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We couldn’t do it; it was such a slog. The lecturer was sighing and we were moaning. The class I took recently (at another University) was less than half-way through the essay and we simply gave up. And that was just reading and critiquing, done so that we might learn about writing.

People in the class expressed disbelief that the lecturer might have to sit through 10 of these. Sure the essay was about taxation, but specifically the Poll Tax and whether the opposition outside of Parliament, culminating in mass riots, was effective. The lecturer said, “I don’t expect any to be an interesting read. I’m just pleased if the English is okay and they have a structure.”

However, to disagree with the sad-faced tutor, if we aspire only to writing that ticks some boxes that’s the best we can hope for. This is not to say the “gramma don’t matta”, but it matters because getting a point across is much more difficult when the reader is constantly distracted by mistakes and unclear sentences.

Everybody at University should aspire to good writing, to lively prose, and to ideas that leap out of the page to stick in the mind. Writing is a skill that can help you through the rest of your life, and doing it well can even improve how well you think. Getting thoughts onto paper forces you to clarify those thoughts.

There is no secret to good writing: as Matthew Arnold once said, “Have something to say and say it well.”  As an exercise, find things you like to read, whether newspapers, magazines or even novels – and work out why reading these are a pleasure. You will see they have ideas to get across, facts you must know. They want to grab your attention and make you keep reading. They structure their points, so that you too can see what they believe, or what it was like to be there. Closely study effective writing: it pays off.

To write well, first you must have something to say, and this means you have to read. One important reason the Poll Tax essay so deadened the soul was the writer had just one main reference: a deadly dull textbook on eighties’ politics. While at the time there was heated debate and clashes of ideology nothing of this made it to the page. Looking at a few more points of view might have brought the subject alive in the essayist’s own mind. Then the excitement of understanding what was said, and why it might be right or wrong, could spill out onto the page.

In just a couple of thousand words or so essays can’t be definitive. But they can develop a point of view, an argument, and weigh up all and sundry in its pursuit. Having that argument needs facts, characters and viewpoints to engage with. Finding these means reading, reading with intent, to get what you need.

Once you have something to say, then, how to say it well? There are scores of books in the library explaining how to write essays. None of them are great, but they do tell you something of what is expected in the structure of an academic essay. Find one that you like the style of and photocopy the pages on structure. These pages can remind you of the bits that must be in an essay. But, put simply, they repeat the advice sometimes given to public speakers “Say what you are going to say. Say it. Then say what you have said.”

Structure, or the overall building up of an argument, like much of writing, takes practice. You should get somebody you know will enjoy ripping your essay to shreds and ask them if it makes sense. They will see gaps in logic on the page that you have missed, because it is already obvious in your head. You will learn to spot these gaps yourself, but even the best writers rely on editors to spot missing links. Get a mate, who’ll read it late.

This isn’t and couldn’t be a comprehensive guide to writing. But one guideline is to try to take pleasure in the construction of what you write. Have your paragraphs express one idea, and use the first sentence to say it and then explain and expand on it. Vary sentences in length, to vary the pace, like music. Staccato points work. But this is especially true when mixed with long, flowing sentences that engage your reader.

Enjoy cutting unnecessary words out. Find active, striking words and phrases. Resist clichés like the plague. Above all writing is about communicating. Smile, if others can see inside your mind, because you have taken the time to write clearly.

There are several books that have helped improve my writing – see below. And your university offers help from enthusiastic staff to improve your writing skills. Let’s face it, if you think essay writing is a just a chore then it will be. And your suffering readers will agree.

Further reading: Evans, H. (2000) Essential English: For Journalists, Editors and Writers, London: Pimlico // Orwell, G (1946) Politics and the English Language // Trask, R.L. (1997) Penguin Guide to Punctuation, London: Penguin
Exercise: find two sources that have a writing style you like and explain in a couple of paragraphs why giving examples.