Do’s and Don’ts of College Writing

College writing is a crucial part of a student’s life that involves research and critical thinking ability. It enhances writing skills that can be applied to the classroom as well as other areas of life. Students’ ability to simplify, research, and jot down argumentative topics and bring the ability to prove their view point plays a significant role in this form of writing.

Since most college writing topics and statement definitions revolve around argumentive writing, it is essential to follow some guidelines, to impress and catch hold of the readers’ attention. Finding the right tone for a topic is the most crucial aspect of it all, and many students fail to strike the right balance between professional and casual tones.

Here are some do’s and don’ts that point the needle in the right direction to make your college writing look more professional and achieve a strong academic tone.

The intent of writing an academic paper

As mentioned earlier, an academic paper intends to check a student’s argumentative and decision-making ability, which many of them fail to achieve. A college writing essay should:

• Claim the subject of the title
• Provide necessary illustrations and examples to prove your argument
• Have a clear understanding of the topic to make a point!

A natural tone with simple language is the best approach to sound confident and intelligent while writing.

Avoid formal tones

This advice might sound counterintuitive compared to the previous point, but it’s true! An academic paper should be a professional essay, not an argument from Shakespeare’s time. Hence, it is essential to use simple sentence structures, even if they are o more straightforward.

Avoid colloquialisms

In our previous point, we mentioned not taking an unrealistic formal approach. But, it is also vital to understand that taking an overly casual approach is also a big NO! Although it is simple to avoid slang words in essays, students generally struggle to avoid obvious colloquialisms because they are placeholder tests that merely bridge ideas together. For instance, “I got tickets for a movie on Friday night. You in?” in this sentence, got and you in are colloquialisms that need to be avoided.

Avoid exaggeration and hyperbole.

Students often exaggerate a particular point or topic to make the readers believe them, which is exceptionally unnecessary. Often, readers believe what is written in the essay, and unwanted pricing hype can seem suspicious.

Avoid personal pronouns

People generally use personal pronouns in blogging to provide a personal touch with their audience. However, it is frowned upon in the academic writing world. Since the data provided ought to be factual, it is best to avoid adding personal touches to the writing. Using words like “our” and “my” should be avoided as the reader is unknown and could be of any nationality, gender, or college.