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IMPORTANT COMMANDMENTS OF ACADEMIC WRITING
AKA Dr. LeBlanc’s Pet Peeves
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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
Parts of speech and sentence structure
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ The words this and that are not nouns!
– They are demonstrative adjectives or pronouns.
– Correct: This study showed…
– Incorrect: This showed…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Data is a plural noun.
– The singular form of data is datum.
– Correct: The data show…
– Incorrect: The data shows…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Avoid the unnecessary use of helping verbs.
– Correct: This report is included because…
– Incorrect: This report is being included because…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Please align your pronoun referents.
– Correct: Everyone in the class was anxious about his
or her exam grade.
– Incorrect: Everyone in the class was anxious about
their grade.
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Avoid ending sentences with a preposition.
– Correct: Meet the friend with whom I went to
school.
– Incorrect: Meet the friend I went to school with.
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Get rid of the word like. Use as instead.
– Correct: As the researcher stated…
– Incorrect: Like the researcher stated…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Beware of your verb tenses!
– Literature reviews are written in the past tense.
– Grant proposals and program evaluation plans are
written in the future tense.
– Dissertations are written in the past tense with the
exception of the recommendations for future
research section.
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Thou shalt not begin a sentence with the word it.
– Correct: The study showed…
– Incorrect: It showed…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Write in 3rd person instead of 1st and 2nd person.
– Correct: The researcher demonstrated to the
audience…
– Incorrect: My study demonstrated to the
audience…
– Incorrect: The researcher demonstrated to you…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ The word etc. is often used to mask faulty reasoning
or ambiguity.
– Correct: The researcher conducted interviews,
observations, and phone calls.
– Incorrect: The researcher conducted interviews,
observations, phone calls, etc.
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Be aware that the word significant has a unique
meaning to a researcher.
– Correct: My informal poll indicated a substantial
difference…
– Incorrect: My informal poll indicated a significant
difference…
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Use active voice in your writing.
– Verbs that have a direct object
are in active voice.
– Correct: The timer stopped the
clock.
– Incorrect: The clock was
stopped by the timer.
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The good, the bad, and the very ugly
■ Use passive voice sparingly, if at all.
– Passive voice can be used when:
■ The actor is more important than the act.
– The professor was struck by lightening.
■ The actor is unknown.
– A ship was recovered off the coast of Florida.
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EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES
Punctuation, contractions, and more
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Grammar is the
foundation of written
communication.
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ When using commas
in a series, don’t
forget to include the
Oxford comma.
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Semi-colons connect
two complete
sentences and may be
separated by a
conjunction.
■ Correct: She was late to class; therefore, we had to wait.
■ Incorrect: She was late to class, therefore we had to wait.
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Be mindful of the
difference between its
and it’s.
■ It’s should never be
used in formal writing.
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ The subject of a gerund is possessive.
– Gerunds are verb forms ending in –ing and functioning in
a sentence as a noun.
– Correct: Being part of the cohort was important to his
success.
– Incorrect: His being part of the cohort was important to his
success.
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Quotation marks
– For details on the rules regarding quotation
marks, visit:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/57
7/01/
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Avoid run-on
sentences like the
plague!
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Eats shoots and leaves
■ Use parallel structures.
– Correct: The professor enjoyed harassing
students, confusing them, and discussing
lessons with them.
– Incorrect: The professor enjoyed harassing the
students, confusing them, and discussions.
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EDITING VS. PROOFING
Writing is rewriting!
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Editing vs. Proofing
■ Definitions
– Editing: Organizing ideas, connecting sentences,
moving paragraphs, reverse outlining, and other
structural actions
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Editing vs. Proofing
■ Definitions
– Proofreading: Checking for errors and
inconsistencies in formatting, spelling, grammar,
punctuation, and grammar
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Editing vs. Proofing
■ Structure refers to the whole text as well as the
relationships between the sentences, paragraphs,
and sections.
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EXAMPLES AND RESOURCES
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A tight academic paragraph
■ (Transition) + One Key Idea + Development of Key
Idea
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A tight academic paragraph
■ A paragraph should be consistent in structure; it should
complete three functions in order. First, the paragraph
should open with a transition. The transition can be short or
as long as a sentence. Second, the transition should be
followed by a topic of key sentence. Third, the rest of the
paragraph should provide support or evidence for the idea
in the key sentence.
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From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Choose a suitable design for paragraphs and stick
with it.
■ Use active voice.
■ Use specific, definite, concrete language.
■ Omit needless words.
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From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Make sure the following are used appropriately:
– Of
– That/which
– This/that/these/those
– To be verbs in all forms
– And/as well as/too/or/etc.
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From Strunk and White’s (2008) The
Elements of Style
■ Make sure the following are used appropriately:
– Useless words
– Subject-verb agreement
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Some ideas to improve your writing
■ Write!
■ Read!
■ Copy the writing of others (visual and kinesthetic).
■ Put together a writing group that meets once a week
or month to share, give and receive feedback, and
hold one another accountable.
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Some ideas to improve your writing
■ Consider building your vocabulary through:
– Subscribing to Word a Day email lists.
– Keeping a vocabulary notebook.
– Developing a personal glossary for each course.
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Writing is an iterative process!
■ First Review: Ask someone outside your field to read
your paper and comment on its clarity.
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Writing is an iterative process!
■ Second Review: Ask someone in your field to review
your paper and point out two or three major issues
that need further revision.
– Have your reviewer look at:
■ Structure Clarity
■ Logic Flow
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Writing is an iterative process!
■ Final Review: Ask an expert to review the paper for
the major and minor issues; offer to review a paper
for him or her in return.
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Writing is an iterative process!
■ The expert in your case will often be your committee
chair.
■ Don’t burn him or her out!
■ Give the committee your best writing so that the
members can concentrate on content and critical
thinking.
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Resources
■ “Becoming an Academic Writer” (Patricia Goodson)
■ “Roget’s Thesaurus of Words for Intellectuals”
■ “The Elements of Style” (William Strunk, Jr.)
■ “How to Critique Journal Articles in the Social Sciences”
(Scott R. Harris)
■ “The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success” (Lawrence A.
Machi and Brenda T. McEvoy)