CPD tips: What are writing skills and how do you improve them?

They say that communication is key, and writing is one of the most essential methods of communicating with one another that we have, particularly for students and working professionals. This CPD article will dive into what writing skills are as well as provide some simple and easy ways to improve your writing skills.

What are writing skills?

Whether you’re writing to communicate through email, blog post, article, social media post, white paper, or other content types, effectiveness is key. Correct grammar, punctuation, spelling, and exciting content flow are essential in good writing skills to make your point succinctly and professionally. Below we have outlined each of these components that can influence the quality of writing.

• Grammar - A system of language rules that allows the combination of individual words to make complex meanings. Applying grammar rules to your writing will make it stronger, clearer, and more effective 
• Vocabulary - Vocabulary can be described as the "glue" that holds stories, ideas and concepts together. It allows us to express our ideas and communicate effectively.
• Spelling - As well of being a sign of care and professionalism, spelling helps you to see the patterns in language and understand how words are really put together. By learning spelling, you can see written language follows rules, which makes it easier to understand those rules when reading or writing. 
• Sentence construction - Sentence structure refers to the physical nature of a sentence and how the elements of that sentence are presented. Just like word choice, writers should strive to vary their sentence structure to create rhythmic prose and keep their reader interested 
• Clarity - Concise and clear writing is key for getting your point across to different audiences as well as effectively managing both yours and the reader’s time so they can maximise productivity.
• Persuasiveness - If you are trying to convince your audience of something, for example a potential customer, it will be useful to learn the writing skill of persuasiveness.

Why is it important to develop your writing skills?

If your career is in a writing centric or writing heavy role, for example marketing, you might already be aware of how your writing skills can help you daily. Many people underestimate but are starting to recognise the importance of having excellent writing skills.

A lack of writing skills is unfortunately still quite common and can have very disruptive knock on effects to an individual in their personal and professional life. This could be an email no one seemed to understand that ended up derailing the timeline for an entire project, or a written a report that you then have to explain it again in person to everyone after they have read it.

Well-developed writing skills are also extremely useful outside of just email writing. For example, this could encompass putting together presentations that incorporate text or the need to write a report on the results of something you did or researched. It could also mean when you are going on vacation and you need to write up instructions for your teammates or detailed reports with instructions for further action.

Strong writing skills will also help you to communicate with others without having to schedule a meeting or phone call. This will ensure readers understand the key points of the information that you are trying to get across, to come away with the ideas and impression you want them to and in many cases, to take action to do whatever you’re hoping they’ll do. This is incredibly useful in recent times due to Covid and the move to remote working many people have faced.

How do you improve your writing skills?

Although at first it can seem quite daunting, the good news is that writing is a skill which can be learned like any other. It takes time to learn proper writing techniques and a great deal of practice to hone your skills. Improvement needs a bit of guidance and a lot of practice.

Simply put, the more effort you put into learning how to write well, the better you will get. However, keep in mind that just working hard isn’t enough; if you don’t actively strive to improve as a writer, and if you don’t use a smart learning process, most of your effort will likely go to waste. With optimisation and the smarter your learning process is, the faster you will be able to improve your writing.

Simple ways and tips to improve your writing skills

Thankfully, there are many things that individuals can do to help enhance writing skills. Although there may be some slight variations, the most valuable, simple and easy ways to improve your writing skills can be found by using these steps and principles.

1. Always research your topic so you know what to write and can write it with confidence.
2. Make an outline of what you intend to write. Clear headings and summaries of each paragraph or chapter.
3. Get clear on the concept of what you are writing about, even if this is just an email.
4. Sit down and write! The more you write, the better you will be able to recognise where you might be going wrong and how to improve.
5. Make writing a daily exercise.
6. Avoid weak words and upgrade your vocabulary.
7. Read it aloud as this will help you to spot mistakes you might have missed.
8. Practice.

Where to find CPD courses to enhance your writing skills

Recognising the importance and value in professionals and individuals looking to improve writing skills, there is an ever-growing amount of relevant CPD courses, training and learning options available online. A key selection of these can be found on The CPD Certification Service website here.

Within the CPD Courses Catalogue, there are a wide range of training courses, events, e-learning programs, conferences, workshops and seminars, which have all been formally CPD certified. If you would like to find out more about a particular CPD course listed on our website, you can click on each course and there is an enquiry form that will be sent directly to the relevant CPD provider. 

To find out more about effective writing and improving your writing skills, please read our previous articles:

The art and craft of creative writing (Learn more)

CPD tips - Improve your business writing (Learn more) 

CPD accreditation for your writing skills courses

CPD accreditation for writing training courses or events ensures that learning has reached any Continuing Professional Development requirements and benchmarks. Participants and attendees should get the most of learning, as that course will have had prior review by an established independent organisation to recognised industry standards.

Established in 1996, The CPD Certification Service has over 27 years’ experience providing CPD accreditation. With members in over 100 countries, our CPD providers benefit from the ability to promote themselves as part of an international community where quality is both recognised and assured.

We hope this article was helpful. If you are interested in offering training and events suitable for Continuing Professional Development, please visit the Become a CPD Provider page or contact our team to discuss in more detail. Alternatively, if you are looking for a free online CPD record tool to help manage, track and log your ongoing Continuing Professional Development, as well as store your personal training record and CPD attendance certificates in one simple place, please visit the myCPD Portal page.