Utilize Your Leisure Time
Nowadays, we waste our time without any reason. Smartphone addiction is one of the main reasons to give up writing regularly. We do not want to utilize our leisure time properly. As a result, we can not improve our writing skills. Suppose sometimes you don’t have anything to do, then you may start writing something. It can be any topic or incident. Your primary purpose is to improve your writing skills.
Practicing your targeted language through spoken will help you make yourself a good writer. Many people face the problem when they learn their targeted language only because of spoken practice. A fluent speaker always gets a lot of ideas by speaking with different speakers. Let’s try to improve your speaking skills.
Find a friend or a partner for speaking practice. Sometimes when you get a chance to start a conversation with him. Here you get two benefits: you can improve your speaking skills, and another is you can get many ideas from your friend. Later, it will be effortless to write something about the topic you choose for a conversation with your friend.
Types of business writing
Business writing is used in the workplace to communicate with coworkers, stakeholders and clients. It provides a means of sharing information through text rather than speech. Business professionals send ideas, deliver corporate news and explain changes in the workplace through written correspondence. This makes writing skills an essential component to many jobs that require clear, concise and effective messaging. There are four main types of business writing. They are:
1. Instructional
People use instructional business writing when changes occur within the workplace or managers need to provide directions to an associate. These messages often break the task or set of tasks into a series of steps that are easily understood by the recipient.
2. Informational
Informational writing is a type of business writing that does not require action on the recipient’s part. It usually pertains to creating formal documents for reference or record keeping. Businesses require exceptional informational writers who can mark progression toward goals, predict changes or fluctuations in future work and comply with legal obligations.
3. Persuasive
Persuasive writing is a type of business writing that seeks to persuade consumers into making a purchase. This form of writing is most common in sales or marketing settings and is often direct, focusing on a particular good or service the company offers. Persuasive writing also helps in building and maintaining customer relationships over a long period of time.
4. Transactional
Transactional writing is a type of business writing that involves common, daily communication. It’s most often seen in the form of emails but also includes official letters, invoices or other business forms. Human resource departments make use of this writing, as well, to deliver complicated information to employees regarding employment.
How to improve writing skills
1. Research basic writing principles
One of the best ways to begin improving your writing skills is to research some of the basics. There are plenty of helpful resources online that cover basic to advanced grammar, spelling and general writing. Take time to study these resources thoroughly, especially any provided examples. If its coverage of a topic isn’t helpful enough for you, research more on that specific area from other sources. Engage with others in online writing forums, ask any questions you have and participate in ongoing discussions.
2. Practice as much as you can
Once you have a basic understanding of what you learned in your research, reserve time to practice it. Writing is a hard skill that develops over time the more you use it. Implement what you learn within your emails, announcements or any other written correspondences you create at work. If you ever encounter a word, phrase or whole sentence that doesn’t sound correct and can’t find a solution, revert to step one. Look up your specific issue and find a new way to write it.
3. Read as much as you can
One of the best methods of improving your writing is to read. Look for online blogs that use a professional writing style. Sites that cover business resources are great places to start. Scour their content and take note of their verb tense, sentence structure and other stylistic elements. Additionally, seek out possible mistakes. There’s no better way to test your skills than to identify errors in others’ work and determine a solution.
4. Seek out writing workshops in your local area
Learning with others is another great way to improve your writing skills. Joining a workshop doesn’t require you to be a novelist. However, sharing your work with others, editing and learning alongside them can only benefit your overall writing skills. Working with others also builds confidence as it involves sharing your work or presenting it aloud.
5. Consider everything you write as a story
Stories have a proper beginning, middle and end. Even the most basic emails follow the same structure if you break them down. All messages you send out need to tell a story to be engaging. They answer questions such as who, what, when, where, why and how as necessary. Within the previous step, you may be exposed to minor story-telling techniques. Take note of them and implement them into your writing. Study the following example:
My name is Andre, and I am the head of Marketing located one floor above you. I’m reaching out to set up a meeting for discussing new coding changes to the website. I want to ensure your changes work well with our current design and don’t interfere with our digital marketing initiatives. I’m free tomorrow after 2 p.m. Let me know when you can meet in my office.
6. Edit your work
Even the most seasoned writers make mistakes. Remember to edit all written material before sending it out or publishing it. For example, after drafting an email, read through it several times to identify any potential grammar issues. Sending out material littered with minor mistakes can have a significant impact on your credibility, so make sure to review your work with tools and also the help of a friend or colleague.
7. Consider omitting unnecessary words
Omit unnecessary words, phrases or whole sentences that take away from the message. Write in a more direct tone and get to the point of your message. Write clearly and effectively to avoid such wordiness. Doing so makes your content easier to read and understand. This is especially critical when sending complex information to employees or clients.
8. Download helpful applications
There are many available applications for both mobile and desktop that monitor your work. As you type, they outline misspelled words and phrases that have better alternatives. This can be helpful, especially when you’re writing on a deadline. While it’s still a good practice to edit your own work, using an application to help find errors speeds up your process.
4 Tips for English teachers
Help students overcome their fear of a blank page by starting off your lesson with an activity that helps them generate language and ideas for their writing. This is a top down strategy that will allow them to activate prior knowledge and personal experiences that relate to the topic.
Research shows that strategy use transfers from a learner’s first to second language after they have reached a certain ability level. For those learners who are not strong writers in their first language, introduce and model writing strategies.
Be on the lookout for learning difficulties. You may think spelling mistakes and poorly organized text are a result of lacking English skills but there may be another issue such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or dysgraphia that is causing the problem. The earlier a learning difficulty is diagnosed, the sooner a student can learn strategies to overcome it.
Go over the difference between written and spoken English. Every language learner eventually discovers that not everything we say in conversation is acceptable in written form. Beginner learners might need you to call their attention to some common examples (such as writing going to instead of gonna).
Resource:
https://englishfinders.com/how-to-improve-writing-skills-in-english/
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/writing-skills-how-to-improve
https://www.readandspell.com/us/how-to-improve-writing-skills-in-English