Communicating in written form is like painting with words. But while being an artist requires skills few people possess, these tips can make anyone a better communicator. Set a Good Tone The best communicators are professional yet approachable in all their written communications. This means they talk to their audience rather than at them, avoiding…

It was once common for military commanders to use runners to deliver questions or a change in tactics to other units. The wise officer had this messenger repeat back his instructions to ensure that they arrived verbatim when delivered. On my bookshelves are two collections of Civil War correspondence between commanders and their subordinates. Though…

Writers-to-be, unite! Actually, writers-who-already-are, feel free to come along, too. Philip Freeman, who holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in humanities at Pepperdine University, has issued a new and more concise translation of Aristotle’s famous work, “Poetics.” Freeman’s translation is part of Princeton University Press’s ongoing Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers collection, to which the author…

The New South Wales (NSW) education curriculum for Years 3 to 10 will be undergoing major changes as policymakers attempt to address the issue of deteriorating performance. The draft curriculum, which was published on Friday for consultation, proposes the shift back towards rote learning in maths and places greater emphasis on writing skills. This builds…

Some Canadian political science professors are concerned about their students’ inability to write good essays due to poor knowledge and literacy and the ideological bent in academia. Travis Smith, a political science professor at Concordia University in Montreal, said he and his colleagues began noticing a “precipitous decline” in the quality of students’ writing roughly…