JUNE

50 Free Resources That Will Improve

Your Writing Skills
# Copywriting 14 # Blogging 9 # Skills 15 # Resources 77

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesnt like to

give in easily. When he is not writing or speaking at a
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QUICK SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS

01 Further Reading on
Eective writing skills are to a writer
SmashingMag:
what petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and
car relationship, without solid skills 02 1. Grammar, Punctuation & Co.
writers cannot move ahead. These skills 03 2. Common mistakes and
dont come overnight, and they require problems
patience and determination. You have to
04 3. General Writing Skills
work smart and hard to acquire them.
Only with experience, you can enter the 05 4. Practical Guides To Better
realm of eective, always-in-demand Writing Skills
writers. 06 5. Copywriting Blogs
07 6. Tools
08 7. Further Resources
 Effective writing skills are to a writer what
petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and car relationship,
without solid skills writers cannot move ahead. These
skills dont come overnight, and they require patience
and determination. You have to work smart and hard
to acquire them. Only with experience, you can enter
the realm of effective, always-in-demand writers. [Last
updated: Dec/21/2016]

Of course, effective writing requires a good command of the language in

which you write or want to write. Once you have that command, you need to
learn some tips and tricks so that you can have an edge over others in this
hard-to-succeed world of writers. There are some gifted writers, granted. But
gifted writers also need to polish their skills frequently in order to stay ahead
of competition and earn their livelihood.

Further Reading on SmashingMag: ( #span-class-

rh-further-reading-span-on-smashingmag)

Quick Course On Effective Website Copywriting (

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/05/quick-course-on-eective-website-
copywriting/)

Behind The Scenes of Smashing Magazine (

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/an-interview-with-some-
smashing-authors/)

The Overlooked Importance of Professional Journalism (

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/01/we-can-do-better-the-overlooked-
importance-of-professional-journalism/)

Getting Practical With Microcopy (

https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2016/07/getting-practical-with-microcopy/)
 Five Copywriting Errors That Can Ruin A Companys Website (
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/06/ve-copywriting-errors-that-can-
ruin-a-company-website/)

We collected over 50 useful and practical tools and resources that will
help you to improve your writing skills. You will nd copywriting blogs,
dictionaries, references, teaching classes, articles, tools as well as related
articles from other blogs. Something is missing? Please let us know in the
comments to this post!

1. Grammar, Punctuation & Co. ( #1-grammar-

punctuation-co)

Use English Punctuation Correctly ( http://www.wikihow.com/Use-English-

Punctuation-Correctly) A quick and useful crash course in English punctuation.

HyperGrammar (
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/) An extensive
electronic grammar course at the University of Ottawas Writing Centre.

Grammar Girl ( http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/) Mignon Fogartys

quick and dirty tips for better writing. Grammar Girl provides short, friendly
tips to improve your writing. Covering the grammar rules and word choice
guidelines that can confound even the best writers, Grammar Girl makes
complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall
and apply those troublesome grammar rules.
 (
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/)

Better Writing Skills ( http://www.betterwritingskills.com/writing-tips.html)

This site contains 26 short articles with writing tips about ampersands,
punctuation, character spacing, apostrophes, semicolons and commas,
difference between i.e. and e.g. etc.

The Guide to Grammar and Writing (

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm) An older, yet very useful
site that will help you to improve your writing on word & sentence level,
paragraph level and also essay & research paper level.
 (
http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/)

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant ( http://www.powa.org) This site

contains some useful articles that explain common grammar mistakes, basic
punctuation, basic sentence concepts etc. Worth visiting and reading. The
Learning Centre ( http://ncistudent.net/articles/) contains similar articles, but
with more examples.

Jack Lynchs Guide to Grammar and Style (

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/) These notes are a miscellany of
grammatical rules and explanations, comments on style, and suggestions on
usage put by Jack Lynch, an Associate Professor in the English department of
the Newark campus of Rutgers University, for his classes.

English Style Guide - Economist (

http://www.economist.com/styleguide/introduction) This guide is based on the
style book which is given to all journalists at The Economist. The site
contains various hints on how to use metaphors, punctuation, gures,
hyphens etc. Brief and precise.
Technical Writing ( http://www.rbs0.com/tw.htm) An extensive guidance on
grammar and style for technical writing.

40+ Tips to Improve your Grammar and Punctuation (

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/) Purdue University maintains an online writing
lab ( http://owl.english.purdue.edu/) and I spent some time digging through it.
Originally the goal was to grab some good tips that would help me out at
work and on this site, but there is simply too much not to share.

2. Common mistakes and problems ( #2-common-

mistakes-and-problems)

Common Errors in English ( http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html) A

collection of common errors in English, with detailed explanations and
descriptions of each error.

AskOxford: Better Writing ( http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/) A very

useful reference for classic errors and helpful hints with a terrible site
navigation.
 (
http://www.askoxford.com/betterwriting/)

Dr. Grammars Frequently Asked Questions (

http://web.mst.edu/~zhengyr/resource/Dr.%20Grammar%20-
%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.html) Answers to common grammar
questions related to English grammar, with examples and additional
explanations.

English Grammar FAQ ( http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/) A list of

common English language problems and how to solve them. This list was
compiled through an extensive archive of postings to alt.usage.english by
John Lawler, Linguistics, U. Michigan, Ann Arbor.

3. General Writing Skills ( #3-general-writing-skills)

Writers Digest ( http://www.writersdigest.com/GeneralMenu/) Writers Digest

offers information on writing better and getting published. The site also
includes community forums, blogs and huge lists of resources for writers.

Infoplease: General Writing Skills (

http://www.infoplease.com/homework/writingskills1.html) Various articles that
aim to teach students how to write better.
 (
http://www.infoplease.com/homework/writingskills1.html)

The Elements of Style ( http://www.bartleby.com/141/index.html) A freely

available online version of the book The Elements of Style by William
Strunk, Jr., the classic reference book.

Poynter Writing Tools ( http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&switch=true)

A blog dedicated to writers and journalists. Poynter also provides Fifty
Writing Tools: Quick List, a collection of podcasts related to writing.

(
http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=78&switch=true)
learning lab / writing skills (
http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/lsu/content/4_WritingSkills/00writingskills.htm) This
site offers over 20 .pdf-documents with main rules and common mistakes
related to summarising, paraphrasing, referencing, sentences, paragraphs,
linking words and business writing. Handy.

Using English ( http://www.usingenglish.com/) UsingEnglish.com provides a

large collection of English as a Second Language (ESL) tools & resources for
students, teachers, learners and academics. Browse our grammar glossary
and references of irregular verbs, phrasal verbs and idioms, ESL forums,
articles, teacher handouts and printables, and nd useful links and
information on English. Topics cover the spectrum of ESL, EFL, ESOL, and
EAP subject areas.

Online Writing Courses (

http://diplomaguide.com/articles/Online_Creative_Writing_Courses_Oered_Free_by
_Top_Universities_and_Educational_Websites.html) Free courses are a great way
to improve your writing skills. The courses shown here focus on several
types of creative writing, including poetry, essay writing and ction writing.

4. Practical Guides To Better Writing Skills ( #4-

practical-guides-to-better-writing-skills)

Copywriting 101: An Introduction to Copywriting (

http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/) This tutorial is designed to get you
up and running with the basics of writing great copy in ten easy lessons.
Afterwards, youll get recommendations for professional copywriting
training, plus links to tutorials on SEO copywriting and writing killer
headlines.
 (
http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/)

A Guide to Writing Well This guide was mainly distilled from On Writing
Well by William Zinsser and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White.
Other sources are listed in the bibliography. My memory being stubborn and
lazy, I compiled this so I could easily refresh myself on writing well. I hope it
will also be helpful to others.

Online Copywriting 101: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet (

http://www.copyblogger.com/copywriting-101/) The ultimate cheat sheet with
various Web copy resources that copywriters can use to lean the best writing
tips and ideas.

HEADLINES AND TRIGGER WORDS

50 Trigger Words and Phrases for Powerful Multimedia Content (

http://www.copyblogger.com/trigger-words/)

21 Trafc Triggers for Social Media Marketing (

http://www.copyblogger.com/21-trac-triggers-for-social-media-marketing/)

How To Write Magnetic Headlines (

http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/) (and even (
http://trevorcrookblog.com/2008/05/21/8-dierent-types-of-headlines/) more (
 http://www.copyblogger.com/headline-swipe-le/) headlines (
http://www.copyblogger.com/proven-headline-formulas/))

Passive Voice Is Redeemed For Web Headings (

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/passive-voice.html)

5 Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With a Bang (

http://www.copyblogger.com/5-simple-ways-to-open-your-blog-post-with-a-
bang/)

Landing Page Tutorials and Case Studies (

http://www.copyblogger.com/landing-pages/)

Copywriting for e-Commerce (

http://thinkvitamin.com/features/biz/copywriting-for-ecommerce/)

COMMON MISTAKES AND ERRORS

10 agrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid (

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-agrant-grammar-mistakes-that-
make-you-look-stupid-97444/)

The Seven Deadly Sins of Website Copy (

http://www.michelfortin.com/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-website-copy/)

Six Common Punctuation Errors that Bedevil Bloggers (

http://www.copyblogger.com/punctuation-mistakes/)

WRITING TIPS FROM EXPERTS

10 Writing Tips from the Masters ( http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/art-

of-writing/?)

George Orwells tips on better writing (

http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/300)

Stephen Kings Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer (

http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2007/10/08/stephen-kings-top-7-tips-
 for-becoming-a-better-writer/)

Ernest Hemingways Top 5 Tips for Writing Well (

http://www.copyblogger.com/ernest-hemingway-top-5-tips-for-writing-well/)

Writing hacks (hacks for writing) ( http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/54-

writing-hacks-part-1-starting/) by Scott Berkun

PRACTICAL TIPS

10 Steps Toward Better Writing (

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/advice-for-students-10-steps-
toward-better-writing.html)

A Guide To Becoming A Better Writer: 15 Practical Tips (

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/nine-tips-to-productive-
revision.html)

10 simple things you can do to improve your writing (

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-simple-things-you-can-do-to-
improve-your-writing/)

7 Cant-Miss Ways To Kick-Start The Writing Habit (

http://freelancefolder.com/7-cant-miss-ways-to-kick-start-the-writing-habit/)

10 Writing Tips for Web Designers (

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/02/10-writing-tips-for-web-designers/)

Activate Your Verbs ( http://lucindaatwood.com/active-verbs-increase-

interest-and-clarity/)

How to Write Faster, Better, and Easier (

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-write-faster-better-and-easier/)

Writing Tips for Non-Writers Who Dont Want to Work at Writing (

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2006/02/12/writing-tips-for-non-writers-who-dont-
want-to-work-at-writing/)
 How to Write Persuasive Links ( http://writetodone.com/a-step-by-step-
approach-to-persuasive-writing/)

A Guide to Becoming a Better Writer: 15 Practical Tips (

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/a-guide-to-becoming-a-better-
writer-15-practical-tips.html)

21 Must-Read Tips To Write Better Web Content (

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2008/08/21-must-read-tips-to-write-better-
web.html)

5. Copywriting Blogs ( #5-copywriting-blogs)

CopyBlogger ( http://www.copyblogger.com/) Now that blogging has become

the smartest strategy for growing an authoritative web site, its your
copywriting skills that will set you apart and help you succeed. And this is
where Copyblogger comes into play. Brian Clarks popular blog covers useful
copywriting tips, guidelines and ideas.

(
http://www.copyblogger.com/)
Write to Done ( http://writetodone.com/) Leo Babutas blog about the craft and
the art of writing. The blog covers many topics: journalism, blog writing,
freelance writing, ction, non-ction, getting a book deal, the business of
writing, the habit of writing. Updated twice weekly.

Problogger ( http://www.problogger.net/archives/category/writing-content/)
Darren Rowses blog helps bloggers to add income streams to their blogs
among other things, Darren also has hundreds of useful articles related to
copy writing.

(
http://www.problogger.net/archives/category/writing-content/)

Men with Pens ( http://menwithpens.ca/) A regularly updated blog with

useful tips for writers, freelancers and entrepreneurs.

Time to Write ( http://www.timetowrite.blogs.com/) Jurgen Wolffs tips, ideas,

inspirations for writers and would-be writers and other creative people.

Daily Writing Posts ( http://www.dailywritingtips.com/) Whether you are an

attorney, manager, student or blogger, writing skills are essential for your
success. Considering the rise of the information age, they are even more
important, as people are surrounded by e-mails, wikis, social networks and
so on.
It can be difcult to hone ones writing skills within this fast paced
environment. Daily Writing Tips is a blog where you will nd simple yet
effective tips to improve your writing.

CopyWriting ( http://www.copywriting.com/) Copywriting website is jam-

packed with useful information, articles, resources and services geared to
show you how to write mouth-watering, prot-generating copy. Copy that
changes minds and dramatically boosts your results. So come right in
youre going to like what you see! It has copywriting courses, tools, articles
and much more.

(
http://www.copywriting.com/)

The Copywriter Underground ( http://copywriterunderground.com/) A

copywriting blog by the freelance writer Tom Chandler.

Lifehack: Writing ( http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/the-ultimate-

writing-productivity-resource.html) This collection of resources includes links to
30 posts on Lifehack that may help you to improve your writing skills.

6. Tools ( #6-tools)
OneLook Dictionary Search ( http://www.onelook.com) More than 13,5 million
words in more than 1024 online dictionaries are indexed by the OneLook
search engine. You can nd, dene, and translate words all at one site.

(
http://www.onelook.com)

Denr ( http://denr.com/) A fast, suggest-as-you-type dictionary which you

can add to your Firefox search box or use in bookmarklet form (see this (
http://lifehacker.com/software/dictionary/instantly-translate-words-with-denr-
326098.php) post) (via Lifehacker ( http://lifehacker.com/395368/best-online-
language-tools-for-word-nerds)).
 (
http://denr.com/)

Visuwords ( http://www.visuwords.com/) Look up words to nd their

meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce
diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.

(
http://www.visuwords.com/)

Merriam Webster: Visual Dictionary ( http://visual.merriam-webster.com/) The

Visual Dictionary Online is an interactive dictionary with an innovative
approach. From the image to the word and its denition, the Visual
Dictionary Online is an all-in-one reference. Search the themes to quickly
locate words, or nd the meaning of a word by viewing the image it
represents. Whats more, the Visual Dictionary Online helps you learn
English in a visual and accessible way.

(
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/)

OneLook Reverse Dictionary ( http://onelook.com/reverse-dictionary.shtml)

OneLooks reverse dictionary lets you describe a concept and get back a list
of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few
words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word.

Online Spell Checker ( http://www.reverso.net/spell-checker/english-spelling-

grammar/) Free online spell checker that provides you with quick and
accurate results for texts in 28 languages (German, English, Spanish, French,
Russian, Italian, Portuguese etc.).
GNU Aspell ( http://aspell.net/) GNU Aspell is a Free and Open Source spell
checker designed to eventually replace Ispell. It can either be used as a
library or as an independent spell checker. Its main feature is that it does a
superior job of suggesting possible replacements for a misspelled word than
just about any other spell checker out there for the English language.

WordWeb ( http://www.wordweb.co.uk/free/) A one-click English thesaurus

and dictionary for Windows that can look up words in almost any program.
It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the
Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include denitions and
synonyms, proper nouns, 150 000 root words and 120 000 synonym sets.
 (
http://www.wordweb.co.uk/free/)

write rhymes ( http://www.writerhymes.com/) As you write, hold the alt key

and click on a word to nd a rhyme for it.

(
http://www.writerhymes.com/)

Verbix ( http://www.verbix.com/languages/english.shtml) This English

conjugator will help you to determine how to use verbs in the proper tense.
Wordcounter ( http://www.wordcounter.com/) Wordcounter ranks the most
frequently used words in any given body of text. Use this to see what words
you overuse or maybe just to nd some keywords from a document. Text
Statistics Generator ( http://textstats.sourceforge.net/) is an alternative tool: it
gives you a quick analysis of number of word occurrences.

Advanced Text Analyzer ( http://www.usingenglish.com/members/text-analysis/)

(requires registration) This free tool analyzes texts, calculating the number
of words, lexical density, words per sentence, character per word and the
readability of the text as well as word analysis, phrase analysis and graded
analysis. Useful!

(
http://www.usingenglish.com/members/text-analysis/)

Graviax Grammar Checker ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/graviax) Grammar

rules (XML les containing regular expressions) and grammar checker.
Currently only for the English language, although it could be extended. Unit
tests are built into the rules. Might form the basis of a grammar checker for
OpenOfce.

txt2tags ( http://txt2tags.sourceforge.net/) Txt2tags is a document generator. It

reads a text le with minimal markup as bold and //italic// and converts it to
the formats HTML, LaTeX, MediaWiki, Google Code Wiki, DokuWiki, Plain
text and more.

Markdown ( http://daringreball.net/projects/markdown/) Markdown is a text-

to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write
using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to
structurally valid XHTML (or HTML). Requires Perl 5.6.0 or later.

7. Further Resources ( #7-further-resources)

50 Useful Open Source Resources For Writers and Writing Majors (

http://www.pearltrees.com/u/74741234-awesome-resources-jobproles) And if youre
a writing major, why not take advantage of all the opportunities to get great
free and open source resources that can help you to write, edit and organize
your work? Heres a list of fty open source tools that you can use to make
your writing even better.

English Forums ( http://www.englishforums.com/) If you have a question

related to English Grammar, join these forums to get advice from others who
know the language better or can provide you with some related information.

(
http://www.englishforums.com/)
The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource (
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/the-ultimate-writing-productivity-
resource.html) A round-up of applications, services, resources, tools, posts and
communities for writers and bloggers who want to improve their writing
skills.

100 Useful Web Tools for Writers (

http://www.collegedegrees.com/blog/2008/06/11/100-useful-web-tools-for-writers/) 100
useful Web tools that will help you with your career, your sanity and your
creativity whenever your write.

With a commitment to quality content for the design community.

Founded by Vitaly Friedman and Sven Lennartz. 20062017.
Made in Germany. Smashing is proudly running on Netlify.

Cats can be forgetful, but we are not.

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