The following is a list of writing tips given to me by a professor during my first semester of college by Dave Wittenberg. They did more to help my writing than anything else I was given or told during school and they can help every writer improve their work.
• Argument—Get to the point fast. If you’re making an argument, make it early and make it crystal clear. If you’re summarizing or outlining another’s position, state what you will do early in the essay.
• Don’t make too big of a claim—Avoid broad words like society, humanity, literature etc. you can’t do them justice
• Show don’t tell – Cite evidence and lots of it. Also don’t avoid the evidence that works against you, acknowledge it and take it into account. Bend it to you favor if you can ethically.
• Proofreading – Write at least three drafts on three different days and forget about the paper in between. You’ll see mistakes you overlooked earlier if you spend some time away from your writing. This is just one of many reasons why it’s not good to write the paper the night before it’s due.
• Grammar, syntax, spelling – Don’t underestimate their importance. They must be perfect. Ethos, ethos, ethos . . .
• Paragraphs should be mini-papers with opening, support and conclusion – Only one topic per paragraph. This point can’t be overemphasized. Sentences in a paragraph should relate to one another and build to a common goal.
• Proofread sentences individually – They must be able to stand on their own.
• Stay in the present tense – Be careful about this one.
• Being ambiguous, general or vague just plain sucks.
• Style – This is up to the writer but must be appropriate to the assignment.
Tips for proofreading/revising
• Read paper into a tape recorder and play back. If something sounds weird or awkward, fix it.
• Print paper out with super wide margins and read/revise/edit. This makes the sentences look new to your eye so that you don’t simply glaze over subtle mistakes.
• Cut apart paragraphs and read them out of order and edit each one individually. You’ll be amazed how well this works, especially if you keep in mind that paragraphs should be mini-papers.
• Cut apart individual sentences and read them out of order and edit.
If you take into account each of these points and employ each of the revision strategies, I can pretty much guarantee that your writing will improve substantially. The more experienced you get, the more natural the processes will become. Eventually you may only need to employ one or two of the revision strategies to crank out a great paper.
