Addressing Common Challenges in Writing
Students have to submit numerous papers all during their academic life. Certain basic flaws and constraints in writing eat up their write-ups. Rather than working on these flaws, they under-estimate their worth and often end up getting low grades. They then tend to copy-paste other’s content, avoid taking initiatives in writing and create abrupt write-up with the inconsistent flow of language. Through the below-mentioned steps students can properly address the major deficiencies that arise in their write-ups
1. Creating a proper outline
Creating a proper outline is possible only when you analyze the requirements of the paper. The best step is to read a lot about the topic before taking help from writing service. Research and apt references can solve this problem to a great extent.
(a) Identify proper referencing resources
For example, if you are to write an essay on the Effects of Pollution, you first need to identify the proper resources to read from.
Think this way. What can be the most authentic source for learning about pollution effects? Whom does pollution affect?.
If you come to know that pollution affects entire flora and fauna with their major effects on human beings, then you will be able to understand that World Health Organization and National Geographic can be the two best sources for study to address this topic properly. Now I found two sources, one each from
And one from National geographic — https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/pollution/
( b) Find out the topics hidden within the main topic
The topic Effects of Pollution has many sub-topics like
Major types of pollution
Sources of pollution
Effect of pollution on Animals
Effect of Pollution on Aquatic species
Effect of pollution on Humans
And many more. These hidden subtopics form the core of the outline that you are going to create. List as many sub-topics you find relevant. Make the mist as exhaustive as possible. Then weed out those points which seem too far from the topic or which are too deep to be addressed in the topic, given the word count to be maintained.
( c) Drive a logical order of the points- Spend maximum time here
Once you have weeded out the list, create a logical order. For creating the logical order, you just need to think which comes first
Of course, the pollution must occur to have any effect on aquatic species.
So the point of what is pollution must come much before the effects of pollution in cities.
Once you are logically able to sort out the list, you have created the precursor of the outline.
Now I have created an outline based on the list points. It goes like
What is pollution?
Types of Pollution
Sources of pollution
Effects of Pollution on plants
Effects of Pollution on Animals
Effects of Pollution on Human
(a) on the food we have
(b) Diseases and birth defects
© On the quality of water, we consume
(d) On our mental health etc.
How can we curb pollution?
Once you create an outline of the write-up you are going to write, you can beat the writer’s block to a great extent. Not only that, your write-up appears to have a consistent flow.
2. Deciding the weightage
The maximum weightage must be given to the points which fall closest to the question or the topic you are addressing. One way to drive relevance in your write-up is to check what you have written and ask yourself.
1. Are the majority of the points directly related to the question?
2. Have I addressed all the keywords in the question
3. Keywords and their correlation
What are the keywords for the topic Effects of Pollution?
Effects and Pollution are the two main keywords
Now the relation between the keywords are driven by the word ‘of’
The word that relates the keyword is most important. You need to give special emphasis on that word. It can change the meaning of the write-up entirely.
Fir example if instead of the Effect of Pollution, the topic was Effect on Pollution we would have addressed the government and other measures taken by the private parties to curb pollution and show how much success they were in their efforts.
So the golden rule is to go through the question or topic at least 3–4 times and understand what the topic wants before even starting the research or reading about the topic.
4. Grammatical Errors
To better your language skills, you need to read at least 30 pages in that language every day and summarize it in your words. Get the summary checked by an expert to know the points to be worked on. Generally a write- up may have these common errors
Faulty Introduction to the topic
Creating the improper introductory hook
Swaying away from the focus points of your questions
Grammatical errors
Stylistic Errors
Improper Content Flow
Out of all these errors, grammatical errors are most common while we assess student’s write-ups.
And for addressing grammatical errors, there is no other way but to know the rules of writing from grammar books and practice thoroughly.
It is better to set a schedule for grammar practice every day, besides your core subjects of study. Plan at least 20 minutes of study and practice of grammar every day. Over periods of time, you would find that the grammatical errors have fled off. This is a worthy investment as it would be a lifetime gain. Almost in all subjects, you would be required to write during your academic life. So it's better to address the grammatical part of writing at the earliest.
Stylistic Errors
Do you know what made Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain and Stephen king different from hordes of writers? Their style was different. You cant copy anyone’s style of writing. You need to know how you can produce the idea with the best set of words in your own way. To know that, you need to analyze other’s style of writing. Read the famous authors of the times.
Reading good books is an investment along with a hobby that can help you master different writing styles and even develop your own unique one. That’s the reason a paper writer writes a hundred words every day and still doesn't find a readership and Agatha Christie’s one paragraph moved the audience and gained hundreds of readership. It your wish whether you wish to say that’ the dark soot encircling the chimney’ or ‘ traces of black carbon providing meaning to the chimney’. But yes, both will be taken differently by the readers.
Cut the crap
It is often meaningful to state your arguments or points with a little preface so that the readers can understand. But most students fail to do so. They create so much preface for the points, that the entire write-up seems vague.
Simple , contextual words, avoid jargons
I often guide my students to write in simple, clear and crisp words. Words that don’t fit in the context or the tone of which seems superlative to the rest of the sentence or idea is to be avoided at all cost.