WRITING REMINDERS
PURPOSE
• As a writer ALWAYS know your
PURPOSE.
• Are you writing to summarize, paraphrase,
inform, persuade, entertain, etc.
• If you do not meet the purpose, then no
matter how well-written-you have NOT
DONE THE ASSIGNMENT!
PURPOSE
• For example:
If I asked you to write me directions to get to
the Lakes Mall and you wrote out a
summary of the land development of the
area that now is the Lakes Mall you have
not met the purpose! As interesting as it
may be-I still do not know HOW TO GET
TO THE MALL!
AVOID “I”
• It is preferred practice to avoid “I” in formal
writing, especially argumentative or persuasive
(unless specifically instructed to write as a personal
opinion paper.)
• When presenting an argument you want to argue
as fact-not opinion. While your opinion may have
been your starting point, if your argument is
strong enough it is based upon facts and evidence
to prove its correctness, so argue as such.
BOOK TITLES
1. Book titles should be in Italics (underlined
when handwritten. (not in quotation marks)
Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men
2. Reference title and author in the introduction.
3. May refer to the author by last name only after
full name is introduced the first time.
CITATIONS
• In-text MUST match the Work Cited
including:
– Spelling of author’s name
– Punctuation of titles (in quotes or
underlined/italicized)
– Other punctuation (commas, etc.) not needed
– Exception-use a ; when separating two
citations within one set of parentheses
• Example (Smith; Anderson 62)
CITATIONS
• Sample of matching title punctuation.
Works Cited entry
“Mandarin,” The Encyclopedia American, 1994 ed.
In-text
Blah blah blah (“Mandarin”)
Works Cited entry
MacCase. Vers. 1.0.1 Aug. 1998
ftp:///ftp.adfa.oz.au/pub/mac/MacCASE/.
In-text
Blah blah blah (MacCase)
CITATIONS
• When using only 1 resource to quote from you
may use only the page number in parenthesis.
You DO NOT need the letters pg.
• Place the quotation mark before the citation
parenthesis, not after.
• End punctuation goes outside the parenthesis.
Example:
WRONG: “George didn’t answer, but he nodded
slowly.(pg. 40)”
RIGHT: “George didn’t answer, but he nodded
slowly” (40).
CITATIONS
• When using a direct quotation that is
longer than 5 typed lines you indent the
entire quotation on both sides and
eliminate the quotation marks.
• See example next slide.
CITATIONS-LONG QUOTES
Steinbeck uses detailed description of setting to create imagery
that relates to his larger themes as seen in this description:
A water snake glided smoothly up the pool,
twisting its perioscope head from side to side; and it
swam the length of the pool and came to the legs of
a motionless heron that stood in the shallows. A silent
head and beak lanced down and plucked it out by the
head, and the beak swallowed the little snake white its
tail waved frantically (99).
Continue your explanation back at the regular margins.
CITATIONS & QUOTATIONS
He replied, “I don’t care. ‘To die or not to
die, that is the question’” (Smith).
Has the phrase, “To be or not to be that is the
question,” (Shakespeare) become trite?
Did she often say, “I just don’t care
anymore” (Smith)?
“Did she often say, ‘I just don’t care
anymore’?” (Smith).
THE GRAMMAR
REMINDERS
THE PRONOUNS
THAT VS. WHO
WHO
• WHO is used to indicate or in reference to a
human.
Example: My grandma, who bakes delicious
cookies, is coming over for Mother’s Day.
Additional notes:
A. a comma is used before and after the who clause
because it describes grandma but is not necessary to the
sentence because we know it is your grandma. This is
called a nonessential clause.
B. Notice the apostrophe in Mother’s as it is possessing a
particular day.
THAT
• THAT is used to indicate nonhumans or
inanimate objects.
Example: The dog that bit me is at the
pound.
The rock that was found by the little boy,
weighed 10 pounds.
PRACTICE
1. My teacher (that/who)went to Europe last
summer, brought back cool souvenirs.
2. The car (that/who) my brother bought is
rusty.
3. The tree (that/who) was planted last year
grew eight feet.
4. The boy (that/who) spit on the sidewalk
had to do community service.
SINGULAR VS. PLURAL
PRONOUN USAGE
• Anyone, Everyone, Someone, Anybody,
Everybody.
• Most often people use “their” as the
associated pronoun. For example,
Everyone needs to bring their book to class.
This is incorrect.
Everyone needs to bring her book to class.
All students must bring their book to class.
PUNCTUATION
• NEVER use commas with “because” or
“that”
• ALWAYS use commas with “especially”
PUNCTUATION
• To avoid run-on sentences use proper
punctuation:
(of course you can always use a period, otherwise use the following
rules)
– Comma before a conjunction in two complete ideas
• She wanted the children to learn to use their manners, so she
decided to take a parenting course to help her learn the best
methods of instruction.
– Semi-colon between two complete thoughts if no
conjunction.
• He wrestled for weeks with himself trying to get the courage
to ask her out; courage finally won.
WORD USAGE
•
•
•
•
•
It’s vs. Its
Their, There, They’re
To vs. Too
Than vs. Then
Every day vs.
Everyday
• Loose vs. Lose
• Whose vs. Who’s
• A lot=always two words
• Never use alright-use all
right
• Fewer vs. Less
• Anyways is NOT A
WORD. The word is
anyway!
• Never use “these ones” it
is only “these”
Never use
COULD OF
MUST OF
SHOULD OF
WOULD OF
• These are not standard English.
• DO NOT EVER USE!
• All should be expressed with the helping verb
“have”
• Could have
• Must have
• Should have
• Would have