In order to be a great writer, one must first understand how the English language works. The English language is one of the most unique languages known to man. It’s so unique that there are certain rules and ways of writing that have been proven to be the most effective for years and years. They were proven by teachers, professors and researchers who studied the English language and one of those people was William Strunk Jr. Strunk was an English professor at Cornell University in the 1900s, who during his time at Cornell in 1918 privately published “The Elements of Style”, a writing style guide to be used by his students in the classroom. The guide focuses on how to produce good writing and composition by following 11 Elementary Principles of Composition. E.B. White, one of Strunk’s former students, revised the book to be published in 1959. Many of the elements are still relevant to this day like use definite, specific, concrete language and omit needless words. You want the intended audience to understand the message. It’s best to keep the message clear and concise. One of the best ways to do this is to use definite, specific, concrete language so you can be sure everyone understands what you’re trying to say. This is helpful inside the classroom and outside of it as well.

William Zinsser was another person to make writing rules that we still use to this day. Zinsser was a writer, journalist, and teacher, who wrote “On Writing Well”, a guide to writing nonfiction. The guide was originally released in 1976. Zinsser also lists simplicity as a principle of good nonfiction writing; you don’t need to include needless words as filler. One method Zinsser lists in the guidebook to be a good writer is the lead and ending in your writing. The lead into the article has to grab and keep the reader’s attention. It should provide the details on why that specific article is so important. As for the ending, Zinsser says that once all of the facts have been presented then you can start wrapping everything up. The ending should “encapsulate the idea of the piece and conclude with a sentence that jolts us…” This is a rule to adopt no matter the field you’re in. At least in the communication field, one of our main responsibilities is to grab people’s attention and give them the information that they need to know.

If you’re having trouble on figuring out where to start in your writing or how exactly to start, you can follow Anne Lamott’s advice in her 1995 book “Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life” to just start somewhere by writing down all your thoughts on a piece of paper and then just go from there. Since “almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts”, you can start with an outline or draft, or in some cases a very rough draft. You can use this first draft as a way to somewhat organize your thoughts or just jot them down, the second draft as a way to clean up the thoughts that you wrote down, and the third draft as the “dental draft” where you thoroughly check everything over to see “if it’s loose or cramped or decayed.” Three drafts aren’t necessary for every single thing you write, but the more you’re able to use this method, the better.

Once you finish with your piece, you’ll want to do one final look over to check to make sure you haven’t left off any important information and that all questions have been answered. Will the audience consider it a comprehensive message? Will they know everything that they should know? If you can confidently answer ‘yes’ to these questions, then you’ve done a great job. Yes, the writing process can be daunting sometimes, but you should do what you can to make the best of it. Attend a writing workshop, look up other helpful tips and tricks, or try to take some courses. Having a mastery of written communication is one of the best professional skills to note on a resume. By following these beginner-friendly tips, any writer (or non-writer) can make sure their written communication is effective.