- Hello. Hi, Cambly learners.

My name is Lani, and I'm a tutor in Cambly,

and today, you'll be learning five tips

to improve your writing skills.

Tip number one, determine your purpose,

your audience, and tone.

Ask yourself questions such as why?

Who?

What?

These questions are part of the pre-writing process.

The purpose of pre-writing

and asking yourself these questions

is to find and explore the ideas and the topics

that you'll be prepared to write.

So ask yourself, why am I writing?

This will determine your purpose.

To entertain, to inform, to request something?

To whom am I writing?

This will determine your audience.

Am I writing to my teacher, to my family and friends,

my boss, or customer?

The tone or attitude of your writing,

whether formal and professional or informal and friendly,

will depend completely on your audience.

And now, we've come to the last question.

Why am I writing?

This question pretty much summarizes the ones before.

For example, what am I writing? A play.

Why am I writing it? To entertain.

To whom am I writing? My high school classmates.

It should be fun.

This leads us to the next tip.

Number two, create an outline.

When you write, you need to organize your thoughts

and ideas in an order that makes sense.

Order refers to your choice of what to present first,

second, third, and so on in your writing.

The order you pick is closely related to your purpose,

which we have already discussed.

So in a nutshell, an outline is a written plan

that serves as a skeleton for the paragraphs you write.

For example, before you start writing an email

to your manager about your project proposal, first,

lay out your main points in an outline.

It is best to follow

the introduction-body-conclusion format.

For the introduction, describe your project

and include the overall purpose and goals of the project.

Then, in the body, outline what your project entails

in two or three main points.

Finally, in the conclusion,

encourage your manager to consider your proposal

and emphasize the benefits of your project.

Feel free to use bullet points, numbers,

letters to organize your thoughts and ideas.

Number three, write up a draft.

The time has arrived! We can finally start writing!

- [Group] Yay! - Yay.

On your marks, get set, write.

A draft is a complete version of a piece of writing,

but it is not the final version.

Write one paragraph at a time and then stop.

Take short breaks to refresh your mind.

And once again, keep your audience

and purpose in mind as you write.

Your purpose will guide your mind

as you compose your sentences.

Your audience will guide your word choice.

Keep asking yourselves what your readers,

with their background and experience,

need to know in order to understand your ideas.

If your purpose is to persuade, for example,

you will present your facts and details

in the most logical and convincing way you can.

If you get writer's block

and you don't know what to write next,

refer back to your outline

or move on to a different paragraph

and returned to that one later.

Number four, consult online resources,

such as a dictionary or a thesaurus.

Using online resources can help you

to find the right words to say,

making your writing more colorful, more interesting,

and ensure you are using proper grammar.

For example, say you're writing an email to your colleague.

Your presentation was good.

Well, that can be encouraging.

Good is a very vague additive.

You can search good in an online thesaurus

and find synonyms such as interesting, motivating,

insightful, or thought provoking.

This can help you to be more descriptive.

So using online tools will enhance your writing,

and then what you write will be not just good,

but excellent, extraordinary, exceptional.

Number five, proofread.

Don't think it's over once you finish your draft.

We all make mistakes when writing.

So it is extremely important

to review and revise your writing,

whether it's an email, an essay, or a text message.

There are two steps to proofreading. Number one, revising.

When you revise, you take a second look

at the ideas you wrote down.

You might add, cut, move or change information

in order to make your ideas clearer, more accurate,

more interesting, or more convincing.

Number two, editing.

When you edit you take a second look

at how you express your ideas.

You add or change the words that you use.

You fix any problems in grammar,

punctuation, or sentence structure.

You improve your writing style,

and ultimately, you transform your writing

into something that you're proud of.

And finally, after revising and editing,

read it aloud to yourself.

How does it sound?

Does it have the correct tone? Will it reach its audience?

Does it accomplish its purpose?

Here's a bonus tip.

Ask a close colleague or classmate

to read over what you've written

and provide you with feedback.

Sometimes another person

can give us a fresh perspective or identify mistakes.

So next time you need to write,

keep in mind these five tips.

Number one, determine your purpose, audience and tone.

Number two, create an outline.

Number three, write up a draft.

Number four, consult online resources,

and five, proofread.

If you follow these tips, I can assure you,

you will be writing for success.

For those who aren't familiar with Cambly,

Cambly gives you instant access

to friendly Native English speakers like me.

So you can learn how to speak English in the real world.

You can take English classes anywhere, anytime,

right from your phone or a computer.

Schedule your next class with me using the link below.

Thank you so much for watching. Buh-bye.

(upbeat music)