Characteristics of good writing

¶ … Strong Writing

Writing is one of the most important forms of communication. It helps convey innovative ideas and can be the foundation of new thinking. Good writing is essential within both the academic and professional worlds. Good writing needs a strong active voice to clearly state and later proves a concise argument.

General good writing concisely proves a point, or basic argument. It uses active voice to portray a sense of authority on the chosen writing topic. Active voice demands that the subject and the verb are close together within the sentence. It also requires that the verb used within the sentence is in an active form, either the infinitive or present tense. Passive voice is when the verb is used in a past tense. Once this argument is clearly stated, a good writing sample will tie all future points back to the states argument, or thesis. Sticking to the thesis will provide a strong and well-thought out argument that is strong enough to avoid running in circles. This strong collaboration between the points is the best way to prove an argument and provide good writing.

There are different types of writing used today, one of the more popular styles, especially in schools, is the academic style. This style must prove a clear and concise argument, while speaking to a very specific audience. Most good academic writing aims at an educated audience, who is expected to already have some prior knowledge on the subject, "in most cases your audience will know something about the subject at hand -- so you will need sturdy proof," (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007). Therefore, the materials used to provide evidence for the points need to be accessible to anyone within the audience who wants to double check the sources and clarify statements made within the paper. Academic writing aims to prove a concrete and concise argument within the given subject topic (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007). The argument is compiled within the thesis of the academic writing sample. The thesis is found at the very end of the introduction, and states the argument of the paper clearly in a format which also outlines the rest of the body paragraphs (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007). Therefore, it is essential that good academic writing includes the formation of a concrete argument that cannot be disproved within the rest of the body of the paper. Most arguments are based on the arguments of conceits of others. According to research, good writing questions, interprets, defend or refute it, in one's own words (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007). In order to best prove any argument, good writing needs to include a strong link to evidence. In the case of academic writing, evidence comes directly out of textbooks and other academic sources in the given topic of any particular paper. This evidence is used to prove or disprove a statement within the thesis. Evidence is extremely important in proving the argument. According to research, "The strength of your evidence, and your use of it, can make or break your argument," (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007). The type of evidence used within an academic paper depends highly on the subject matter being discussed in the paper itself.

In many cases, good writing will also address the counter argument, or the arguments that might possibly be made against the main argument of the paper. Counter arguments are usually addressed first, and are later discredited further on in the paper. The discrediting of counter arguments must be based concretely within the available evidence in the subject area (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2007).