<p>I have recently noticed that I have trouble writing. Essays specifically, and I wanted to know how I can improve it. In English this year I started with my essays getting low Cs and by the time the class ended I had low Bs on my essays. I really want to get to the A range for 10th grade English and I was wondering if any of you know any good ways to improve?</p>
<p>Thank you for this thread.</p>
<p>Practice. That’s the reason you started with Cs and ended with Bs. Practice.</p>
<p>What kinds of comments do your teachers give you on your essays? </p>
<p>It helps me to read my writing out loud to myself. If something doesn’t “sound right,” I change it. </p>
<p>And this is kind of…out there, but I think posting on Internet forums like this has also improved my writing over the years. The way I write on the Internet is more stream-of-consciousness and less grammatical than the way I write in papers for school, but it’s a good way to practice translating my thoughts into text. (That’s probably one of the main problems I have with writing, and it’s because I think in images most of the time rather than words.)</p>
<p>@halcyonheather To be honest I have no idea what she wrote on them, she collected them, showed us our grades, and then never gave them back. And that class ended a month ago.</p>
<p>Ask your teacher. Every english teacher has different preferences. Ask before other students do. Ask at the start of a project as opposed to last minute. </p>
<p>Read more often. That way you can expand your vocabulary and get an idea of what good writing looks like. </p>
<p>For me, reading is particularly time-consuming and ineffective. Study SAT grammar.</p>
<p>Studying grammar is good if you make a lot of grammar errors, but I’ve seen a lot of bad-albeit-grammatical writing. You have to somehow develop an intuition for what sounds right and what doesn’t. </p>
<p>When I look back on school papers I wrote a couple years ago, I notice that I used a lot of words that were technically correct but still not quite appropriate in context. It makes my writing sound clumsy and immature, like I didn’t know what I was doing even though I thought I did. Before you use an uncommon/“big” word, make sure you know exactly what it means and whether it really belongs where you’re trying to put it. Being understandable is more important than sounding smart. Your writing should sound idiomatic and natural, and reading it out loud to yourself can help you see if it is or not. </p>
<p>Reading more has improved my writing naturally. And reading is fun!</p>
<p>I wish I knew. Essay grading is very subjective so you have to match the teacher a bit. Something that is good for one teacher is not good for another. There are some general guidelines that work for every teacher but the teachers usually tell you what is important to fix. </p>
<p>In my creative writing class, the teacher gave us the perpetual assignment to read fiction novels. We could choose any novel, as long the story was primarily told with words. We never had to write papers on our chosen books, he just wanted us to read.</p>
<p>Yes, reading is very time-consuming, but it really helped me write my own fictional stories for class. I never considered myself a very creative person, but reading more fiction, dull or enchanting, has helped me learn by example. I saw amazing authors describe details I often overlook, and put words together in ways I never would have imagined to paint vivid pictures of their story’s world. Novels that put me to sleep at the very least showed me what not to do.</p>
<p>I never thought I would or could ever write a mystery, but my teacher recommended to me his favorite mystery novels and short stories to help, while teaching the elements of specific genres like sci-fi and romance to the whole class. The story I created afterward became my best one for the whole semester. It was also the most fun I ever had writing a paper for school. </p>
<p>Basically, becoming a good reader is the best way to become a good writer. Read whatever interests you in your spare time, and pay close attention to how the author writes. </p>