WATCH OUT FOR THESE
ERRORS MOST OFTEN SEEN IN ACADEMIC WORK
Lee Bowman
prof.bowman@gmail.com
© 2006
(don't use these are your primary
resource for writing and APA - these are just reminders of the most often seen
errors upon final proofreading)
APA ERRORS
- Align margins left with ragged right
edges (do not justify margins in APA papers)
- In APA,
use only one space after the ending punctuation of sentences.
- Double and triple check
punctuation/spacing with authors' names and initials, and journal volume,
issue, page numbers
- Double and triple check for proper
use of italics and capital letters in titles of articles, journals, books
- Use appropriate introductory tags and
page numbers to set off your quotes and paraphrases from your own writing
- No more than one quote or paraphrase
per paragraph of writing
- For every paraphrase, summary, or
quote, your own writing must be twice as long as the material from sources
(explain, analyze, etc.)
- Every quote, paraphrase, or summary
must open with introductory phrase using author's name followed immediately
by year date in parentheses and must close with a page or paragraph number
in parentheses.
- Do not ever just plunk down a
citation at the end of a sentence or paragraph.
- Make sure your quote or paraphrase
correlates with what you have written in the paragraph
- Do not cite secondary sources cited
as if they were primary sources
- Set off your quotes and paraphrases
properly so that the instructors can tell what you wrote and what you got
from other sources in order avoid plagiarism
- DO NOT EVER MANUALLY use the enter
key to double space or format hanging indent. Learn to use the MS Word
formatting features
- DO NOT EVER MANUALLY type page
headers or page numbers. Learn to use the MS Word formatting features
- Type the entire paper in Times New
Roman 12, even page headers.
- Headings within the paper should be
in title case, no bold or italics
- Title page should be double spaced,
not triple or quadruple spaced, no bold, italics, or all capital letters.
WRITING ERRORS
-
DO NOT USE PASSIVE VOICE IN YOUR
WRITING
-
Use only third person in your writing
(don't use I, we, our, us, your, you, etc.)
-
Do not use "one" in place of first or
second person point of view.
-
Do not use
phrases such as I think that, I believe that,
I feel that, in my opinion, etc.
-
Do not use these words:
IT, OF, BY, BEING, ONE,
-
Do not use slang
or other informal diction.
-
BE PRECISE AND CLEAR.
AVOID Wordiness:
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,
etc.
-
Don't give
readers commands such as: Be sure to ..... or any similar
sentences.
-
Avoid negatives
(use failed rather than did not,
for example)
-
Don't use words like
important, imperative, vital, essential,
valuable, key, inevitable, paramount, significant, necessary, core,
fundamental, priority, pivotal, evident, unique, or other
synonyms for these words
-
Do not editorialize your writing,
including words like: unfortunately,
virtually impossible,
well worth, obviously, hopefully, fortunately, invaluable, undoubtedly,
assuredly, literally,
etc.
-
Write out all
contractions: can't should be
cannot, for instance.
-
Do not begin
sentences (or phrases/clauses within sentences) with ANY of the following
words:
AS,
IT,
IN,
THERE,
THIS,
THAT,
THEY,
THEIR, BY, IF, WHEN, WHILE,
WITH, BECAUSE,
THROUGH, WITH
-
Do not use
THAT
when referring to people. The pronoun
WHO
refers
to people.
-
Under no circumstances should you
use these words at all: NEED, MUST, SHOULD
-- these words imply that you are giving instructions to your reader.
-
"to be" verbs
should be used sparingly: is, are, was, were,
etc..
-
Use commas and
semi-colons properly.
-
In a series of
three or more nouns or noun phrases, insert a comma before the word "and" or
"or"
-
Do not make
announcements such as this paper will,
in this paper I will, in
the article, in the essay,
etc.
-
Do not use
pretentious words intended to impress readers. If you use words your reader
might not know, explain them. Example: utilize
should be use. Other examples:
plethora, elicit, ensue, illustrative, empowerment,
-
Never use words
that seem uncertain: could, might, may, maybe,
probably, etc.
-
Use
THAT
and WHICH correctly
-
Possessive nouns
-- use apostrophes properly for singular and plural possessive noun forms.
-
Do not use
scenarios or anecdotes or other examples to illustrate points.
This is a research paper, not a creative writing assignment.
-
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
RESOURCES:
Writing Resources
(grammar, spelling, sentence and paragraph structure, how to write essays,
etc.).
-
Use active voice, clear, precise, and concise sentences
-
Paragraphs:
See
writing effective paragraphs for help. Make sure your discussion
postings and responses are in block style (single spaced, no first line
indention, skip one line between paragraphs).
-
Pronouns:
Work that includes too many of the following: he, she, it, they, etc.
indicates not enough time spent on the writing to clarify pronoun reference.
See
pronoun agreement and
pronoun reference for additional information.
-
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. See
subject-verb agreement for help.
-
Spelling:
If you have a
computer with a 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 for additional help.
-
Commas:
See
commas for all the comma usage rules.
-
Sentence
structure:
Read your work aloud to ensure proper sentence structure. See
Sentence Punctuation Patterns ,
Sentence Structure ,
Sentences: Run-ons, and Comma Splices , and
Sentences: Fragments
-
Parallelism:
Sentences that are not parallel can be confusing so that the meaning of your
writing is not clear. See
parallelism
-
Apostrophes:
This is another indication of rushing through your work. Proofread for
singular and plural possessives. See
using apostrophes to show possession
-
Dangling
modifiers:
If these are in your writing, you definitely did not proofread. See
modifiers
-
First and second
person point of view:
Using these indicates that you have not taken time to proofread and revise
to demonstrate objectivity in your work. This is not about you; it is about
learning and expressing knowledge of of the topics. In your responses, you
may use first person point of view only when you are relating course
concepts to personal experience.