Guidelines for Essay Writing

In an effort to help you improve your writing skills, I’ve compiled this list of guidelines based on the kinds of mistakes students usually make in their essays. As you look through them, think about which of these you do or don’t do, and think of strategies to remind yourself about them as you write. Look, also, at my “Guide to Revision Marks” to see other types of writing problems you can avoid.

1. Make your paper titles interesting and descriptive. Don’t give your paper a vague, broad title like “The English Language.” Try something more specific like “English as the Official Language: Discriminating against Immigrant Cubans in the Miami Court System.”
2. Use one-inch margins for your paper.
3. Double-space everything.
4. Beware of short paragraphs. They usually do not have enough support for their topic sentences and need development.
5. Use commas to separate independent clauses joined by conjunctions.
6. Avoid beginning sentences with conjunctions (but, and, or, so, etc.).
7. Avoid beginning sentences and clauses with vague constructions (sometimes referred to as expletives), including the following:
1. It is . . . (Instead of writing It is obvious that the governor is sick, write The governor obviously is sick.)
2. This is . . . (Instead of writing This is why we can’t visit the monument, write Because the monument is closed due to terrorism, we cannot visit it.)
3. This + [any verb] . . . (Instead of writing This confirms our earlier fears about the crime, write The new evidence confirms our earlier fears about the crime.)
4. That is . . . (Instead of writing That is why we cannot raise tuition, write We cannot raise tuition because doing so would overburden many students financially.)
5. That + [any verb] . . . (Instead of writing That reeks of political favoritism, write The new contract reeks of political favoritism.)
6. These are . . . (Instead of writing These are the reasons we must fund higher education, write We must fund higher education for these reasons.)
7. There is . . . (Instead of writing There is no reason to change the oil that often, write James does not need to change the oil that often.)
8. There are . . . (Instead of writing There are many mistakes in my essay, write My essay contains many mistakes.)
9. There was . . . (Instead of writing There was a man standing on the corner, write A man stood on the corner.)
10. There were . . . (Instead of writing There were chickens scuttling around the yard, write Chickens scuttled around the yard.)
8. Avoid colloquial language (Instead of saying He didn’t beat around the bush when he responded, say, He was direct when he responded.).
9. Do not use contractions (Instead of writing can’t, use cannot; instead of don’t, use do not.).
10. Use who or whom to refer to people. The words that and which refer to objects, animals, concepts, etc.
11. Avoid the construction Not only . . . but . . . (Instead of writing Not only do students write a great deal, but they read extensively, too, write Students write a great deal, and they also read extensively.).
12. Avoid passive-voice constructions (Instead of saying The problem needs to be resolved, be specific about the “agent” of the action: The mayor should resolve the problem.).
13. Introduce quotations with words of your own (Instead of writing ”Schools need more federal money” (Wilson 3), write According to Wilson, “Schools need more federal money.”).
14. Avoid wordiness (Instead of oftentimes, use often; instead of writing due to the fact that, just write because; instead of in order to cross the road, say to cross the road.).
15. Be sensitive to both genders when writing, but don’t overuse the combination his or her.
16. Commas and periods go inside quotation marks at the ends of quotations: “I love cats,” said Marla, “but dogs are more fun.”
17. No commas are used between quotations and parenthetical citations: Some students find the policy “ridiculous” (Knight 45).
18. No commas are used between author(s) and page number(s) within parenthetical citations.
19. Avoid using questions in your papers.
20. Avoid vague words like thing, things, people, etc.
21. In general, do not use first-person or second-person point of view. In other words, avoid using I, me, my, you, your, our, we, myself, yourself, etc. Avoid using the imperative mood (commands) since you is understood as part of imperative constructions.
22. Avoid using common reference materials (such as encyclopedias or dictionaries) as sources.
23. Use your spell checker and a dictionary to correct spelling, but don’t depend on your spell checker.
24. Use the possessive case before gerunds.
25. The word it’s is always a contraction. Use it appropriately. The possessive of it is its.
26. Do not quote large blocks of text from your sources. Break the material into small pieces, and discuss each one. In particular, do not use long, indented quotations.
27. Avoid run-on sentences, comma splices, and sentence fragments.
28. Avoid verb tense shifts.
29. Be sensitive when referring to ethnic groups.
30. Be careful with pronoun/antecedent agreement.
31. Alphabetize the entries in the “Works Cited” sections of your essays.
32. When you use more than one item from an anthology, give the entire anthology its own entry in the “Works Cited” section of your paper, and list the individual items separately without the title and publication information of the entire book (but include page numbers).
33. Read your essay aloud after you finish (or have someone read it to you) to catch mistakes and to improve your style.