Guides
Every section we cover, with the explainers that go with it.
Drafting
Model
- How do I finish a first draft? Finish a first draft by treating generative drafting and evaluative editing as separate cognitive acts, with a concrete finish-line defined by argument completeness not prose polish.
- How do I outline an article? Build an article outline that derives its structure from the questions your reader needs answered and the evidence you can supply, not from decorative headings.
- How do I start a piece of writing? Move from a blank page to a testable provisional claim by identifying your reader, stating your purpose, and formulating a starting hypothesis you can check against evidence.
- How do I write a clear introduction? Write an introduction that supplies what your specific reader needs at the point of entry, managing the headline-body gap rather than ignoring it.
- What makes a strong paragraph? A strong nonfiction paragraph integrates claim, evidence, development, and transition, with the given-new contract governing whether the sequence feels coherent to a reader.
Editing and style
Model
- How do I cut unnecessary words? Cut repetition, throat-clearing, and empty modifiers; keep qualifiers that carry evidentiary weight. Concision without flattening voice.
- How do I edit my own writing? You cannot edit what you just wrote. Use a cooling-off period and separate passes for structure, claims, sentences, and surface errors.
- How do I make sentences clearer? Put a concrete actor in the subject slot, use a verb that names the action, and order information from given to new for clearer sentences.
- What is the difference between editing and proofreading? Editing changes what a nonfiction text says and how it argues; proofreading fixes errors in what is already decided. Learn the pass order.
- When should I use active or passive voice? Active voice names the actor; passive voice names the recipient or action. Choose by purpose and context, not by blanket rule.
Publishing and public argument
Model
- How do I make an argument without overstating it? How to match claim strength to evidence and name limits so your argument does not overstate what the source traceability supports.
- How do I pitch an article? How to pitch an article by matching publication, angle, evidence, and proof of fit using claim-evidence-warrant discipline.
- How do I write about politics responsibly? How to write about politics responsibly by tracing claims, naming uncertainty, avoiding straw-person distance, and planning corrections.
- How should writers correct mistakes? How to correct published mistakes transparently by naming the original claim, the error, the corrected claim, and the source traceability path.
- Traditional publishing or self-publishing? Compare traditional and self-publishing across control, distribution, cost, and work, separating durable principles from platform mechanics.
Reading
Model
- How do I choose what to read next? How to choose what to read next by building a question-led selection process that matches texts to the questions you actually want answered.
- How do I read more critically? How to read critically by tracking claims, evidence, assumptions, and omissions so you can see what a text actually requires you to accept.
- How do I remember what I read? How to remember what you read using retrieval practice, structured notes, and purposeful review instead of passive re-reading.
- How should a book review work? How to write a book review that describes, analyzes, and evaluates a text using the same claim-evidence-warrant discipline as rigorous editing.
- What is close reading? What close reading is, and how its attention to language, form, and pattern applies to nonfiction argument analysis rather than literary texts.
Research and evidence
Model
- How do I evaluate a source? Evaluate a source by testing its authority, evidence, date, purpose, and corroboration against the specific claim it must support.
- How do I fact-check an article? How to fact-check an article by building a claim inventory and verifying each assertion against the strongest available primary evidence.
- How do I quote a source fairly? How to quote a source fairly by preserving context, accuracy, selection, and attribution so the quoted claim matches the original meaning.
- How do I take useful research notes? How to take research notes that keep quotations, paraphrases, and your own ideas separate so every claim stays traceable to its source.
- What is a primary source? A primary source is the thing your research question is about. The same document can be primary for one question and secondary for another.