Introduction to Writing Skills 9

INTRODUCTION TO
WRITING SKILLS

Writing
Writing is an art of expressing our thoughts and views. We cannot
write anything in an unorganized manner. Language is a medium of
communicating our ideas, thoughts or feelings in the form of speech
or writing.
Chefs know the various techniques and the procedure or the steps
of cooking food. Just like that we also have to know the techniques
or the formats of writing along with the writing skills. In our
childhood we first learned to write the alphabet; letters of the then we
learned to write words. Gradually we got the knowledge of writing
sentences.
In content writing also, there are certain levels or writing skills
which we need to make ourselves familiar with. Writing is not an
easy task. It demands correct grammatical usage, fine vocabulary,
sentence structures, and other writing skills.

Developing Writing Skills

It is easy for one to think or generate some ideas or opinions. The
main task is the presentation of those ideas and thoughts in an
organized and logical way. The main task for a writer is to make a
reader engage in his or her writings. Below are some of the writing
skills for effective and creative writing:
– Learn to write good sentences
10 English Writing Skills

– Try to add more flavours to your writing by using engaging

words instead of bland phrases
– Make your writing more conversational, and use some
questions in it. Let readers feel that they are in some situation
– Use paragraph style of writing. Writing whole content in a
paragraph bores the reader
– In the transition or the shift from one paragraph to another or
from one line to another one must have a smooth ride
– Learn the use of voices or speech for effective writing
– Use proper punctuations, correct spellings and develop fine
vocabulary
– Avoid slangs, jargons, fancy words, and abbreviations
– Practice daily and try to improve yourself by reading others’
writing and try to find out the missing charisma in yours.
– Apply a structured process – plan, draft, edit, and format
– Find out the audience for the article
– Try to engage the audience by using simple, clear, interesting
words
– Never lose the essence of your assertion
– Try to get familiar with the relevant software and platforms

Importance of Writing Skills

Writing is a medium of communication. Writing skills help a person
to express the ideas, opinions and thoughts in an easy and clear way.
– It is widely used for personal and official communication
– Writing skills help to develop and compose any type of writing
contents
– Writing skills help in bringing clarity and creativity in our
writing

Steps for Writing

By just using appropriate vocabulary and developing writing skills,
one cannot make a content presentable. There are some rules and
formats for writing contents. There are some steps for writing which
we need to follow.
Introduction to Writing Skills 11

Choose a Topic
The very first step of writing content is to choose and decide on a
topic on which we want to write. The topic can be anything from a
burning issue to a sensitive point or any official matter. We need to
have a clear understanding of the topic on which we want to write.

Research and Collection of Information

After knowing the topic, the next step is to research as much as
possible and collect relatable information. Collect and note all the
random thoughts, ideas, and information related to it. Research the
concerned audience. Try to find what they want. Identify the main
theme of the content.

Organizing Content
The next step after noting down the information is to organize the
ideas in a proper sequence. Creating an outline of the write-up helps
organizing the content appropriately. Sometimes, when the article is
long enough, outlines help to identify the order and help in breaking
the paragraphs to get meaningful information.
12 English Writing Skills

Writing
This is the main task for a writer. Always use simple and direct
language for your article. The choice of words, the division of the
paragraphs, the use of headings or subtitles, facts and figures create a
huge impact on the reader’s mind. Try to put the cause and effect or
comparison and contrast or problem and solution style of writing.

Revising
Do not assume that the first write-up is the final one. Revise your
content. Add or delete, and reorganize your matter.

Editing and Proof Reading

Once you finish your writing, it is the time to do editing, formatting,
and proof-reading. Check for spelling, grammar, punctuation, voices,
speech, and sentence formation, and other errors.
Also, check for commonly misused words like ‘affect’ and
‘effect’, ‘then’ and ‘than’, ‘your’ and ‘you’re’, ‘it is’ or ‘it’s’, some
plural or possessive words.

Publishing and Printing

It is the immediate step one needs to undertake once they’re ready
with the final draft of their writing. Once, the document is ready it is
the time for printing or publishing or putting it on a website for
readers.

George Orwell’s Tips on Better Writing

George Orwell has earned the right to be called one of the best
writers in the English language through such novels as 1984, Animal
Farm, and Down and Out in Paris and London, and essays like
“Shooting an Elephant.”
Orwell excoriated totalitarian governments in his work, but he
was just as passionate about good writing. Thus, you may want to
hear some of Orwell’s writing tips.
A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask
himself at least four questions, thus:
1. What am I trying to say?
Introduction to Writing Skills 13

2. What words will express it?

3. What image or idiom will make it clearer?
4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?
And he will probably ask himself two more:
1. Could I put it more shortly?
2. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?
One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and
one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the
following rules will cover most cases:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which
you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word
if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright
barbarous.
From Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language.”
14 English Writing Skills

Part-A
Brief Questions with Answers

Q.1. What is writing?

Ans. Writing is an act of composing a text.
Q.2. What is the ‘process of writing’?
Ans. The writing process is the series of steps that most writers
follow in composing texts.
Q.3. What is the five-step writing process?
Or,
Write down the names of stages of writing process. [NU. 2015]
Or,
What are the stages of writing process? [NU. 2017]
Ans. The five-step writing process is: Prewriting, Drafting,
Revision, Editing and Publishing.
Q.4. What is prewriting?
Ans. Prewriting refers to the preparatory work for a piece of
writing. It includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others,
brainstorming, outlining, and gathering information.
Q.5. What are the prewriting strategies?
Ans. The pre-writing strategies are: listing, clustering, free-
writing, looping, and asking the six journalists’ questions.
Q.6. What does the phrase “jotting down ideas” mean? [NU.
2017]
Ans. The phrase ‘jotting down ideas’ means to write any
information quickly on a piece of paper so that we can remember
it.
Q.7. What is clustering or mind mapping?
Ans. Clustering or mind mapping is the pre-writing stage of
recording ideas. At this stage, a writer writes down the central
idea (topic) in the middle of a sheet of paper and circles it. He
then writes down the other ideas related to the central idea
surrounding the central idea.
Introduction to Writing Skills 15

Q.8. What is free-writing?

Ans. Free-writing is one of the stages of pre-writing in which the
writer begins writing whatever comes into his/ her mind about
the topic. At this stage, the writer focuses only on the specific
topic, not on the grammar, spelling or punctuation.
Q.9. What are the six journalists’ questions?
Ans. Journalists traditionally ask six questions when they are
writing assignments. These questions are: Who?, What?,
Where?, When?, Why?, and How? A writer can use these
questions to gather ideas about his topic.
Q.10. What is brainstorming? [NU. 2016]
Ans. Brainstorming is a process for generating new ideas for
writing a piece of text.
Q.11. What is outlining?
Ans. Outlining is a kind of graphic scheme of organizing a piece
of text. Outlining is a tool used to organize written ideas about a
topic into a logical order. It includes main ideas and supporting
ideas, and shows how they are organized and the overall
structure.
Q.12. What is drafting?
Ans. Drafting is a stage of the writing process during which a
writer organizes information and ideas into sentences and
paragraphs.
Q.13. What is a discovery draft?
Ans. A discovery draft is a strategy for developing your ideas.
The purpose of a discovery draft is to discover what a writer has
to say about the topic.
Q.14. What is revising/revision?
Ans. Revising means “re-visioning” or “re-seeing” your paper.
Revision is defined as “a process of making changes throughout
the writing of a draft, changes that work to make the draft
harmonious with a writer’s changing intentions.”
Q.15. What is proofreading?
Ans. Proofreading is the process of reading and correcting
typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and
16 English Writing Skills

spelling.
Q.16. What is editing?
Ans. Editing is the process of correcting and adapting a text.
Q.17. What is plagiarism? [NU. 2014]
Ans. Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use of the language and
thoughts of another author and the representation of them as
one’s own”. It is a false assumption of authorship.
Q.18. How can you avoid plagiarism?
Ans. We can avoid plagiarism by acknowledging indebtedness to
the original writers. We can do it by paraphrasing, citing, quoting
and referencing with the mention of sources.
Q.19. What is bibliography? [NU. 2015]
Ans. Bibliography is a list of resources (books, websites,
journals, papers, people, etc.) that a writer consulted during the
process of writing.
Q.20. What is skimming? [NU. 2015, 2018]
Ans. Skimming is the process of reading with the purpose of
getting only the main ideas and a general overview of a piece of
writing.
Q.21. What is scanning?
Ans. Scanning is a reading technique used to find specific
information quickly. In scanning you have a question in your
mind and you read a passage only to find the answer, ignoring
unrelated information.
Q.22. What is APA style?
Ans. APA style is a set of standards for the writers to follow
developed by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Q.23. What three kinds of information does APA style include?
Ans. The APA style includes three kinds of information in in-
text citations.
1. The author’s last name
2. The work’s year of publication
3. The page number, appears only in a citation to a direct
quotation.
Introduction to Writing Skills 17

Q.24. What is MLA style?

Ans. The MLA style refers to the style of documentation in
writing research papers recommended by the Modern Language
Association. The MLA style is used in some areas of the
humanities, e.g., composition and literature. It helps authors
create a list of works cited at the end in an alphabetical order.
Q.25. Mention one point of difference between MLA style and
APA style.
Ans. In MLA style, the author’s full name (first and last) is
spelled out, but in APA style, the author’s last name is spelled
out and the first name is reduced to initials.
Q.26. What is target audience?
Ans. The target audience is the group of people whom the writer
wants to educate or persuade.
Q.27. What is an appendix? [NU. 2016]
Ans. An appendix is extra information attached at the end of a
piece of writing.
Q.28. What is an index?
Ans. An index is an alphabetically arranged list of items (such as
names or terms) given at the end of a printed text with page
numbers on which the item can be found.
Q.29. What is copyright?
Ans. Copyright is a legal means of protecting an author’s work.
It gives the author an exclusive right to reproduce, publish, or
sell his or her original work of authorship.
18 English Writing Skills

Part-B
Short Questions with Answers

Q.1. What are the basic stages of writing process?

Ans. There are basic five stages of personal writing process.
They are:
Stage One : Pre-writing: This is the planning phase of the
writing process, when students brainstorm, outline ideas, and
collect information relating to the ideas.
Stage Two : Drafting: Students start writing down all their ideas
organizing logically. They develop their ideas with enough
details for their audience and purpose.
Stage Three : Revising: Students review, modify, and
reorganize their work by rearranging, adding, or deleting
content, and by making the tone, style, and content appropriate
for the intended audience in order to improve the draft.
Stage Four : Editing: At this point in the writing process,
writers proofread and correct errors in grammar, sentence
structure, punctuation, capitalization, word choice, spelling,
citation and document format.
Stage Five : Publishing: In this last step of the writing process,
the final writing is shared with others. It refers to releasing it to
the people for their reading.

Q.2. What are the three main stages in writing? [NU. 2019]
Ans. Writing is for the communication of ideas. Processes of
writing vary from writer to writer, but almost all writers follow
these main three stages: pre-writing, writing and re-writing.
Stage One : Pre-writing: This is the planning phase of the
writing process. At this stage, writers brainstorm, outline ideas,
and collect information about to the ideas.
Stage Two : Writing: At the second stage, a writer starts writing
his piece using formal sentences and paragraphs. He writes the
topic sentence, main ideas and supporting details for each
Introduction to Writing Skills 19

paragraph. He completes the writing by writing a conclusion.

Stage Three : Re-writing: The third or final stage of writing is
the stage of revising and editing. At this stage, the writer goes
through the whole piece of writing and makes changes if
necessary. He also checks the flow of ideas, grammar, spelling
and punctuation.

Q.3. What are the basic steps in the writing process?

Ans. Writing is a process. It is an art of expressing our thoughts
and views. We should not write anything in an unorganized
manner. To write something in an organized way we have to
follow the seven steps mentioned below—
Step-1: Choosing a topic: Deciding on a topic you want to write
about
Step-2: Brainstorming: Writing every idea that comes into our
mind about the topic. Then we have to circle good ideas and
cross bad ideas.
Step-3: Creating an outline: Creating a map for good ideas
developing supporting details
Step-4: Writing the first draft: Putting into sentences the ideas
got from brainstorming and outlining, ignoring errors in
spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Step-5: Peer editing: Asking someone to read our paper in order
to get feedback.
Step-6: Revising the draft: Rereading and rewriting the paper
taking the peer editing into consideration.
Step-7: Proofreading the final draft: Correcting all kinds of errors
After following these seven steps you will get a polished final
draft.

Q.4. What are the five qualities of good writing?

Or,
What are the important qualities of good writing?
Ans. Writing is an art of expressing our thoughts and views. But
it is not easy to make our writing good. Good writing should
have certain qualities. The five important qualities of good
20 English Writing Skills

writing are:
Focus: Good writing should focus on a single clear central idea.
Each paragraph of a piece of good writing should contain a clear
main point or topic sentence.
Development: Each paragraph of a piece of good writing should
expand the central idea. The idea of each paragraph should be
explained through examples, details and descriptions.
Unity: Every paragraph in a piece of good writing should stick to
its central idea. Each paragraph should focus on a single idea
related to the central idea. The supporting details should explain
the single idea of the paragraph. The concluding sentence should
end the paragraph with the same idea.
Coherence: A piece of good writing should be organized
logically and sensibly. The ideas should flow smoothly from one
to the other in a logical sequence. So everything in the writing is
clear to the reader.
Correctness: A good piece of writing should be written in
correct standard English and with complete sentences. It always
follows the basic standards of punctuation, capitalization,
spelling and grammar. So, it should be completely error-free.

Q.5. What are the principles of clear writing?

Or,
What are the principles of clarity in writing?
Ans. A piece of good writing is clear. All writing is
communication; therefore, clarity is one of the key elements of
effective communication. Robert Gunning in his Technique of
Clear Writing emphasizes ten principles for clarity in writing.
They are as follows:
1. Keep sentences short, on the average. Sentences must vary
in length if the reader is to be saved from boredom.
2. Prefer the simple to the complex. Zinsser wrote: ‘The
secret to good writing is to stripe very sentence to its cleanest
form.’
3. Prefer the familiar word. The Element of Style says,
“Avoid the elaborate, the pretentious, the coy and the cute.”
4. Avoid unnecessary words.
Introduction to Writing Skills 21

5. Put action into your verbs. Use the active voice.

6. Write the way you talk. Avoid formal, stilted language. Be
specific.
7. Use terms your reader can capture. Explain jargons.
8. Tie in with your reader’s experience. A statement cut off
from context is a ‘figure” that simply floats about.
9. Make full use of variety. Work toward and nurture a style
you find comfortable with.
10. Write to express, not to impress. Inform readers, that’s all.

Q.6. What is pre-writing?

Or,
What are the strategies of pre-writing?
Or,
How does one gather ideas in the pre-writing stage? [NU.
2019]
Ans. Pre-writing is the first stage of writing process. It is the
stage of generating ideas. A writer can gather ideas in the pre-
writing stage by following five useful strategies: listing,
clustering, free-writing, looping, and asking the six journalists’
questions.
Listing: Listing is the process of generating a lot of information
within a short time. At this stage, a writer lists various topics
and then chooses one topic to write about.
Clustering or Mind mapping: Clustering helps a writer to
record ideas. At this stage, a writer writes down the central idea
(topic) in the middle of a sheet of paper and circles it. He then
writes down the other ideas relating to the central idea
surrounding the central idea.
Free-writing: At this stage, the writer begins writing whatever
comes into his mind about the topic. He focuses only on the
specific topic, not on the grammar, spelling or punctuation.
Looping: Looping is the process of identifying key ideas by
circling them in the free-writing.
The Journalists’ Questions: Journalists traditionally ask six
questions when they are writing assignments. These questions
are: Who?, What?, Where?, When?, Why?, and How? A writer
22 English Writing Skills

can use these questions to gather ideas about his topic.

Q.7. What is brainstorming? [NU. 2012]

Ans. Brainstorming is a process for generating new ideas. The
word ‘Brainstorming’ was coined by Alex Faickney Osborn
(1888-1966) in his book “Your Creative Power”, published in
1948. According to Alex Osborn, Brainstorming is “a conference
technique by which a group attempts to find a solution for a
specific problem by amassing all the ideas spontaneously by its
members”. Thus, brainstorming is the process whereby writers
come up with ideas to write about. There are a number of useful
techniques for brainstorming, including free-writing, listing,
clustering and mapping.

Q.8. What is outlining?

Ans. Outlining is a plan for writing. It is a kind of graphic
scheme of organizing a piece of text. Outlining is a tool used to
organize written ideas about a topic or thesis into a logical order.
It includes main ideas and supporting ideas, and shows how they
are organized and the overall structure. American writer Tom
Wolfe said, “By writing an outline you really are writing in a
way, because you’re creating the structure of what you’re going
to do.” It is usually in the form of a list divided into headings and
subheadings that distinguish main ideas from supporting ideas.
Outlining helps the writer in more than one way. First, it makes
the writing process easier. Secondly, it saves time as the writer
has a clear plan to write a text. Thirdly, it helps the writer to
organize ideas. Finally, it ensures the unity of the piece of
writing.

Q.9. What is drafting? [NU. 2015]

Ans. Drafting is a stage of the writing process during which a
writer organizes information and ideas into sentences and
paragraphs. It is the second stage of the writing process. In this
stage, the writer puts his ideas into complete thoughts; organizes
his ideas in a way that allows the reader to understand his
message. During drafting, the writer will compose an
introduction to the piece and develop a conclusion for the
Introduction to Writing Skills 23

material. At the end of this step of the writing process, the

author will have completed a “rough draft.” So drafting is
important for a writer in order to ensure that he has produced a
polished, complete piece.

Q.10. What is revising/revision?

Ans. Revising means “re-visioning” or “re-seeing” your paper.
Revision in the writing process is defined as “a process of
making changes throughout the writing of a draft, changes that
work to make the draft congruent with a writer’s changing
intentions.” In the process of revising, the writer reassesses the
paper’s main argument, supporting points, development,
organization, paragraph-structure, sense of audience, word
choice, and overall persuasiveness. He changes a few words,
adds a sentence here or there, or deletes unnecessary material.

Q.11. What is proofreading?

Ans. Proofreading is the process of reading and correcting
typographical errors and mistakes in grammar, style, and
spelling. Good writing needs modification and revision, and
proofreading is a fundamental part of this process. It is the very
last step in the writing process. Proofreading is very important
because the main objective of proofreading is to ensure that a
written text is absolutely free of errors and polished to a high
standard. In order to get an error free and standard text, a
proofreader has to verify accuracy in the following areas:
Sentence structure
Grammar
Punctuation
Spelling
Capitalization
Consistency
Numbers
Formatting

Q.12. What is editing?

Ans. Editing is the process of correcting and adapting a text.
Editing includes checking grammar, spelling, punctuation and
24 English Writing Skills

capitalization. The objectives of editing include:

(a) detection and removal of factual, grammatical, and
typographical errors,
(b) clarification of obscure passages,
(c) elimination of parts not suitable for the targeted audience,
(d) minor sentence rearrangement
(e) proper sequencing to achieve a smooth, unbroken flow of
narrative.

Q.13. What is plagiarism? [NU. 2012]

Ans. Duplicating one writer’s language and ideas by another
writer is called plagiarism. It is “the presentation of the work of
another person as one’s own or without proper
acknowledgement”. Plagiarism occurs when a writer copies
materials word for word from books, journals, internet sites,
professor’s course notes, etc. Plagiarism does not refer to words
alone – it can also refer to copying images, graphs, tables, and
ideas. If one translates the work of another person into other
language and does not cite the source, this is also plagiarism.
Changing a few words, rearranging the order of ideas, borrowing
ideas from a source without acknowledgement are all plagiarism.
Plagiarism may be intentional or unintentional. Be it intentional
or reckless, plagiarism is a disciplinary offence.

Q.14. How can you avoid plagiarism? [NU. 2012]

Ans. Plagiarism is “the unauthorized use of the language and
thoughts of another author and the representation of them as
one’s own”. There are easy ways to avoid plagiarism. The ways
of avoiding plagiarism are as follows:
– Paraphrasing someone else’s ideas in your own words with
proper citation
– Citing your references
– Referencing correctly
– Using quotation marks and crediting the source
– Summarizing the major idea(s) of another writer and
attributing the ideas to the original source
– Using your own words
Introduction to Writing Skills 25

– Developing your own writing style

Q.15. What is copyright?

Ans. Copyright is a legal means of protecting an author’s work.
It gives the author or anyone he or she gives authorization to the
exclusive right to reproduce, publish, or sell his or her original
work of authorship. If a work is to be protected by copyright, it
must be (a) original, (b) creative and (c) fixed in a tangible
medium of expression (for example, a song can be fixed by
writing down on a piece of paper). The primary objective of
copyright is to protect the work from plagiarism and encourages
the author to create new works. The Copyright Act gives the
copyright owner certain exclusive rights such as:
- To reproduce the work
- To prepare other works based on the original work
- To distribute copies of the work by sale, lease, or other
transfer of ownership
- To perform the work publicly
- To display the work publicly
Generally, a copyrighted work is protected for the length of the
author’s life plus another seventy years. In the case of joint
works, copyright protection is granted for the length of the life of
the last surviving joint creator plus another 70 years. Anonymous
and pseudonymous works are protected for a term of either 95
years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year
of creation, whichever is shorter. When the term of protection for
a copyrighted work expires, the work enters into the public
domain.

Q.16. What is bibliography?

Ans. Bibliography is a list of sources (books, websites, journals,
papers, people, etc.) that a writer consulted during the process of
writing. It usually appears at the end of a book, report, online
presentation, or research paper. The main purpose of a
bibliography is to give credit to authors whose works have been
consulted in the research. It helps the reader to find out more
information about the topic by reading the sources. The reader
can also check whether the information is correct or not. A
26 English Writing Skills

bibliography further helps the author to avoid the accusation of

plagiarism. To compile a bibliography, the MLA style is
preferred in literature and languages. A bibliography, in general,
includes:
- the authors’ names
- the titles of the works
- the names and locations of the publishers that published
your copies of the sources
- the dates your copies were published
- the page numbers of your sources

Q.17. Explain with example the differences between formal and

informal writing. [NU. 2010]
Ans. The differences between formal and informal writing is
noticed in the tone, vocabulary and syntax. Formal English is
used mainly in academic writing and business communications,
whereas informal English is used in communicating with friends
and other close ones. The differences between the two are as
follows:
Formal Writing Informal Writing
(i) Colloquial (i) Colloquial words/
words/expressions expressions are acceptable
(kids, folks etc) are not
acceptable. Instead of
kids and folks, children
and people are used.
(ii) Contractions (can’t, (ii) Contractions and slangs are
don’t) and slangs are freely used
avoided
(iii) Clichés are avoided (iii) Clichés may be used
(iv) Full versions (photograph, (iv) Abbreviated words (photo,
television, etc) are used TV, etc) may be used
(v) Imperative voice is (v) Imperative voice may be
avoided. It uses used. It may use Help me.
politeness words such
as Please, help me.
(vi) Longer and more (vi) Short and simple sentences
complex sentences are are preferred
Introduction to Writing Skills 27

preferred
(vii) Avoids using 1st and (vii) Freely uses 1st and 2nd
2nd person pronouns. person pronouns such as I,
Instead it uses one, we, you
one’s, the reader, the
reader’s etc.
(viii) The tone is polite but (viii) The tone is more personal
impersonal
(ix) Maintains a serious (ix) May use humour and casual
tone tone

(x) Uses passive voice (x) Active voice may be used