04.04.2019
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Bad writing habits

When you think of bad habits, you don’t think that writing could be one of them, right?

In most cases, you aren’t even aware that you have bad writing skills! Even professionals have it but it is hard to spot. After reading tons of articles and proofreading countless material I can promise you, bad writing habits are real and all around you.

In order to make everyone’s lives easier, we need to stop these bad habits in their tracks and make sure we don’t teach them to our vulnerable students.

Today I’ll be sharing my favourite list of bad writing habits! Check it out below:

Super long paragraphs

People are lazy readers. I bet you skip and line or two in this article. Don’t worry. I get it, I understand. I will try my best to keep it short, sweet and simple. In order to keep your readers’ attention, it is important to keep your information concise and break longer parts into short snippets/paragraphs.

The exclamation mark!

I can not stress this point enough, stop the overuse of the exclamation mark. It’s just plain rude. (I had to try my best not to use an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence!) Exclamation marks were originally called the «note of admiration”. They are still, to this day, used to express excitement. They are also used to express surprise, astonishment, or any other such strong emotion.

This means that when you use !!! multiple exclamation marks you are most probably yelling and not in a positive manner. It creates the same kind of tone and feeling as when someone points a finger at you in public or your mother scolding you in front of your friends.

Just don’t do it!

Did you know that in academic writing the use of exclamation marks are completely omitted? They are only used in quotations.

Too many quotations

Have you ever read an article and almost every 3rd or 4th line was a quotation?

Not only it is hard to read and keep the focus of the content you are reading, but it’s also extremely annoying. Using too many quotations can make it seem like you are very much an airhead and need to use quotations to fill the space. Basically what it comes down to is, it makes it clear to the reader that you don’t have any opinions, ideas and thoughts of your own. Of course, it is okay to use a quote here and there for effect but the overuse of quotations really will make your piece seem boring and uninteresting.

No or too much punctuation

Who or what do we blame for this? The new generation? Modern technology such as texting and chatting? When we use informal writing when texting or chatting to friends we are usually pressed for time and commas and full stops aren’t really that urgent or necessary. The receiver understands the gist of the text. However, this habit sometimes crosses over into our formal correspondence with clients, students or professional emails and texts with our superiors. When we don’t use punctuation it can really seem to the reader that the sender has a low intelligence or a lack of education.

What happens when we use too much punctuation? Too much punctuation is just as bad as no punctuation at all, teachers. I ever hear of the term “fake it until you make it?”. Yeah, when we overuse punctuation it can actually make the person seem a lot smarter and more intelligent than they truly are. Don’t be fake, be cool!

Rambling

I know that I’m very guilty of this, I apologise profusely.

Rambling is bad, just plain bad. Please just get to the point. You only have your readers attention for a couple of seconds and to keep their attention is even harder. If you can’t get to the point within the first 2-4 lines, trust me you have lost your reader. Did I get to the point in time? I hope so! Are you still there? 😉

Here is an example from hubspot.com

My husband John brought many valuable qualities to our union: He’s smart, kind, charming, sweet, and has good taste in movies. He also loves good food (especially cheese), and makes me a big cup of tea every single morning.”

Did you read the above quote? Do you know what the topic is? Is it movies? A romance? Will there be a divorce on the horizon?

Yeah, you have no clue, do you?

So, the verdict is: Do not ramble. People don’t always care about the nitty gritty details, they just want to get to the point sooner rather than later and that is okay.

In today’s time, anyone can write about anything, anywhere. With more and more personal blogs, influencers, social media celebrities, online editors and copywriters, writers are everywhere. There is so much material and content out there everywhere you look. Heck, it is what Google is made of, isn’t it?

So, my plea to you is that if you love to write, please make it great! Be true to your message you want others to hear. Don’t get lost in the sea of all the other bad writers who don’t pay attention to the little details to make their piece fantastic and mindblowing for people to read.  Heck, I hope you loved this piece! I can only hope so! (and I’m using these exclamations because I’m genuinely excited.)

If you are a writer like me, check out this helpful article that helps you prepare for writing. When I got started I found it extremely helpful!

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