Site Search : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus

Blog Du Jour

Wed Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2008

These nonprofit groups aim to empower kids and grownups through writing and storytelling. Please check them out - and give them your support!

WriteGirl

826LA

StoryCorps

Word Count

You Got Rhythm

Wed Apr 16 00:00:00 EDT 2008

Like music, writing has rhythm. Think of Shakespeare. He wrote his plays in iambic pentameter: Da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum, da dum. Okay, I know you're not Shakespeare but you and yours sales letter or your school essay or your e-zine article have rhythm too -- whether you know it or not. The beat that exists behind your writing is a key part of what we call your writing voice. It makes your work unique and recognizable. It expresses your personality. It's part of what makes you, you.

Dog Eared

Music Writing

Tue Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2008

If you're interested in writing about music, these books will give you guidance and inspiration:

A Short Guide to Writing About Music

Best Music Writing 2007

Writing About Music

Writing About Music: An Introductory Guide

VT Tip o' the Week

Settings Panel: Display Settings

Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 EDT 2008

This sub-panel is where you can control most of the aspects of how the main display of the Visual Thesaurus looks.

Display. Allows you to toggle between a 2-D and 3-D display of the Visual Thesaurus

Scale. Allows you to increase or decrease the size of the Visual Thesaurus display. This is a useful when the display fills with densely related words and meanings. By increasing the scale, you can zoom into the cluster in greater detail.

Font Size. Allows you to increase or decrease the font size of words in the VT display.

Candlepower

Branding: A Primer

Mon Apr 14 00:00:00 EDT 2008

With this column, we introduce the Visual Thesaurus' newest columnists, Simon Glickman and Julia Rubiner of Editorial Emergency! Read our recent interview with Simon here.

We brand ourselves. It's what human beings do. Whether we wish to conform to some social or cultural norm (the traditional blue button-down worn by generations of IBM programmers) or stand out as rugged individualists (the prescription bottle in the earlobe hole of a kid I saw on a Los Angeles sidewalk), we are forever distinguishing ourselves.

Backstory

Leighton Gage, Author of "Blood of the Wicked"

Fri Apr 11 00:00:00 EDT 2008

I was sitting on my grandfather's lap. I understood the part about getting the page you're reading done. Getting it done was exactly what I wanted him to do. Seven-year-old boys are not big on patience. Or poetry either. I was about to suggest we do the Three Little Pigs all over again. But when I craned my head to look up at him, I saw a tear forming in the corner of his eye.

Blog Excerpts

Words in the Brain

Thu Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2008

Ever wonder where, exactly, words are stored in your brain? We thought so! Read the Sharp Brains blog's fascinating explanation, plus give your own gray matter a workout with a word-associations exercise. Check it all out here.

Blog Du Jour

Sharpen Your Editing Pencil

Wed Apr 09 00:00:00 EDT 2008

These sites offer discussions, training, workshops, exercises and other resources for copy editors and journalists wanting to improve their craft.

Teachers at Work

Websites, Wikis and Blogs in the Classroom

Wed Apr 09 00:00:00 EDT 2008

My Juniors are beginning research papers this month, so last week, I broke the news to them, as I do every year: For their papers, they'll have to get up from their computers, go to an actual library building, and do some of their research with old-fashioned paper sources: newspapers, magazines, books. The horror in their eyes grows stronger every year, for each subsequent class I encounter lives more and more enmeshed in the online world. Yet, like my fellow teachers, I persevere with my insistence, for we know that research is a skill best learned in a library.