Writing Guidelines for Scholarly and Professional Writing
Point of View:
Always write from third person point-of-view – (e.g., he, she, it, and they as well as
their accusative, dative, and possessive forms). First and second person points-ofview (e.g., I, you, we) are not used in academic writing. Avoid substituting “one” for
first or second person POV. Never use first person or second person point of view:
revise to demonstrate objectivity in your work. This is not about you; it is about
learning and expressing knowledge of the topics. DO NOT USE one, this writer, etc.
Avoid beginning sentences with confusing words: Do not begin sentences with
the following words or phrases – therefore, although, however, consequently, thus,
hence, there is, it is, this, by, as, being, if, in, when, while, with, though, because,
and all words that end with –ing (gerund or participle)
Avoid vague and uncertain language; your point would be stronger with precise
words that state more clearly what you mean. Also avoid vague quantifiers (some,
many, always, more, better, immensely, more, several, great, seems to, etc.)
Loaded, inflammatory, emotional language is not used in scholarly writing.
Write in an objective and unemotional tone – avoid biased and loaded (emotional)
language. You are reporting evidence to support an argumentative point not writing
an opinion paper. Avoid words like important, imperative, vital, essential, valuable,
key, inevitable, paramount, significant, necessary, core, fundamental, priority,
pivotal, evident, unique, or other synonyms for these words. These vague words
clutter up the sentence/paragraph without adding any meaning to your content
Writing should be concise and precise.
Avoid editorializing, including words like: unfortunately, virtually impossible, well
worth, obviously, clearly, hopefully, fortunately, invaluable, undoubtedly, assuredly,
literally, etc. Write in an objective style and do not insert your opinions into the
essay. This is not an opinion paper.
Omit Wordiness and Cliches. Do not use the following: the fact that, at that point
in time. in other words, play a role, due to, as a result of, as to why, whereas, thus,
therefore, which is, the most common, one of, not only, but also, very, extremely,
really, a lot, great, best, usually, greater, many, most, some, a little, a few, often,
sometimes, oftentimes, can be established, such as, just as, of this, is that, the fact
that, means that, for many reasons, all these, serve to, to name a few, in order to,
when it comes to, as noted, on the part of, by means of, after all, this means that,
the reason is, in general, again, once again, in addition, etc.
Avoid complicated, pretentious words. Examples are prior to/before, utilize/use,
demonstrate/show, commence/begin, modify/change, within/in. Other examples:
plethora, elicit, ensue, illustrative, empowerment and so forth. Use a formal, yet
direct and to the point style for academic writing.
Omit announcements about what you, your paper, or a paragraph will do –
this is indicative of high school writing not college writing: this paper will, in this
paper I will, in the article, in the essay, etc. DO NOT USE one, this writer, etc.
Omit uncertainty in your writing: could, might, may, maybe, probably, seems to,
etc. (these words are too uncertain and you are writing about factual information)
Omit all scenarios or anecdotes or other examples to illustrate points. This is a
research paper, not a creative writing assignment.
DO write properly structured paragraphs with opening and closing sentences,
body sentences, and proper transitions to the next paragraph. Paragraphs are 6-10
sentences including: an introductory sentence, body sentences (explanation plus
evidence cited from learning resources), concluding/transition sentence. Evidence
from source material is cited in the middle of the paragraph (never begin or end a
paragraph with material from sources in academic writing. Paragraphs include 2-4
sentences of your own writing before and after the quote or paraphrase to provide
evaluation, explanation, analysis, etc. of the relevance of your quote/paraphrase to
the topic.
Pronouns
pronoun agreement
http://wwwnew.towson.edu/ows/pro_antagree.htm
and
pronoun reference http://wwwnew.towson.edu/ows/proref.htm
Do not use THAT when referring to people. The pronoun WHO refers to people. Use
THAT and WHICH correctly
Subject/verb agreement: Check to make sure that your tenses don't shift from
the present to the past tense. Be consistent. Also be sure that your subjects and
verbs agree.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/
Spelling: Your computer has spell checker; use it! Even if you have a spell-checker,
have another person read your essay for small errors. You might have entered an
incorrect spelling in your spell checker!
Also, see commonly confused words
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/conford.html
Commas: See commas for all the comma usage rules.
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000067.htm
In a series of three or more nouns or noun phrases, insert a comma before
the word "and" or "or"
Sentence structure: Read your work aloud to ensure proper sentence structure.
Sentence Punctuation Patterns
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/604/01/
Sentence Structure
http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/sentence-structure.html
Sentences: Fragments
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/620/01/
Parallelism: Sentences that are not parallel can be confusing so that the meaning of
your writing is not clear. See parallelism
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/parstruc.html
Apostrophes: Proofread for singular and plural possessives. See using
apostrophes to show possession
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000130.htm
Dangling modifiers: these make your writing confusing. See modifiers
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/597/01/
Verb tenses should be consistent throughout the paper:
Verb tense
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/
Tense consistency
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/
Singular/plural nouns: use either singular or plural (the nurse or nurses; the
patient or patients) consistently throughout the paper and never mix both in the
same sentence.
PASSIVE VOICE: Do not use passive voice in your writing. Be concise and clear.
Passive voice makes the sentence too wordy.
Use active voice, clear, precise, and concise sentences
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CCS_activevoice.html
PREPOSITION RULES
1. Do not begin sentences with propositions
2. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun
called the object of the preposition.
3. The subject of the sentence can never be part of a prepositional phrase.
4. A verb can never be a part of a prepositional phrase.
Conciseness (or how to avoid wordiness in your writing)
LEO: Strategies for Reducing Wordiness
http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/wordiness.html
Strategies for eliminating wordiness
Patterns of wordiness
Omit the following from beginning of sentences: "it is," "there is," "there are," and
"this"
Change "which" or "that" constructions to an "-ing" word
Omit "which" or "that" altogether
Replace passive verbs with active verbs
Change "is" or "was" to a strong verb
Replace "is," "are," "was," "were," or "have + an -ing word" to a simple present or
past tense verb
Replace "should," "would," or "could" with strong verbs
Substitute strong verbs for "-tion" and "-sion" words whenever possible
Combine two closely related short sentences by omitting part of one
DO NOT USE prepositional phrases to begin sentences
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/prepositionalphrase.htm
OWL: Methods of Eliminating Wordiness
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/572/01/
Eliminate unnecessary determiners and modifiers
Change phrases into single words
Change unnecessary that, who, and which clauses into phrases
Avoid overusing expletives at the beginning of sentences: "it is," "there are," "there
was," etc.
Use active rather than passive verbs
Avoid overusing noun forms of verbs
Reword unnecessary infinitive phrases
Replace circumlocutions with direct expressions
Omit words that explain the obvious or provide excessive detail
Omit repetitive wording
Blank, K.: Wordiness List
http://web.uvic.ca/~gkblank/wordiness.html
List of words and phrases that should NOT be used in your writing. Some of the
words in this list are marked DELETE, which means you should never use the words.
Other words have substitutions that are more concise.
CCC: Writing Concise Sentences
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/concise.htm
Redundant words to avoid
Reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single words
Avoiding intensifiers
Avoiding expletive constructions
Phrases to omit (list)
Eliminating cliché's and euphemisms