Why is writing so important?

Why is writing so important?

With the elimination of the essay section of the SAT, the rise of ChatGPT, and Duke’s recent announcement that they no longer “grade” Common Application essays, one might think that quality writing is no longer necessary.

I strongly disagree. 

I believe strong writing skills are more important than ever, and students who can demonstrate their writing ability will be rewarded.  

In fact, if there is one skill that you should strive to master before graduating from high school, it’s the ability to write clearly, convincingly, and with impact — especially if you strive to be an officer in the military. The ability to write well will last you a lifetime no matter where you end up, whether in the military, civilian world, as a researcher, mathematician, or in grad school. 

Think about all the things that you may have to write over the next few months, years, and decades:

• Term papers
• Resumes
• Emails
• Texts 
• Congressional nomination essays
• Service Academy essays
• College essays
• ROTC essays
• Personal statements
• College applications
• Mission briefings 
• After-action-reports
• Grant proposals
• Business plans
• Job applications
• Book proposals
• The list goes on and on

All of these activities require you to write well. 

Hopefully, with this in mind, you might be wondering, “How do I become a better writer?”  

Well, one of the best ways to become a better writer is to become a better reader — a voracious reader. Reading and writing go hand-in-hand. 

Why is that? 

Because readers expose themselves over and over to different forms of writing, styles, vocabulary, sentence structure, punctuation, and creativity. And those ideas, styles, and frameworks find themselves working their way into your own writing. 

For those of you who are not avid readers (yet) and you’re struggling with writing, let me suggest a few strategies to help. In addition to reading more, the next best thing is to write more. 

I know that may sound counter-intuitive. 

“If I’m already a poor writer, how will writing help?” 

Well, like with many other things, practice helps. If you don’t practice writing (even though most of us don’t think of writing as practice) how do you expect to improve? 

You don’t just magically become a better writer overnight. 

It requires work, struggle, rough drafts, editing, and revising - over and over again. It also demands clear thinking. If you’re not thinking clearly, you’re not writing clearly.   

Now, if you ever get proverbial “writer’s block” when you sit down to write…the best thing to do to combat this is to write something, anything. 

You need to start somewhere.

It doesn’t matter what you write. Get into the habit of putting words down on paper. The act of writing, and revising, and thinking through sentence structure and syntax is the practice that will make you a better writer. 

I know it can be tedious and frustrating, but it’s the solution. You won’t become a better writer by sitting on your hands. 

I can guarantee you this — without doing this intentional work, you will not simply wake up a better writer someday. 

That’s not how it works. 

Just because you graduate from high school does not mean you are a good writer (unfortunately). Just because you graduate from college doesn’t mean that you’re a good writer. It’s not something that just appears. 

So, put in the time now, work with your English teacher, get a writing tutor, read more, think more, do what it takes to refine your writing skills. 

How long should it take to improve your writing? 

There’s no telling. 

It depends on a lot of factors:

• where you’re starting from
• how much you’re practicing
• how much you’re reading
• what kind of feedback you’re getting 

Your writing will never improve if you don’t make a concerted effort to write more.

I review a lot of writing samples from ServeWellers just like you (e.g. service academy essays, ROTC essays, personal statements, you name it), and I always get nervous when the title of the document is “Naval Academy essay, version 2”. 

If this person is serious about practicing their writing, shouldn’t they be on revision 6, 7, or 8…by the time they send it to me? 

If they’re really serious about the piece of writing, which they should be, they should be making changes, fixing grammatical errors, tweaking word choices, improving flow, eliminating jargon, and trimming unnecessary words. 

That should be your goal, and it will pay you back 10-fold. 

Here’s the bottom line: writing is critical, and to become a better writer, it starts with becoming a clear thinker and an avid reader. 

Keep up your reading and critical thinking, don’t shy away from writing, and edit, edit, edit.