What College Essays Can Teach You About Effective Writing

So I just got done with most of my college applications. You can learn something good from every experience, and boy did I learn something from all these applications : how to write effectively.

1. Brevity is an art.

Simple is nice, isn’t it? – Photo : Robb North

Writing about a thing you love within 100 words is not easy. Writing about a significant challenge you’ve faced within 250 words is harder. Word limits on college essays suck, I know, but they’re there for a very good reason.

Brevity is an art. It’s a VERY valuable skill to be brief and succinct. No one wants to read a 1000 word piece that goes on and on. If you can express something just as well in about 200 words rather than a thousand, you have a special skill. Use it!

Don’t make readers read paragraphs and paragraphs. They’ll only get lost and confused in the whole thing. They WILL appreciate you if you make it short and sweet. Cut away the fat and what you have left is beautiful simplicity. Effectiveness comes from simplicity. Simple is better. The shorter your piece is, the easier it is to read. And therefore, the easier it is to grasp. Which means it’s more effective.

But do remember though that you can’t be so succinct that what you’ve written loses its meaning. The art is to express what you want to say in as less words as possible. The best way to improve yourself is to practice. Always look for ways you can cut the odd word out, rephrase a sentence (or even cut out a whole paragraph), while maintaining the meaning of the piece.

Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the master of brevity. Do check out some of the tips from the great master himself :

Ernest Hemingway’s writing tips for bloggers
Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips For Writing Well
Hemingway on writing

Yes, yes..

I know it can be hard to be brief, because I’ve been there. I’ve had to find ways to limit my passion for writing to just 500, or 250 or even 100 words. Like any other college applicant, I cursed these essays, because they forced me to be as brief as possible. But I learned (and am still learning) a valuable skill.

Practice makes perfect. Scrutinize every piece of writing you churn out, and search for ways you can make it succinct. And trust me, it will pay off!

Here’s a simple 5-step checklist you can follow :

1. Write, write, write. Don’t think about how long your piece is. You have to empty your mind on paper before you can cut off the fat.

2. After you finish writing, just scan the whole thing to see if there’s the odd word you can cut out. Repeat this step at least two more times.

3. Then, carefully read through what’s left to see if you can rephrase a sentence using shorter words. Repeat this step atleast two more times as well.

4. By now, your piece must’ve been shortened by quite a lot (you’ll be surprised). Read through the whole thing again to make sure it makes sense. If it doesn’t add the occasional word here or there to sort things out.

5. You’re done!