Learning to write is one of the most challenging things that any adult can do. You will find that the majority of people who try to write ends up frustrated and does not produce anything worthwhile. This is mainly because they did not have the proper guidance to learn how to write. They are either not taught how to write correctly or they end up learning “on their own” and produce bad writing which makes them even more frustrated. To complicate matters, there is no correct way to learn how to write, as every person is different and has a different method of learning. For these reasons, I have put together a list of terms that you will encounter when learning how to write, and how to properly write them. This piece will help you decipher jargon that you will come across when learning how to write, and give you a leg up on the game. Let’s get to it.
Journalism
Journalism is one of the most encompassing occupations in terms of how many different jobs there are. When writing journalism, you will mostly encounter words like ‘story‘, ‘news piece‘, and ‘inquiry‘. These are words that you will hear a lot when you are new to journalism and do not really know what they mean. However, once you are familiar with them they will not necessarily mean what you think they mean. When writing a piece for a newspaper, magazine, or website, they will usually refer to the type of content that you are writing. For example, if you are writing an article for a business magazine, the word ‘news piece‘ might refer to a story about a company or brand, whereas the word ‘story‘ would most likely be used for a piece with a personal element to it. When writing an article for a business magazine, the main focus should be on providing information that is useful to the business community. In other words, the company/brand should be the narrative (the ‘story‘), not the individual elements that make up the story. This is why, whenever possible, you should write with a business objective in mind.
Academic Writing
This type of writing is typically found in academic environments and is used to describe a piece of writing that is aimed at being a part of a larger work or piece of research. For example, if you are writing a term paper for your English class, the professor will expect you to follow a certain structure that presents your ideas coherently and logically. When writing your English paper, you will encounter words such as ‘research paper‘, ‘article‘, and ‘thesis‘. As before, these are words that you will come across a lot when you are studying English and do not necessarily know what they mean yet. However, once you are familiar with them you will realize that they have a specific definition and function. When writing an academic paper, your focus should be on presenting your ideas in the most cohesive and comprehensive way possible. The paper should not only answer the questions that the professor poses in the assignment, but it should do so in a way that is consistent with the overall body of work that he or she has compiled while teaching the class. When presenting ideas, always bear in mind that an idea is worth no words, it always needs to be supported by evidence, and reflected on multiple sources.
Literature Review
Literature reviews are one of the most common types of writing assignments that you will encounter as you try to learn how to write. When writing a literature review, you will get a chance to showcase what you know about a particular topic. Essentially, a literature review is simply a piece of academic writing that discusses the relevant literature (that is, other studies) on a certain subject. When you are learning how to write a literature review, ‘literature‘ will refer to the studies (including your own) that you are using as basis for your analysis. You will usually get a topic and a set number of words (called ‘bibliography‘). Within these limitations, you can essentially write whatever you want, as long as you abide by the basic structure of a literature review (introduction, literature review, conclusions).
As you can see, there are many different terms and words that you will come across when trying to learn how to write. Sometimes, it can be difficult to know exactly what these words mean. As a general rule of thumb, if you are not sure of the meaning of a word, ask your teacher or look it up in a dictionary. Using these few simple rules will help you write correctly and improve your quality of work. Good luck out there.