You might never have thought of yourself as a writer. But consciously, or unconsciously, you do write a lot. Think about the time you wrote a text message to a friend on WhatsApp or a birthday post on Instagram.
However, these are informal and personal forms of writing. More often than not, most of us feel the need to polish our writing skills when faced with writing a piece for a formal occasion, be it an email or an essay. If you are such a person, we have got you covered! In this article, we will talk about 5 tips to improve your writing skills.
Tips To Improve Writing Skills
1. Read more
Believe it or not, reading is very intimately connected to writing. If you do not know anything about the topic you're supposed to write on, what will you write? Reading does not necessarily mean reading just fiction or just non-fiction. Get into the habit of reading everything you come across- newspapers, magazines, poems, articles, short stories, and so on. Reading not only gives you more knowledge, but it also goes a long way in adding to and expanding your vocabulary. If you are looking to polish your writing skills, reading more should be the first step on your list.
2. Brush-up on your grammar skills
No matter how engaging your content or how interesting your topic, it will not be appealing if your article is strewn with grammatical errors. Incorrect grammar points to poor English. Find ways to improve your grammar- either by practising basic grammar topics regularly or by running a grammar check on your piece before submitting. For this, you can use any trusted online tool like Grammarly. Grammarly is one of the online tools that offer a free trial you can use this link to activate trial in 2021 - it comes with a seven-day free trial for everyone. While you're checking the grammar, do not forget about spellcheck which is another important aspect. Make sure to use only a genuine tool for the best results.
3. Be clear about the concept
Every piece that you write must have a concept behind it and a philosophy behind the concept. Always make an effort to understand the concept and philosophy before writing the article. Why? If you are not totally sure what it is that you're writing about, will you be able to produce satisfactory results? The concept is the aspect that will help you understand how to design your article and how to direct your research to collect information for the article.
4. Develop an outline
Once you have a basic understanding of the topic and an idea about the concept, it is time to work on an outline for your piece. This is not compulsory, but it can help you a lot by helping you figure out what to write in your article and how to write it. In the outline, you just briefly mention the points you wish to cover in the article- may be subheadings in bullet points. This is a good habit to inculcate as it ensures that you do not miss out on any important points, neither do you repeat points.
5. Avoid unnecessarily wordy phrases
Avoid big, difficult words and flowery phrases wherever possible. They often make the sentence meaningless instead of giving more weight to it. Everyone prefers simple language which is easy to read and comprehend. Especially if your written piece is meant for the general public, no matter how heavy the topic, simple language makes it appealing to everyone.
6. Avoid plagiarism
This point cannot be stressed enough- avoid plagiarism as far as possible. If plagiarized content is found in your written piece, immediately questions arise regarding the originality and authenticity of your article. Your article might demand sourcing information from already available websites, but make sure that you use the information in such a way that the question of plagiarism does not arise. One of the best ways to do this is to run a plagiarism check after completing the article. Again, many online websites are available for the same. Grammarly.in has one of the trial accounts working in 2021 to check plagiarism.
Conclusion:
Writing is almost like a life skill. No matter which field you are in, having good writing skills never hurts. So, the next time you sit down to write something, remember these six points and you will produce a flawless piece!
Disclaimer: No Deccan Chronicle journalist was involved in creating this content. The group also takes no responsibility for this content.
