Entry 7: That is some 'BIG' words

 

    A common misconception among students, particularly international students, is that incorporating 'Big' words in their paper will help strengthen it. The term 'Big' word refers to words that have an extremely complicated spelling or are difficult to pronounce, but are not widely used in daily life. The issue with utilizing such large terms is that occasionally students use them without fully understanding them. There are two reasons for this: first, they believe that using big words improves their essays, and second, they assume that the big words are synonyms for the terms they originally meant to use. This method is sometimes effective, but not always. If you don't understand the word but still use it, your essay may sound weird or completely incorrect.

I wish to emphasize the common stereotype that using terms from a big vocabulary can strengthen the writing. To be honest, I'm one of those that doesn't see why big words are preferable. Yes, I believe it sounds more professional when I see a huge vocabulary word, but then I realize I have no idea what it means. Personally, I would rather use simple words that express what I'm trying to say than a large vocabulary that may affect the content of the writing. Using simple vocabulary words does not automatically make you a lousy writer. Being capable of using hard vocabulary words may help you improve, but how you use these words is more important; so don't be scared to use simple words at times.