Review of "Easy Writing: A Practical Guide for Business Professionals" By George Kirazian
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I used to spend hours working on my reports and articles, but I was not getting the desired results. It was doing a number on my confidence whether I wanted to admit it or not. If this sounds remotely familiar, you’re probably doing what I used to, your working hard not smart, but no worries this can be remedied with Easy Writing by George Kirazian. It's a great book that does exactly what its name says. It makes writing easy for ANY writing purpose!
Easy Writing will help you to:
- Write clear, correct sentences, without worrying if they are clear and correct
- Create well structured paragraphs that will present and expand your ideas effectively
- Structure and develop the longer forms: reports, booklets--yes, even books--with new confidence and control
Now, am I a writing guru? Well, I don’t have a best selling novel…yet, but I do know methods that effectively improve your writing thus saving you time and this is exactly what Easy Writing does. Whether it’s for my English papers or my home business, I need to be clear, confident, and professional. These are key elements to ensure success in any field, and the skills to get these characteristics in your writing are found in Easy Writing.
George Kirazian, the author of this helpful tool, has 30 plus years of experience that are guaranteed to benefit anyone—business professionals, students, home business owners, even people who have not written a paragraph in ages. I consider myself to be a good writer but George really knows his stuff. I am not the only one who thinks so here are what some other REAL people said about Easy Writing:
"For the first time I'm confident about my writing. Now I don't stare at a blank page for an hour before I start.... I'm even getting compliments!!" E. Molinari, NY, NY
"If only I knew that improving my writing skills was this easy, I would have done it years ago!" Ron C., Los Angeles, CA
"Everything you need to write effectively, whether for business, college, or personal use, can be found in this book. It makes writing fun again! I've found "Easy Writing" to be a valuable resource in my profession. Forget all those abstract English diagrams---this book clarifies and, through easily understood examples, shows how to write the right way!"
Richard S. Stowell, El Cajon, CA
"I was blown away by how simple these techniques are and how quickly they helped me improve my writing! I'm a believer now!" JP Davies, San Diego, CA
"I can't believe it! I'm writing reports, and I actually know what I'm doing! Thanks, George!" P. Sebastian, Jersey City, NJ
"Semicolon? I never even used one before!! George, your techniques are simple and easy to learn!!! My neighbor's happy, too. I don't have to ask her to check my writing anymore. It's a great feeling!!!" R. Pulver, Providence, RI
"Your book is very easy to understand because it has simplified all the techniques and grammatical rules that used to scare me from writing during my school days...."
A. Afolabi, Lagos, Nigeria
I’ve tried other books; some were not so bad, others were a waste of money. Easy Writing makes it on my list of "top essential books for writers" because it works. Even if you are an accomplished writer you will learn how to better harness your skills. People will take you seriously and will want to do business with you.
I hope you found this invaluable advice to be helpful. You don’t have to take my word for it or anyone else’s for that matter. There are a multitude of books out there that claim to improve your writing. However, most of them are a collection of grammatical rules that do not work. I know because I’ve tried some of them; I wasted my time and my money. You can learn to work smart with Easy Writing and start reaping the benefits or you can continue doing what you’re doing now. Choosing the latter is the fastest way to lose customers, business credibility and you will not see those grades increase either, because if you write with mistakes you will not be seen as someone who has taken the time to get things done right.
As George says, "knowing how to write is vital to your success in life". Grab a copy of Easy Writing by George Kirazian and learn essential skills that you will benefit from for a lifetime!
Find out more by visiting:
Easywritingnow.com
Here’s to your success
Easy Writing
Just a little note for the day:
Your words are a reflection of your self; make sure they do you justice.
Friday, October 13, 2006
If it wasn’t enough that you get a great book, George himself answers any e-mail questions you have about writing, free of charge! My own teachers didn’t do that. This is a great bonus that you should definitely take advantage of.
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Always remember to warm up all the parts of your body before putting it to work. This includes your brain. I'll elaborate next day.
Prewriting
Remember what I said about warming up? Well, George explains it much better in his book, but writing down the whole chapter would take too long. Instead I’m going to just sum it up for you.
Consider your brain as a muscle. It needs to be warmed up just like any other muscle. Good writing begins with pre-writing. Here are a couple passages from his book explaining this.
So, what's the warm-up for writing? Simple: sit down and start writing. Don't worry about the subject. Just do some free writing, some brainstorming, as you did with your spiral notebook practice sentences back in Part I. Write about your spouse, your sister, your car, your lover(s), last week-end's picnic. It doesn't matter. Just ease into the writing, slowly warm-up the thought muscles. Do it for, say, four or five minutes. You just want to establish some rapport between hand and paper (or key-board).
This is free writing, one of the most effective ways to tune-in your thoughts and slowly work up to your subject or topic. Sadly, most people don't even think of doing this; as we said, they just want to get the writing done as soon as possible.
If you do nothing else, I urge you to at least take this advice. Free-writing will help you to determine
-What you already know or think about a topic
-Which aspects of the topic interest you most
-What facts you need to learn in order to further expand your analysis
Do not worry about grammar or neatness, after all this is just a warm up. Once you’ve done this for a bit, move into the next phase, start zoning in on your topic.
You’re brain is now fired up and ready to work!
Keep coming back for more. After all, we're just getting warmed up =)
Choosing a topic
Choosing a topic can be very daunting. Often, too much focus goes into deciding on the right topic. Rather than deciding on whether or not it’s a "good" topic, decide on if it’s a good topic for you. Your topic should excite and interest you. This will make it easier to keep your readers interested. Narrowing your topic down and giving it a focus will make writing less overwhelming. This is especially helpful if it’s an assigned topic that you’re not crazy about. Find something about it that sparks your interest; continue to break it down until you have a smaller topic that you’re comfortable with.
Another trick that I commonly use to pick my topics is to go against the norm. It can be more challenging but writing from a different point of view will intrigue your readers. For instance, suppose your topic is about technology, let’s narrow it down to cell phones. You could write about the advantages to having a cell phone but writing about the disadvantages will make your piece seem more fascinating and it will actually be easier for you to get into. Taking the unappealing or unpopular side is often easier.
When I need to chop down my colossal sized topic I ask myself what exactly am I writing about.
Appeal to your Audience
You have your idea and you’ve narrowed it down to a focused topic. Great! Now all you have to do is write it…for your audience. Always keep them in mind when you’re writing. You have to consider your audiences prior knowledge, beliefs, values and age when writing because these will affect their responses to your piece. You should not assume that your audience shares your beliefs and values.
While an academic essay usually addresses an audience already familiar with the subject, a business report may circulate amongst numerous readers whose degree of familiarity with the topic varies. Best selling novelists always keep their audience in mind; they know their readers have certain expectations and they must meet them in order to make them happy.
I don’t just write for my reader; I take on the role. Assessing your work from the reader’s perspective helps to keep you focused.
Purpose
Once you have established what you are writing you need to decide why you are writing. Deciding on the purpose of your piece will affect your writing considerably. Your purpose will help you to better adapt to your audience. Ask yourself is my purpose to inform, stimulate debate, amuse, change their minds or persuade them to take action? If it is an assignment, consider the wording. The terms analyze, compare, contrast, demonstrate, and explain can help you to determine your writing purpose.
A great tip I learned for freelance writing is the 10 word purpose statement. You can apply this to a book or an article. Basically it’s a writer’s road map which looks like this:
The purpose of this (book/essay etc.)is to…your 10 words would follow. If you can’t sum your purpose in 10 words then you are still working out the idea and are not ready to write. It helps me to stay on track without making a formal outline.
I learned this from: http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com/articles/gettingitdone/purpose.htm
An outline is helpful though, so I’ll show you a method you can use next time. For now remember to consider the three W’S: what, who and why when writing
Organizing your ideas
This is my least favorite part about writing, mostly because I can be such a scatter brain. Needless to say it is a crucial step to writing. After further thought and research, group related ideas into subtopics. If an idea or subtopic does not fit into your specific purpose or topic eliminate it. Use indentations or bullets to show relevant subordination underneath the broader ideas they support or illustrate.
Our first example will be one based on literature. Our topic will be the characterization of Beowulf in Beowulf.
Thesis: Beowulf is characterized as a hero not through realistic detail but through dramatic speeches, and exaggerated descriptions of his actions in battle
Dramatic speeches
1.Heroic bearing
- Reception by the guard at the coast
- Reception by Wulfgar
2.Heroic reputation
-Reception by Hrothgar
3.Beowulf’s boasts
-Reply to Hrothgar’s welcome
- Reply to Unferth’s
Exaggerated Description of Actions in Battle
1.Grendal
-Noise/Movement in the hall
- Grip feared by Grendal
-Dragon
-Desire to fight alone, even in old age
-Slays dragon but dies
-Hero funeral rites
Second Example: report/article
Topic: daycare availability in rural areas as opposed to cities
Thesis: Even though rural areas do not provide families with as much access with daycare facilities as do urban families, their informal arrangements meet their children’s need
I.Rural
-fewer families, smaller families, less formal employment than in cities
-Organized, institutionalized daycare not practical
-irregular hours
-lack of population density
-distances
-Informal arrangement serves most needs, easier to set up than cities
-families
-friends, neighbors
-community
II.Cities
-more daycare spaces than country
-community, industry, gov’t provided
-gov’t subsidies
Third Example: Business plan outline
What is my business idea?
– business description
What is needed to make it work?
– basic resources and costs including:
-Location
- where and why
-Premises
-description and costs involved
-Equipment
-description and costs involved
-Stock
- description and costs involved
-Promotion
-how you will introduce your business to first clients/customers
-Insurance
- description and costs involved
-Transport
- description and costs involved
-Staff
- description and costs involved
-Other
-professional services of solicitor etc and costs
Can I do it?
– personal background, skills and experience
How will it work?
– business activities and cashflow
A good outline is extremely important. If you are planning to start a business (freelance writing, electronic publishing etc) then you will need a business plan. It is crucial to operating a business. I have provided an outline above for what you should be thinking about when starting a business. However, if you really want to increase your chances of success, I highly recommend using the How to write a business plan…Made easy e-book.
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An outline is like a road map use it whenever you feel lost or off track.
Introductions
Your introduction introduces the readers to the thesis by gaining their attention. You need to state the topic and set the tone. An effective introduction generally begins broadly with an interesting statement about the topic, and then narrows to a statement of the thesis. There are many ways to introduce a topic. Which ever you decide your goal is to quickly arouse the readers mind. The key thing here is to quickly get to the point.
Some people feel that a strong intro is not important. After all you have your entire article to prove to reader that what you have to say is meaningful. Well think of your reader as a lover…
You won’t get what you want unless they are turned on and if you don’t do it in the right way they will lose interest and pull away and you’ll have to work that much harder to arouse them.
The same goes for your reader; the only difference is that you want to arouse the mind.
Here are some methods that you want to avoid:
Repeatedly using the same introductory style: Different techniques are better suited for different topics. It is important to experiment with different introductory formats.
Filling space: I see this in a lot of articles. The author wrote an introduction just for the sake of having something on top of the page. It’s just a combination of sentences strung together to form a paragraph, they don’t really say much or entice the reader.
Ex: The holocaust is one of the greatest tragedies for the Jewish community. Many Jewish people suffered immensely because of it. Those who were affected had their lives altered forever.
It’s the same as saying…The holocaust was bad. Many bad things happened. Because of these bad things peoples lives changed.
Do you see how dull this intro looks? This is a serious topic but an intro like this does not convey that to the reader. You want your introduction to be more interesting than this.
The book report intro: This is when the author provides the reader with information that they already know. This is another type of filler. You don’t really know what to say so you result to giving the reader redundant information.
Restating the question: It can be effective but not as much as offering a more interesting introduction. Your teacher or professor will appreciate not having to read the question they wrote over and over. A little creativity goes a long way.
This also applies to when people write articles that are lists, for instance, “top ten ways to improve your writing” saying “The top ten ways to improve your writing are…” without anything prior is not an introduction.
The dictionary intro: A definition can be effective. However, these types of introductory styles are often weak. For one, your definition may not always apply to your topic. Second it is easy to use the wrong definition. If you want to use this method I suggest coming up with your own definition of the word. It will be more thought provoking for the reader.
Enough with the don't lets talk about do's.
You don’t need to write your introduction first. You may find it easier to write it after you have your body paragraphs set in place. If you’re like me, and you need to write an introduction to get the writing process started, make sure you go back to revise your introduction so that it fits with the rest of your article.
Open with an attention grabber, like I said before you need to draw the reader in.
Consider these formats.
An anecdote, story, or puzzling scenario: These types of introductions are highly effective as long as they relate back to the thesis of your paper. People relate well to stories. They either like to imagine themselves in that situation or can personally relate to the story. Retell a story or shock your audience with an analogy of the subject that you are presenting.
A quotation by a well known person or something provocative: The quotation can be from anywhere, an interview, article, book, movie or even a song, just as long as it relates back to thesis. A quote by a well known person is useful because the reader associates you with the person who said it. A quote from an intellectual makes you seem intelligent. Remember, you can not write down the quote and claim it as your own. You have to give credit to its source. Also you need a few lines to explain the quote. Don’t expect the quote it self to serve as your intro. Never end a paragraph with a quotation in any section of your article.
A rhetorical or provocative question: Questions are great. Readers love them. Pose the reader with a question and propose an answer to it in your thesis
Remember, you never get another chance to make a good first impression.
Thesis Statements
Ah, the dreaded thesis statement, it’s amazing how such a little sentence can cause big frustrations for writers. Are they important? You betcha, a thesis statement provides both the reader and the writer with a road map. It is the message that you want your readers to receive after they have read your work. It’s a complete sentence found at the end of your introduction. While you are trying to draft a thesis statement try to complete this sentence.
After reading my article my reader will understand/agree that…
You can also use a purpose statement.
The purpose of this (book/essay etc.)is to…
A strong thesis statement analyzes or interprets facts. It doesn’t just state these facts. It provokes your reader’s mind and makes them wonder. You want to take the reader from a “so what”, to a “show me!” reaction.
You usually develop your thesis during the prewriting faze of the writing process.
There is more than one form of a thesis statement. I'll show you those in a bit along with a few examples of good and bad theisis staments.
Thesis statements fall into two categories:
- Restricted/Aristotelian thesis statements include your supporting arguments as well as your main idea.
Ex: Beowulf is characterized as a hero not through realistic detail but through dramatic speeches, and exaggerated descriptions of his actions in battle. - A non-restricted thesis leaves out the supporting arguments
Ex: The misconception that etiquette is used to determine class may be why many people are shying away from practicing “good manners”.
I prefer restricted thesis statements because they give me an outline for my essay, making it easier and faster to write. They are especially helpful when writing exams or short compositions.
How can you tell a good thesis statement from a bad one? Well for starters a good thesis statement urges the reader to read on but most importantly it analyzes a fact. The key word here is analyze.
See if you can determine the difference between these examples.
Ex1.In his article Stanley Fish shows that we don't really have the right to free speech.
Ex2.Stanley Fish's argument that free speech exists more as a political prize than as a legal reality ignores the fact that even as a political prize it still serves the social end of creating a general cultural atmosphere of tolerance that may ultimately promote free speech in our nation just as effectively as any binding law.
Reference: http://www.english.upenn.edu/Grad/Teachweb/scthesis.html
If you said that the first example is not really a thesis statement your right, all it does is state a fact. The second one actually analyzes the fact.
Here’s another
Ex1.America’s immigration polices are complicated.
Ex2.The debate surrounding America’s immigration reforms is a complex issue; however, it is clear that topics such as free trade and exploitation are being avoided
The first example is far too broad. It would take you forever to analyze all the factors and try to prove your claim. It’s better to state both sides and then prove why one side is better. Or analyze the issue from a different perspective.
Remember your thesis is a focus. Do not make a broad or general statement. And it should stand up to criticism and scrutiny.
Write more than one thesis statement for your topic, and then go with the one that is most relevant, original and best analyzes the subject.
What’s the word of the day? Analyze!
Do this and you will always come up with a good thesis statement.
Body Paragraphs
You can have a good intro and a good thesis but you won’t have a good article/essay unless you have good strong body paragraphs to build your topic and prove your thesis.
Body paragraphs are like miniature essays. Each paragraph has a topic which is expressed in a topic sentence. I find it easier to write if my topic sentence begins at the start of the paragraph. But it can occur as a second or concluding sentence. Which ever suits your writing style is fine as long as you have one.
The rest of the paragraph explains and supports the paragraph. Use facts, arguments or examples to support or explain the topic. However, do not include anything that does not support the topic.
You’ll learn how to develop your body paragraphs in a bit.
Developing your body paragraphs
Different organization patterns may be used to develop your body paragraphs. You may choose to use narration, description, process, definition, classification, cause and effect, example, problem/solution, comparison/contrast, and analogy. Body paragraphs often combine more than one of these formats to develop the topic. When composing your body paragraphs move from generalizations to specific detail and, sometimes, back to generalizations. Avoid using sentences that remain at the same level of abstraction of the topic. In other words do not restate or declare your topic. These types of sentences are not logically convincing. They will not give you developed paragraph. Rather, focus on proving or supporting your topic.
Coherence
Coherence refers to the logical flow of ideas and sentences. I know many writers struggle with this, including myself. After all you want all your ideas to connect with one another and be understandable for the reader. Here are a couple of things you can do to help:
- Use transitional sentences to guide your reader through their logic and to point to the direction that their arguments are leading. Transitional expressions include but are not limited to: first, therefore, however and furthermore.
- Read your work out loud. This is the best way to see if your article flows. Read your work out loud to yourself or a friend to hear how it sounds. If it sounds wordy, choppy, or just plain ridiculous it will read that way to your reader.
Remember you can’t just throw words on a page it has to be logical in order for it to be effective.
Conclusions
Generally, conclusions invert the structure of the introduction. Begin by briefly stating the thesis and then summarize your main arguments then open out to more general statements. Your conclusion should only be a few sentences not a whole page. Avoid introducing any new ideas.
