General
Comments on Writing Academese
Updated 07/06/06
General Format Comments
These are some common writing suggestions for all student papers in COM 372. Some of these are things to do, and some are things to avoid.
· Cite:
o Whenever you use a direct quotation, you need to include quotation marks [“”]. If you have over three words from the text in a row, you should include page number in this format (p. [space] 260). APA sez always cite year of the source, though you don’t need to do this in the abstract (as the whole paper is on one source). Thus, if you include a quote from an article in your final paper, you would say something like: According to Seinfeld and Kramer (1998), “Yaddda, yadda, yadda” (p. 260).
o Always cite the sources for your information, even if you do not use a direct quotation!
o Secondary citations:
Whenever possible, avoid secondary citations (ex: When you cite
Booth-Butterfield and
o Failure to cite the sources for your information, including the failure to give credit for a direct quotation, but also the use of sources without any citation of those sources, is a form of plagiarism, and is a very serious mistake. This is because it goes beyond simple “format” to be unethical.
· & and “and”: Use “&” for citations within parentheses. If the citation is not in parentheses, use “and.” Use comma before last source if more than 2 sources. Thus: “According to Curly, Harry, and Mo (1956),…” in text, or “According to some researchers (Curly, Harry, & Mo, 1956), . . .
· Overuse of Quotations: Use direct quotations sparingly—that means, not too often. Only use them when the author says something in a way that you really just could not say, that is, a creative or poignant expression of ideas, or when you want to “distance” yourself from the ideas, that is, making sure the reader knows these are the authors’ words and not your own. Typical places to use them include key definitions and, on abstracts, the Hypotheses.
· Headings 1: For final paper, make sure headings are appropriate for 1st-, 2nd-, and, if you use them, 3rd-level headings.
· Headings 2: Give a final read through your paper. Make sure no heading shows up at bottom of a page without text below it. If this happens, force a hard page break (in MSWord, ctrl + return) so heading appears with text.
· Page #s of citations: When do you use them? Only with direct quotations—that’s the beauty of APA! (MLA requires you to use them every time you refer to a source).
· #s in text: Write out numbers up to and including 10 or any number that begins a sentence. The first rule can be violated in the methods section of a research paper (or anywhere in your abstract!).
· Et al. = and others. If you learn the Latin et alia (and others) you will never be confused! You will remember, from the Latin, that (1) the “et” is a full word and the “al.” is an abbreviation, so it gets the period; (2) “and others” means that you cannot say “Smith et al.” for “Smith and Jones” as Jones is an “other”—not “others.” You must have at least 3 authors to use et al.; (3) since “et al.” indicates more than one author, than any grammatical structure using “et al.” is plural: “Jones et al. (2004) state that….” Not “Jones et al. (2004) states that…”
Grammar
·
s/v: Make sure the verb and the subject agree in
number. This becomes a problem, typically, when the subject and verb are
separated by a phrase and the student makes the verb agree with some noun in
the phrase rather than with the actual subject of the sentence.
·
Pronoun case: Make sure the pronoun agrees with
its function in the sentence. This is especially difficult considering the
gross misuse of pronouns in popular music and spoken language:
o Prepositions take “object” case: Not “it was a
special time for you and I” but “…for you and me”
o Reflexive pronouns
are used for emphasis or for reflexive verbs (that is, verbs that
act upon themselves). Thus, “myself” might be used in these instances
1.
After I served the guests, I served myself
(reflexive)
2.
I, myself, am a true grammatical fanatic (emphasis)
3.
NOT: “Please give the report to Jamie or to myself”
(this is called the “hypercorrective” use of myself, used incorrectly by people
actually trying to be grammatically correct).
·
w.w. = wrong word. This may mean that the word you
have chosen does not seem to have the meaning that you need in the place where
you have used it. This is also the case when you use a word incorrectly (e.g.,
loose instead of lose, dominate instead of dominant, prejudice [noun] instead
of prejudiced [adjective], their instead of there).
·
v. t. = verb tense. This means that the verb tense
is not correct. For example, you may have used a spelling for a past tense
instead of the spelling for a present tense.
·
m.m. = misplaced modifier: A modifying phrase
needs to match the noun that it modifies. Thus, “Using past research, it was
stated” is not correct. “It” did not “use past research. Rather, “Using past
research, the authors determined…” [This also removes use of passive voice!]
·
// = parallelism: In lists, both the grammatical
structure and the level of abstraction should be parallel. So, instead of
“after writing my paper, typing it up, and I turned it in,” change the last
phrase (in this example) to an –ing phrase.
·
s/pl: Keep number consistent between nouns and
pronouns. This especially becomes a problem when students are trying to avoid
gender-biased language (he, his). They often say stuff like “When a student
[singular] turns in their [plural] paper….” This is common spoken English, so I
will not correct you when you speak. But it’s just a little sloppy (though
growing in acceptance) in written English. Several solutions: “When a student
turns in her or his paper…” Some find this a little stuffy, so I encourage use
of plurals to avoid his/her trap: “When students turn in their papers. . .” Or,
find a way to avoid the pronoun altogether: “When a student turns in a paper,
the student often expects….”
·
Etc., e.g., i.e.: 1) These are expressions that
APA style likes only within a parenthetical phrase (i.e., one with actual parentheses).
In text, spell out the expressions (e.g., “and so on” instead of “etc.”). 2)
APA prefers you to list all options rather than use etc., if possible. 3) Keep
“i.e.” and “e.g.” straight: i.e. = “that is” --for Latin id est (as in you are renaming or restating the same thing in other
words). E.g. = for example—for Latin exempli
gratia (that is, you are providing an example. Thus, you never need e.g. and
etc.). 4) Remember that i.e. and e.g. are always followed by a comma. I have
included examples of each in this bulleted point.
·
Some common writing/word errors: Watch to avoid these
common errors!
o “Prejudice” instead of “prejudiced”: Use
the adjective form when appropriate; students often use the noun form by mistake:
“She was highly prejudiced [not prejudice] against people who wore mullets.”
o 
“Dominant” instead of “dominate”: Use
the adjective form when appropriate; students often substitute the verb form:
“The mullet became a dominant [not dominate] hairstyle in the 1970s.” Same
holds true for using “predominant” as an adjective and “predominate” as a verb.
o Effect and
affect: Both can be noun or verb, if
the meaning is right! If speaking of influence, “affect” is the verb and
“effect” is the noun. I keep these straight be remembering that something must
“affect” something else before there can be an “effect” (and A comes before E
in the alphabet). But “effect” as a verb can mean to bring about a change, and
“affect” as a noun can refer to emotion (like “affection”). Ex: “If we could
effect a change in hairstyles, so that everyone wore a mullet, this would
affect society in devastating ways.”
o Everyday and
every day: “Everyday” (one word) is an adjective used to modify some
other noun: “It’s not just your everyday guy who can wear a mullet with
panache!” If two words, “every” is the adjective, and “day” is the noun it
modifies: “Every day I let my hair grow out, hoping that soon I will have my
very own mullet.”
Style
·
Passive voice: Whenever possible (sometimes it is
not), avoid the passive voice. Instead of “The survey was taken by 234
students,” say “Two hundred and thirty-four students took the survey” (It is
changed from 234 to Two hundred etc. only because you can’t begin a sentence
with an Arabic numeral.
·
Contractions: Avoid contractions in formal papers,
despite the overuse of this “chummy” style in recent textbooks
·
2nd Person. Avoid the use of 2nd
person singular (“you”), including any commands that involve the reader (“Imagine
a situation in which…” “Let us imagine…”). While you’re at it, avoid 2nd
person plurals like “y’all” and “youse guys” as well…
·
Spl. Inf.: Generally, try not to split
infinitives, unless to reword makes the sentence sound too awkward. Thus: Not: “Baldwin’s focus on grammar began to
really annoy me” but “
·
End prep: Generally, try not to end a major clause
or a sentence with a preposition, unless to do so makes the sentence smoother. Not: “This is what we came for,” but
“This is the reason we came.” Not “These are important findings that we must
pay attention to” but “These are important findings to which we must pay
attention.” Of course, avoid the absurd, such as when Winston Churchill, Prime
Minister of England, is reputed to have said, “This is utter nonsense, up with
which I will not put”
·
Which versus that: That is a relative pronoun that
is used to “restrict” the discussion to one of a set of items. “Which” is used
(with comma before) as a pronoun to refer to an item just mentioned (that is,
prior context as already limited or restricted the item under discussion).
Thus, “that” is restrictive and “which” is nonrestrictive. “That” does not use
a comma, “which” does. Thus:
o “The students completed the survey,
which was for extra credit” (there was only one survey; the “which” refers back
to it). But:
o “The students completed the survey that
was for extra credit” (there were several surveys, but the students only
completed the one that gave them extra credit).
The same notion, btw, applies to “who” w/comma and “who” without comma.
o Nonrestrictive
(with comma): My father, who is an architect, lives in
o Restrictive
(without comma): My father who is an architect lives in
·
Colloquisms and clichés: Typically, in formal
papers, you should avoid clichés like the plague.