Effective Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills

Writing is one of the four language skills and one of the most difficult for many students. That's why today I'm going to give you a hand with a series of useful tips to improve your level of written English.

1. Read, read and keep reading

The best way to write well is to get used to reading in English. Just as listening helps you improve your speaking; reading is essential to improve your writing.

Try to read everything you can get your hands on: books, news, blogs, labels... Everything in English. If you are passionate about reading, find your favorite genre or author, and start reading. Discover these geniuses of English literature and advance your learning.

2. Learn new vocabulary

This point is essential to remember, as obvious as it may seem. The more vocabulary you learn, the better you will write.

Have you ever been stuck trying to write a text because you didn't have enough words to express yourself? This is a normal situation, especially when you start learning a language.

How can you do it? By reading as much as you can. It is the most natural way to learn new words that will enrich your written language. As you discover unfamiliar terms, write them down in a notebook with their meaning and set up your own personal dictionary. Little by little, try to integrate them into your vocabulary repertoire and you will see how over time you will remember them without any problem.

3. Think before you write

No, this is not a joke. We recommend that before writing, you organize your ideas mentally and in writing.

In written English it is important that you write correctly, but also that the texts have a certain category. This advice is only valid for people who already have a certain level of English, who can start to worry about style, and offer complex reflections.

But if you are just starting to learn English, it is best to use simple sentences, don't use subordinate clauses, and don't abuse verb tenses. Go little by little, in the first steps it is more important to have fun and assimilate the basics of the language.

4.First write, then correct

When you start writing, do it often and don't dwell on the mistakes you make. Why? Because the creative part of writing requires freedom, and if you pay attention to details or corrections, you will block yourself.

We advise you not to write and edit at the same time. Write first, and then revise everything you consider. This advice is very useful for learning to write well in English or in your own language. Take advantage of this trick, write what you want, and you will have time to edit what you are not convinced.

5. Practice daily

Yes, it seems very obvious but not everyone does it. To improve your writing level, you must put into practice the knowledge you have learned every day. In order to learn a language, perseverance is fundamental. You just need to dedicate a little time every day and in any circumstance: send a WhatsApp, a tweet, an email...whatever you can.

Don't know what to write? Just write down what you have done or what you plan to do tomorrow. You can consider it a small personal diary, in which you use nouns, verbs and adjectives related to your routine. In short, you will use the vocabulary that you really need to know and practice. The one that will really be useful in your day-to-day life.

6. Use language social networks

If you are a heavy user of social networks, in addition to Facebook and Twitter, there are other networks designed for language learning: Preply, Italki, Busuu, are just a few examples. Many of them even have chat and instant messaging services, which will be great for you to improve your writing with other users, many of them native speakers. They are a perfect way to improve your English, since you will be able to practice, and users will help you progress by correcting your mistakes.

7. Locate your weak points

If you locate and organize your mistakes, you will be able to find them more easily. The first thing to do is to focus on spelling mistakes and then go for the grammatical ones. Finally, see if the paragraphs are well linked by connectors that give them coherence. If you follow this procedure, you can be sure that your texts will have no mistakes. And if you have an English friend or acquaintance who can proofread your writing, it would be a great idea.

At this point, we also recommend that you turn to social networks and forums to give you a hand with this kind of aspects. You will find many people who will be happy to help you selflessly to progress with English.

I hope you find these tips useful to improve your written English. Good luck!