How To Avoid Paraphrasing

November 28th, 2012 by Sarthak Satapathy

Content writers often face this dilemma – how acceptable is paraphrasing? Will it be counted as plagiarism?

The simple answer in both cases is – yes!

To understand why it is wrong, you’ll need to first learn what paraphrasing is.

What Is Paraphrasing?

Paraphrasing is the process of creating seemingly original sentences to express someone else’s opinions or ideas. This often occurs when any content is written with a single source as a basis, leading to text that features different words but delivers the same meaning.

Let’s look into an example to understand paraphrasing better. Here’s an original passage and a paraphrased version which almost resembles the former. Read more →

9 Comments | Posted in Content Writing Tips

How To Avoid Fluff And Redundancy

November 21st, 2012 by Nimisha

The art of avoiding fluff and redundant content is one that first-time writers should learn, for them to move from being amateurs to professionals.

The Basics On Fluff And Redundancy

Many content writers experience moments of dismay when editors ruthlessly trim their words, but not many know the reason behind why this happens. This usually happens when writers fluff up their content with unnecessary lines that convey no meaning.

What Is Fluff?

Fluff is constituted by words or sentences that do not contribute any meaning to the core content.

To identify what’s fluff, let’s take a look at an example. Here are two excerpts of Book Descriptions. Read more →

3 Comments | Posted in Content Writing Tips

A, An or The – The Fine Art of Article Usage

March 21st, 2012 by Fatema Rajkotwala

Wordplay Content is a full-service content writing agency. Our content writing India business provides content writing services for a plethora of customers. Reach out if you want to hire us for your inbound marketing campaign! Now that you’ve learnt the basics about article usage, here’s some know-how on how to use articles.

When to Use Definite Articles?

This is what happens when you confuse A and The!

If your sentence fits the types below, go ahead and use the Definite Article:

#1: Sentences where the particular person or thing has already been referred to in the context.

Examples:

The item that you ordered is out of stock (Which item? The one you had ordered!)
In the closing scene, the hero wins the battle (Which hero? The hero already spoken about)

2 Comments | Posted in Content Writing Tips

A, An or The – An Introduction to Article Usage

March 15th, 2012 by Fatema Rajkotwala

Wordplay Content is a full-service content writing agency. We provide top-notch content writing services for a plethora of customers in India and globally. Reach out if you want to hire us for your inbound marketing campaign!

Article usage errors are commonly noted issues that can crop up, regardless of a writer’s experience. An oft overlooked error, this can be set right by learning the bare basics: where, how and when to use articles.

End the Article Usage war today!

What are Articles?

To start off with, there are two types of articles in English – Definite and Indefinite Articles.

‘The’ is the only Definite Article and the Indefinite Articles are ‘a’ and ‘an’.

The article ‘an’ can be used when you wish to talk about an indefinite noun that begins with a vowel sound.

Articles precede the noun in question, and are placed either immediately before the noun or before the adjective or adjective phrase/clause used for the noun. In effect, articles denote whether the noun that’s mentioned is Definite or Indefinite.

Sounds tough? Here are a few examples that can help you understand this well: Read more →

1 Comment | Posted in Content Writing Tips

Active and Passive Voice – Tips for Content Writing

February 22nd, 2012 by Donna Mathews

The use of active voice is important while writing online content. It improves the readability of your copy and reduces the wordiness. The lines seem more direct, so this is a good way to avoid fluff.

Active and Passive Voice – What’s the Difference?

Active voice shifts the focus to Batman: “Batman ridiculed Spiderman.” To put the spotlight on Spidey, use passive voice: “Spiderman was ridiculed by Batman.”

Under active voice, the subject performs a particular action, while under passive voice, the tables are turned and the focus is shifted away from the subject.

Here’s a quick example that can explain the difference better. Read more →

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Spice It Up Real Nice – How to Use Images While Writing Content

January 27th, 2012 by Donna Mathews

Wondering How to Use Images For Your Content?

Well, this one’s for you!

A catchy image that matches your content gives an altogether different dimension to online reading. Adding an appropriate image with a meaningful or even hilarious caption can help attract readers and improve the credibility of your content. An image successfully captures your reader’s interest too.

So why should images included in online content?

Adding an image increases the traffic to your website or blog.
Readers tend to prefer articles that have images in them, thanks to increased readability.

In short, if you are writing an article about how to bake mince pies, then adding the image of mince pies stacked neatly together will lure your readers to try out the recipe. Images add emphasis to words!