Do you want to improve your writing?

• How can I improve my writing skills?
• How can I enjoy the process of writing?
• What strategies will help me improve my writing?
• How can I write winning job application letters and glowing resumes?
• What materials can I find in the Language Commons to help me improve my writing?
• What on-line materials are there to help me improve my writing?

Want to know the answers to the above questions? Please read on.

The aim of this leaflet

This introductory leaflet is a guide to our Writing Advice Sheets W2-W8 for improving your writing skills.

Why write?

All university students need to write – to clarify ideas, to assemble and organise data, to submit project reports, and to answer examination questions. You may also need to organise your lecture notes and send e-mails to course-mates and teachers.

There are of course other reasons for writing. One common reason is for enjoyment: that’s why many people write diaries and keep journals. Another reason is that writing can help us organise our ideas, and very often during the organisation process new ideas emerge.

Getting started

The fact that you are reading this leaflet indicates that you are interested in knowing more about writing. We suggest you read the Advice Sheet Developing your own Writing Programme (W2) to think about your writing needs and see if you want to focus on a particular writing skill. Below is the brief description of the other Writing Advice Sheets:

Learning tips

• You will be able to write better if you have ideas. So read widely before you write. For more information about reading skills, read the Advice Sheets on Reading: R1-R9.
• Set yourself a regular ‘reading time’ just to enjoy reading in English. Don’t force yourself to read academic materials if they are not your cup of tea. Come to our Language Commons and enjoy our readers (located near the reception in Area A of the Language Commons). Just relax and do some reading. And why read regularly? The answer is simple – your writing skills will naturally improve if you keep reading because you are constantly feeding yourself with English input.
• Writing is not a one-off activity. You need to allow yourself time to think, write, and rewrite. You will enjoy writing more if you allow yourself ample time to do the thinking, writing and editing. Like any other skills you can think of, writing skills won’t be improved over a few days. Be patient and keep practising.
• Make writing a habit. Apart from course assignments, there are other kinds of writing you may enjoy – diaries, learning journals, emails, letters to friends and so on. If you want to know more about using learning journals to record your learning experiences, make an appointment with our Advisers. They will be happy to discuss this with you.
• What is stopping you from writing effectively? Grammar? Sentence Structures? Vocabulary? Why don’t you do a Diagnostic Test? Simply make an appointment with an Language Commons Adviser and s/he will discuss with you in what areas of writing you can improve.
• Read the Advice Sheet entitled Developing your own Writing Programme (W2) for information on writing strategies and tips for creating writing opportunities.
• Go to the library and look for the language learning magazine:The Language Key. In fact, our library carries both the print and electronic editions. To preview some sample issues, access http://www.workplace-english-training.com/emagazine/welcome/free_sample_issues.html. If you are always busy and feel that you can’t do your self-learning regularly and systematically, you will find this magazine useful. There are different foci in different issues so even if you don’t have time to devise your own learning plan, you are still able to do your learning systematically, with the help of this learning magazine.
• Apart from getting help from the Language Commons Advisers, different academic departments do offer additional support to students to improve their English skills. Science and Engineering students, for instance, can seek advice from their department’s communication tutors, while Business students can join the WSC – the Writing and Speaking Through the Curriculum Programme to strengthen their communication skills. To find out more about the WSC, you can go to the following website: http://lc.ust.hk/~support/wsc/index.html.
• Do a Diagnostic test for grammar and/or vocabulary level (please read Grammar Advice Sheet G3 and/or Vocabulary Advice Sheet V5 for more information on online tests), find out your weaknesses in writing and then decide what practice you need to improve your writing skills. You need to identify the areas that need improvement — simply writing more won’t necessarily make your writing better.

And now …

If you would like any help or advice, or just a chat about your progress, please get in touch – we are here to support your independent learning! This is how you can contact us:

• see an Adviser, on duty at the Language Commons Advice Desk (for details of advisers and their availability, please go to http://lc.ust.hk/~sac/sacadviser.html)
• e-mail lccommons (lccommons@ust.hk) with your query;
• ask at the reception counter of the Language Commons — if the receptionist cannot help you directly, s/he will pass your query on to one of the Language Commons advisers
• consider joining the following Co-curricular Courses:
  IELTS Writing (http://lc.ust.hk/~support/coc/course.html#iw)
  Press Releases that Impress (http://lc.ust.hk/~support/coc/course.html#prti)
  Tone and Level of Formality in Business Letter Writing (http://lc.ust.hk/~support/coc/course.html#tl)
  Creating Effective Advertisements (http://lc.ust.hk/~support/coc/course.html#cea)

Note

This is part of a series of introductory leaflets supporting independent language learning, produced by the HKUST Center for Language Education Language Commons team. This leaflet was written by Elza Tsang and Jessie Lam, March 2009 Version 4. If you copy from this leaflet, please acknowledge the source, Thanks.