HOW NOT TO WRITE

Regardless of how many great ideas one has, if he or she cannot properly transcribe these ideas, they (he/her/they) will not be able to write a good essay. As Jack Kerouac once stated, “It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it” (writersdigest.com). To write a better essay, you need to be careful with your choice of words, and also be sure to proofread your essay once it’s done.

1) First: Be concise in your work! Often, people tend to utilize a plethora of meaningless expressions and unnecessary adjectives in their sentences in order to contribute to the lengthiness and seeming intelligence of his or her work - see what I did there? However, it is better to write less words than to write more and lose the meaning of your writing. For example, rather than saying “this proved to bolster her passion for writing poetry,” you could simply say, “this made her passionate about poetry” (Oyinloye, Mash Up). Saying the latter does not make the phrase less intelligent, and because it’s shorter it is easier for readers to understand. For more concise writing, try to avoid unnecessary clichés and use more specific language; contracting sentences does not make your writing less intelligent.

2) Along with conciseness, simplicity is also key when writing a good essay. In other words, if there is a one-syllable word that means the same thing as a four-syllable word, use the former (as long as it does not take away from the meaning of or devalue the phrase.) A good writer should be able to strip every sentence down to its simplest form, while retaining its value. Instead of saying “and gravitate towards less pragmatic conceptions of independence and success in today’s society,” you should be able to simplify it and say “and lean towards impractical views of present-day societal values” (Oyinloye, Choice). Another example is by saying “an imperative element in the ideals of” as opposed to simply saying “important to” (Oyinloye, Choice). By using simpler vocabulary, you can make your ideas coherent and accessible to everyone; keep it simple.

3) A writer’s ability to proofread is also critical in delivering a well-written essay. Often times, we are tempted to submit essays in a hurry. However, as time goes on, we begin to realize that simple mistakes can be the most costly. Proofreading an essay could be as simple as reading it out loud, or having a friend or parent read it out to you. One of the most popular proofreading errors is “Let’s eat grandma” instead of “Let’s eat, grandma.” The first sentence implies that the children would have liked to eat their grandma for supper, while the latter shows that the children are asking their grandma to eat. Lack of proofreading and one punctuation mistake could be detrimental! When you don’t proofread your work, there is a risk of confusion, inaccuracy, and misuse of punctuation which can be distracting. For example, in the sentence “However, the reality is that, creating art it is easier said than done,” there are multiple errors due to lack of proofreading (Oyinloye, Mash Up). Instead, the writer should have said “However, the reality is that creating art is only seemingly uncomplicated.” The writer’s inability to proofread led to a diversion from formal academic language to the use of slang and made him or her to overlook an incorrect use of the comma. Proofreading is one of the most vital skills necessary to write a better essay, so don’t forget to do it!

After reflecting on all these common writing errors, you should learn to note these mistakes, learn how to recognize them faster, and begin to apply the corrections to your writing. Writing a good essay does not come without practice, effort, and patience. No matter how many brilliant ideas one has, without the ability to cogently compose an essay, his or her ideas are rendered useless. “It ain’t whatcha write, it’s the way atcha write it!”