Improve Your Handwriting

This article will give you tips and pointers on how to improve your handwriting.

Key Points

  • Move your entire arm rather than just your hand when writing. More ↓
  • Hold your pen or pencil comfortably, not too tight or too loose. ↓
  • Practice drawing basic shapes like lines and circles. ↓
  • Try using different pencils and pens. ↓
  • Practice the alphabet until you perfect each letter. ↓
  • Write sets of words once you feel confident in how your letters look. ↓

Steps

Analyzing Your Handwriting

  1. Write a paragraph. Choose a topic—anything really—and write at least five sentences about it. If you’re not feeling too creative, simply copy a passage out of a book or newspaper. The goal is to get an idea of what your handwriting looks like on average. The more you write, the more accurate your analysis will be.
  2. Identify the primary shapes. Is your handwriting full of loops and curves? Is it primarily straight lines and stiff in appearance? Do you have hard corners, or do your letters blend together?
  3. Look for a slant. The angle at which you write your letters can make or break your handwriting. Is your handwriting perpendicular to the lines under it? Does it fall to the left or to the right significantly? A slight slant is typically not a problem, but too much of one can make reading difficult.
  4. Check the alignment. Do your words tend to be written on an upwards or downwards angle? Do they overlap with the lines on the page? Is every word individually angled, or do your entire lines of text head in a similar direction away from the line?
  5. Look at the spacing. The distance between your words and letters helps determine the quality of your handwriting. There should be enough space between each word to fit the letter “O.” Using more or less space than this can be an indicator of poor handwriting. Pay attention also to the closeness of each individual letter. Cramped writing or letters that are spaced far apart are also difficult to read.
  6. Pay attention to the size. Turns out size does matter, at least with handwriting. Does your writing fill up the entire space between two lines? Can you write all your words in less than half the space between two lines? Taking up a large amount of space or using too little are both things to avoid.
  7. Analyze your line quality. Look at the actual lines that comprise your writing. Are they drawn with heavy pressure, or are they faint and hard to read? Are your lines straight, or are they kind of squiggly and uneven?
  8. Determine your flaws. Considering all of the aforementioned, what is it that your handwriting needs in order to improve? Possible changes can be made to the shape of letters, your spacing, alignment, writing size, line quality, and the slant of words. Changing one or more of these will improve your overall handwriting legibility.[1]
  9. Look to other handwriting styles for inspiration. So now you know your letters are too large and your shapes too round, now what? Go onto font websites and look for handwriting samples that you like. Make a copy of each style of handwriting that is feasible for you to mimic. Don’t be afraid to look for samples that might vary significantly from your own handwriting, as you can pick and choose certain aspects of different handwritings rather than adopting an entirely new one.

Changing Your Handwriting

  1. Write in the air. Most of the time, people with poor or illegible handwriting simply haven’t properly trained the correct muscle groups in their hands, arms, and shoulders. Avoid “drawing” letters with your hand, and instead write by moving your entire arm up to the shoulder. To practice doing this, the easiest thing is to write sentences in the air using your finger. This forces you to use the muscle groups in your arm and shoulder that help to improve handwriting and keep it from looking messy or cramped.
  2. Adjust the shape of your hand. Your pen or pencil should be held between your thumb and index and (optional) middle fingers. The end of the writing utensil should rest against either the web of your hand or against the knuckle of your index finger. Holding your pencil too tightly or loosely (in this position or others) will result in poor handwriting. Hold the pencil in the bottom ⅓ for the best results.[2]
  3. Practice the basic shapes. A consistent flaw in poor handwriting is irregularity and inconsistency between letters and shapes. All the letters are made up out of straight lines and circles or semi-circles, so put in some time drawing these. Fill an entire sheet of paper with parallel vertical lines, and parallel diagonal lines. Do the same with a sheet of ‘o’ shapes as well. When you can consistently make the same line over and over, you are ready to move onto complete letters.[3]
  4. Study a directional chart. Although everyone seems to do it a bit differently, there is a certain way to write each letter of the alphabet. Following the correct direction of the line that forms each letter can greatly improve your handwriting. For example, rather than starting a lowercase ‘a’ with the tail, begin at the top of the loop. Practice writing every letter in the correct direction, just like how you were taught in kindergarten.
  5. Try a variety of writing utensils. Although it may seem nit-picky, different people are able to write better (or worse!) using different writing utensils. Try a variety of tools including a ballpoint, roll-on, and felt pen in addition to traditional and mechanical pencils. Finding one that you enjoy writing with may be enough to improve your handwriting on its own.
  6. Practice your alphabet. Yes, just like in first grade, fill up rows upon rows of lines with each letter of the alphabet in lower and uppercase. Use your font inspiration that you gathered as well as your handwriting analysis to focus on what you need to change. If slanting is your problem, make it a point to keep your letters vertical. If you are trying to change the shapes of your letters, concentrate simulating the shapes you see in the handwriting inspiration you’ve chosen.
  7. Get it down pat. When you’re certain of your every letter’s perfection, practice writing them in full words and sentences. Write the phrase “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” over and over again—this particular sentence contains every letter of the alphabet, giving you ample practice time. Although it may seem monotonous, the adage ‘practice makes perfect’ certainly applies here.
  8. Always handwrite things. Pass up the option to type that essay outline or to pop off an email catching up with a friend, and instead make the effort to handwrite your work. Taking the opportunity to write things by hand whenever possible will be the most beneficial practice in improving your handwriting. It may take a bit longer, but you’ll be building up the muscles that are necessary for easy and smooth writing.[4]

Handwriting Practice Page

Doc:Handwriting Practice Page



Tips

  • The letters should be of equal size. This will make your handwriting look neat and tidy.
  • Try to write at least one paragraph each day; it will help you to improve your handwriting.
  • Use lined paper to help keep your writing aligned. Stay on the line where required, only taking the letters above or below as required by the letter's shape.
  • Write in comfort - sit on a comfortable chair at a table which is the right height for your own height. Choose good quality materials to write with and on, as these affect your writing comfort. While writing, make sure your entire lower hand rests on the table. This helps you to be in control of your arm and make sure the table or the surface you're writing on is free of vibrations. Purchase and use a pencil grip to gather more complete control of the pencil.
  • If you're a student you can keep a rough copy as well as an original copy of your notes. When the teacher is narrating fast write in a rough copy. In your free time write the notes down in the original copy and give it for submission. This will increase your impression on others as well as would give you a revision on what you have learnt.
  • To make it more interesting, try writing pangrams. Pangrams are short texts which contains all or a part of all letters of the alphabet at least once. They help to correct writing of each letter and find specific mistakes. For example, try: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. Do it in both capitals and lowercase. This phrase captures every letter in the alphabet. Another similar phrase is "Five boxing wizards jump quickly."
  • When you look at your pencil closely after you have been writing, there is a slight slant in the lead. I use the slanted side to write with. It makes my handwriting look a lot neater.
  • Keep a page or two written in good hand writing in front of you for inspiration. That should be a model for you.
  • Don't write out lines because 90% of the time you will just copy the last letter you wrote and you won't improve.
  • Use college ruled rather than wide ruled if you struggle with large handwriting.
  • You could try holding your writing utensil at a different angle or in a different grip. Maybe even with you other hand.
  • Write slowly at the start. Concentrate on producing the best shaped handwritten letters. Once you've mastered the best looking ones, you can sit back and try to keep your handwriting looking good, while speeding things up a little.
  • Do massage for fingers. Calligraphists do simple exercises for their fingers before writing, to prepare them for work.[citation needed]

Warnings

  • Don't press the nib (tip) of your pen hard on the paper during writing or you will develop "writer's cramp."
  • Don't throw away any of your templates or practice sheets, you might need them as guidelines as you go along to see how the letters should look, and which things you shouldn't do.
  • Make sure not to waste paper when practicing your handwriting. Use papers multiple times, and use the front and back of each sheet.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/life-strategies/handwriting-101-00000000015886/page8.html
  2. ↑ http://matadornetwork.com/life/eight-easy-tips-to-improve-your-handwriting/
  3. ↑ http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html
  4. ↑ http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20060406_handwriting.htm
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