If you plan to enroll in college, you should get ready to cope with an intense workload. It is especially true for places famous for their solid reputation and a high percentage of students’ employment. If you have no idea what aspects you should pay attention to, it is worth starting with the improvement of your writing skills. Whether you like it or not, but you will get many written assignments. Most of them will affect your academic performance, so you should be interested in delivering only well-crafted papers. To achieve such a result, you should know the features of an A-grade-worthy essay and understand what qualities you should develop. It is a time-consuming process that requires persistence on your part, but all your efforts will be paid off in the long run.
What Is Good Writing?
To get to the core of the issues, it is worth determining what features distinguish good writing from bad one. A teacher can name you various reasons why your paper can be considered worthy or not. Even though there is no single guideline for writing all types of essays, the latter will have a few shared qualities. They are especially crucial for academic writing:
- Focus. An outstanding essay must possess a clear fundamental idea, a thesis statement that reveals the essence of the paper. Each paragraph should boast of a strong key point.
- Development. Each paragraph supports or broadens the fundamental idea of your essay. You should explain or illustrate it via examples, quotations, descriptions, etc.
- Integrity. All the sentences should relate to the central idea. The entire paper must look holistic.
- Sequence. A paper should be logically tailored so all sentences go smoothly, creating a bigger picture. A reader should understand everything written in the essay.
- Correctness. All the sentences should be complete and mistake-free.
You can look at the personality papers examples for a better understanding of quality writing.
Qualities of a Top-Notch Writer
When you understand what a good essay should look like, we can proceed to qualities you should develop to become an advanced writer. Even if you have some natural abilities for writing, you should work on them all the time to stand out from the crowd. Otherwise, you will remain a mediocre writer who can neither create an outstanding paper nor interest their audience. They say that talent is 90% persistence and constant practice, so if you dream of writing for famous newspapers like the New York Times in the future, you should start working on your qualities now.
1. Communication Skills
You should develop both your hard and soft skills to build a decent career. When it comes to writing, you cannot do without communication skills since your text becomes a tool of interaction between you and your target audience. You should learn how to deliver a message clearly and concisely, both in writing and in interpersonal communication. Whatever specialty you choose, the chances are high that you will have to interact with others one way or another. Thus, written communication is on the list of the crucial skills of the 21st century. Also Read – Helping Tools for Students Who Struggle to Write
2. Adaptability
Life is full of surprises, and not all of them will be to your liking. You should be able to write on any topic, whether it is about writing sample technology research papers or a journal article. In most cases, students don’t choose what they will write about so do people who make their living in such a way. A skillful writer knows how to adapt their writing voice to a specific subject, brand, task, etc. In other words, you should always stay flexible and open-minded, ready to meet any challenge you face. The last several years have shown that adaptability is the key quality of everyone who wants to stay on track.
3. Discipline
If you believe that an excellent essay results from inspiration, you may find yourself in trouble. Even though writing can be called a creative activity, it requires tremendous discipline more than inspiration. Only a few people can afford such a luxury as writing when they have enough time or desire to work on a paper. A boring assignment can be perceived as a punishment, and a blank page can make you get annoyed. However, if you want to become a top-notch writer, you should develop your discipline when you have enough things to say under any circumstances.
4. Time-Management and Organizational Skills
If you want to succeed, you should stay organized. Even though people like to talk about creative chaos that brings inspiration, it is not always the case. Don’t treat an organization process as a jail where there is no room for creativity. You should just know how to organize the latter and turn it on whenever you need it. Thus, you should keep track of deadlines and requirements for the paper and know some tricks on how to psych yourself up to the writing process easily. If you fail to miss a due date, it doesn’t matter how quality your paper is.
5. Research Skills
A well-crafted essay requires proper research on your part. Even if you believe that you are good at the topic provided, don’t overestimate your abilities. You should find enough evidence to support your thesis statement and choose interesting and catchy quotes for your introduction. This scope of work requires going deep down the subject. Thus, you should be ready to step outside and spend as much time as you need for research. Even if a topic is within your major, you can miss some important details. Thus, you should never turn a blind eye to research.
6. Editing Skills
A high-grade-worthy paper does not contain any spelling or grammar mistakes, incomplete sentences, etc. If you want to become a good writer, you should develop your editing skills too. You should know all the fundamentals of the writing process, tips, and tricks on creating an appealing paper based on your target audience. If you doubt something, it is worth double-checking everything and sorting things out. No matter how short you are on time with your essay, you should still read over your paper several times. If you can, it is better to proceed to edit it in a day, when your eyes are not blurred, and you can notice even minor mistakes. Besides, don’t forget that the modern world provides special programs for checking your written assignments. Misspelling is a common problem among rookies, so you should pay special attention to it when editing. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
