7 Books That Will Help You Land Your First Job

Graduation. Ten letters that spell either “opportunity,” or “pure, unadulterated terror,” depending on your plans for after you walk across the stage and officially become a college grad. If you have your post-grad life figured out, congratulations! You’re ahead of the game. Kick back, read a book, and wait for real life to hit you.

But if you have no idea what you’re going to do, or are hustling to land that first gig, don’t worry. We’ve all been there. While career planning can be maddening, you will get through this intermediary period and arise from the ashes of your college career like a glorious, mature phoenix.

You’ve got this.

Since books can often help you get through the slog of job hunting and career planning, we partnered with Textbooks.com to create a reading list for college grads. Here are a few books that will help you land that gig as a designer, engineer, teacher, fortune cookie writer, or whatever it is you’ve decided to be.

1 What Color Is Your Parachute? 2017

Often considered one of the classic job search books, What Color Is Your Parachute? is updated annually to provide the most up-to-date information to job seekers. This book’s combination of current tactics and age-old advice makes this a must-read for anyone engaged in a long or difficult job search.

2 The 2-Hour Job Search

Although Parachute is a classic, it has been criticized for its more traditional approach to job hunting. The 2-Hour Job Search is the exact opposite. This manual for the Internet age of job hunting will help you navigate the online jobscape in a manageable way. Although you may take more than two hours to land an interview, the tips in this book are solid.

3 Welcome to the Real World

Lauren Berger has gained widespread fame as The Intern Queen, and her first work of nonfiction is just as practical and down-to-earth as the section of her blog by the same name. This sizeable tome covers everything from time management to angling for a promotion and will prove invaluable once you land your first gig.

4 Congratulations, by the Way

When you reach the point in your job search where you’ve sent in one too many cover letters, updated your resume for the millionth time, and just need a break, take heart—we’ve all been there. George Saunders’ advice to the class of 2013 can help you push through. His short but powerful speech on kindness can put even the most stressful of life’s transitions in context. Here’s a taste of his refreshing prose:

There’s a confusion in each of us, a sickness, really: selfishness. But there’s also a cure. So be a good and proactive and even somewhat desperate patient on your own behalf — seek out the most efficacious anti-selfishness medicines, energetically, for the rest of your life.

5 Now What?

Not sure what career path you want to take? Check out this manual for finding your passion and pursuing it. Now What? presents a no-nonsense approach to finding your (employable) passion, which can be helpful for recent grads awash in feel-good career advice.

6 The Complete Q&A Job Interview Book

If you need more practical interview tips, this compendium of questions and answers can be your guide. Come for the example questions and answers, stay for the truth bombs about proper interview etiquette.

Here’s a tip: Need help writing emails before and after your interview? We have a guide for that.

7 The Elements of Resume Style

Your campus career services can only take your resume so far. If you need detailed information on resume formats for your field, this Strunk and White–esque guide is where it’s at. Need something a little shorter? We also have a few blogs you can use to get your resume in fighting shape.

Have you read a book that changed your perspective on your career after graduation? Share it in the comments below!

NBA Grammar Power Rankings

Since we launched our NFL Grammar Power Rankings (followed by MLB and college football), sports fans and journalists alike have urged us: “Do basketball next!” Basketball season has finally arrived, so we put NBA fans to the grammar test.

Who’s shooting bricks and who’s getting nothin’ but net when it comes to grammar, spelling, and punctuation? We began by collecting the first five comments posted under articles on each official SB Nation NBA team blog until we’d gathered a total of 100 comments (of 50 words or more) for each team. Using Grammarly’s algorithms, we identified the errors, and then a team of live proofreaders verified and tallied them. We counted only black-and-white mistakes such as misspellings, wrong and missing punctuation, misused or missing words, and subject-verb disagreement.

To avoid skewing the rankings, we didn’t penalize catchphrases like “da Bulls,” Internet lingo, common slang, team nicknames, or stylistic variations like serial comma usage. Finally, we calculated the average number of mistakes per one hundred words by dividing the total word count of the comments by the total number of mistakes for each team.

The Upper Midwest scored a win, with the Minnesota Timberwolves coming in on top and Wisconsin’s Milwaukee Bucks landing at third. The Denver Nuggets pulled in just behind the Wolves at second. The Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Utah Jazz didn’t fare as well, landing in the bottom three.

Despite coming in twelfth overall, Knicks fans had the most diverse vocabularies, using twenty-five unique words per one hundred words. Check out our infographic to find out where your team’s fan base ranked and even learn a few of their favorite words.

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Avoid the 7 Blogging Mistakes That Reduce Your Traffic

When you start blogging, you can almost smell success in terms of your marketing strategies. Blogging can be a powerful way to expand your audience, but if you do it wrong it can work the other way. Below are seven blogging mistakes you may not be aware you are committing.

Instability in blog posting

Be direct and make sure your message is clear.

People are intelligent and capable of determining what they believe and what they do not. Little mistakes, slight inaccuracies, and misunderstandings can easily break their trust. Additionally, blogs that come across as vague make it difficult for readers to understand exactly what your message is.

Wasting too much time writing

How can people read your blog if they never discover it?

Spending all your time writing blog posts may distract you from other important matters, like marketing. Yes, writing blogs—especially if you want to create valuable ones—can become time-consuming, but if you spend too much time writing, it may defeat the purpose of the blog you spent all your time on. Leave time to work on marketing your blog and finding effective distribution channels for your articles.

Keyword stuffing

Too many keywords in a post can signal to Google that your content is spam. Focus on naturally incorporating long-tail keywords.

Keyword stuffing for new bloggers may not come easy, but it’s not a habit worth cultivating. Stuffing your articles with keywords may lead Google to tag your blog as spam. Rather than overloading your post with keywords, improve your search ranking by using long-tail keywords (specific phrases directly related to your content) together with LSI keywords (latent semantic indexing keywords—peripheral keywords that are related to your long-tail keywords).

Multiple topic blogs

Too many topics in one blog can cause information overload.

Some bloggers think that the more information they write or the more perspectives they share, the more it will help them attract an audience. Here’s the thing: jumping all over the place will not attract a wide audience—it will cause them to lose interest. Make up your mind, focus on a single topic, and progress from there. Do not give your readers a headache trying to figure out the message you want to get across.

No categories or too many categories

A blog that has no heading organization or too many scattered categories is a pain.

Yes, you need to make use of categories or sub headers on your blog. Not having them at all (or having too many categories or sub headers) makes your blog content difficult to navigate and digest. In writing blogs, what you want is to give readers just enough of the information they need.

Disregard visitors

Check blog comments and respond promptly.

You are writing blogs to invite visitors. But failing to give them attention may discourage readers from returning. Attending to their comments or inquiries as soon as possible is a must. A visitor who is left hanging will feel unimportant and less likely to come back. They may even tell their friends about the bad experience they had with you.

Miscalculating SEO

Read a bit about SEO and make sure you’re tracking your efforts correctly.

There are many ways to make your blog rank, but if you are benchmarking your SEO poorly then you might as well say goodbye to traffic. If word density, blog structure, categories, and subcategories are not properly tracked and benchmarked, your SEO will suffer.

What are some mistakes you have made on your blog? What other tips would you give to bloggers to improve their traffic?

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Vincent Hill writes on different categories like starting a blog, content writing, blog design, and much more. His writing is not only descriptive but also meaningful. He loves to share his ideas on different categories.

Capitalization After Colons

Capitalization: First Word After a Colon

In British English, the first letter after a colon is capitalized only if it’s a proper noun or an acronym; in American English, the first word after a colon is sometimes capitalized if it begins a complete sentence.

Here are some quick tips for using colons properly:

• When a colon introduces a list of of things, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless it is a proper noun.
• When a colon introduces a phrase or an incomplete sentence that is meant to add information to the sentence before it, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless it is a proper noun.
• When a colon introduces a complete sentence, you may capitalize the first word after the colon according to some style guides. Read on for details.

When’s the last time you used a colon in your writing? Many writers avoid this punctuation mark because they’re unsure how to use it properly. Colons can be quite useful, though. Not only do they introduce lists, but they also alert the reader to an explanation of the previous sentence. Colons provide a way of expounding upon information in such a way that connects the ideas in two or more sentences.

Capitalize After Colon? (APA Style)

One of the tricky issues many writers deal with when it comes to colons is whether or not to capitalize the word following the colon. As with so many things in the English language, capitalization with colons can be complex, and many times, it’s more of a style issue than one of correctness. According to APA Style, the first word after the colon is capitalized only if it begins a complete sentence. Consider the examples below:

It’s been snowing for three days straight: the roads around here aren’t very safe for driving.

It’s been snowing for three days straight: The roads around here aren’t very safe for driving.

Capitalize After Colon? (The Chicago Manual of Style)

The Chicago Manual of Style has a slightly different perspective on whether to capitalize after colons. In their view, the word following a colon should be capitalized only if there are two explanatory sentences following the colon. Look at the examples below:

Maggie wears a brimmed cap at all times: Strong light often gives her a headache.

Maggie wears a brimmed cap at all times: strong light often gives her a headache.

Maggie wears a brimmed cap at all times: Strong light often gives her a headache. She also likes the way it looks.

Never Capitalize After Colon When Introducing a List

Both style manuals agree on one thing, though. It is never ok to capitalize the word after a colon when the word introduces a list. The following sentences illustrate this hard-and-fast rule:

Jan needed a few more items to complete her job application: A resume, cover letter, and references.

Jan needed a few more items to complete her job application: a resume, cover letter, and references.

Top 10 Student Writing Mistakes: Finals Edition

The Grammarly Editor has reviewed thousands of essays, term papers, and short stories from students of all ages. As a result, we’ve been able to collect data on the most common types of mistakes that student writers are making. As finals season approaches, take a look at the errors on the list below to brush up on your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Good writing habits will not only serve you well in school, but written accuracy benefits professionals throughout their careers.

1Spelling mistakes

Many spelling mistakes occur when incorrect homophones (words with the same pronunciation, such as “right,” “rite,” and “write”) are used in a sentence.

Watch you’re words! Spell-check may not sea words that are miss used because they are spelled rite!

Watch your words! Spell check may not see words that are misused because they are spelled right!

2Run-on sentences (no comma before a coordinating conjunction)

A coordinating conjunction connects two clauses that could be sentences on their own. You can use the acronym FANBOYS to remember the most common coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. Unless the clauses are very short and closely related, you need a comma before the conjunction. If you forget to put a comma before the conjunction, it becomes a run-on sentence.

My dog barks at the mailman but she’s too lazy to chase him.

Solution: Check to see if the clauses before and after the conjunction could be sentences on their own. If so, insert a comma before the conjunction.

My dog barks at the mailman, but she’s too lazy to chase him.

3Sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is a sentence that’s missing a subject (the thing doing the action) or a verb (the action).

An epic all-nighter!

Solution: Add a subject or verb to the fragment, as needed.

I pulled an epic all-nighter!

4No comma after an introductory phrase

An introductory phrase provides some background information and is usually followed by a comma. The comma is optional when the phrase is very short.

While a Thanksgiving commercial played on the TV she was at the library trying to study for her final exams.

While a Thanksgiving commercial played on the TV, she was at the library trying to study for her final exams.

At long last I made it home. OR: At long last, I made it home.

5Wordiness

A sentence is wordy if it uses more words than necessary to convey meaning. Wordiness often makes writing unclear.

Jessica ended up having to walk all the way home due to the fact that she missed the last train leaving Central Station.

Solution: Identify long phrases that can be replaced with a single word. Eliminate words that have the same meaning. Eliminate weak words, such as “basically” and “sort of.” Eliminate nonessential information.

Jessica walked home because she missed the last train.

6Comma splicing

A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to connect two clauses that could be sentences on their own.

He bought back-to-school clothes, his mom bought a scarf.

Solution: Add a coordinating conjunction (remember: FANBOYS) after the comma, or change the comma to a period, semicolon, or colon.

He bought back-to-school clothes, and his mom bought a scarf. OR: He bought back-to-school clothes. His mom bought a scarf.

7Comma misuse (inside a compound subject)

A compound subject uses a conjunction to connect more than one noun phrase.

My roommate, and his brother, went to see a movie.

My roommate and his brother went to see a movie.

8No commas around interrupters

Interrupters are phrases that break the flow of a sentence to provide additional detail. Put commas around interrupters.

It was unfortunately the end of winter vacation.

It was, unfortunately, the end of winter vacation.

9Squinting modifiers

A squinting modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that could modify the word before it or the word after it.

Students who study rarely get bad grades.

Solution: Put the modifier next to the word it should modify.

Students who rarely study get bad grades. OR: Students who study get bad grades rarely.

10Subject-verb agreement

Singular subjects take singular verbs and plural subjects take plural verbs.

Michael study at the library every day.

Michael studies at the library every day.

There you have it: the top ten student writing mistakes, just in time for finals. The writing skills that come from identifying common errors will help you make clearer points in your writing now and in the future. I encourage you to print out this post and take it to class with you next semester. You never know when a teacher might assign you a back-to-school essay on the first day. Happy writing and stay tuned for more tips designed to take your writing to the next level!

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs—What’s the Difference?

A verb can be described as transitive or intransitive based on whether it requires an object to express a complete thought or not. A transitive verb is one that only makes sense if it exerts its action on an object. An intransitive verb will make sense without one. Some verbs may be used both ways.

The word transitive often makes people think of transit, which leads to the mistaken assumption that the terms transitive and intransitive are just fancy ways of describing action and nonaction. But these terms have nothing to do with whether a verb is active or not. A better word to associate when you see transitive is transfer. A transitive verb needs to transfer its action to something or someone—an object. In essence, transitive means “to affect something else.”

Once you have this concept committed to memory, spotting the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs is quite easy.

How to Identify a Transitive Verb

Transitive verbs are not just verbs that can take an object; they demand objects. Without an object to affect, the sentence that a transitive verb inhabits will not seem complete.

Please bring coffee.

In this sentence, the verb bring is transitive; its object is coffee, the thing that is being brought. Without an object of some kind, this verb cannot function.

Please bring.

Bring what, or who? The question begs itself because the meaning of bring demands it.

Here are some more examples of transitive verbs and their objects.

The girls carry water to their village.

Juan threw the ball.

Could you phone the neighbors?

I caught a cold.

She loves rainbows.

Lila conveyed the message.

Each of the verbs in these sentences have objects that complete the verbs’ actions. If the objects were taken out, the results would be illogical and questions would be raised in the mind of the reader; for example, Lila conveyed. Conveyed what?

How to Identify an Intransitive Verb

An intransitive verb is the opposite of a transitive verb: it does not require an object to act upon.

They jumped.

The dog ran.

She sang.

A light was shining.

None of these verbs require an object for the sentence to make sense, and all of them can end a sentence. Some imperative forms of verbs can even make comprehensible one-word sentences.

Run!

Sing!

A number of English verbs can only be intransitive; that is, they will never make sense paired with an object. Two examples of intransitive-only verbs are arrive and die. You can’t arrive something, and you certainly can’t die something; it is impossible for an object to follow these verbs.

Transitive or Intransitive? Some Verbs Can Be Both

Many verbs can be classified as both transitive and intransitive depending on how they are used in a sentence.

Urged by the others, she sang.

She sang the national anthem at the hockey game.

After he cleaned up, he left.

He left the gift on the table.

To decide whether the verb is being used transitively or intransitively, all you need to do is determine whether the verb has an object. Does she sing something? Does he leave something? The verb is only transitive when the answer is yes.

When in doubt, look it up. In the dictionary, verbs will be listed as transitive, intransitive, or both right under the pronunciation key, and any possible differences in meaning between the two uses will be given as well.

Phrasal Verbs and Transitivity

Phrasal verbs can also be classified as transitive or intransitive.

Cindy has decided to give up sweets while she diets.

I hope Cindy doesn’t give up.

Give up is just one of many phrasal verbs that can be transitive or intransitive. Whether give up has an object or not will alter the meaning it conveys. The first sense of give up means “to forgo something,” whereas the second sense means “to stop trying.”

If we refuse to learn about transitivity, the Grammar Police will blow up our building.

When the Grammar Police confronted her about her verbs, she blew up.

The first sense of to blow up means to explode, whereas the second sense means “to express rage.”

Transitive or intransitive is just one of the many classifications a verb can have. Perhaps you will be inspired to read about more about the fascinating qualities of verbs.

Four Ways to Read More Over the Holidays

Holiday season is fun, but it’s also hectic. You may get a few days off from work or school, but with all the parties, family gatherings, feast cooking, gift shopping, and other celebratory goings-on, there may not be much time left over. What’s a bookworm to do? Get creative, that’s what! Here are four ways to sneak some reading time into even the busiest holiday schedule.

1 Share the Joy

For many, the holiday season is an opportunity to gather loved ones together and spend quality time with each other. Why not turn reading into a bonding activity? Find a funny or heartwarming short story to read aloud to your family. Who knows? It may just become a beloved holiday tradition. If nothing else, it’s a good way to keep little ones entertained and out from underfoot—your hosts will thank you.

2 Carve Out Alone Time

We get it, though. Part of the reason many of us enjoy reading is the quiet alone time. We’re not suggesting you actually hide from your friends and family over the holidays, but there’s nothing wrong with turning down an invitation in favor of a quiet night in. And if there’s still holiday prep-work to be done (gift shopping, meal planning, travel arranging), get it out of the way today. With all that done, you can spend your precious holiday time reading instead of frantically trying to cross things off your to-do list.

3 Keep Your Book Handy

Be prepared to seize any opportunity. Will you be stuck in the car for an hour traveling to Aunt Miriam’s house? Don’t waste that transit time staring into space—bring your book along! After a lovely holiday dinner, you may find yourself surrounded by happily dozing friends and family—you might have time for a whole chapter. And if you really just need a break to peruse a page or two, you can always try that age-old introvert trick: pretending you have to go to the bathroom.

4 Explore New Ways of Absorbing Books

One reason to love ebooks is that you can carry your whole library around with you on an e-reader or even your mobile phone (see no. 3 for ways to take advantage of this). But don’t forget about audiobooks. If you’ve never listened to one, give it a try. Scrubbing down the kitchen before guests arrive isn’t such a tedious chore when you can also listen to a thrilling novel.

What are your strategies for making time to read during the holiday season?