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WRITING TIPS NO. 3

Some things from the second round of papers:

1. This nice phrase came from Ethan: "emotional dust."

2. Some folks seemed to be confused about which century is which, something we all need to be clear about as the twentieth century comes to a close. The eighteenth century covers the 1700s, the nineteenth century the 1800s, and the twentieth century, the 1900s. Hope we're all Y2K ready now.

3. The possessive its and the contraction it's tripped up a few people. The correct usages are: The team lost its last three games. (possessive) It's too nice to stay inside today. (contraction of it is)

4. The word incredibly shows up frequently in papers. The word's literally meaning is "unbelievably." If you use it, make sure you want to say something is beyond belief, rather than that it was only very hard, scary, or whatever. Try not to overuse it.

5. People had problems with some abstract words, including the following:

--Analyze. This is a transitive verb so it must be followed by a direct object rather than used alone. One must analyze something. If you are unsure about whether a verb needs an object, check the dictionary and if the letters v.t. follow the word, the word is a transitive verb that needs a direct object.

--Conclusion. Some people were unsure what to do to a conclusion. One may arrive at a conclusion, state a conclusion, formulate a conclusion and so on. The word interpret seems inappropriate with conclusion in most contexts because interpret means to translate or explain. An instructor may ask for an interpretation of your conclusion if it is unclear, so if you use interpret a conclusion make sure that is the sense you are trying to convey.

--Evidence. This word refers to information that tends to prove something is true. Avoid using it when referring to such things as Pipes' and Hofstadter's criteria for identifying conspiracy theories. They are not offering information, but a set of guidelines or a list of characteristics of conspiracy theories.

You will become more familiar with abstract words such as these as you read more texts containing them and using them will become second nature.

6. Here is the address for an on-line guide for the MLA's citation style that you might find useful for your third papers: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/33.html.

WRITING TIPS NO. 2

Some things to work on from first drafts:

1. Make pronouns agree with the nouns to which they refer. "People believe in conspiracies because it gives reasons for why things happen." A better way is "People believe in conspiracies because they give ..."

2. Use the active voice. "This theory was believable for several reasons throughout today's society." Better: "People found this theory believable for several reasons."

3. Avoid jargon and cliches such as "unknown assailants" or unprecedented heights."

4. Avoid confusing similar words, such as their and there. "There Michigan Book and Supply total" should be "Their Michigan Book and Supply total," indicating that the total belonged to several people.

5. Rewrite to cut out unnecessary words. "With cases similar to this, it proves that our world is not a safe place to live" could be shortened and made more clear by rewriting it as "Cases similar to this prove that our world is not a safe place."

6. Rework awkward sentences. "Reports of the actual writer of the ransom note differed with opposing opinions on the letter." A better version would be, "People held different opinions on the letter based on who they believed wrote it."

7. Last but not least, proofread, proofread, proofread.

WRITING TIPS NO. 1

1. Avoid passive verbs: "The touchdown was scored by Anthony Thomas." Use the active voice instead: "Anthony Thomas scored the touchdown."

2. Avoid forms of the verb to be. Search for a way to state your thoughts using an active verb.

3. Avoid stating thoughts in the negative, that is using words such as not: "Shaman Drum did not have any more of the books for this class." Use a positive construction instead: "Shaman Drum had sold all of its copies of the books for this class."

4. Use spell check and grammar check. Proofread your paper with your own eyes, too.

5. Avoid misusing or misspelling these words:

a. Affect or effect. Affect, a verb, means to impact something. "The wind did not affect the quarterback's accuracy." Effect, a noun, means the results of an event or process. "Some people are still recovering from the effects of the flu." But effect also can be used as a verb, meaning to bring about. "His mother's complaints effected a change in John's habits."

b. Possessives. Theirs -- no apostrophe

c. Its and It's. Its is the possessive. "The team lost its last three games." It's is a contraction of it is. "It's too cold to go to the game."