10 Typical Mistakes in Travel Writing and How to Avoid Them

A travel writing paper is a content that a student writes talking about the places they have visited and the experiences they have had on their travels. Travel writing just like any other form of writing requires skill but there are a few mistakes that students make. Look at the following article provided by a group of experienced academic writers from CustomWritings – online essay writing service and enjoy the list of 10 typical mistakes in travel writing and how they can be avoided.

The use of the hyphen

Even the most experienced of writers out there are not sure sometimes whether to hyphenate or not hyphenate. When a student is not sure, the number one rule is, leave the hyphen out if the work makes complete sense. If there is an element of doubt in your head about the work, there are a few tools you can use like Google search or dictionary.com.

Repetition of words

Students sometimes have words that they use all the time they get stuck in their heads. When this happens, one tends to repeat these words when they are writing content which is not a good thing at all. 

The best way to deal with repetition of words is to read your content out loud or using the Microsoft Word feature called “Speak selected text”. Another solution to tackle this mistake is asking someone to read through your content and they can highlight any repeated words for you.

‘It’s’ vs. ‘its’

Using apostrophes when writing is very tricky for many students, especially when it comes to its and it’s. The one thing a student has to remember is an apostrophe is there to make long words short. 

Instead of writing “It is a glorious day outside”, you can simply write “It’s a glorious day outside”. Always remember that when expressing ownership of something, you use ‘its’. For example, “The cat is playing with its ball”

British spelling vs Americanised (ized) spelling

There are several types of English in the writing world but two that are very popular and commonly used are UK English and USA English. Do not wait until your tutor points it out to you later on that you are using wrong English. Set your processor to the right country and you should be ok.

Using words that are complex

As a student when you are writing your paper, you will want to prove to your tutors that your vocabulary is very strong. This can make you pile in complex words into your content which does not add value. To deal with this problem, you just have to choose the right and avoid trying to appear fancy.

Double spacing 

Many students without even knowing will press the spacebar twice and this mistake can be hard to pinpoint. The space between sentences is also a mistake that students make regularly however, the solutions to both are simple. Read through your content to eliminate any double spaces and use pilcrow on your word processor to highlight any spaces between words.

Having misspelled words in the content 

This goes beyond just spelling a word wrong. It can mean spelling a word correctly but putting it in the wrong place like defiantly and definitely. This mistake can be easily dealt with by proofreading your work. 

You can use a variety of tools online like Grammarly which will highlight any spelling mistakes or you can use the check spelling feature on Microsoft Word. It will also highlight in red any words that have been misspelled allowing you to correct them.

Your brain is faster than your typing speed

When you have a deadline looming to hand in your content, you want to make sure that it is completed faster and a classic mistake many people not just students make is their brain moving faster than their typing speed. 

This is because your brain might have so many ideas you don’t want to lose and you try to keep up by typing as quickly as you can. This is not a very good idea because multiple errors can be made. The best way to avoid this mistake is not even to do it in the first place. Slow yourself down, remain focused and you will not lose any of your ideas.

Having an introduction that is very long 

Students want to have that perfect introduction because it is what spells out what the content is all about however, having a long intro is a very big mistake. Many students are guilty of having a long intro because they fill it up with words to meet the word count. Just make your introduction short and straight to the point. Leave everything else for the main body 

Points lacking substance

Writing something that is engaging and informative should be your main priority as a student especially in travel writing. Going back to the point above regarding the need to meet the word count, students will often fluff their content and add things that are not needed in. To avoid having points that add zero substance to your work, thorough research is needed and if you get the correct points, you will not need to fluff your work.

No student out there will ever produce a masterpiece that is flawless at the first attempt. Mistakes will be made but the 10 mistakes that have been pointed out in this article are the most common one.  They are all avoidable mistakes as long as a student follows the tips that have been highlighted in this article.