Five Mistakes Writers Make and How to Fix Them

We’ve all been there: you’ve spent days slaving over an essay. You’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears into it, and you’re more than impressed by the final product. You print out what you would call your magnum opus and happily hand it to your teacher as you gear up for the rave reviews you know is coming. About a week later, your teacher hands the essays back, and you excitedly wait for yours. When you get it back, you quickly flip the paper around and your eyes flit around the page, looking for that A+ you know you deserve. But joy quickly turns to sorrow as you find, in its place, a B. As disappointment sets in, you become more and more angry and think, What the hell did I do wrong? Unfortunately, there are those mistakes every writer makes that detracts from the piece overall. That’s why I’ve made a list of key elements that, if executed correctly, can take your writing from drab to fab.

Be specific. When you’re in a rush to finish an essay, words like very, good, and even wonderful seem like easy ways to boost your writing and get some quick points. However, these words are often weak and don’t convey any real meaning. Instead, look for words that are specific to the tone, mood and style of your writing to have a clearer and more powerful essay, or delete any weak adverbs all together.

Set up quotations more effectively. Do you ever find the perfect quotation for an essay, but end up writing “As evidenced in” to introduce it or straight up just dropping it into the middle of your writing? Setting up quotations badly, aka “quote- bombing” is a sure- fire way to make your writing much less fluid and as a result less compelling overall.

Be crisp; say what’s core. We’ve all been there: you have to write a five page paper but you only have one night left, so rather than having real analysis you fill half of it with summary. While this was great for an elementary school book report, as you grow older your readers are oftentimes less than impressed with your ability to regurgitate facts while having no original ideas. That's why concision is key and will be appreciated more in the long run. So after your first draft, go back and see where you can cut down any fluff to make your ideas stand out and your writing easier to understand.

Check your tone. Keep your audience in mind as you write, and let it dictate your writing style. A college essay should never sound like a Tumblr blog post or a text to your mom. That’s where formal academic language, formal language, and informal language come into play. It's important to know the nuances between each writing language as this will allow you to adjust your writing style to suit your audience. By speaking in the audience’s “language”, your piece will be more powerful and effective overall.

Proofread! Once you’re done writing something, it’s very easy to call it finished, send it of or publish it, then close down your computer and go to bed. However, this allows the tiniest mistakes to go unnoticed. From grammar to sentence structure to improper citations, these blunders can all contribute to a less than stellar piece of writing. Therefore, a careful proofread-- such as sending it to a friend for a once- over or reading it out loud-- can go a long way.

If you take these tips into consideration, there is no doubt in my mind that you will be a wonderful writer. But like anything that people become "good" at, writing takes lots of practice and patience. So keep writing-- whether that be formal or informal-- and check out the resources below for more tips and tricks.

Grammar Girl

How to Write Better: 7 Instant Fixes

Video: 5 Tips to Improve Your Writing