Writing Tips
The following tips are intended to help you produce an essay written in clear, direct prose that follows the conventions of edited American English. I have tried to anticipate the most common problems, but if you have further questions, I will be glad to speak with you individually.
1. Write to express your ideas, not to impress your reader. Your purpose is to share your reading with your audience. Avoid obscure words, needlessly complex sentence structure, and greeting card language.
2. All papers must be typed or prepared on a word processor. Working on a computer is demonstrably easier because you may print out a draft, solicit responses, and revise without the added burden of retyping everything.
Use one inch margins on all sides, and double space throughout your paper. Do not put extra spaces between paragraphs. Use a standard font (preferably Times New Roman) and 12 point type.
3. Use twenty-weight paper and a fresh, dark ribbon in your typewriter or printer. A literary paper is not the appropriate place for color printing, neon paper, or clever illustrations. Do not place your essay in a folder; all you need do is fasten your pages together with a paper clip (no staples please).
4. You do not need a title page. Type your name, my name (spelled correctly), the course title and section number, and the date in the upper left-hand corner (below the one-inch margin) . Drop two lines and center your title; drop four lines below your title, indent and begin your paper. If you use headers on the computer, be sure you can use them correctly.
5. Be sure to give your paper a specific title which tells your reader something about your essay. Do not use the course title or the title of the work you are discussing as your title. Do not underline or place within quotation marks your own title unless the title of a work is part of your title, and then only that part. Unacceptable titles: The Inferno (This is Dante's title, not yours.); EH 2200: Analysis of an Epic (This tells your reader nothing helpful about your essay.); "Gender Roles in The Odyssey" (You don't need the quotation marks here, and you do need to italicize Homer's title).
6. Be sure to write an essay of the assigned length. Any essay that falls significantly short of the target length will be heavily penalized (from ten to thirty percent depending on length); any essay that is significantly longer than the assigned length will lack a conclusion (a serious omission) because I will stop reading after page six. Remember that this is your essay; avoid excessive quoting. Block quotations will not be considered in assessing paper length.
7. Introduce all quotations; don't just abruptly begin quoting. Attribute quotations. Quote only when doing so gives your argument added power or clarity. Remember that you can also paraphrase or summarize relevant passages. Quote only material you go on to analyze. The first stand alone quotation will drop your grade to a C (at best).
8. Prose quotations of five lines or more and verse quotations of four lines or more must be set off in a block quotation. Indent ten spaces from the left margin. Do not use quotation marks to set off the passage; the indention renders them redundant. You must, however, retain any quotation marks that are part of the quoted material itself. Remember you must quote poems line for line exactly as the poet created them. Even in short quotations of poetry, you must preserve the poet's line by using a slash (/) to indicate line breaks.
9. Use single quotation marks only for a quotation within a quotation. Example: According to critic Roger D'Arcy, "Dante's use of what Gerard Manley Hopkins terms the 'sweating self' becomes a visible, thematic thread in The Inferno."
10. Use apostrophes correctly; they indicate possession (Homer's epic) or omission (don't). The only possessives that do not use apostrophes are pronouns. The possessive of "it" is especially troubling to many students, but you can avoid errors if you remember that "it's" always means "it is."
11. Always space before parentheses.
12. Dashes are typed as double hyphens (--) unless you are using a computer that distinguishes between the two. Never leave spaces around a dash. Do not use dashes where you should use hyphens.
13. Learn how to use colons and semicolons correctly. For example, commonly semicolons are used to separate compound, independent clauses (Avoid comma splices; punctuate sentences correctly.); colons are used to introduce long quotations.
14. Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks,
except when you are citing a source. Examples:
(1) Readers who approach Frankenstein with movie images in
mind are often astounded to discover
Victor Frankenstein's creation more
"creature" than "monster."
(2) Henson
Westlake labels Victor Frankenstein a "reprehensible father-god"
(67).
15. Use literary present tense when writing about action within the text. For example, "Mary Shelley published Frankenstein in 1816." but "Mary Shelley presents us with women characters content to remain within their domestic world."
16. Use a spell checker if you find it helpful, but remember the program will not catch all errors.
17. Avoid weak passive constructions. They result in ineffective sentences and frequently in dangling modifiers and wordiness as well.
18. Avoid vague expletives ("It is," "There are") and overuse of the verb "to be." Both result in weak sentences and wordiness.
19. Do not use "this" or "which" to refer to the complete sense of a preceding sentence or clause. Example: "Shelley alludes to both Dante's and Milton's visions of Hell. This intensifies the effect of Victor's creation as an infernal being." What is "this"?
20. Edit your paper carefully. You are expected to follow the conventions of edited American English. Errors such as subject-verb agreement errors, pronoun reference errors, comma splices, sentence fragments, misplaced or dangling modifiers, etc, may prove costly.
21. Allow yourself time to proofread your essay. If you are using a printer, be sure to use a hard copy for this final stage. Most people find it easier to catch errors on paper than on screen. If you use a commercial service, remember that the final responsibility is yours. You must still proofread the paper. You may make minor corrections to the final draft by neatly adding or deleting with a black pen.
22. Please remember to ask for help before papers are due. I will be happy to answer questions, discuss your topics, read drafts, or help in any other way I can. Except for questions that can be handled within five minutes or less, I will not schedule conferences the day a paper is due . Don't forget the English Center is an excellent resource if you need help. Although you may walk in, you will save time by calling for an appointment.