WRITING TIPS – Updated January 2021
Michael Hoffman, Ph.D.
The following is meant to be a rough guide to academic writing for my classes. It includes a few tips that,
in my opinion, can vastly improve writing quality. Please note that other instructors will have different
preferences, so these should not necessarily be interpreted as general academic writing tips.
1) Clarity
Clarity is perhaps the most important feature in academic writing. In other settings, it might be useful to
impress the reader with complicated language; in academic social science writing, that is almost never
the case. If I can’t understand what you’re trying to say, it’s impossible to respond positively to the
writing, no matter how dazzling it may be. This doesn’t mean that your writing should be dull, just that
the clarity of the ideas must take priority over the cleverness of the language.
Structure is also a useful tool to maintain clarity. Organizing the paper in a way that previews your
argument, then provides the necessary background, applies and defends the argument, and finally
describes what you’ve show will help to make the paper much clearer. It will also force you to stay on
topic. In most cases, you should be able to include transition sentences that effectively weave each
paragraph into the next.
2) Reference to class (and other) materials
In any writing assignment I give you, I expect you to make at least a few references to class readings.
Addressing the class readings serves several purposes. First, and most obviously, it shows me that
you’ve been keeping up with the readings, and that in itself is significant. Second, your ability to apply
the readings to the subject you’re writing about shows me that you’re learning from the materials,
which, of course, is the whole point of the readings themselves. It also indicates your ability to think
critically and synthesize information from a variety of sources.
Your assignments will also generally require you to use outside materials. Typically, these materials will
include academic texts and perhaps newspapers. Although Wikipedia is an immensely valuable resource
(and most of us use it constantly), it should not be cited in an academic paper. You should also be
careful to avoid citing dubious internet sources.
In general, you’re welcome to use any standard citation style that you like, as long as you do so
consistently throughout the paper. Footnotes, MLA, Chicago, APA, etc. are all fine – just make sure that
your citations include all of the relevant information on the text. In-text citations should always include
the author’s last name and the year the piece was published, and for direct quotes or specific
paraphrases, a page number. And, of course, you need to cite your sources whenever you’re referring
to someone else’s idea (even if you’re just paraphrasing it).
3) Argument
Most of my assignments will ask you to make some kind of argument. Typically, if the argument is
interesting, then there will be reasonable counter-arguments. That’s ok. I don’t need your paper to be
the last word on the subject; I just want it to be a clear, intelligent presentation of the claim you’re
making. Importantly, that means that you must be extremely clear about your argument throughout the
paper. Your thesis statement, which should typically be in the first paragraph of the paper, should make
your argument clear in very concise terms. Clunky as it may seem, “In this paper, I will argue that…” is a
great way to begin a thesis statement. You should also return to the argument throughout the paper (in
an organic way) to remind the reader of how what you’ve been saying bolsters the broader argument.
Your conclusion should describe how the paper has shown support for the argument you’ve made.
4) Tone
It is very important that your papers take an academic tone. Most of the readings I assign are fairly good
examples of academic tone. They’re not necessarily dry (ideally, at least), but they’re relatively formal. A
few basic guidelines are:
a) Avoid informalities such as contractions or casual colloquialisms (I’m clearly not holding
myself to these rules in this document).
b) First person: there are instances in which first person writing is ok, but they are fairly
specific cases. It’s perfectly fine to use first person to refer to what you’re doing in the
paper; e.g., “In this paper, I will argue that…” or “I have shown that…” But you absolutely
don’t want to say things like “I think” or “I feel”.
c) I can’t think of an instance in which it would be appropriate for you to use second person
(see what I did there?).
d) Generally refer to authors by their last name only. And unless there’s a specific reason for
mentioning who the author is or where they work, don’t do so. So instead of writing
“political scientist Jane Doe of the University of Notre Dame (2017) argues in her book
Middle East Politics that…”, write “Doe (2017) argues that…”
e) Don’t refer to the class in the paper. For some reason, this seems to be a big temptation,
but it comes across as very informal. If you want to refer to something I’ve said in a lecture,
you would ideally find a source for it; in the worst case scenario (which would be best
avoided), you could cite the lecture, i.e. “According to Hoffman (2017)…”
f) Word choice: this is admittedly nitpicky, but is nevertheless worth mentioning. There are a
few writing tendencies that separate so-so writers from excellent ones. Some of these are a
matter of style rather than being technically right or wrong. For instance, it may be
acceptable to use the word “utilize,” but “use” is almost always better. The same can be said
for using “impact” as a verb. The “utilize” case is an example of using simpler language
unless there’s a reason to use more complexity. If there is a simpler word available that
conveys exactly the same information as the more complicated word, it’s usually better to
stick with the simple one.
5) PROOFREAD!
I’m often amazed at the number of typos and grammatical errors in papers I’m grading. One or two
small mistakes in a paper are understandable, but when there are more than a few errors, it becomes a
distraction and makes it seem like the author didn’t put very much effort into the paper. The few
minutes that it takes to proofread a paper are probably the best bang-for-your-buck of any time spent
on the paper.
6) Small (but important) things:
a. Page limits are based on the assumption of double-spacing, 12-point font, and standard
margins unless otherwise specified.
b. Make sure that your name is at the top of the document.
c. Submit assignments in either Word or PDF format.
d. Deadlines are what they say they are! For instance, 12:00 means 12:00 and no later!