Just like theses, outlines create a Ben Franklin-Ralph Emerson debate. We have probably heard students say about former high school teachers, “My God! She said we had to have 50 3×5 index cards and a two-page outline. The outline had to have five divisions and each division had to have at least two subheads and they had to have two subheads and they…” However, you can heard other voices: “My teacher said not to worry about an outline: Just write what we feel and it’ll be true. Just be loose. …

In a competitive world such as ours, having the ability to write well is an advantage. In an era of communication, your writing skills will empower you to succeed. Students need effective writing skills in almost every aspect of their scholarly life. Journalists need to convey the truth through their compelling articles. Technical writers have to get across through writings that can be easily comprehended by even the ordinary readers. Bloggers, yes, bloggers strive to earn the respect of their readers by adding authority and expertise to their writings.
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The research paper introduction can be particularly hard because most people don’t put much prewriting thought into it. A typical outline just says, “intro.” Yet we instinctively know that our research paper introduction will set the tone for the whole paper, will grab or sedate the reader, and will either point us in the right direction or bog us down in a swampy confusion. So as out first task in the draft, we must write a key paragraph without the prewriting help the rest of the paper has. No wonder …

Some students skip working thesis saying “I’ll just write a draft and fix later.” A few people can do this—but if you question them closely, virtually all really have done brain teasing and thesis works in their heads beforehand. Most writers who skip thesis preparation start confidently for a sentence or two. Then the next paragraphs fumble into new ideas and repetition trying to tie things together without direction. Somewhere halfway through the paper, the writer realizes what the thesis might be, and the paper smoothens out a bit near …

Undeniably, there are writers who are trying hard in getting the impression that they are intelligent people or that they have a wide range of vocabulary. In some instances, perhaps, you have encountered essays or articles that you can hardly digest because of the jargons or polysyllabic words used. Jargons can be acceptable if a writer writes for a scientific journal, if for a popular newspaper, then this is not acceptable.
As a writer, you should know who your target audience is. Your target audience can be high school students, …