Improve Your Writing Skills

Last Updated on June 18, 2017 by Bharat Saini

Writing skills are an important part of communication.  Good writing skills allow you to communicate your message with clarity and ease to a far larger audience than through face-to-face or telephone conversations. A well written CV or Résumé with no spelling or grammatical mistakes is essential for a new job. Written communication involves any type of message that makes use of the written word. It is the most important and the most effective of any mode of communication. Examples of written communications include  a report, plan or strategy at work; a grant application or press release within; or communicating your ideas online via a blog, email or Internet websites. Correct grammar, punctuation and spelling are keys in written communications. The reader forms an opinion of author, based on both the content and presentation, and errors are likely to lead to form a negative impression. 

Writing, an essential job skill, is critical to becoming a good reader and is the primary basis upon which one’s work, learning, and intellect is judged in college, in the work place and in the community. Writing equips us with communication and thinking skills.

To bring improvement to writing skills, expression and to write flawlessly well follow these tips:

• Read more & regularly: We learn to write best by reading, and reading in English is useful in many ways. It is a great way to get an idea of the different styles of writing and see how to use words appropriately. To improve your English writing skills you should read more. Choose books, articles, blogs, news papers and magazines with topics that interest you. Learning shouldn’t be boring. Read each text several times to make sure you understand how to use new words and expressions in the text. You will begin to recognise sentence structures, understand how they are formed and eventually use them in your own writing.
• Expand vocabulary: To express yourself clearly, you need a good active vocabulary to able to recognise lots of words and actually being able to use them correctly. Do this by learning new words with example sentences, not just word lists. Developing a reading habit will help you to build your vocabulary and enhance your creative mind, which is essential when it comes improving an individual’s English writing skills. Take notes of interesting words, phrases, ideas and thoughts.
• Master English spellings: You must know how to spell words correctly. Incorrect spelling changes the meaning of sentence and incorrect spelling makes it difficult for the reader to understand what has been written.Practice spelling using flash cards and test whenever you have some spare time.
• Improve your grammar: Grammar is very important because it improves the quality of your writing. Always use the appropriate tense and remember to use punctuation. Punctuation is a great way to make your writing clear and fluent. High School English Grammar and Composition by Wren & Martinis one of the most popular and widely used reference books on English Grammar. It not only helps the students to use the language, but also gives detailed information about the language.
• Use free online resources: Such as online dictionaries: Oxford, Cambridge, Macmillan and Merriam Webster. Use resources such as“Grammarly”, an English language writing-enhancement platform, to help correct sentences or phrases that are not grammatically correct. Grammar is always a challenge even for native speakers. With that said, it is possible to get better at this with the help of online tools and resources.
• Understand basic principles of writing: Just try as much as possible to understand the basics of spelling, grammar and punctuation so that you are able to express yourself and make your meaning clear so that the reader can understand you.
• Perfection by practice: Just like with any other skill, practice makes a man perfect. Get into the habit of writing on a daily basis if you really want to be good at it. The best part about a daily writing routine is that it will eventually become a habit and therefore increase your chances of bettering your skills. The habit creates the mentality that the practice is a natural process which allows you to better your skills.
• Proof reading & editing: It’s essential to proofread your own writing, everything, even little emails. Read your writing slowly back to yourself, and check for spelling, grammar, punctuation and typos. This is good for little words you’ve missed (to, it, a, an, etc.), and checking that sentences make sense. Get a friend to edit you work, it’s crucial to get someone to edit your writing and give you honest feedback. The editor will, hopefully, identify some mistakes that you might have missed when proof reading.

The ability to think creatively is essential and makes awesome writers. The seriousness with which you approach writing will determine your success rate. If you really want to improve your writing skills do not look at it as a hobby, instead approach it with the seriousness you’d approach a real job. Read, and read, and read more. Learn more. Write more.

The simple truth about becoming a better writer

To create a successful business blog, you don’t require any special talent.

Analyze why you like certain bloggers. Learn why some blog posts are boring as hell, and why others fascinate you and keep you waiting for the next update.

Forget about talent. Don’t think about creative skills. Stop telling yourself that others have more talent than you.