Writing Help

Tips for school writing

Essays, book reports, letters... a lot of students dread writing assignments. However, all writing you are asked to do as part of your school work is good practice for life after school. Strong communication skills are an important part of every facet of life, whether it be at home, in your community, or, on the job. Follow the links below for advice on how to make your writing more effective. Don't be afraid to ask your teachers if you need help improving your writing skills. You will thank them for it later.

Check out the links below to help you get started

Whether you enjoy writing short stories, poetry, or notes in a diary or journal, these pages will interest you.

• Wrightingwords.com - Writing Prompts blog
• Tips for Writers
• Poetry Idea Engine
• Rhyming Dictionary
• Poetry Forms & Terms
• Teen Ink A teen literary magazine
• Winnipeg Writers Collective

Writing reviews, reports and essays

• Book Review Tips
• A Research Guide for Students
• Research Process for Essays
• Creating a Bibliography

Advice about writing contests

Make sure you ask your teacher or parent about any contests you wish to enter. Beware of "vanity" contests that accept all poems and then charge you to have your poem published in a book. Instead, enter youth writing contests sponsored by well-known writing groups, magazines or newspapers. And, remember, just because you didn't win a particular contest, it doesn't mean your writing wasn't appreciated. There are lots of writers out there and only so many prizes per contest. Just consider it as a fun way to practise and share your writing.

Other ways to share your writing

Entering contests isn't the only way to share your writing. Why not write a poem or story for a friend or relative for a gift? Make your own cards that include a poem you have written yourself. Using your word processing program and a stapler, you can make a simple booklet of your writing. If you're not an artist yourself, why not get a friend who is good at drawing to be the illustrator of your book? Just make sure to give them credit in your book.

How to improve your writing

Ask a teacher or a writer you know to review your work. You will find they are more than happy to read something new and give you some helpful advice. Watch for writing seminars offered by local arts groups or at your school. Read advice from some of the links on this page. Check out some of the books in our library designed to help students improve their writing skills. Practise, practise, practise... The more you write, the better writer you will become. Most importantly, pay attention when your teachers are teaching you grammar and writing skills in class :-) You will find many of them like to write for fun too.

Reading will make you a better writer

Many authors have been quoted as saying they started writing because they loved to read and many can point to a particular author who inspired them to become writers. Authors who have given advice on how to become better writers frequently advise beginning writers to read... a lot. So, since you're on the library web page anyway, poke around the site or drop by and ask us about finding a good book to read. Maybe some day your book will be on our shelves or in our e-book collection or presented in whatever new fangled way people choose to read. Even if books change, people will always crave stories and information.