Writing Skills – 4 Writing Basics You Need To Know

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    Before embarking on a journey with the written word, there are 4 writing concepts that you must be aware of.

1.    Finding a Topic – Unless your teacher has given you a specific topic, find an idea that interests you!  When you write about a topic that interests you, you will be more involved and motivated to do a better job.  Finding information and creating the text will be more appealing because if the topic is of interest to you, it will be more engaging.  For example, assume your teacher said you had to do a report on Ancient Greek culture and history doesn’t interest you.  But… you enjoy watching the Olympics on television.  Perfect!  You can do a report on the history of the Olympics.  The key here is to find a topic of interest.

2.    Find Your Information and a Focus – If you are writing a personal narrative, you just need your own brain because in order to write a personal narrative, you only need your past experiences.  If, on the other hand, you are writing an essay, you must find reliable sources.  Once you have found the sources, decide on your focus.  It’s easy to get lost in the huge amount of information that’s out there.  For example, let’s say you were writing a science report on the human body.  You certainly wouldn’t want to write about the entire human body (after all, it takes medical students years to read all that stuff!), instead, focus on one specific aspect of the human body, for example, the eye.  The key here is to find a specific topic within a topic (granted your teacher allows you to do so).

3.    Make an Outline and Write Your First Draft – It’s really important to create a graphic organizer (i.e. a chart) to plan your writing assignment.  Organize the topic sentences, the paragraphs, and the conclusion.  Once you have your writing organized, you can start on your first draft.  When writing the first draft, don’t bother worrying about spelling or grammar.  It’s more important to organize your ideas and make sure that your information is relevant and in proper order.

4.    Editing - When your first draft is done, you should start editing.  Use the spellchecker in your word processor and a good old fashioned dictionary.  Use an online thesaurus to make your words more descriptive and lively.  Obtain an editing checklist to go over grammar and punctuation mistakes.  Make sure you read your writing out loud to catch your own errors.  Finally, have other people read over your work and help you edit it.

     Follow these 4 writing basics in order to become a successful writer.

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