Writing Resources

Smashing Magazine has a fantastic article up, 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills, the title of which pretty much speaks for itself. Grammar got you confused? Need to know how to style your essays? Or perhaps want to learn how to write a fantastic copy? I’m pretty sure you’ll find something of use in Smashing’s extensive compilation.

IHT/Oxford Analytica

Hm. This probably comes a bit late, but let’s stick to the old adage that it’s better late than never. (Actually, “last ditch” comes to mind.) If you’ve never really bothered to read the news, this IHT/Oxford Analytica collaboration would probably be a little more than useful to you. If you need a quick brief on what’s been going on, or (more probably) are severely desperate, these digestible and page-long analyses should be of some help. Sure there are lots of articles to read, but search enough and you’ll find the gems among them.

Just a quick look at the links down on the first page:
INTERNATIONAL: Global financial regulation is illusory
LATIN AMERICA: FTAs generate long-term benefits
INTERNATIONAL: Financial crisis goes global

And what to expect, taken from the article about FTAs:

A parallel argument suggests that the main benefits of FTAs in developing countries lie in their long-term qualitative effects, rather than short-term quantitative gains:

• Institutional and policy stability. FTAs, particularly with industrialized countries, and their prospective benefits provide a framework that helps to lock in pro-market structural reforms and, particularly, macroeconomic discipline.

• Environmental, phytosanitary and labor standards. FTA disciplines in these areas — although risking their use as non-tariff barriers — serve as an incentive for improvements that benefit local quality of life as well as long-term growth.

Thanks Yee Sian for dropping me this link on MSN just a few minutes earlier.

GP Linkfarm 2: Backgrounders

Here are a bunch of sites for some topics you might be interested in reading up on just before the GP paper if you really have no idea what’s going on in the world today. These are all pretty readable and more or less comprehensive – without a trace of Wikipedia, at that.

As usual, suggestions for more topics and sites are more than welcome in the comments.

The sites after the jump.

GP Linkfarm

1. BBC – Religion & Ethics
This page is awesome. Covers pretty much all the ground you need for most ethical issues you might care to name, from abortion to lying to war. Enjoy.

2. Debatabase
Rather good site for finding arguments for and against a whole lot of issues.

3. Arts and Letters Daily
Article, books and essays. Random but pretty useful at times for brushing up on your general knowledge. Worth a look.

That’s all for now. Suggestions for sites welcome in the comments.

Euthanasia Writeup

This was done for a GP assignment in class. The issues and perspectives on euthanasia.

Download (53kb)

Foreign Terms

A list of foreign terms commonly used in English

Download (94kb)