Writing Skills
In this unit, you will be exposed to the strategies for
developing effective writing skills.
As a writer, you must first of all be definite about the goal of
your writing assignment
and the type of writing you want to embark upon. Thus, you
need to plan, choose a
topic, narrow the topic and prepare a dominant thesis or
thesis statement.
Stages in writing
Planning: Planning is vital to writing a project. Failure to
plan your writing before the actual writing exercise results in
poor presentation of materials. Such writing is prone to poor
organisation as it does not adhere to basic principles of
unity, coherence and mechanical accuracy. Therefore, as a
writer, you must choose a topic based on your goal and, like
a builder, you have to determine its length, breadth and
component parts. It is also pertinent that you must bear in
mind your audience and addressee(s) and your relationship
with them. The following are some other crucial steps to
take while writing:
Preparing a Dominant Thesis - A dominant thesis or thesis
statement is the sentence that summarises the contents of
your writing. This is a very crucial statement around which
all other sentences in the text revolve. The thesis statement
sums up the central idea or theme of your message. A
writer must ensure that all assertions, claims and
illustrations are, as much as possible, in agreement with the
thesis statement.
Preparing an Outline- An outline is a statement of points
that are relevant to the topic. It must be prepared before
your actual writing is done. It is wise to jot down the points,
ideas and thoughts that you could develop to meet the
goals of your writing exercise. Ideas and points come
through thinking and deep reflection. The ideas you have
jotted should then be arranged in order, following a logical
pattern. The logical arrangement of points, which presents
the main themes and the sub-themes, provides you with a
working guide in the writing assignment.
There are peculiarities for different types of outline but the
,general rules of preparing an
outline apply to all. Some of these rules include:
Logical arrangement of main topics and sub-topics which
should contain the main ideas and their parts;
consistent numbering of all the major headings and
subheadings. This means if you use the roman figure for
the first main heading, it should be used for all the other
main headings;
avoidance of single topics under main topics;
use of parallel grammatical forms and
avoidance of vagueness.
iv. Paragraph Development- A paragraph is a number of
related sentences containing one central idea. As you
generate ideas, each major idea with its supporting details
is built up into a paragraph. Thus, paragraphing is a way of
showing the division of thoughts in writing. The most
important sentence in a paragraph is the topic sentence.
This is the sentence that expresses the central idea of the
paragraph. It is the sentence around which all other
sentences, assertions and illustrations revolve. The topic
sentence, in most cases, comes first in a paragraph, but it
could also appear in the middle or at the end of the
paragraph, depending on your style and goal.
A good paragraph is expected to be characterised by unity,
coherence and adequacy of development. You must clearly
show the relationship among the various sentences in a
paragraph and the relevance of the supporting details to the
topic sentence. There should be a logical and sequential
arrangement of the thoughts conveyed by the various
sentences that form the paragraph. The following is an
example of an introductory paragraph on the topic, "The
menace of cultism in our tertiary institutions":
One of the greatest threats to peace and security in our
tertiary institutions is cultism. Many lives have been lost
through the operations of secret cult members, leading to
untold anguish and sorrow on the part of the affected
families. Often, innocent students, who refuse to yield to the
pressure of the cultists, as well as uncompromising
lecturers, who are very strict in enforcing existing rules and
,regulations on the conduct of examinations, are targets of
attack by cult members. Also, at times, a conflict between
members of rival cults could precipitate into a bloody clash,
leading to loss of lives.
Four Cardinal Rules of Writing
There are basic regulations that guide your writing. To be a
successful writer, you must
adhere to four cardinal rules. These are discussed below:
Unity;
coherence;
originality of ideas and
mechanical accuracy.
Unity: This implies oneness of the subject matter of a piece
of writing. This requires the agreement of all your ideas and
points. Contradictions to the central message and sub-
themes must be avoided. Sub-themes must be in
agreement with the main theme.
Coherence: This requires you to ensure that all ideas,
thoughts and points expressed in your writing are arranged
logically in sequential order. This makes your write-up to be
connected and to make sense. To achieve this, you need
the use of linking expressions or connectives such as and,
but, or, whenever, wherever, whoever, etc. You also need
sequence markers such as first, next, and firstly, secondly,
thirdly, fourthly, finally, etc
Originality of Ideas: The content of your text shows how
creative you are. In other words, you must not simply
reproduce the work of another writer. When you use
extracts of other authors' works or ideas, you must give
them the credit by making reference to them. This makes
your readers able to distinguish between the ideas of other
writers and your original ideas.
Mechanical Accuracy: This is a very crucial aspect of your
writing and it must be given good attention. The accurate
use of the mechanics of language such as tenses, concord,
spelling and punctuation marks makes your writing
beautiful. Thus, to be successful in writing, you need proper
, mastery and accurate use of the mechanics of language as
errors of spelling, punctuation, tenses, concord and others
discourage readers.
Types of Writing
Writing could be classified into several types. As a writer,
you may simply want to tell a story or give a description of a
scene, an object, a place, etc. You may also want to
enlighten readers on an issue or postulate an argument
with a view to taking a position on a controversial subject.
You will be learning about the four major essay types,
which are: narrative, descriptive, expository and
argumentative.
Narrative Writing
A narration is when you give an account of an event.
Therefore, narrative writing is a type of writing that involves
the description of events. It involves giving a report of what
has happened with a view to leaving an impression on your
reader. It could either be a fiction or a non-fiction. While a
non-fiction is a true story of what actually happened (in real
life), a fiction is simply your imagination expressed in
writing.
The hallmark of a narrative essay is a sense of direction or
focus. You must be able to express, in clear terms, what led
to what, and in what circumstances. You must clearly state
the principal actors (characters) in the narration and their
respective roles.
Descriptive Writing
In a descriptive writing, you aim at presenting a vivid picture
of a person, an object, a scene etc, to the mind of your
reader in such a way that your reader has a good idea of
that person, object or scene. With your power of
description, your reader becomes capable of properly
appraising whatever you have described. Descriptive
writing is rather difficult to separate from other forms of
writing as there are elements of description in, for instance,
a narration, exposition and an argumentation. There are
two main types of description. These are objective
description and subjective description. In objective
description, you are concerned with actual details without
In this unit, you will be exposed to the strategies for
developing effective writing skills.
As a writer, you must first of all be definite about the goal of
your writing assignment
and the type of writing you want to embark upon. Thus, you
need to plan, choose a
topic, narrow the topic and prepare a dominant thesis or
thesis statement.
Stages in writing
Planning: Planning is vital to writing a project. Failure to
plan your writing before the actual writing exercise results in
poor presentation of materials. Such writing is prone to poor
organisation as it does not adhere to basic principles of
unity, coherence and mechanical accuracy. Therefore, as a
writer, you must choose a topic based on your goal and, like
a builder, you have to determine its length, breadth and
component parts. It is also pertinent that you must bear in
mind your audience and addressee(s) and your relationship
with them. The following are some other crucial steps to
take while writing:
Preparing a Dominant Thesis - A dominant thesis or thesis
statement is the sentence that summarises the contents of
your writing. This is a very crucial statement around which
all other sentences in the text revolve. The thesis statement
sums up the central idea or theme of your message. A
writer must ensure that all assertions, claims and
illustrations are, as much as possible, in agreement with the
thesis statement.
Preparing an Outline- An outline is a statement of points
that are relevant to the topic. It must be prepared before
your actual writing is done. It is wise to jot down the points,
ideas and thoughts that you could develop to meet the
goals of your writing exercise. Ideas and points come
through thinking and deep reflection. The ideas you have
jotted should then be arranged in order, following a logical
pattern. The logical arrangement of points, which presents
the main themes and the sub-themes, provides you with a
working guide in the writing assignment.
There are peculiarities for different types of outline but the
,general rules of preparing an
outline apply to all. Some of these rules include:
Logical arrangement of main topics and sub-topics which
should contain the main ideas and their parts;
consistent numbering of all the major headings and
subheadings. This means if you use the roman figure for
the first main heading, it should be used for all the other
main headings;
avoidance of single topics under main topics;
use of parallel grammatical forms and
avoidance of vagueness.
iv. Paragraph Development- A paragraph is a number of
related sentences containing one central idea. As you
generate ideas, each major idea with its supporting details
is built up into a paragraph. Thus, paragraphing is a way of
showing the division of thoughts in writing. The most
important sentence in a paragraph is the topic sentence.
This is the sentence that expresses the central idea of the
paragraph. It is the sentence around which all other
sentences, assertions and illustrations revolve. The topic
sentence, in most cases, comes first in a paragraph, but it
could also appear in the middle or at the end of the
paragraph, depending on your style and goal.
A good paragraph is expected to be characterised by unity,
coherence and adequacy of development. You must clearly
show the relationship among the various sentences in a
paragraph and the relevance of the supporting details to the
topic sentence. There should be a logical and sequential
arrangement of the thoughts conveyed by the various
sentences that form the paragraph. The following is an
example of an introductory paragraph on the topic, "The
menace of cultism in our tertiary institutions":
One of the greatest threats to peace and security in our
tertiary institutions is cultism. Many lives have been lost
through the operations of secret cult members, leading to
untold anguish and sorrow on the part of the affected
families. Often, innocent students, who refuse to yield to the
pressure of the cultists, as well as uncompromising
lecturers, who are very strict in enforcing existing rules and
,regulations on the conduct of examinations, are targets of
attack by cult members. Also, at times, a conflict between
members of rival cults could precipitate into a bloody clash,
leading to loss of lives.
Four Cardinal Rules of Writing
There are basic regulations that guide your writing. To be a
successful writer, you must
adhere to four cardinal rules. These are discussed below:
Unity;
coherence;
originality of ideas and
mechanical accuracy.
Unity: This implies oneness of the subject matter of a piece
of writing. This requires the agreement of all your ideas and
points. Contradictions to the central message and sub-
themes must be avoided. Sub-themes must be in
agreement with the main theme.
Coherence: This requires you to ensure that all ideas,
thoughts and points expressed in your writing are arranged
logically in sequential order. This makes your write-up to be
connected and to make sense. To achieve this, you need
the use of linking expressions or connectives such as and,
but, or, whenever, wherever, whoever, etc. You also need
sequence markers such as first, next, and firstly, secondly,
thirdly, fourthly, finally, etc
Originality of Ideas: The content of your text shows how
creative you are. In other words, you must not simply
reproduce the work of another writer. When you use
extracts of other authors' works or ideas, you must give
them the credit by making reference to them. This makes
your readers able to distinguish between the ideas of other
writers and your original ideas.
Mechanical Accuracy: This is a very crucial aspect of your
writing and it must be given good attention. The accurate
use of the mechanics of language such as tenses, concord,
spelling and punctuation marks makes your writing
beautiful. Thus, to be successful in writing, you need proper
, mastery and accurate use of the mechanics of language as
errors of spelling, punctuation, tenses, concord and others
discourage readers.
Types of Writing
Writing could be classified into several types. As a writer,
you may simply want to tell a story or give a description of a
scene, an object, a place, etc. You may also want to
enlighten readers on an issue or postulate an argument
with a view to taking a position on a controversial subject.
You will be learning about the four major essay types,
which are: narrative, descriptive, expository and
argumentative.
Narrative Writing
A narration is when you give an account of an event.
Therefore, narrative writing is a type of writing that involves
the description of events. It involves giving a report of what
has happened with a view to leaving an impression on your
reader. It could either be a fiction or a non-fiction. While a
non-fiction is a true story of what actually happened (in real
life), a fiction is simply your imagination expressed in
writing.
The hallmark of a narrative essay is a sense of direction or
focus. You must be able to express, in clear terms, what led
to what, and in what circumstances. You must clearly state
the principal actors (characters) in the narration and their
respective roles.
Descriptive Writing
In a descriptive writing, you aim at presenting a vivid picture
of a person, an object, a scene etc, to the mind of your
reader in such a way that your reader has a good idea of
that person, object or scene. With your power of
description, your reader becomes capable of properly
appraising whatever you have described. Descriptive
writing is rather difficult to separate from other forms of
writing as there are elements of description in, for instance,
a narration, exposition and an argumentation. There are
two main types of description. These are objective
description and subjective description. In objective
description, you are concerned with actual details without
