The written word is powerful. People still glean most of their knowledge from written material than they do from audio and visual formats, especially in work environments. There is no doubt that being able to write well will give you better career opportunities.
If you want to improve this skill and benefit from becoming a more effective communicator all you need to do is to read on. Below we outline some easy to implement ways to make what you write more impactful.
Don’t be tempted to plagiarize
The fact that cheating has been on the increase for many years now has made people less trustful of what they read. As a result, when they find something interesting they may go to scribbr.com to make sure that what they are being presented with is original, rather than something that has been copied from elsewhere and been claimed as their own by the author.
This also happens in the workplace. No manager wants to give someone credit for copying an idea from somewhere else and presenting it as their own.
Educational institutions have also wised up to improve the way you write and now check carefully for plagiarism. So, if your climbing up the ranks relies on you passing certain exams don’t be tempted to try to take a shortcut by copying other people’s work.
Use a decent grammar checker
Most word processors have built-in spelling and grammar checkers (SPG). By all means, use it. But, be sure to put whatever you write through a second SPG check. You will be surprised by how many additional errors you pick up simply by doing that.
Keep a journal
If you do not already do so, start a journal. Write in it every day. Initially, you will likely only write a few lines. At that stage that is OK. What you are trying to do is to get into the habit of writing regularly. Once you do, you will be surprised by how quickly you become motivated to write more often.
The other good thing about keeping a journal is that it is beneficial for your mental and emotional well-being. This study explains why that is and how to get the most benefit out of keeping a personal journal.
Contribute to industry sites and journals
It is also worth getting into the habit of writing about your industry. There are thousands of websites and journals out there that are crying out for original content. Potentially, you can play a role in filling that gap and end up greatly improving your career prospects at the same time.
Now, we know that you are no doubt looking at all of the above and feeling a bit overwhelmed. You are probably thinking that you do not have time to do any of this. It is understandable that you should feel that way. But, don’t worry. All you need to do is to set aside 20 or 30 minutes a day to do these things. That really is enough time to make a huge difference to how well you write and greatly improve your chances of standing out from the crowd in the workplace.
