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IMPORTANT COMMANDMENTS OF ACADEMIC WRITING
AKA Dr. LeBlanc’s Pet Peeves
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Parts of speech and sentence structure
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ The words this and that are not nouns!
– They are demonstrative adjectives or pronouns.
– Correct: This study showed…
– Incorrect: This showed…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Data is a plural noun.
– The singular form of data is datum.
– Correct: The data show…
– Incorrect: The data shows…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Avoid the unnecessary use of helping verbs.
– Correct: This report is included because…
– Incorrect: This report is being included because…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Please align your pronoun referents.
– Correct: Everyone in the class was anxious about his
or her exam grade.
– Incorrect: Everyone in the class was anxious about
their grade.
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Avoid ending sentences with a preposition.
– Correct: Meet the friend with whom I went to
school.
– Incorrect: Meet the friend I went to school with.
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Get rid of the word like. Use as instead.
– Correct: As the researcher stated…
– Incorrect: Like the researcher stated…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Beware of your verb tenses!
– Literature reviews are written in the past tense.
– Grant proposals and program evaluation plans are
written in the future tense.
– Dissertations are written in the past tense with the
exception of the recommendations for future
research section.
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Thou shalt not begin a sentence with the word it.
– Correct: The study showed…
– Incorrect: It showed…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Write in 3rd person instead of 1st and 2nd person.
– Correct: The researcher demonstrated to the
audience…
– Incorrect: My study demonstrated to the
audience…
– Incorrect: The researcher demonstrated to you…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ The word etc. is often used to mask faulty reasoning
or ambiguity.
– Correct: The researcher conducted interviews,
observations, and phone calls.
– Incorrect: The researcher conducted interviews,
observations, phone calls, etc.
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Be aware that the word significant has a unique
meaning to a researcher.
– Correct: My informal poll indicated a substantial
difference…
– Incorrect: My informal poll indicated a significant
difference…
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Use active voice in your writing.
– Verbs that have a direct object
are in active voice.
– Correct: The timer stopped the
clock.
– Incorrect: The clock was
stopped by the timer.
The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Use passive voice sparingly, if at all.
– Passive voice can be used when:
■ The actor is more important than the act.
– The professor was struck by lightening.
■ The actor is unknown.
– A ship was recovered off the coast of Florida.
EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES
Punctuation, contractions, and more
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Grammar is the
foundation of written
communication.
Eats shoots and leaves
■ When using commas
in a series, don’t
forget to include the
Oxford comma.
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Semi-colons connect
two complete
sentences and may be
separated by a
conjunction.
■ Correct: She was late to class; therefore, we had to wait.
■ Incorrect: She was late to class, therefore we had to wait.
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Be mindful of the
difference between its
and it’s.
■ It’s should never be
used in formal writing.
Eats shoots and leaves
■ The subject of a gerund is possessive.
– Gerunds are verb forms ending in –ing and functioning in
a sentence as a noun.
– Correct: Being part of the cohort was important to his
success.
– Incorrect: His being part of the cohort was important to his
success.
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Quotation marks
– For details on the rules regarding quotation
marks, visit:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/57
7/01/
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Avoid run-on
sentences like the
plague!
Eats shoots and leaves
■ Use parallel structures.
– Correct: The professor enjoyed harassing
students, confusing them, and discussing
lessons with them.
– Incorrect: The professor enjoyed harassing the
students, confusing them, and discussions.
EDITING VS. PROOFING
Writing is rewriting!
Editing vs. Proofing
■ Definitions
– Editing: Organizing ideas, connecting sentences,
moving paragraphs, reverse outlining, and other
structural actions
Editing vs. Proofing
■ Definitions
– Proofreading: Checking for errors and
inconsistencies in formatting, spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and grammar
Editing vs. Proofing
■ Structure refers to the whole text as well as the
relationships between the sentences, paragraphs,
and sections.
EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES
A tight academic paragraph
■ (Transition) + One Key Idea + Development of Key
Idea
A tight academic paragraph
■ A paragraph should be consistent in structure; it should
complete three functions in order. First, the paragraph
should open with a transition. The transition can be short or
as long as a sentence. Second, the transition should be
followed by a topic of key sentence. Third, the rest of the
paragraph should provide support or evidence for the idea
in the key sentence.
From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Choose a suitable design for paragraphs and stick
with it.
■ Use active voice.
■ Use specific, definite, concrete language.
■ Omit needless words.
From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Make sure the following are used appropriately:
– Of
– That/which
– This/that/these/those
– To be verbs in all forms
– And/as well as/too/or/etc.
From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Make sure the following are used appropriately:
– Useless words
– Subject-verb agreement
Some ideas to improve your writing
■ Write!
■ Read!
■ Copy the writing of others (visual and kinesthetic).
■ Put together a writing group that meets once a week
or month to share, give and receive feedback, and
hold one another accountable.
Some ideas to improve your writing
■ Consider building your vocabulary through:
– Subscribing to Word a Day email lists.
– Keeping a vocabulary notebook.
– Developing a personal glossary for each course.
Writing is an iterative process!
■ First Review: Ask someone outside your field to read
your paper and comment on its clarity.
Writing is an iterative process!
■ Second Review: Ask someone in your field to review
your paper and point out two or three major issues
that need further revision.
– Have your reviewer look at:
■ Structure Clarity
■ Logic Flow
Writing is an iterative process!
■ Final Review: Ask an expert to review the paper for
the major and minor issues; offer to review a paper
for him or her in return.
Writing is an iterative process!
■ The expert in your case will often be your committee
chair.
■ Don’t burn him or her out!
■ Give the committee your best writing so that the
members can concentrate on content and critical
thinking.
Resources
■ “Becoming an Academic Writer” (Patricia Goodson)
■ “Roget’s Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals”
■ “The Elements of Style” (William Strunk, Jr.)
■ “How to Critique Journal Articles in the Social Sciences”
(Scott R. Harris)
■ “The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success” (Lawrence A.
Machi and Brenda T. McEvoy)