Some Writing Advice for Improving your Marks
Wednesday, April 14th, 2010Writing advice for helping you get better
Why do so many students find essays and other written assignments so difficult? Well, it is because writing properly is quite a challenge. You may probably think that you will never get good at it, but that is not true! We know it’s not easy, but you can get better with some writing advice. So keep on reading.
Why is it so difficult to write well?
Some linguistics agree that oral language is something innate in human beings. In other words, it is in our species the necessity to communicate by speaking. On the contrary, writing is not something biological but cultural, and that is why it is an ability that has to be learned and practiced. No one is born knowing how to talk, but that acquiring process takes less than three years and children manage to do it with little or no help at all from their parents. In some cultures, adults don’t speak directly to their children, but they acquire their native language sooner or later.
Instead, nobody can learn to read and write without a teacher there to guide them in the learning process. Writing is something that human beings invented in some point of their history. Not every human culture is literate and many people live a long life without ever learning to write their own names. Since writing is not something that is in our nature but a cultural ability, it is natural that so many people find it difficult and challenging. After all, no one ever asks for “speaking advice”, but so many happen to find “writing advice” something useful…
Some basic tips
The first and most basic writing advice anyone can give you is this one: write! You won’t ever learn how to write well or improve your style unless you get lots of practice. You should get used to writing a little every day. Get a blank page and fill it with your thoughts, or describe what you see, or tell a story you heard when you were young, it doesn’t matter what you say, since you are not going to show anybody this material.
Another good piece of advice is: read plenty of books, newspapers, magazines, etc. The more you read, the easier will be for you to write. Good readers are not always good writers, but they find easier to correct their own mistakes.
Grammar and spelling
Any writing advice you receive should include some dedicated to checking your grammar and spelling. Instead of using the automatic word processor, you should check the spelling yourself, using a dictionary. In that way, you will get used to correct your own mistakes and misspellings. As for grammar, sometimes it is easier to check your written task if you hear it out loud. Read it to yourself, or ask for someone else to read it for you. You may listen to some things you don’t like so much, and which haven’t looked so bad before when you saw them written down.
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Tags: improve your writing, writing advice, writing skills, writing well
