How To Become A Better Writer

It takes some effort

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I spent almost four decades in education. This included teaching composition and advances dual credit composition classes. Even though I am technically retired, I still work as a an adjunct teaching two college level (dual credit) classes.

I found that it helped my students to focus on some simple strategies that they could apply to become better writers. I call those strategies the ten “c’s” of writing. Writing must be…

Clear

Good writing begins with clarity. If a sentence is not clear due to poor syntax, lack of punctuation, or multiple spelling errors, nothing else really matters. If we cannot understand what the writer is trying to say, the message fails.

If writing is so poorly organized that we cannot follow the argument, the message fails.

Writing clearly is the first step to good writing. It never seizes to amaze me how many students struggle with this basic requirement.

Correct

This goes beyond just correct syntax and punctuation. It also includes following the prompt as to what writing is required.

Last year, a student submitted a five-page essay. I told him that he wrote a fine essay, but the requirement was to write a persuasive speech…