Write Smarter, Not Harder: Tips from a Writing Tutor on Becoming a Better Writer

What are the qualities of a good writer? According to the first result of a Google search, the answer is that “A good writer must have good research skills. A good writer should know the subject of discussion deeply, have a thorough understanding of the target audience, write relevant, quality content that has a logical flow of events and still grabs the audience's attention.” 

I agree that these skills are important, but each also is quite vague. The concept of a “good writer” is also vague and widely subjective. Writing for different fields of study requires different types of research, different types of discussion, different audiences, and a different set of skills, don’t you think? 

So, while I don’t believe there is a strict list of criteria that defines what makes a good writer, I do think that everyone in all majors, fields of study, and occupations can become better writers. 

Learning and displaying concrete writing skills isn’t just necessary for those of us in the humanities; it’s vital for those in STEM and anything in between. Not only can improving your writing skills give you an edge against your peers or those applying for the same job, but it also enhances other facets of your life, such as how you communicate with the world around you. 

Although I worked as a writing tutor, majored in English, and minored in Professional Writing during my undergraduate education at UCSB, I still have so much to learn and so many ways to improve my academic, professional, and creative writing skills. But, I do feel as though I learned a few key tips over the past four years that truly took my writing to the next level, and I wanted to share them with you!

Here are three ways to become a better writer: 

1. Any and All Types of Writing = Telling a Story

Whether it be a news article, a research paper, an analytical essay, or a creative piece, think of all types of writing as storytelling. 

In almost all writing pieces, there is a plot, background information, characters, and dialogue. For some types, like creative writing, these may be more obvious as you’ll likely have actual characters, dialogue between those characters, a setting, and a plot for your characters to follow. 

For scientific writing, this still remains true. For example, your plot is simply the information or message you are trying to convey. Additionally, you’ll have background information such as research, characters such as the sources you want to incorporate, and dialogue in the form of scientific terms, your analysis, and interpretation of your data.

Once you have each of those categories organized into an outline, your story can begin. Choose a clear central message, have a clear structure for yourself and readers to follow, engage your audience through your “characters” and “dialogue,” and embrace conflict! 

Finally, find space for creativity where you can. Even in STEM writing, look for areas to incorporate your authorial voice and style. If you think of whatever you are writing as telling a story, it will become more interesting to you as you write it and more interesting for your readers once you’ve finished it. 

2. Using Smaller Words Doesn’t Mean You’re Dumb

In humanities and STEM writing, there is the expectation and the goal of coming across as intelligent as possible. This desire can lead to a lot of jargon and long, boring sentences that are hard to understand. 

Of course, some fancy terminology related to your field is necessary, but in most cases, you don’t need a ton of it to convey your points and still prove you’re knowledgeable. Here are a few things to consider when your next writing opportunity comes along: 

Avoid nominalizations, AKA “fluff”:

Nominalization is a type of word formation in which a verb or an adjective (or another part of speech) is used as a noun. For example, “decision” is a nominalization of “decide,” “argument” is a nominalization of “argue,” and, my least favorite, “utilization,” is a nominalization of “utilize.”

Why are nominalizations bad? Because they obscure both the action and the subject of a sentence and often lead to the passive voice or bland verbs and, therefore, a bland piece of writing. 

Eliminating nominalizations creates shorter, more precise sentences. Here’s an example:

• The analysis of how this factor impacts X gene expression was conducted

• We analyzed this factor’s impact on X gene expression. 

So, while you may think that writing “the utilization of” makes you sound smarter, in reality, verbs such as “employs,” “operates,” or even “use” will keep your writing clear and concise.

Sentence variation is key:

As tempting as it seems to write long, sprawling sentences whenever you can, doing so risks confusing and boring your readers. The same is true for writing only short sentences. Varying sentence lengths and structures keep your writing alive and readers interested. 

Limit your jargon:

Technical terms from your field (jargon) can be useful when writing to a specific audience; however, going beyond the necessary technical terms or writing a piece full of jargon can lead to misunderstanding and may even cause you to appear less trustworthy.

If you rely on scientific or technical jargon to convey your message, readers may feel you don’t actually understand the topic and are using jargon to cover up the fact. 

Therefore, consider limiting your jargon and sticking to simple words and phrases. Not only will you show that you fully understand what you’re writing about, but your readers will thank you. 

3. Read and Write More 

According to legendary writer Steven King, "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot." The same rule applies to becoming a stronger writer even if you don’t want to write for a living. 

If you read more, and it can be any style or genre of writing, you will be exposed to different writing styles, you will absorb more grammar, style, and punctuation rules, you will understand generic conventions, structures, and designs better, and you will uncover new inspiration and insight.

Then, you can apply what you’ve learned through reading into your writing. And, the more you write, the better your communication skills will become both on paper and in person. Consider setting aside twenty minutes each day to write. This can be in the form of a journal entry, your goals for the day, a thought you can’t get out of your head, or even emails you’ve been meaning to reply to!

Well, there you have it! There are countless other writing-related tips and tricks, but I think these three are a good start for anyone looking to improve their next writing assignment. 

While I don’t necessarily believe that practice makes perfect, I do think that practice makes you better, and that’s the whole point of this blog post!