Write Well. Do Well.

Write Well. Do Well.

Do you want to be successful? Then learn how to write. It is the most useful skill taught in school. It is likely that in thirty years what you learned in your high school Physics C class won’t matter, but what was taught in English class about writing will. Writing is one of the strongest forms of communication and can reach all types of audiences. Because of this, it is essential that you learn how to write well in order to clearly get your message across and interest readers. You can improve your writing by improving proofreading, mechanics, and analytical skills.

            Even though proofreading is time consuming and boring if you improve your proofreading skills (or start proofing) then you can find and eliminate errors. In the first two paragraphs of an essay I wrote I used the phrase “break down” three times. This incorrect because “break down” is not considered formal academic language (a requirement for professional papers), and the phrase was overused. Not using formal academic language took away from the tone of my essay and detracted from the reader’s appreciation of the argument. Furthermore, using “break down” three times was too repetitive and the more you use words or phrases without a purpose, the more they lose their value in writing. Small mistakes like these can be easily caught and fixed by proofreading writing, and it is to fix mistakes because they take away from the content of the essay.

            It is also essential to understand mechanics and grammar, and improving both will improve essays because it will prevent mistakes and confusion. My “Winter Journal” suffered from incorrect comma use. This took away from the clarity of writing and made it hard to follow my thoughts. Additionally a common critique in my Macbeth essay was that I needed to use different diction and consistently made mistakes with commonly confused words. Both of these are easily fixable mistakes that would not have been made if I had a better understanding of correct grammar. Grammar mistakes clearly took away from my thesis and argument, so fixing them would make my argument stronger.

            Finally, improving your analytical skills can improve an argument, making writing stronger overall. In my Macbeth essay I describe Act 4 Scene 3 of Macbeth as “confusing” when arguing that a comic helped clarify the scene. This is a case that would’ve been helped by expanding on why the scene was confusing and how the comic clarified it. Doing so would have strengthened the argument and helped readers who had not read the scene or comic to understand why the comic was helpful. I also state, “The result of this [colonialism] is that when territories regained their freedom they had lost all of their natural resources.” Instead of going into further detail and providing examples to strengthen the argument, I moved onto the next argument. Lack of analysis here caused an extremely strong argument to be weaker because it didn’t have the support it needed. When writing persuasive essays analysis is what convinces the audience to choose your side, so it is crucial to have strong analytical skills. 
            It is important to have good writing skills because they’re necessary to be successful in life. Every profession requires some degree of writing-- not to mention getting into college-- so it is essential that while in high school writing skills are perfected. By improving your writing you are increasing your chances of getting acceptances and job offers. Because of this it is important to learn to proofread, use correct mechanics, and improve analysis.