As part of your college major, you may need to write a dissertation, essay, journal, literature review, etc. To many students, this is a daunting task that some would wish to forgo. However, writing is an important skill to master even after graduation.
Wherever you will be working, writing will be a form of communication with your colleagues and superiors too. You may need to draft presentations, send emails or write a memo. All these involve writing and sometimes the need for a rewording tool.
No one wants to be accused of plagiarism. And more so, in your research paper. How, then, do you as a student, improve your writing skills?
1. Read some more
The ability to read and write go hand in hand. In that, for you to develop your writing skills, you must first know how to read. By reading the works of others, you familiarize yourself with what good writing is.
It doesn’t limit you to a specific genre. Read the materials of people in other industries. See which words they use to describe an event. Increase your wealth of vocabulary. Get exposure to the correct way of spelling and use of grammar.
2. Practice
It is true that practice makes perfect. It also applies to improving your writing skills. You may not have the confidence to share your pieces with an outside party. Get a journal instead and write every day, about the things that happen.
It doesn’t have to be a long article. Just a few hundred words will do. Use your social media accounts to express yourself, as long as it’s not incriminating. When you get into the habit of writing every day, you get better when you need to work on an assignment that you need to submit in the written form.
Use a paraphrase tool online, to restructure your sentences.
3. Build your Vocabulary
With good vocabulary, you will be able to express yourself in a concise form. Every reader wants you to get straight to the point. Don’t ramble in your academic writing. Purpose to learn a new word each day.
Repetition may also make your work bland. Always have a thesaurus close by to change your repeated words with another that has a similar meaning. Write down the words you learn, together with their definition. Try and incorporate them into your writing.
4. Complete Your Sentences
You want to make your writing, professional. Therefore, you have to practice writing using complete sentences. Master the patterns used in model sentences. As you read any material, observe how they formulate their sentences.
Emulate the models that you come across. A rephrasing generator will help you in the restructuring of sentences. You can learn how to rephrase using this.
5. Familiarize with different writing Style
Online writing and academic writing are two different things. In college, you need to master academic writing skills. That what you need when working on your thesis or assignment. There about three common writing styles, APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.
Often your professor will give you an assignment with specific instructions on how to submit it. Find out how academic writing differs from creative writing. Learn the differences between the existing writing styles.
6. Ask For Help
Many times when we are faced with an obstacle, we tend to hide in our cocoons due to fear instead of reaching out to others. It is not easy to write correctly. Many are still struggling to master this skill.
Whenever you are stuck, ask for help. Be it in grammar, structure or even content. Visit your campus writing center if there is one, and get assistance. Approach your instructors for the guidance too.
7. Proofreading
It is an essential step in writing. No matter how good you think you are, you still have to go back to your work, one more time. Read out loud what you have written. It helps you find mistakes you could miss out on by reading silently.
Write your first outline without worrying about mistakes. Edit and edit again, after you are through with the writing part. Learn to proofread every time you write something. Take note of your frequent errors and try not to repeat the same, next time.
Conclusion
For one to hone their writing skills, they need patience and practice. It is a process but one that we can achieve and improve.
