When first learning how to write, there are many approaches you can use. My mom was sneaky, reminding us of funny moments in our day and getting us so excited to write about them in our journals that night. Here's one thing 6-year-old me wrote:
March 16,
Tonight my feet stink and my brother is farting a lot.
The main idea behind effective writing is to convey information clearly and efficiently using proper structure, word choice, and grammar. I think my mom did a great job; I clearly conveyed my message efficiently that night. Although a little silly, this is one approach to practice writing, there are many more, and there is never a deadline to learn new things!
Here are a couple of tips, articles, and resources to help in generating greater excitement about writing.
1. Institute of Education Sciences
Specifically for Elementary aged kids just starting out and needing practice. This article has many ideas for greater engagement and variety in writing.
2. Teaching & Learning Writing
This website goes over many options for teaching and practicing writing skills; for ages K-12th grade. Websites include a variety of free resources and subscriptions.
3. Creative Writing Helps
Of course, one of the best ways to improve writing is by writing! Creative writing can become a fun experience with the right activity! Try any of these ideas either at home, on your own, or at school.
4. Free Online Books
Not only does the practice of writing improve the skill, but even reading can help with spelling, comprehension, and creativity. This website lists 15 places to find free books online. The nice thing is, you're never too old to fall in love with reading.
As for citations:
If you are not careful, you may end up spending more time correctly citing than you did writing! Here are some tips on writing citations, as well as websites that help generate the correct citation for whatever format used.
1. Owl Purdue:
The university outlines what you need to know to correctly format and create citations, as well as videos for frequent mistakes and questions.
2. Citation Machine:
An automatic citation maker requires only a few clicks of a button. This works for websites, books, or any article. Free for any type of paper style.
3. Grammarly:
Not only good for checking spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but with the online plagiarism checker, you can account for all you citations.
