#blackgrad

Young. Black. Gifted. 👩🏾‍🎓🤞🏾💛💙

Hey guys, I’m back. After a very long, unplanned break due to my crazy school schedule, I’m finally able to return to this blog because I’m on, wait for it.... summer break!! It’s ironic really that being on break from school means I actually have time to blog about school. Anyway thanks to those of you who stuck around despite my absence. I decided for my first post back I’d do a list of tips to help you polish your writing. These are all based on my personal experience as an English major and former writing tutor so hopefully they help you.

So without further ado.....here are seven ways to polish your writing style.

1. Look at your common mistakes and focus on fixing those.

Everyone is different and we all have a tendency to make certain mistakes. I would encourage you start taking note of what kinds of corrections you seem to always get on your papers, and to make a list of those. I keep a list in my backpack of writing mistakes that I tend to make, including grammatical issues and words I use a lot but have trouble spelling. Before I turn anything in, I check that list and make sure I haven’t made any of those mistakes on my paper. Targeting your revisions in this way should improve the quality of your papers.

2. Only use new words when you are 100% sure of their meaning. 

It is better to use a simpler, shorter word than to go to your thesaurus and pull out some random term that doesn’t really make sense in context. It’s fine to try to vary your vocabulary by not using the same words over and over again, but when you’re looking up synonyms I would recommend finding example sentences that show you how the word should be used in context. When in doubt, it is ALWAYS better to use a word that you are 100% familiar with.

3. Avoid wordiness.

Fluff is something that should be avoided when writing in academic contexts. This can come in the form of unnecessary information, too much repetition, or simply use overly wordy phrases. If you’re writing a paper and having a hard time meeting the page count I would recommend that you add more examples/support to your argument, instead of resorting to wordiness.

4. Read through your paper out loud.

You would be surprised at how many mistakes you can pick up by simply reading your paper out loud. This is because when we read a paper silently, our brain has the tendency to fix the mistakes that we see without us realizing it. Those same mistakes will become super obvious if you say your writing aloud.

5. Use spell-check.

I know this a default feature on many word processors but you would be surprised by how many people forget to actually use it. This is literally one of the easiest things that you can do to make sure that your writing looks nice.

6. Vary your sentence length.

This is a little more advanced than the other tips, but it can work wonders. If all your sentences are the same length then your writing has a tendency to sound repetitive. Varying the length of your sentences so that you have some shorter ones and some longer ones can make your words flow together. Just beware of run-ons. It’s better to have a shorter sentence that is grammatically correct rather than a longer sentence that is a run-on.  

7. Keep your writing organized.

All this means is that you should organize your points in a logical fashion. All your paragraphs should be about the same topic and they should have opening sentences that tell your reader what that topic is. You should also try to arrange your paragraphs in an order that makes sense. A well-organized essay makes it easy for the reader to follow along and makes you, the author, sound credible.

Young. Black. Gifted. 👩🏾‍🎓🤞🏾💛💙

Young. Black. Gifted. 👩🏾‍🎓🤞🏾💛💙

2. what’s your feel-good movie?

big hero 6! i’ve watched it a bunch of times, and i don’t mind watching it again. it’s one of my all-time favorites!

8. tag someone (or multiple people) who make you feel good.

@lavietudier has been an especially good and supportive friend during these hard times. thank you hen for sending music recs and funny posts to brighten up my day! 💕

12. how are you?

i’m alright! today is day 1 of the “shelter in place” order that’s happening over here, so i’ve been at home all day. i have some more free time for my hobbies now, so that’s been pretty nice :) i’m a bit stressed about work, though. things are still uncertain and my hours might get cut, but i’m trying my best to stay positive!

18. do you still love stuffed animals?

absolutely!

the sky & the moon: an awakening

💌 update— I've been so much better mentally the last 2 weeks. My friends love me so much, and it was during that dark phase that I needed their love ever so much and They. Showed. Up.