Archive for May, 2009

Looking For A Resume And Cover Letter Sample

May 31, 2009 - 7:14 am

There is a lot riding on having that perfect resume and that perfect cover letter. It could mean the difference that perfect job or a mediocre job that you aren’t really that happy at. It’s no wonder that the pressure of writing a good resume and cover letter is a little intimating to job hunters everywhere. Millions of job hunters turn to books promising to provide them with the tools to write that perfect resume. People spend hundreds of dollars on computer software that is guaranteed to produce a resume and cover letter that will get them hired to the job of their choice. For those who don’t’ want to spend money there is a whole network of free samples and articles right at their fingertips every time they log into the internet. Some people actually become obsessed with finding the perfect sample of what their resume and cover letter should be like.

While these job hunters are headed in the right direction, something that needs to be kept in mind is it’s a strong and personalized cover letter that will get them that interview. As great as these samples might sound, people should not be tempted to pass them off as their own cover letters. Each cover letter needs to be customized to the position and the company they are applying for.

A resume can be a little easier to write than a cover letter. Essentially a resume is a history of your work experience. It’s not uncommon to have only one resume on file instead of multiple ones, because let’s face it there is only so many ways you can list your experience. You can use the same resume to apply to company ABC and company XYZ. A good resume simply shows employers that you have the skills and experience that meet their criteria. The key to a good resume is to let your abilities and skills shine through.

However it’s not advisable to use the exact same cover letter for both companies because as we all know, no two jobs are alike. In fact no two companies are alike. Each company comes with its own sets of needs and you cover letter needs to state how you meet their specific needs. Why you might be a perfect match for one company might not hold true to another. Because of this it’s unadvisable to use a sample cover letter that you might find online.

That’s not to say using these examples you find as a guideline or even “tweaking” the samples to make it fit YOUR skills, YOUR personality, and show that YOU understand what the company is looking for is a bad idea. In fact these types of resumes and cover letters are very specific and could help demonstrate that you fully understand the company’s needs. Even more importantly they could help you get across the point that you are a perfect match for them.

There are many avenues for you to pursue while looking for a resume and cover letter. As was mentioned before, you can always hire someone to help you write your resume and cover letter. Or even better they will write your resume and cover letter for you. This is a costly service though and not one that I would recommend. You don’t really know these people, you only spend a small amount of time with them so why trust them with the most important tools you need for a job.

An easier less expensive route is to check out your local book store. There is usually a whole section dedicated to books geared toward people looking for help writing that perfect resume. While these books will offer samples, they also arm you with the knowledge you need to write a good resume and cover letter yourself. To me this is the greatest advantage with a how to book, it educates you. You can’t put on price on that sort of education.

Lastly, the easiest way to look for resume and cover letter samples is your computer. Walk into any computer software shop and you will find a variety of programs that will help you with your resume. It’s almost like having a professional resume maker but without the expensive cost. These programs guide you step by step through the process. If you really don’t want spend the money on software, don’t worry. There are plenty of sites dedicated to helping you write that perfect resume. Most of the time they will cost you either a small subscription fee or nothing at all. The only downside to this is that sometimes they don’t go into as much detail as say a book would. They are not always as organized as a book would be either.

As long as you are looking for resume and cover letters samples to assist you in your job search, which can only benefit you. However looking for them to copy and pass off on your own could mean sudden death in the job hunt.

Principles To Follow In Copy Writing

May 30, 2009 - 3:34 pm

Children are fond of copying almost anything they see, especially if it’s performed by an adult. Most kids now are familiar with the computer, and the many features of this amazing thing. But copying is not always interpreted with its literal meaning. There’s this process which is considered an art in itself that only well-experienced and dedicated persons can do, and this is called copy writing.

What then is copy writing? Since the birth of the internet, there have been a lot of opportunities for people who want to earn money. And copy writing is just one of them. Copy writing is defined as the art or process which involves writing marketing and sales related materials. Its primary objective is to promote a certain person, opinion, business, or idea. Different areas of business like business plans, sales letters, advertising, and other media are using copy writing. Through this process, the business is able to persuade readers or listeners to act.

Copy writing can’t be done effectively by just any individual. The person responsible for carrying out this work must follow certain principles, like:

- Knowing your very own product, this is the foundation of effective and efficient copy writing; if you know what your product is, it is easier for you to be passionate and believe in such product. It is quite unethical to sell or advertise something that you haven’t tried yourself.

- Who are your customers? In order to write the best copy writing ever possible, you must know your target customer. Identify the specific person (he/she is an executive or a homemaker), their age range, sex, etc. what you’re writing should suit your readers needs and not yourself. Test your website; most prospects leave the site because it is quite confusing or tedious.

- The benefits; your website’s home page should not contain your mission; the people cares about what benefits you can give to them whether you can make them rich, entertain, feel better, or save time. If you can catch the reader’s interest, then you’re at it.

- You have to establish trust; credibility is one thing especially on the net where you can’t actually see who your customers are, you can offer free trials, testimonials, guarantee for money back if they are not satisfied, and most of all, never forget to put your contact numbers, email addresses, or you can even put a picture of yourself. Make it appear as if you’re sitting beside each other and talking.

- Use short headings since most people only scan a home page; you must be able to grab their attention.

- There are word which you should often not use like if, should, but, could, and the like. It is best for you to use words as proven, free, breakthrough, discover, learn, benefit, complete, first, exclusive, and other positive words. Avoid using too many ‘me’ or ‘I’.

- Make it short but don’t disregard its quality.

- You have to create a sense of urgency, a time limit, for the reader to act immediately.

- You must be able to hook your prospects the very first time they enter your site.

- Grammar, spelling, and formatting; your sales effort can be killed all because of typos. Errors pertaining to grammar, exclamation marks, and caps are a big no in copy writing.

If you incorporate all this principles in copy writing, then it is a sure fire hit.

What Is Freelance Seo Writing?

May 29, 2009 - 1:57 pm

SEO writing is one of the newer forms of freelance writing spawned by the Internet Age, and as such, SEO writing is an excellent way — if at times a frustrating way — for budding writers to cut their teeth in the freelance writing scene. SEO writing takes a fair amount of imagination and some engineering grit, but if you like puzzles, then freelancing as an SEO writer will interest you.

SEO, or “Search Engine Optimization,” has its roots in the early days of the Internet. Once early Internet marketers realized they could manipulate search engine rankings with meaningless content and keywords, a whirlwind of keyword-stuffed web pages swept across the Internet, all designed to push their content — and the products they sold — to the top of search engine lists. This sharply increased user traffic and potential profits. It wasn’t uncommon to see web pages with only a few short paragraphs of copy with large, seemingly-blank areas of space. However, if you highlighted these blank areas of space with a cursor, it would reveal massive strings of invisible keywords. SEO writers used to embed invisible keywords in text to rank the webpage higher in search engines for nearly any remotely-relevant search term.

Fortunately for good web design, search engine programmers became aware of this flaw, and they refined their search engines to ignore such obvious “keyword stuffing.” This major change has made search engines rank web pages more relevant of the actual content and not the stuffed keywords. Content providers responded to this by developing SEO writing, which ideally gets the same results as open keyword-stuffing, but provides a better-designed, better-written page as well. It’s a “best of both worlds” compromise: content providers willing to invest in SEO writing get to keep their high search engine rankings and readers get more smoothly integrated and keyword-dense text.

There are bad SEO writers and good SEO writers. Bad SEO writers aren’t aware of exactly how search engines work, and will try stuffing text with ten or twenty commonly-used search terms (”sex,” “money,” and the like) ten or twenty times apiece, without caring whether the actual text reads well. These days search engines are sophisticated enough to ignore these kinds of transparent keyword-stuffing efforts, a defense which only good SEO practice can get around.

A skilled SEO writer:

- Uses only one or two search terms per page;

- Uses unique, natural-language search terms;

- Integrates search terms smoothly with text;

The difference between a good and bad SEO writer are in the results. Good SEO writers can provide actual results in the search rankings. Their SEO writing talents keep the client’s web pages on the first page of search engine results and create additional revenue for the client. Bad SEO writers don’t keep client pages in the first page of search engine results; they create nearly unreadable, transparently phony text, and don’t get paid well at all. If you want to succeed as a freelance SEO writer, you first need to learn to be a good one.

Writing integrated text is often the most difficult part of good SEO writing. The rule is you should use each search term once or twice in a 250-word block of copy. This is fine if your search term is something like “bond portfolio,” but what do you do if your search term is more like “high-yield gold investment bond package bonds”? This is where the “puzzle” aspect of SEO writing comes in: no matter how cumbersome your search term, you need to find a way to make it sound natural.

Skilled SEO writers employ some tricks for awkward keyword phrases, such as the following:

- Enclosing the search term in quotes (making it seem like a precise technical term, rather than just clunky phrase); and

- Defining the term at the opening of the article and using it further on, or drawing comparisons between two SEO terms (requiring you to refer to both frequently).

There aren’t any hard-and-fast rules to integrate keywords effectively; every keyword set is different and every article has different needs. But with imagination, you can get your prose to read naturally while still being SEO-worthy. Just remember the other principal rule: don’t overstuff keywords in text, but rather space your keywords adequately throughout the text.

Who offers SEO writing jobs? Virtually any company with enough money and enough willingness to maintain a high web presence. Be careful of the keyword lists you take on. Generally speaking, if the client has a long keyword list and he needs many keywords in his text, then most search engines will rank his webpage low and you may not be able to achieve the results he wants. To establish yourself as a freelance SEO writer (and to get some much needed practice in SEO writing), you’ll probably need to take some of these jobs at some point. Take a look on freelance writing message boards, in classified ads, and make inquiries at local businesses who either have a web presence, or who you think are ready to develop one. Chances are excellent that companies with new websites can use a skilled SEO writer.

Keep at it, learn the tricks, and remember that SEO writing is a very in-demand skill. Once you build a reputation for yourself, you can command both higher prices and higher-profile (yet easier) assignments regularly.

Write and Speak(?) for the Ear

May 28, 2009 - 10:05 am

You and I may not aspire to write great books or make great speeches. But almost all of us want something to happen when we write or speak. And, the more we tailor our words for the ears of readers and listeners, the greater our chances of getting the results we want.

By writing for the ear, I mean that spoken words can have more power than written words. After all, when we have important messages, we prefer to deliver them verbally and personally, rather than by sending a written message.

Of course, it’s not practical or possible to deliver every message verbally. But, if we can capture some of the nuances of the spoken word we can increase the power of our messages. When we write for the ear, our writing undergoes some subtle but important changes. Our words, sentences, and paragraphs change in several important ways.

Consider the number of pauses that occur when we speak. Most of us pause often, more often than when we write. To capture those pauses, use commas or one of the other ’slowing’ punctuation marks, such as colons and semicolons.

Writing for the ear also means shorter sentences. And even fragments of sentences. As you can imagine, speech tends to greater spontaneity than written expression, which means shorter sentences and more fragments.

Many of the same principles hold when we make formal speeches or presentations. Especially if we speak from prepared notes.

Whatever we say, when we speak publicly, has to go in through listeners’ ears. And so, if you’ll allow me to belabor the obvious, we need to write speeches for listeners’ ears, not our mouths.

You can call on many quick and easy techniques. For example, use short words whenever possible. Words such as ‘many’ rather than ‘numerous’; ‘use’ rather than ‘utilize’; and ‘need’ rather than ‘require’.

You can also speak for the ear by using common words rather than jargon or technical words. Step back from your speech, after writing it, and ask yourself if you use words that a child will understand.

We also want vivid words, words that fire up our imagination, that paint new images on the canvases of readers’ minds. Descriptive words that convey action and emotion, words that drive ideas into our heads.

Use active verbs and not passive verbs. Banish words like ‘is’, and ‘are’. Also, check for the word ‘being’ and rewrite to get rid of it. Bring in verbs that do something.

Now that you’ve got the words you want, put them into short sentences. One short sentence. Followed by another short sentence. But, every once in while add a longer sentence for variety and to reduce the chances of boring your audience. And, keep the ideas simple within those long sentences.

I’m biased, I know. After spending the better part of a decade writing and reading radio news copy, I think it’s a good idea to write for the ear.

Try it for yourself. Write something, read it out loud, and ask yourself about the effect it’s likely to have on readers. Re-write as necessary, and read it aloud again. Repeat the process a few times. By the time you finish you should have a well-crafted piece of writing, even if no one ever reads it aloud or hears it spoken.

This Mysterious Online World

May 27, 2009 - 5:56 pm

Online trade has been growing steadfastly during the last several years. One can purchase just as many things online as in real life. It is widely perceived that online trade is more convenient, custom-oriented and certainly quicker than traditional purchasing at the supermarket. You should not stand in line to buy the products; everything you purchased online can be delivered right to your doorstep. However, one should always remember that sometimes online trade is not a safe one. There are some instances when the customers have paid for the products yet these products have never been delivered to them.

There is also one industry where you should follow several rules which will prevent you from being cheated by unethical and fraudulent companies. This industry is online essay writing service. You are apparently aware what you should do if you are purchasing TV set or DVD player online. However, what you should pay attention to if you are resolved to buy term paper online? First check out whether you have provided the writers and researchers with the term paper topic of your essay. Remember that in many cases the customers either forgets to provide the company with the right topic or the topic is vaguely formulated. Needless to say that in this case it would, be extremely difficult even for experienced and skilled writer to research and write the paper that would match your initial instructions and what more &ndash your expectations. Term paper topics as well as instructions may vary, yet they should match the requirements set by your tutor.

Second, pay closest attention to the instruction that you provide. Make sure that these are instructions demanded by your tutor; otherwise the term paper written will not match those set by your college or university. In this case you might wound up with useless yet sometimes expensive paper. Third&ndashtry to find out about the company you are dealing with, as much as possible. You should convince yourself that the company really has professional and experienced writers who can produce high-quality, well-written custom term paper that matches the instructions and requirements set by you. If you follow these several simple advises, than there is a high probability that your custom term paper will be written according to your specifications.

A Few Dilemmas Of The Writing Journey

May 26, 2009 - 7:17 am

Authoring as a Risk-Taking Endeavor

Being an unpublished novelist poses all sorts of dilemmas. Writing is entrepreneurial in nature, more than most people realize, and it is fraught with make or break decisions. Which side of the political spectrum do you show yourself? Do you embellish this or that social issue, perhaps the one most fashionable, or do you hide from them all?

If your goal is publication for its own sake, and you’ve decided to write, say, Gothic romance number 214,386, then you do need to follow the Gothic template. But you also need to make it stand out from most of the 214,385 Gothics that came before. The burden to distinguish is higher for unpublished writers because they have no track record to give their work advanced credibility or benefit of the doubt. Yet if the novice distinguishes herself too well, then her originality may be viewed as too risky in itself.

This need to balance risks even extends to things that look simple and straightforward on paper. Take the question of how good your manuscript should be before you query it. The reference books are all unanimous in urging that your manuscript should simply be the best you can make it before submitting it. But it’s not that simple in real life. First off, many amateur writers don’t know how good their writing is relative to their own potential. This is especially true if you are trying to achieve a literary end that’s new or different, say, push a new frontier in poetry, or achieve new levels of fright in horror.

In my own case, in writing Coinage of Commitment, I was bent on writing a love story unlike any other, a mainstream tale of love at a higher level. That made this project so different that even the style I adopted needed to be distinctive, a vivid way of expression that leads readers through the characters’ souls to glimpse romantic love at breathtaking heights. That’s not exactly stock stuff, making it risky to submit and hard to know when it was good enough to send out.

Not realizing what I was getting into, I polished the manuscript as best I could, then sent it out. Two months of querying later, when on a whim I sat down to reread it, I was shocked to discover that it was not the greatest love story ever written, something I suddenly discovered was important for me to achieve. Important enough that I pulled the ms off the market and sent it to not one but two independent editors in series. Three rewrites and seven months later, I resumed the query campaign. But by then, I wondered about the stability of my improvement progress.

Sure enough, despite best intentions, my writing ability kept jumping ahead of itself. I simply couldn’t keep my hands off the ms for wanting to make it better. That meant that the sample chapters I sent out kept changing. Even after the ms was accepted for publication, I could not quench my hunger for better prose. My publisher, Saga Books, in a fit of artistic benevolence, held the presses for the extra weeks it took me to equilibrate at deciding, finally, that I could not improve a single word.

Yes, I realize that this is an unusual account. But it shows that every publishing journey is bound to be unique. So when you read simple instructions like: submit only your best work, don’t be surprised if the path in execution is more tortuous than you ever dreamed it could be.

Book Review Of No Matter What

May 25, 2009 - 8:47 pm

No Matter What

Jordana Ryan

Amira Press (2007)

ISBN 9781934475041

Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (5/07)

““No Matter What” is a very deep book. The characters have to deal with overcoming some very painful situations and emotions. This is the type of novel that you will want to read with your friends so that you can talk about it. It leads to a great deal of introspection and really makes you think about what it would be like to have faced everything that Cassandra has at such a young age. It is very hard to judge someone who has gone through so much. Enjoy this novel.”

Since age ten, Cassandra has had a difficult life. Leaving a candle burning in her home, her house burnt down and her parents died. Carrying the weight of blame and guilt at not having been the one to have died has affected all of Cassandra’s relationships. During her early teens she began dating Brenden. At seventeen, she discovers that she is pregnant. She doesn’t want to ruin Brenden’s future or be a further burden on those who have taken her in, so she runs away. Trying to raise her daughter as a single parent is really rough. Cassandra finds herself engaging in risky, promiscuous behavior as an escape, yet she finds that it just makes her life worse.

Four years after running away, Cassandra returns home to face the consequences of her decisions. She wants her daughter to have a good life and to know her father. Brenden and Cassandra have to struggle to get past the anger that he feels from her leaving him and not letting him know about his daughter. Cassandra has to deal with not feeling worthy of a man like Brenden. Other relationships also need healing.

“No Matter What” is a book about healing old wounds. Cassandra and Brenden both have to deal with serious consequences of actions that they have taken as a result of their grief from their past. Brenden’s own mother abandoned him at age five. When Cassandra left him, he did everything he could to avoid being in a committed relationship. He hurt a lot of women with his actions. He too must heal now.

“No Matter What” is a very deep book. The characters have to deal with overcoming some very painful situations and emotions. This is the type of novel that you will want to read with your friends so that you can talk about it. It leads to a great deal of introspection and really makes you think about what it would be like to have faced everything that Cassandra has at such a young age. It is very hard to judge someone who has gone through so much. Enjoy this novel.

What Is Freelance Magazine Writing?

May 24, 2009 - 8:30 am

Freelance magazine writing can be one of the most rewarding careers available to a freelance writer. Successful magazine writers are articulate, have a wide variety of interests, and know how to research a topic. Many freelance magazine writers write for various magazines, not just one, and like to write on diverse topics and sell their articles to a variety of magazines and media outlets.

The key to writing for magazines and selling what you write is knowing your market. Most magazines focus on a fairly narrow range of content. One magazine might deal with the finer points of horse grooming. Another magazine might focus on the ins and outs of toy robot collection. And yet another might cover the beauties and travel opportunities available in Bali.

This degree of specialization means that magazine editors usually have a specific idea of what articles they’re seeking, sometimes even down to a specific writing style or voice. Since magazines typically cater to a “niche” audience of educated readers, you’ll need to write well-written and interesting articles; your articles will have to feel new to an established audience. If you’re writing for a parasailing magazine, then submitting a 500-word article about the basics of parasailing just won’t do.

You have two options to write salable articles. The first is to become deeply involved with the activities or topics which the magazine covers. If you’re planning to write and sell travel articles about Germany, take at least one trip to Germany. If you’re planning to write and sell articles about cat care, spend a few days with a cat yourself (or find a knowledgeable, cat-owning friend who’s willing to give you some good, real-life information).

Writing magazine articles is a form of journalism, and often adheres to the same standards of quality and truthfulness. Would you trust a news article about declining air and water standards in a nearby town if you could tell the writer had never set foot in that town? Of course not.

Unfortunately, most of us don’t have time to take on an entirely new hobby. That’s why the second way is usually the best option: write about what you know. We’re all complicated people. We all have stories to tell. We enjoy hobbies and activities that fascinate us. We can easily uncover material for a hundred or more articles. So think about what you can write about, and what interests you. It seems hard at first, but once you sit down and start thinking about it, the article ideas will flow. Once you have your article ideas and have written articles about what you know, start looking around for magazines that might be willing to buy them. Chances are good there’s a magazine covering your interests or hobbies.

How do you find suitable magazines, and how do you ask if editors are interested? There are many ways to find appropriate publishing venues for your articles. For one, you could go to your local bookstore and search the magazine racks. If you have an independent bookstore in your area, so much the better: you may find some titles that don’t circulate at the larger chains. You can also take advantage of Writer’s Market, which list pertinent information about hundreds of magazines, including typical rates and what editors seek.

Once you’ve picked your magazine, send the editor a query letter about your article. This should be short and sweet, briefly stating who you are, your previous publication history (editors like to work with proven successes–wouldn’t you?), and your article topic. The length, topic and addressee of your query letter will depend on the magazine; you can usually find information on submissions policies in the “credits” section or on the magazine’s website.

Send off your query letter and wait. Be prepared, as well, for rejection. There are many reasons editors won’t take an article, and few of them have to do with your skills as a writer. If you get a rejection letter, just take a few minutes to mourn before starting on your next article. The hardest sale to make is always your first sale; keep up a steady stream of good, well-marketed work, and the sale will come. When it does, pat yourself on the back; you’re on your way to freelancing as a magazine writer!

What Article Directories Are Looking For

May 23, 2009 - 1:01 pm

Just in case you haven’t noticed, there are literally hundreds of article directories cropping up on the Internet. In line with Google’s Adsense program and other such programs, people are looking to get on the Internet with their Web page. One thing that most Web site owners have learned is that having articles that say something help rank them higher on the search engines instead of having jumbled up keywords on a page that doesn’t read well at all.

Article directories have a big job&ndashevery day, thousands of authors and want-to-be authors submit their articles to these directories. These authors aren’t seeking payment, but rather a link back to their site, exposure for themselves as writers and for their websites. It’s a scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours society. Many of the articles that are submitted to these directories are not articles at all, but rather blurbs of nothingness with little content and usually lacking readability. The revenue from Adsense for the article directory Web sites can be substantial, but only if they have quality articles posted on their site and if they can get it up quickly.

There is of course Spam to these article directory Web sites as well&ndashrepeat articles submitted one after another or copied-and-pasted content that has been plagiarized from the Internet and another author. This Spam and plagiarism scam is the bane of article directories and the editors that run them.

Article directories are looking for articles&ndashif your article hasn’t been accepted, it’s likely for a good cause. The articles that should be submitted to an article directory should reflect your best work&ndashremember, you are putting your name and your link to your Web site on the work, and the people who are looking at it could want to commission you to do more work for them.

The articles themselves should be clear and concise, error free and well-written. Don’t get verbose on the bane of your own existence or the antics of your dog&ndashsave these rants for your blog and keep them off the article directory sites. Your article should be lengthy, at least 400 words and definitely not less than 250 words. Anything less than this suggests a lack of thought by the author and a cheap attempt to get their name in lights with a link-back to their site without sharing anything meaningful.

It is also important to note that adult material, gambling and pharmacy content are against the terms of service of Google Adsense. Editors at article directories are careful to delete these types of articles that are submitted so as to not lose their Google Adsense account and revenues.

All in all, it is highly important to output quality articles that are informative and well-written. These types of articles are much more likely to get through onto the article directory. Avoid plagiarizing materials from the Internet at all costs&ndashmost of the larger article directories and even some of the newer, smaller ones run the copy you submit through Copyscape to scan for plagiarism. Editors at article directories are constantly barraged with emails from irate authors who claim their content has been plagiarized&ndashthe usual course of action for the editors is to delete the article completely.

Article directories are very popular and are consistently gaining in popularity as well as more and more Web sites pop up on the Internet every day in hopes of making a few dollars. Articles are used by Web site owners to increase their readership; however, it is important to note that the more copies of the articles that appear on the Internet, the lower the search engine ranking can be for any particular Web site that uses it.

Develop Your Memory

May 22, 2009 - 9:43 pm

Our memory is quite an unreliable storehouse of the data, its contents may change affected by new information. Some of the events linger in our memory for a long time, others fade very fast. On the other hand if we have remembered everything, then finally our brains would fail to discern primary from the secondary and its activity would be completely paralyzed. That is why our memory is not only the ability to remember but also to forget. Scientists distinguish three types of memory: spontaneous, short term and long term. Spontaneous memory (direct memory) keeps the information for about 1/4 seconds, and if its signals do not attract highest parts of the brains the information is erased and direct memory is filled with new signals. Short term memory lasts for 20 seconds. If the data is not introduced once again, it vanishes with no noticeable trace. The research showed that short term memory considerably improves at the age of 5 &ndash 11. Then up to 30 it remains on the same level. Later from 30 to 70 it can either progress or degenerate. Strong emotions also influence the memory characteristics. Sometimes we memorize some events because of their emotional significance to us, even if they don’t occur any more.

We always remember those things we want to learn than those which are of no interest to us. The more material is connected with other factors in various contexts and from the different points of view the better we memorize it. There are no tricks as for developing a sound memory. The best way to improve it is to learn how to arrange the information efficiently at the moment of memorization. Sometimes you can’t recollect some lists of words or figures, detailed content of the research essay you wrote a week ago. People have always tried to find ways to memorize as much information as possible. For this purpose a number of mnemotechnic methods was designed from simple limericks to complicated methods. It will be easy for you to remember a phone number or a bank account if you group the figures in larger blocks. The same refers to the list of essential purchases. If you go shopping not to forget anything divide the items you want to buy into fruit, vegetables, meat or food necessary for breakfast, dinner or supper. Rhyme and rhythm method is the basis of the rhymes. Advertising also extensively takes advantage it for a better consolidation of an advertising image in a people’s consciousness:”Don’t be afraid. Ask for Raid”. “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Colgate.” “Our custom research papers are the best, we differs from the rest”. Acronym method is also very wide spread. It consists in making abbreviated forms from the first letters of the words ( NATO, USA). Chain method is more complicated. Your aim is to associate the elements of some list with the help of mental images that reflect the connections imagined for each pair of links. So, you have to memorize a shopping list: coffee, butter, ham, eggs, chicken and cabbage. What image occurs to you first? Let it be a chicken pecking coffee grains, this chicken hatches out of the egg. The egg is in the cabbage and the leaves of the cabbage are bread, butter and ham sandwiches. Keeping this complicated surreal image you can fearlessly start off to the shop - you are sure to remember everything you wanted to buy.

Ancient Roman and Greek public speakers used special mnemotechnic methods. They recollected all the objects located on the way they walked along daily. Then they “tied” either a thesis or an argument of their speech to each of these objects. Pair association method uses both rhymes and mental images. You should find rhymes for 10 (20) figures and some words: four &ndash door, five &ndash knife, eight &ndash plate. This method is widely applied in the foreign language teaching for memorizing new words. You can also try to “tie “the impersonal figures to some significant date for you. If you have to learn a poem by heart, do it to music. In case all the efforts for creating such mnemotechnic schemes will seem too excessive in comparison with the results you get, mind the game is still worth the candle. Requiring constant mobilization of your imagination, it will develop your creative capabilities.