How to level up your English writing skills with seven easy steps?

When it comes to learning English, writing is often at the bottom of the learner’s priority (or even the teacher’s). It is considered a difficult language skill to possess and improve as learners usually think so much about how complicated the rules and structures are, which makes them avoid learning writing. 

However, you should take into account that having good English writing skills is essential and beneficial - especially in the professional world. So here are a few steps to enhance your writing skills. 

1. Choose the topic carefully. 

Writing starts with thinking. Thinking of the topic is the start of it all. The topic will set your direction, so you have to choose it carefully. You can grab a pen and a piece of paper. Write out all topics that you want to write about - anything that you are interested in. Do a little brainstorming. Then, pick out the topic that you wanted to write the most about. Make sure to pick a topic that is not too specific and not too general. In this case, you will have enough room to discuss your selected topic. 

2. Think more. 

Do not write your sentences or paragraphs yet. Try to answer these questions first:

*Who am I writing this for? - your target readers

*Why am I writing this? - your purpose for writing

Answering these questions will help figure out the necessary style in writing about your chosen topic, whether you need to be informative, descriptive, narrative, or such. For example, you wanted to write about “why we should be more afraid of dolphins than sharks." Then the first thing you should do is think about who will be reading this if you write it. Is it for kids, peers, general audience? Next, think about why you are even writing about the topic you chose. Are you writing to spread awareness? to entertain? to campaign?

Those two questions will set the direction that you will take once you start writing.

3. Organize the ideas first. 

Now that you selected the topic and style, it is time to organize your ideas. Coherence and unity of your ideas are crucial. You need to arrange what ideas or subtopics you want to discuss in your writing. Organize it - from the most important to the least or vice versa. This will give you a framework for how your paragraphs will be connected. Also, this will make it easier for you to figure out how to emphasize ideas. 

4. Keep it simple. No need for words that will stress you and your readers out. 

There are times when we wanted to flaunt, or in today’s term “flex,” our seemingly wide vocabulary. Although it might feel like it is such a nice thing to do, I am telling you that most of the time, it is not. Word choice is an important element in writing. How you use and select your words should be suited to your target readers. Using words that your readers might not be too familiar with will make them confused or lose interest. It might also backfire in instances where you misuse the word/s. 

5. Be careful with the articles. 

Articles (a, an, and the) are often ignored in writing. However, one must remember that articles might make or break your sentences. Look at your sentences closely and identify the nouns that you used. Then, analyze if your nouns need articles. Check if you used the correct articles also. You might end up using a general article (a/an) when you should have used the specific article “the.” Again, articles make or break your sentences. 

6. Revise and proofread. 

A well-written text is not the author’s first writing. All written texts went through a series of revisions. Countless drafts create a published text. So, revise continuously. Check even the smallest details. Do not forget to recheck the organization of your ideas, too. 

Then, when you are satisfied with your revisions, it does not stop there. It is time to proofread. Check for any typographical errors, mistakes in punctuation and capitalization, etc. Having a grammar checker application like Grammarly would be beneficial for revisions and proofreading as well. 

7. Read. Read. Read. 

Lastly, reading will help you enhance your writing even more. Reading not just your work but the work of others has a lot of benefits. It will make you discover different writing styles that other writers use, which you can apply to improve your own. This will also help in widening your vocabulary. Most importantly, reading feeds your mind so that you can write. 

Writing might seem like a high hurdle to anyone but with passion and hard work, you can write and inspire others with what you write. There might be rules that will make it complicated for you, but these rules will also be guiding you. There might be structures that you need to conform with, but these structures will be your blueprints. So do not see writing as an impossible challenge. Make it your own challenge.