Why do I need to improve writing skill?_Hailey

Why do I need to improve writing skill?

When Chelsea brought up the idea of building a blog specifically dedicated to improve English writing, I was quite excited. It is something that I have always been planning to do, but never made into practice.

Writing skill is tested in almost all types of entrance exams, including SAT, TOFEL, GRE, GMAT, and so on.  This means no matter what kind of career you are going to pursue in future, writing is always the building block. I still remember the days trying to prepare writing exam for GRE, issue and argument-two very important types of writing. It was quite a struggle, but somehow I found it enjoyable at the same time. 

Writing is a tool, which helps people to exchange ideas, emotions, and basically all kinds of human nature. It is also a form of art, and those masterpieces created by Andersen, Shakespeare, Hemingway and etc. are deeply appreciated throughout years after years. Although talent in language is indispensable in writing, persistent practice can always make us better.

For me, the short term goal is closely related to the graduate research training that I am going through, and the post- doctoral jobs in the near future. I would like to improve my scientific writing skills, including writing manuscripts, reviews, and grant proposals. This might sounds boring, but sometimes, reading a nicely written manuscript is just as fun as reading a well-plotted suspense novel, with prediction (hypothesis), evidence (results), and finale (conclusion). The story should be reasonably arranged from simplest to more complex, guiding the readers to think and understand every step of the way, and eventually convince them to agree with your ideas and proposals.

The long term goal is to improve writing skills in general. If only casually writing random paragraphs in my own way, it is not necessarily going to help me improve. Thus, I need to learn from the experts, mainly those column writers from high-class journals (Times, New Yorker, etc.). Read those short articles and try to mimic the native and professional way of expression.  

As what Chelsea has said, writing helps expand our knowledge of worlds both outside and inside of us. So hopefully, we can stick to our goals and encourage each other to grow and prosper in our work and life. 

Good luck to both of us!