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Top 5 Books to Improve Essay Writing Skills

Maybe you’ve long wanted to learn how to create strong texts, or perhaps you still hate writing essays at university. Either way, we’ve put together some really top books to help you write in an interesting way and without relying on inspiration. 

“Zen in the Art of Writing” by Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is widely known for his short stories, in which he managed to fully express his main idea, while not missing the opportunity to develop an interesting story and create an extraordinary atmosphere. During his long and undoubtedly productive life, the writer has created more than eight hundred different literary works, many of which were filmed and served as a basis for the development of science fiction and literature in general. Who else but Bradbury can teach us the art of words? The book “Zen in the Art of Writing” is a collection of essays in which the writer shares tips with novice authors. And these pieces of advice are so multifaceted that they not only cover technical issues in text creation but also have an emotional background. What is the book useful for? It gives practical advice for speech training (for example, to write out chains of words or phrases that come to your mind). It teaches you to develop the beauty of speech by reading poetry. It guides novice writers and just people interested in the skill of words. Moreover, the author reveals the details of writing his own stories. 

“The English Language: A User’s Guide” by Jack Lynch

Grammar rules must be revised all the time. There is nothing to be done about it — everyone, including native speakers, has gaps to fill, even if it seems boring. If you want to express your thoughts clearly in writing and don’t want to use random essay writing services, you need to be able to find the right grammar for it. And if your thoughts are complex, then the structure of your sentences must match them.

An English grammar and style guide” written by Jack Lynch will help you do this by explaining grammar rules clearly and in detail, providing illustrative examples and practical advice on word usage and writing style.

With this guide, you will learn how to write academic essays and other types of academic writing. 

“On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft” by Stephen King

The “King of Horrors”, whose name is known throughout the world, gave fans of his work and just interested in writing people, his autobiographical book. He describes the process of becoming a writer, the difficulties he had to face on the road to fame and recognition. Do not hurry to be disappointed: Stephen King writes about himself only in the first part; the second, under the resounding title “On Writing”, is entirely devoted to novice authors. It contains practical advice from King to aspiring authors and teaches the understanding that writing quality texts is hard and exhausting work. With its help, you can develop individual writing skills. The book also explains the difference between a basic piece of work and a good piece of work while providing specific passages with explanations from the writer.

“On Writing Well,” by William Zinsser 

William Zinsser is an editor, teacher, and author of books on topics ranging from sports to music. “On Writing Well” is a classic textbook and an introduction to text drafting, structure selection, thesis, and editing basics. Zinsser relies on spectacular and compelling texts backed by facts. The book is suitable for media professionals and bloggers and helps them decide on an idea that should form the basis of the text. Writing about what you are interested in is already half the battle. Zinsser’s emotional state during his creative work is also important.

In addition to chapters with techniques for writing on specific topics (nonfiction, novel, science, business papers), Zinsser highlights the concise and universal principles of writing. For example, you should always read what is written out loud to keep track of rhythm and alliteration. Another important thing is to have a dictionary of synonyms. And it’s important to remember that it is not the finished result that is crucial, but continuous modification and work on the text.

“Common Errors in English Usage” by Paul Brians

Why learning on your own mistakes if you can learn from others’ mistakes! And this book will help you with it.

This is a collection of the most common mistakes in English grammar and word usage, with comments and explanations for each error. It will help you to identify and get rid of the mistakes that you regularly make in your writing.

Who knows, you might be making a mistake, and you don’t even know it! Find and evaluate your mistakes and use the author’s advice — it will make your English essays better.

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