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Before commencement of book review writing, you should distinguish between two terms: book report and book review. Many people use these terms in the same breath, however there are vital differences in the very essence of these notions.

Book Review and Book Report &ndash Is There a Difference?

A book report has a factual emphasize. It is a factual account of the subject matter of the book, which implies to be descriptive rather than persuasive and analytical. Its aim is to present the content and the structure of the book as objectively as possible. The book report includes a plot summary; it doesn’t look into deeper meanings of the book and doesn’t contain the identification of the symbolism.

Book report writing is a good way to structure and articulate the thoughts about the book you’ve just read. In a nutshell, it is simply a summary of the contents of the book.

A book review is a critical evaluation of the book that provides a thoughtful and in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the main idea, and purpose of the book. It is also a kind of reaction paper, which analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the book in terms of accepted historical and literary standards, supporting this evaluation with evidences from the text. In a word, it presents the assessment of the quality, meaning, and significance of the book.

What, in fact, sets book reviews apart from book reports is their personal character. Book reviews are highly personal and reflect the opinions of the reviewer on the given literary work. In the book review the reviewer clearly states his position and impressions regarding the book under consideration.

Structure of Book Review

The structure of book reviews resembles other types of academic writing. Book reviews usually comprise of a thesis statement, a supporting body paragraph, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are succinct, they rarely exceed 1000 words. Book reviews usually comprises of two elements: descriptive and evaluative. In the descriptive element you provide the essential information about the title, author, type of book, and general subject matters. While in the evaluative element you should present the assessment of the book, particularly of the perceived ideas and implied purposes, quoting exemplary passages from the text.

A good book review is well organized, and as well as the critical assessment and analysis it elucidates the essence of the literary work. Book reviews may vary in tone, style, and subject; however they share the common structure.

• Begin your Book Review with Introduction

Your introduction will bristle with factual and descriptive data, including the name of the author, some relevant details about his life and creative work, the title of the book, and the main theme of the given piece.

The second component of the introduction is the thesis of the book, which may be very perplexing to uncover since stories, novels, and plays don’t explicitly state the argument. Though, you should reveal this special angle and novelty of the piece that will actually become the ground for your further discussion and evaluation and allow you to make your book review original.

The introduction infers to be descriptive; however it should be catchy to seize the attention of the readers. So you should choose an interesting form of presenting your thoughts and ideas to make sure that the readers will keep on reading your book review up to the end. Many writers begin their book reviews with a quip or an anecdote that delivers their argument.

• Keep on Summarizing

Second, you should give your readers a concise summary of the literary work, where you state the author’s purpose of writing the book, provide its leading idea, compare and contrast main characters.

Here your aim is to plunge the readers into the atmosphere of the book, to make them interested in the ideas discussed in this literary piece, and to uncover them your understanding of the symbolism and implicit themes contained in the book. To reach this goal you should articulate your thoughts clearly, logically, and make your argument persuasive and sound.

In the course of making critical assessment of the literary work, you’ll have to back your arguments and assertions with concrete evidences from the text. Remember that critical assessment implies not only to analyze the literary piece under review, but also to tell your readers what struck you the most in this book, whether or not reading it was effective, persuasive, and exciting, and also your discussion on how it enhanced your understanding of the issue at hand.

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into separate paragraphs that deal with particular aspects of your argument. You don’t necessarily should work chronologically through the book, though, you should make the structure of your summary logical and comprehensive for the readers.

• Draw a logic conclusion

Sum up and restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book in the conclusion. Don’t introduce any new ideas and evidence for your argument, make up your conclusion copious with the ideas that extend the logic of your thesis statement.

Harnessing these simple and winning strategies of book review writing, you’ll surely turn your work into a writing marvel.

Looking for a new job, whether it is with a new company or a promotion within your own organisation, requires time and effort. To make your job search more effective you need to take five fundamental steps on the road to success:

• Analysing your skills

• Writing a winning Resume

• Managing your job search

• Coaching for interview success

• Negotiating your job offer

Step 1: Analysing your Skills

The most crucial step in the job search process is to assess what skills you have to offer to your future boss. At an interview you will have to tell your story. An interviewer will not remember your precise details, but they will remember your story, once it is filled with practical examples.

This means that you have to be able to explain the four ‘what’s’ of your job:

• What do you do?

• What skills do you require to successfully carry out your role?

• What have you achieved?

• What benefit did your company get from employing you?

The answers to these questions can be used to draft a one-minute sound bite of the skills that you have to offer to your future boss. This sales pitch should incorporate details about your role, your achievements and your personal qualities and should be tailored to the position you are applying for.

For example, ‘experienced Software Engineer who has worked in a multinational telecommunications environment; part of a team that developed an innovative process for a groundbreaking platform; proficient in all aspects of the development life cycle; used a variety of languages particularly C++ and Java; excellent organisational skills combined with a practical and resourceful approach to problem solving’.

Step 2: Writing a Winning Resume

This summary of your skills becomes the cornerstone of your resume. Your resume must be tailored to the needs of your future boss so customise it accordingly.

Here are some guidelines to assist you to write a winning resume:

Aim for a two-page resume - page one should be devoted to how your skills match the position with a emphasis on your recent career details. Page two to your less recent career history, education, training and relevant personal details. Decide on your key selling points. Provide evidence of this experience. Include quantification - reduction in costs, increase in efficiency, improvement in processes, saving in time, etc.

Use simple, jargon free words - if techno speak is required, explain it! Decide on the style after the structure and content have been finalised.

Step 3: Managing your Job Search

The third step to securing your job search success is to manage the process. There are three elements to effectively managing your job search process:

• Controlling channels

• Analysing jobs

• Constructing compelling cover letters

Controlling channels

There are four distinct job search channels. Draw on all four to maximise your success:

1. Contacts - use (in a positive sense!) all of the people that you know, both professionally and personally.

2. Media - this includes newspapers (both national and local) and professional/trade magazines.

3. Agencies - access both online sources and the more traditional recruitment agencies.

4. Direct approach - get in touch with companies that require your skills set.

Analysing jobs

Each job that you apply for is different, so you have to analyse its requirements to ensure a match between you and the role. This entails assessing the job description, the person specification and the environment within which the role operates. Draw up a checklist of the skills required for that job. If you have at least a 60% match, apply!

Constructing compelling cover letters

Your cover letter (typed!) should contain three paragraphs:

• Why you are applying for the job

• How your skills match the requirements of the position

• What outcome you want to achieve (an interview!)

Step 4: Coaching for Interview Success

Your interviewer wants to know two things - can you do the job and will you fit in. Your RESUME prompts the interviewer’s questions in relation to ‘can you do the job’. These questions revolve around the who, what, when, where, how and why of your current job (the technical details of your job).

The issue of whether you will fit in is crucial to your interview success. You may be technically superb, but if your interviewer believes that you will ‘upset the applecart’, he/she will not hire you. This means that your interview preparation should also concentrate on the non-technical aspects of your role. For example, how you relate to your colleagues and boss, how you have contributed to your team, how you have resolved potential interpersonal difficulties, etc.

Regardless of whether you are talking about the technical aspects of your job, or the non-technical elements, use real life examples to illustrate your point. Provide a picture in the interviewer’s mind of the competent, capable person that you are.

Step 5: Managing your Job Offer

Following a successful interview, build on your success by negotiating an attractive job offer. This involves maximising your remuneration package and ensuring that your contract of employment exceeds the legal minimum.

Know what you own requirements are but make sure that they are in line with the reality of today’s labour market. You also need to ensure that all of your referees give you a glowing reference and that they emphasise the skills that you want highlighted.

It usually takes 2 minutes for the employer to skip over your resume. After that you will either be invited for an interview or your resume will join a heap of fellow-sufferers in waste paper basket. Surely you are to spend much more time than your employer on the resume to win a chance to be asked for the interview. Unfortunately, competently written resume is a rare case. Some people just overlook the significant detail that make all the difference and that is why they are in constant search of the job. Such strategy won’t do.

Your resume should be effective and show you to the most advantage. If at college you never ordered custom term papers managing with the writing tasks yourself, then making a first rate resume will be of no difficulty for you. Otherwise you have to take pains to compose it or turn to professional resume writing service. With the unlimited access to” how to impress your employer” information, most people go to extremes and produce resumes that really impress the employer, but still they are left outside. With their superficial creativity and pretension to be the best of the best they achieve quite the opposite result. Human resource experts distinguish 6 basic approaches to creating a flop resume. See if you have written something of the kind and immediately correct it. Cri de Coeur or “An Appeal from the Shipwrecked” .The style of the resume and explanation of reasons for job hunting are very similar to beggar’s lamentation. After reading a few lines of such a resume the employer has the only desire to put it aside and switch over to something not so depressing. Absolute Chaos. “Is it another expository essay or an attempt to write a resume?” - the employee will think seeing such a masterpiece. Such resumes are distinguished by extreme inconsistency and incoherence of presented information. The writer jumps from one incomplete idea to another. He groups the information irrationally and arranges it with no logic at all. Because of the incorrect graphic presentation of the data it is impossible to sort out the essential information. Sometimes the objective position has nothing to do with the previous experience of the person. It is absurd to apply for a position of a Top Manager with a working experience as a Sales Representative. What is it all about? The information you provide your employer with must be as specific as possible. No generalities and avoid the usage of inadequate vocabulary. So why are you here? Resume comprises only achievements and rewards. That is great, I have nothing against it. But why is such a treasure still looking for a job? He might have been a dream of every employer. So, be fair to yourself. Mister X. It may be rather a good resume, but making haste or being careless, the writer forgot to include some important information like contact data or has misspelled it. The person describes his skills and knowledge, but does not reflect concrete work experience &ndash recent positions and responsibilities at each of them.

The employer may have liked your resume, but it is hard to find MR. X. “Museum

One of the criterion a teacher sticks to in order to evaluate your research papers is the way it is written, namely the manner of expression produced by the author’s choice of words, grammatical structures, use of literary devices, and all the possible parts of language use. All together, the teacher evaluates your writing style.

Therefore, if you are aiming at high grades and a distinguish research paper, you should pay special attention to the layout of your research paper ideas in the first place.

First of all, you should remember that a research paper is a formal paper. Thus, you should obey all the principles of formal writing that include:

1. Sophisticated vocabulary;

2. Impersonal tone;

3. More frequent use of passive voice;

4. Complex sentence constructions;

5. Formal linking devices;

6. Punctuation;

7. Overall presentation.

Let’s look at these points one by one, so that you can ensure that your research paper meets the requirements of the formal writing.

1. Sophisticated Vocabulary

Sophisticated vocabulary is a must while writing a research paper. The use of thoughtful words will definitely impress the reader with your creativity, intelligence, and intimate knowledge of the research paper topic.

However, you should not overuse sophisticated vocabulary and put worldly words where they do not belong. Try to find the golden mean between the extremes and replace advanced vocabulary with commonly-used words when necessary.

Surely, in your research paper you will want to use some unusual terms or references that are not familiar to the general audience. Your desire to give your research paper a scientific flair is always welcome. However, be sure to define or explain the terms you use, even though you know that the teacher is familiar with them.

You should avoid clichés, which are overused, colloquial and idiomatic expressions, or trite expressions that have lost their impact in meaning. Think of proper synonims to frequently used words, and, for instance, write opportunity instead of chance, or it is a well-known fact rather than everyone knows.

And stick to the golden rule of writing a research paper, namely make sure there is not a single contraction in your research paper.

2. Impersonal Tone

It is important that your research paper has no references to yourself, such as “I think…” or “It is my conclusion that…” You should avoid such expressions and replace them with neutral expressions by means of infinitive, or the passive voice. It is one of the key points of successful research paper writing.

3. More Frequent Use of Passive Voice

The passive voice of written research papers is effective in creating a sense of objectivity, such as focusing attention on the thing acted upon. It is also useful when the subject acted upon is unknown or unimportant, or if you want to use long modifiers at the end of the sentence.

But beware, and eliminate the passive voice where active should be placed. The enduring use of passive voice obscures the meaning and makes for boring reading. A natural symbiosis of the passive and active voices can work miracles.

4. Sentence Construction

Make sure you vary sentence length and structure. Let various sentence constructions take place in your research paper: simple sentences, compound sentences, complex sentences, complex-compound sentences.

In formal writing of research papers complex grammatical constructions are preferable. However, do not get caught into an endless loop of complex sentence structures and bring in your research paper simple sentences from time to time.

5. Formal Linking Devices

It is necessary to vary linking devices in your research paper. Instead of putting “for example” all the time, you can use “for instance”,” in particular”,” especially”. To express the effect you can vary the expressions like thus, therefore, as a result, consequently, so, as a consequence and so on.

If you face problems with finding synonyms, do not be lazy to go to a library and look up the words in a dictionary. Your efforts will be awarded hundred times, for the variety of linking devices guarantees a smooth flow of speech and a desired effect on the reader.

6. Punctuation

Every single writer should use punctuation in a wise manner to achieve the intended effect. Punctuation that is purely used can confuse the reader and leave him with no clear idea of what your research paper topic was all about.

Thus, keep the following punctuation caveats in mind: a period shows a full separation of ideas; comma and coordinating conjunction show such relationships as: addition, choice, consequence, contrast, or cause; a semicolon reveals that the second sentence completes the idea that was started in the first sentence.

Once you check your research paper for punctuation, the lion’s share of research paper writing is completed.

7. Overall presentation.

The overall presentation of a research paper counts greatly while evaluation; it has the power either to win the reader’s favor, or turn him down.

So, make sure your reader will be delighted at the sight of your research paper and make your research paper look properly. It means that, as a formal piece of writing, your research paper should not be brightly-colored or written in some funny font. Formal writing requires simplicity and accuracy.

Neatly laid out research paper ideas have all chances to be approved by your teacher.

By following the general principles of sentence construction, punctuation, and vocabulary use, you will be able to create a positive image of yourself as a bright, eloquent, and keen person, the one who is worth getting an excellent grade for their breath-taking research paper.

When you are ready to step into the professional world, one thing becomes your mirror, in which every employer see you and gets to know about you. This mirror is known as resume. Writing resume is an art and tips for writing an effective resume are indeed too essential for you.

A resume is a very important document which plays a major role in letting the employer decide whether he will hire you or not. Your resume tells him about your profile which includes your experience, objectives, interests and capabilities. A professional employer, on an average, spends about 20 seconds scanning your resume. In those 20 seconds he takes his decision whether he should call you for the interview or not. So it becomes important for you to carefully design your resume to create the big first impression.

There are some essential things that you must cover in your resume with utmost rationalization and logic. Perfect resume writing consists of 5 essential components:

Career Objective

Work Experience

Education

Additional Information

Personal Details

Career Objective

Career objective acts as a window which illustrates your professional goals and where you would like to see yourself in the years to come. Career objective also explains how you would like to develop and hone your skills.

Your career objective should be based on the realistic goals and logic. It should not be full of subjectivity as you want to succeed or grow. There should be an element of concrete basis and belief about what you exactly want to do in life.

Your career objective provides the perfect opportunity for you as the employer can analyze your determination and attitude via your career objective. A little creativity and logic can lead you to create a good and professional career objective.

Work Experience

This section is the most important component of your resume. The section describes your accomplishments and work experience in the field you are applying. This section also includes the work experience that you have in different fields as well.

Your work experience

provides the employer with the information related to your worth. Your work experience let him know that you are an experienced person and capable of doing things. In the work experience if you mention your projects and role played by you in achieving them, it would further enhance the image of your capabilities in the employer’s eyes.

Your work experience should be lined up in a reverse chronological order. It should include all the necessary description of the company you worked for, your job title and job role and your projects in each company. You should order your work experience in accord with the type of job. You should edit all the unnecessary information from the work experience.

Education

This section involves your educational background. Some employers are typical about certain educational levels like bachelor’s or masters. You should write your education level in a right sequence, starting with the recent educational level on the top and the lowest in the end.

Additional Information

Additional information refers to description of your achievements in extra curricular activities, your interests and key strengths. This section enables the employer to know your abilities and talents. The description should be kept precise and to the point. It should not look like self boasting, but should seem like representation of the facts.

Personal Details

This section should be included last in your resume. This section mainly deals with your personal details such as:

Father’s name

Date of birth

Sex

Address

Phone number

Martial status

Resume writing is an art. A good resume enhances your chances of being selected where you want to work.

Shuffling along the sidewalk with no place to go neither time to be of a concern, I was trying to think of what to do today. Making my way slowly down this avenue of congress of this capital city I already had a free meal at the eleven o’clock serving. As I strolled under the tall buildings casting shadows across the workers of commerce scurrying their way between the doors of the high structures I remembered what day of the week it was. Today was the day I could give plasma; I could spend the rest of the afternoon at the plasma center. Then I could look forward for an evening restaurant hot meal plus some change leftover for some tailor made cigarettes. A night at the mission could top it off for some comfortable sleep and a change of clothes tomorrow morning for my apparel was getting a bit dusty from a three day wear. My latest sleeping quarters under the Fourth street Bridge the past few nights left me a bit on the musty side. I had purpose for the day.

The street was usually busy this midday hour and today no different, I had to dodge between the suits of trade wear, trying to keep on the outside of the crowd. By the street’s end the crowd mostly had thinned ducking into other doors and I stopped at the crosswalk to wait for the light. Now it was either east or a west direction, directly across the street stood the gates of the capitol building. I had to head west a few blocks before turning north for seventeen more blocks to get to the plasma center. I started to get hungry thinking of a restaurant meal; the soup line after a few days kind of shrinks the stomach. A couple of puffed up looking fellows decked out in expensive attire also were paused awaiting the light. They took no note of my presence, after all I was just a street person and they were likely legislators coming from the high dollar restaurant on the corner heading back to business as usual. Something kind of clicked.

“Excuse me,” I said, “You know over half this capital town work for the state or federal or county or city and none of these positions hardly make any money of their own. All they do is drain the average workers paycheck, so possibly, do you think that maybe it’s time to downsize a bit like the corporates and be responsive to the actual needs of the working class which are actually most of your constituents?”

They ignored any sound coming from my person.

“Or perhaps,” I continued a little louder, “You can save some money by being more efficient in operations. Like general program funding, you could handle each case individually and wise up to the fraud that costs more than actual need.”

They shifted in movement, I could see a bit of uneasiness as they lingered.

“Maybe,” I gestured a bit sarcastically, “Rethink and cut half of these government workers that achieve no practical purpose except to spread favors. Also all of those many building projects just for your own wants, like those millions spent on that gym that only you and your staff gets to use freely and you know I wish I had your kind of free medical when I was working. Then there are those high price bids and contractors overcharging for every little piece, do you think you could put a check on kickbacks and corruption and save money by being practical as if this was your money you throw around? Oh, yeah, the new prescription laws you’re about to overcharge the elderly under that blanket of the drug companies, do you think you can simplify and make some rates as needed that might actually really care for the elderly instead?” I was kind of loud on that one.

The light changed and they bolted for the other side, they moved so fast I had to run to keep up with them.

“How about this!” I was kind of yelling now, frothing a bit, getting a little excited, “I use to have a job and you took more than a third out for your taxes, can you even imagine the burden that put on me? Plus all the sales tax, gas tax, property tax, service fees; I was probably paying way over half of what I made just to appease your appetite! You know what I mean?”

They had made it through the gates of the fence surrounding the capital, kicking up pebbles from the driveway as they ran toward the massive doors of the building. I ceased and stood my ground at the entrance, somehow survival kicking in and halting my process.

“You know when you do try to save money,” I screamed after them, “You cut off from the bottom instead of the top! Now just working folks are out of luck!”

They were running out of range and I was getting hoarse. Then I noticed a golf cart at a fast crawl speeding its way toward me, filled with a couple of security personnel. I fled the scene, thinking once past the border of this walled fortress they would cease the chase. I still had time to make it to the center and give plasma.

When you write, you likely find yourself wrestling with questions. I certainly do, everything from the proper form of abbreviations to the placement of apostrophes. Ideally, you want to get past those questions quickly, so you can focus on the message, not the writing.

Among the tools that helps us answer questions quickly and consistently are stylebooks: those manuals that recommend certain styles or usage. They come in a number of flavors and you may wish to have all of them on hand. But, more importantly, select one and use its recommendations consistently.

This week we look at the Associated Press Stylebook, a useful and frequently-cited reference work for writers.

As the title suggests, it comes from the people at the Associated Press (AP) wireservice, and serves journalists and mass-media writers. By way contrast, the Chicago Manual of Style (to cite another important reference book) serves academics and others who write formally, as well as book writers, editors, and publishers.

The AP Stylebook emphasizes usage of commonly cited names, events, and language. For example, under the listing for assassin, it explains the proper use of three similar concepts: ‘assassin,’ ‘killer,’ and ‘murderer’ (in case you were wondering, the AP book defines an assassin as a politically motivated killer, a killer as anyone who kills with any motive, and a murderer as a killer who has been convicted in a court of law).

Since journalists must contend with the pressure of deadlines, this book is laid out like a dictionary, with the entries in alphabetical order. Each entry is brief and deals with issues that journalists would face in everyday writing.

Many entries provide a standard for capitalization, spelling, use of abbreviations, and other useful information. Rules for grammar can be found under headings such as ‘Possessives’.

Incidentally, many other news organizations, in the U.S. and other countries, have their own style guides. In Canada, for example, there’s the Canadian Press stylebook. So, if you’re writing for a particular wire-service or news organization, check to see if they have their own style guide.

The Associated Press Stylebook comes in two flavors: ‘The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law,’ and ‘The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Law.’ The latter is as readily available as the former. Check your bookstore for details.

Most job seekers have the same problem when writing their resumes: they feel overwhelmed when it comes to presenting themselves in such a concise format. If you’re suffering from this problem, you might want to work with a partner, a friend, a fellow job hunter, a counselor, or a professional resume writer, someone who can ask you probing questions and provide objectivity.

Gather and Check All Necessary Information - Learn to write a resume by writing down information under headings. Write your resume example that embraces your education; experience; honors; skills and activities and make a list of your training and education relating to your job choice.

Match Your Skills and Experience with an Employer’s Needs - Choose a target job/title that works best and write a good resume by matching your wishes with positions that are actually available.

Highlight Details That Demonstrate Your Capabilities - Learn to write a good resume by selecting details of your information that best matches the employer’s needs. Results need to benefit your employer and make you a viable candidate for the target job.

Organize the Resume Effectively - You write a resume by organizing your Personal information followed by a Summary of key points, Education, Experience, Honors and Activities. Write a good resume chronologically listing primary jobs held, including unpaid work that fills a gap or that shows you have the skills for the job. Write your resume example and compare with other like-positions resumes and create a draft based on the resume format you choose. References are a separate entity and may not be included, but always have solid reference available if requested.

Consider Word Choice Carefully - You write a resume that accurately describes you &ndash your skills, talents and expertise. Write a good resume by utilizing active verbs (in many forms) such as achieve, analyze, adapt. Learn to write a resume that describes you positively and accurately. Write a good resume using adjectives and nouns such as analytical, resourceful, capable.

Ask Other People to Comment on Your Resume - We at Houston Job Search will help you write resume and then we will critique it. Remain open-minded when you write a resume and with our constructive criticism, the final resume will achieve its objective. Ask your friends and trusted colleagues to review and critique your resume.

Make the Final Product Presentable - A resume should be printed on a high quality (24 lbs stock or more) paper using a laser printer. We at Houston Job Search can provide the resources.

Use dynamic action verbs such as: accomplished, collaborated, encouraged, established, facilitated, founded, managed, etc. Do NOT use the subject I, use tenses in the past.

Imagine holding a bouquet of balloons. And someone comes up to you and pops one with a pin. Then another. Then another. Pop! Slam! Bam! You’re shaken, shocked and need to take a few deep breaths to recover from the impact.

This is what it can be like to receive feedback. Whether it’s a work project, a creative project, or input on how you show up as a person, feedback can be jarring, painful and downright destructive. As a coach of the creative process, I have seen how feedback can devastate people and shut down their creative dreams. One man, probably in his seventies, showed up in a writing group I was leading. He had received negative feedback on his writing twenty-five years earlier. It had taken all that time to work up the courage to come back to his writing. It was sad but I was glad to see that his writing urge refused to be dampened.

Feedback is a necessary part of growing as a writer or artist, so it’s best to become graceful at receiving feedback. Here are a few steps that will help to &ndash gulp &ndash take feedback and use it to encourage you instead of deflating you.

First, get really good at asking for feedback from the right sources. Give yourself a chance to get feedback that is constructive and kind. Seek trusted writing buddies, writing mentors, or teachers whom you know have your best interests in mind. Spouses, parents and children may not be objective enough to give useful comments. They may not want to hurt your feelings, or they may be insensitive to your feelings. A spouse or a friend may have no clue about what makes a good story and they just don’t have the skills to comment. No matter who you choose, make sure to include this vital second step.

You may not know that you can design the feedback process. You can! Know that when you ask for comments, the giver’s ego may get a little puffed up. Here’s their chance to be right, to know, and to point out all the things that are wrong with your short story or essay. It can be like someone getting the weed wacker out to tidy up the sidewalk and then the rush of power surges over into destroying the whole yard. Know what kind of comments will best serve your growth and ask for it. You may want the comments in written form. Having it written down will make it easier to assess the feedback later, which is the next step.

Give yourself time to integrate the emotions and thoughts that the feedback will provoke. I suggest setting the feedback aside until at least the next day. No matter how much you want to hear commentary, it can still affect you emotionally. You may be in denial, you may want to argue, you may be hurt or frustrated that you still have a lot of work to do. Give yourself time to let all the emotion settle in. Then, when you feel more objective, take a look at the feedback. You’ll want a clear mind to be able to discern what is useful, which is the next critical phase.

You’ve gotten a response and now you need to discern what will improve your project or performance. Being as objective as you can, look at the feedback and ask this simple question: “What’s true?” Keep your primary objective in mind and use that as a guidepost for whether the feedback you have gotten will be used or discarded. Another question to ask is “What can I learn here?” Notice if you become defensive, since that’s not the wisest approach to doing your best. Make notes as you go back through the feedback and decide how you want to move forward with it.

Commentary is an essential part of the writing process, and if you’re interested in improving your writing, you should be seeking feedback. Getting kind and constructive comments is key to becoming a good writer. Use my steps to receive comments gracefully. Soon you’ll love the feedback process and will be asking for it even more often! Feedback is a part of creativity, so don’t let it burst your bubble.

In the 1600’s most cultured socialites considered chapbooks vulgar. These ‘flimsy’ booklets were often sold in less than reputable establishments and contained a variety of less than quality poetry, stories, ballads and political dissent. Often filled with spelling mistakes, factual blunders and little in the way of quality assurance these chapbooks often connected with the uncultured alone.

Today you will find several colleges that are working to collect copies of aging chapbooks. International universities have collections of hundred and even thousands of these manuscripts.

What are chapbooks?

This type of literature provides a relatively small grouping of thoughts or poetry in a booklet form that is generally unacceptable in traditional book markets. The length of a chapbook rarely exceeds 50 pages and can be assembled using a home printer and publishing software or using an office supply store that provides copying services.

Chapbook History

In the past these booklets were sold by peddlers to others who enjoyed the simplified nature of the work.

Some chapbooks were purchased if only because paper was scarce and the pages of the chapbook were used to wrap food items for transport.

Chapbooks have historically received very little respect and ultimately faded away for a time with the advent of mass produced newspapers and other periodicals.

In many respects historical chapbooks are now considered desirable folk art and are appreciated in ways the original authors would find surprising.

Chapbooks Today

In the twenty-first century chapbooks are seeing a prominence they have not seen in the past.

Today chapbooks are successfully used to promote an author’s poetry or short stories. They are marketed online and in specialty shops. Some chapbook developers have used the work for philanthropic purposes while others have funded group projects and the distribution of personal writings.

A fundraising effort for families involved in the Sego Mining Disaster in West Virginia saw a poetry chapbook used to provide needed finances for those dealing with loss.

With the advent of easy-to-use publishing programs and printers who can mass-produce a chapbook at reasonable prices, there are more people than ever looking to impact others through the distribution of chapbooks.

Chapbook Future

Some chapbooks may be downloadable through PDF technology while other writers of chapbooks may move solidly toward ebook technology in the future in an effort to distribute their chapbooks thus avoiding paper distribution entirely.

It is safe to presume that the time-honored tradition of chapbooks will see these little publications delight, encourage and challenge readers for centuries to come.