Someone write my paper!

“I hate writing! I wish I could pay someone to write my paper!” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard these words said from my college friends or acquaintances who are not confident writers. Of course, it’s not ethical to get someone else to write your paper or other written material. Not only is it fraudulent, but you also rob yourself of the pride of knowing you produced original work to the best of your ability. That said, I’ll be more than happy to help you with some steps that can help you produce writing of which you can be proud.

The most important part of writing is knowing your audience and your end goal. For example, are you writing an essay on a specific topic? Are you writing a short story? A cover letter? The writing you produce will depend on the message you are trying to convey to your specific audience.

(My audience for this post, for example, is college students who need help writing their papers.)

The goal and audience notwithstanding, writing starts with a basic universal framework consisting of three parts: an Introduction, Body, and Conclusion. Using this basic framework, anyone can write a document for any purpose. The key step is to start writing without initial care for perfection. Write down your point of view in the raw then come back afterward to edit for grammar, typos, structure, etc.

Using the Universal Framework: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion

So how do we use this universal framework? Since most folks who uttered the pained phrase “someone write my paper!” are college students, I’ll apply this framework using a concrete example for a hypothetical college paper. What does it take to write a successful college paper or essay? Let’s review the framework steps one by one.

The Topic

Hypothetical Scenario: Political Science 101: Your professor asks you to write an essay on a controversial public policy. Specifically, you are to write a paper defending or disclaiming the New Green Deal (NGD) proposed by Progressive Democrats in the US House and Senate. By lotto selection, you are to write a paper defending the passage of the NGD.

You have clear instructions about the topic: New Green Deal (NGD) and your audience is your professor. We also know that your personal views notwithstanding, you have to defend the NGD. The scene is set. Let’s build out your paper using the universal formula by starting with an introduction and hypothesis (opinion) about the topic.

The Introduction

Start your essay by introducing the topic, the New Green Deal(NGD). Give a brief history of the legislation, and a summary of why you believe that the NGD must become a federal law. A sample introduction for our hypothetical NGD paper follows:

This paper will show how the Green New Deal (GND) is groundbreaking public policy legislation and why it should be federal law. All claims regarding the NGD are substantiated via relevant, peer-reviewed scientific data and social case studies. The work will also demonstrate how the opposition views are grounded in misinformation and pseudo-science.

This definitive introduction sets the tone for what the audience can expect in the following paragraphs, namely the Body and Conclusion.

As an NGD advocate, you will have to find relevant and valid data that shows concrete evidence of how the NGD could potentially help the US economy (for example, by providing well-paying jobs, increasing productivity, and enhancing American Environmental prestige globally).

If you want to get more granular, you can also discuss the positive global impacts of the New Green Deal given our current dual crises of a Pandemic and Global Warming.

The Body or Main Point

The body is where you get to shine. In this section of your paper, write down all questions that you can think anyone would want to know regarding Green New Deal. I mean everything you can think of because you know your professor will be asking them too.

To get your mind going, ask and answer questions like the following:

What is the Green New Deal, and when did it start? 

  • The first step of the body of your essay is to give an overview of what the Green New Deal is and isn’t. State when it began, what its tenets are, and how it will be implemented if passed by the legislature.

What are the pros and cons of the NGD? Do the pros outweigh the cons? If so, how? 

  • Flesh out your contentions on how the NGD can help the US economy with well-paying jobs, increasing productivity, and enhancing American prestige globally. You can also discuss the positive global impacts of the New Green Deal on the environment.

What are dissidents of the NGD saying? What data refutes their position?

  • This stage of the main body introduces opposing viewpoints to the NGD legislation. It’s your job to refute them one by one. It bears repeating that you will need to cite credible sources to back up any claim from your point of view for this exercise.

Use these questions as a guide to flesh out your position regarding the NGD legislation. An important caveat that bears repeating is to cite impeccable sources to validate and strengthen your paper.

Conclusion:

Finally, we get to the end of our paper! We are ready to conclude our essay after introducing the New Green Deal and giving evidence-based data to show how the pros outweigh the cons.

The conclusion is where you can place your final exclamation on your hypothesis. You are pro-NGD because:

  • It will bring the US into the 21st Century while increasing nation-wide infrastructure jobs
  • Significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases responsible for the current global warming calamity
  • Ultimately reduce the cost of energy

These are just a few ideas to jog your imagination. Pick whatever reason for your pro-NGD stance and make sure to back it up with credible data.

Your conclusion should leave your audience impressed if not convinced by why the New Green Deal is the signature piece of legislation needed to rebuild and modernize the United States.

Putting it all together

Whew! Now that you got all the pieces of the universal writing framework, get to writing that paper! Don’t think about writing the perfect words. Gather your data and make your case using your own words. Believe it or not, doing this is the biggest victory when writing a paper, essay, or any other document.

Use this post as a framework for anything you need to write. Make your own case by swapping out the questions and providing relevant and useful information for your audience.

If you’re worried about spelling, grammar, typos, and other errors, use Grammarly or the spellcheck feature in your word processing app. If you need more help and the professional eye of a proofreader and editor, contact me for a free quote!

Proofread My Paper!

“Proofread my paper please! I’ve read this over and over and I can’t see straight!”  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this request. My friends know I have an eagle eye and a knack for finding text errors, so they always rely on me to proofread their documents. They are not alone in their need for an eagle-eye to go over their documents, everyone should use the services of a proofreader.

Why should anyone hire a proofreader? Isn’t spell check sufficient enough to catch any errors? It may be easy to presume this, but having a fresh set of eyes to review your writing is essential to presenting your best-written work to help get that passing grade, that job, or that contract.

It is a fact that people from all walks of life benefit from the services of proofreaders when they need to make a memorable impression via the written word. Whether it’s college students writing their final thesis, young entrepreneurs needing a pristine business plan, or job seekers looking to knock out the competition, all should employ the services of a proofreader if they want to make a good impression with their written material. Read on to find out more.

What is proofreading?

What exactly is proofreading? According to the Merriam-Webster definition, to proofread means “to read and mark corrections in something such as a proof.” This definition isn’t too clear so to make it plainer, to proofread means to examine written material with a fine-tooth comb to find, mark and/or correct all errors in the text.

Proofreading essentially polishes your written material to make it suitable for publishing or external audiences. Proofreading is often coupled with copy-editing which according to dictionary.com means “to edit (a manuscript, document, text, etc.) for publication, especially for punctuation, spelling, grammatical structure, style, etc.”

Proofreading and copy-editing are powerful tools for authors, bloggers, businesses, and anyone needing to produce documents that convey competence, knowledge, and professionalism.

Isn’t spell check good enough?

How many times have you used spellcheck in Word only to find that it missed obvious things like a name or an alternate spelling or grammatical point? It’s frustrating, isn’t it? You’re relying on the technology to save you an extra layer of work, but it still falls short of the human eye.

The fact is, spellcheck is no match for the human eye because a computer cannot determine nuance, meaning, or even names. So, while spellcheck can give you a basic spelling or grammatical check, its ability to spot errors is limited. A human proofreader should always have the last look at any important document before official release or publication.

Why you need a proofreader

Imagine what would happen if a college student presented essays or papers riddled with spelling and grammatical errors to their professor? Or, say an entrepreneur pitching a proposal full of errors to potential investors? It doesn’t take any imagination at all. The student will fail and the entrepreneur will not win any funds from investors.

There is a steep price to pay when anyone does not take the time to carefully proofread any documents that can make a significant difference in their life.

A proofreader can be the difference between making a great first impression or not being taken seriously. This is especially true for anyone who may have an issue reading and correcting great blocks of text. It’s also good to have a fresh set of eyes to review text and spot errors you may miss.

How do proofreaders work?

Proofreading is a pretty straightforward profession that has become somewhat easier with the advent of email and the internet. Traditionally, proofreaders received a hardcopy of the document needing proofing. They then carefully reviewed the text using a series of special marks to note and/or correct all errors. The proofreader returned the marked-up document to the client for review.

Depending on the work (manuscript, essay, blogs, proposals, etc.) having to proof in the traditional manner wasted a lot of paper and took much longer than it does today. Still, the basics remain the same. After reviewing the proofreader’s marked-up draft, clients can choose to receive it as is or accept all changes and receive a clean document free from typos and other errors. Most clients choose to accept all marked changes and receive a clean document that they can use immediately.

Who should use a proofreader?

As a copy-editor and proofreader, my most frequent clients have been business executives, college students, entrepreneurs, and job seekers.

College professors expect their students to produce well-written essays, papers, and other assignments. A student can have the best ideas but may have difficulty meeting these requirements. They can use a proofreader and copy-editor to help them present, clear and error-free written work. A proofreader can be a student’s secret weapon for getting that A.

Businesses also need proofreaders to review their websites, brochures, blogs, and sales collateral. Entrepreneurs need impeccable business plans to present to potential investors. A proofreader can make the difference in getting that startup check.

How about needing to revamp your resume? Or maybe writing that grant proposal to fund that important project? The fact is, anyone can benefit from having a proofreader review their important documents.

Let me proofread your document!

At Editing by Dawn, I make it easy to proofread and/or copy-edit your document. All you need to do is send me 4 pages of your document to receive a free quote. To expedite things, you can fill out this form to tell me more about your project.

Once we agree to work together we’ll discuss your document and what level of revision is needed. Armed with this information, I get to work correcting all typos, grammatical and spelling errors. If needed, I may throw in a bit of copy-editing to help structure the written material. At the end of the process, I present you with an error-free document that is ready for publication.

Do you need help with proofreading your document? Contact me today and let’s work together to polish your words!