Seoung Hee Yoo 201002102, How to write well, Tues 56

How to write well 

Writing is an art that comes in various forms, styles and colors. We use writing to complete the simplest tasks, such as "tweeting" or sending an email to a friend. Or, for more complex reasons, such as academic writing, research papers and more. Overall, it is without a doubt that writing is essential to communicate ideas and thoughts to the audience which is why the vast majority endeavor to write well. Not all of us might be able to write like Stephen Kings, Agatha Christie or J.K Rowling, but our writing can be improved with practice. The most important factors to write well are simplicity, organization and edit.

The most important step to good writing is simplicity. The first objective of any writing is for the message to be delivered clearly and concisely. Yet, many people overuse adjectives, adverbs and fancy terms in writing to look 'sophisticated' and 'smart'. This is one of the biggest mistakes that amateur writers make but it is not the best approach to good writing. Long sentences with unnecessary vocabulary and repetitive phrases can look ugly and become more complicated than it looks. Readers often get exhausted and stray from the main point of long and complicated writing. Hence, clear statements that are simple and short are the most effective in writing.

Another important factor of good writing is organization. Good connection of ideas and a consistent flow of connotation within the writing is important for readers to understand the logic behind the writing. Writing with coherent arguments is a means of convincing people. In good writing, it is easy to follow what the writer is stating because the statements are supported by solid arguments throughout the writing. Therefore, organized paragraphs and distinctive topic sentences with specific examples or explanations are essential.

Lastly, self-edit is imperative in writing. Editing is a good practice to improve writing skills. Editing is essential because everyone, including professional writers, make mistakes in their first draft.  Writers can learn common mistakes they make in their writing and form a habit of fixing them. People can spend hours opening and studying grammar books, but the more efficient way of fixing errors is practicing how to edit your own work. It builds self-awareness and in time and practice, better sentence structures and paragraphs can be formed.

In conclusion, writing is difficult and time consuming. There are indefinite ways to convey a single statement to the audience. However, the three most important steps to better writing is keeping things simple, polishing the work by editing and maintaining a good organization of coherent ideas.