Guidelines for academic writing:
In a recent article in the Bison (Feb. 1, 2008, p. 3a), the author pointed out that some of the most important skills that employers are looking for, and at the same time, some of the skills that college graduates are lacking, are the skills of reading, writing, and critical thinking. Writing assignments in my classes are designed to give you practice in each of these skills. You will be graded based on your abilities in these areas.
Related to this, I would like to point out that you do not attend English classes from the first grade through college for the purpose of making a passing grade in English. You take English classes for the purpose of developing skills (such as writing) that you can use in other areas of life. University level courses in subjects other than English are one of these areas. Therefore, I have an expectation of my students that they will be able to write with a university level competence, and this is reflected in grading. If you struggle with your writing skills, I would recommend that you use the tutoring that is available, free of charge, here at Harding. It is a skill that will be important to you for the rest of your life.
The following guidelines are not an exhaustive list, but they do relate to common mistakes I have seen on papers my students have turned in.
General Rules of
Grammar and other important points:
1. Titles of Books should always be underlined or italicized—not placed within “quotation marks.”
2. The word Bible is to always be written with a capital B.
3. Contractions should not, rather than shouldn’t, be used in academic writing.
4. When using quotation marks, periods and commas should be placed INSIDE the quotation marks at the end of a sentence (ask your English professor for rules governing question marks).
Correct: “End your sentence with a period.”
Incorrect: “End your sentence with a period”.
Correct: “The comma should be placed inside the quotation marks,” (Diles, 1).
5. Learn the appropriate use of apostrophes. They should not be used in contractions (rule #3 above). They should be used to indicate possession.
ex. “This is the tiger’s meat,” means the meat belongs to one tiger.
“This is the tigers’ meat,” means the meat belongs to several tigers.
Apostrophes are not used to demonstrate plurality.
“The tigers had some meat,” is correct, showing a plurality of tigers.
“The tiger’s (or tigers’) had some meat,” is incorrect.
6. Learn the difference between it’s and its. It’s is a contraction for it is, and should not be used (see # 3 above). Its is the possessive form of the pronoun it as in the sentence, “Its time had come.”
7. Between paragraphs you should leave the same space you leave in the rest of the document—in other words, there should not be an extra line. See example below:
This is a paragraph that should not have an extra line between it and the next paragraph. Keep the line spacing the same from one paragraph to another. Notice that the next paragraph begins without an extra line before it.
You see how I did not insert an extra line between paragraphs here. But, pay attention—there will be an extra line between this paragraph and the next one. To insert an extra line, as you will see below, is not proper.
Can you see the difference? I left an extra line between this paragraph and the paragraph above. This rule applies whether you are using single-space or double space. Whichever you use, it should be the same between paragraphs. If your computer default setting leaves an extra line, you need to change the setting. If you need to change the setting using Microsoft Office, I believe the procedure is as follows. Go to “format,” click on “paragraph,” select “Indents and spacing,” and where you see “spacing” make sure the “before” and “after” settings are on 0. Or, go to your “paragraph” tab, click on “line spacing” and “remove line after paragraph.”
8. Learn what constitutes a sentence rather than a phrase or clause. A sentence must have both a subject and a predicate. This means it needs both a main noun and a main verb. It also must be able to stand alone. Related to this is the need to understand the difference in use between the words however and although. However generally means something like but. Although generally means something like even though. Notice the examples below: The first is correct, the second is not.
a. The students began to go outside. However, it was raining.
b. The students began to go outside. Although it was raining.
In example a above, the second phrase is a complete sentence, but in example b, it is not. A phrase that begins with although cannot stand alone. However (do you notice the use of this word here?), if sentence b read, “Although it was raining, the students began to go outside,” this would be correct.
9. Avoid run-on sentences such as the one I am currently writing a run-sentence is one that is really several sentences unfortunately there are no periods between them they just keep going on and on stream of consciousness they are very hard to read and make any sense of because well they just run on that is why they are called run-on sentences they are really poor writing I do not like them.
10. Learn the difference between “lead,” “lead,” and “led.” “Lead,” pronounced leed, is the present tense of the verb meaning “to show the way,” “go first,” or “be in charge.” For example: “I lead the class.” “Led” is the past tense of this verb. “I led the class yesterday.” “Lead” pronounced led is an element that is harmful if ingested as in “lead poisoning.” So it is incorrect to write, “I lead the class yesterday.”
11. When referring to an actual person in academic writing
you should refer to that person by his or her whole name the first time he or
she is mentioned. It is generally preferable after that to refer to them by
their last name rather than by their first name. For example:
12. A novel is a work of fiction that tells a story. I generally do not assign novels for my classes and the books you review for my classes should not be referred to as novels in your paper. A biography is a book about a person’s life. A bibliography is a list of books.
Guidelines specific
to my classes:
1. Make use of your computer’s spell check and grammar check, but do not rely on them exclusively. Double check your work yourself, or even get someone else to look it over for mistakes.
2. If you are writing a paper in which I require you to list strengths and weaknesses, it would be to your advantage to actually number each strength and each weakness.
3. When discussing strengths and weaknesses note the following:
a. It is not legitimate to say that a weakness of a book is that it is out of date simply because the book was written several years ago. The book was not out of date when it was originally published, and it was your choice to read it.
b. You should give examples or specifics to elaborate what you identify as a strength or weakness. In other words it is not sufficient to say the author’s style was good. You need to give examples of that good style. Again it is not sufficient to say that the person had a strong spiritual life. You should give examples from the text that illustrate this point. If you say the author used poor illustrations, give an example or two of such poor illustrations.
c. All books have weaknesses. I expect you to think critically enough (in the sense of analyzing what you are reading) to identify some of them.
4. Notice how points are awarded for each assignment and structure you paper accordingly. If 15 points are available for identifying weaknesses and you do not do that, you forfeit 15 points, no matter how well-written the paper may be. If each major section of a paper is worth the same amount of points, then each major section should probably be about equal in length.
5. Pay careful attention to instructions given in the syllabus for each written assignment. I will count off points if my instructions are not precisely followed.
6. It is not legitimate to cite online books as sources, unless you can also cite page numbers.