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Remember that academic writing doesn't have to be pretentious, but there are certain standards that should be followed. Use your Rules for Writers books when you have questions about technicalities of writing. It's very easy to look these things up in the index; that's why I chose this book. Here are some of the basics to keep in mind when you write your papers (all of which can be found in your books, also):
- the length is not important, but having a complete argument is; make sure you address all aspects of an issue when you write
- complete your thoughts so your readers know exactly what you are trying to say; you can use examples, stats, analogies, etc.
- your introduction should introduce your topic, not what your are going to say in your paper
- your conclusion should tie the elements of your paper together, not summarize what you've said
- when organizing, group similar ideas together; separate different ideas into different paragraphs
- don't leave your readers hanging with a conditional clause: "Since the jury decided he was guilty." or "Though I have seen better movies in the past."—they're expecting something more here
- make sure pronouns are clear; don't say "It was bad."—leaving your readers wondering what "it" is referring to
- watch for sentence fragments and conversational writing, like "So anyway..." or "The movie sucked big-time..."
- refrain from using profanities; even though you may think someone like Neusner is "full of sh**," a better way to state this sentiment would be "Neusner's ideas are absolutely ludicrous."
- commas can be used to joing two complete sentences together with a conjunction or within a series ("A, B, and C"); just because you have a word that can be a conjunction ("and" / "or" / "but") in a sentence, that does not mean it is functioning as a conjunction in every sentence; for example, this sentence does not need a comma: "I enjoy breakfasts in front of the TV so I can watch the PowerPuff Girls, and eat." (there should be no comma here)
- watch out for non-parallel items in series: "Rules for English are long, boring, and I hate having to study them." the sentence should read, "Rules for English are long and boring, and I hate having to study them."
- Spell out numbers that:
- begin a sentence, or
- are only two words long (e.g. "fifty-two" or "one thousand")
- proofread your papers for correctness; check punctuation, grammar, spelling, etc.—RUN SPELL CHECK