Interviews are uncomfortable, intimidating, and just plain SCARY! If you agree with this statement, keep reading this blog. I have some tips for you.

Many of us wish that we could go through life without ever sitting in front of someone (or group of someones) to “sell” ourselves. Interviewing is so unnatural. We are taught to be more modest than that, aren’t we? Very early in life, we’re told that bragging about what we do well is a turn-off to others. To a degree, this is still true. No one likes a bragger who is always trying to “one up” the next person. Even in an interview, you don’t want to come off as conceited or obnoxious. But you DO want to come across as CONFIDENT.

You need to be:

Confident in your education.

Confident in your experience.

Confident in your skills.

Confident in your ability to get the job done.

Confidence is a very attractive quality in a candidate. Every successful candidate has confidence. The question is: How can you develop confidence? I’m glad you asked! Here are some tips that I have used with clients over the years to boost perception. (I think my years as a cheerleader helped me out here!)

• Review your resumé! A large number of job seekers have written or at least contributed to a resumé. However, not many actually review it. Review it with a career coach, significant other, or friend. Talk about the various experiences you have had and what you were able to get out of each experience. Remind yourself of why that information was worth including in your resumé in the first place. If you determine that it isn’t worth the ink on the page—take it off! But if it is worth having there, be able to explain WHY.
• Make a list. What are your skills? (HINT: If you’re having a hard time coming up with a list, go back to my first suggestion in an earlier blog post on transferrable skills. Your resumé may need some help if it doesn’t mention skills—they are much more important to the job-seeking enterprise than the titles you’ve had, positions you’ve held, and jobs you’ve done). After you’ve made a list of your skills, make another list of the skills that you know will be required or valuable in the position for which you’re interviewing. If you’re not sure about this, review the job posting, go to the company Web site, talk to colleagues who have compatible experience, or look up that occupation on an occupational Web site (I suggest the O*NET online). Once you have these two lists, cross-reference them. How many skills match? Are there any skills missing from your list that you can acquire? If so, you’ve got the answer to the age-old question “What are your weaknesses?” You can say, “While this isn’t necessarily a weakness, something I’m currently working to improve is _________.” No one likes to have weaknesses, but think of a weakness as a challenge or opportunity for growth.
• Practice. It may not be true that practice makes perfect; but practice does make you more confident. Consider some interview coaching, or at least some role-playing with a colleague or friend. You will have an edge if you have heard interview questions before; that will give you the chance to think about your answer well in advance. You won’t have to deal with that silence that fills a room while you’re flipping through possible answers in your head. Another bonus to this is that you’re less likely to pepper your responses with “Umm …” or “like ….”

The trick to developing confidence is reminding yourself of how great you really are. You’ll be surprised at how much you know and what you’re capable of accomplishing when you take the time to remember your experiences and how they relate to your career path. That surprise will turn into confidence that you can get the job done and should be the successful candidate.

Watch out INTERVIEWERS—here we come!

Have any great interview stories? Some advice or ideas to share? Or perhaps a question for our Career Services specialist? Leave us a COMMENT.

CHRIS—Read more about this editor

Online users tend to scan text on a Web page rather than reading the page word-by-word.

Every article you read on writing content for the Web will inform you of this.

What does scanning the text really mean?
How does this affect what content we write?

Useit.com reports on a recent eyetracking study which indicates that users with a high-literacy level read approximately 20 - 28% of the text on a Web page. Often the user will read the first sentence or paragraph of an article then skim vertically down the content with eyes stopping at headings, bullet lists, bolded text, links and numerals. Another sentence or two may be read to see if the content is relevant and useful. The captivated reader will continue reading.

Online users tend to be extremely focused on a specific task or objective. They spend the absolute minimum amount of time on a new page to see if it relevant before moving on to another page, or worse - a competitor.

With a limited amount of time to keep the user’s attention on a Web page and encourage them to read, how do we write compelling and easy-to-read content?

Online Writing Tips—in a Nutshell

• The title of the page is important. The first two words of the title need to be the initial attention grabber. In a navigational menu or a list of pages, it is the first two words of the title that the user will notice.
• Use the inverted pyramid style of writing with the most important points or conclusion first. The interested reader will continue reading to gain the background.
• Keep sentences short yet concise. Long sentences are for print material.
• Be factual and informative. Most online readers are looking for information or researching a product or service. Avoid excessive promotional language and “land-fill” sentences. These are sentences that are used to increase the word count and have no real value to the reader.
• Throughout the page use sub-headings, bolded text, bullet lists and links where appropriate. Avoid massive blocks of text.
• Have clear calls-to-action. Users should not have to look for the next step. Users like actionable content.
• Use numerals instead of spelling out numbers where they represent figures or facts. This is against traditional copywriting standards but is expected when writing for the online medium.

Many writers struggle with the non-traditional methods of writing content for a Web page.  It goes against how we have been taught to write in schools.  The Internet has changed reader behavior so we must be dynamic and cater to these changes.  A great Web site for more information is the Jakob Nielsen site: http://www.useit.com/papers/webwriting/.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that users with a high-literacy level scan Web content.  How do we cater to the low-literacy user?

We will talk about that in another post.

 [LF1] Link http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html

Have some experience writing effective Web content? Or perhaps a question for our Web expert? Leave us a COMMENT.

LISA—Read more about this editor

What Do We Mean By “Voice”?

One of the most elusive terms when discussing fiction is Voice (especially when it is capitalized). You will hear the word get thrown around in so many different directions and meaning so many different things to so many different people that it often becomes useless when trying to critique a work-in-progress in a workshop setting or within the editor/writer give-and-take. As both a teacher and editor, one of the first things that I try to do with my writers is to settle on a critical vocabulary that we can both understand and agree upon, so that when we get to the nitty-gritty of evaluating and critiquing manuscripts, there are no misunderstandings.

Voice, because of its expansive definition, is one of the most important terms to define and agree upon. Often we hear the term in its more sweeping usage—when, for instance, we speak of a young writer “finding her voice”; or of the “voice of a Dickens, or a García Márquez,” so distinctive on the page that a reader can choose a passage from among many and recognize it as the specific writer’s. On the opposite end of the spectrum, in a much narrower definition, we often hear readers speak of the voice of an individual character—one of the many particulars that differentiate him from other characters. As an editor, I use the term in its more direct relationship to the text or narration, often qualifying it as the narrative voice.

Voice is one of the craft elements that the reader experiences most directly and immediately. There is no story without the narrative voice, whether it is a very familiar first-person narrator or a distant omniscient one. Voice is the lens, the vehicle, through which the reader experiences all the other elements that make up the story. As an editor, therefore, it is important to define this term as precisely as possible, without any of the mythical baggage that comes when speaking about Voice in its capitalized and more mythical form.

Three Modes of Voice

I break the narrative voice into three distinctive categories, which guide the reader through the external world of the story, and through two levels of the internal world of characters. Contemporary fiction depends on these three modes almost exclusively. And as a writer, especially when engaged in the process of middle or late revision, it is important to know the modes the story relies on and the dramatic rationale for such reliance.

• The first mode is the descriptive voice. This is the part of the narrative responsible for relating to the reader most of the external world of the story, including the concrete world, the action, the spoken dialogue, the smells, textures, tastes and so on—essentially anything that can be perceived with the five senses. Very few stories can survive without the descriptive voice, since the world of the senses is the stage where most of our stories take place. 
• The second mode is the reflective voice. This is when the narrative begins to delve into the inner landscape of specific characters. The reflective voice is one of interpretation, processing and judgment on what the descriptive voice has laid out for the reader, whether on an action, a place or another character’s physical quality. Unlike the descriptive voice, which can often belong only to an impersonal third-person narrator, the reflective voice often occurs as a sort of duet, being at once the voice of the narrator and of the specific character whose ruminations we inhabit. Very few examples in contemporary fiction exist without a healthy dose of the reflective voice. In fact, the best of contemporary fiction seems to strike a powerful balance between these first two modes, often weaving them together in the same sentence.
• The third major mode is the direct internal voice, otherwise known in literature courses as stream-of-consciousness. It is an internal mode like the reflective voice, but it often attempts something much more radical: to directly transcribe the thoughts of an individual character as they occur. Some writers, like Proust, argue that such a task is impossible—that, since thoughts occur in the evanescent present, they are therefore not verbal or subject to the linear laws of language. Other writers, like Joyce, spend their whole lives proving that indeed the pattern of thoughts could be replicated on the page.  In contemporary fiction, however, this remains the least deployed of the three modes, but it is nevertheless a very powerful way to approach certain characterizations.

It is through establishing these clear definitions of some of the most difficult terms in the jargon of workshops and editing that I can more confidently approach each manuscript as a coach and editor.

Do you struggle with the issue of voice in your fiction writing? Or perhaps have a question for our novel expert? Or some techniques of your own that you’d like to share? Leave us a COMMENT.

MATEO—Read more about this editor

What is correct English? Is it the English spoken on TV?  Is it a dialect of English, such as British English or American English?  Could it be a variety within American English, such as Mid-Western English or Southern English?

Is correct English what the grammar books tell us to say or write? Should written English be more correct than spoken English?

The answers to these questions may be “Yes” or “All of the above.” It really depends on who is asking the question and who is giving the answer.

People look at language in different ways. Linguists (like myself) are people who deal with the science of language and language change. Most linguists are Descriptivists who describe what is said in the language. Descriptivists don’t judge how the language (in our case, English) should be spoken. They just analyze and observe how it is being used. Descriptivists don’t judge any variety or dialect of English. They think that American English is just as good or correct as British English and that Mid-Western English is not any better or worse than Southern English.

Prescriptivists, on the other hand, argue that there are certain rules of the English language (many handed down from Latin and Greek) and these rules must be followed. Prescriptivists are often grade-school English teachers, sometimes grammar book writers, or others who believe that the language must not change.

Let’s look at some examples and how Descriptivists and Prescriptivists would react to them.

Example:                                          

1.  She thinks different from me.

     Drive slow.

     Speak clear.                      

Prescriptivists would say that the use of an adjective  instead of the adverb (differently, slowly, clearly) in the examples above is totally incorrect. It should be: She thinks differently from me; Drive slowly; Speak clearly.

Descriptivists might mourn the increasing loss of the adverb in American English, but would describe the above examples as an inevitable product of language change.

2. Give it to Joe and I.

    Sally is against you and I

    It’s between John and I

Prescriptivists would say that we should use the objective case of the pronoun here (me, instead of I ) because only objective case pronouns should be used after prepositions (to, against, between).

Descriptivists would say that the use of the subject pronoun (I ) is a case of hypercorrection. Because we have generally used John and I in the subject position in a sentence,   (John and I are leaving now), it has come into use even when the phrase occurs after a preposition (It’s between John and I).

So who decides what is correct?  What should the student of English as a second language do?  As a textbook writer of many books in English for foreign students, as well as a university professor and teacher-trainer, here is my advice:

If possible, learn the rule as stated in the grammar books, but be aware that you will probably hear an alternate expression in spoken English. In written English, try to follow the prescriptive rule.

For example,  the polite request, May I have a drink, please?  will often be heard as Can I have a drink?  The question Whom did you bring? illustrates the prescriptive rule of using the objective form whom, but we rarely use that in spoken English. We are told to use It’s  I  in response to the question, Who is it?, but we would sound very archaic if we followed that rule, instead of just saying It’s me.    

The English language is changing constantly. We are judged on how we speak the language and how we write it. Generally, I tell my students that Standard Spoken American English is that variety heard on national television in broadcasters’ speech. I think this is a good rule of thumb for educated usage. So, for example, if they hear between you and I in the speech of educated people, it probably means the language is changing and that is becoming acceptable in Standard Spoken American English.

However, in written English, the criteria for acceptability are more formal and closer to the rules of the prescriptivist. In written English, especially in Business English, you should use the more formal expressions.

So here’s a parting piece of advice for written English: When in doubt, follow the rule. In spoken English, follow your ear.

Do you struggle with issues of English grammar and usage? Have some experiences you’d like to share? Or perhaps a question for our ESL expert? Leave us a COMMENT.

MARILYN—Read more about this editor

Ask someone you know the following question: “What do you do?” More than likely, you’ll get a list—sometimes a very long list—of where the person has worked and what positions s/he held there. Does that tell you about skill level? Does that explain what s/he has to offer in any new situation? No, it does not.

In a job interview, the standard first question asks the interviewee to describe him/herself. I call this your “60-second commercial” opportunity.  All too often this is an opportunity wasted, when it is answered with yet another list: “I’m dependable, trustworthy, hardworking, and honest.” I guess the interviewer is supposed to take the word of the complete stranger sitting in front of him as fact: “You say that you’re honest and work hard. Ok—you’re hired!” If only it were that easy.

These two examples show what I refer to as laundry lists: lists of information that don’t communicate much at all. We tend to use words and titles that have had some level of importance in our past lives. We list our job titles instead of the transferrable skills we possess because of the positions we once held. We use those ever-popular adjectives to describe our skills, but forget the actual skills entirely! This is the trap that many job seekers fall into. The key to being the successful candidate in the job search is to put your laundry list aside and refocus attention on your true skills—more specifically, your transferrable skills.

Transferrable skills are those that you have acquired through education and/or experience, and which you will be taking with you to the next position you hold . . . and the next . . .and the next. I suggest that we be selfish with our time and get the most out of every experience—make our experiences valuable for a lifetime.

When gathering information for your resumé or interview, do the following two evaluations:

•1.       Evaluate your education:

• Did I create or work on any projects, research, or presentations that are related to this next step in my career?
• Would the reader or interviewer be interested in this information?
• Does the reader or interviewer have to assume anything (degree/school/minor), or am I being clear?
• Why is my education any better than that of my competitors for this position?

•2.       Evaluate your experiences:

• Are my professional experiences related to the specific position for which I am applying? If so, how?
• Are the descriptions of my experiences focused on what I am able to do versus what I was expected to do?
• Do I have any volunteer work or unpaid experiences that are related to my career?
• What about my experience makes me an excellent candidate for this particular job?

After you have had the chance to evaluate these important details, you are ready to start a conversation with yourself and potential employers. You will be able to begin talking about what you can offer to a new situation instead of focusing on the laundry list of titles you have held in the past.

When I am asked, “What do you do?” I say, “I assist individuals in their search for a career fit. I use assessments and one-on-one interviewing to identify strengths, skills, and areas for improvement.”  I could have said, “I’m a career coach. I talk a lot. I’m a people person.” But while the latter answer is just a laundry list without much meaning, the former sincerely describes what I can offer to the new position I seek. And in the end, the employer is not so much interested in what you have done in the past as in how your past experiences point to what you can do in the job you now seek.

Do you have a question or thought you’d like to share with our Career Services specialist? Leave us a COMMENT.

CHRIS—Read more about this editor

I’ve probably never been to a faculty cocktail party that didn’t involve at least a few funny stories of failed student attempts at pulling one over on the professor. And most of those involve some form of cheating—the most clever attempts always in the realm of plagiarism.

I recall an indignant C+ student who was shocked that I might think his paper was not entirely his own. When asked how he came up with the phrase “eschatalogically and millennially focused,” he insisted that he looked it up. But why had he looked it up—what caused those words to occur to him? OK … that wasn’t such a clever attempt.

One of my colleagues shared the story of a student who plagiarized in her course, pilfering from the professor’s own doctoral dissertation! I suppose that one wasn’t very clever either—but he certainly gets points for a gutsy move!

My all-time favorite (so far!) was a young woman who argued with me for 20 minutes, insisting that the work was entirely her own until, having had the plagiarism proven beyond a reasonable doubt, she resorted to a tearful cry of, “But I’m having my period!” Clearly she didn’t know that the standard excuse in these cases is to say, “I didn’t know you couldn’t do that.”

Well … you can’t. Whether you’re ‘borrowing’ someone else’s words OR his or her ideas (which you’ve carefully masked in your own words), the material belongs to someone else, and passing it off as your own will get you in a whole heap of trouble—from a failing grade on the paper to dismissal from a program. If you get caught. And here’s the thing: you probably will.

Getting Caught

There was a time when catching plagiarism required a certain amount of resourcefulness on the part of the professor. Like a literary source critic, the professor would look for:

• Fluctuations in style
• Uncharacteristic vocabulary
• Harsh connections
• Deviations in perspective
• The failure of the written work to address the specific topic assigned
• Inconsistencies in format
• The unavailability of sources cited

And, of course, there’s always the possibility that a competent expert in the field might actually recognize the material!

Today, it doesn’t take much resourcefulness at all to catch plagiarism; it takes a computer. In addition to all of these traditional methods of recognizing plagiarism, it’s now standard fare for individual professors—and entire universities—to employ plagiarism-checking software as a matter of routine. And, while these programs do rely (at least in part) on matching words and phrases to existing sources, the more sophisticated programs also check the internal consistency of the vocabulary, style, and format of the document being submitted. Some of the more popular programs currently available are these:

• TurnItIn
• CheckForPlagiarism
• EVE2 Plagiarism Detection System
• iThenticate
• LexisNexis CopyGuard
• DOC Cop
• EssayFraud

Of course, not all plagiarism is intentional. But here’s the problem: intention cannot be proven. Whether or not you knew it wasn’t allowed, you can be charged with plagiarism if you’ve:

• Used someone else’s words without placing them within quotation marks (or within block quotation format, if the quotation is long enough);
• Paraphrased in your own words someone else’s words or ideas without citing the source;
• Rearranged a quotation and/or replaced some words so that it is not exact, and then passed it off as your own;
• Included data from a source that you did not cite;
• Cited the wrong source for material that you’ve borrowed;
• Included your own, previously-submitted material as original to the present assignment; or, of course, if you’ve
• Submitted someone else’s work and called it your own.

Avoiding Plagiarism

After years as a professional editor, following upon nearly two decades as a college professor, I’m astounded by the number of papers I’ve read that have involved plagiarism—even at the doctoral level, where the stakes are extremely high. I like to think that most of it is unintentional. That, in itself, is rather unnerving, however, since it means that you can fall into this trap, too! If your intention is to pass off someone’s work as your own, there’s no advice I can give other than, “Proceed at your own risk, and be prepared for the consequences; any professor who cares to catch you probably will.” If your intention is to avoid plagiarism of the unintentional variety, however, here are a few tips that might help:

• Beware of paraphrasing. If you do it, make sure that you’re not simply changing a few words. And if you are paraphrasing, it’s obviously someone else’s material—so cite it!
• Never use someone else’s words without (a) quotation marks (or block quotation format), and (b) a source citation.
• Do not cut-and-paste from any source without citing that source.
• Be aware of the citation conventions of your prevailing style sheet (i.e., APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, etc.), and take care to follow them precisely.
• If time and resources allow, have your paper edited by a reputable professional.
• Remember that the only material that may be ‘borrowed’ without citation is material that is considered ‘common knowledge.’ This area presents the greatest risk for unintentional plagiarism, but the solution is simple: “When in doubt, CITE!”
• Consider employing a plagiarism-checking service on your own. Several of the services listed above are available for individual use, and other—even free—plagiarism checkers are available online.

For Further Information

There are some excellent resources available on the Web for getting information on plagiarism, how to avoid it, and how to detect it. Check out some of these:

• Plagiarism.org is a well-organized, clearly-presented resource for understanding what plagiarism is, understanding what lies behind it, and learning to avoid it.
• Plagiarized.com is an online guide to Internet plagiarism, with information about plagiarism and its underlying causes, news, detection tips, prevention tips, and more.
• The OWL at Purdue is a comprehensive, free, online writing resource. Its “plagiarism” pages include information on recognizing plagiarism, tips for avoiding it, and best practices for teachers to deter it.
• Northwestern University provides a set of tips for avoiding plagiarism, along with some excellent examples of how to use borrowed material appropriately.
• “Plagiarism Stoppers: A Teachers Guide” offers links to online detection tips, free plagiarism detection sites, prevention training, and some potential paper mills.

Have your own experience to share? Or questions about plagiarism or academic writing? Leave us a COMMENT.

ALBERT—Read more about this editor