Common Mistakes
Paragraph Development:
Less than ten sentences in this paragraph often signals you need to develop your ideas a bit more.
You have 10+ sentences, but the paragraph still has fewer than 160 words, which suggests your
ideas need a bit more development.
It’s good to list your points, but make sure to thoroughly explain each idea before moving on.
You’re lacking a specific example to help illustrate this idea. Provide some more examples?
Repeating ideas—for example: the same idea is just reworded a bit later in the paragraph.
Thesis statement is unclear in the introduction.
Paragraph Coherence (“flow”) and Structure:
First sentence of the paragraph here does not function well as a topic sentence (TS) that previews
the entire paragraph. Remember the connections your points have to your thesis.
Transitions are needed between ideas to help guide readers—see Rules for Writers Chapter 3d.
It looks like you’re returning to an idea or example from earlier in the paragraph later on in the
same paragraph. Doing so often gives the reader the impression there isn’t enough substance to
the argument to provide variety and balance to your overall view.
It looks like you’re jumping around between examples or ideas that do not belong together, or
that do not work well together to support the main point expressed in the first sentence (Topic
Sentence or TS).
Grammar/Proofreading Issues:
Incorrect word endings—for example: “love one” instead of “loved one”; or “was suppose to”
instead of “was supposed to”
Incorrect or colloquial verb forms—for example: “I done” instead of “I have done” or “I did”; or
“I seen” instead of “I have seen” or “I saw”
Missing words within sentences (catch this by reading each sentence out loud)
Capitalizing common nouns that should not be capitalized
Not capitalizing proper nouns and the singular “I”
Run-on sentences (see Rules for Writers Chapter 20)
Sentence fragments—incomplete sentences; remember the “Goldilocks zone”
Issues with noun-verb agreement—for example: “it were the only solution” instead of “it was the
only solution”
Misspelled words—for example: “alot” instead of “a lot”
Commas missing after introductory elements (see Rules for Writers Chapter 32b)
Using apostrophes to indicate plurality instead of just tagging on an -s—for example:
“Monday’s” instead of “Mondays”
Missing apostrophes when indicating possession (this is where you should use the -‘s
Style:
Using “you” throughout or switching to “you” (second person) instead of sticking with “I” (first
person) or “they” / “people” (third person); remember to stay consistent throughout
Starting most or all sentences with the same word (repetitive)—see Rules for Writers Chapter
15a
Contracting words instead of spelling them out—for example: “didn’t” should be “did not,” and
“that’s” should be “that is”
Adding informal words or phrases we would use when speaking—for example: “so yeah,” “let’s
say,” or “I’m telling you”
Using slashes / instead of “and” or “or”
*Remember to use this list of common mistakes to cross-reference against your own work.
Proofread your paper slowly to make sure that you are not making any of these common
mistakes before you submit your Final Draft. I will be checking for these mistakes as I grade
your work.