Speaking creates entropy. Writing reduces it.

Good writing skill is a great one to have. I personally improved at this during my time as a Ph.D. researcher, learning how to write papers, articles, thesis in a scientific style. Those skills have quite often proven useful outside of academia as well. Below, I am compiling some of the general points about how to write better:

  • Be structured. Prior to begin writing something, spend some time thinking about the contents of your piece. Try to come up with a detailed overview of chapters, sections, subsections, paragraphs and figures that would form your story. The goal should also be to organize these items in the order of importance from the reader's perspective.
  • Be Concise and Absolute. According to me, this is 'the most' important advice for anyone interested in writing better. Well constructed sentences create a well written piece. Try to construct sentences that are both concise as well as deliver an absolute message to the reader. I must admit there is a skill to do this, which may in some cases take some practice to achieve.
  • Be creative in forming sentences. Think clearly first of all in your own mind about what is it that is intended to be said, and then attempt at forming a clear sentence towards phrasing it. Its often possible to say the same thing in more than one ways and exercising that skill keeps your writing style varied and hence not monotonous to the reader.
  • Avoid vague, flowery or heroic statements. This is one of those mistakes that beginners in my opinion are more likely to commit. Avoid doing this for all the good reasons. Simple, clear and complete sentences are far more effective.
  • Avoid repetition of your arguments. A nicely written article will always have arguments put at their respective correct places.
  • Use active voice with a past tense more often. This is more practical for writing scientific articles. Example sentences are: "We observed that the ratio of X and Y plays a determining role in......", ""
  • Write (and read) more often. Writing is again one of those skills that improves with practice. The more you attempt to actively improve your writing, the better it is going to get. This is precisely the reason why, you might have seen experienced writers knowing the style to write good-quality articles relatively quickly.
  • Good figures is 50% of the job. This is again specifically for scientific writing. A good descriptive figure does a lot of job of explaining by itself.

Additionally, a few good resources on the internet are pointed out below from where you can read and know more about how to be a better writer: