How To Improve My Essay Writing Skills: 10 Useful Suggestions
Great writing isn’t a craft that comes easily for most people, but luckily it is one that can be improved upon with practice. No matter what kind of writing assignment you work on, there are always a number of things you can do to make it better. Here are 10 useful suggestions for improving your essay writing skills:
- Begin With Your Main Idea
- Vary Sentence Length
- Don’t Bury the Sentence Subject
- Vary Sentence Structure
- Use the Active Voice
- Use Specific Verbs and Nouns
- Cut Out the Clutter
- When Revising, Read Aloud
- Proofread and Edit
- Use a Dictionary
When starting each paragraph it’s generally a good idea to start with your main idea. This lets your reader know exactly what you will be discussing in each paragraph.
A great way to vary sentence length is to use short sentences to emphasize an idea and use longer sentence when you need to define or explain an idea.
Start each sentence with your main subject. Don’t bury it in the middle of the sentence. You can also start a sentence with your main verb for stylistic effect or emphasis.
When you occasionally introduce questions or commands, you’ll vary the structure of your sentence and prevent your writing from seeming mundane to the reader’s mind.
Try to remove instances of passive voice. This kind of writing comes off as lacking in confidence and un-authoritative. You are presenting an idea and are expected it to put it forth without hesitation.
To keep your readers engaged and interested in what you have to say, use concrete and specific verbs and nouns to express your ideas.
When you start to revise you should look for way to improve your essay by removing anything that seems unnecessary or repetitive. Don’t look for two ways to say the same thing, but find a single way to express that thought more effectively.
Another thing to note when revising is how your essay sounds. It’s possible to hear problems in emphasis, tone, word choice, etc. that you may not pick up on when reading your essay quietly.
Don’t just look over your work when proofread and editing. You should do this actively by going through each line and looking for common trouble spots.
Don’t merely trust that you spellchecker will be able to find every misspelled word. Use a dictionary to ensure you are using the correct word.