According to this study, all "excellent" writing contains six fundamental components: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluidity, and conventions. Not every component is present in every piece of excellent writing, but without them, there is no way to tell what kind of piece of writing it is.
Ideas are the things that interest or concern you. They can be events, people, problems, questions, etc. The more interesting and unique your ideas are, the more effective your writing will be at communicating them to your readers.
Organization is the structure used to sequence ideas into a coherent whole. This structure should be as clear as possible to avoid confusion about where one part of the essay ends and another begins. Some common organizational structures are chronology, comparison/contrast, analysis, and problem-solution.
Voice is how writers distinguish their own views on topics from those of others. A personal voice is one that is true to its author and shows evidence of experience and education. Your writing voice can be formal or informal, but it must be consistent throughout your essay.
Word choice matters because it affects how your readers perceive you and your subject. Using the right words is important for getting your message across clearly and effectively.
However, there are several characteristics that most instances of effective writing have in common. The five qualities of good writing are as follows: focus, development, unity, coherence, and accuracy. The characteristics discussed here are particularly crucial for academic and expository writing. For narrative writing, the importance of these traits is less clear-cut.
All writing should be purposeful. Whether your goal is to persuade someone to your point of view or simply to inform others about what has happened in your life, you need to know exactly what you are trying to achieve before you start writing. If you cannot define your purpose clearly, it will be difficult to achieve it effectively.
You should also develop your ideas gradually. When you write an article, for example, try to avoid jumping from one subject to another without any connection between them. Instead, build up a sequence of thoughts that explains how different things are connected. This way, your reader will understand your argument more easily and will be less likely to notice gaps in your reasoning.
Finally, your writing should be unified. This means that all your documents should follow a similar structure, using the same vocabulary and referring to the same events or people. Otherwise, your readers will find your writing confusing and unreadable.
The quality of your writing depends largely on the quality of your source material.
However even in narrative writing these traits can be found applied to scenes or sections rather than solely to compositions as a whole.
Focus refers to the degree to which a piece of writing presents a clear and concise presentation of its message. It requires that the writer select the most important ideas in his or her topic and communicate them effectively. A paper that fails to address its central claim or arguments will be considered unfocused.
Development involves the choice of relevant topics for discussion within the context of the whole essay. An effective development process allows the writer to link different parts of the paper together coherently; this helps the reader follow the line of thought and understand how and why certain claims are made.
Unity is the quality of being one thing rather than two or more things simultaneously. Writing that lacks unity often divides its attention between too many subjects or issues – either because the author feels obliged to cover every angle or argument, or because he or she does not know where to begin. The paper would benefit from focusing on a few key questions or problems and presenting several solutions or approaches to them.
Good writing occurs when the reader encounters a distinct, individual, and suitable voice. When reading, good writing helps the reader feel wealthier. Good writing entices the reader to read more. A good piece of writing communicates something that the reader discovers for the first time. Good writing is never done quickly or easily. It takes time to develop one's voice, and it takes patience because there are no shortcuts.
As you write more, you learn what works for you and what doesn't. You learn how to organize your thoughts and convey them in a clear, concise manner. You learn how to create tension and resolve it successfully. You learn where to place your sentences and paragraphs so the flow is not interrupted.
Good writing is not an easy task. It requires hard work, passion, and most of all, quality time. However, once you find your voice, it becomes much easier to express yourself through written words.
In this chapter, I'd want to introduce you to the world of academic writing by focusing on five hierarchical qualities of excellent writing, or the "5 Cs," of effective academic writing, which are Clarity, Cogency, Conventionality, Completeness, and Concision.
These five qualities are an accepted benchmark for academic writing. Any piece of academic writing that exhibits one or more of these qualities will be considered clear, relevant, coherent, conventional, and concise, respectively.
Specifically, clarity refers to the reader's ability to understand what is being said in the text. A clear text uses simple language and avoids complex words and phrases, except where they add meaning. For example, instead of saying "most cars today are powered by gasoline engines", it is clearer to say "cars most often use gasoline as their source of energy". The latter statement makes it easier for readers to follow the argument being made.
Cogency refers to the reader's perception that the text provides sufficient evidence to support its claims. Evidence includes quotes from books or experts, proof texts, or examples from history. A cogent essay shows how evidence supports the conclusion while also considering any evidence to the contrary.
Conventionality involves following a standard format or style when writing. Most academic essays must be written in an intelligible manner within a limited space and time constraint.
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