After a recent conversation with some of my friends, it came up that many students whom I know are very reliant on AI tools to do their writing. We talked about how much of a crutch different AI tools can be. While LLMs are a great way to refine your papers, a heavy reliance will not produce a good writer. That is why I made this little guide to steer you in the right direction.
You have already taken the first step to being a proficient writer by accepting that writing is necessary. Even as tech improves with time, humans will always need to communicate with each other through writing.
There are a few trivial things anyone (especially students) can do to passively increase their writing bravado without having to crank out draft after draft. Writing is tedious, but it shouldn’t be hard to write a beautiful-looking paper.
TIP 1: Read More
I can hear the groans already, “Why pick up a book and read when my job is to write?”
If writing is the art, then reading is the muse.
Reading of any nature passively improves your writing skills because it forces you to think of words/phrases/sentences you don’t normally think about. The best writers pull a lot of their grammar and sentencing from famous novella, so you should too! It’s inspiration, not plagiarism.
Obviously, the “meta” would be that richer stories help you write more: you would get more insight by reading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein than Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
At the very least… read up to your reading level.
Here’s one method I use to find books I like:
Go into a bookstore, think about a subject you are passionate/want to learn about, find a book, then flip through a few pages to see if you like it. College bookstores are HELLA expensive, so used bookstores are always the move. They could have anything you could ever want, and most books will be priced in the $3–10 range.
Online articles are numerous, abundant, and short enough to read on a bathroom break. The same type of rule applies to articles; read articles that discuss topics you have a passion for. Plus, you get to support small-time writers for free!
TIP 2: Write From the Heart
A corny but undeniable fact, this tip is for the people who open up a doc and have no idea where to begin. What you need to do is tap into the flow state, and with that comes unblocking all the barriers in your mind that keep you from writing.
Writing in the flow state is incredibly valuable because it is when you get most of your work done.
Have you ever had to lock in for an essay and begin to write mindlessly? That’s it. If you are tapped in, making a banger essay becomes a task that doesn’t feel monumental.
All being said, have your sources ready to go. The best way to get going is to know what you may want to write.
It is good practice when writing an academic essay to have a doc with a list of potential resources you can use. That doc is where (almost) all the academic evidence will come from. Even if you don’t use every source in the list, it is imperative to have academic materials handy. From there, you can pull tidbits from a source you like and hone in on it.
This is where the internet comes in handy. Use AI for modest inspiration and points of reference. Or use any website or article to give yourself a foothold in your essay.
In the unfortunate case you find yourself completely stuck, there are some ways to work through the fog:
Write about your writing: getting your thought process onto paper can help your mind blow off steam. It may give you clarity about what you’re trying to accomplish, what you want your voice to be, and where exactly you are stuck. What it could do is give your writing some direction.
Write a list: if your only ideas are ones that are scattered, list them out in the comments next to your paragraph. Get down as many ideas as you can and only pull from the best ones. It’s a good way to organize your thoughts into a concise list.
Write like total s***: sometimes, we’re completely stuck, and that’s ok. In that case, get whatever you can onto paper and save it for later. “This guy was totally pissed because everyone was falsely accusing him of a crime. It sucks, but he kept fighting until he got his freedom.” When you write like this, it essentially acts like a crude outline for what you want your paragraph to really look like. Also, when you look at it the next day, you can use your freewrite to get insight
TIP 3: The Writing Formula
No more school regulated formats, you’re on your own. Paragraphs are supposed to be incredibly simple. The graduated way to format a paragraph consists of three parts: the point, an illustration, and an explanation (PIE.)
The point is exactly that, it states the main idea of the paragraph. It is usually best to have your point in one sentence. It’s not worth explaining everything in your point sentence. The best points are concise, to the point, and easy to understand.
The illustration is your meat, and it gives support to the claim of your paragraph. Illustrations can be pulled from personal experience, reasoning, or text evidence. A strong illustration compels the reader onto your side while demonstrating your credibility.
The explanation ties your piece together. What it does is beat down on how your evidence corresponds to your point. It’s a good chance to explain your evidence if it seems off-base. In contrast, it can hammer your point down into a sound paragraph.
Following this format will, in all likelihood, reduce the number of sentences in your paragraphs, which is a good thing.
It feels nice to read something with light and breezy paragraphs where each part plays a digestible role in the greater story. You’ll find this method gives your work a lot better flow when all is done.
TIP 4: Read What You Wrote, Then Edit
Deciding not to read a hastily written essay feels like a universal experience. Unfortunately, it’s not good practice.
Reading your essay gives a mountain of insight into what you need to change. Personally, my phrases clash together and read like nails on a chalkboard. When you read your writing, you analyze your text; there is a lot of writing to tidy up, but there is also a lot of potential.
First drafts hold such titles because it is never supposed to be what you turn in. If writing from the heart is important in assembling a first draft, then reading what you write is the first step towards refinement.
One easy mistake writers make is cramming many points into one paragraph. Feel free to blow it up into separate paragraphs! Early-stage editing is certainly the messiest phase of writing an essay, but it is critical to a good grade.
The three most important things to consider when you edit are:
l. Outline — Is the overall structure helping or hindering the story? Does the story flow from subjects in a natural sounding way?
2. Paragraphs — Are they in the right order? Do they need rearranging or total deletion? Could I move some sentences somewhere else?
3. Line-by-line — Is this grammatically correct? Does this sentence need more clarity? Do these sentences sound good together? Is my wording boring or repetitive?
You will probably find a lot that needs fixing. After learning some simple writing questions, it’s a good idea to go back and make sure your essay falls within your personal liking.
(This is also when you can use online tools to correct mistakes you don’t recognize)
TIP 5: Recognize Deadlines, Plan Accordingly
Ok, I’m sure we have ALL fallen victim to this. Following this step determines how many grey hairs you develop throughout the semester. Conquering deadlines ensures your sanity stays intact.
Know your enemy. Know your deadlines.
If the paper is based on a reading, skim or summarize the reading, then pull from the parts that intrigue you most. If it is a personal essay, connect your passions to the material. Pull statistics and Google questions relevant to the topic.
The more you familiarize yourself with the assignment, the easier it will be to write.
Start as early as you can. If you don’t have an idea of what you’re doing, then get one.
Starting with little bits at a time can go a long way. Taking early notes on the best points will pay dividends when you really start to write. You don’t always need to keep these notes, but think of them as placeholders for the masterpiece yet to come.
Bonus Tip: Use quotations in your sentence first
This tip is cheeky and may be more a personal preference. Essay writing almost always involves text evidence or paraphrasing, which is dreadful. However, I think I have found a strategy to mitigate the monotony.
It doesn’t matter whether you are inserting a quote or paraphrasing; insert your concrete evidence into a fresh paragraph and start constructing the paragraph around it. That way, you already have a strong piece of evidence to support whatever claim you want to attach.
Conclusion
Writing, like any artform, takes time to get really good at. Even if you don’t employ these tactics all the time, a little practice makes permanent change in how you write. As long as we do good enough… all is well.
Fit these tips into your homework schedule. Take time to dig deep into your writing: is it bad? Why is it so bad? What are easy fixes to clean up this document? Over enough time, small fixes can dramatically change the quality of your work. So employ this guide wisely. Ultimately, the only way to get good at anything is to get dirty.
Works cited:
Perhach, P. (2018). Welcome to the writer’s life : how to design your writing craft, writing business, writing practice, and reading practice. Sasquatch Books.
My English 101… Thank you Professor Owensby.