Writing Essays and Research Papers:
A Little Advice from Aaron H. Devor – Dean of Graduate Studies
Below you will find a list of some suggestions about how to improve your essays
and research papers. These are a number of common errors which I would like
you to avoid in the writing of your research papers. This is by no means a
comprehensive list of all the things that you should be aware of while writing a
research paper. These are just some of the problems which I have repeatedly
noted on students’ papers over the past few years.
1. Learn how to properly cite your sources. All material which you have
learned as a result of your reading for an essay or a research paper
should have a citation. This includes material which you have
paraphrased. Students often only use citations for direct quotes. Direct
quotes must be cited, and a page number should be included in the
citation. However, any information which is not common knowledge and
which you have learned in your reading must be cited. Page numbers are
not usually required for citations to material that has been paraphrased.
2. There are many correct ways to do citations. Learn one way and stick to it
throughout a single essay or research paper. Do not mix methods. All
methods should provide a way for an interested reader to be able to find
the source of your information for themselves. Generally, citations include
the names of authors and editors (all of them when listing in a
bibliography); titles of articles, journals or books; places and dates of
publication; names of publishing houses (do not include information such
as co., ltd., etc.); and page numbers. Learn to use proper and consistent
formats for citations. Be aware of how to present different types of
sources. Punctuation counts.
3. When you cite an article which you found in an edited collection, always
cite the author in the text, in notes, or in a bibliography. The editor’s name
should appear as part of the citation for the book in which you found the
article. Learn the correct format for such citations.
4. When citing a chapter or article that was originally published somewhere
else and was reprinted in an edited book collection, always use the date of
the book in which you read it NOT the original date of publication.
5. The internet can be used as a source of information but it must be used
with extreme caution. Anyone who knows how to write html can publish on
the internet. They may have no more expertise than you do. Unless you
have found an on-line scholarly refereed journal, you should treat your
internet sources as no more reliable than anyone else’s personal opinions.
Cite them by providing as much of the usual citation information as is
available. For publisher and place of publication provide a URL; for a date,
provide month, day, and year.
6. Your references should be as up-to-date as possible. You would be
rightfully annoyed with me if I presented 20- or 30-year-old material in
class without questioning whether it applied to current circumstances.
Keep these same standards in mind when writing your own papers.
7. Almost everything that you will write about for an essay or research paper
will already have transpired. The authors whose work you are using have
already finished their research and have already finished writing about it if
you are making use of their work. Therefore you should write about it in
the past tense.
8. Pay attention to whether the antecedents of pronouns in sentences and
phrases are singular or plural, and to consistency in the tenses of verbs.
9. Avoid run-on sentences and paragraphs. Paragraphs should be more than
one sentence long but they should not go on for pages.
10. Do not overuse quotations. Quotations should be used sparingly and to
illustrate your points. They should not speak for you. Use your own words
as much as possible and provide citations for your sources. If you do not
provide a citation it can appear to be plagiarism (theft of another person’s
intellectual property).
11. Long quotes (approx. 50 words or more) should be indented on both sides
by one tab stop. Do not use quotation marks on indented quotes. Do not
use ellipses (...) at the start or finish of a quote unless the meaning might
be misconstrued without them. It is always assumed that a quote has
been lifted out of other material. Use the same-sized font for an indented
quote as you have used for the rest of the paper.
12. Use double quotation marks to set off direct quotes. Use single quotation
marks only for quotes within quotes. (The British use the reverse method.
If you are British, you may use what you are used to but use it consistently
throughout your paper). Avoid using quotation marks for emphasis. Use
italics to draw attention to words used in a special way.
13. Double space your essay. Use either block paragraphs with an extra
space between them, or leave no extra spaces between them and indent
the first line of each paragraph. Do not do both.
14. Use a 12pt font and margins of 1" or 2.5cm.
15. Do not significantly exceed the page limit.
16. Put page numbers on your essay. The title page should not be counted in
your numbering. Page one should not have a number on it. Page two
should be the first page to have a number printed on it (that number
should be 2).
17. If you are asked to use an interview for your paper, summarize it. Do not
provide a transcript.
18. Learn when to use affect and when to use effect. Affect = a verb meaning
to act upon or to influence, or a noun meaning emotion. Effect = a noun
meaning result or consequence.
19. Et al. stands for the Latin words et alia meaning and others. The et is a
complete word and has no period after it. The al. is an abbreviation and
does have a period after it.
20. The letters i.e. stand for the Latin words id est meaning that is. The letters
e.g. stand for the Latin words exempli gratia meaning for example. Learn
when to use them. They are not usually interchangeable. Both i.e. and e.g.
should be followed by a comma when they are used to introduce another
phrase.
21. To separate off an abrupt change of thought, you may use a dash. Do not
confuse this with a hyphen. Some word processors have a dash as a
special symbol. A hyphen is called an en dash (it is the length of the letter
n) and a dash is called an em dash (it is the length of the letter m). If you
don't have special symbols, use two hyphens for a dash. A dash does not
have any spaces before or after it in a sentence (e.g., I tried to do it twice-once in May and once in June--but I couldn’t get it done.)
22. Use the as a definite article and a as an indefinite article. When you are
making general points, mostly you will want to use an indefinite article
(e.g., a person) rather than a definite article (e.g., the person).
23. When referring to people use the humanizing who rather than the
dehumanizing that (e.g., the person who wrote these words.)
24. Avoid slang.
25. Avoid sexist language.
26. Spell check.
27. The following are written as one word, not two: oneself, herself, himself,
themselves.
28. Learn how to correctly use apostrophes. They are most commonly used to
indicate possessives. They do not make words plural. Especially note that
the plural of society is societies, not society’s.
29. Do not use as to mean because.
30. Its = of it. It’s = it is. Know the difference. Use them correctly.
31. Compound adjectives/adverbs require hyphens. In other words, if one
word makes no sense (or the wrong sense) as an adjective unless it is
attached to another adjacent word, indicate their connection by using a
hyphen (e.g., concerning hard-won same-sex human-rights benefits). The
same words, when not used as adjectives/adverbs, will not require
hyphens (e.g., the two boys were of the same sex and they worked hard
for human rights).