When I told my friends I was entering PR, I was told there would be a lot of writing. As a recent college grad I was pretty confident in my skills. My research papers always scored high in school; I figured that writing for work would be pretty simplistic.

I have been at Clairemont nearly four weeks, and I now realize just how much writing is involved in PR. Not only do I have my blog post assignment for the first 30 days, but I also have other assignments beginning to pile up on my desk.

After writing a few blog posts, I discovered I have a few common mistake areas: too many commas, not enough periods, incomplete thoughts and stylistic discrepancies on the proper way to write dates and time.

Here are a few of the top tips that I have learned from my colleagues at Clairemont about strengthening my writing skills. If you need a refresher on AP formatting these tips may help you out as well. Even if you are a PR professional, it doesn’t hurt to brush up on the fundamentals of writing to make sure all of your blog posts and client work are perfection.

Here are a few tips:

1) Write to be understood by your reader, not yourself.

2) Keep the article concise and to the point.

3) Keep paragraphs short.

4) Avoid using too many adverbs and adjectives.

5) Try not to use the same word twice in one sentence.

6) Make sure phrases are parallel and make sense together.

7) Try to always use third person. Only on rare occasions do you use first person or second person.

8) Use active voice vs. passive voice.

9) Any time you can find more the one word to say something use the most precise word.

10) Refer to the AP Stylebook or colleagues for help.

Although these tips may seem generic, they have surely been a lifesaver for me!

Editor’s Note: Clairemont enthusiastically welcomes Jasmin Sessoms to our team! Follow this former beauty queen’s journey as she documents her first 30 days in a Raleigh PR agency.