Writing Advice

I am not an expert on writing. Still, here are some tips that have improved my writing.

Words You Should Be Careful About Using

Stuff. Find a more specific word.

There, their, they’re: Do not confuse them!

Examples of correct uses of these words: I went over there. Are you going to their house? They’re going to the party.

Loose & lose: Do not confuse them: “Your pants are really loose. You need a belt.” “Do not lose that cute girl’s phone number.”

Thing. “Everything,” and “something” are fine but do not use “thing.” Find a more specific word.

Totally: Avoid overusing this word and its cousins (essentially, ultimately, basically, terrifically, etc.).

"greatly" "basically," and  – If you can, do not use these words.. 

Farther, further. "Farther" relates to distance, "further" relates to time: "In the one-hour race I could not run farther than ten miles, a problem I pursued further with my coach."

Irregardless This is not a word.. Use either "regardless" or "irrespective."

Less refers to quantity, fewer to number: "I like the class less now that there are fewer students."

Interesting It is not as bad as “stuff” and “thing,” but if you can, use a more specific word.

-wise Don’t use words that end in wise. “Football-wise, he is pretty smart.”

different from  = correct  different than = incorrect

Click here for my advice on writing an essay

STYLE

Avoid contractions (example: we’re, couldn’t, won’t)

These are fine for letters to friends and other informal writing but  you should avoid contractions when writing papers for school.

Run-on sentences

"Vance was not the biggest man on campus he was meanest and allowed his teammates to know it by stomping on their feet during practice and hating his teachers by writing meaningless drivel." This is an example of a fused sentence. Turned these types of things into  three different sentences.

Use the “Active voice”

VERY IMPORTANT You should try to avoid  “the passive voice” when writing formal English.

When your spellchecker tells you are using the passive voice – fix it. It means it is difficult to tell who is doing the action in the sentence.

Wrong:

         The party was planned by Jason.

Right:

         Jason planned the party.

Is the correct one easier to read? If you cannot fix it, try writing an entirely different sentence.

MORE ADVICE ON STYLE

Avoid stating the obvious

Get to the point. "Filler" sentences that state the obvious might creep into your first draft, but should be eliminated before the paper is turned in to the instructor.

"It is difficult to understand the history of this period, since it happened so long ago." (This is self-evident, and heralds the weakness of the analysis.)

"As unemployment rose, more and more people were out of work." (That is the very definition of "unemployment.")

Avoid clichés

Clichés are phrases that have been used so often that they are worn down; they signal a lazy, unimaginative writer.

Make defensible statements

Nothing is worse to a reader than a statement that is so broad or general that it cannot be reasonably true.

Assume an intelligent but ignorant audience

Try to write as if the audience is generally informed and intelligent, but knows almost nothing about the subject at hand. George Washington and Abraham Lincoln do not have to be introduced in your paper, for example, but Horace Greeley, prominent newspaper publisher and 19th century presidential candidate, does. When writing about a person for the first time, use their first and last names, and identify them briefly.

GRAMMAR, USAGE, PUNCTUATION, AND SPELLING

Grammar

Avoid slang, dialect, and jargon.

Sentence fragments

A stylist with a sure sense of what can work in his or her prose can get away with sentence fragments to great effect. In general, however, you should avoid them, as it lends a breezy, conversational air to your writing.

"Biff did not attend class on Monday morning. Being tired from partying the night before."

Tense

Using the correct tense is often tricky. Always use the past tense when writing about past events. "Germany experienced rapid industrialization in the nineteenth century." But when writing about what an author says about a past subject, use the present tense: "Germany experienced significant social tensions as a result of its rapid industrialization, as Hans-Ulrich Wehler writes."

Usage

Not all words were created equal. Finding the correct words is important. In general, use simple, clear, and precise words. When possible and appropriate, however, you should vary your words.

Avoid vulgarity

While you might sincerely believe that Adolf Hitler's mother was a dog, that Oscar Wilde suffered from a lack of masculinity, or Newt Gingrich is related to an obscure tropical fish, you should not use vulgar or obscene terms in your writing. Use your paper to argue reasonably for a proposition; do not do any name-calling.

Under no circumstances will racial epithets be tolerated, either spoken in class or written in papers.

Spelling

There is no excuse for you to turn in homework that has misspelled words in it. A spell-checker is a useful tool, especially for typos. However, it will not always detect wrong words that are spelled correctly--"through" for "thorough," "to" for "too," etc. Nothing can take the place of a good proof-reading. I strongly suggest you have a friend or a fellow student check your paper. A good dictionary is an essential tool for the writer, and should be at your side whenever you are composing, not merely to check spelling but also to clarify the meaning of particular words.

PLAN AHEAD

It is important to give yourself enough time to reflect on what you have written, and then to rewrite. The first draft of a paper inevitably contains numerous factual errors, grammatical mistakes, and non-sequiturs. If you complete your first draft well ahead of time these can be eliminated, thus improving your paper.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is intellectual theft. It is a very serious offense. You should cite all phrases, quotations, and ideas that are not your own. Facts that are common knowledge do not need to be cited ("George Washington was the first President of the United States"), but additional details that are not self-evident must be cited ("George Washington was note for being a very fast runner." )