Reflective Essay: How To Improve My Writing Style

Improved Essays
Keep Writing Simple:
Until recently, I was sure academic writing needed to be complex. I thought students who used big words and wrote long sentences appeared intelligent; however, that is incorrect (Grellier & Goerke, 2014). Since studying as an undergraduate, I have learned that formal writing requires a clear message with references that support ideas. I must apply the following principles to improve the quality of my writing. Firstly, cliches need to be eliminated. Grellier and Goerke (2014) says that cliches have little or no meaning in formal writing due being overused. By avoiding cliches a text will sound more original (Grellier & Goerke, 2014). Second, I need to remove unnecessary words and avoid redundant phrases. In the past, I added words to 'bulk up a paragraph'; however, it did not gain any credit. Grellier, and Goerke (2014) call excess words 'expletives'. Writing is made 'more concise' when expletives and redundant phrases are left out (Grellier & Goerke, 2014). Communications Toolkit (Grellier & Goerke,
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Paper rater scored my vocabulary as average. Increasing my vocabulary will help my writing to stand out (Paper Rater, 2015). I will use a thesaurus to boost my vocabulary, especially when finding informative adjectives. In the writers diet I fell into the heart attack category for verbs use. Mark Pennington (2009) gives tips to eliminate verbs. These tips were comprehensive and I have begun eliminating/ replacing verbs. I will continue to use the writers diet to address my use of verbs. Another way I can make writing formal is by avoiding strong emotive language (Grellier & Goerke, 2014). I subconsciously knew that formal writing is unemotional. In the future I will avoid emotive language now I am fully aware that it should not appear in formal writing. A helpful tool to practice formal writing is the group discussion board. I will post weekly tasks and read other students work to practice formal

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