Assignment writing is not an easy task. It is a skill and like with any other, time and practice make it perfect. Good academic research and understanding of the assignment topic is a great way to start building a valuable writing skill that will last beyond college life. Here are eight tips on how to turn mediocre writing into straight A’s.
Read and Research Like Your Life Depended on It
Every great writer started out as a great reader. Consult your syllabus and start reading. Do not simply read or learn what is written there: immerse yourself in the text and be mindful of HOW it was written. Take note of any interesting phrases, sentence structure, and the overall tone used: how does it affect you? How does it affect your learning? Be interactive and creative in your research. This can help you develop your own writing style.
Practice Your Writing Skills
Practice writing daily. It takes 21 days to make an activity your habit, so make sure that writing becomes yours. Work on your college assignments every day and be mindful of the style and the prerequisites of academic writing. By the time you start working on your college essays, you will have mastered academic writing. Make sure that you do not simply recycle others’ ideas. Plagiarism checkers that LetsGradeIt offer can help you identify other writers’ phrases and chunks of text, and can help you develop your own voice by eliminating others’.
Simplify Your Writing
Be clear, short, and concise. It is the short and fluent sentences that keep your readers (including your teachers) engaged and interested in the assignment you have produced. Think of your writing as a means of communication: adjust your style, keep an appropriate tone and use your own words to communicate your own ideas.
Make Your Writing Colorful
Although your writing should be clear and simple, it should not sound boring and dull. Use a Thesaurus, but use it creatively. Rather than looking for the longest possible synonym, try to use it to give color and diversity to your vocabulary. This is a fail-proof technique that will keep your readers coming back for more.
Be Your Own Critic
While writing an assignment, make sure to bear your audience in mind: is the teacher going to like your assignment? Are the sentences and paragraphs short and well-structured? Is the language technical enough to make your college assignment sound academic? Trying to find a balance between these is a real trick, but one worth pursuing.
Build a Structure Nobody Can Beat
Write a short and powerful outline. It should be short so you cannot wander away. It should also be long enough to pack in all your ideas. This approach leaves you with a simple and elegant outline that is easy to remake into a full-length academic assignment.
Write Hemingway-style Sentences
Overly long sentences kill readers’ interest. In the same way that your outline needs to be short and deliver a punch, so should every sentence you write. Hemingway is one of the most recognized writers to date, but yet, his sentences are short, concise, and powerful. Hemingway’s technique is not easy: few have managed to master it.
Edit and Proofread
You are your own critic, so make sure to use what is given to you wisely. Read and edit your own assignments, and always be mindful of what your college teacher would do if he were you. Look for help and guidance from some professional essay writers. Use their work to inspire you into becoming the writer you want to be.
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Conclusion
Writing is not an easy skill to master. Read, research, write, proofread and edit your assignments into perfection! Good organization and structure are crucial in mastering academic writing skills.
Melony Hart
Melony is passionate about writing. She has paved her academic way with classics such as Shakespeare, Hamilton, and Spenser. She hopes to pass on her love for great reading and writing to the upcoming generation of students. Her dream lifetime achievement would be a non-for-profit writing consultant service.