WRITING SKILLS

Writing like all other kinds of communication activities, requires some skills. We usually
write for special purposes in various situations. We write essay tests, letters, resume,
advertisements, research reports, project proposals, books, magazines, articles, newspapers,
prospectus for college or university. What might happen if your writing is ………..

 Misunderstood
 Leave out something
 Fail to get the main point across
 Use confusing or unnecessary words
 Use incorrect grammar, punctuation or spelling

If one of these happens in your writing, it will not fulfill its purpose hence ineffective
communication.

This topic will focus on formal writing skills. Formal writing in many instances is well
organized and involves the use of formal language. It does not have much in common with the
normal conversation language. The following are some of the characteristics of a formal
writing;

 Do not use contractions to simplify words. In other words use full forms of words as in
the following examples;
Contractions Full forms
Don’t Do not
Doesn’t Does not
It’s It is
Haven’t Have not
Didn’t Did not
Abbreviations and acronyms must be felt out in full when first used or listed at the
beginning of writing. Acronyms includes are those words that are formed by taking the
initial letters of several words to form a single word. For example, East Africa
Community (EAC), Tanzania Broadcast Corporation (TBC), United Nations (UN), Africa
Union (AU) and others.
 Use standard spelling of words. Do not use texting style of words like ‘’LOL, 4U, GD9T
and others.
 Use standard vocabulary with the terms that are accepted in the topic’s field. Avoid the
use of colloquial words or expressions. For example, use children instead of kids, mother
instead of mum, father instead of daddy, man/boy instead of guy.
 Use complete sentences that adhere to the grammatical rules of the language used.

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  Use impersonal style. A formal writer is usually disconnected from the topic and does
not use the first person point of view (I or We) or second person (You).

Aims of writing
Writers always have some purposes, or aims in mind when writing. All writings have at
least one of these four basic aims;
To inform Writers often aim to give facts and other
kinds of information or to explain
something.
To persuade Writers want to convince people of
something to buy product or vote for
someone or to take some actions.
To express themselves Writers may simply want to express their
thoughts and feelings.
To be creative Writers sometimes create stories, songs,
poems and plays.

Qualities of a good writing

There are different kinds of wrings for different purposes. Writers may vary in
aims/purposes of writing, but an effective writing should possess the following characteristics;

1. Completeness

A good writing should include all necessary information and even extra information that
are useful. In case of scientific writing, it should include diagrams, charts, graphs, maps and
images. This will help a reader to get a complete understanding of what has been written.

2. Clarity

A good writing should use active, simple, familiar and plain language. Do not use words
with multiple meanings. Use vocabularies that are acceptable in the topic’s field. Avoid the use
of colloquial words or expressions.

3. Conciseness

A good writing should be brief and precise in language and matter. State the main point
clearly, right at the beginning. Leave out unnecessary information that is not useful to the
receiver. Also eliminate unnecessary words.

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 4. Correctness

Use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Sentences should be complete and adhere
to the grammatical rules of the language used. Use also the standard and correct spelling of
words. Punctuation marks they can change the meaning of words or sentences hence they have
to be used correctly in writing.

5. Courtesy

A good writing should use a courteous, positive and professional tone. Maintain a respect
and constructive tone even if you are angry. Do not use insulting or rude words.

6. Candidness

Be sincere and honest to the objective of writing. Make sure that the information is
expressed clearly and remain attached to the original idea.

7. Concreteness

Avoid approximate statements and generalities when writing. These can cause
misconceptions to the reader hence ineffective communication.

THE WRITING PROCESS

Making an impact with words is a special liberating power, but it is not accessible to all of
us. In the world of science, politics, business, art and social service, effective communication is
crucial. Effective communication does not just happen, a great deal of thinking and planning
goes into it-deciding what ideas to convey and how to get them across an audience.

Most of writers say that their power of communication works best when they follow a
writing process. They follow the following basic steps of writing process;

1. Prewriting

Prewriting refers to various strategies that help one to select and shape the subject of
writing. It involves finding/selecting the subject, gathering ideas, identify the purpose and an
audience, and arranging the information.

 Generating ideas

Writing begins with looking for something to write about. Many writers have special ways to
explore ideas and gathering the information needed to put that idea across. The following chart
shows techniques used by writers to gather information.

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 Techniques used by writers to generate ideas
Writer’s journal -Recording personal experiences, ideas and
observations. You can use a journal to record
dreams, beliefs, disappointments, hopes and
happy times.
-It can be kept in any form: notebook, or file
folder.
Free writing -Writing for a few minutes about whatever
comes to mind.
-It can loosen you up for later writing or can
give you ideas for topics.
Brainstorming -Listing ideas quickly without judging them.
-A process can work better with a partner or
group.
Clustering -Using circles and lines to show connections
between ideas.
Asking questions Asking the 5W- How? questions. Who? What?
Where? When? Why? How?
Observing Observing details of sight, sound, smell, taste
and touch.
Use five senses will increase ability to observe
and improve your writing.
Imagining Use your imagination to think foe ideas, often
using ‘’what if?’’ approach.
Reading with focus Reading to find specific information.
Listening with focus Listen to find specific information.

 Considering purpose

All writing generally has one of four purposes explained earlier. Purpose will determine the
form of writing to use, limits what to say and how to say it. The table below shows the basic
writing purposes for writing and the forms of writing that might be used for these different
purposes;

Main purpose Forms of writing

To express your feelings Journal entry, letter, personal essay, diaries
To be creative Novel, poem play.
To explain or inform Science or history writing, news, story,
biography, autobiography, travel essay.
To persuade Persuasive essay, letter to the editor,
advertisement, political speech.

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  Considering audience

To understand the importance of the audience, think about yourself as an audience, and
writers who want your attention must write in a style that grasps your interest, make your
subject appealing to you, and use language that does not lose you. When you write you have
the same goal.

 Considering tone

Use words that carry feeling as well as meaning. Tone is always tied to the topic, purpose
and audience. Choose words and details that will be relevant to your tone.

 Arranging ideas

Arranging ideas is an important part of planning process. The information should be

organized logically following the structure of the writing type; business letter, friendly letter,
memorandum, essay, project report, research proposal, novel, play, poem, magazines,
newspaper or book.

2. Writing a first draft

A first draft is simply a way of putting ideas down on paper. Professional writers usually
write several drafts as they add new ideas, delete weak details, rearrange information, and
improve wording until they are satisfied with their work. All the details and information in the
draft should be written in paragraphs.

3. Evaluating and revising

Evaluating involves deciding on the strengths and weaknesses of the writing by making
judgments about the content, organization and style.

Revising involves making necessary changes to improve your writing by adding, cutting,
replacing, and recording the information. The following chart gives some overall guidelines for
evaluating and revising the writing;

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 4. Proofreading and editing

Proofreading involves carefully going over every sentence of the draft to find errors in
grammar, punctuation, spelling, capitalization and word choice. Correcting these errors is called
editing.

The proofreading and editing task is very important part of the writing process. Errors can
confuse your readers, lead to misunderstandings and cause the reader to form a negative
opinion about the writer.

GUIDELINES FOR PROOFREADING

1. Is every sentence clear and not a fragment or run-on?
2. Does every sentence end with appropriate punctuation mark? Are other punctuation
marks correct?
3. Does every sentence begin with a capital letter? Are all proper nouns and appropriate
proper adjectives capitalized?
4. Does every verb agree in number with its subject?
5. Are verb forms and tenses used correctly?
6. Are subject and object forms of personal pronouns used correctly?
7. Are frequently confused words (such as fewer and less, effect and affect) used
correctly?
8. Are all words spelled correctly? Are plural forms of nouns correct?

5. Publishing

Publishing means sharing your writing with an audience. For example if it is an article, you
can submit it to a local newspaper or magazines. Here are some ways of publishing your work;

 Read what you have written to the class or to a group of friends.

 Send your writing to a local newspaper or magazine.
 Post your writing to library or book market.

PARAGRAPH

A paragraph is the basic unit of most kinds of writing. The task of writing is also the task of
constructing a paragraph.

A paragraph is a group of related sentences about an idea. A writing can consist of several
paragraphs for several ideas. When you have finished putting together one paragraph, you can
go on to another paragraph that is related in some ways to the previous ideas.

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 What does a paragraph do?

A paragraph can be used to do the following;

 To introduce an essay(introductory paragraph)

 To present main ideas with the support of examples, facts, or quoted material from
other sources.
 To shift from one approach to another, such as from theoretical perspective to practical
one, from for to against, and from past to current thinking.
 To introduce a substantial amount of quoted material.
 To conclude your work (concluding paragraph)

Qualities/elements of a well written paragraph

Any effective and well written paragraph should posses the following qualities/elements;

1. The topic sentence

The topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph. It can occur anywhere in the
paragraph. But, usually it is either the first or second sentence. Sometimes a topic sentence
comes later in the paragraph, or even at the end.

Some paragraphs do not have the topic sentence at all. In some paragraphs, for example, the
main idea is implied, or suggested, rather than directly stated.

Starting the main idea in a topic sentence can help one to avoid straying from the topic when
you are writing. A topic sentence also focuses the main idea in the reader’s mind. Most writers
make it the first sentence of the paragraph. For example the underlined sentence in the
paragraph below is a topic sentence while the rest are supporting sentences;

The Doppler Effect in light is an important tool in astronomy. Stars emit light of certain
characteristic frequencies called spectral lines, and the motion of a star toward or away form
the earth shows up as a doppler shift in these frequencies.

2. Thesis statement

This usually appears at the introductory paragraph especially when you are writing about
something. A thesis is not the same as the topic sentence. A thesis is always some observation
or analysis of the topic. While a topic sentence is an area or a subject, a thesis is your position
on or treatment of the subject.

The thesis statement can be implied or started directly. It can be long or short, one sentence
or more than one. It is more specific.

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 3. Supporting sentences

Supporting sentences give specific details that explain o or prove the main idea. Supporting
sentences may consist of sensory details, facts and statistics, examples or anecdotes. They are
used to develop the main idea found in the topic sentence. A paragraph can consist of one type
of detail or with a combination of types.

4. Unity

All of the sentences must relate to and develop one main idea. Each sentence in a
paragraph should be consistent with the purpose of the paragraph main idea. If the sentences
of the paragraph do not do these things, the paragraph will lack unity.

The paragraph below has unit because all the sentences relate to the paragraph.

5. Coherence

A paragraph is coherent if it is smoothly and logically connected to one another. Coherence

can be used be achieved through three techniques.

First, through repetition of key words to carry concepts from one sentence to another and to
echo important terms. For example; Galileo Galilei helped to establish telescope as a tool of
science. Galileo used it to observe craters and mountains of the moon.

Second, the use of pronouns to refer to key nouns in the previous sentences. For example,
Galileo helped to establish telescope as a tool of science. He used it to observe craters and
mountains of the moon.

Third, the use of transitions. These are words and phrases that connect by showing transition
between ideas. They include prepositions that show chronological or spartial order and
conjunctions that connect ideas and show relationship. The following chart lists some
transitional expressions, grouped according to the relationship they usually indicate.

TYPES OF PARAGRAPHS

Paragraphs can be classified according to their purposes as follows;

(i) An expository paragraph

An expository paragraph gives information. It explains why or how, clarifies the process or
defines the concept. The main purpose is to present the information accurately and as clearly
as possible. It includes the following subtypes;

 A comparison and contrast paragraph.

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  Classification paragraph
 Explanation paragraph

(ii) Persuasive paragraph

This aims to convince people to believe or act in a certain way. A persuasive paragraph
should feature the following elements;

 A clear statement of your position on an issue that has more than one side.
 The context surrounding an issue.
 Persuasive evidence to support your position.
 Language that appeals to both reason and emotion.
 An appropriate organizational structure for an argument.

(iii) A self-expressive paragraph

This aims to express thoughts and feelings-perhaps in a letter, a journal entry, or even song
lyrics. Self expressive writing is useful because it helps to sort out confusing thoughts and
feelings, and sometimes, to understand ourselves better.

Starter sentences for expressive writings;

 What I like best about myself……………………………………………………….

 It scares me to think…………………………………………
 …………..is a real concern of mine because……………………………………..
 The one thing I would most like to do in the next five years…………………………………………….

(iv) Narrative paragraph

A narrative paragraph tells a story by presenting events in an orderly and logical sequence.
Narrative paragraphs are common in histories, biographies, autobiographies, personal letters,
diaries and journals.

Many narrative paragraphs do not have a topic sentence. Because they are about series of
events, they begin with an action. The other sentences tell about additional actions. A narrative
paragraph can;

 Tell a story
 Explain a process
 Explain cause and effect

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