How to Improve Your Writing Skills

Original Editor - Michael Rowe

Top Contributors - Ewa Jaraczewska, Jess Bell and Kim Jackson  

Introduction

Transforming and organising ideas into written text is a complex activity. Writing is a process which involves the integration of higher and lower-level skills. Content, structure and organisation are considered high-level skills, while punctuation, choice of appropriate vocabulary and grammatical structures are low-level skills.

Writing competence is essential in both daily life and academic achievement. A person's ability to write well and to communicate their thinking clearly and effectively through writing is essential for learning. Writing helps individuals to express their ideas effectively. It assists with building their analytical, rational and critical thinking skills. Writing helps improve presentation skills and builds effective oral communication skills by making speech eloquent and concise.

Academic writing is a complex process. It includes creating essays, reports, theses, scientific papers, or reviews of articles. Students need writing skills to be able to execute academic tasks. This article discusses different perspectives on writing and offers suggestions to help you improve your ability to write and communicate.

Definitions

Writing: is a form of human communication that involves representing language through symbols.

"Writing is refined thinking." -- Stephen King

Text: the result of writing.

Reader: the interpreter of the text.

Why Writing?

"Clear writing is a signal to the reader that you're capable of clear thinking." -- Michael Rowe

It should bring clarity and structure to the writer's thinking and how they can improve learning and understanding.

Weak Writing

Most novice writers are weak writers. The following are considered the main reasons for poor writing:

• The curse of knowledge: the writer is unable to grasp the idea that the reader may not have the same level of knowledge
• The writers do not understand what they are writing about. They use jargon and complicated ideas to convince the reader that they know what they are talking about
• Overuse of the passive voice. Passive writing is impersonal. It hides the active participant in the text and comes across as vague and evasive.

Classic Style

Classic style is a foundation for improving writing.

Writing in classic style means the following:

• Telling the readers something true and important that they did not already know
• Telling the story in a way that there is no doubt as to what the writer means
• The writer understands the concept thoroughly before putting it into words

Classic style is premised on the following:

• The writer has seen something in the world.
• The writer positions the reader so they can see it with their own eyes.
• The reader and writer are equals.
• The goal is to help the reader see something that is real.
• The style is conversational.

Rules of Writing

1. Writer to be able to self-express well
2. Writer to have a basic understanding of the language rules
3. Writer to have good reading skills that will give the writer insight into how others use language to communicate effectively. According to Stephen King, the writer should read and write a lot because it refines you as a writer.

Rules of Writing a Research Paper

According to Zhang W., the following are ten rules for writing a research paper:

1. Design the research project with writing a paper in mind.
2. Few significant articles are more important than more papers of less significance.
3. Choose a target audience.
4. Present the experiments and results in a logical order.
5. Make the content and presentation complete. Discuss the hypothesis, interpret results, include adequate background and introductory material, be transparent, and figures and tables must be self-contained.
6. Avoid elaborate writing.
7. Pay attention to spelling, grammar, usage, paragraph indentation, page margins, fonts, and writing style.
8. Be critical while revising your draft. Throw away pieces of your writing if they do not fit.
9. Gather feedback and critiques from colleagues, coworkers, and friends and ask them for opinions, suggestions, and comments.
10. Treat the reviews with respect and assess their feedback objectively.

Stages of Writing

Writing is an interactive process, and it includes phases that overlap. Before or during the writing process, the writers should be open to changing their thinking and the destination of the initial writing. Four stages of writing in a step-down sequence include pre-writing, drafting, editing, and revising.

The pre-writing phase outlines the idea, searches for necessary resources, and organises the content.

The drafting phase is a complete but not final version of the writing. This phase can include having a good understanding of what the writer wants to say, preparing several drafts, and deleting words not aligned with the purpose of the task.

The editing phase focuses on tidying up the writing. It may include attending to transitions between paragraphs or subsections, signposting, improving the grammar, correctly formatting the references, and deleting what is not working for the written piece. It can also include sending the piece to someone who is a better writer than the original author and asking them for help to improve it further.

The revising phase includes amending fundamental aspects of the original based on the feedback received. Revisions can change some of the structure or how the evidence is presented. In summary, revision may span from gaining a fresh perspective on the task to replacing the original idea with a new one.

Text Structure

The structure of the text may vary depending on the topic, the audience and the purpose of writing; however, each piece should contain the following three basic sections:

• The introduction
  • includes the main concepts which are introduced to the reader. The understanding of this concept will determine how well the rest of the piece is understood
  • identifies the main characters in the story
  • presents the problem that the writer is going to resolve through the writing
  • shows the background or context in which the narrative takes place
• The body of the text
  • Includes the writer's arguments that relate to the characters and the problem introduced earlier.
  • Writers remain consistent in how they frame their arguments. The structure of the writing can be chronological, geographical or social as long as it is consistent throughout the text.
• The conclusion
  • ties writing's loose ends
  • answers questions asked earlier in the piece
  • brings characters' stories to a close
  • resolves the problem the author presented in the introduction

Barriers to Writing

Barrier # 1:Lack of time/procrastination.

Solution: schedule time to write until daily writing is a habit ("time blocking")

Barrier # 2: Waiting to have the right resources.

Solution: there will always be more research, more articles to read, and more notes to make, so start NOW.

Barrier # 3: Inadequate equipment, e.g. old computer.

Solution: develop a habit of carrying a pen and notepad to write almost anywhere.

Barrier # 4: Waiting for inspiration.

Solution: the more you write, the better you get at writing. Do not wait for inspiration. Allocate the time to write.

Barrier #5: Having a "writer’s block."

Solution: writer's block is not real. Start with putting one word after another, editing, gathering resources, reading, and taking notes. You should continue writing even when you do not feel like it or doubt your writing skills.

Barrier # 6: The writing environment is not set up yet.

Solution: disconnect from the internet, turn off your device notifications, and eliminate all possible distractions. Sit down at the desk in the corner of the room, take out your pen and notepad, and start writing. Your writing environment is ready.

Tips to Improve Writing

Tip # 1: Writing is learned best through gaining writing experience. To improve their writing, you should read a lot. Good readers equals good writers.

Tip #2: Write one word at a time because this is how the writing is accomplished, and write consistently.

Tip # 3: Invest in learning. Write about the topic you care about and feel that others should care about.

Tip # 4: Clear thinking becomes clear writing. Do not use jargon, big words or symbols. Avoid adverbs and long paragraphs.

Tip #5: Avoid words such as very, quite, basically, actually, virtually, extremely, remarkably, and completely. They do not have any impact on the sentence.

Tip #6: Including citations at the end of the sentence replaces these sentences: “Research shows that…”, “Recent studies indicate that…”, or “New findings suggest that…” as they add little meaning.

Tip # 7: Be selective about what you want to include in your writing and leave out whatever doesn't serve the purpose of your writing.

Tip # 8: Use a dictionary and a thesaurus to expand your vocabulary while writing.

Resources

1. Graham P. How to write usefully.
2. Pinker S. 10 'grammar rules' it's OK to break (sometimes).
3. Ball CE, Loewe DM. Bad ideas about writing.