Good writing skills

Many of us may be good talkers, but unfortunately for us, essays and finals usually aren't done verbally (unless you're a journalism student and your final is making a documentary).

Good writing skills are even more crucial in online and distance education courses where writing can sometimes be your only means of communication.

It's amazing how many college and university students just do not know how to write. They'll chat away among themselves and might even give public addresses, but when it comes to writing a term paper or a final essay, their grammar, spelling, punctuation and style are worthy of comparison with the work of a grade four student.

What has caused this literary decay?

I don't have any statistics to back this up, but based on personal experience, I believe it has a lot to do with embracing technology and the teaching of language in schools.

I've noticed my spelling deteriorate since we got a computer in our home back in 1996. It's especially evident when I'm away from my computer and am forced to write anything by hand. My handwriting has gotten worse too.

Of course, whenever I'm typing, be it in Microsoft Word, Hotmail, here, or on a message board, there's always a spell check option. Sure, I usually catch mistakes the spell checker makes, but I don't worry about my spelling since I know the computer will go over it anyway. Therefore, I don't bother to remember the spelling of complex or confusing words I would otherwise have to remember.

Now, when I'm writing an exam without a dictionary, I'm stuck.

I also strongly believe that good writing skills come (at least partially) from reading. As the amount of time spent with a book goes down, it's only natural for writing skills to go down as well. Sure, we may be reading a lot online, etc., but I don't think most of it is quality reading that actually improves writing. In fact, it might make it worse.

It is from reading different, quality materials that we pick up different writing styles, not to mention grammar and spelling.

Lastly, I don't feel I was taught enough grammar in school. In fact, there was no mention of grammar in elementary school. When I was sent off to boarding school in grade seven, I was met by a very senior teacher who all of a sudden threw all this grammar at me. Of course, I had no idea about what was going on but I somehow got through by being creative, among other things.

It was by learning Arabic grammar that I was able to see the similarities with English grammar and that's when I finally found my way around the English language, properly.

But of course, there's always room for improvement.

So if you want to improve your writing skills which are crucial in college and university, start reading a lot of quality material such as novels, news/financial magazines and quality newspapers. It'll prove invaluable in the work world as well.