Being — or becoming — a good writer isn’t just important for school assignments or a career in journalism. Writing is a critical skill for virtually any profession, and even experienced writers know they can always improve their work. It’s a quest that should never end, because the more you write, the better your writing can become.

1. Make sure your sentences are clear and statements accurate. Could your professor or boss misunderstand your words, or miss your point? Are you certain your facts and resources are correct? If you include hyperlinks in electronic documents, did you check to assure they work?
2. Read what you’ve written. Read it again. Ask someone else to read it. Could you have improved anything? Are there errors in sentence structure, grammar or spelling? Team up with another student or colleague to do regular constructive critiques of your work. It’s a great way for each of you to continually improve your writing skills.
3. Whether you’ve always loved words, or hated to look them up, online dictionaries and thesauri make using the right words simpler, easier and more precise.
4. Class work may require detailed annotations and footnotes. Business correspondence should illustrate your message concisely, especially when preparing presentations. Short sentences and paragraphs are best for online, where readers tend to scan the information.
5. Take a newswriting course. It will teach you how to quickly and succinctly communicate information and how the inverted pyramid can grab your reader’s attention more quickly.  If newswriting isn’t offered at your school, study it on your own using other resources.
6. Don’t use jargon. Keep acronyms to a minimum and consider whether you really need to use one at all. Are there too many prepositional phrases, generally rife with commas? Write for clarity and understanding — don’t make your reader guess.
7. Do a comma search. Commas stop the reader, which is what you generally intend them to do. But overuse can result in long sentences that are hard to read and understand. Look at your sentence again. Should you break it into two?
8. Search again – for repetitive words and phrases that aren’t necessary. Sometimes, however, a particular word might be the best — or only — way to communicate clearly and accurately. And sometimes repetition is used for alliteration or to make a certain point.
9. Make it interesting. No matter what you write — from business letters to speeches, from research papers to marketing brochures — it should be compelling. Create a mesmerizing lead sentence or statement. Use examples and anecdotes — adapting these to the reader’s business or industry, if possible.

10. No idioms or clichés, for Pete’s sake! Hunt them down and kill them. But beware: clichés are sneaky — in fact, this sentence is starting to sound cliché-like. While it’s fun to discover the origins of slang, idioms and clichés, set a higher standard for your writing. What do you really want to convey? Using clichés is less accurate, and your work will appear unpolished and unsophisticated.

- By Online Learning Tips Staff

Universities offer rich opportunities to learn about new cultures. Traditionally, that has meant international students studying in the U.S., or American’s studying abroad.

Today’s online universities offer a new multicultural advantage – international students studying from their home base, sharing their daily lives and unique insights with U.S.-based students.

American Public University (APU) has adult learners that are from more than 20 countries. Though studying independently, APU students connect through discussion boards, student and alumni groups, and even at the online student union.

Think of the benefits of this multicultural classroom of adult learners:

1. Fresh perspectives 
   Suppose you are seeking a degree in international relations, transportation and logistics management or homeland security. Even a simple discussion post that begins with “What would be your approach to…?” could provide a multitude of new ideas for you to consider.
2. New problem-solving techniques
   Different life paths mean different life experiences. You can learn how adult learners of different cultures face similar challenges, such as career choice, work-life balance, even stress and time management.
3. Global awareness
   Your international classmates can help you build the expertise – and cultural savvy – needed to succeed in today’s global economy. You can gain first-hand knowledge about consumer preferences, politics, infrastructure, economic growth potential and more. 
4. Networking possibilities
   You can build on your connection to international classmates after graduation. They may be able to offer insights on job opportunities with multinational corporations. They can also continue to be good sounding boards for challenges you’ll face on the job. 
5. Personal growth
   Perhaps the most important benefit from a multicultural classroom is personal growth. Interacting with different cultures can help you become more open, respectful, sophisticated – and caring. These are all traits that can help you succeed in your career and life.

International student story
Olga Mokrova recently came from the United States from Russia. She serves as a United Nations Security Coordination Officer and is pursuing her security management degree at APU’s sister university, American Military University. Read more about Olga’s story >

- By Online Learning Tips Staff

The American Time Use survey provides fascinating data on what we do each day – and how much time we spend doing it. Work takes up about 7.6 hours, sleeping 8.6, and eating and drinking 1.23 hours. On the days we do housework, we spend about 2 hours doing it. The days get shorter when we add in childcare, errands and more. Adult learners face another time balancing act, finding hours in a crowded day for studying. What gets left out? Free time or “me” time is often sacrificed.

“Many online learners tend to believe they can be masters of the universe, able to write 10-page papers, get the kids off to school, make dinner, and numerous other tasks. If only this were sustainable…” says John Moore, Ph.D., professor of health sciences at the online American Public University System.

Hectic schedules and layers of responsibilities can lead to burnout — and that can have a huge impact on a student’s ability to do well. Moore says that burnout can be a barrier to higher grades or even degree completion. But you can change this, and the solution may be simpler than you think.

“Make an appointment with yourself. Identify and commit to a time slot each day that includes a self-care component. This means blocking out a period of time where you focus exclusively on your wellness,” says Moore.

That’s right: Schedule time to be unscheduled. Some days, you may just take a 20-minute walk after dinner and before homework. Or you may dive into a hobby, such as photography or golfing. The key, says Moore, is to get away from your work or study place. This will help change your mind-set toward relaxing – or at least away from multi-tasking. 

“The reality is that finding that equilibrium between school, work and self-care is not always easy,” says Moore. “There will be days where the scales tilt more toward work and school. The key is making sure that every day isn’t like that. It’s all about recalibrating our time management skills.”

How do you start? Put down your textbooks. Step away from the computer. Take off your wristwatch. Engage in being you.

These resources can help you find ways to relax and recharge:

• President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
• Wellness4one.com
• National Recreation and Parks Association
• Meditation tips
• Hobbies and games ideas

- By Online Learning Tips Staff

Research is important in many career fields and certainly for college degree programs, where students are accustomed to online research. While information from the “Open Web” is immeasurable, most of the Internet’s information is not available there.  Most of it, in fact, is buried within the Web and difficult to find.

Research from the Deep Web — also called the Hidden Web and the Invisible Web — is essential for most courses today.

“The Web is revolutionizing scholarly research, yet can be a confusing place for beginning and even established researchers,” says Fred Stielow, Ph.D., M.L.S. Stielow is vice president of libraries at the online school(s) American Public University and American Military University.

“Google, Bing, Yahoo and other public search engines offer unprecedented searching power — but can also be an ‘intellectual mess’ for scholars. How can you extract the academically credible resources for a research paper from millions of hits?” he says. 

Stielow has a corps of research librarians who offer these tips on where and how to search the Hidden Web.

Start in an Academic Library Site. The first rule is to check out the university library.

• Article Databases & E-Books: The library will have millions of pages of materials licensed and purchased from the Deep Web.
• Department and Course Portals: Librarians often work with faculty to tailor “electronic pathfinders” into both deep and Open Web resources for a university’s programs and even individual courses. For example, AMU and APU guides at http://apus.libguides.com/. See if the school has such supplemental tools, as they can significantly simplify and enhance your studies.

Ten Top Open Web Resources.
Here are tools that AMU and APU librarians find useful for general research purposes:

• CIA Factbook, a rich great international resource
• Directory of Open Access Journals, more than 5,000 free scholarly journals
• Google Scholar, an academically targeted version of the world’s leading search engine
• IPL2, update of the Internet Public Library
• Library of Congress, Access to the resources of the world’s largest library
• MERLN, the Military Education Research Library Network
• USA.Gov, the main access portal to U.S. governmental resources
• WolframAlfa, specialized knowledge search engine
• World Cat, from OCLC has the world’s most complete list of published books
• Wikipedia (The hidden sin. Use it for background and leads, but in keeping with Style Manual guidelines do not cite or, normally, quote)

Whether you are a college student or simply interested in lifelong learning, the Deep Web offers an incredible new world of discovery.

- Fred Stielow, Contributing Writer
Associate VP & Dean of Library & Educational Materials at American Public University (APU)