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Capture, organize, and tackle your to-dos from anywhere | Trello

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Make the impossible, possible with Trello. The ultimate tool to boost your productivity. Escape the clutter and chaos—stay efficient with Inbox, Boards, and Planner from anywhere, even on mobile.

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like whatsapp for group collaboration

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Slack is a new way to communicate with your team. It's faster, better organized, and more secure than email.

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A great space to collaborate on a group project

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Quip changes the way teams work together. Real work gets done, faster, smarter.

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print your own paper and digitise your notes

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about Rocketbook App. Download Rocketbook App and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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http://www.learnwithus.southampton.ac.uk/academicSkills/

This site includes study guides to help with preparing and writing essays, presentations and how to prepare readings for tutorials

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http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts

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When people see my iPhone they're like, "My God, man, do you have some kind of crazy phone virus?" It's got no web browser. No email. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook.
This post originally appeared on Medium.
It looks like this:

But no, the phone isn't broken. I actually did it on purpose. It was supposed to be a one week experiment, and now it's been months, and I don't want to go back. I'll tell you why I sabotaged my iPhone's functionality, stripping it down to what's basically a really fancy feature phone, and I'll also tell you how to do it yourself, in case you get curious along the way.

It's pretty easy to try, and in my opinion, it feels really great. I promise not to get all preachy. Well, promise is a big word. I'll try, okay? Really this is more about me and the glitches in my own brain. I think most people can handle it. But for whatever reason, I don't seem to have the self-control for a full-fledged modern smartphone.

I Can't Handle Infinity in My Pocket

iPhones and Androids are wonderful. They're amazing. It's infinite information in the palm of your hand! But here's the thing: I don't have what you'd call the world's greatest attention span. It's taking everything I've got right now to keep typing this and not flip open a new tab and check my email. Having the ability to check email-and a bajillion other things-any time at all, not just when I'm sitting at a computer looking at a web browser... I started to suspect it was not such a great thing for me.

Maybe you can handle that temptation. Maybe you've got willpower. That's great for you, but for me, willpower alone didn't cut it. Checking email, checking Twitter, checking news. Wondering if something interesting was happening anywhere in the world. Wondering if anybody was thinking about me. It started taking away my appreciation of what was going on right then, in the real world. When I got bored for just a moment I'd take the phone out. And each time I was basically saying, "Gee, anything is better than this."

I felt like my attention span-not so great to start with - was getting worse. My head was kind of buzzing around all the time. And for what? The things I read on the phone tended to make me feel at best unsatisfied (because there's always more information out there that I haven't seen) and at worst unproductive and uncool.

Okay, maybe that was slightly preachy. My bad.

The One Week Experiment

I decided to try an experiment, just for seven days. I decided to turn off everything that I suspected was giving me this lousy buzzy-brain feeling. But what should I cut?

Uninstalled: Twitter, Instagram, and Anything with a Stream

Here's another thing about me: I don't lead the most glamorous life. Of the last 100 times I've eaten dinner from a restaurant, probably 97 of those were the same takeout burrito from the same burrito place. It's one block from my apartment. Boring, right?

So guess how I feel when I see your fancy food photos on Instagram? Guess how I feel about your SXSW tweets when I'm changing diapers? Okay, I wasn't literally checking Twitter while changing diapers-I'm not even sure that's physically possible, or if it is, you've got way better diaper technique than I do. Send me some pointers. But you see what I mean. This isn't a novel idea. Some people don't feel so great when they read social streams. More articulate people than I have written about this subject. 'Nuff said.

So I pressed the Twitter icon until all the icons started to jiggle, and I uninstalled Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. The iPhone warned me that deleting these apps would also delete all their data. Was I sure? God, was I? Those apps are really cool. I hesitated. But what the heck, I figured. I could always reinstall them in 15 seconds if I changed my mind. It wouldn't kill me to re-enter my account info.

Then, boom. Everything with a stream was gone.

Disabled: Email

The next obvious problem was email. Checking my email reminded me of all these tasks I had to do, but I've never been fast enough at typing on a phone to compose a decent reply (as you can see, once I get started, I kind of go on and on). When I checked mail on my phone, I became aware of stuff I had to do, but didn't act on it. It just sat there, not getting done.

Mounting piles of unfinished tasks were not boosting my self-esteem any more than photos of fancy dinners I wouldn't get to try for 16 years. And the only thing worse than reading an email you can't do anything about? Not having any new email at all. Because that, quite clearly, means that I am a loser.

Disabling email on an iPhone took a little more work. I uninstalled my Gmail app, but the stock Mail app was still sitting there, tempting me, and the iPhone won't let you uninstall it. So I went into Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Gmail > and I deleted the account. It was hard to cut email-my finger was shaking when I pressed that red "delete" button"-but once I did, I was on a roll.

Disabled: Safari

Then I realized that the most infinite temptation of all was... the internet itself. I mean, you know how it is. It's the internet. You have to be a little crafty to disable the internet on your iPhone, but you can do it. I was motivated. I poked around. I poked around some more.

Finally I went into Settings > General > Restrictions and I turned restrictions on. I set up a passcode. And then there it was. A bunch of nuclear options to use on people you don't trust. I am a person I don't trust. I turned Safari off.

Being Bored: Actually, Not So Bad

How hard were those seven days? You can probably guess where this is headed: Not as hard as I had expected. I didn't even notice when I hit day seven, because I was already loving my new incapable iPhone. I still impulsively reached for it when I got momentarily bored-in fact I still do, months later. But without an infinite supply of anything, I just put it back in my pocket.

Being bored turned out to be, well, sort of pleasant. Some of the bored moments are actually pretty sweet, like being at the playground with my younger son. If you don't have kids of your own, the honest truth is that hanging out at the playground can get super boring, and I don't begrudge anyone checking their phone. But sometimes I'm glad I can't, because I can just watch him dink around in the sand, or I can stare off into space. It's kind of nice.

And riding on the bus or the train, I don't have anything to read, so I just get to stare at the other passengers. Fascinating! It's also the only time I get to listen to music without trying to do something else at the same time, which is pretty enjoyable.

But What if I Really Need _____?

Astute readers will note that all of the things I did to disable my phone can be easily undone. You can reinstall apps, you can set your account up again, you can deactivate restrictions. Things come up where I have to use the web, or I have to check an email. Surprisingly, have to situations don't actually come up all that often, at least not for me. I guess that's how I was able to survive for so long before smartphones were invented.

When something critical does come up, like I need a flight confirmation code or a phone number buried in an email, I re-enable the necessary app and use it. Because the re-enabling takes some effort, I don't bother doing it if I'm just bored. It's like BJ Fogg's hot trigger/cold trigger stuff. I've turned those apps into cold triggers, so I have to be super motivated to use them. When I'm done, I disable the app again. Because I enjoy the distraction-free phone so much, it's always a relief.

Ways in Which I Am a Huge Hypocrite

Okay, I wrote this on post Medium, so you probably figured out I'm a tech nerd. I love all of the stuff I've been complaining about. I'm especially one of the last people who should be dissing email. I love email, and in fact, I used to work on Gmail. On my laptop, I read Twitter and email and the news in much the same distraction-provoking manner described above. Maybe I'll eventually come up with an experiment for that, but I haven't yet.

Some people have asked why I even keep the iPhone. Maybe someday I'll give it up altogether, but I really don't think so. There's so much I love about it. I listen to music on it all the time. The camera is amazing. Google Maps, location-based reminders, the weather forecast, Find Friends to track down my family, Uber... all these things make me feel like I'm living in the future. In a good way. It's not that I don't enjoy the iPhone, it's just that I only want half of it.

Would You Try Going Distraction-Free?

Full disclosure: I haven't had much luck convincing people to do this. My friends mostly think it's just weird. My wife says disabling email is not for her, although she does appreciate that I'm more attentive when watching after our children.

I do think it only takes a day to find out if you feel better distraction-free. So if you're on the fence right now, give it a shot. Disable those apps. After all, you can always undo it.

The distraction-free iPhone | Medium
Jake Knapp is a design partner at Google Ventures. Follow him on Twitter @jakek. Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

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How I Turned My iPhone Into a Simple, Distraction-Free Device

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When people see my iPhone they're like, "My God, man, do you have some kind of crazy phone virus?" It's got no web browser. No email. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. This post originally appeared on Medium. It looks like this: But no, the phone isn't broken.

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Android App to block distraction websites/social media

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App for Mac devices to limit access to certain sites

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SelfControl is a free and open-source application for macOS that lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. Just set a period of time to block for, add sites to your blacklist, and click "Start." Until that timer expires, you will be unable to access those sites-even if you restart your computer or delete the application.

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SelfControl is a free and open-source application for macOS that lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. Just set a period of time to block for, add sites to your blacklist, and click "Start."

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elements or pro version available

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Buy Adobe Premiere Pro CC | Video editing and production software

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Make visually stunning videos virtually anywhere with Adobe Premiere Pro CC. Create professional productions for film, TV and web.

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Making your work stand out is a difficult task, especially if you're in a highly competitive field. You aren't going to get ahead with dry presentations or documents that are difficult to understand. The ability to present your efforts with dynamic video content could be the difference between success and failure, and thankfully, now there's an easy way to do it.

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How to Make a PowerPoint Video | Export PowerPoint to Video

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Export video from PowerPoint with the Movavi conversion software - in just a couple of clicks. Read on!

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Make Social Graphics, Short Videos, and Web Pages To Stand Out-In Minutes | Adobe Spark

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Adobe Spark is an online and mobile design app. Easily create stunning social graphics, short videos, and web pages that make you stand out on social and beyond.

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mind mapping software (free trial, then £8)

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an alternative to Word (30 day trial available, otherwise costs about £30) available for Mac, PC and coming soon to iPad

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See the forest or the trees

Whether you plan or plunge, Scrivener works your way: hammer out every last detail before typing a word, or carve out a draft and restructure later. Or mix your methods and do a bit of both. In Scrivener, everything you write is integrated into an easy-to-use project outline. So working with an overview of your manuscript is only ever a click away, and turning Chapter Four into Chapter One is as simple as drag and drop.
MORE FEATURES

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Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won't tell you how to write-it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.

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"Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech." - Martin Fraquhar Tupper

One of the most important components of public speaking is the sound of your voice. It influences the impact of your message, and might even make or break the success of your speech. Fortunately, for many people, good voice quality can be learned.

Instructions :

1. Breathe from your diaphragm - Practice long and controlled exhales. When you speak, use breath to punctuate your point. For example, take a breath at the end of each phrase whether you need to or not. Use that opportunity to pause and let the listeners absorb what you say.

2. Use pitch - Lower pitches generally are more soothing to hear. However, modulating your pitch for emphasis will keep your listeners engaged. Develop your pitch by practicing humming.

3. Moderate your volume - Find out if you speak too loudly or too softly. When you begin speaking, ask your audience how your volume is (each situation is different). Try to stay at the appropriate volume throughout your speech.

4. Moderate your pace - This one is also closely related to breath. If you speak too quickly, people can't keep up. If you speak too slowly, people will lose interest. Record your speech to determine if you need to change your pace. Get feedback from others.

5. Articulate - Try exaggerating your lip movement to reduce mumbling. Practice articulating tongue twisters and extending and exaggerating vowel sounds. Become an expert at articulating tongue twisters as quickly and crisply as possible. Focus on the ones you find difficult.

6. Practice your speech in advance and determine where you want to pause for a breath. For more emphasis, pause for more than one breath. Mark your breathing points in your notes.

7. Loosen up before you begin. Look side to side. Roll your head in half-circles and roll your shoulders back. Shift your rib cage from side to side. Yawn. Stretch. Touch your toes while completely relaxing your upper body, then slowly stand up, one vertebra at a time, raising your head last. Repeat as needed.

8. Posture - Stand up straight and tall to allow full lung capacity and airflow.

9. Record your voice repeatedly using different ways of speaking. Determine which one is most pleasing.

10. Practice breath control - Take a deep breath, and while you exhale, count to 10 (or recite the months or days of the week). Try gradually increasing your volume as you count, using your abdominal muscles-not your throat-for volume. Don't let your larynx tense up.

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10 Tips to Improve Your Speaking Voice - The sound of your voice influences the impact of your message, and might even make or break the success of your speech. Fortunately, for many people, good voice quality can be learned.

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useful iphone app. Warning - based on US University grading system.

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great if English is a second language

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English Idioms Illustrated on the App Store

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Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots and learn more about English Idioms Illustrated. Download English Idioms Illustrated and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

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mindmapping software for desktop or as an app

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30/30 " Binary Hammer - Games. Tools. Technology.

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Prepare for Success is an interactive web learning tool for international students who are getting ready to come to the UK for study in further or higher education. It contains learning resources which are activity-based to help you find out about different aspects of academic life in the UK and the…

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Prepare for Success is an interactive web learning tool for international students who are getting ready to come to the UK for study in further or higher education. It contains learning resources which are activity-based to help you find out about different aspects of academic life in the UK and the…

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Study Skills | Howtostudy.org - When you hit the books - and they hit back.

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When you hit the books - and they hit back! Offering a wide variety of helpful study skills resources for students of any grade level, organized by the process of studying and by subject.

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Best To-do list & Task Manager. Free, Online & Mobile | Any.do

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The #1 task management app used by over 11 million people globally, Any.do is your free mobile and online task manager for Android, iPhone, Web and more.

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SyncBackPro backup software - the powerful solution

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Powerful backup software with every feature you can dream of. Easy to use. SyncBackPro is PC backup software that works the way you do.

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Review student understanding at the class, individual student, or question-level.

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Genius Scan Genius Scan for Enterprise Genius Fax Genius Sign Pyfl - Places Your Friends Like

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PenSupremacy for Tablets - Apps on Google Play

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PenSupremacy wield the might of your pen.Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/394125320597885/Google Plus: http://plus.google.com/b/115342170929639150571/PenSupremacy is the best handwriting app for android tablets. It is based on the best selling iPad app penultimate.(It is however not from the same developer and has no connection to penultimate). It feels just like taking handwritten notes on real paper.

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Evernote uses cookies to enable the Evernote service and to improve your experience with us. To learn more, check out our cookie policy. By clicking OK or continuing to use our site, you agree that we can place these cookies.

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The Digital Handwriting App, Exclusively for iPad | Penultimate

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Evernote uses cookies to enable the Evernote service and to improve your experience with us. To learn more, check out our cookie policy. By clicking OK or continuing to use our site, you agree that we can place these cookies.

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The simplest way to keep notes. Light, clean, and free. Simplenote is now available for iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux, and the web. Download for iOS Download for Android Download for macOS Download for Windows 10 Download for Windows 7/8 Download for Linux deb/tar What makes Simplenote great?

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flashcards with audio.

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Browser extension to limit time on sites like facebook!

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Leon Ho
Founder & CEO of Lifehack Read full profile

Over the years here at Lifehack, we've discussed plenty of apps that you can use to improve your overall productivity.

There are certain ones that many of our contributors and editors (past and present) have adopted over the long-term - there are always the stalwarts that stick around. But there are also new apps that crop up every day, adding more and more depth to the app category.

Some of the apps are incredibly plain and simple, while others are more robust and offer more features than you can shake a stick at. And everyone has the one they prefer.

It's been our job (and still is our job) to keep abreast of all of the productivity-type apps out there. As a result - and as a bit of a refresher - we've put together a list of 40 best productivity apps for iPhone to provide you with an all-in-one resource for you.

Productivity apps to help you get things done

This app is, while pricey, considered to be one of the (if not the) most robust and full-featured productivity apps on the market.

Download it here.

Train yourself to put your phone down and stay focused on the task at hand by playing with this planting game. It's fun and will help you achieve more.

Download it here.

Another robust choice, this app is a favorite amongst "productivityists".
Recently covered here at Lifehack
Download it here.

, 30/30 is a newcomer to the game that incorporates lists and timing of tasks into an elegant and easy-to-use interface.

Download it here.

A beautiful-looking app that is both easy on the eyes and your wallet.

Download it here.

This calendar app is specifically designed to be stylish and super easy-to-use. You can organize your life easily with different modern features.
We've covered Asana here at Lifehack
Download it here.

, and it is being actively developed by a strong team committed to making collaborative task management a more efficient and effective experience.

Download it here.

This app keeps track of everything - from simple errands to your most important projects - so you can get it all done and enjoy more peace of mind along the way.

Download it here.

From the folks at MetaLab, Flow is a gorgeous collaborative task management app that is easy-to-use and incredibly functional.

Download it here.

This calendar app focuses on events that help you to keep track of upcoming events and tasks easily. It has everything you need to organize, track and complete your to-dos.

Download it here.

A fun and innovative list-making app that relies on swiping and pinching to make things happen. Clear created a lot of buzz when it launched, and might be the perfect to-do list gateway app for many.

Download it here.

A robust reminders app that lets you store and maintain reminders of all types. It's replaced Reminders for me when it comes to the basics, and it's worth a look if you want to keep the mundane stuff out of your head and cluttering your mind.
I use this app
Download it here.

for location-based reminders (such as groceries I need to get or single items I need to pick up from various locations). Checkmark is simple to use and a valuable addition to my productivity arsenal.

Download it here.

Created by Tina Roth Eisenberg and Fictive Kin - Teux Deux is simple and incredibly stellar in terms of design. If you like lists (including the popular "Someday Bucket") and want to associate dates with tasks, then Teux Deux will be right up your alley.

Download it here.

Another incredibly popular choice is Wunderlist. Part of 6Wunderkinder's software family, it sports a gorgeous design and is incredibly functional. We've talked about the app a couple of times here at Lifehack, so check those posts out here.

Download it here.

For the GTD enthusiasts, there's Nirvana. Straight from the source: "Nirvana frees your mind to focus on actually getting things done. If you've had enough of generic to-do lists, it's time for Nirvana."

Download it here.

An elegant-looking task management app that has received decent reviews, this could be the one for you if you're not a fan of OmniFocus or Things - especially if you need (or want) to share tasks with others.

Download it here.

Productivity apps that help you build habits

With this app, you can plan your habits with an easy-to-use interface, schedule habits for any time of the day, set smart reminders for each time of the day and stay on track with useful feedback. This app is perfect for anyone who wants to build a habit that sticks.

Download it here.

You can complete tasks and build habits in a more fun way with this app. Input your Habits, your Daily goals, and your To-Do list, and then create a custom avatar. Check off tasks to level up your avatar and unlock features such as armor, pets, skills, and even quests.

Download it here.

This app follows the model of the popular "don't break the chain method" in that you use the app to track how you are donig in the pursuit of your goal. Great for goal-setting - and an easy and elegant interface to boot.

Download it here.

Another popular to-do list app, Remember The Milk has a huge following. It has plenty to offer, including the ability to share tasks with others.

Scroll down to continue reading article

Download it here.

When it comes to journaling, nothing really beats Day One. Its latest update added a slew of features that will make you want to start making journaling a habit.

Download it here.

Productivity apps that makes organization easy

Touted as the world's most widely-used productivity app, Evernote an be used simply as a notetaking app or can be customized to be your GTD app of choice - among other things.

Download it here.

You can save an article, video or link you want to read or watch later to Pocket from anywhere including your computer, Safari, email, and your favorite apps like Facebook, Twitter, Flipboard, and Feedly.

Download it here.

This app identifies unknown phone calls, warns you from annoying spam calls, and adds a caller picture to your contacts from Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

Download it here.

One of the most popular file-sharing apps out there today. Straight from the source: "Stay productive on the go. Droplr for iPhone keeps you in sync and makes sharing on the iPhone natural."

Download it here.

Before iCloud, there was Dropbox. And there still is Dropbox, which is still widely used by both Mac and PC users all over the globe. It's like having a flash drive in your iPhone. A must-have.

Download it here.

In conjunction with Dolly Drive and DollySync, iDolly allows you to edit and share your documents from your iPhone.

Since all your changes sync automatically to all your devices, the current version of a document will always be accessible because Dolly Sync keeps everything in sync. Very handy.

Download it here.

It may seem odd that a calculator app shows up on this list, but this is no ordinary calendar app. Ben Brooks over at The Brooks review describes Soulver as follows: " It is what calculators would have been if they were invented at the same time computers were, instead of what we have with most calculator apps."

Download it here.

Productivity apps that help you work smart

A simple capture tool. Straight from the developers: "It's simple. Open Captio and start typing. When you're done, hit Send. The note is immediately delivered to your email inbox."

Download it here.

A tremendous capture tool that allows for simple capture, followed by sending items to various applications such as OmniFocus, Things and more.

Download it here.

This is a perfect note-taking app for you. You can take beautiful handwritten notes, type, annotate PDFs, record audio & create lists. You can organize them into categories or groups.

Download it here.

This app links directly with the Doodle service, which is one that allows you to plan and organize meetings far more efficiently and effectively. Lifehack contributor Steve Dotto has written about Doodle more in-depth here.

Download it here.

I have saved countless hours of time with TextExpander, and despite its inability to be as robust on iOS as it is on the Mac, it is still a worthy app to have in your arsenal.

Download it here.

A quick launcher for the iPhone that doesn't just launch an app...with some of them it can do much more. This app saves you time by launching complex actions in a single tap.

Download it here.

This may seem to be an odd one to make this list, but here are plenty of reasons why it is here with this article.

Download it here.

Want to be able to control your Mac from wherever you are? Then get this app.

Download it here.

Productivity apps that improve security

There is simply no better password manager out there. I've even put together a 1Password Emergency Kit worth looking at here.

Download it here.

You can store passwords and logins, create online shopping profiles, generate strong passwords, track personal information in photo and audio notes.

All you have to do is remember your LastPass master password, and LastPass autofills web browser and app logins for you.

Download it here.

Identify and block spammers, search for unknown numbers and call friends easily with this app. With a community-based spam list from over 250 million users, you'll need this app.

Download it here.

There are plenty of other options out there (and we've heard from readers in the past as to what they enjoyed using), but these 40 are among the best.

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Stay Focused With This Great Chrome Extension

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Leon Ho Founder & CEO of Lifehack Read full profile Over the years here at Lifehack, we've discussed plenty of apps that you can use to improve your overall productivity. There are certain ones that many of our contributors and editors (past and present) have adopted over the long-term - there are always the stalwarts that stick around.

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Before you give a presentation - University of Leicester

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OmmWriter is a tool which makes it easier for you to concentrate. Based on a natural setting, it effectively insulates your mind from distractions and sets up a direct line between your thoughts and your words.

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TomatoTimer is a flexible and easy to use online Pomodoro Technique Timer

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web-annotator

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Modern research platform for school and work

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emaze - Online Presentations and Website Builder

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Professionally designed Presentations, Websites, E-cards, Blogs and Photo Albums.

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Free reference manager and research manager - Qiqqa

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Qiqqa is award-winning research management software, designed for commercial and academic researchers. If you deal with lots of PDFs and ideas during your research, you'll love what Qiqqa can do for you.

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It looks like you may have cookies disabled. Please make sure that cookies are enabled in your browser and try again.

You can check for live status updates via twitter

If you are still having problems please contact Mendeley Support

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It looks like you may have cookies disabled. Please make sure that cookies are enabled in your browser and try again. You can check for live status updates via twitter If you are still having problems please contact Mendeley Support

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Software to help keep all of your reference information for different books and articles in one place

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What is CoSketch.com?

Do you have an idea, a problem or just a cool picture that you quickly want to show a friend?

CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images.

Simple sharing
* Anything you paint will show up for all other users in the room in real time.
* One click to save a sketch as an image for embedding on forums, blogs, etc.

Zero hassle
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CoSketch.com - Online Whiteboard Collaboration

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Do you have an idea, a problem or just a cool picture that you quickly want to show a friend? CoSketch is a multi-user online whiteboard designed to give you the ability to quickly visualize and share your ideas as images.

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Online Whiteboard and Collaboration - Scribblar.com

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Scribblar is an online collaboration tool that is perfect for online tutoring. It features live audio, chat, whiteboard, image sharing, document sharing and more. Used by learners, trainers and schools around the world, Scribblar is quickly becoming the favourite tool for online collaboration and tutoring.

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www.prezi.com

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Public speaking: an exercise and illustration

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Techniques and strategies for speaking in public and presenting presentations

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Alternatives to powerpoint,

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Translations: Belorussian

Introduction: Four Types of Discursive Writing

From time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much done. I, of course, aware of the many hours I have idled away doing nothing, demur. It feels like nothing special; I don't work harder, really, than most people. Nonetheless, these people do have a point. I am, in fact, a fairly prolific writer.
Part of it is tenacity. For example, I am writing this item as I wait for the internet to start working again in the Joburg airport departures area. But part of it is a simple strategy for writing you essays and articles quickly and expertly, a strategy that allows you to plan your entire essay as you write it, and thus to allow you to make your first draft your final draft. This article describes that strategy.

Begin by writing - in your head, at least - your second paragraph (that would be the one you just read, above). Your second paragraph will tell people what your essay says. Some people write abstracts or executive summaries in order to accomplish this task. But you don't need to do this. You are stating your entire essay or article in one paragraph. If you were writing a news article, you would call this paragraph the 'lede'. A person could read just the one paragraph and know what you had to say.

But how do you write this paragraph? Reporters will tell you that writing the lede is the hardest part of writing an article. Because if you don't know what the story is, you cannot write it in a single paragraph. A reporter will sift through the different ways of writing the story - the different angles - and find a way to tell it. You, because you are writing an article or essay, have more options.

You have more options because there are four types of discursive writing. Each of these types has a distinct and easy structure, and once you know what sort of writing you are doing, the rest of the article almost writes itself. The four types of structure are: argument, explanation, definition, and description. So, as you think about writing your first paragraph, ask yourself, what sort of article are you writing. In this article, for example, I am writing a descriptive article.

These are your choices of types of article or essay:

Argument: convinces someone of something
Explanation: tells why something happened instead of something else
Definition: states what a word or concept means
Description: identifies properties or qualities of things

An argument is a collection of sentences (known formally as 'propositions') intended to convince the reader that something is he case. Perhaps you want to convince people to take some action, to buy some product, to vote a certain way, or to believe a certain thing. The thing that you want to convince them to believe is the conclusion. In order to convince people, you need to offer one or more reasons. Those are the premises. So one type of article consists of premises leading to a conclusion, and that is how you would structure your first paragraph.

An explanation tells the reader why something is the case. It looks at some event or phenomenon, and shows the reader what sort of things led up to that event or phenomenon, what caused it to happen, why it came to be this way instead of some other way. An explanation, therefore, consists of three parts. First, you need to identify the thing being explained. Then, you need to identify the things that could have happened instead. And finally, you need to describe the conditions and principles that led to the one thing, and not the other, being the case. And so, if you are explaining something, this is how you would write your first paragraph.

A definition identifies the meaning of some word, phrase or concept. There are different ways to define something. You can define something using words and concepts you already know. Or you can define something by giving a name to something you can point to or describe. Or you can define something indirectly, by giving examples of telling stories. A definition always involves two parts: the word or concept being defined, and the set of sentences (or 'propositions') that do the defining. Whatever way you decide, this will be the structure of your article if you intend to define something.

Finally, a description provides information about some object, person, or state of affairs. It will consist of a series of related sentences. The sentences will each identify the object being defined, and then ascribe some property to that object. "The ball is red," for example, were the ball is the object and 'red' is the property. Descriptions may be of 'unary properties' - like colour, shape, taste, and the like, or it may describe a relation between the object and one or more other objects.

Organizing Your Writing

The set of sentences, meanwhile, will be organized on one of a few common ways. The sentences might be in chronological order. "This happened, and then this happened," and so on. Or they may enumerate a set of properties ('appearance', 'sound', 'taste', 'small', 'feeling about', and the like). Or they may be elements of a list ("nine rules for good technology," say, or "ten things you should learn"). Or, like the reporters, you may cover the five W's: who, what, where, when, why. Or the steps required to write an essay.

When you elect to write an essay or article, then, you are going to write one of these types of writing. If you cannot decide which type, then your purpose isn't clear. Think about it, and make the choice, before continuing. Then you will know the major parts of the article - the premises, say, or the parts of the definition. Again, if you don't know these, your purpose isn't clear. Know what you want to say (in two or three sentences) before you decide to write.

You may a this point be wondering what happened to the first paragraph. You are, after all, beginning with the second paragraph. The first paragraph is used to 'animate' your essay or article, to give it life and meaning and context. In my own writing, my animation is often a short story about myself showing how the topic is important to me. Animating paragraphs may express feelings - joy, happiness, sadness, or whatever. They may consist of short stories or examples of what you are trying to describe (this is very common in news articles). Animation may be placed into your essay at any point. But is generally most effective when introducing a topic, or when concluding a topic.

For example, I have now concluded the first paragraph of my essay, and then expanded on it, thus ending the first major part of my essay. So now I could offer an example here, to illustrate my point in practice, and to give the reader a chance to reflect, and a way to experience some empathy, before proceeding. This is also a good place to offer a picture, diagram, illustration or chart of what you are trying to say in words.

Like this: the second paragraph sill consist of a set of statements. Here is what each of the four types look like:

Argument:

Premise 1
Premise 2 ... (and more, if needed)
Conclusion

Explanation:

Thing being explained
Alternative possibilities
Actual explanation

Definition:

Thing being defined
Actual definition

Description:

Thing being described
Descriptive sentence
Descriptive sentence (and more, connected to the rest, as needed)

So now the example should have made the concept clearer. You should easily see that your second paragraph will consist of two or more distinct sentences, depending on what you are trying to say. Now, all you need to do is to write the sentences. But also, you need to tell your reader which sentence is which. In an argument, for example, you need to clearly indicate to the reader which sentence is your conclusion and which sentences are your premises.

Indicator Words

All four types of writing have their own indicator words. Let's look at each of the four types in more detail, and show (with examples, to animate!) the indicator words.

As stated above, an argument will consist of a conclusion and some premises. The conclusion is the most important sentence, and so will typically be stated first. For example, "Blue is better than red." Then a premise indicator will be used, to tell the reader that what follows is a series of premises. Words like 'because' and 'since' are common premise indicators (there are more; you may want to make a list). So your first paragraph might look like this: "Blue is better than red, because blue is darker than red, and all colours that are darker are better."

Sometimes, when the premises need to be stressed before the conclusion will be believed, the author will put the conclusion at the end of the paragraph. To do this, the author uses a conclusion indicator. Words like 'so' and 'therefore' and 'hence' are common conclusion indicators. Thus, for example, the paragraph might read: "Blue is darker than red, and all colours that are darker are better, so blue is better than red."

You should notice that indicator words like this help you understand someone else's writing more easily as well. Being able to spot the premises and the conclusion helps you spot the structure of their article or essay. Seeing the conclusion indicator, for example, tells you that you are looking at an argument, and helps you spot the conclusion. It is good practice to try spotting arguments in other writing, and to create arguments of your own, in our own writing.

Arguments can also be identified by their form. There are different types of argument, which follow standard patterns of reasoning. These patterns of reasoning are indicated by the words being used. Here is a quick guide to the types of arguments:

Inductive argument: the premise consists of a 'sample', such as a series of experiences, or experimental results, or polls. Watch for words describing these sorts of observation. The conclusion will be inferred as a generalization from these premises. Watch for words that indicate a statistical generalization, such as 'most', 'generally, 'usually', 'seventy percent', 'nine out of ten'. Also, watch for words that indicate a universal generalization, such as 'always' and 'all'.

A special case of the inductive argument is the causal generalization. If you want someone to believe that one thing causes another, then you need to show that there are many cases where the one thing was followed by the other, and also to show that when the one thing didn't happen, then the other didn't either. This establishes a 'correlation'. The argument becomes a causal argument when you appeal to some general principle or law of nature to explain the correlation. Notice how, in this case, an explanation forms one of the premises of the argument.

Deductive argument: the premises consist of propositions, and the conclusion consists of some logical manipulation of the premises. A categorical argument, for example, consists of reasoning about sets of things, so watch for words like 'all', 'some' and 'none'. Many times, these words are implicit; they are not started, but they are implied. When I said "Blue is better than red" above, for example, I meant that "blue is always better than red," and that's how you would have understood it.

Another type of deductive argument is a propositional argument. Propositional arguments are manipulations of sentences using the words 'or', 'if', and 'and'. For example, if I said "Either red is best or blue is best, and red is not best, so blue is best," then I have employed a propositional argument.

It is useful to learn the basic argument forms, so you can very clearly indicate which type of argument you are providing. This will make your writing clearer to the reader, and will help them evaluate your writing. And in addition, this will make easier for you to write your article.

See how the previous paragraph is constructed, for example. I have stated a conclusion, then a premise indicator, and then a series of premises. It was very easy to writing the paragraph; I didn't even need to think about it. I just wrote something I thought was true, then provided a list of the reasons I thought it was true. How hard is that?

In a similar manner, an explanation will also use indicator words. In fact, the indicator words used by explanations are very similar to those that are used by arguments. For example, I might explain by saying "The grass is green because it rained yesterday." I am explaining why the grass is green. I am using the word 'because' as an indicator. And my explanation is offered following the word 'because'.

People often confuse arguments and explanations, because they use similar indicator words. So when you are writing, you can make your point clearer by using words that will generally be unique to explanations.

In general, explanations are answers to 'why' questions. They consider why something happened 'instead of' something else. And usually, they will say that something was 'caused' by something else. So when offering an explanation, use these words as indicators. For example: "It rained yesterday. That's why the grass is green, instead of brown."

Almost all explanations are causal explanations, but in some cases (especially when describing complex states and events) you will also appeal to a statistical explanation. In essence, in a statistical explanation, you are saying, "it had to happen sometime, so that's why it happened now, but there's no reason, other than probability, why it happened this time instead o last time or next time." When people see somebody who was killed by lightening, and they say, "His number was just up," they are offering a statistical explanation.

Definitionsare trickier, because there are various types of definition. I will consider three types of definition: ostensive, lexical, and implicit.

An 'ostensive' definition is an act of naming by pointing. You point to a dog and you say, "That's a dog." Do this enough times, and you have defined the concept of a dog. It's harder to point in text. But in text, a description amounts to the same thing as pointing. "The legs are shorter than the tail. The colour is brown, and the body is very long. That's what I mean by a 'wiener dog'." As you may have noticed, the description is followed by the indicator words "that's what I mean by". This makes it clear to the reader that you are defining by ostension.

A 'lexical' definition is a definition one word or concept in terms of some other word or concept. Usually this is describes as providing the 'necessary and sufficient conditions' for being something. Another way of saying the same thing is to say that when you are defining a thing, you are saying that 'all and only' these things are the thing being defined. Yet another way of saying the same thing is to say that the thing belongs to such and such a category (all dogs are animals, or, a dog is necessarily an animal) and are distinguished from other members in such and such a way (only dogs pant, or, saying a thing is panting is sufficient to show that it is a dog).

That may seem complicated, but the result is that a lexical definition has a very simply and easy to write form: A (thing being defined) is a type of (category) which is (distinguishing feature). For example, "A dog is an animal that pants."

This sentence may look just like a description, so it is useful to indicate to the reader that you are defining the term 'dog', and not describing a dog. For example, "A 'dog' is defined as 'an animal that pants'." Notice how this is clearly a definition, and could not be confused as a mere description.

The third type of definition is an implicit definition. This occurs when you don't point to things, and don't place the thing being defined into categories, but rather, list instances of the thing being defined. For example, "Civilization is when people are polite to each other. When people can trust the other person. When there is order in the streets." And so on. Or: "You know what I mean. Japan is civilized. Singapore is civilized. Canada is civilized." Here we haven't listed necessary and sufficient conditions, but rather, offered enough of a description as to allow people to recognize instances of 'civilization' by their resemblance to the things being described.

Finally, the description employs the 'subject predicate object' form that you learned in school. The 'subject' is the thing being described. The 'predicate' is something that is true of the subject - some action it is undertaking, or, if the predicate is 'is', some property that it possesses. And the 'object' may be some other entity that forms a part of the description.

As mentioned, the sentences that form a description are related to each other. This relation is made explicit with a set of indicator words. For example, if the relation is chronological, the words might be 'first'... 'and then'... 'and finally'...! Or, 'yesterday'... 'then today'... 'and tomorrow'...

In this essay, the method employed was to identify a list of things - argument, explanation, definition, and description - and then to use each of these terms in the sequence. For example, "An argument will consist of a ..." Notice that I actually went through this list twice, first describing the parts of each of the four items, and then describing the indicator words used for each of the four items. Also, when I went through the list the second time, I offered for each type of sentence a subdivision. For example, I identified inductive and deductive arguments.

So, now, here is the full set of types of things I have described (with indicator words in brackets):

Argument (premise: 'since', 'because'; conclusion: 'therefore', 'so')
Deductive
Categorical ('all', 'only', 'no', 'none', 'some')
Propositional ('if', 'or', 'and')
Inductive
Generalization ('sample', 'poll', 'observation')
Statistical ('most', 'generally, 'usually', 'seventy percent', 'nine out of ten')
Universal ('always' and 'all')
Causal ('causes')

Explanation ('why', 'instead of')
Causal ('caused')
Statistical ('percent', 'probability')

Definition ('is a', 'is defined as')
Ostensive ( 'That's what I mean by...' )
Lexical ('All', 'Only', 'is a type of', 'is necessarily')
Implicit ('is a', 'for example')

Description
Chronology ('yesterday', 'today')
Sensations ('seems', 'feels', 'appears', etc.,)
List ('first', 'second', etc.)
5 W's ('who', 'what', 'where', 'when', 'why')

Complex Forms

As you have seen in this article, each successive iteration (which has been followed by one of my tables) has been more and more detailed. You might ask how this is so, if there are only four types of article or essay.

The point is, each sentence in one type of thing might be a whole set of sentence of another type of thing. This is most clearly illustrated by looking at an argument.

An argument is a conclusion and some premises. Like this:

Statement 1, and
Statement 2,
Thus,
Statement 3

But each premise might in turn be the conclusion of another argument. Like this:

Statement 4, and
Statement 5,
Thus,
Statement 1

Which gives us a complex argument:

Statement 4, and
Statement 5,
Thus, Statement 1
Statement 2
Thus Statement 3

But this can be done with all four types of paragraph. For example, consider this:

Statement 1 (which is actually a definition, with several parts)
Statement 2 (which is actually a description)
Thus,
Statement 3

So, when you write your essay, you pick the main thing you want to say. For example:

Second paragraph:

Statement 1, and
Statement 2
Thus
Statement 3

Third paragraph:

Statement 4 (thing being defined)
Statement 5 (properties)
Statement 1 (actual definition)

Fourth Paragraph

Statement 5 (first statement of description)
Statement 6 (second statement of description)
Statement 2 (summary of description)

As you can see, each simple element of an essay - premise, for example - can become a complex part of an essay - the premise could be the conclusion of an argument, for example.

And so, when you write your essay, you just go deeper and deeper into the structure.

And you may ask: where does it stop?

For me, it stops with descriptions - something I've seen or experienced, or a reference to a study or a paper. To someone else, it all reduces to definitions and axioms. For someone else, it might never stop.

But you rarely get to the bottom. You simply go on until you've said enough. In essence, you give up, and hope the reader can continue the rest of the way on his or her own.

And just so with this paper. I would now look at each one of each type of argument and explanation, for example, and identify more types, or describe features that make some good and some bad, or add many more examples and animations.

But my time is up, I need to board my flight, so I'll stop here.

Nothing fancy at the end. Just a reminder, that this is how you can write great articles and essays, first draft, every time. Off the top of your head.

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How to Write Articles and Essays Quickly and Expertly

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Translations: Belorussian Introduction: Four Types of Discursive Writing From time to time people express amazement at how I can get so much done. I, of course, aware of the many hours I have idled away doing nothing, demur. It feels like nothing special; I don't work harder, really, than most people.

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Critical reading involves an examination of those choices that any and all authors must make when framing a presentation: choices of content, language, and structure.

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Twenty sections of 250 study guides and 100 exercises for learners, middle school through returning adult, in 39 languages.

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The Visual Collaboration Platform for Every Team | Miro

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Scalable, secure, cross-device, and enterprise-ready team collaboration whiteboard for distributed teams. Join 50M+ users from around the world.

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We are excited to announce that StudyBlue is joining Chegg Inc.

Today, Chegg, the leading student-first interconnected learning platform acquired StudyBlue.

By joining Chegg, we will combine our services to better serve students who study and learn in different ways, with an expanded content library and access to more tools to activate the content and the learning process. Chegg will significantly enhance our ability to help students study what they want, when they want and, importantly, how they want.

We started our company nearly 10 years ago with a mission to help students learn better. By combining with Chegg, we can reach even more students to realize our mission faster and better.

Chris Klündt
Co-Founder, StudyBlue

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StudyBlue: Online Flashcards, Homework Help & Textbook Solutions

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We are excited to announce that StudyBlue is joining Chegg Inc. Today, Chegg, the leading student-first interconnected learning platform acquired StudyBlue. By joining Chegg, we will combine our services to better serve students who study and learn in different ways, with an expanded content library and access to more tools to activate the content and the learning process.

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Including advice on developing arguments,

writing different types of assignment

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Flashcards and note-taking

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Including interactive whiteboard spaces