Top 10 Tip Sheets

I used to poke fun at online tip sheets and top-ten lists. While occasionally entertaining, most, I thought, were merely glib inventories of the obvious.

Then I found out that my own tip sheets were among the most popular pages on this website.

So now I regard them as pithy paragraphs of condensed wisdom.

Here, for your edification or amusement, are the ten most popular tip sheets at About.com Grammar & Composition.

1. Ten Quick Tips to Improve Your Writing
   Whether you're composing a blog or a business letter, an email or an essay, your goal should be to respond clearly to the needs and interests of your readers. . . . Read more


2. Ten Tips on How to Write a Professional Email
   Too often email messages snap, growl, and bark--as if being concise meant that you had to sound bossy. Not so. . . . Read more


3. Seven Secrets to Success in English 101
   Composition is the one course required of almost every first-year student in American colleges and universities. And it should be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding courses in your college life. . . . Read more


4. Top Ten Proofreading Tips
   No matter how carefully we examine a text, it seems there's always one more little blunder waiting to be discovered. . . . Read more


5. Twelve Quick Tips for Beating Writer's Block
   What do you do when you simply can't write--when that blank screen or empty page seems to be mocking your inability to come up with an idea or compose a decent sentence? . . . Read more


6. Top Ten Editing Tips for Business Writers
   Writing can sometimes be messy, frustrating, and hard. But you can make your working life a little easier by editing with these principles in mind. . . . Read more


7. Ten Tips for Taking Essay Exams
   Although the subjects and the occasions vary, the basic steps involved in composing an exam essay are essentially the same. . . . Read more


8. Twelve Tips for Improving Online Writing
   The trick to writing lean on our blogs and websites is to keep the meaning and cut the rest. Here's how. . . . Read more


9. Eight Quick Tips for Writing Under Pressure
   Here's a little secret: both in college and beyond, most writing is done under pressure. . . . Read more


10. Writers on Writing: Ten Timeless Writing Tips
    In this installment of Writers on Writing, we turn to ten authors from the 19th century for some timeless writing advice. . . . Read more