In this article we will give you 10 reasons why studying in the UK is the perfect choice.

1. Renowned and Well-Respected Universities

UK universities are regularly featured in ranking league tables such as The Times’ Higher Education Rankings and the QS World Rankings. Many UK universities are featured in the rankings, with at least a third of the top 10 comprising of UK universities. Often the University of Cambridge, which is one of the oldest and most respected UK universities, holds the top spot.

2. Internationally Recognised Courses & Qualifications

The courses and the qualifications offered in the UK are internationally recognised and highly regarded by employers around the world. A qualification from a well-respected UK university is likely to give you the edge when pursuing employment opportunities in the future.

Recent changes to student visas mean that only recognised universities that offer quality courses are able to enrol international students. This ensures that you will receive the best education for your tuition fee.

3. Large Student Population

The UK has a large international student population, increasing year on year. 2009/2010 saw the number increase by 10% to 405,810. For postgraduate courses, international students make up the majority percentage.

With almost half a million international students you are certain to be studying with like-minded people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds.

4. Culturally Diverse

The United Kingdom is a friendly and tolerant place rich with diverse cultures. There are many international communities, especially in big cities, which provide a familiar and homely environment for inhabitants, offering both new experiences and the ability to share culture with the rest of the UK.

No matter what your culture or religion you will receive a friendly reception. Not only that but the UK also caters for your religious requirements, such as places of worship, and often provides translated documentation should you require it.

5. Opportunities to Work

The UK student visa allows you to work for up to 20 hours per week, thus giving you the opportunity to earn some much needed funds to help with your study and living costs.

The UK operates a minimum wage, which depending on your age means you are guaranteed a minimum hourly rate for your work. If you are over 21 that is £6.08 per hour, meaning you can earn at minimum £121.60 per week, before any deductions such as tax.

6. An Historic Land

The United Kingdom is steeped in history and makes for an extremely interesting place to live and study. With its many historic buildings, like castles, and historic towns there is always plenty to see and do.

7. Gateway to Europe

Thanks to the UK’s transport links with the rest of Europe you can be in Paris in less than two and a half hours by Eurostar.

8. Cheapest of the Big 3 Destinations

Out of the ‘big 3’ destinations (Australia, the USA, the UK) the UK is the cheapest. Tuition fees in the UK are substantially cheaper than in the USA and Australia, from £10,000+ compared to £12,000+ for the US, and £13,000+ for Australia.

More importantly, the financial proof requirement for a UK visa is less. This is the amount of money you are required to prove you have available in order to qualify for a student visa. In the UK this is £16,000+ compared to £18,000+ for the US and £25,000+ for Australia.

9. Free Healthcare for the Duration of Your Study

If you are studying in the UK for more than 6 months you are entitled to full NHS healthcare coverage. This means that, should you require emergency healthcare, you do not have to worry about any financial implications.

Healthcare in the UK includes anything from consultations with a GP (General Practitioner), family planning, to major surgery. Most universities have an on campus doctors’ surgery.

10. Olympic Hosts

In 2012 the United Kingdom will host the Olympic Games. This has resulted in large investment and regeneration and development of many major areas of London. The presence of the Olympics also means that there are many job opportunities for the lead-up to and duration of the event.

If you have applied to study in the UK in 2012 you should expect the Olympic Games to have a major impact on the UK. The United Kingdom will be very much in the international spotlight.

If you need any more reasons to study in the UK you will find StudyLink’s UK Universities & Studying in the UK guide very helpful. If you can think of any other reasons why the UK is the perfect place to study be sure to leave a comment below.

Sources:

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/about/statistics_he.php
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/TheNationalMinimumWage/DG_10027201
http://blog.studylink.com/2011/05/10-common-student-visa-questions/

What mistakes do you notice?

People are the same everywhere. Whether you receive work from the west or the east, from America or China, from Dublin, Dundee or Humberside, the same mistakes are made. Of course, if no mistakes were made then there wouldn’t be the need for proofreaders. Here are some of the common errors made by authors. Let’s start at the beginning.

Contents page – think of the reader who has to wade through it. Is there really a need for chapter headings (1), subheadings (1.1) and sub-subheadings (1.1.1) all with lengthy descriptions? If your contents page is itself longer than a page it’s too long. Call me a minimalist, but a chapter-heading page is plenty. Also, I’m one of the proofreaders who will need to redo every page number when the piece is finished.

Introduction – or the enigmatically titled ‘abstract’ opening paragraph. More often than not the notion of abstract is horribly apt since it’s rare to be able to figure out what’s coming next. And isn’t that the point of the Introduction? To set out what’s coming up? Perhaps lecturers and question-setters should abandon the word abstract, since it seems to encourage people to be more, well, abstract when they should be descriptive.

American – far be it from me to offend our American friends but unless you’re at an American university, don’t forget to include U’s in words, get rid of those double spaces, and stop saying organization. Unless it’s the World Health Organization. Then it’s ok because their website says Z. I mean, I know a Z rather than an S can be technically used in the UK, but it just looks wrong. If I can’t imagine seeing it in a UK newspaper, I tend to get rid, unless I’m told to keep it in. I love America, I just got back from my 15^th visit there, but let’s hold out against the corruption of our language. I don’t want to correct any more colors or favors (as shown in my previous article: what is proofreading). Actually, I’d rather spend time thanking you for taking Simon Cowell off our hands.

Tenses – please, make your mind up. You undertook the research, you read the journals, you carried out the experiments, and you sent out the questionnaires. It’s all happened. Past tense. I once proofread a book that was supposed to be a diary format Bridget Jones type thing: it was in the present tense. It’s a diary!

Bad signs – when the filename is misspelt. I’m fairly sure a mess lies within when the filename is ‘foor proufreding’, ‘reflaction draft’ or ‘disserstation proofreading’.

References – this is really another case of make your mind up. APA, Harvard, none? Half your journal titles are in italics, the other half aren’t. A third of your author names are written out (John Smith), a third are initial/backwards (Smith, J.) and the final third are forwards (J. Smith). The book title has Capital Letters On Each Word, the date of the publication is in (brackets), then the book title is in lower case and the date is at the end, even after the publishing house. Also, it doesn’t impress anyone to have a bibliography of 50 books. Actually, I take it back: I enjoy fixing it all; it’s one of my favourite things to do, so keep making a mess.

Photos/diagrams/graphs/figures – I once proofed a document about the thrilling world of outdoor air conditioning. As in, flue systems in Middle Eastern countries, which was, one might say, written in a dry style. Most pages had diagrams of said flue systems and airways constructed in outdoor courtyards. Hey, someone has to learn about this stuff. These diagrams were small, numerous and each had a number and description. But with 5 on each page, every other page, the figure names were all over the place. And of course it was impossible to tell which description matched which diagram, since I’m not up on my outdoor airflow structure dynamics. People, don’t overload the pages with diagrams. You’re on a word count limit, not a page count. Bigger diagrams are fine, spread them out a little, there’s nothing wrong with giving my/the lecturers’ eyes a break.

Formulae – I am a Mac snob. So I’m going to proffer that this problem is mine (and my Mac brethren) alone. If you have ‘macros’, whatever they are, in your document, spare me a thought. I can’t see them; all I get are little question marks inside boxes. If the document opens at all it constantly crashes, I can’t proof what I can’t see. Actually, this little request is more directed at developers – please make Word work for Macs better. Which brings me to…

Word – I’m not a Gates hater, at all, but his products are just terrible. Ok, maybe Excel has some good points, but PowerPoint sucks. And yet here I am, making my living as a person completely tied into Word. My Mac, in the four years I’ve had it, has crashed three times. My copy of Word crashes at least twice a day. Mind you, at least I don’t have to use it to write, I just use it to proof. Oh wait, I’m in it right now. Damn. Ok, better wrap this up; a crash can’t be far away.

Now, these aren’t going to be all of the different writing mistakes that you’ll make when creating your first novel, writing that award-winning dissertation, or a CV that shines. But, you can see the different elements that crop up in papers every time I read through them. It’s okay if you don’t want to follow the list though, as I’ll be happy to look over your work when you send it in to be checked and reviewed by Supaproofread.

What is proofreading?

A lot of people don’t understand why proofreaders and editors exist; after all, English isn’t really that important, is it?  Well, this common misconception is just that, a fallacy about how important the process is.  But, I believe it’s down to the fact that most people just don’t understand the process and many ask what is proofreading?

Proofreading, or ‘copy checking’, originally referred to newspapers, where an editor would take typeset paper and check the text for errors against an original manuscript.  These days, even in newspapers and magazines, which often have their sub-editors proof on screen, it’s all done digitally.  Two printed resources are rarely checked against each other.  The notion of the activity itself is designed to address both issues of content and visual consistency.

Proofreading & Academic Work

In terms of student work, one takes an overall view.  Proofreaders haven’t studied the subject themselves so trust that the author has composed their arguments having been given the correct teaching, has understood the subject and disseminated the information correctly in response to the question, brief or task.  There are various reasons for employing a proofreader.  A great deal of the work I complete is submitted by foreign students and, frankly, they’re all pretty clever, otherwise they wouldn’t have been funded or sponsored by their families, government or educational institution to even study abroad.

English as a Second Language

But, as anyone learning a foreign language will tell you, the differences between written and spoken language are vast.  If a student has a poor command of written English they may have a full understanding of the spoken language.  As such, even if they speak English perfectly, they may lack the skills to compose an essay, thesis or dissertation with the requisite flow or command of the English language.  On the other hand, even if they have difficulties speaking English you may get a beautifully written piece that simply needs a minimal edit.  At times, I’ve talked to clients and complimented them on their spoken English skills then received a mess.

Or sometimes I’ve struggled to understand what they need over the phone or over email and then received a piece of work full of life and ideas that needs simply shaping.  In short, there’s no way to predict what work is coming at you and the author’s spoken English skills may be misleading.

Proofreading Isn’t Appreciated By Most

Proofreading is a rather under-the-radar industry.  Most people don’t realise that we even exist, or that it’s a job at all, and if they do consider that proofreaders exist it’s often assumed that we’re rewriting entire pieces of work, or even writing them from scratch, and it’s our voice that the lecturer hears when marking the piece.  While there certainly are students getting so-called proofreaders (it’s in the title, or we’d be called proofwriters!) to write their assignments for them, the practice is rare and I’ve personally never been asked to do it, though I do know it goes on.

The line of acceptability is for each person to decide upon but, personally, I wouldn’t accept a complete rewrite job. I’ve had pieces that need a little edit, just for grammar, spelling, context, flow, structure and so on.  But I’ve also had pieces where the student clearly understands the subject, and their ideas are present, but they simply don’t have the colloquial and written skills to convey their opinions, which is where I step in.

When you’re presented with a piece of work there’s an overall aim that you’re trying to achieve.  The obvious stuff goes first: double/incorrect spaces, poor spelling, correct use of citations and quotations, and visual consistency – this means that the headings, subheadings, paragraph spaces, line spaces, formatting, and so on, should conform identically on each page.

Sometimes you’re working to a set of rules, such as Harvard referencing, or the somewhat similar  MLA referencing, or even, if you’re writing within a social sciences field, APA referencing.  These reference guides cover both the main content and how to write the references/bibliography.  Personally, I enjoy proofing the references at the end and am always a little disappointed if there aren’t any!

Then, of course, there are international differences within the writing itself.  A fair amount of the work I do is in British English, with its colours and favourites. Then there’s American (and Australian) English with its colors and favorites.  There are an infinite number of options, combinations and styles that often vary not just within the author’s remit but also from university to university, or college to college.

The Proofreader’s Role

As such, the reasons for employing a proofreader are clear to see.  Firstly, one cannot check one’s own work.  Before becoming a full time proofreader I was an office manager for two organisations – an adult magazine and a design agency – and on both occasions proofreading was a large part of my remit.  I learned my trade over a period of 10 years and, let me tell you, given the subject matter that’s been past my gaze: I’ve seen it all.

I’ve proofed thousands of pieces of student work, a chick-lit book, a ghost-written footballer’s autobiography, marketing plans by the ton, email newsletters, menus, posters, financial reports, brochures, interviews, reviews, news, and erotica.  But I learned very early on that you cannot proofread your own work.  You simply won’t see the errors when you’re the author.  In those days I was proofing on paper, with a pen, imagine that!  It was rather old school and I was able to develop my craft comparing printer’s proofs.  With such endless practice, and learning under a renowned editor with 25 years experience, my eyes simply adapted and trained themselves to spot discrepancies.  Which brings me to another issue about proofreading – no, not everyone can do it!

You’ve Already Proofed it Yourself? Think Again

I’ve lost count of the amount of clients who have told me that, even though they’re employing me to do the job, it shouldn’t need much work doing on it because one of their mates had already proofed it.  Without fail, I’m greeted by a piece of work that you would never guess had had a checker before I started. Aside from the fact that you need a natural gift for English, there are endless factors that must be taken into account.  Certainly, someone can be taught to proof, take courses, gain qualifications, but there’s no way to learn the feel for words or the extreme eye for detail.

You don’t just need proofreading because you’ve written it and you won’t be able to see the errors.  You don’t just need it because getting a mate to do the job isn’t enough.  You need it because the people who do this for a living know what they’re doing and have done thousands of pieces before, of all kinds, of all competencies and on all subjects.  After the work is submitted one can’t help feeling happy and satisfied when a client emails back saying they can’t believe the difference, they can’t believe that they didn’t employ a proofreader before and that their arguments, ideas and thoughts and have emerged from the mist in a way they didn’t think was possible.

Maybe after reading the above you will understand what proofreading actually is and why it’s an important step in writing (or indeed publishing) any written material, from dissertations/theses to business white papers, or that manuscript you’ve been pouring your heart into.  Proofreaders know their stuff and want to help you produce written material that captures the mind of your reader, even if that’s a professor marking your dissertation.

Whether you enjoyed working on your dissertation is a question you will need to ask yourself when you have finished writing it during the summer months; you may have had a significant amount of passion when starting the process, but then looked at the many thousands of words to be written in dismay much later.  Also, writing a masters’ dissertation is similar to writing an undergraduate paper. However, you need to recognise that you must produce a paper that requires a significant amount of effort and present a research study that provides the reader and your supervisor with the information that is required.

You will also find that managing your time when writing your dissertation is crucial to understanding how the many different processes work together when you are completing your research project.  This process may also help you to understand your own personal traits and identify the different skills in which you excel.  When you consider the various processes required to produce your dissertation, you will soon realise where you need to improve and what you are doing correctly.

Over the summer, you will spend time researching and writing your dissertation, and your research will most likely form part of a larger research project that a company has outsourced to your university.  Completing this project will enable you to understand the various aspects involved in managing your time on your dissertation throughout the summer months.  This will help you when you transfer into a workplace environment, as you will be able to appreciate the need for tight deadlines and possess the ability to allot significantly more time for certain research tasks than others.  You will also realise how the different parts of a project form to allow you to complete the dissertation process and obtain your university degree.

Another aspect of properly managing your time to complete your dissertation project that you need to consider is remembering to leave enough time at the end of the project to have your paper professionally bound so that it is acceptable and can be submitted as your master’s degree dissertation.  This is an important stage, as a number of conditions will most likely need to be met when you are binding and submitting the final copy of your dissertation to your university. A number of universities have also been known to penalise students who fail to adhere to their exact standards of submission.

So, if you are wondering how you will manage your time during the different periods of your degree, especially when you are completing your dissertation research project, you’ll discover many instances that enable you to understand  the importance of managing your time throughout the summer months. This means that you will have enough time to complete the research planning and writing of your dissertation paper, as well as allocate sufficient time to ensure you don’t miss out on the different opportunities and activities enjoyed by many of your friends.

Are you ready to graduate?

Well, it’s that time again for undergraduate students in the UK and abroad to submit your dissertation research paper to your academic institution. At Supaproofread, we want to remind you that all of those endless nights spent in front of your computer screen shouldn’t be thrown away without hiring a dissertation proofreading service to review your work.

You’ve finally done it, hurray! Starting the process of researching and writing your academic research paper was probably really difficult. I know it was for me when I attended university a few years ago; it was very daunting as an undergraduate, as I had only written three-thousand word essays in my first and second years, so ten thousand words seemed quite a lot! Also, the fact that I had to conduct lots of primary research for the paper made the entire process a hassle — oh, and the hypothesis had to be original… It isn’t until you get past the data processing and start to actually write an evaluation of the research that you have collected until you finally, I believe, gain a true sense of the research paper and overall process. Your mind is numb with the questionnaire or survey you changed at least 20 times, and SPSS annoys you because ‘it just doesn’t seem to work for me’. We’ve all been there, and some of us have chosen to return to do it time and again for higher qualifications such as a master’s degree or PhD. It does get slightly easier, but it’s also a pain.

So, your brain has been focused mainly on your dissertation over the last month, and probably for most of the last year by concentrating on what you have to write. However, it’s now nearly time for submission – do you really think you will be able to spot all of those errors you made? Some critical parts of your research findings chapter have to be ‘just right’ to ensure the marker and other potential readers understand what you mean when you conclude your paper. This is a key part of your work and you want to ensure it turns out right. After all, you want your dissertation supervisor/marker to award you the highest possible grade, don’t you? Well, help them do just that by conveying your arguments succinctly.

Did you also know that 10 percent, yes 10 PERCENT, of your final mark awarded for your dissertation or thesis is directly related to the spelling, punctuation and grammar of your paper? This is why editing and proofreading companies exist for students, because hiring a professional can have a drastic impact on your dissertation grade and thus your final classification. You wanted a 2:1, not a 2:2, didn’t you? Well, even if you’re ‘not that bothered’, I’m confident that the large corporate employer with a graduate programme you want a place on would be bothered, and he may just give ‘your place’ to someone who is.

You see, it isn’t just about a simple review of your work by a professional proofreader, but someone who is passionate about his/her subject. As a student, you need to submit a final paper that reflects all of your strengths and doesn’t let your reviewers down because you were too tired and ‘word-blind’ to spot the errors in your paper.

If you’re confused about finalizing your dissertation, you’re not sure whether your research paper has all of the key elements that a dissertation is supposed to have then take a look at the following video presented by Dr. David Knauft from the University of Georgia. In this lecture presentation, he discusses why you need to plan out your dissertation paper and what steps you should take to ensure you are submitting the best academic research paper you can.

We know you’re going to find this usual, and don’t forget to make a few notes.

APA stands for the American Psychological Association and their referencing style is very common. I’ll cover off UK and US referencing styles in future posts so don’t think I’m singling APA out for special attention.

The APA system is broken into two main parts:

• In-text citations

• A reference list

In-Text Citations

In-text citations as the name suggests are included within the text; for direct quotations they state the name of the writer, the publication and page number with the date published of the source you are using. Where you paraphrase the source you only need the name of the writer and the date published but the wording must be your own.

An example is:

Understanding astronomical variances in stellar drift is difficult, as has been observed (ERH, 2008, The Moon is My Oyster) “Stellar drift has significant implications for worm hole transportation.”

This would be the correct use of an APA style citation for the initial use of the source, but you only need to state the writer’s name in subsequent citations IF within the same paragraph, so:

As has also been noted (ERH), “Stargate SG-1 has a great deal of good science to offer and not simply entertainment.”

If you are quoting at length (more than 40 words) you should cite the quote WITHOUT quotation marks by inserting the quote in a separate paragraph that is indented between 5 and 7 spaces, preferably using single spacing and still add the name of the author, publication date and page number in brackets at the beginning or end of the text.

An example would be:

Blah blah blah blah blah:

Lots of Stargate blah,lots and lots of blah, Teal’c looks silly with hair on, O’Neill should grow up and Samantha Carter really ought to let her hair down far more often. In fact, Doctor Jackson is the only decent character and that is because he is Canadian. (ERH, 2008 p7)

…and more blah.

The Reference List

APA follows a referencing format that is determined by the publication media you are writing for; the split is between writing for a book (or producing a report) or for a journal.

The referencing list is placed at the bottom of the page within which you are citing the source.

For Books and Reports

Author, (date), Title, Place of Publication, Publisher

e.g. Smith K,(2008), Using APA Referencing in Practice, London UK, Supaproofread

For a Journal

Author, (Date), Title, Journal Name, Volume (Issue), Page

e.g. Smith K, 2008, Stargate Science, SG-1 Fan Magazine, 12(3), 22-33

There are other rules regarding citing multiple authors, using et al, citing an author who has in turn cited another and so on and you can gain a greater understanding of the referencing style by visiting this helpful site – ACU

Here are my thoughts on how to approach and conduct an interview with a subject. Note that these are born out of minimal experience interviewing a subject as part of my writing career so pitch in with your criticism and suggestions.

What is the Purpose of the Interview?

Establish what the objective of the interview is to be. Are you interviewing the subject because you are writing about them or will be featuring them in your commission? Are you looking to use the subject’s knowledge and experience to support or counter the position you are taking with your commission?

Think before you start as all else follows.

Research the Subject and Topic Area Beforehand

You may be looking to elicit information from your subject and build up your own knowledge on the topic but that does not preclude you from equipping yourself with some knowledge in anticipation. Imagine you were interviewing Bill Gates or Richard Branson and your first question was “So, what is the name of your company?”; I doubt the interview would last 30 more seconds.

If you want your subject to open up with you, show you have some knowledge of both them and the topic which in turn will help them engage with you. You also will be able to identify information that is important if you have some knowledge to start with otherwise you may overlook something important.

Prepare a List of Questions Beforehand

One interview I conducted had to have prepared questions submitted in advance to the subject. Even so, you should already cover off the questions you are looking to have answers to rather than conducting an interview ad hoc – it’s easy to forget things and preparing questions beforehand will help you structure the interview and tactfully, keep control of it.

Mix Open with Closed Questions

If you are simply asking closed questions, e.g. “Are you a woman?” to which the answer can only be yes or no, you will have a very stilted interview, very formal, and you will miss out on a mine of information that the subject has but which you will not have opened up. Closed questions need to be used when you are looking to nail a factual matter down as open questions will provide fuzzy answers.

Asking open questions, e.g. “How often do you review your work and why?”, to which the subject cannot answer yes or no and must provide a discursive answer, will help you to get the subject responding to you with answers based upon their experiences, opinions and actual practice.

A good interview will mix the two sets of questions which will help the interview proceed and also produce information and facts that you need.

You Have Two Ears and One Mouth – Use them in that Ratio

The subject is not giving you their time so you can dominate the conversation – you actually want them to do most of the talking. Your job as the interviewer is to come away with the information you are looking for, and hopefully important information that you did not expect to find.

Let your subject do most of the talking and listen. This does not mean it is a one way conversation as your job is to recognise when a question needs to be asked or a the subject is to be prompted. Ask your subject to expand on statements they have made and feedback responses they have already made to reinforce the points they make and demonstrate you are actually listening and interested, e.g. “You mentioned your time in Paris in the nineties; tell me more about your experiences their and what challenges you faced.”

Leave the Door Open at the End

You can never be certain that you have got everything you need from an interview. You may forget something or research down the line may mean you need to go back to your subject and ask for clarification or more information.

Before you quit the interview, take the time to thank your subject and ask them if they are happy for you to come to them with more questions at a later date. It doesn’t have to be face-to-face, email or telephone can suffice but make sure you ask them and get them to say “yes”; by this time unless you have really upset them, they are unlikely to say “no”.

Can you tell the difference between the two?

I like science fiction and Iain Banks is a favourite. I also like John Grisham novels when I’m on a transatlantic flight. the two writing styles are very different irrespective of the US/UK spellings.

The difference is their voice.

It may seem strange to ask if you have a voice as a writer – after all you are not speaking.

I am naturally a sarcastic, play the Phillistine type of individual – I always look for the twisted meaning in a conversation but there is no malice – I just like the play with words, and most of all, the humour in a conversation. I’m also in my prime – mid forties, solvent, travelled and experienced in life – sounds like an ad in a dating site profile, but this is correct and is reflected in my writing. Cavalier, sometimes off-hand and slightly jaded but with a glint in my eye and as has been noted already, I don’t really care what other people think about me (or my writing).

Your writer’s voice will depend a lot on your own character, but how you are in a crowd is not necessarily the real you. I know people who are very deeply intelligent, deeply sensitive to the extent that they will cry listening to Beethoven but to the world at large, they are hard as nails. On the other hand, I also know people who look like they would not say boo to a goose but in fact are deeply adventurous and without fear.

When you are writing, no-one need know what your public persona is – you are free to be who and what you really are. How your true personality comes through in your writing gives you your writer’s voice – serious, droll, witty, boring, technical, exciting and the adjectives can just go on and on.

Why is having a writer’s voice important?

Ask yourself this question – what makes John Grisham different from the legions of wannabe legal fiction writers? What makes Iain Banks different from the hordes of sci-fi wannabe’s?

Sure their ideas and plots are great, but no-one has a monopoly on ideas; it is how they tell their story, word for word, that holds the reader and makes them popular and commercially successful. In short, it is their voice – develop yours and let the real you come through. In this respect, we can look at a writer’s voice as being the relationship with their readers, probably to such an extent that without ever hearing your real voice, a reader will be able to look at your writing and say “That’s so and so!”

Your writer’s voice is what will make you different from the crowd and eminently readable.

You can find the site here.

The link is to the media resources for the London freelancers part of the site, but this itself is only a small taste of what is on offer.

As a research resource it is brilliant and I particularly liked the help it gave on how to handle using translation engines. I frequently use Babelfish (Babel from the biblical tower where different languages were spoken and Babel Fish from the Douglas Adams invention in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy). I speak rusty French and Jurassic Russian, and use the site when I’m writing or reading material in either language as a check on my own understanding. The advice the NUJ site gives is to use more than one translation engine so you are able to comprehend better the “shadow of meaning” that the words convey. I like that phrase “shadow of meaning” and the advice is sound.

You will find here press and media outlets by the bucket load, home and foreign, with some fantastic resources to gain perspective and help from around the globe. The information is not restricted to simply media with links to political and government organisations as well as others.

Try out the light relief section too for some journalist in-jokes:

“I just wake up in the morning and tell myself, “There’s been a military coup”. An then it all makes sense.”

Unnamed US Department of State official

Of particular note for those wanting a grin, check out the Daily Mail headline generator

Does teenage sex tax your house?

Will Ken Livingstone affect your house price with AIDS?

Could Tony Blair strip the middle class of all dignity?

I could just keep going but I’d better stop and behave myself.

In the UK and European Union, copyright lasts for 70 years after the death of the writer, or if the work is published after death of the writer, for 70 years after publication.

A general rule is not to surrender copyright unless you have negotiated suitable compensation. Retaining copyright gives you the right to be rewarded for your work and if successful, may continue to benefit your family for decades after your death. Look at the estate of JRR Tolkien, the author of “Lord of the Rings” and consider the royalties paid the owners of the copyright from the movies that have been made.

You don’t have to actually assert copyright on your work but adopting a “belt and braces” approach does no harm and will help to deter those who may seek to infringe your rights. I tend to follow this myself whenever copyright is not passed on with my work, and the usual form is (c) My Name 200X which is the year it is published or created if not published.

There are exceptions to what is subject to copyright. For instance, there is no copyright in a title so you are free to use someone else’s title for your own work. You need to take care as you may fall foul of what is known as “the tort of passing off”; in other words, you can be sued if you are attempting to benefit from naming your own work after someone else’s popular title in an attempt to make money by trading off the title.

There is also no copyright in ideas unless you have documented in fine detail what that idea is and the idea is 100% genuinely original.

If you use photographs in your work, then copyright will vest in whoever took them, even if you have commissioned them yourself. If you want copyright to vest in you, you must ensurethat the commissioning agreement stipulates this.