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Writing skills are a must in today’s corporate scenario. Communication is termed as a key element in businesses and jobs these days. However, it has come to light that students belonging to various universities all over the world lack in basic communication and writing skills. The reasons for this can be attributed to a number of causes. My paper will analyze the problem areas in communication faced by students, the need for effective writing skills and my own experience in this field.
Poor writing skills in students is a well known fact now. Authors reveal that students don’t possess Basic English grammar knowledge. They struggle in using apostrophes, commas and tenses. The flow of the correspondences and pieces they right doesn’t contain a structured and organized layout. They quickly derail from the thought of their pieces they are writing and jump to other topics without a proper trail. Another evident problem is use of excessive jargon which the students feel will give their papers an academic and professional look. Writing lengthy paragraphs without using full stops, commas, semi-colons and colons is another major flaw in writing. Use of long sentences without brevity is a major reason why students’ writing is considered poor. It has also been observed that students commit grammatical and punctuation errors and have poor vocabulary skills. The lack of such major yet basic grammar skills may be attributed to the schooling and university systems. The teachers are unable to focus on imparting basic writing skills to students since the system makes them follow a strict curriculum. Another major cause could be the advent of ‘Instant Messaging’ because of which proof-reading has become an outdated task. When quantity overrides quality, such errors are bound to happen.
A business student needs to possess good writing skills because communication is a continuous process in the corporate world. Memos as well as correspondences are to be sent to clients, parties, seniors, subordinates and colleagues almost all the time. Proper use of grammar, punctuation marks, vocabulary and tenses is mandatory. Using professional language should not be confused with the use of jargon and lengthy sentences. A professional way to communicate also requires framing sentences and using words which are appropriate while communicating in offices. Using slangs should be avoided at all costs. However, it does not imply that archaic words and legal language should be used. A good correspondence should contain key characteristics such as Brevity, Clarity, Concision and Completeness. The flow of the written pieces should be logical and well structured.
Just like every student, perfection in writing skills has been ordeal for me. An honest revelation about me would be how I have struggled with grammar and vocabulary for a long time. I have faced a ton of problems in framing good sentences while expressing my thoughts. I lacked in brevity and in properly organizing my written work in a sequential manner all through my high school. Another major flaw, I had in my writing skills was lack of clarity in my thought process. I was unable to put my thoughts on paper without jumbling each varied thought. The key to my improved communication abilities can be attributed to reading novels and newspapers. Reading newspapers helped me to improve my vocabulary and novels helped me in organizing my thoughts in a sequence. Communicating without using slangs was another major achievement of mine. This helped me to use proper English words while speaking as well as while writing.
