We know that one of the most frustrating things about writing a research paper is the formatting. That’s why we’ve found what we believe are the most up-to-date and relevant research paper templates in all the citation styles in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
How to write a creative brief
Giving good direction to writers for content marketing
The creative brief lays the foundation for your project. It acts as a map for your writer/creative team on how to best reach the project’s goals. You can produce creative briefs for overall marketing initiatives, advertising campaigns, just about anything that requires more than one person to be on the same page.
Today, we are going to touch base on creative briefs made specifically for writers. Think creative briefs for projects like blog posts, articles, podcasts and white papers.
First, take the time to think about what your end goal is with this project and write a creative brief that ensures both your time and the writer’s time (which they are billing you for) is not wasted.
Creative briefs can make or break whether your project is successful, so take the time to think through it and be strategic about what you write. Often times, going through the exercise of writing a creative brief can help button up your strategy and strengthen your initiatives overall.
Most creative briefs include:
A brand statement (include your brand voice/tone),
An overview of the project’s background and objectives,
The target audience for the project,
Your company’s chief competitors,
Why the audience should choose your brand
(Your brand’s value and market positioning),
Communication channels that the project will run on,
Whether or not you offer a value add, and what it will be, and
A call to action.
Click here for a simple creative brief template in Google Docs.
Here are more details on each element of the creative brief:
1. A brand/mission statement
This is a one to two sentence summary of the aims and values of your organization. Include your brand’s voice/tone, so the writer can mirror it. The tone will shape the style of writing while the voice will determine what words the writer uses.
Examples of great mission statements: LinkedIn: “To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.” Twitter: “To give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”
2. A brief overview of the project’s background and objectives
What is your objective with this project? What do you expect to gain out of it? Is it to generate more leads via SEO? Is it to sell more product via affiliate links? Objectives should be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. Is this project one piece of a larger marketing initiative? How will these pieces complement one another?
3. The target audience for the project
The simplest way to define your target audience:
Demographic (gender, age, geographic location)
What pain points do they struggle with?
What is their income?
Do they have children?
Are they married?
What career paths have they traveled?
You can literally answer these questions in only a few short sentences. Some require a simple yes or no answer.
But, if you really want to hit a home run with your campaigns, creating a buyer persona is key. A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your most ideal customer. Most times, it’s best to create two to three personas.
By providing a writer with a buyer persona as part of the creative brief, you are answering the following questions:
Who is your target audience? (outline above)
What pain points does the audience struggle with?
Where is the audience from?
What is holding the audience back from making a purchase?
What is the average income of the audience?
What goals are pushing the audience to make a purchase?
4. Your company’s chief competitors
Who are you competing with for market share/reader eyeballs? A good writer will take the information you give them and do a little research on each of your competitors. What do they have/do that you don’t? Do they blog more frequently? Are they better at working with SEO? Are they on more accurate social channels for their audiences?
If you have this information, share it.
5. Why should the audience choose your brand?
(Your brand’s value and market positioning)
One of the most important parts to include in the creative brief is why the customer should choose your brand over your competitors. That is why we ask you to outline your chief competitors above.
What perceptions of your brand may the audience already have? What do you offer differently than your competitors? If you don’t have a strong brand image, what image would you like to build?
6. Communication channels that the project will run on
Writing for a white paper is a lot different than writing for a social channel. What the audience is looking for and the amount of time they will spend on your piece varies depending on your channel. So, give your writer a heads up.
Does the piece need to be research heavy? Does it need to be shorter than 800 words?
7. Are you offering a value add? If so, what is it?
A writer should also know whether or not you provide any type of value ad to your audience. Is there a newsletter they can sign up for? A free e-book they can download? Consumers love free stuff, especially if it’s packed with valuable information that simplifies the purchasing decision or makes their lives easier.
Although the sole focus of the writing project may not have anything to do with the value ad you offer, a writer can still strategically integrate it into the piece without it overshadowing the primary objective the content.
8. Call-to-action
Writers need to know what the primary goal of the content piece is. If you don’t share the objective, then it becomes nearly impossible for the writer to craft an engaging call to action (CTA).
A lot of brands think the CTA should always be at the end of the content piece. But what if the audience doesn’t finish the entire article? A smart writer will study your intended CTA and incorporate it various times throughout the content to ensure the audience is provided with multiple opportunities to follow it.
The true value of a creative brief should never be overlooked. A writer worth partnering with will always ask for one, and may even provide you with their own outline so you can simply fill in your answers. If you don’t know the answers, a great writer will help you study your audience and objective. Once you have a detailed creative brief, you can often use it from one content project to the next by making simple tweaks.
Need a template? Click here for a simple creative brief template in Google Docs.
Tips for writing: Five (5) Ways to make sure your article stands out
Tips for Writers
Imagine you were searching the internet for something specific, you find a few links related to your search, but none of them really helped you. In fact, each link you click on is basically the same information you just read, but in different words. When you’re creating content, it’s important to write in such a way that will solve a problem. People scour the internet all day long looking for information, and the last thing they want to find is surface-level information. So, how can you differentiate yourself among several other writers? How can you provide solid content that readers will appreciate? The following are five areas to remember each time you write content.
1. Start with a compelling headline
A headline is important to tell a reader what type of information they can expect. Headlines that are more appealing and compelling will receive more traction than others. For example, let’s say a reader is trying to search the internet for tips on marketing. In the search engine, they see an article with a headline “Improve Your Marketing Skills,” and another is “10 Tips to Skyrocket Your Marketing Strategy” – Which one do you think they will choose? They will likely choose the “10 Tips” because right away they know the article is going to benefit them in 10 different ways. The other headline is okay to use, but it may not receive as much traction, compared to a well thought out headline.
2. Get to know your audience
Before you write any type of content, you need to make sure you understand the audience. Think about the message the company is trying to send. Based on the business, is the audience more laid-back and will appreciate the slight humor in the content. Maybe the audience is completely professional, and only a serious tone would work. It’s important to know what will drive your audience to keep reading your content. Although humor works for some businesses, it’s not meant for all, and it could jeopardize the size of your audience.
3. Use original ideas
Search engines are filled with similar content. A reader looking for an article is not going to benefit from reading the last ten articles she found that are the same. When writing content, make sure you provide original ideas. Successful content comes from developing creative, original, and solid angles. Do more research if you must, so you can dig deeper than previous writers.
4. Narrow your topic
Narrowing down your topic is beneficial to your readers. A reader is going to want content on a particular matter. For example, if your content involves marketing, narrow your topic down to one type of marketing. For example, instead of writing about “Comprehensive Marketing,” you could write about “Email Marketing: How to Get Started.” The second title shows the article won’t just be about marketing or just about email marketing, but it narrows it down to “How to Get Started.” By narrowing your content down, readers will be able to find what they’re looking for faster.
5. Can your content help?
Before publishing your content, make sure to ask yourself if the article you just wrote can help. Does it solve a problem? You can write any headline you want, but does the body of the content resemble the headline? It’s important to make sure that while you’re writing the content, you figure out what type of problem your reader will have and what will lead them to click on your article. Next, you’ll want to ensure that you help them solve the problem. After all, that’s why they’re reading your content.
By following the above tips, you will notice more traction on your content. Go beyond the typical surface-level content and develop content that your readers can use. Don’t waste your readers’ time; make your content stand out by offering them the help they need.
Good Content Marketing: Delivering Well-Researched and Well-Written Content
One of the toughest parts about being a content writer at a marketing agency is juggling the demands of all the clients. Here at Brafton, I could be personally writing for many different clients at once, and editing the copy for many others too. All told, I could be involved with the copy for dozens of different businesses at one time. Considering that each and every client has particular needs for their content and they all address a different audience, this can be a lot to think about and handle at any given moment.
How to become a freelance writer: 4 easy steps to getting started
Four easy steps to getting started as a freelance writer
Emily VandaI jumped into the world of full-time freelance writing because I wanted to pursue my passion - writing, and find out if I could make it financially feasible. I’ve dabbled in all types of writing, but nothing could quite prepare me for sending that first pitch, landing my first client, and negotiating a fair rate. How do you go from no published clips to having an article in a national magazine? How do you go from writing for fun or just a hobby to making it a habit? How do you sell yourself and your writing like a product? Well, here are just a few important things to consider before you send that first pitch.
Find Your Niche
I thought I was a versatile writer. And to a certain extent flexibility and versatility will go far in the freelance world. But if you don’t nail down a few topics or industries that you would be happy to write about for the rest of your life, sending those first pitches is going to be much more time consuming than it needs to be. Here’s a great exercise that helped me. Get a pen and paper, or open your word processor and write down 25-50 articles you could type up immediately with little research or hassle. When I did this, I realized I was most comfortable writing about coffee, freelance writing, and travel with a local flair. Focusing on what came naturally to me landed me a project with a national coffee magazine right away.
Get a Space
I cannot stress enough the importance of making a space for yourself. You don’t need anything extravagant. As much as a seaside villa with a mahogany writing desk sounds appealing, a desk and chair in your one room apartment or your house is all you need. It’s just helps instill the idea that this is something you are taking time and space for.
Don’t Underestimate Your Writing Samples
When I started, I had zero published clips. Imagine how depressing it was when every freelance gig included the caveat, “Send 2-3 clips.” I did, however, have a travel blog that I started to share my experiences and pictures with friends and family. Technically those were published online, just not through a third party or recognized website or magazine. But at least I had something to attach to my intro cover letters and resume. Chances are, if you want to pursue writing, you’ve done some writing and have something you could send along as a sample piece to give a feel for your style and voice.
Reboot That Resume
My resume was immaculate, that is, it worked for the world of the 9-5. I had the format nailed and was able to highlight my skills. But, a writing resume is a little different. It’s not about job experience, it’s about your writing know how. Which on paper, with my nearly zero published clips, was less than glowing. I had to figure out how to translate “years of writing and editing experience” to an actual writing resume. Potential clients want to know if you have the chops to do the job and even if you may not have a million published novels and articles, you probably have the chops. Check out other writing resumes and take a long look back at all your experience. For your first resume, you may have to get a little creative. Here are some resume templates for writers to get you started.
Just like any job, getting into the groove and gaining success is going to take time. But the key difference between getting a paid client within a month versus six months, is making sure you are fully prepared. Instead of blindly crawling around the internet hoping, with fingers crossed, for someone to take a chance on you, these are a few ways to amp up your credibility and get into the game quicker.
Do something you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.
Resume Templates for Writers: Google Docs & Microsoft Word
Whether you are a freelancer writer, business and corporate writer or bloggers, getting to write about what you are interested in or what you love can be a game changer. Find the job that's right for you using one of our easy to build resume templates: Google Docs Resume Template: for Writers Microsoft Word Resume Template: for Writers
Complex Science Writing Made Simple
From a User's Prospective:Scientific Writer shares advice
Author: Alexander Carchidi
I view the challenges of science writing as twofold: building personal understanding about the scientific topic, and succinctly passing on that understanding. Trying to explain a scientific topic to the public can quickly spiral out of control due to the amount of background context that must be built from scratch.
These two core challenges assume that the author knows enough background about the scientific topic that they’re trying to write about to successfully educate someone else — but every writer and every scientist has found themselves in the position of needing to write about something they aren’t yet knowledgeable about.
The solution to not knowing enough about a scientific topic is to perform even more research. The chances of correctly understanding and then correctly describing brand new information will be sketchy without a way to organize the new information coming in. Keeping track of information, sources, and how the source was accessed rapidly becomes a major battle. Preparing a simple Word document with snippets of information drains a lot of time: each new source must be linked along with its relevant quotations, requiring an abundance of copying, pasting, and switching windows. Some of these efforts may be replicated later when actually writing.
Each flip back and forth between separate software elements is an event boundary — a psychological transition which increases the chance of losing track of what you’re doing. Many articles will require dozens of different sources to be paraphrased or quoted. Each source must be referenced correctly, leading to hours of time lost fumbling with the transfer of information. The incentive to incorporate fewer sources in order to avoid the hassle of manipulating their information is quite strong.
Using fewer sources is a surefire way to produce weak science writing, however. In my experience, many scientists and writers have resigned themselves to performing hours of tedious research documentation. It doesn’t have to be that way.
SORC’D has a few advantages over similar research tools for scientific writing. The largest advantage is simplicity and ease of use. Research is a fluid process, and disruptions break the flow of investigation, causing unfollowed leads. SORC’D allows for extremely rapid snipping which doesn’t disrupt concentration.
I frequently spy a tidbit in a paper that I want to come back to. Before SORC’D, I’d grab the hyperlink to the entire paper — even if most of it wasn’t relevant — and paste it into a document filled with other such links. Cue time to write, and of course it’s a struggle to hunt down the exact piece that was useful in the morass of tables, figures, and text. With SORC’D, this problem has become extinct — I simply grab, tag, and move on. I know it’ll be waiting for me with the link to the rest of the article too, should I need it.
The other major advantage of SORC’D is a simple (notice how I keep coming back to simple?) organization system for your data: tagging. Sure, other systems have tagging. If you’re stuck in the stone age, you can break up individual projects into separate files to avoid getting them confused — but SORC’D lets you combine the harvesting and organizing of information.
I frequently write articles about topics within immunology, and struggle to retain the contents of research that I glossed over while hunting for other information. Now, it’s tagged based off the topic. When I sit down to write about a very narrow topic within immunology, I have all my previous research at my fingertips. Information is not only more organized, but easier to process into an understanding that is broader than the needs of today.
It’s hard to overstate how much my workflow has changed with SORC’D. Now, I err on the side of capturing information wherever my research takes me. My worries of losing focus due to complicated data recording, citation, and transfer are a thing of the past.
Streamlining my research process has led to faster and deeper understanding of the material. Rather than flicking between a dozen different browser tabs or Word documents, information that I’m interested in writing about is at my fingertips. If I want to quote directly, SORC’D is integrated with Google Docs, so it’s as simple as pushing a button. Using SORC’D is like having a second prosthetic short-term memory that I can use in addition to my own—a colossal benefit to say the least.
Science writing is a rat's nest of chasing down sources, integrating information, and attempting to explain data to an audience that may not understand the context. Using SORC'd makes the hardest step of science writing — research gathering — vastly more manageable than before.
How to Avoid Writing What Every Other Blogger Is
How to be a unique blogger
Author: Clair BelmonteWhether you’re a freelance writer driven by a brilliant idea or a company eager to get skin in the content marketing game, starting a blog can be daunting. Once inspiration strikes, it’s natural to research your competition, and the realization that your topic has already been covered by other bloggers might be enough to send you back to square one. Although there may be other prominent voices in your industry, creating your own well-researched and engaging content can help you break through the noise and gain a following, even in a seemingly saturated market. The key to attracting your ideal audience is innovation. Content marketing focuses on bringing value to your customer, so whether you create a colorful infographic, a detailed how-to guide, or an article of industry tips, the goal is primarily to attract readers who find your content (and your company) interesting and informative. By crafting your blog with a human-centric approach and keeping your audience at the forefront, you can write about the topics most relevant to your audience, stay up to date on industry happenings, and attract potential customers online.
Here are a few tips on how to find blogging ideas.
Create a Mindmap If coming up with blog topics seems overwhelming, that may be because you’re looking at your topic too broadly. Take a step back during your brainstorming session and start with what inspired you to begin your blog. Narrow this idea down to one word and write it in the middle of a piece of paper. Many of you may remember mindmapping from grade school, but this elementary trick can be just what you need to get the ideas rolling.
Once the initial word is on the page, start by reframing your question. Instead of asking “What should I blog about,” ask instead, “what questions do our customers typically ask” or “what were my initial questions when I started this hobby?” If you’re brainstorming with a team, work together to create word associations branching off the first word that begin to answer this question, then continue to branch off the subsequent ideas. Your first few thoughts may seem obvious, and that’s okay; the real meat of the exercise comes when you start making unexpected connections further from the center.
By getting all your ideas on paper without censoring yourself or your team, you can start to tap into the juicy topics that will keep your audience reading.
Read Press Releases Publicists in all industries are eager to get press releases in front of new audiences, so take advantage to stay updated on topics relevant to your blog. Find companies or thought leaders in your industry and reach out to their publicist on LinkedIn; since it’s a publicist’s job to spread the word on new products and updates, many are willing to add you to their email distribution list. Regularly receiving updates on your industry can help you connect the dots between your expertise and something interesting happening in the market, allowing you to be ahead of the game on a recent story.
If you’re not interested in any specific companies, scour websites like PRWeb.com or PRNewswire.com to gather new ideas. These are sites that publicists use to distribute press releases, so they are ripe with new information about your industry. On PRNewswire, you can sign up as a blogger or journalist, where you can choose your industry of interest to receive emails with new press releases along with relevant images and source information. While you may have to wade through a lot of irrelevant press releases to find the best topics for your blog, these sites are a consistent and ever-changing source of inspiration.
Leverage Social Media Stay ahead of breaking news by searching social media for inspiration. Follow industry experts and trendy up-and-comers on Twitter and Instagram to get the first scoop on your industry. Particularly if one of your target audiences is millennials, using social media to generate blog post ideas shows that you are informed and trustworthy.
Search for hashtags or keywords relevant to your industry and look for questions from the community on Twitter, as well as sites like reddit or Quora. This simple search can offer immense insight into what intrigues or confuses your ideal readers, and many of those questions can be turned into informative blog posts. Jump on these opportunities to provide the answers for questions like “What backpack is best for my budget” by looking not just at the question, but at the inquirer as well, and tailoring the answers to fit the searcher’s intent.
Content marketing is a great way to differentiate yourself and become a thought leader in your industry, but all thought leaders have to start out somewhere. Use these tips to help engage your audience in your first post and beyond.
Advisor TV: Startup Stories Bob Girolamo, Founder at Sorc'd
Technori podcast: “It’s Pinterest for writers.” Sorc’d lets you be more organized!
Great speaking with Scott Kitun from Technori.Click here to see the podcast.
Sorc'd featured in Forbes
A digital highlighter that allowed people to save the most important pieces of their everyday reads, then they could save a lot of time not re-searching through articles and emails they had already read...Emily and Bob were determined to make Sorc’d a successful solution with practical purposes that people could actually use on a daily basis. Read entire article on Forbes.com
Office 365 App Builder Profile: Sorc'd
Sorc’d Makes the Researching and Writing Process Smoother with Cloud-Based Content Curator That's Integrated with Office 365 for Easier Collaboration
Highlight and organize snippets of information you find relevant directly from within your browser. Combat the wasted hours professionals spend every week searching and gathering information. Save only the important pieces with automatic linkbacks to the original source. Say goodbye to bookmarking, and copying and pasting forever.
Recall snippets you've found or discover new ones from others within the cloud-based repository of invaluable information. Small snippets are universally accessible and easily digestible, providing the perfect solution to the majority of professionals who say their quality of work suffers because they can’t sort information fast enough.
Cite and source snippets with a single click directly within Office 365. Choose to have original source URLs built in or after snippets you import. Re-researching will be a thing of the past once you install the Office Add-in that features all the same functionality as your Sorc'd account. Finding and using supportive evidence is easy.
Export snippets of material from within Office 365 documents to add to your repository of invaluable information. Keep track of where all the relevant information is located on your shared server. Find out why 76 percent of executives believe that information is the most important asset of their companies.
Customer Reviews of Sorc'd
“In any business, time is money, and I was losing both to inefficient information storage and recollection…Sorc’d is a total lifesaver for an agency writer like myself.” – Matthew Kaplan, Senior Content Manager at Brafton Inc.“Sorc'd gives our joint users the tools they need to be as productive as possible with seamless integration into Microsoft Office products."- Rob Howard, director, Office 365 Ecosystem, Microsoft“Without too many bells and whistles, Sorc’d has all of the highly intuitive tools that are designed with the end goal in mind – to build stronger content, faster.” – Peter Herrnreiter, VP, Digital Marketing & Measurement, Imagination
CASE STUDY: Rise Interactive builds more effective pitches faster
CASE STUDY: Rise Interactive
Build more effective pitches faster using knowledge base of relevant information that caters to clients
“Well-trained professionals know that keeping up on industry trends and news is a must. Sorc'd makes it easy to collect snippets of information you find interesting, and builds a shared repository for teams that seamlessly integrates into their content with a single click.”– Bob Girolamo, Sorc'd
SITUATION
Award-winning digital marketing agency, Rise Interactive services many industries and verticals with unique needs. In order to address the needs of prospective clients, they cater their presentations and proposal using relevant information as supportive evidence. They needed an easy way to save and share this information with the entire team, and have access to it for use within their pitches.
SOLUTION
Through Sorc'd solutions, Rise team members were able to easily save snippets of information they deemed noteworthy to an online, shared repository. Both private team and public snippets were accessible to the team from a Sorc'd account, and seamlessly integrated into Powerpoint, Word, and Excel documents using an add-in from the Apps Store. With a single click, team members could cite and source snippets of research from the task pane.
BENEFITS
- Create more effective, authentic and relevant content more efficiently. - Improve information sharing across teams and disciplines with limited budget and resources.
PRESS RELEASE: The Launch of Sorc’d for Microsoft Office Forecasts Increase in Productivity for Content Creators
For Immediate Release9 a.m. PST June 7, 2016
For press inquiries: Bob Girolamo Bob@Sorcd.com (312) 953-6060 The Launch of Sorc’d for Microsoft Office Forecasts Increase in Productivity for Content Creators
Sorc’d Takes Major Step to Becoming a Necessity For Smarter Content Creation
CHICAGO – June 7, 2016 – Sorc’d [Sorcd.com], the cloud-based aggregator for snippets of content users have deemed noteworthy, today announced the launch of Sorc’d for Microsoft Office. This is an expansion of plans Sorc’d has to seamlessly integrate with content creation partners, augmenting existing systems to create more value for users. The add-on empowers users of Microsoft Office: Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to search and add snippets from the Sorc’d knowledge base directly within Office documents.
“Sorc’d is about giving back precious time and mental capacity to a world that is overloaded with data, said Bob Girolamo, CEO of Sorc’d. “By providing a platform that is intuitive and easy to use, we hope users can discover more meaningful pieces of information to use as support or idea generation for original content. Add on the sharing and collaboration of the Sorc’d collective database, and you’ve got an environment where teams become smarter, thought leaders flourish, and individuals discover something new.”
“Sorc’d gives our joint users the tools they need to be as productive as possible with seamless integration into Microsoft Office products,” proclaimed Rob Howard, director, Office 365 Ecosystem, Microsoft.
Sorc’d clients boast shaving at least 30% off their research and content creation time by using the productivity tools. With over 90% of the world’s data created in the last two years, it’s no wonder that:
- 62% of professionals say their quality of work suffers because they can’t sort information fast enough,1
- professionals waste an average of 9+ hours EVERY week searching and gathering information,2 and
- Fortune 500 companies lose $30+ billion a year by failing to share knowledge.3 By making relevant snippets of content universally accessible and easily digestible, Sorc’d provides clients – such as content creation and marketing agencies, writers, journalists, marketers, and students – new cross-platform solutions for building stronger content, faster.
Unlike other ways to save information, Sorc’d is about efficiency and effectiveness. Without too many bells and whistle, all of the highly intuitive tools are designed with the end goal in mind – to build stronger content, faster. A browser extension enables users to highlight and organize only the pieces of online content they find interesting, such as in an article, blog, presentation or email. These “snippets” can be filtered by category, tag, post type, favorites or date, and link to their original sources. Recalling and importing snippets – both private and public – can be done with a single click via add-ins, like the one in Microsoft Office, or APIs. Users can choose to have the original source link built into the snippet or come after it. Users may create footnotes from links coming after the snippets with a few keyboard shortcuts.
Although Sorc’d has users from around the world, the company is focusing first on providing quality solutions to the 132 million employed in United States markets that create content, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.4 As the demands for original content increase, leveraging collective intelligence and participation from many parts of an organization will become essential - sourcing subject matter experts, thought leaders, research and other departments. Decision makers credit content marketing with driving sales (88%), customer referrals (83%), and customer loyalty (75%).5
Sorc’d connected with Microsoft Corp. through 1871, Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub.
About Sorc’d (pronounced sourced)
An innovation award-winner, Sorc’d empowers content creators to build stronger content, faster through a cloud-powered knowledge database of digestible snippets of relevant content, substantially decreasing research time and giving users more time to focus on what matters. Seamlessly integrating with numerous content creation systems, such as Microsoft Office and Google Docs, Sorc’d supercharges existing processes across public and private systems for content creation and marketing agencies, public relation agencies, writers, journalists, marketers, healthcare and academia. The company is based out of Chicago’s entrepreneurial hub, 1871. For more information please visit: http://Sorcd.com
1."Newsroom." New Survey Reveals Extent, Impact of Information Overload on Workers; From Boston to Beijing, Professionals Feel Overwhelmed, Demoralized. Lexis Nexis, 20 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
- Shechtman, Jason. "Top 3 Reasons Why We Spend So Much Time Searching for Information | Under The Radar Conference | UTRConf."Under The Radar Conference. Under The Radar, 14 May 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
- Quast, Lisa. "Why Knowledge Management Is Important To The Success Of Your Company." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
- "Occupational Employment Statistics Home Page." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
- "Survey: Demand for Content-marketing Expertise Outpaces Supply of Skilled Job-seekers." Survey: Demand for Content-marketing Expertise Outpaces Supply of Skilled Job-seekers. SkilledUp, 26 Jan. 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2016.
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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
For more information, press only:
Bob Girolamo, Sorc’d, (312) 953-6060, Bob@Sorcd.com
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Sorc’d, please visit http://www.Sorcd.com.
Chicago Entrepreneurs - Big 10 Schools with the Most Alums
CHICAGO INNO ARTICLE:These Are the Big 10 Schools With the Most Entrepreneur-Alums in Chicago A look at how Big 10 schools are impacting Chicago's startup ecosystem.
"#7: University of Iowa
Founders in Chicago: 715 Alums in the entrepreneurship industry: 1,045 Local founders include: Bob Girolamo (founder of Sorc'd), Scott Weisman (cofounder of LaunchPad Labs)"
TechWeek SemiFinalist in LAUNCH COMPETITION
We are honored to be part of such an amazing group of semi-finalists at TechWeek Chicago's Launch Competition. READ MORE
Information Addiction
Information Addiction
By Emily Girolamo
According to the Daily Mail, the average person looks at their device 1,500 times per week. Our attention spans have dropped to 8 seconds, 1 second less than a goldfish (National Center for Biotechnology Information). And, every two days we create as much information as we did between the dawn of civilization through 2003 (Eric Schmidt).
We can't get enough of it, because as a basic need for humans, we strive to improve through learning. But what happens when we go over the maximum number of pieces of information the human brain can handle concurrently, by the way is seven (Miller's Law)? Our minds shut down, we make poor decisions, we become stressed which releases hormones throughout the body that can consequently make us overwhelmed, tired, and sick.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we need to know the latest thought Kim Kardashian had about who knows what? (or who really cares)?
We are missing out. We are missing out on deeper relationships with others. We are missing out on precious time spent with family. We are missing out on the connections we need.
Don't get me wrong, I am a strong believer in seeking out the truth. And, it could very well be buried somewhere under an article that linked to a white paper that linked to a blog, that linked to a tweet.
But, until you find a way to manage your time spent online, or quickly find exactly what you're looking for, I suggest setting some limits (online timers work great) to the amount of time and energy you spend in the endless sea of data, content, posts, and that of the like.