhetoric Primer: This primer and The Rhetorica Network provide all the basics and links to other resources that the beginning rhetorician might need.

  2. American Rhetoric: Find audio and print speeches, Plato and Aristotle on rhetoric, Christian rhetoric, and journals at this site.

  3. Bibliographies in Rhetorical Theory and Criticism: Yes, you can find bibliographies here, but you also can find landmarks in rhetoric, information about semiotics, basic terms, visual rhetoric and more.

  4. Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples: A writer needs every rhetorical example possible! Last modified in 2004, this site belongs to the Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Literatures, & Cultures at the University of Kentucky.

  5. Handbook of Rhetoric: This online book, derived from a print book written in 1980, contains updated definitions and examples of more than sixty traditional rhetorical devices, all of which can still be useful today to improve the effectiveness, clarity, and enjoyment of your writing.

  6. Rhetcomp: A portal for blogs, editors, fields, journals, listservs, organizations, and more that all relate to rhetoric, compiled by Matthew Levy.

  7. Rhetoric: A Timeline: Confused about whether Aristotle came before Cicero or not? Or was Augustine part of Antiquity or the Middle Ages? Fear no more - this timeline will answer your questions.

  8. Rhetoric and Composition: A volunteer and member driven site filled with rhetoric & composition resources plus links to works of classical rhetoric, articles on literacy and education, and other topics, like how to subscribe to some highly-trafficked mailing lists and links to glossaries of rhetorical terms.

  9. Rhetorical Studies, Theory & Philosophy: A database of online rhetorical tools provided by the University of Iowa. This college also provides a database of speeches and speechmakers that will provide fodder for the rhetorician.

  10. The Forest of Rhetoric: silva rhetoricae: This online rhetoric, provided by Dr. Gideon Burton of Brigham Young University, is a guide to the terms of classical and renaissance rhetoric.

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Toolboxes

The following links provide some miscellaneous tools that may help you save time as well as money.

  1. AutoCrit: AutoCrit automatically identifies weak words and structures in your writing. This is a great tool to use to clean up your writing before you pass it on to human critics.

  2. Bonsai Story Generator: Long story short, Andrew Burt has created a generator that seems to reflect a "quality in, garbage out" result - unless, of course, you're a poet. Plug in a paragraph that makes sense, and the result may resemble free form verse.

  3. Creativity Portal Writing Prompts: Do you need some fuel to get your juices running? This site offers prompts that could crank your tractor, especially if you use the CanTeach prompts and Creative Writing Prompts as back ups.

  4. Criminology MegaSite: Can be defined as the study of crime, the causes of crime (etiology), the meaning of crime in terms of law, and community reaction to crime. If you have questions about this topic, Dr. Tom O'Connor from the Justice Studies Department at North Carolina Wesleyan College provides the answers.

  5. How to Write a Novel in 100 Days or Less: This site, sponsored by PeaceCorpWriters.org, provides 101 inspirational ditties that may keep your head above water as you write that novel, term paper, or dissertation.

  6. Journalist Express: If you can't remember the name of a specific newspaper, or if you need to run a background check and you can't remember the site you need, just head to Journalist Express. This home page is free to use, but you need to register to dig deeper into the site.

  7. Morguefile: Need an image for that article or blog? The Morguefile contains photographs freely contributed by many artists to be used in creative projects. To acknowledge the artist's accomplishments, they ask that you credit the photographer when possible.

  8. Resources for Technical Writers: This site provides links for everything from articles to writer's markets.

  9. Serendipity: Manon offers generators that will help fiction writers find such things as French female names and Fantasy Novel Titles. You can generate entire scenes as well, mainly based upon fantasy genre or Les Misérables.

  10. Statistics Every Writer Should Know: "A simple guide to understanding basic statistics, for journalists and other writers who might not know math."

  11. Wordcounter: No, this isn't a way to count the words in an article - it's a means to count words that you use too frequently. Bookmark this page and avoid redundancy forever. Add the Cliché Finder to your bookmarks as well, and you'll be on your way to originality.

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Writing Services

No matter if you're a student or a seasoned pro, there may come a time when you need some help with your writing. The following services can help you polish your writing and publishing skills. While most services cost money, they may save time and help you to make money in the long run.

  1. Academic Edit: Academic Edit specializes in editing scholarly documents such as theses, dissertations, and Ph.D. statements, but they also branch out into resumes and technical reports.

  2. Agent Research Evaluation: Register and log in to ask about an agent and they'll tell you if he or she has established a public record, and if they have had any negative reports on the agent's business practices. This service is free.

  3. EditAvenue: Almost every writer knows that it's difficult to self-edit. Hence, EditAvenue provides a place where you can select your own editor based on wide-ranging criteria. You have access to editors' self-descriptions, credentials, credential confirmations, number of pages edited, client ratings, client reviews, price discounts, and sample edited documents.

  4. EditRed: This site offers a free personal Web page for writers of just about any genre, promotion and marketing tools, and a supportive writing community. Some of the work posted is printed in anthologies that Edit Red sells. You can find writing tips here as well.

  5. Editorial Freelancers Association: EFA members are editors, writers, indexers, proofreaders, researchers, desktop publishers, translators, and others who offer a broad range of skills and specialties. Post a job online to find compatible help.

  6. First Writer: This site offers the writer many services, including editing, lists of agents and magazine publishers, and more.

  7. Rachel Vater: Rachel offers her take on the inner workings of the publishing industry as she provides tips and suggestions for writers looking for an agent. Unfortunately, her compadre "Mystery Agent," Miss Snark, has 'gone dark' and is no longer blogging. Between the two agents, a writer could learn much about the literary world.

  8. The Penn Group: The Penn Group accounted for 10% of all the bestsellers that came out in 2005, as their ghostwriters were responsible for those books. If you're too busy, need a complete rewrite, or if you want a different perspective on your outline and draft, you might think about using this service to make the mark.

  9. U.S. Census Bureau: You might know that the Census Bureau maintains information on population statistics, but did you know that they also carry maps, gazetteers, and broadcast and photo services?

  10. Writer's Database 1.2.1: Writer's DB is a software system that enables writers to keep a track of the works they have created, the potential publishers they have identified, and any submissions to those publishers.

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Writing Skills

The following links can help you write anything from a term paper to an article for The New York Times as you learn how to streamline your research and writing.

  1. copyblogger: This blog, written by Brian Clark, offers helpful copywriting tips.

  2. Developing Your Manuscript: This tutorial provides guidelines from concept to review. Pearson publishers wrote this helpful guide as suggestions for authors.

  3. A Guide to Writing Well: This guide is based upon the book, On Writing Well, by William Zinsser, and it provides a clear and concise method to help any writer with writing styles, genres, and usage principles.

  4. Final Year Projects: Mike Hart's site will help you with practical sources of advice to help you successfully write your final year project, dissertation or thesis if you're a student. He also provides help with writing essays and assignments.

  5. How to Have Your Abstract Rejected: While this note explains how not to write an abstract, the advice can also apply to anyone who is writing a proposal to a publishing company or a magazine.

  6. How to Organize Your Thesis: This site describes how to organize the written thesis which is the central element of a graduate degree. But graduate students (and anyone else who wants to write scholarly papers) must understand graduate-level research before they write. This site covers that information as well.

  7. How to Write a Better Weblog: Written by Dennis A. Mahoney for A List Apart, this article defines Web writing for professionals, although "it ain’t never gonna happen if you got busted paragraphs, mistaken punctuation and, bad rhythm, not to mention kreative spelling: see?"

  8. How to Write an Essay: This document was originally written by Tom Davis for first year students at the University of Birmingham, England, on how to write their first essay on Kurt Vonnegut.

  9. Supplement # with Identifying the Argument of an Essay and you'll be on your way to creating a lovely argumentative essay.

  10. Phases, Stages and Steps in Geographic Investigation & Research: This guide will help you to jumpstart your project, no matter the genre.

  11. OWL: This Online Writing Guide offered by Purdue University offers handouts and exercises on starting to write, effective writing, revising, editing, and proofreading, and types and genres of writing.

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Writing Software

The following list includes mainly open source or free software that you can utilize to write, to collaborate, to blog, or to keep tabs on your publisher list.

  1. Blogger: Start your blog now for free. No downloads, as this blog is Web based.

  2. Literary Machine: Unusual free software that allows writers to compile research and writing modules. You can organize, recall, and recombine information from links, sound files, pictures, and text. Download and use this software to write drafts or scripts on the fly from your notes.

  3. LiveJournal: Another free Web-based blog system.

  4. Open Office: Why pay for Microsoft products when you can create free documents with Open Office? This open source software provides similar tools to the Microsoft Office Suite, including spreadsheets, a word processor, the ability to create multimedia presentations, and more.

  5. Vizual Einstein: Vizual Einstein allows authors to visually develop a project document with notes, headings, subheadings, and hyperlinks. This software is also Web-enabled and has full database search functionality. There are many other features, including bibliography and formatted essay report output.

  6. WordPress: The ultimate blogging tool for those writers who are a bit more computer savvy. Must be downloaded and installed in a server.

  7. Writeboard: Writeboard is a completely free Web-based writing tool that allows you to collaborate, correct, roll back to previous versions, and email or export your work to a text file. Use with Internet Explorer 6.x, Safari, or Firefox. Unfortunately, at this point you cannot import into Writeboard. This service is connected to Backpack organizer (see #81).

  8. Zoho Writer: Zoho Writer is just one application within the Zoho system. You can gain access to this tool from any computer, use their WYSIWYG editor to edit and format, collaborate, and import existing documents. Zoho Writer also enables you to export you text in several formats, such as PDF, ODT, Word, HTML and more.

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