ultimate guide to improving your writing skills

20 Ultimate Tips & Guidelines to Improve Your Writing

SkillsWritten by Akmal Akbarov in partnership with

Dr. Ulugbek Nurmukhammedov

Content

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5910-42434445

A letter from the author

Start

Writing tips

A thank you note

About the author

A finishing quote

20 Ultimate Tip & Guidelines to Improve Your Writing Skills

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Copyright

AuthorAkmal Akbarov

EditorsAkmal AkbarovUlugbek Nurmukhammedov

Copyright © 2015 English Club Pro

First published using Hubspot eBook Templates, 2015All images are from GoodFon.Ru and Pixabay.comTool used for PDF formatting is SmallPDF.ComTool used for editing is Grammarly.com & Hemingwayapp.com

This book may be used for educational purposes only. For more information, contact Akmal at [email protected] or Skype call him at akmal-akbar.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this eBook, the author assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Please, understand that there are some links contained in this guide that English Club Pro may benefit from financially. The material in this guide may include information, products and services by Third Parties.


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To all of our English Club Pro Fans – thank you for inspiring us, keeping us focused and making sure we never stray off track. This eBook is the start of a new ear of serving you.

If you are in our hometown Tashkent, Uzbekistan right now, you can master your English with Akmal.

Call Akmal today to join one of his groups. You can find his contact numbers below.

Dedication


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WOW! This is my second eBook and I am really excited to present it to you today. During your journey, you will discover how many years I spent to improve my writing skills and how you can improve your writing skills in just 3-4 months.

You will also find one awesome online resource which can help you improve your writing skills. Yes, I use it myself too.

Enjoy!

Akmal AkbarovFounder www.englishclubpro.com

A Letter From the Author


http://www.englishclubpro.com/

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Every time you make a typo errorists win.

http://tr.grammarly.com/aff_c?offer_id=3&aff_id=6485


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So what can

I do?

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Solution

Grammarly




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Before you start reading about the tips I would like to tell you one thing. These tips may not be useful to you if you want to learn how to write IELTS essays only. This is because I talked about writing skills in general here.

Again these are the tips, guidelines and hacks that I use myself. They always help me with my writing. So I hope you will find them useful. If not, that’s fine. I am not an expert nor a specialist in writing. So perhaps you will need to look for other sources to improve your writing skills.

Finally, if you think writing is very difficult and hard for you to learn, do not worry too much. Writing is not a rocket science. It comes with experience. I myself spent about 4-5 years to learn how to write properly. I’m still learning. But you probably you want to improve your writing skills in 3-4 months, right? That’s why I am here to help you. That’s why I wrote this eBook.

So you are not alone. Do not take everything too close to your heart. Everything will work out fine for you, I am sure. The most important thing is that you should always think positively and never … ever give up and stop learning.


Start

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TIP # 1. Start as Early as You

CanThis is a number one tip I want to give you away. If you want to write anything well, you should start as early as possible. I know … I know it is extremely difficult to get started. And not only with writing … with everything, I would say.

The most difficult part of doing anything in this world is to start. But there is a solution to that. If you really and really do not know how to get yourself work, just start with small and easy things.

For example, write your title of your essay, coursework, diploma work, article, blog post etc. If you need to use pictures, search for relevant pictures. Take it easy! Some people may tell you “Oh what are you doing? It is not right to start with titles or search for pictures bla blab la” Ignore them. Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 1. Start as Early as You

Can

Listen to your own self. What your hearts says. Start from your heart because if you do not enjoy what you do, you will give up or you will not perform well. For example, I always start with titles and it works wonders to me.

Also starting early helps me feel relaxed because I know my writing is underway. I know I have taken my first steps and I will have enough time to proofread and polish my written work as much as I wish. By the way I will be talking about proofreading and polishing at the end of this eBook.

Bottom line: start as early as possible by doing small and easy things.


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TIP # 2. Know your structure

Next, know the structure of your writing. For example, let’s take a look at the basic essay tasks you may see these days. If the task says discuss both views and give your own opinion then your structure should like this:

1. Introduction – introduce the topic but don’t give your final opinion;2. Body paragraph – discuss 1st side of the topic (for example positive);3. Body paragraph – discuss 2nd side of the topic (for example negative);4. Conclusion – yes, give your opinion on the topic here.

Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 2. Know your structure

If the task says discuss the causes of the problem and suggest a possible solution, then your structure should look like this:

1. Introduction – introduce the topic;2. Body paragraph – write about causes and consequences;3. Body paragraph – write about a possible solution;4. Conclusion – summarize everything you wrote above.

These two structures I showed above are just examples and there are many structures out there. So you should check with your teacher or professor before you begin writing your piece. For different writing tasks structures are different.

Bottom line: know the structure of your writing first.


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TIP # 3. Brainstorm Ideas &

Keep Notes

This tip is partially related to the first tip above. If you really do not know how to start, start by brainstorming. What does brainstorming mean? It basically means thinking hard about one topic and writing down all the related ideas that come to your mind in the paper. When you do this, you do not think about grammar, spelling and etc.

You only want to get all the ideas out of your head and write them down in the paper. Got it? So in the 21st century paper is out of fashion I know. That’s why get you phone, open your note taking App (I am sure you have one) and do the brainstorming on your phone not in your paper. Well, if you want, you can also do it in the paper. I am just giving you an option. Continued on the next page …


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Keep Notes

After brainstorming, look at your topic once again and select only relevant, strong and logical ideas you wrote down as a result. When you start writing, incorporate or add those ideas in your writing.

Now let me tell you why brainstorming and writing down your ideas is actually so good if you want to write well. Well, because content is the king and not many people have the content which is the king. Write down your ideas, thoughts and points of view as soon as they come to your mind. Continued on the next page …


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Keep Notes

Use your phone App because good ideas usually come to us when we are not prepared. For example, they may come when you are sitting on a taxi, eating your lunch, listening to music and etc.

At this time, do not say “Oh I will remember and write it down when I come home” No, you will not. You will forget about them and then regret that you did not write them down before. It happens to me and that’s why I am telling you. Do not make the mistakes I sometimes make. Good ideas are like birds. They come fast and fly away fast too.

Bottom line: brainstorm ideas using you mobile App


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TIP # 4. Research Your Topic

In order to write well, you should know about the topic, right? Well… what if you do not know enough? How should you write an essay on that topic? Should you give up and write about another topic? No! That’s why I said you should start as early as possible so that you also have time to research.

By saying research I mean you can simply use uncle Google. Yes, ask uncle Google about your topic. Read about your topic. Collect information. Enrich your knowledge. If you quote people’s ideas word for word, do not forget to say they belong to due authors. Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 4. Research Your TopicHere is just another small tip for you.

Do not use Wikipedia as a source of your ideas if you are writing academic essays at a university level. What? Yeah… will you say “According to Wikipedia …” That’s wrong and unprofessional. Even the co-founder of Wikipedia asks the students not use his web-site as a source when writing essays. See below:

In an interview University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Wales (Wikipedia Co-Founder) said

that Wikipedia is ideal for many uses. If you are reading a novel that mentions the

Battle of the Bulge, for instance, you could use Wikipedia to get a quick basic overview

of the historical event to understand the context. But students writing a paper about the

battle should hit the history books. - Chonicle

Bottom line: research and always give credits to people when using their ideas.


http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/wikipedia-founder-discourages-academic-use-of-his-creation/2305

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TIP # 5. Be Concrete & Avoid

Wordiness

Be concrete. People do not have time to read one sentence several times to understand what you tried to say. For example, do not write “make a decision today” with 3 words if you can write “decide today” with only 2 words. “Make a decision” is wordy and “decide” is concrete. As a result your reader does not have to read 3-word sentence but 2. Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 5. Be Concrete & Avoid

Wordiness

In other words, make every sentence super simple for people to read and understand. For example, it is very easy to understand what I write. I also know a lot of cool, complicated, sophisticated, advanced, super, duper words, phrases, slangs and so on. But I do not use them in my posts and eBooks. Why? It is because I do not want you to have hard time read ing and understanding my ideas.

I do not want you to feel discouraged and unhappy when you read and find a lot of new words. I make everything simple. Well, hopefully …

Bottom line: keep everything simple and easy to understand.


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TIP # 6. Forget About Excellent

Marks

Forget about getting that highest mark. What? Forget about that. Forget. If you focus on the score you will get a low score. I bet you will get a low score. Focus on the process of writing – finding pictures, brainstorming, selecting best ideas, researching, reading, writing your first sentences and so on. Just enjoy.

Make your mind think and work. Communicate your ideas. Open up yourself to the world and open the world to yourself. That’s what I do. If you enjoy what you write, you will come up with a great essay and get a high score anyway. I hope you see my point.

Bottom line: forget about highest mark. Focus on enjoying the process of writing.


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TIP # 7. Keep Your Sentences

Short Yes, short but not too short. I know you want to show off your sophisticated grammar but keep them short for the God’s sake. This will help your reader digest and understand everything easily. I do all my best to keep my sentences short and my words more or less simple. It works wonders.

Let me give you an example of a paragraph containing a long sentence and short sentences.

Ahmed wanted to go to the supermarket to buy some milk, bread, sugar and apples but

suddenly he remembered he needed to call his uncle because it was his birthday and Ahmed

loves his uncle because he gave him a lot of toys and sweets when he was young and he also

took him to the parks so that he could enjoy his free time. Continued on the next page

…


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TIP # 7. Keep Your Sentences

Short

Well, the sentence in the previous page is a super long sentence and it is also super difficult to read and digest it. You cannot take a breath if you want to read it (well, if you are not a Rap singer). As a result you may give up reading such kind of sentence till the end.

Now let’s change it and see how I would write that myself. See below:

One day Ahmed wanted to go to the supermarket to buy some milk, bread, sugar and apples. But

suddenly he remembered he needed to call his uncle because it was his birthday. Ahmed loved his

uncle because he gave him a lot of toys and sweets when he was young. He also took him to the parks

so that he could enjoy his free time.

So as you can see the second version has 4 sentences which makes everything very easy to read and understand. Do you agree with me?

Bottom line: keep your sentences short (not too short) and easy to read.


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TIP # 8. Stick to 3 Examples

When giving examples, thoughts and points in your paragraphs try to give three of them within one paragraph. Why? First of all, it is easy to remember three things both mentally and visually.

If you give two, it is less and four is more. So three is perfect. I learned this hack when I was taking a teacher training course at one of the international universities in my town back in 2008.

There was a trainer from Nokia Inc. teaching us how to prepare our presentations so that people like and find them useful. So he pointed out the idea of giving three things via our content and I guess he was absolutely right. Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 8. Stick to 3 Examples

If you pay attention to most of the advertisements (e.g. TV, newspaper, magazine, web-sites and blogs) of really famous and successful brands these days they follow this technique.

They give you no more than three things when promoting their products and services. Sticking to three is not my idea and it is not idea of that man from Nokia Inc. It is a research based tactic.

So if you want to improve your writing, stick to three. And by the way it also helps you create well-balanced paragraphs which are very important. As a result you will come up with something of really high quality.

Bottom line: give only three ideas in your paragraphs. Keep it sweet.


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TIP # 9. Know & Respect Your

ReaderBefore you write anything ask yourself who your audience is. Who is going to read your written work? At the moment for you it can be your teachers, professors and/or friends. My audience is mainly teenagers, young adults and adults aged between 15 to 34. So more or less I know my audience. Keeping this in mind I do all my best to write in the language they understand and enjoy.

For example, I never start my posts by saying “In this post I shall discuss the peculiarities of modern technologies and express my final opinion as regards to their real benefits in our day to day life”.

I always try to avoid using such a formal or academic language that does not express my passion, feelings and love for what I am doing. I know my readers (you) will be bored by that. There are tons of materials out there that use such kind of corporate and official language. Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 9. Know & Respect Your

Reader

So instead I just say like this:“In today’s post I am going to talk about positive and negative aspects of modern technologies and explore their level of effectiveness in our daily life”

That’s it. Period. Why I write like this?

It is because my audience is people aged between 15 to 34. They are not university professors or examiners. I am not writing course or diploma works. Also people visit English Club Pro when they have free time and nobody at school or at home tell them to visit. That’s why I want to keep the tone of my language as friendly, semi-informal and funny as possible so that nobody gets bored.

Bottom line: So know your audience and write according to their age, status, interests etc.


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TIP # 10. Break Ideas Into

Paragraphs

Write in paragraphs. I know your teachers always tell you or you always hear or read that you should write in paragraphs but you do not do that. There is actually a reason for that and the reason is that you do not know how to write in paragraphs.

Well, you know … It is very easy to divide your text into several meaningless paragraphs but there is actually more than that. There is something called structuring. What is it? So this is what I am going to tell you about right now. In order to create a paragraph you should first have your main idea and two or ideally three supporting sub-ideas. I talked about giving three ideas above. Let’s see it in action below. Continued on the next page …


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Paragraphs

Example paragraph:

In the 21st century I believe students who want to build their future should know how to write well because it will help them succeed in personal, academic and professional life. Firstly, we all want to have a happy family life and having some basic writing skills can help us improve relationships between us and our spouse. For example, when we have holidays writing a simple postcard with beautiful and warm words can be very meaningful than any other gifts. Secondly, writing skills help us a lot in our school, college and university life as we are often required to write essays, reviews, reports, coursework and so on. Because of writing we also become good readers and researchers since our written work demands it from us whether we want it or not. Finally, when we graduate from our universities and start working, we often need to communicate with our colleagues or business partners via e-mail and good writing skills will always make our communication effective laying strong basis for a long term cooperation between us.


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Paragraphs

In the paragraph from the previous page you can see that the first sentence is underlined. Do not underline your first sentences when writing your own essays. I just did it for you. OK? So that first sentence is called a topic sentence. Things that I have written after that sentence all support or explain my topic sentence.

For example, I explained how writing skills can help you in your personal, academic and professional life. Please, pay attention that I also used linking words such as Firstly, Secondly and Finally to slowly and gently introduce you to my ideas before explaining them in details. This is very and very important.

Bottom line: write in paragraphs, know their structure and use linking words.


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TIP # 11. Remember Your Topic

Nothing can make your writing sound weird than forgetting about your main topic and writing about the things that are not related to your topic. For example, sometimes you may write about technology and then start talking about your childhood toys. Perhaps you wanted to make a link to the topic of technology.

But because you either forgot about your topic or did not spend any time proofreading and polishing your piece of work, you end up mixing ideas which are not connected to your topic. So remember about your topic and remind yourself about it several times during process of writing. This will help you stay focused.

Bottom line: remind yourself about your topic and stay focused.


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TIP # 12. Ask People to Read

& Comment

Once you have finished your writing, ask people – your friends (whose English is excellent) and/or teachers to read your essay or article. Ask them to tell you only three things. Yes, three. May be you want more than that but keep it three or even less because these days people are busy. So keep it easy, keep it simple for them.

First of all, ask them to find at least one grammar mistake. Secondly, ask them to tell whether it was easy or difficult for them to read and understand your points. Finally, ask them what one thing you should do to make your content richer and more interesting. Remember that above all your content counts most. Content is the most important part of any type of writing.

Bottom line: always ask people to read and give you honest feedback.


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TIP # 13. Use Linking Words &

Phrases

Essay or article without any linking words is like highway from New York to Los Angeles that has no signposts to guide the drivers. As a result they don’t find their direction easily and can’t enjoy the whole journey.

What about your essays and articles? Do you use signposts known as linking words or phrases there? How? Well, imagine your essay or article as a highway from point A to point B. And imagine your reader is a driver.

Will his/her journey be smooth or harsh? It will be smooth if you use those linking words and phrase. It will be hard, if you do not. Please see below how I have used linking words Firstly, Secondly and Finally to help you understand my main points easily and without any hardship (well, I hope). Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 13. Use Linking Words &

Phrases

See my paragraph:

In the 21st century I believe students who want to build their future

should know how to write well because it will help them succeed

in personal, academic and professional life. Firstly, we all want to

have a happy family life and having some basic writing skills can help

us improve relationships between us and our spouse. For example,

when we have holidays writing a simple postcard with beautiful and

warm words can be very meaningful than any other gifts. Secondly,

writing skills help us a lot in our school, college and university life as

we are often required to write essays, reviews, reports, coursework

and so on. Because of writing we also become good readers and

researchers since our written work demands it from us whether we

want it or not. Finally, when we graduate from our universities and

start working, we often need to communicate with our colleagues or

business partners via e-mail and good writing skills will always make

our communication effective laying strong basis for a long term

cooperation between us.

Bottom line: use linking words to make it easy for people to read and understand.


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TIP # 14. Use the Words Your

Readers Know

You learn ten new words, idioms, slangs, phrasal verbs or some sort of smart expressions every day? That’s great! Awesome! But not everybody is like you. What is the point of using sophisticated and complicated vocabulary if your reader will not understand? Or maybe he/she will understand but with a lot of difficulties.

Sometimes that advanced and smart vocabulary will also not fit in the context of your essay or article. Instead, think about your reader(s) and ask yourself –“What level of vocabulary does my reader have?” and second question to ask yourself is – “Is this vocabulary suitable in my context?”For example, let’s say you are writing about every day issue and your topic is this “Should we follow fashion trends?” Continued on the next page …


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TIP # 14. Use the Words Your

Readers Know

If you have to write on this topic, will you use the word ‘people’ to refer to people or the word ‘humans’? No, I did not say ‘human beings’. I said ‘humans’. Can you use it? No. Or let me give you another example. Imagine you should write about this topic “What is the biggest mistake you have ever made in your life?” So will you use the word ‘error’ to refer to the word ‘mistake’ or the word ‘mistake’ to refer to the word ‘mistake’?

Yes, you will use the word ‘mistake’ because the word ‘error’ is more technical word and when we talk about mistakes made in our life, we do not talk about technical mistakes.

Bottom line: use the vocabulary known to your reader. Forget aboutsophisticated words.


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TIP # 15. Write When You Are

in Excellent Mood Your reader will feel and know what mood you had when you wrote your essay or article. Well, at least I can feel that. If you are alone, depressed and do not want to write but force yourself to do it then you cannot hide it.

Your words, expressions and the way your express yourself will open all your secrets. Also the content of your essay or article will not be very rich. Ideas will be not awesome and not worth loving. As a result you will end up with a poorly written essay or article. You will get a low score or negative comment.

So write when you have an excellent mood and you will love writing.

Bottom line: write when you are happy. Love the process of writing.


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TIP # 16. Write Using Your PC

or Mac

Like I always tell you – use the technology for your own benefit. The main reason why I improved my writing skills and fell in love with it is because it is super easy and fun to write using PC. I always hated writing using pencils and constantly taking time to sharpen them.

And I hated writing using pens because good quality ones are really expensive, their ink runs out too fast and as a student I was always short of money to buy new pens every time. So that’s why I love using my PC to write. It is more fun, easy to write, format, edit, proofread and polish. And tools like Grammarly can help you a lot if you want to write without any mistakes.

Bottom line: use technology to make things easy for yourself.



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TIP # 18. Let Your Work Age

After you have written your essay or article leave it for at least three or four days without doing anything to it. Completely forget about things you have written. Then come back, open and read it to see how everything sounds and looks to you. This is important because when we think about one topic for a long time, we get tired and stop thinking clearly.

So after about three or four days of break you have fresh mind and so it is a perfect time to read your written piece of work. I am sure you will find at least one or two minor things to improve. I know not always you will have such a time luxury but if you have, try it. I do not have much time to age my work but when I do, the results are awesome and that article gets a lot of attention.

Bottom line: let your essay or article stay 3-4 days without your attention. Thenopen and improve it.


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TIP # 20. Red – Polish, Read -

PolishNow this one is also related to the previous tip above. After writing your work, take a break and spend a good amount of time to read and polish everything. I usually take about 2-3 hours of break and sit down to read my articles over again word by word making sure everything is clear.

Let me tell you one thing.

Even though this tip is coming at the end of my post I must say it is the most important part of my writing and should be the most important part of your writing process as well. Why? It is because when you start writing you (me also) focus on our ideas that we have in our minds or brainstormed lists in our App.

So our brain does not think about grammar, spelling, sentence structure, organization and so on. In the early stage of our writing we want to write down as many ideas as possible. Then when we finish this process we should take a break and read everything over again. Yes, everything over again. Continued on the next page …


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PolishUsually these are the questions I use to proofread and polish my articles:

Have I …

• provided value to my readers?• tried to solve their problems?• shared my feelings and emotions?• made my readers smile?• made my readers think?• used simple vocabulary?• used simple sentence structures?• showed respect to my readers?• put myself into my readers’ shoes?

Continued on the next page …


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PolishHere are the questions you should ask yourself after finishing writing your essay or article:

Have I …

• written about the topic my teacher asked?• used right vocabulary?• used correct sentence structures?• showed respect to my reader?• used linking words to connect my ideas?• written in paragraphs?• written a clear introduction and conclusion?• proofread my essay after finishing writing?

Bottom line: read, check and improve what you wrote.


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My dream is studying

in Canada one day.


Do you also have the same dream?

Ask Makhbuba Ergasheva a question if you

want to study in Canada in the future.

Her email? Here you are -

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Thank You!

I would like to thank you again for taking your time to read this eBook till the end. I hope you have found some value in it and can use it as a guide to help you improve your writing skills.

If for whatever reason you got this eBook without ever subscribing to my email list, then please head over to English Club Pro and subscribe today.

May I also suggest you to check Grammarly and Hemingway App which are free resources that can help you improve your writing skills.

And lastly, if you enjoyed this eBook, please give me a shout out in our Facebook page.

Cheers, best of luck and I look forward to serving you again soon.

Akmal Akbarov www.englishclubpro.com



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About the Author

I am Akmal Akbarov and I have been teaching English for more than 10 years now. These days, I work as a self-employed teacher of English in my sunny and warm hometown Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

During my free time I love running English Club Pro and working on guest posts for We Make Scholars, Grammarly.com, italki.com and many other Edu blogs.

Do you run an education blog and want a guest post from me? Or do you want to hire me to your company, school or language centre? Contact me at [email protected] Terms and conditions apply.

My phone contact number? Here you are + 998 (97) 744 2781.



http://www.wemakescholars.com/blog/author/akmal-akbarov/

http://www.grammarly.com/blog/?s=akmal

http://italki.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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