No matter what course you do, you need good writing
skills regardless, because it is such a crucial ability in general. Below are
some tips on how to improve your writing!
WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW
A lot of people struggle to think of ideas for
stories, articles and what not. A good starting point is to think about what
you are passionate about, what you are interested in and also what you have
lots of knowledge or strong feelings about. Another pointer is to utilise who
you know – who has a good story or an entertaining experience you could talk
about or draw inspiration from? Sometimes you can get motivated by others
around you (from what they say or do), so also use Twitter and Facebook for
ideas – you never know what you could get from it! Just make sure you scour the
sites with a purpose – don’t get distracted!
READ
Make a habit of reading the newspaper, get the
latest celeb scoop from a Heat mag, read your universities’ student
publication... just generally anything you can get your mitts on! This will not
only keep you up-to-date, but will also help you improve your own writing -
reading other articles can inspire ideas for yourself or just generally develop
your vocabulary. Books are also good for doing this – something I have found is
that you can learn knowledge from fiction books as well as factual ones, which
is another reason to pick up some literature and get stuck in!
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
It sounds obvious, but the more you write, the better
you will get. Make a blog and get posting on it frequently, whether you are
expressing your love for the latest movie release, whinging about your biggest
pet hate or recommending a product you use... Whatever your subject, it all helps, as long
as you’re writing constantly. Not all work has to be online, either. Writing a
diary every day or just logging special events in your life can also improve
your writing if you are expressive and descriptive with it.
PROOFREAD
Get someone to read over your work for you. You may
think you know it all, but sometimes it takes someone else’s perspective to
really polish it up and make it even better. This is because other people may
notice mistakes you might not have spotted, or add a little something that you
might have missed. They can sprinkle some objectivity over it, whereas you
might be biased in thinking it is perfect, but in reality you might be missing
something...
REVIEW
It is also a good idea to review old work you’ve
done to see what you would change if you were to write it now. This is a good
way of seeing how much progress you have made – it might be annoying to notice
little slip-ups or things you could have re-worded better, but at least you can
rest assured that you have developed your skills by now being able to spot
these mistakes!
By
Grace Montgomery
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