All college students need to write. Even if you intend to major in math or science, you will still have general education courses that require essays. And even lab reports demand comprehensible writing. If you are a future college student or a current college student that struggles with writing, here are some tips to help you improve your writing and your grades.
College Writing Tip #1 – Talk to Your Professor or TA
One of the best things you can do to improve your writing in college is to talk to the professor or TA that is responsible for grading your papers. Do this before you begin to write your essay, as you are writing your essay, and after you receive your essay back. Your professor or TA may be able to guide you in a direction that you wouldn’t think to go of on your own, or may have expectations of which you were not aware. Likewise, you may be able to have your professor or TA read a rough draft of your essay. After you get your essay back, you should seek an explanation of why you received the grade that you did. You should be interested in why you receive a good grade just as much as you should be interested in why you receive a bad grade. Communicating with your professor or TA allows you to improve your college writing in the short term as well as the long term.
College Writing Tip #2 – Proofread Your Essays
Proofreading is one of the easiest things that you can do to improve your grades on written assignments. Spelling or grammatical errors should not be the reason you get a B+ instead of an A-, or a C instead of a B. However, due to the weight that many college essays have on course grades, it’s possible that a substandard grade on an essay due to mistakes such as these could substantially lower your final grade in the course.
College Writing Tip #3 – Have Others Proofread Your Essays
Very few people have perfect grammar and complete control over the English language while writing. Having others proofread your college writing can help you notice errors or awkward phrasing. Likewise, others may have ideas for better placement of figures, statistics, and quotations in your writing. A large part of college is learning to collaborate. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need to improve your writing in college. If you don’t have friends that you would be comfortable asking to read your essays, many college English departments offer free proofreading and editing services.
College Writing Tip #4 – Start Writing Early
Beginning the writing process early almost always ensures a better essay. Taking advantage of the entirety of the time you’re given allows you to establish an opinion on your topic, to make a more complete outline of your essay, to do more research into your topic, to find relevant quotations and statistics, and to pull all of this together into a cohesive and intelligent piece of writing. Even if you could do all of this the night before the paper is due, spreading the work out over a week will allow you to get a better night’s sleep and prevent last-minute flash drive or computer problems.
College Writing Tip #5 – Write About What You Knowand Like
When given a choice of what to write about, write about topics that interest you or in which you have a background. It is difficult to fake enthusiasm for a topic, and genuine enthusiasm will improve and show in your writing.
College Writing Tip #6 – Follow Instructions
Professors often distribute expectations and rubric sheets for essays. Follow these instructions. If you treat an essay in which you are to compare and contrast two policies as a descriptive essay about just one of the policies, you will probably receive a bad grade. If you are not sure of what the requirements are for a college essay, ask your professor.
College Writing Tip #7 – Find a Designated Writing Spot
The vast majority of college students have laptops. If you fall under this description, there’s no reason that you need to do all of your college writing in your dorm room. You may find that you write better in academic buildings, coffee shops, or even classrooms. When you find a place that works for you and helps you to focus, continue to frequent that location when you need to write essays.
College Writing Tip #8 – Control Distraction
Websites such as Facebook and Twitter can quickly consume a lot of time and can be significant sources of distraction. If you find that you have trouble staying off of social networking sites or not texting on your cell phone, find a way to work around this. For example, allow yourself five minutes on these sites for every twenty-five minutes of writing. This ensures that you spend about 83% of your time writing. While this is a compromise, it is better than spending half or a quarter of your time being productive. Likewise, consider turning off or silencing your phone for the duration of your writing sessions.
College Writing Tip #9 – Save Often
Writing is not always an easy process. Sometimes, losing a sentence or paragraph can significantly disrupt the writing process and one’s train of thought. Likewise, it often seems that the lost sentence or paragraph was infinitely better than its replacement. Learn the keyboard shortcut for saving in your word processor of choice and save after each sentence you write.
Writing is an important part of the college experience. Regardless of your major, you will have to write essays, lab reports, or journals. Following the above suggestions can improve your writing and your course grades in college. If you have any other ideas of how college students can improve their writing, please leave your thoughts in the form of a comment. Thanks for reading!
