Best lenses for a beginner

[ac12]

quote

• I’ve been shooting using my 18-55mm kit lens with a Nikon D3200. I was never happy with the results since I don’t see the sharpness I was looking for.
  
• After reading, watching some videos, and comparing pictures quality, Now I know that the lens is a big problem.

End quote

Diane, are you still here?

As others have mentioned, please post a picture, so that we can see the EXIF data.
This may provide a clue to the problem.

Would you do this to test your lens.

• Set the camera mode to Auto
• Set the ISO to 400
• Go outside
  
• Place the camera on a table or other SOLID surface, so it can't move/rock, and where the lens is at the edge (so it won't see the top of the table).
  
• Point the camera at something with easily visible lines like a brick wall, with NOTHING between the camera and the wall.
• Take a picture.
  
  • Note which AF point lights up and where it is on to the wall. The selected AF point has to be on the wall.
  • The AF point MUST be on something with contrast. The camera cannot focus on a blank wall, or a plain solid color shirt.
• Evaluate the picture and see if it is sharp.
• Post the picture for us to evaluate it.

IMHO, your lens is just fine for general purpose use.
Don't be fooled into thinking that you have to spend more $$$ to replace your lens. This is a very common mistake in the hobby, where people are convinced that they need to spend more $$$$ on better gear to get a better photo. And that is NOT correct.
There are many OTHER possible reasons for why the image to not look sharp enough. And resolving most of these is free. You just have to spend the time to track down the problem.

• Is the lens clean? You will need to buy a cleaning kit and learn how to properly clean your lens.
  
• Is the shutter speed high enough?
• Are you focused on the subject?
  
• Is the resolution set high enough?
• Is the lighting adequate?
• etc.