15 Online Resources That Help Improve Essay-Writing Skills

Throughout the journey from kindergarten to 12th grade, students are supposed to gain appropriate vocabulary and grammar skills that need to be successfully implemented into essay writing. Here are some effective online tools that can help you make the art of essay writing more attractive for your students.

1. ReadWriteThink – Student Interactives

This page is a great source of interactive tools that help students accomplish various goals, from organizing their thoughts to learning about different aspects of the English language. Some of the most popular tools for grades K-12 include Story Map, Persuasion Map, Word Family Sort, Acrostic Poems, Trading Card Generator and Comic Creator. You can choose different tools based on the grade level, capabilities, student interactive type, theme, and learning objective. 

2. Interactive Sites for Education

This website serves as a resourceful guide to English language arts topics. You can find educational, interactive games and simulations for grades K-5 in the categories of grammar, compound words, capitalization, phonemes and words, punctuation, poetry, reading and sight words, parts of speech, writing and rhyming. These activities work well with an interactive whiteboard. However, you can also recommend them for individual learning at home. 

3. Graphic Organizers

Young students can hardly manage all the ideas they get if you leave them in front of a piece of paper and saying they should write an essay right away. The process requires pre-writing stages, where these graphic organizers will be of great help. Your students can use them as a way of putting their ideas and notes in order. Then, the actual writing stage will be much more focused. 

4. Teach the Children Well – Language Arts

This website may not be that appealing in terms of design, but it’s a great base of resources that will help you become a better teacher. This is actually a collection of awesome articles related to writing. Every educator should spend time examining these resources as they progress through different teaching methods.

5. Free Writing Resources

Time4Writing.com is mostly known for the eight-week online writing courses it offers. However, the website is also a great source of free resources in seven categories: teaching writing, writing skills, writing sentences, writing paragraphs, writing mechanics, writing essays and standardized-test writing.

6. Guide to Grammar and Writing

This website offers comprehensive lessons on all aspects of English grammar and writing. You will easily locate all materials you need in the Index, which includes links to all resources of the Guide to Grammar and Writing, as well as Principles of Composition. This online source is like the grammar textbook you always wished to have. Now you can use it to make the lectures more accessible for your students.

7. Essay Mama

This is an online agency that offers professional assistance to students who need advice with essay writing. The company has hired PhD tutors from various areas of study, so its users can get reliable help regarding the topic they need. The blog section at this website is worthy of a bookmark, since it’s a great source of inspiration, news and tips on school writing. The glossary of essay terms and essay writing guide are efficient tools that will make the process easier. In addition, your students can enter writing contests at the same website. 

8. Essay Punch

Essay Punch is an interactive, online, essay-writing tutorial that takes students through all stages of the academic writing process. The guidance it offers is based on pre-set writing prompts and interactive exercises for the pre-writing, organizing, writing, editing and publishing stages.

9. Teen Ink

This well-established magazine publishes high-quality essays and other written forms created by students. The categories at the website include nonfiction, poetry and fiction. There is no need to subscribe to the monthly print magazine; all you need to do is recommend the website as a source of inspiration. You can select some of the featured essays and read them in class in order to show great samples of academic content. 

10. Thesis Builder

Your students will love this tool! Since they are always struggling to come up with a believable thesis statement, you can recommend the Thesis Builder, an automatic engine that launches a statement based upon the topic, opinions and supporting arguments the users provide in the form. Once they get the thesis, your students can proceed with the creation of an outline without looking for another online tool. 

11. Novel Guide

This website offers plot summaries and discussions on some of the most notable novels ever written. Needless to say, you should warn your students about plagiarism issues; make sure to instruct them to use the content solely as an addition to their studying materials. 

12. Hemingway Editor

There is a rule about long, complex sentences: You can only use them if you know how. K-12 students rarely manage to handle complex sentence structure, but they still want to impress you with big words and endless arguments. When you want to emphasize the importance of clarity, use Hemingway as an example. This tool will highlight the common errors and long sentences that need corrections. 

13. The Readability Test Tool

This tool tests the readability of a piece of writing according to a set of commonly used indicators. You can recommend it to your students as an editing aid that will help them improve the readability of their work before they submit it to you. 

14. WordCounter

When you assign a specific word count for a piece of writing, you want your students to respect it. This tool will help them achieve that goal. It will not only provide them with a correct number of words in their essays, but will also enable them to locate repetitive words and phrases. 

15. Citation Machine

Referencing is certainly not the most exciting part of any writing assignment. Nevertheless, you cannot simply neglect all those details and citation rules. This tool provides instant citations in Chicago, Turabian, APA and MLA styles. Upon entering the appropriate parameters, the students get a properly formatted reference without any fuss.

Source | http://thejournal.com

உனக்குள் இருக்கும் தலைவனைக் கண்டுபிடி!

மனிதத் தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் கொண்டவர்கள் மற்றவர்களோடு நல்ல நட்புறவு கொள்வார்கள். பிறர் உணர்வுகளை நன்கு புரிந்து கொள்வார்கள். பிறர் நம்பிக்கையைச் சம்பாதிப்பார்கள். ஒரு விஷயத்தை முன் நின்று நடத்தத் துணிந்து முன் வருவார்கள். இது ஒரு பிரத்தியேக அறிவுத்திறன் என உளவியல் நிபுணர் கார்டனர் கூறுகிறார். அதே நேரத்தில் அன்றாட வாழ்வில் அனைவரும் பயன்படுத்தும் திறனாகவும் இந்த மனிதத்தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் விளங்குகிறது.

உதாரணத்துக்கு, ஒரு வீட்டில் கணவனும், மனைவியும் குடும்ப நிர்வாகம் குறித்துப் பேசிக் கொள்கிறார்கள் என வைத்துக் கொள்வோம். அச்சூழலிலும் மனிதத் தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் மிக அவசியம். “நீ சொல்வதை நான் ஏற்றுக் கொள்ளத் தயார், நான் சொல்வதை நீ காது கொடுத்துக் கேள்” என்பதுதானே கருத்துப் பரிமாற்றத்துக்கான அடிப்படை?

தனி ஒரு மனிதராக இருந்தாலும், பல மனிதர்கள் இணைந்த குழுவானாலும் தொடர்பு கொள்ள அடிப்படைத் தேவை மனிதத் தொடர்பு அறிவுத்திறன். இத்திறனை மேலும் மேலும் வளர்த்தெடுக்க முயற்சிப்பவர்களே புற உலகிலும், அக வாழ்விலும் வெற்றி பெறுகிறார்கள் என்கிறார் கார்டனர்.

உள்ளே இருக்கும் தலைவன்

இயல்பிலேயே சிலரிடம் மனிதத்தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் மேலோங்கிக் காணப்படும். சிலரிடம் அது உள்ளே புதைந்திருக்கும். உங்களிடம் மனிதத் தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் உள்ளதா என்பதை நீங்களே சோதித்துப் பார்க்கும் களம் இது. கீழே கொடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ள கேள்விகளுக்கு ‘ஆம்’ சில நேரங்களில் ஆம் – சில நேரங்களில் இல்லை’, அல்லது ‘இல்லை’ ஆகிய ஏதோ ஒரு விடை அளிக்கவும். இப்படி இருந்தால் நன்றாக இருக்கும் என யூகித்துக் குறிக்கக் கூடாது.

நீங்கள் தற்போது என்னவாக உள்ளீர்களோ உள்ளதை உள்ளபடி குறிப்பிடுங்கள். அதைப் பொருத்து உங்கள் மனிதத்தொடர்பு அறிவுத் திறன் எந்த நிலையில் உள்ளது, அதை மேலும் செழுமைப்படுத்த என்ன செய்யலாம் என்பதை விவாதிப்போம்.

1.எல்லாச் சூழலுக்கும் ஏற்ற மாதிரி உங்களைத் தகவமைத்துக் கொள்வீர்களா?

2.குழுவாகச் செயல்படுவது உங்களுக்குச் சவுகரியமற்றதாக இருந்திருக்கிறதா?

3.சிலருடன் மட்டுமே உங்களால் சகஜமாகப் பழக முடிகிறதா?

4.பிறர் என்ன எதிர்பார்க்கிறார்கள் என்பதைத் துல்லியமாகக் கணித்ததுண்டா?

5.ஒரு சிக்கலை விட்டு வெளியேறப் பொய் சொன்னதுண்டா?

6.திடீரென யாரோ உங்களை மேடை ஏற்ற, அனிச்சையாக நல்ல சொற்பொழிவு ஆற்றியதுண்டா?

7.அன்னியர்களுக்கு நடுவில் மாட்டிக்கொண்டு செய்வதறியாது திகைத்ததுண்டா?

8.குழு கலந்துரையாடலில் பங்கேற்க முதல் ஆளாக நிற்பவரா?

9.அருகில் இருப்பவர் திடீரென்று உணர்ச்சிவசப்பட்டால் சூழலைக் கட்டுக்குள் கொண்டுவரத் திணறியதுண்டா?

10.உங்களோடு இருப்பவர்கள் உங்களை நம்பி ரகசியங்களைப் பகிர்ந்ததுண்டா?

11.மேடை பேச்சு என்றால் பயமா?

12.பிறர் சுவாரஸ்யமாக உணரும்படி உரையாற்றியதுண்டா?

13.தனிமை விரும்பியா?

14.மற்றவர்களுடைய தேவை உங்களுக்குத் தெரியுமா?

15.உங்களைப் புரிந்து கொள்வது கடினமா?

16.உங்களை முன்நிறுத்திக்கொள்ளத் தயங்குவீர்களா?

17.உணர்வுகளுக்கு முதலிடம் தருபவரா?

18.புதிதாய்ப் பழகியவரிடமும் சகஜமாகப் பழகியதுண்டா?

19.உங்கள் பிரச்சினையைப் பூதாகாரமாக நினைத்துக் கவலை கொள்வதுண்டா?

20.மற்றவர்கள் மீது அக்கறை இருக்கிறதா?

21.உங்கள் முடிவுகளில் தீர்க்கமாக இருப்பீர்களா?

22.குழுவாக எடுக்கும் தீர்மானத்தை ஏற்றுக் கொள்வீர்களா?

23.நீங்கள் சோகமாக இருக்கும் போது மகிழ்ச்சியாக இருப்பவர்களிடம் இருந்து விலகிச் செல்வீர்களா?

24.நான் சொல்வதற்கு அதிகம் இல்லை என எண்ணியதுண்டா?

பதில் கிடைத்தது!

1, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22 ஆகிய கேள்விகளுக்கு உங்கள் பதில் ‘ஆம்’ என்றால் நீங்கள் உறுதியாக மனிதத் தொடர்பு அறிவுத்திறன் படைத்தவர்தான். அரசியல்வாதி, கல்வியாளர், உளவியல் நிபுணர், மருத்துவர், மனித வள மேலாளர், மனநல ஆலோசகர், விற்பனையாளராகும் கூறுகள் உங்களிடம் பிரகாசமாக உள்ளன.

ஆம் என்றும் சொல்வதற்கில்லை, இல்லை என்றும் சொல்லிவிட முடியாது என்பது போன்ற குழப்பமான பதில் இருந்தால் நீங்கள் முதலில் உங்களை உற்றுக் கவனிக்க வேண்டும். மேலே குறிப்பிடப்பட்ட எண்களில் உள்ள கேள்விகளுக்கு ‘இல்லை’ என்ற பதில்தான் பெருவாரியாக அளித்திருந்தால் உங்கள் பலம் வேறு திறனாக இருக்கும் என்று பொருள்.

அதற்காகக் கவலை கொள்ள வேண்டிய அவசியமே இல்லை. ‘எந்தத் திறனையும் இது உயர்வு அது தாழ்வு எனப் பாகுபடுத்திப் பார்க்கக்கூடாது. பன்முக அறிவுத் திறன்கள் அத்தனையும் தன்னளவில் சமமானவையே’ என்பதுதான் கார்டனர் அறுதியிட்டுக் சொல்லும் கருத்து.

Thanks to : The Hindu | Daily 

A Habit that Should Not Die, A Habit we Must All Cultivate

I still remember the days when my grandfather took me to the government library to borrow a couple of books to keep me engaged. I was 10 years old then and I probably took a day or two to complete the books before visiting the library again. It was those books that gave me company during my holidays. Initially I was obsessed with reading only comics and books with pictures, but soon I progressed to reading lengthy stories and by the time I was in eighth grade, I was familiar with Asimov, Bradbury, Maugham  and O Henry. Now I prefer to read more non-fiction than fiction, but I still consider books my best companions. However, this is not the case with modern children. They no longer spend their holidays with their books. And research studies support my belief.

It is almost two years since the National Book Trust, based on a survey, declared that three- fourths of India’s literate youth do not read any kind of books. The only books they read are textbooks. Reading as a habit has been declining slowly during the last two decades, they would rather spend time with gadgets like mobile phones, laptops, iPods and on social networking sites. The gadgets with their images and sounds were seen as great substitutes for books. Parents took great pride in informing their friends and relatives that their kids could operate a computer. It took a while for them to realise the kind of negative impact these gadgets have on their children. But the younger generation has moved away from books. 

The importance of reading has always been stressed. In spite of its proven benefits, people prefer to spend time on other and more interesting pastimes. One of my friends believes that it is the older generation that should own the responsibility for the present status of our children. They should have introduced the reading habit to the young minds. In retrospect I thought there was some truth in his contention. But I was forced to think otherwise when I visited the book fair. It was a huge crowd. Parents and children thronged the stalls. The number of stalls was also big. When you see that kind of patronage for a book fair you will certainly believe that reading as a habit is doing great. But the survey results say something else. Maybe visiting a book fair is more of a fad and books are being bought just for display on drawing room shelves. 

Globally, it is learnt that reading as a habit is diminishing. Western countries have been contemplating ways and means to inculcate the habit of reading among the younger age group. Libraries are kept open round the clock and books are even placed in telephone booths to encourage reading. With a growing number of individuals reading e-books or using apps the number of people using printed books is a big question. Hamburg trend researcher Prof Dr Peter Wippermann says, “The old cultural technique of reading will survive but it will be applied differently. In everyday life, reading on paper will disappear.” However, people like Stephen Fry believe, ‘Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.’ So we do not need to be bothered as long reading happens through any media. Maybe we need to worry about what people read. ‘It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations — something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are different from their own.’ said Katherine Patterson, an American author known for children’s novels.

Nevertheless, I believe it is our duty to educate the future generation and make them realise the importance of reading. ‘Babies are born with the instinct to speak, the way spiders are born with the instinct to spin webs. You don’t need to train babies to speak; they just do. But reading is different.’

Source | http://www.newindianexpress.com/

British Council Repeats Open Online Course

The British Council's free Massive Open Online Course Exploring English: Language and Culture is being offered on futurelearn.com for the second time, by popular demand. It is a six-week course that begins on 2 February 2015.

Chris Brandwood, Regional Business Development Manager, English, British Council South Asia, said, "This course is for those keen to improve their English for work, travel or study. Large numbers of people from across the world signed up for the first edition of the course and we look forward to large numbers this time too."

The course uses short videos to present a different topic each week, including English as a global language, the environment, entrepreneurship and literature. It centres on social interaction, where people engage in debates and participate in online quizzes, all of which encourage active learning.

Source | Times of India | 21 January 2015

Social Networks: Good Source for Career Development

January 22,2015, 01.38 AM  IST | | THE HANS INDIA 

Is it good to depend on social media for career development?

If you read the recent posting of Mark Zuckerberg, it is proven fact that Facebook created more than 4.5 million jobs and more than $225 billion of economic activity in 2014. The study was released by researchers at Deloitte looking at Facebook's impact on the global economy.  

Facebook community alone is creating a lot of jobs and economic opportunity around the world. LinkedIn is the professional networking platform to connect to the millions of professionals across the globe. Using this, you can find jobs, participate in online communities, and share your experience/insights.   

Twitter is another social media platform that can be helpful in making career-related contacts. Most companies have a presence on Twitter. You can tweet companies or individuals that you are interested in learning more about, and respectfully talk about whatever they have posted. Wordpress blog can be useful to share knowledge and to build followers.  

Sending a video recording to the employer expressing you is always better than a two page CV. The same video can be uploaded in YouTube and share with employers of your choice. Quora is Q&A based online community where anyone can post any questions and comment on the questions posted by someone else. It gives an impression to the reader the level of understanding you've on that particular topic.  

“In today's competitive job market, it will be the resourceful and self-motivated participant in social media that will find the perfect job. Recruiters, companies, hiring managers and job-seekers are turning to social media to find their desired target. Dear Sir, I have done my electrical engineering and joined as a personal assistant job. Later I found it's not my cup of tea. So, please suggest me how to set up a concrete career plan. 

Lot of young aspirants think that once they get into a first job, then everything is easy and can settle in life. I personally feel that getting a first job might not be difficult, if you've clear about your career plans. However, managing your career, growing in it is a challenging thing. Majority of the youngsters opt for random jobs because of frustration, pressure, disappointment with their routine job search and finally come back to the cross roads to look for alternatives. Having mere degrees/certificates will not alone let you get a job, it’s important to understand your strengths interest.  

So, it's always better to set your career road map before you step into any job. Here are the simple steps you can follow...

• Identify your short & long term goals: You can't start mapping your path if you do not know the destination. So, first identify where you would like to see yourself in next 2/3 years of time. However, be flexible to change your career plans as required and open to learn new skills.
• Find out your strengths and areas to improve: It is important to learn new strengths which will help you to sustain and grow. Do not compromise on the skills required to cope up with that selected area and market dynamics. Make a list of the skills you have right now and the areas to improve further. Self learning is the best path to choose. You may like to find a guide/mentor with whom you're comfortable.
• Action Plan: It's very critical aspect of your entire career road map setting. If you feel your goals are big then bring them down to smaller tasks and set timelines for each task. You can't have vague plans, it should be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bounded. 
• Identify your target industry, domain & companies: Once you're clear about your area of interest and strengths, the next step is to find out where to start your journey.
• Leave your comfort zone; build your network and always try to be on the right track.
• Periodically cross check your progress, what you have planned and what you achieved and then take corrective action plan.

What if the interviewer asks me what other job vacancies have you applied for? Which companies have you spoken to? I feel uncomfortable to answer such questions. Please suggest me to handle such questions during interview?

 

It is likely to find out how much you're interested in their company. Otherwise, it should not be their business, there's nothing wrong - a job seeker exploring opportunities with other companies. If you try to be honest and fair enough and reveal everything, you might lose that opportunity.  

If you have not applied for other jobs, be honest and say it is the start of your job search. Otherwise in a polite way, you could say "Sorry, I do not disclose that information". However, the best solution is you can simply tell them that you're also exploring opportunities with other companies but felt this would be your first preference (if you feel so).

Source | http://www.thehansindia.com/

The Cardinal Rules for Success

Here's how you can position yourself for career success In today's fast-paced, hyper competitive business climate, the stakes are high to find the right job or make the move to a more rewarding or responsible position. How can you position yourself to take advantage of opportunities that arise, or better yet, find those opportunities before everyone else? There are a few things that can help you create the career of your dreams: 

1. NETWORK: We all talk 

about it, but a few of us do it well. It's a proven fact that more jobs are found through developing and nurturing contacts than through any other source. From the very beginning of your career (actually before you start your career ­ while at the university), you should be cultivating contacts and building relationships.Meet new people, learn what they do and take them out to lunch; not with the idea of landing a new job, but to build rapport and widen your horizons. Your goal is to develop a relationship; not ask for a job.When the time comes, the relationships will lead to new opportunities.

2. VOLUNTEER: Not neces 

sarily for a charity or notfor-profit, although that can be useful too, but volunteer for new projects and assignments.Show that you are willing to work with others; that you want to help the organisation succeed. By working on a variety of projects, you'll learn more about your organisation, develop new skills and create an impression of energy, enthusiasm and commitment.

3.  EDUCATE (YOURSELF):

Continuing education is a must in today's environment. Whether it's learning about big data, social media or leadership techniques, we all need to continue to grow and develop as we move ahead. Your success depends on what you know and how well you execute. Continuous education programmes can provide you with the skills and tools that will help you become more efficient, creative and decisive.

Source | Economic Times | 23 December 2014

Challenge Yourself

It is important to learn the logic behind a problem rather than just imitating the steps and 'managing' it.

I’m sure some of you have enjoyed the challenge posed by a difficult puzzle or a particularly difficult climb, or playing an opponent who is just a little better than you. In each of these cases you are pushed to discover a new limit that you hadn’t known, a new level of capability that surprises you. You come out of such experiences tired but glowing, perhaps physically (and mentally) exhausted but with the sense that you’ve just refilled your reservoir of energy.

Now think about the last time you really grappled with a mental challenge. I’m not talking about memorising long paragraphs for a history examination or repeated solving of math problems so that you know the process by heart. I’m talking about getting inside that concept or process in a way that you understand it, so that the knowledge comes from struggling with the problem rather than simply learning how to imitate the steps.

You’ll probably find that even without realising it, we are mostly following the second way of doing things. We’re content to accept a logic that someone gives us and imitate a process rather than getting behind it to understand the logic.

‘Managing’ learning

This method of “getting educated” has been drilled into us, right from when we are told to go by the book with our answers or repeat a poem with a certain cadence or strictly follow a laboratory procedure without being told (and warned not to ask) why.

As a result, we forget that learning by ourselves and in itself can be personally rewarding. Unfortunately, we also find that we can get where we want (and what we want) by “managing” formal education. All it requires is for us to learn the tricks of presenting information in a way that mimics understanding. We look at previous projects to model ours on; we press our teachers to give us “study guides” that can take us carefully through the forest of ideas and facts in a way that we can map the examination perfectly.

So we come out of degree colleges and even research programmes with high grades that actually have nothing to do with our grasp of the field we have supposedly “mastered.” Teachers and so-called mentors are entirely complicit in this process. We’ve effectively encouraged mediocrity in the system by showing that “managing” it gives results that are good enough. After all, we don’t fail anyone or even give bad grades to papers that only show faithful “reproduction” rather than any evidence of understanding the underlying concepts. Of course, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference, and so we end up not bothering, most of the time.

Work hard

What has ended up happening is that we never learn what it means to work hard to understand. We study just enough to pass a test, to score decently or enough to take us to the next level; our eye and mind constantly on where it will get us rather than what we are learning. We forget that real learning comes with the struggle to understand, to make the problem ours in a way that the solution is also ours, to try to work it out so that we really get it for ourselves. Games that are too easy bore us after a while, so why is it that we are constantly looking for easy ways out in our education? There is a joy in getting something right after trying hard, just as coming out of a strenuous workout in the gym can be both exhausting and exhilarating. That’s the kind of challenge mountain climbers love, and researchers look forward to. It’s also true that if it is too hard, we get turned off after a point, or we ask for help — and the latter option is always possible in an educational scenario. Of course, all learning cannot be fun or even intellectually exhilarating. Some things are just plain tedious, and there’s no getting away from the repetition that is needed to internalise important facts or learn formulae and procedures by heart so that we can efficiently apply them. But if we’ve worked through the logic that lies behind these procedures, we will most likely be able to apply them not only efficiently, but also creatively.

The writer teaches in the Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad, and is editor of Teacher Plus, www.teacherplus.org. Email: usha.raman@gmail.com

Source : The Hindu | Daily | 25.11.2014