1. Avoid saying "today's society" or phrases like it, such as "the world today." This is one of my ultimate petpeeves.

It is filler, clutter, and simply just junk writing. Be more specific and clear in your writing. If you are referencing a particular era, date, or period of history, say so. If you are talking about the present condition of things, chances are you have already described that or the reader will understand it.

2. Be aware of there vs. their vs. they're.

3. Don't use contractions! Seriously, contractions detract from formal writing.

4. Also be aware of it's vs. its. "It's" is the contraction not the possessive. So, if you are referring to the stain on the book, you would say "its stain." You should never use "it's" because you should not use contractions in formal writing.

5. Be careful with dates. Often folks confuse 1970s vs. 1970's. More often than not, you will want to just use 1970s. The only time you use an apostrophe is if you want to show possession. E.g., "The 1970's economy was terrible."

6. Avoid run-ons. These are sentences that require commas to separate two full sentences, but have no commas.

For example: "I detest papers that are written poorly and I love chocolate." The sentence should have a comma before the "and" to read: ""I detest papers that are written poorly, and I love chocolate."

7. Avoid sentence fragments (such as this). Sentence fragments are phrases or clauses (often complex) that are not full sentences. Be sure all of your "sentences" have subjects and verbs!

8. Be careful with indented quotations. These are the lengthy quotes you may have in your paper that are distinct from the shorter quotations. Every line of indented quotations should be indented (hence their name) and they do not use quotation marks!!!

9. Use proper citations. If you don't know how to cite material, you need to purchase an MLA or APA guide. You can always ask me or someone else for help.

10. Use adequate citations. ANY material that is not your own, that you quote, that you paraphrase, that you allude to, etc., MUST BE CITED. Failure to do so is plagiarism and is unacceptable.

11. Avoid using the second person "you." Another big pet peeve of mine. This is sloppy writing. At times you may use the first person (e.g., "I"), but never use "you" unless you're quoting someone else.

12. Avoid writing like you talk. Some common examples are "doing this will be huge" or "like, this is so important," “I worked so hard on this,” “I got a problem,” “they will get an F on their assignment,” or “I worked on this a lot.” Writing is fundamentally different than speaking, and you must be able to know the difference. Try using sophisticated language. Consult a thesaurus if needed.

13. Use dashes, not hyphens (-- vs. - ). For example, if I say that good writing is important – it helps you get a better job, makes you appear more intelligent, etc., that is different than saying that you're a well-liked person (notice in the beginning the use of dashes, and the hyphen is used only for hyphenated language).

14. Be mindful of proper and appropriate paragraph development. This means that a paragraph should stick to one central point, but it should also be developed – meaning more than 2 or 3 sentences in length.

15. Underline titles of books, periodicals, movies. Use quotations for TV show titles and titles of articles in periodicals.

16. In general, follow the suggestions for composition in any widely-used manual of style. Pay special attention to the form for footnotes and bibliography entries. You may use whatever style you desire, as long as you use it consistently.

17. Papers should be expository or argumentative in nature. Avoid descriptive material unless it is brief and necessary to your overall argument. Narrative material on how you discovered the topic is neither necessary nor appropriate. Stay away from informal tones. Write your paper with the assumption that the readers are academics and/or scholars.

18. A paper is more than a receptacle for quotations from others. Do not produce a string of quotations held together only by transitions. Also, do not deposit quotations in the paper without preparing the reader with appropriate contextual material which elaborates on the quotation in an appropriate and useful manner.

19. Please double space. Do not use 1-1/2 space. Leave ample margins at sides, top, and bottom so that comments may be made on the paper without great difficulty.

20. Do not place papers in booklet covers or binders. Use staples or paper clips to keep your paper together. Pleasedo not dog-ear the pages.

21. Do not leave papers until the last minute. Please have consideration for your reader as well as pride of authorship, and allow enough time to prepare the paper so that your ideas may be expressed in clear, succinct, and stylistically appropriate ways. Poor writing due to last minute preparation will greatly damage the grade.

**Note: You may think that grammatical conventions such as these are restrictive, perhaps even colonizing. You might be correct. However, they are also perceived as being important, particularly among scholars and potential employers. Therefore, it is in your best interest to master these NOW!!!