Tips for Making your Writing Top-Notch before Entering the Workforce

Kate Irwin

When employers in communications fields list the skills they expect to see in potential hires, strong writing skills always land at the top of their lists. Indeed, as students training to become professional communicators, it is crucial we have a firm grasp on how to express ideas in the written form. Read below for a few ways in which you can brush up on your writing skills, so you’re poised to impress future employers and improve your ability to effectively share ideas.

1. Brush up on AP style: Communications majors at Penn State are required to take COMM 260W, an introduction to news writing style. In this course, students learn the basics of the AP Stylebook, including how to format dates, when to capitalize certain phrases and whether or not to use the Oxford comma. (Hint: Check out the last sentence; omit that Oxford comma when you’re writing in AP!) Once you’ve mastered AP style, you’ll have a firmer understanding of the basic structure of clean, journalistic writing which also translates well to pitch writing, press release writing and more.

2. Keep it simple: There is absolutely a place for creative, stylistic writing, but when you’re writing cover letters and press releases, remember to stick to simple, digestible writing. This does not mean you have to dumb down your writing; rather, make sure the writing is focused on clarity, which allows ideas to be communicated more effectively.

3. Review some simple grammatical concepts: Ugh, grammar. While grammar may give you harsh flashbacks to middle school classrooms, it remains an important element of strong writing and grasping its concepts will serve you well in the workforce. Understanding sentence structure, comma usage, verb tenses and other basics will allow your writing to be more polished, clear and intelligent. Before leaving classrooms behind forever, review a few concepts at https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/grammar-exercises.html. Plus, improving your grammar will improve your speaking skills.

4. Know your audience: Having an understanding of your audience is a key element of any communication medium, and it’s the first thing you should be thinking about when sitting down to write. Who is going to be reading this? Why? How can I best communicate with this audience? Answering these questions will give you a direction in which to take your writing. 
5. Read: I firmly believe you cannot be a strong writer without being a voracious reader. The more you read, the more you gain an inherent understanding of sentence structure, syntax, organization and more. You become exposed to more vocabulary, creativity, ideas, styles, and you will likely pull writing inspiration from your reading — whether you do so intentionally or not. Read everything you can get your hands on — news articles, blogs, nonfiction books, fiction books, memoirs. Reading a wide array of material will vary your perspective and will absolutely improve your writing abilities.