The Basics of Good Writing

The Basics of 

Good Writing 

D. Langley 

© 2009

D. Langley – The Basics of Good Writing 

Latest Revision – 04/25/06 

The Basics of Good Writing 

Table of Contents 

Part 1 – Introducing the Essay................................................................. 3 

Part 2 – Choosing Appropriate Words .................................................. 12 

Part 3 – Creating Clear Sentences......................................................... 15 

Part 4 – Composing Effective Paragraphs............................................ 23 

Part 5 – Using Logic and Evidence [unfinished].................................. 40 

Part 6 – Finding, Recording, and Using Sources 

in a Research Paper ................................................................. 44 

Part 7 – Writing the Literary Research Paper and 

Avoiding Plagiarism ................................................................... 57 

Part 8 – Using the Internet to Do Academic Research ....................... 68 

Part 9 – Basics of Grammar ................................................................... 81 

Part 10 – Basics of Punctuation and Mechanics.................................. 82 

Part 11 – Exercises.................................................................................. 94 

Appendix 1 – Dictionary of Commonly Confused Words ................. 103 

Appendix 2 – Commonly Misspelled Words....................................... 109 

Student Suggestions Page................................................................... 112 

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Part 1 - Introducing the Essay 

Defining the Essay 

An essay is a relatively short piece of nonfiction that tries to make an interesting point. 

• Relatively short – means that an essay generally runs between two and twenty typed, 

double-spaced pages, so the essay can be read in one sitting. Essays in English 101 should 

run two to four full, typed, double-spaced pages. 

• Nonfiction – means that the essay is not a poem, short story, or similar piece of imaginative 

writing. The essay discusses actual people, places, and events. If writers include 

imaginative material—that is, fiction—they clearly identify that imaginative material in the 

context of the essay, and that material serves to some point about the actual material of the 

essay. 

• An interesting point – means that an essay contains a thesis—that is, a main point or a 

central assertion and that the author then supports by making an emotional appeal, by using 

logic and evidence, or by using both. It tries to give readers a sense of the author’s 

perspective about those topics. 1 Finally, an essay tries not only to say something but also to 

say it well. That is, the essay tries to arouse the reader’s curiosity, to convince readers that 

its topic is worth discussing, or to prove that the audience can benefit somehow from 

having the knowledge contained in the essay or by adopting the opinion expressed in the 

essay. 

To build a stable, long-lasting house, you must start with a solid foundation. Creating an attractive 

sweater requires knowing major knitting techniques and knowing how to assemble the knitted 

pieces of the overall garment. Similarly, you should know several strategies for creating a strong 

foundation on which to build a finished essay: 

1. Distinguish among a subject, a topic, and a thesis. 

2. Know how to focus a subject to a thesis. 

3. Identify your purpose and your audience. 

4. Use idea-generating techniques such as freewriting, brainstorming, “clustering,” and 

asking reporters’ questions. 

5. Take notes and/or keep a journal, especially when preparing to write about literature. 

Subjects, Topics, and Theses 

• A subject is a broad category of information. Subjects would cover large areas of 

discussion such as colleges and universities, teenage experiences, the writings of James 

Baldwin, or games and sports. 

• A topic is a narrow area of discussion, such as the open admissions policies of community 

colleges, the most embarrassing experience you had in high school, James Baldwin’s views 

on race relations in the 1950s through the 1970s, or the long-term health benefits of 

walking and jogging. 

• A thesis would be a specific point about a specific topic. The following are quickly 

developed theses that I thought up while writing this section of the booklet: 

o An open admissions policy helps borderline high school students obtain an 

affordable college education and is a policy that New York State needs to preserve. 

o My most embarrassing high school situation involved reading off to a bus driver 

the stops on his route, exposing my suburban-based ignorance of city commuting 

systems. 

1 Note that the plural of thesis is theses, not thesises. 

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o 

o 

James Baldwin was an eloquent spokesman for the rights of black Americans in 

the 1950s through 1970s who helped readers understand the need for civil rights 

progress at that time. 

The long-term benefits of walking and jogging include a stronger heart, healthier 

arms and legs, and a more attractive physique. 

Focusing a Subject to a Thesis 

If you have only a large subject area to begin with, first move towards a thesis by dividing your 

subject into smaller and smaller areas. For example, when writing about a subject such as “college 

life,” you can divide your subject as follows: 

• College life / university life. 

• Commuter students / residential students 

• Traditional students / non-traditional students 

Second, take one of your subdivided subjects and divide it even further by creating topic-sized 

categories related to the subject. For example, if discussing traditional students, you could add the 

following facts about them: 

• Ages 17-22 / High school graduates 

• Financed by parents, loans, and scholarships 

• Changing from daily high school schedules to two-day / three-day schedules 

• More responsibility and self-discipline required 

Third, take your more specific topics and ask questions about them: 

• What social and intellectual limits do traditional students have that might cause problems 

for them when attending college? 

• Does today’s high school education prepare students well enough for college life? 

• What obligations, if any, do college students have to their parents or other financial 

supporters? 

• What specific skills do traditional students need to be responsible and self-disciplined in 

college? 

Fourth and finally, answer the questions you have posed. Such answers will become the working 

theses that you could use in the first draft of an essay: 

• Too many traditional students may not have the social networks and intellectual curiosity 

required to succeed in today’s competitive college atmosphere. 

• High schools need to do more to prepare students for understanding the purpose of 

different college educations and the level of maturity that college professors and 

administrators expect them to have when they arrive at college. 

• College students should do well in school not so much to satisfy their parents, bankers, or 

the government, but to satisfy the duty they have to themselves to become intelligent and 

mature people ready to succeed in their personal and professional lives. 

• Traditional students need to know how to act in adult settings such as the college 

classroom, how to read and study for essays and examinations, and how to organize their 

social lives so they can develop supportive friends and academic partners. 

Testing the Quality of Your Thesis 

After you have come up with a thesis, you should verify that it will work well as the controlling 

idea for your essay. The following five guidelines, complete with examples of weaker and stronger 

theses, can help you to determine if your thesis is worth defending. 

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1. A good thesis is a single sentence. 

Poor: Situation comedies present single-parent families unrealistically. These television 

shows say it is easy to succeed financially. They also suggest that these families have view 

major emotional challenges. And finally, they don’t portray the world very realistically. 

Poor: Teenagers often don’t have strong family units or good friends. So these teenagers 

look to their fellow mall rats for help. They also look for help from people at casual events 

like parties or from dangerous groups like gangs. 

Better: Situation comedies on television often present single-parent families as fully 

competent units, but such portrayals mislead us about the economic and emotional 

hardships usually faced by these families in the actual world. 

Better: Teenagers who lack intimacy with their families and friends often turn to peers they 

meet at malls, casual and one-time social events, or even dangerous entities such as gangs 

to provide them with emotional guidance and support. 

2. A good thesis asserts one controlling idea. 

Poor: EBay is a good Web site for making money, and you can save a lot of money when 

buying new products by using comparison-shopping sites like MySimon.com. 

Poor: People can make good investments using Web sites like Hoovers.com, and you can 

learn a lot about investing from Fool.com too. 

Better: People with good-quality products to sell, a basic ability to work with computers, 

and the discipline needed to maintain an online business can make regular profits on Web 

sites like Ebay.com. 

Better: People with effective business research and investing skills can make a livable 

annual salary through online business portal such as Bigcharts.com, Fool.com, and 

Hoovers.com. 

3. A good thesis says something definite and substantial about your topic. 

Poor: A recycling law can be very controversial. 

Poor: Some people favor recycling laws and some people oppose them. 

Better: To be effective, recycling laws must cover key types of materials, include 

regulations that are easy to follow, and be fairly enforced. 

Better: The general public initially opposed strict recycling laws but has begun to see their 

value in the face of increasingly fewer dumping grounds, the need to recycle oil-based 

products, and the simplicity of most recycling laws. 

4. A good thesis has an appropriate tone and clear purpose. 

Poor: My essay is going to talk about stuff related to lousy college policies. 

Poor: It really stinks that we can’t trust politicians and liars like that to tell us the truth 

about things. 

Better: Poor campus facilities, a low percentage of full-time faculty, and confusing or 

vague advice from administrators often prevent college students from completing their 

college career in four years. 

Better: President Clinton’s misleading statements about sexual harassment charges against 

him and President Bush’s over-reliance on false intelligence before the Iraq war have 

caused both Republicans and Democrats to drop out of the political process. 

5. A good thesis has the focus appropriate to the length of the essay that will support it. 

Poor: Yard sales reflect the times we live in. 

Poor: Lawyers can help you avoid lots of problems. 

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Better: Yard sales help circulate needed low-cost goods during times of high inflation, poor 

employment, and similar difficult economic times. 

Better: Despite the stereotypes about them, lawyers can help people avoid significant 

financial problems by preparing last wills and testaments, living wills, and similar 

documents. 

Understanding Purpose, Audience, and Tone 

To create an effective essay, identify the purpose and audience for it. In this regard, you may think 

that the purpose of writing is to earn a good grade, and that your audience is your instructor. Nope. 

Getting a good grade may be your motivation for writing the essay, but it should never be your 

purpose. Likewise, your teacher is only the grader of the essay, not its audience. 2 Finally, you may 

think that you can write almost any essay in a personal, even folksy, tone of voice. However, just 

as you would choose different words for speaking to adults rather than to children, so also you 

should consider carefully how informal or formal the tone of your essays should be. 

In general, the purpose of any essay is to write about a worthwhile topic and to make an interesting 

point about it. More specifically, your purpose may be to entertain people about an amusing life 

situation; inform people about an important social, cultural, or religious issue; speculate about the 

possibilities of how to solve an important public problem; or persuade people to adopt your view 

on a controversial topic. 

Your purpose also may vary according to the type of essay you are writing. For example, essays 

often have a dominant rhetorical mode. Rhetoric is the art of using the most effective word in the 

proper place to achieve a desired effect. The rhetorical mode is the main method or way of 

communicating your essay’s information. The four main rhetorical modes are narration, 

description, exposition, and argumentation. The table on the next page defines each mode, gives 

sample essays for each mode, and lists the potential purpose of that essay: 

Rhetorical 

Mode Definition Sample Essays Purpose 

Narration Telling a story about a 

person, place, or event 

Maya Angelou, 

“Graduation” 

To tell how a black eighth-grader restored 

the dignity of his classmates after a visiting 

education official displayed discriminatory 

Description 

Exposition 

Argumentation 

Using concrete words to 

create a visual image 

Explaining or informing 

about a noncontroversial 

topic 3 

Attempting to persuade 

readers to adopt your 

view about controversial 

topics 4 

Annie Dillard, “The 

Death of a Moth” 

Bruce Catton, 

“Grant vs. Lee: A 

Study in Contrasts” 

George Orwell, 

“Politics and the 

English Language” 

attitudes 

To compare the death of a moth in a candle 

flame to the sacrifices that writers must 

make to be successful at their craft 

To explain the similarities and differences 

of the personal and military qualities of 

Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee to show 

why Grant was the more successful Civil 

War general 

To persuade people that the misuse or 

corruption of a language leads to misguided 

political results 

2 There may be one exception to this advice. When writing examination answers to prove that you 

paid attention in class during a semester, think of your instructor as your audience. If you don’t know how to 

approach the exam, ask ahead of time. Many instructors will offer advice on how to succeed at the test. 

3 While people may endlessly debate the morality of war, they can generally agree as to who won a 

series of battles by looking at statistics on number of casualties, amount of ground gained, etc. 

4 A topic is controversial if it involves how you think people ought to treat other people, animals, the 

environment, and so on—that is, if there is some debate about ethical or moral aspects of an issue. 

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The audience for an essay is its intended readership. When you write an e-mail to a friend, your 

intended reader probably is about your own age and is likely to share your personal interests. 5 

When you write a thank-you note to a loved one, your intended audience may be older and more 

mature, and may or may not share your interests. When you write an essay—especially an 

academic essay—your audience could be any number of people with any number of interests. 

However, for the purposes of a writing class, you may assume that your intended audience is a 

general readership of reasonable people. In other words, your audience will vary in age, race, 

religious views, political positions, and so on. However, they also will have either a pretty good 

formal or informal education, and should be open-minded enough to consider a logically presented 

presentation backed up by evidence. 6 

If you have trouble picturing a general readership of reasonable people, think of your fellow 

students as your audience. Choose topics that will interest a broad readership and that can endure 

the scrutiny of classroom experts. Use fresh and original language to capture people’s attention. 

Come up with arguments that skeptical classmates will find convincing. Most of all, challenge 

them to think about the opinions that they uncritically accept so they can live fuller and richer lives. 

The tone of an essay is the mood or feeling that it conveys. Since you don’t have body language 

and voice volume to work with when writing an essay, your tone will come through only in your 

word choice, sentence and paragraph structure, and punctuation. When you decide on the tone for 

an essay, remember to consider also your purpose and audience. If you are trying to entertain your 

classmates, even to get people to laugh, then an informal tone of voice will be appropriate. If you 

are informing people in general about relatively non-controversial topics, then a middle-level tone 

might be more proper. And if you are writing about serious political and/or cultural issues for a 

large college or public audience, then you probably should adopt a formal tone. 

Using Idea-Generating Techniques 

Many writing teachers tell their students to develop essays as follows: Pick a topic, decide on a 

thesis, write an outline, and then write a rough draft and a final draft. There can be at least two 

problems with such advice: people usually don’t write this way and usually don’t succeed at 

writing this way. In other words, we don’t know what to write about until we’ve actually written 

about it. Therefore, before you even choose a thesis, you may want to try the following prewriting 

techniques to get your mental powers flowing. 

Freewriting - Write without stopping for about five to ten minutes. If you become stuck, keep 

writing the last word that you wrote down, or write down something like I can’t write, I can’t 

write.... At the end time, stop writing even if you are in the middle of a sentence. Put the material 

away and look at it at least a few minutes later. Leaving the material alone for a few minutes will 

promote further thought about your topic. Printed below is an example of freewriting. Notice that 

the paragraph repeats and wanders. That’s OK, because the purpose of freewriting is not to create a 

beautifully finished essay. Rather, it is just to help you work out ideas or feelings that keep you 

from writing—to help you get unstuck at the start of the writing process. 

I am going to write about working at two jobs. It can be fun working two 

different jobs but I, I don’t know what to write, but the jobs—that is the going 

5 You don’t always need to use e-mail. Keep the art of letter writing alive too. Doing so will slow 

down your life and help you to enjoy it more fully! 

6 Part 6 provides advice on how to form logical arguments and present persuasive evidence. 

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back and forth can be draining, and I can lose focus. I also can get confused 

about which, if either, should be the more important job and which I should try to 

keep doing. Of course, some jobs are easy to accept and others are easy to reject, 

so it’s important to have some values or standards by which you choose what job 

to pick or to keep or to keep working on or focusing your energies on. It’s also 

interesting, or important, to know which job is not only more important, but also 

which job is more interesting. That is, which job keeps my attention, which seems 

more fulfilling, which seems more rewarding, and which is the job that I would 

like to keep doing in the future. I mean, no one ever says on their deathbed, Gee, 

I wish I’d spent more time at work. I mean, that just doesn’t happen…. 

Brainstorming - For about 5-10 minutes, make a list of topics, ideas, and/or questions about a 

specific topic. Do this alone or in a small group. While making the list, feel free to write down any 

idea that comes to mind, to repeat an idea, or to rephrase an idea. Unlike freewriting, feel free to 

stop, organize your thoughts, and then start recording ideas again. After writing down all ideas, go 

back and cross out any duplicate ideas or irrelevant ideas, and then group the remaining ideas by 

common threads of thinking. The purpose of brainstorming is to free the mind from preconceived 

categories, to generate as many ideas as reasonably possible, and to figure out the various ways in 

which ideas can express themselves. Here’s a list of brainstorming ideas related to the topic of truth 

before crossing out duplicates or irrelevant ideas: 

• Justice 

• Fairness in the courts 

• Anything related to accuracy and facts 

• Beauty 

• Which values are most important 

• Tests or standards of validity 

• Scientific truth 

• Religious truth 

• Personal vs. abstract or general truth 

• Preferring peace (quiet) over speaking the truth 

• Preferring the truth over good relationships 

Clustering - Write down a word or phrase, like love, in the middle of a sheet of paper. Think of a 

related idea, circle it, and then draw a line between the first and the second idea. Keep writing 

down and circling related ideas, and then draw lines between the newer ideas and the previous 

ideas they relate to. At the end of the process, you will have a field of circles or ovals and 

connecting lines. The purpose of clustering is to generate ideas, to suggest which ideas go with 

which other ones, and to discover how many different sub-categories of ideas you have. 

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Asking Reporters’ Questions – Newspaper and magazine reporters are taught that, to cover a story 

thoroughly, they must ask who, what, when, where, why, and how, and only then are they to write 

the story. You can take the same approach when pre-writing an essay. For example, if you want to 

write about how the print media covered a presidential scandal, you would need to ask yourself the 

following: 

• Who was the president involved in the scandal? Who were his friends, family, or political 

appointees involved as well? 

• What started the scandal and how did the president respond to it? What did other people 

do? What did the newspapers do when they discovered the scandal? 

• When did the scandal occur, and when did the newspapers learn about the key events? 

When did they reveal what they had learned? 

• Where did the scandal take place, and where was the first newspaper, magazine, or Internet 

site that located the evidence? Where did the media get its evidence? 

• Why did those involved in the scandal do what they did, and why did the media try to 

expose the event? 

• How did people try to cover up the scandal, and how did the media discover the truth, if at 

all? 

Remember: Whether you freewrite, brainstorm, do clustering, or ask yourself reporter’s questions, 

your main goal in the pre-writing stage is to overcome writer’s block—that is, to generate ideas in 

a non-threatening atmosphere that eliminates the dreaded blank page. In such open-ended 

situations, words or phrases that you write down early in the session may relate closely to the first 

recorded word. However, since our minds can wander very quickly from an original term, words 

that you write down last may relate only indirectly. For example, in the ballooning diagram above, 

love and peace may seem closely related as personal goals. However, terms such as League of 

Nations, NATO, NAFTA, war, etc., may relate to peace more closely as a political concept. In the 

pre-writing stage, feel free to accept such quick topical shifts. In the final draft of a paper, however, 

be sure that all sections of the paper stay on topic and relate back to your thesis. 

Understanding Writing as a Process 

Some writers think of writing as a one-step task. They think that the best way to write is to think 

and think and think about their topic and then write down everything they can remember. However, 

when they try this approach, they often find that they cannot record all of their thoughts quickly 

enough, even if they use a word processor. They also may try to write perfect drafts the first time 

around. When they don’t do so, they may become frustrated, think that they can never become 

good writers, and give up. 

However, as the section on developing a thesis suggests, you will be more successful at writing if 

you think of writing as a process—that is, a series of interrelated steps that lead to a goal. If you 

take the process approach to writing, the following strategy often will lead to stronger essays: 

1. Write down whatever you are thinking in the earliest stages of the project. 

2. Review how your ideas look on paper. 

3. Clarify confused statements. 

4. Eliminate excess wording and phrasing. 

5. Express underdeveloped ideas more fully. 

6. Find more supporting evidence for your ideas. 

7. Rewrite your introduction and conclusion until your essay opens and ends strongly. 

8. Proofread and correct structural, grammatical, and punctuation errors. 

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The diagram on the next page suggests how to organize the writing process to achieve regular 

success with assignments. Since the diagram only suggests how to approach the process, you can 

vary it as time and other conditions dictate. For example, if you are exceptional at developing ideas 

in your head, you may be able to skip the activities in the prewriting stage and go directly to the 

second stage. On the other hand, if you are not a native speaker of English or have a learning 

disability like dyslexia, you may want to add the additional step of showing your work to someone 

else after the editing/proofreading stage and have that person thoroughly review your work before 

typing the final draft. 

START: Prewriting – Think of ideas: 

• Generate ideas by brainstorming, clustering, asking reporters’ questions, freewriting. 

• Gather information from reading, taking notes, interviews, etc. 

• Consider your assignment, audience, purpose, and tone. 

Drafting/Writing – Put your ideas into writing: 

• Use ideas from prewriting. 

• Write what comes to mind; don’t worry about errors at this stage. 

• Elaborate upon ideas; explain them more fully. 

• Explore questions that you have raised in your own mind, or that others have raised after 

reading your rough draft. 

• Put ideas into sentences and paragraphs. 

Rewriting Stages – Revising, Editing, and Proofreading 

Revising – Improve your rough draft: 

• Add, delete, rearrange, and/or combine 

words, sentences, paragraphs. 

• Add supporting detail and examples. 

Arrange them in a pattern of development 

appropriate to your topic. 

• Go back to your prewriting material for more 

ideas, if needed. 

• Prepare an opening paragraph that 

announces your topic, states your thesis, 

and establishes the proper tone. 

• Prepare a final paragraph that states the 

importance, significance, and/or benefit of 

what readers have learned. 

Editing/Proofreading – Reread 

and revise as needed: 

• Revise the style to fit the 

assignment, audience, 

and purpose more 

properly. 

• Correct grammatical 

errors. 

• Correct capitalization 

errors. 

• Correct punctuation 

errors. 

• Improve word choice and 

sentence variety. 

END: Publishing - Prepare and type the final draft: 

• Add a title that covers the essay topic and attracts readers’ attention. 

• Follow required format for first page, body pages, page numbering, and—if needed—Works 

Cited page. 

• Include parenthetical references (author and page), if needed. 

• Provide 1.25-inch left and right margins and 1-inch top and bottom margins. 

• Use 12-point, Times New Roman or Arial font. Double space all text, including the heading, 

title, paragraphs, short or long quotations, and works cited. 

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Evaluating Your Essays before Submission 

Before submitting a finished essay, evaluate it against the following questions to ensure that you 

have done the best job possible: 

1. Does the essay have a clear thesis? Does the writer stay focused on the thesis throughout 

the essay? 

2. Does the essay have a purpose and tone that is appropriate for its topic and audience? 

3. Does the essay use a middle level of diction, or is the vocabulary too slangy or formal for 

its topic, purpose, and audience? 

4. Is each sentence immediately clear to the reader? 

5. Does the essay contain focused and unified paragraphs? Is the essay well organized? That 

is, does the essay move from topic to topic, or does it repeat ideas unnecessarily? 

6. Does the opening paragraph draw you into the essay in a focused and interesting way? 

Does the last paragraph just summarize what the author said earlier, or does it tie up the 

essay by giving the reader something to think about without starting on a new topic? 

7. Does the essay have generally accepted grammar, punctuation, and spelling? 

8. If the essay is a research paper, does it follow generally accepted academic standards for 

physical format, sentence citations, works cited, and avoiding plagiarism? 

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Part 2 - Choosing Appropriate Words 

Using a Dictionary 

When reading essays, poems, stories, or plays, you often will encounter words for which you do 

not know the meaning. Many times, you can determine the meaning of a difficult word from the 

context, or overall meaning, of a sentence. If you see the word enough times in different settings, 

you probably will be able to figure out the word’s meaning. The most enjoyable and profitable way 

to build your vocabulary is NOT by buying vocabulary books, study guides, or similar 

publications. Instead, follow this four-point plan: 

1. Keep a section in your notebook where you list and define words for which you don’t 

know the meanings. 

2. Begin your section by listing words that people typically confuse—for example, accept and 

except, as and like, continual and continuous, few and little, their, there, and they’re, and 

so on. 

3. Add new words to your section as you read new textbooks and other material. 

4. Review previously listed words each time you add new ones to see if you have truly 

learned those older ones. 

To understand really difficult words, you may need a dictionary. Successful students often have a 

college-level dictionary. These books are larger in size and contain about 150,000 words, about 

three times the smaller paperback dictionaries that contain only 50,000 words. A dictionary helps 

you know the correct spelling, typical pronunciation, and common definitions of words. A collegelevel 

dictionary also contains obsolete or archaic definitions of words and their etymology, or 

historical origin. You can buy a college-level dictionary like one of the following: 

• Funk and Wagnall’s Standard College Dictionary 

• Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary 

• The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 

You also can find dictionaries on the Internet at www.dictionary.com. This Web site also contains 

access to a thesaurus, help with grammar and usage, and dictionaries in non-English languages. A 

typical dictionary entry will look like the following, adapted from www.yourdictionary.com: 

par·ty (pär t ) - n. pl. par·ties 1. a. A social gathering especially for pleasure or 

amusement: a cocktail party. b. A group of people who have gathered to 

participate in an activity. 2. a. An established political group organized to 

promote and support its principles and candidates for public office. b. A person 

or group involved in an enterprise; a participant or an accessory: I refuse to be a 

party to your silly scheme. 3. Law. A person or group involved in a legal 

proceeding as a litigant. 4. a. A subscriber to a telephone party line. b. A person 

using a telephone. 5. a. A person: “And though Grainger was a spry old party, 

such steps couldn't be his” (Anthony Hyde). a. A selected group of soldiers: a 

raiding party. 5. Slang. A. An act of sexual intercourse. b. An orgy. adj. 1. Of, 

relating to, or participating in an established political organization: party 

members; party politics. 2. Suitable for use at a social gathering: party dresses; a 

party hat. 3. Characteristic of a pleasurable social gathering: a party atmosphere. 

intr.v. par·tied, par·ty·ing, par·ties - To celebrate or carouse at or as if at a 

party: That night we partied until dawn. [Middle English partie, part, side, 

group, from Old French, from feminine past participle of partir, to divide, from 

Latin part re, from pars, part-, part. See part.] 

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The sample dictionary entry for party contains the following information: 

• Spelling and word division 

• Pronunciation 

• Part of speech 

• Inflections (word endings) 

• Grammatical status 

• Definitions 

• Usage information 

• Idioms 

• Etymology (the historical development of a word) 

Understanding Levels of Diction 

Different writing situations require different levels of diction—that is, different levels of word 

choice. When you write to a friend, especially in an e-mail, you probably would use very casual 

language. When preparing a legal document, you would more serious language. In college writing 

assignments, however, prefer middle diction over slang or formal diction. The table below gives 

examples of middle diction and the extremes to avoid. 

Slang (Avoid) Middle Diction (Use) Formal Diction (Avoid) 

Kids Children Descendants 

Rip off Steal Expropriate 

Prof Instructor/Professor Professional educator 

commie Communist Marxist-Leninist 

Crib House Single family dwelling unit 

More and more, it seems, some people use abusive language—that is, language that is profane, 

obscene, lewd, discriminatory, or offensive to a general audience—even in public. While free 

speech is (or should be) a major value in colleges and universities, exercise common sense and 

respect for others when choosing your words. Do not use abusive language in your papers or in 

class, unless there is a very good reason to do so—for example, when discussing the history of 

words, speech styles, social or cultural violations, or similar subjects. 7 

When aiming for middle diction, use words in their traditionally accepted senses, and avoid fad 

words. Fad words arise when people take one part of speech and then turn it into another one, 

inventing an overly new use for it. 

Avoid 

My sister wants to cocoon for the weekend, rather 

than come to our house. 

During his campaign for the presidency, the 

candidate talked a lot about growing the economy. 

Use 

My sister wants to stay in for the weekend, rather 

than come to our house. 

During his campaign for the presidency, the 

candidate talked a lot about strengthening the 

economy. 

7 Barbara Lawrence has written an excellent—and short—essay on why people should avoid profanity 

entitled “Four-Letter Words Can Hurt You.” You can find the essay at the following Web page: 

http://www.uwec.edu/asc/Competency%20Exam%20Workshops/sample_readings.htm. 

13



Avoid 

My friend had a fun time when he visited the 

campus last week. 

Use 

My friend enjoyed himself when he visited campus 

last week. 

Use terms that a general audience would understand, and avoid jargon—language that is used for 

specialized academic situations, specialized jobs, etc. 

Jargon (Avoid) 

André was really paranoid about his boss’s 

intentions for growing the company. 

I need to finalize my paper before class. 

Sylvie facilitates discussion between disparate 

populations. 

Going forward, we should optimize our strategies 

for maximizing student enrollment. 

Middle Diction (Use) 

André worried greatly about his supervisor’s plans 

about company growth. 

I need to finish my paper before class. 

Sylvie helps different groups of people talk to each 

other. 

We should plan carefully for how to increase 

student enrollment. 

A cliché (klee-SHAY) – is a phrase that people use so frequently that it has lost its freshness as an 

image. For example, if you work very hard, you might say, “I keep my nose to the grindstone.” If 

you focus totally on school assignments, you might say, “I keep my eye on the ball.” If you pay 

close attention to what your business competitors do, you might say, “I have my ear to the ground.” 

The phrases in quotation marks are so common and overworked, that people no longer take them 

literally. Imagine if people DID have their nose on a grindstone, their eye sockets against a 

baseball, and their ears against the ground—what an impossible physical position THAT would be! 

Another problem with clichés is that people use them so often in so many different ways, that the 

same cliché might have different—even contrasting—meanings in different contexts. The table 

below includes a list of common clichés, and some suggested phrases to use as substitutes. 

Cliché 

I work so hard that I feel as if I’ve got my nose to the 

grindstone. 

Although we went to the movies together, Joanne 

and I are water under the bridge. 

After all is said and done, people should keep their 

ear to the ground concerning who’s running for 

office. 

I was quiet as a mouse when I came home in the 

dead of the night. 

Fresh Language 

I work so hard that I feel as if I am wearing myself 

out. 

Although we went to the movies together, Joanne 

and I no longer date. 

People should play close attention to who runs for 

office. 

I was very quiet when I came home late. 

Commonly Misused or Misspelled Words 

Addendum 1, just after the Exercise section of this book, contains a list of words that writers 

commonly confuse with each other, complete with correct definitions and sample sentences that 

clarify how to use those words. Addendum 2 contains a list of words that writers commonly 

misspell, complete with their correct spellings. Whenever you are in doubt as to how to use or spell 

a word, consult the two addendums or a college-level dictionary. 

14



Part 3 - Creating Clear Sentences 

Introducing Clear Sentences 

Many English Composition teachers have a simple and easy way of identifying average student 

papers: if a student cannot write a clear sentence almost every time, then that student is a below 

average writer. 8 Almost every college requires you to earn at least a “C” in English Composition in 

order to graduate. Also, employers want workers who can think clearly and communicate clearly in 

speech and writing. Therefore, you need to know how to create and control sentences so they 

communicate quickly and effectively to others. 

Understanding Key Grammatical Terms 

To know how to form grammatically strong sentences, you don’t necessarily need to know the 

basics of grammar. For example, if you grew up in an environment where people read a lot (and, 

thus, you did too) and spoke in educated speech patterns (even if they had little formal education), 

then you probably know how to write grammatically acceptable sentences. However, to know how 

to repair grammatically weak sentences, you should learn the following key terms: 

• Subject – the topic of the sentence 

• Predicate – the statement made about the subject 

• Phrase – a group of related words, but lacking either a subject, predicate, or both 

• Clause – a group of related words that expresses a thought, either complete or incomplete 

• Sentence – a group of words with a grammatical subject, a predicate, and a complete 

thought 

• Sentence fragment – a group of words lacking a subject, predicate, or complete thought; 

fragments generally are just phrases or subordinate clauses 

• Main (or independent) clause – a group of words that expresses a complete or major 

thought; a main clause can stand by itself 

• Subordinate (or dependent) clause – a group of related words that expresses an incomplete 

or minor thought; a subordinate clause cannot stand by itself 

• Verbal – a verb used as another part of speech; the category of verbals is made up of 

gerunds, participles, and infinitives 

o 

o 

Gerund – a verb used as a noun; always ends in -ing 

Participle – a verb used as an adjective; ends in –ing or the past participle form of 

the verb (whether regular (-d or –ed) or irregular) 

o Infinitive – a verb used as a noun, adjective, or adverb; always in the form of to + 

verb—for example, to run, to sing, to dance, to write, etc. 

Understanding Parts of Speech 

You also should understand the parts of speech. A part of speech identifies a word according to its 

grammatical function in a sentence. Parts of speech are the noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, 

preposition, conjunction, and interjection. 

• Noun – names of a person, place, or thing 

• Pronoun – takes the place of a noun 

• Verb – expresses action or a state of being 

• Adjective – modifies a noun or pronoun 

• Adverb – modifies a verb, adjective, or other adverb 

• Preposition – a connecting word that introduces a prepositional phrase 

8 That’s not the same as being a below-average person. Many fine human beings have been poor 

writers. However, all other things being equal, it’s better to be a good writer than a poor one. 

15



• Conjunction – a connecting word that introduces a main clause or subordinate clause 

• Interjection – expresses emotion 

As noted above, once you know the basic grammatical terms, you can begin to repair problem 

sentences. The following seven strategies will help you to do so: 

1. Understanding Verb Tenses 

Verb tense is the form of the verb that indicates the time at which an event occurs, or the time at 

which a state of being exists. Tense also indicates whether an event has happened once or is 

ongoing. For example, the simple tenses of verbs indicate a one-time event, while the progressive 

tenses indicate an ongoing action or state of existence. The verb tense that indicates something 

existing or occurring right now is, of course, the present tense. The other five verb tenses relate to 

or build upon the present tense—that is, they indicate the existence or occurrence of something in 

relation to the present. The following table lists the six main verb tenses, explains how to use them 

properly in English sentences, and gives examples of each tense. 

Past Perfect – Past – Present Perfect – Present - Future Perfect – Future 

Verb Tense 

Present 

Past 

Future 

Present Perfect 

Past Perfect 

Use of Verb Tense and Examples 

Indicates an action that takes place right now, or an action that happens regularly. 

• I see what you mean. 

• I understand what you are talking about. 

• We study our notes before a test in order to do well. 

• We wear wool fleece in the winter to stay warm. 

Indicates a completed action that already happened. 

• John Glenn orbited the earth three times on February 20, 1962. 

• I prepared this handout earlier today. 

• Halley’s Comet appeared in the year that Samuel Clemens was born and in the 

year that he died. 

Indicates an action that will take place later on, or is likely to happen. 

• Halley’s Comet will appear again around Earth in 2061. 

• Fast population growth will continue to occur in Florida and Nevada. 

• We will have a party at the end of the semester. 

Indicates an action that began in the past and is finished in the present, or an action that 

began in the past and extends into the present. 

• Dr. Kim has finished studying the effects of her new drug on rats. 

• My mother has invested her money wisely. 

• We have studied this handout for several minutes. 

• Some students have come to class from this town. 

Indicates an action that was happening before a certain time in the past. 

• By 1946, engineers had built the first programmable, electronic, digital 

computer. 

• Before computers used integrated circuits, they had used transistors. 

• Before computers contained transistors, they had used vacuum tubes. 

16



Verb Tense 

Future Perfect 

Progressive 

Tenses 

Use of Verb Tense and Examples 

Indicates an action that will be finished or completed by a certain time in the future. 

• By next Tuesday, the subway system will have run out of money. 

• By April 15, all of the snow will have melted. 

• School will have ended before the summer will start. 

Indicate continuing or ongoing action in their respective tenses. 

• Present progressive: The volcano is erupting, and the lava is flowing toward the 

town. 

• Past progressive: The character’s actions were becoming harder and harder to 

understand. 

• Future progressive: The secretary will be typing the letters tomorrow. 

• Present Perfect progressive: The road workers have been digging around the 

clock. 

• Past Perfect progressive: Before President Kennedy was killed, he had been 

working on new civil rights laws. 

• Future Perfect progressive: By 11 tomorrow morning, my cousin will have been 

driving to Florida for five hours. 

2. Distinguishing Between Sentences and Fragments 

Know the difference between groups of word that are just fragments and groups that constitute 

actual sentences. Remember that a fragment expresses an incomplete thought, but a sentence 

contains a subject, verb, and complete idea. 

Fragment 

After I left the house. 

When I went to lunch that day. 

Brushing my teeth in front of the mirror in the 

first-floor bathroom. 

Because I was tired and wanted to go to bed 

early. 

Complete Sentence 

I left the house after I had breakfast. 

When I went to lunch that day, I had pasta and 

sugar-free cola. 

I brushed my teeth in front of the mirror in the 

first-floor bathroom. 

I did not watch the news because I was tired and 

wanted to go to bed early. 

Notice that fragments 1, 2, and 5 begin with the connecting words after, when, and because. These 

words are subordinating conjunctions. Subordinating conjunctions join a subordinate clause to a 

main clause. Fragments 3 and 4 begin with verbals known as participles. 

3. Preferring Action Verbs 

The verb is the strongest part of speech in an English sentence, and English language sentences 

tend to express ideas more strongly than do sentences in many other languages. Therefore, you 

should prefer sentences with action verbs over those with just linking verbs. An action verb 

expresses action, while a linking verb simply expresses a state of being or existence. The following 

table demonstrates that converting linking verbs to action verbs tend to make for stronger, clearer 

sentences: 

17



Linking Verb Sentences 

Our boss was under the suspicion that we would 

not be able to finish the job on time. 

If I am able to arrive on time, then that would be 

to my advantage in making a good impression. 

While I seem to be good at writing sentences 

that are clear, I am often in the habit of using 

more words than are necessary. 

It is clear that my father was someone who 

loved me very much, but it was his habit not to 

show emotion. 

Action Verb Sentences 

Our boss suspected that we would not finish the 

job on time. 

If I arrive on time, I will make a good 

impression. 

While I appear to write clear sentences, I often 

use more words than needed. 

My father clearly loved me very much, but he 

usually showed little emotion. 

4. Preferring the Active Voice 

Prefer sentences with action verbs in the active voice over those in the passive voice. In an active 

voice sentence, the grammatical subject performs the action, and therefore is active. In a passive 

voice sentence, the subject is someone or something other than the performer and therefore is 

passive. The following table shows that sentences in the active voice tend to be shorter and clearer 

than those in the passive, and therefore more understandable: 

Passive Voice 

It is believed by many literary critics that Alice 

Walker is an excellent spokeswoman those who 

were formally silenced in society. 

The wallpaper was completely examined by 

Jane. 

The car was struck by a van which had its 

headlights broken. 

Our country will be considered economically 

stronger when more American cars are being 

purchased by our citizens and when high-tech 

jobs are not being outsourced to other countries 

by American businesses. 

Active Voice 

Many literary critics believe that Alice Walker 

speaks well on behalf of those that society used 

to silence. 

Jane examined the wallpaper thoroughly. 

A van with broken headlights struck the car. 

America’s economy will improve if our citizens 

buy more American-made cars and our 

companies keep high-technology jobs in the 

country. 

5. Using Parallel Constructions 

A parallel sentence is one in which words or phrases of equal importance appear in the same type 

of grammatical structure. Using the same type of structure doesn’t just indicate that the words or 

phrases are equal in value. Such a structure also save words and makes it easier for readers to 

follow your ideas. The table below gives examples of sentences that are not parallel and examples 

of how to correct them. Notice that each revised example has a series of elements that are roughly 

equal in length. 

18



Not Parallel 

My mother taught me to be courteous to women and 

that I should be avoiding jokes at their expense or 

make an insult about their style of dress. 

The speaker bored the audience because he dragged 

on, he was using repetitive phrases in every 

paragraph, and it was his first time in front of a 

large audience. 

My younger brother likes softball and he likes to do 

computer work and he very often goes to church. 

Parallel 

My mother taught me to be courteous to women, 

avoid jokes at their expense, and respect their 

style of dress. 

The speaker bored the audience because he 

talked too long, repeated himself in every 

paragraph, and had no experience in front of 

large audiences. 

My younger brother likes to play softball, work 

at his computer, and go to church. 

6. Being Concise 

Be concise by preferring fresh and original language. To avoid creating tired and dull sentences, 

eliminate wordy expressions, redundancies, circumlocutions, euphemisms, clichés, and mixed 

metaphors. 

A wordy expression - uses more words than necessary to communication your meaning. Wordiness 

tends to show up in early drafts of your writing. Therefore, if you habitually write only one or two 

drafts, your finished papers probably will have wordy expressions. As you revise your work, look 

for wordy constructions and cut them out of your work. The table below shows some typical wordy 

expressions and some suggested revisions. 

Wordy 

During the course of class, I asked a large 

quantity of questions. 

I have the exact same problem as my twin sister. 

In view of the fact that July is a hot and humid 

month, my personal preference is to go to the 

beach. 

Historians often give about four different 

reasons regarding why the Civil War occurred. 

Concise 

During class, I asked many questions. 

I have the same problem as my twin. 

Since July is hot and humid, I like to go to the 

beach then. 

Historians often give about four reasons about 

why the Civil War occurred. 

A redundancy – is a phrase containing two or more words with similar meanings when just one of 

those words will make your point. Writers often use redundancies because they don’t realize that 

they are repeating themselves unnecessarily. Other times, they think that such phrases will make 

their meaning more emphatic. In fact, just the opposite is true: when you make the same point in 

fewer words, each word carries more power and, therefore, more emphasis. The following table 

gives examples of common redundancies and some suggested revised sentences that delete them. 

Redundancy 

If you stand too close to the edge of that steep 

precipice, you could fall off! 

Each individual player chose her own jersey number. 

Our house on Warren Avenue is singularly unique. 

More Concise Sentence 

If you stand at the edge of that precipice, 

you could fall off! 

Each player chose her own jersey number. 

Our house on Warren Avenue is unique. 

19



Redundancy 

The two film critics had polar opposite views about 

the new movie. 

More Concise Sentence 

The two film critics had opposite views 

about the new movie. 

Note: Do not confuse redundancies with effective repetition. Sometimes, repeating a word or 

phrase heightens the emotional effect of your presentation, especially if your repetition has a 

memorable rhythm. One writer and speaker who used repetition effectively was the civil rights 

leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This last paragraph from his 1983 speech during the March on 

Washington illustrates effective repetition, not pointless redundancy: 

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we 

let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state 

and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of 

God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, 

Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in 

the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! 

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! 

A circumlocution – is a roundabout way of saying something. Talking around a subject creates a 

drag on one’s writings, like walking through mud rather than on the sidewalk. Writers who overuse 

circumlocutions either don’t realize what they are doing or are trying, often accidentally, to sound 

sophisticated. It’s perfectly all right if such expressions appear in early essay drafts when you still 

are trying to find the words to say what you mean. However, before you hand in a paper, cut out all 

the dead wood you can. The following table lists common circumlocutions and then suggests 

revised, more concise sentences: 

Circumlocution 

The man at the airport was inebriated out of his 

mind, in a manner of speaking. 

We live in a single family dwelling unit on 

Warren Street. 

Due to the fact that the divine being established 

an intimate relationship between us, I will look 

upon you with unconditional positive regard. 

The administrative staff at the hospital center 

seemed to be of an overworked nature. 

Concise Sentence 

The man at the airport was very drunk. 

We live in a house on Warren Street. 

Because God made you mine, I’ll cherish you. 

The hospital administrators seemed overworked. 

A euphemism – is an overly nice word or phrase for stating something unpleasant. Euphemisms are 

wordy and often confuse readers. The most common euphemism probably is pass away instead of 

die. While you might want to use this euphemism at an actual funeral, you should not do so in an 

essay describing—for example—the death of a literary character. Examples of other euphemisms 

appear in the table below: 

20



Euphemism 

Bathroom tissue 

Collateral damage 

Comfort station 

Law enforcement officer 

Disenfranchised populace 

Plain Expression 

Toilet paper 

Civilian deaths 

Bathroom 

Police officer 

Poor people 

A mixed metaphor – is an implied comparison that shifts from one basis of comparison to another, 

unrelated one. For example, “My dad flew off the handle at the traffic cop when he should have 

cooled his jets” seems at first to be a consistent metaphor because flying and jets go together. But 

flying off the handle is not the same as flying a plane. A clearer sentence would be “My father lost 

his temper at the police officer when he should have remained calm.” The problem with mixed 

metaphors is that they often contain clichés and create such a jumbled image in a reader’s mind that 

they become meaningless. To maintain your reader’s interest by keeping your language fresh and 

original, build consistent metaphors like the ones in the second column of the following table: 

Mixed Metaphor 

While he was a lion at work, my roommate 

turned into a wet noodle when trying to spend 

quality time with his girlfriend’s parents. 

Our cleanup hitter folded quicker than a twodollar 

suitcase when the curve fluttered across 

the plate. 

Although our debating team is in the pits after 

our last whipping in the clutches of St. Mary’s 

College, our coach sees nothing but roses in our 

future. 

I tackled my term paper with boundless energy, 

but my so-called friend clouded my academic 

future with a rip-off that I never saw coming. 

Consistent Metaphor 

While he was a lion at work, my roommate 

turned into a nervous kitten when visiting his 

girlfriend’s parents. 

Our cleanup hitter was out of rhythm and missed 

the pitched when the curve ball jitterbugged 

across the plate. 

Although our debating team is depressed after 

losing badly to St. Mary’s College, our coach is 

high on our chances for success. 

I tackled my paper with great energy, but a 

former friend injured my chances for academic 

success by intercepting my paper and passing it 

off as his own. 

7. Using Respectful Language 

All sorts of reasons exist for using respectful language. Some people justify this policy by saying 

that all people are made in God’s image and therefore deserve the same kind of respect that you 

might reserve for the Almighty. Others say that doing so shows that you are willing to abide by 

generally accepted ethical principles. Still others say that doing so recognizes the often overlooked 

historical forces of racism, gender discrimination, etc. If none of these arguments works for you, 

just remember that “what goes around comes around.” If you insult others in speech or writing, 

they will start insulting you. And you don’t want to be insulted. 9 

9 For an interesting response to extreme measures to enforce even the appearance of bias, see Denis 

Dutton’s essay: http://denisdutton.com/what_are_editors_for.htm. See also the humorist P.J. O’Rourke’s 

comments on the same book that Dutton comments upon: http://people.ku.edu/~dadams/review.htm. 

21



In general, you should identify people simply as persons, not by their demographic category. In the 

vast majority of general writing situations, a person’s race, creed, color, etc. will be unimportant to 

your point. However, if you truly feel you must distinguish a person or group of persons by a 

demographic feature, exercise enlightened common sense. 

If you have trouble controlling your tongue, consult one of the following Web sites for advice on 

using respectful language: 

Type of Problem 

Avoiding General Cases of 

Sexism 

Avoiding Job-Related 

Sexism 

Respecting Groups of 

People (and Avoiding 

Sexism) 

Web Address 

http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/gram/107647.htm 

http://www.pnl.gov/ag/usage/bias.pdf 

http://cctc.commnet.edu/grammar/unbiased.htm 

22



Part 4 - Composing Effective Paragraphs 

Defining Paragraphs and Paragraph Blocks 

A paragraph is a group of related sentences that discuss one topic. You should start a new 

paragraph whenever you change from one specific subject to another. You also should start a new 

paragraph whenever you start discussing a new time, place, or event, or when you make a major 

shift in developmental pattern or tone. 

Similarly, a paragraph block is a group of related paragraphs that discuss a larger topic. For 

example, the Loren Eiseley essay “The Judgment of the Birds,” discusses several different types of 

small creatures that helped him to learn important spiritual lessons. Eiseley first discusses pigeons 

roosting on a city hotel ledge, then a crow that he saw on a foggy day, then a flight of chemicals, 

then a group of sparrows, and finally a spider weaving a web on a lamppost. He makes his point 

about the first creature in one set of related paragraphs, then his point about the second one in 

another set of paragraphs, and so on. 

John McPhee uses the same organizational strategy in an essay about the problems that cargo ship 

crews encounter, called “Pirates, Stowaways, Drugs” The first few paragraphs of the essay discuss 

pirates, the next few discuss stowaways, and the final few discuss drugs—hence the title of the 

essay. This strict focus on one, then another, and then a third problem make clear to readers what 

he is talking about at each point in the essay while keeping the essay moving forward without 

unneeded repetition. 

Understanding the Thesis Sentence 

Writing is more of an art than a science, so there are no absolutes as to what makes a good 

paragraph good. However, effective paragraphs very often being with a thesis sentence—that is, 

the most general statement of the paragraph that is supported by all remaining sentences in that 

paragraph. Placing the thesis sentence at the beginning of the paragraph does three things at once. 

It announces the topic of the paragraph, expresses its main idea, and sets the tone for the rest of the 

paragraph. If you place your topic sentences at the start of paragraph after paragraph, your readers 

will pick up on that organization strategy and follow your essays more easily. 

The following paragraph opens an essay that argues that, because of the dominance of computers in 

business these days, future business leaders will not be people who can reason like computers but 

those who are gifted with artistry and empathy. The paragraph opens with a thesis sentence 

designed to get the audience’s attention by appealing to them personally and then to guide them 

through the rest of the paragraph: 

When I was a kid—growing up in a middle-class family, in the 

middle of America, in the middle of the 1970s—parents dished 

out a familiar plate of advice to their children: Get good grades, 

go to college, and pursue a profession that offers a decent 

standard of living and perhaps a dollop of prestige. If you were 

good at math and science, become a doctor. If you were better at 

English and history, become a lawyer. If blood grossed you out 

and your verbal skills needed work, become an accountant. 

Later, as computers appeared on desktops and CEOs on 

magazine covers, the youngsters who were really good at math 

23



and science chose high tech, while others flocked to business 

school, thinking that success was spelled MBA. 10 

Sometimes, to provide variety and maintain interest, you may want to place your topic sentence in 

the middle of a paragraph. There is no crime in doing that as long as you have good reason to do 

so. For example, if you need to provide some context, present your main idea, and then support it, 

you can place the topic sentence in the middle of the paragraph between the background material 

and supporting material of the thesis. The following narrative paragraph provides some historical 

context to a person’s life, introduces a shocking discovery she made, and then follows up with 

additional material. Notice that the thesis of the paragraph is italicized: 

My neighbor grew up in the frightening Cold War era, 

but attended a good elementary school and took advanced 

classes throughout high school. Her parents fought often but also 

loved her and helped pay her way through a leading university, 

where she studied hard. Given this mixed personal history, she 

grew up believing that the best way to survive as an adult is to 

become a sharp thinker. She wasn’t going to let politicians or 

ordinary people ruin her life; she was going to be smarter than 

the next guy. However, one day, after only a few years of 

marriage, her husband left her. Despite knowing that he had had 

problems of his own, my neighbor also knew that she had been 

mean to him, which helped drive him away. One day, while 

sitting in a small apartment and brooding over how much she 

hated her “ex” and hated herself, my neighbor realized that the 

same idea kept bubbling up in her mind: Forgiveness is more 

powerful than judgment. Forgiveness is more powerful than 

judgment. Now, she lives a happy life with a new husband, has a 

good job, and takes each day as it comes. Now, instead of trying 

to be a sharp thinker, she tries to have a warm heart. 

You also can place a thesis sentence at the end of a paragraph—for example, when you want to 

make a series of specific observations that lead to a general conclusion. The following paragraph 

illustrates the strategy of moving from a series of general statements to a specific conclusion. In 

this paragraph, a writer draws a general conclusion from the specific features of business clothing 

that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wore on a diplomatic mission in early 2005: 

Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is 

undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe 

details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of 

mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of 

abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned 

from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused 

enough for whatever task is at hand. 11 

10 Daniel H. Pink. Wired.com. February 2005. Volume 13, Issue 2. 

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/brain.html 

11 Givhan, Robin. “Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes.” Washington Post. February 25, 

2005, page C01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51640-2005Feb24?language=printer 

24



Introducing Paragraph Development 

Besides opening with a thesis sentence that you then support throughout the rest of the paragraph, 

most effective paragraphs share three more characteristics: they have thematic unity, structural 

coherence, and appropriate development. 

Unity 

A unified paragraph covers only one topic—not two, not three, not ten. It sticks to its intended 

subject and does not wander off of it. The following two paragraphs are almost the same. However, 

the first contains a sentence that does not really belong in the paragraph, while the second is truly 

unified by eliminating the unneeded sentence. The italicized sentence does refer to the Internet, but 

only briefly to compare it to the transcontinental telegraph, which is the real topic of the sentence. 

Without the italicized sentence, the original paragraph focuses more tightly on the purpose and use 

of the Internet. 

The Internet has revolutionized the computer and 

communications world like nothing before. The invention of the 

telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this 

unprecedented integration of capabilities. The first 

transcontinental telegraph line was like the Internet of the 

nineteenth century. The Internet is at once a world-wide 

broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information 

dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction 

between individuals and their computers without regard for 

geographic location. 

The Internet has revolutionized the computer and 

communications world like nothing before. The invention of the 

telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this 

unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet is at once 

a world-wide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for 

information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and 

interaction between individuals and their computers without 

regard for geographic location. 12 

Coherence 

In a coherent paragraph, all of its sentences clearly relate to each other. No sentence wanders from 

the paragraph’s topic. You can create a coherent paragraph by using the following strategies: 

• Repeating the same word or phrase from sentence to sentence 

• Using synonyms from sentence to sentence 

• Using sentences that relate back to earlier ones and/or forward to later ones 

• Using transitional words and/or phrases 

Repeating a Word 

The following paragraph uses the first strategy, repeating words or ideas from sentence to sentence. 

By repeating the word technology, the author ties one sentence to another and then to another: 

12 Barry M. Leiner. “A Brief History of the Internet.” 11 Oct. 2004. The Internet Society. July 15, 

2005. http://www.isoc.org/internet/history/brief.shtml#Introduction. 

25



Throughout history, people have used technology to change the 

world. Our technology has been of two kinds, green and gray. 

Green technology is seeds and plants, gardens and vineyards and 

orchards, domesticated horses and cows and pigs, milk and 

cheese, leather and wool. Gray technology is bronze and steel, 

spears and guns, coal and oil and electricity, automobiles and 

airplanes and rockets, telephones and computers. Civilization 

began with green technology, with agriculture and animal 

breeding, 10,000 years ago. Then, beginning about 3,000 years 

ago, gray technology became dominant, with mining and 

metallurgy and machinery. For the last 500 years, gray 

technology has been racing ahead and has given birth to the 

modern world of cities and factories and supermarkets. 13 

Using Synonyms 

Instead of repeating the same word from sentence to sentence to make a paragraph cohere, you can 

use synonyms. Synonyms are words that have similar meanings to those of other words. By using 

synonyms, you provide some verbal variety within the paragraph while maintaining the reader’s 

train of thought. The following paragraph illustrates the effective use of synonyms. About halfway 

through his speech at his second inauguration, President Bush uses synonyms for the word freedom 

to tie together his thoughts—for example, liberty and independence. He also uses the phrase agent 

of his or her own destiny to suggest the idea of personal freedom and the words prosperous, just, 

and equal to suggest characteristics of free societies: 

In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity 

and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on 

the edge of subsistence. This is the broader definition of liberty 

that motivated the Homestead Act, the Social Security Act, and 

the G.I. Bill of Rights. And now we will extend this vision by 

reforming great institutions to serve the needs of our time. To 

give every American a stake in the promise and future of our 

country, we will bring the highest standards to our schools, and 

build an ownership society. We will widen the ownership of 

homes and businesses, retirement savings and health insurance— 

preparing our people for the challenges of life in a free society. 

By making every citizen an agent of his or her own destiny, we 

will give our fellow Americans greater freedom from want and 

fear, and make our society more prosperous and just and equal. 14 

Using Sentences that Relate Back and Forward 

Besides using the same word or a synonym to unify a paragraph, you can use words or phrases 

within sentences so that they recall some idea in an earlier sentence and hint at an idea in a later 

one. Such a set of sentences is like a well-designed web or network, smoothly interlinking one 

sentence with another so that you move your discussion along without pounding your reader with 

13 Freeman J. Dyson. “Science, Guided by Ethics, Can Lift Up the Poor.” The Norton Sample.: Short 

Essays for Composition. 6 th ed. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003. Page 154. 

14 George W. Bush. “Second Inaugural Address.” The White House. 12 July 2005. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/inaugural/index.html. 

26



overly obvious signals as to sentence structure. The following paragraph illustrates the use of signal 

words and phrases (italicized for emphasis) that refer back and forth to unify the paragraph. 

The following paragraph by Theodore Roosevelt describes “all the land north of the Black Hills 

and the Big Horn Mountains and between the Rockies and the Dakota wheat-fields.” Notice that, 

throughout the paragraph, Roosevelt uses words that emphasize the dryness of the land that he 

visited: 

The country throughout this great Upper Missouri basin 

has a wonderful sameness of character; and the rest of the arid 

belt, lying to the southward, is closely akin to it in its main 

features. A traveler seeing it for the first time is especially struck 

by its look of parched, barren desolation; he can with difficulty 

believe that it will support cattle at all. It is a region of light 

rainfall; the grass is short and comparatively scanty; there is no 

timber except along the beds of the streams, and in many places 

there are alkali deserts where nothing grows but sage-brush and 

cactus. Now the land stretches out into level, seemingly endless 

plains or into rolling prairies; again it is broken by abrupt hills 

and deep, winding valleys; or else it is crossed by chains of 

buttes, usually bare, but often clad with a dense growth of 

dwarfed pines or gnarled, stunted cedars. The muddy rivers run 

in broad, shallow beds, which after heavy rainfalls are filled to 

the brim by the swollen torrents, while in droughts the larger 

streams dwindle into sluggish trickles of clearer water, and the 

smaller ones dry up entirely, save in occasional deep pools. 15 

Using Transitional Words and Phrases 

Students sometimes complain about having trouble making their essays “flow.” When they say 

this, they often mean that their writing sounds choppy or disjointed. One idea does not seem to 

connect with another. To make your essays flow, you can use transitional words and phrases 

between sentences. Similarly, make the overall essay clear by using transitional words and phrases 

between paragraphs. 

To understand the value of transitional words and phrases, look at the following two paragraphs. 

The first is an edited version of the second, from which I deleted the transitional elements. The 

second paragraph is from an essay that describes a man who was found living in a Florida swamp. 

Since the second one contains transitions, it “flows” more clearly than my edited version. Notice 

also that, quite often, you will need very few transitional elements within a paragraph to make it 

cohere: 

For eight months in 1975, residents on the edge of Green 

Swamp, Florida, had been reporting to the police that they had 

seen a Wild Man. They stepped toward him. He made strange 

noises in a foreign language. He ran back into the saw grass. 

Authorities said the Wild Man was a mass hallucination. Maneating 

animals lived in the swamp. A human being could hardly 

15 Theodore Roosevelt. “The Cattle Country of the Far West.” Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail. 

1896. http://www.bartleby.com/54/1.html. 

27



find a place to rest without sinking. It was some kind of a bear 

the children had seen. 

For eight months in 1975, residents on the edge of Green 

Swamp, Florida, had been reporting to the police that they had 

seen a Wild Man. When they stepped toward him, he made 

strange noises as in a foreign language and ran back into the saw 

grass. At first, authorities said the Wild Man was a mass 

hallucination. Man-eating animals lived in the swamp, and a 

human being could hardly find a place to rest without sinking. 

Perhaps it was some kind of a bear the children had seen. 16 

The following table lists several categories of transitions that you may want to express in a 

paragraph with their corresponding transitional words and phrases: 

Used to Express 

Addition 

Similarity 

Contrast 

Concession 

Examples 

Emphasis 

Results 

Hypothesis 

Sequence 

Time Relationship 

Conclusions 

Transitional Words/Phrases 

in addition, moreover, furthermore, another, as well as, 

and, also, besides, or, nor 

similarly, likewise, in the same way, 

but, yet, in contrast, still, surely, nevertheless, however, 

nonetheless, instead, rather than, unlike, whereas, even so, 

conversely 

although, though, granted, admittedly, obviously, to be 

sure, of course 

for example, for instance, in particular,, in general, 

whenever, frequently, usually, specifically 

indeed, in fact, certainly, clearly, of course, to be sure, 

naturally,, for that matter, more important, most important, 

frankly, oddly enough, as noted earlier, in any case, in 

other words 

thus, therefore, hence, then, consequently, because, due to, 

as a result, since, it follows , and so, accordingly 

if, whether 

first, second, third, next, then, after 

before, after, until, while, since, when, currently, next, 

meanwhile, thereafter, soon, earlier, later, immediately, by 

that time, shortly, at that moment 

so, in conclusion, finally, in sum, in short, to sum up, 

therefore, on the whole, in brief, all in all, in a word 

Adequate Development 

Like the first two beds in the story of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” a paragraph can be too big 

or too small. However, a properly developed paragraph is just right. In other words, it discusses its 

topic until it has adequately covered that topic. Such a paragraph introduces its topic, discusses it 

fully, and then finishes off the discussion. It has a beginning, middle, and an end or at least it has 

the feeling of being complete. If you tend to underwrite your paragraphs, you may need to combine 

16 Maxine Hong Kinston, “The Wild Man of the Green Swamp.” Modern American Prose. 3 rd ed. J. 

Clifford and R. DiYanni, eds. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993. 258. 

28



two or three of them to make a fully developed one. In contrast, if you find that you ramble on and 

on, you may need to break a huge paragraph into two or three smaller ones. 17 

The three writing samples below illustrate the need for proper paragraph length. The first sample 

shows two paragraphs that could be combined. The second is a paragraph of appropriate length. 

The third is a paragraph that you could break into two smaller paragraphs. 

Sample 1 – Underdeveloped Paragraphs 

A home computer system generally contains a computer, 

complete with a keyboard, monitor, and mouse. Some people 

also have a scanner or other additional piece of equipment. 

In my mind, however, an essential piece of equipment is 

a printer. That’s because I often have to take work home and 

night and then bring printed materials into work the next 

morning. I also use the printer for personal interests such as 

charity work and printouts for my son’s Little League team. 

Comment: At first, it may appear that two paragraphs are appropriate here. The 

first paragraph seems to discuss one topic—namely, what people generally have 

in a home computer. The second seems to discuss another topic—personal 

reasons for owning a home printer. However, the two paragraphs really belong 

together because the first two sentences introduce information about what people 

generally own and the last two sentences narrow down that discussion to focus 

on what one person owns. 

Sample 2 – Properly developed paragraph 



also have a scanner or other additional piece of equipment. In my 

mind, however, an essential piece of equipment is a printer. 

That’s because I often have to take work home and night and 

then bring printed materials into work the next morning. I also 

use the printer for personal interests such as charity work and 

printouts for my son’s Little League team. 

Sample 3 – Excessively long paragraph 



also have a scanner or other additional piece of equipment. In my 

mind, however, an essential piece of equipment is a printer. 

That’s because I often have to take work home and night and 

then bring printed materials into work the next morning. I also 

use the printer for personal interests such as charity work and 

17 With the rise of radio and television in the 20 th century and the widening use of cell phones and 

video games in the 21 st century, readers have developed shorter and shorter attention spans. In the 19 th 

century, for example, paragraphs commonly ran 20 to 40 sentences. Today, a proper paragraph length, 

especially in a college essay, probably is between three and ten sentences. 

29



printouts for my son’s Little League team. If you must bring 

home work from the office, you also may need a printer, 

especially if you often have meetings as soon as you arrive at 

work in the morning. And if you have hobbies or other interests 

that call for printed materials, you have even more reason to buy 

one. A high-quality printer—one that can stand up to the 

demands of business-related printing—can cost around $500. 

Such a machine will be able to print large quantities and almost 

certainly will do automatic duplex printing. That is, it will be 

able to print on both sides of the page without having to remove 

a one-sided printout and then flip it over and reprint. And with 

printer prices falling rapidly in the last few months, you may 

even be able to purchase a color-laser printer that can add extra 

impact to printed presentations. 

Comment: Here is a case where two paragraphs would be better than one. The sentence that begins 

If you must bring… stops discussing the writer’s reasons for having a printer and starts to discuss 

both whether the reader should buy a printer and the possible cost and features of such a machine. 

Because of the shift in topic and in point of view from first person to second person, two 

paragraphs are called for. 

Introducing Patterns of Development 

Regarding paragraph development, you should do more than just cover your topic sufficiently. You 

also should have a clear overall structure that makes it easy for readers to follow your discussion of 

that topic. Well-developed paragraphs often have a distinct pattern of development—that is, the 

structure used to organize sentence after sentence in that paragraph. 

Do not choose any pattern just to have a pattern. Instead, choose the pattern that most closely 

matches the purpose of your discussion in each essay section. For example, in a biology paper 

about the cell division, you could open with a paragraph that defines the terms meiosis and mitosis. 

Then the next few paragraphs could compare the two processes—that is, show how they resemble 

each other. Your concluding paragraphs could contrast the two processes—that is, explain how the 

two processes differ. 

Identifying the Patterns of Development 

Writing teachers generally agree that there are about seven different patterns of development. This 

section defines those patterns, supplies a sample paragraph that illustrates each one, and then 

concludes with a table that summarizes them. 

Analogy – compares an unfamiliar thing to a familiar thing in order to make the unfamiliar thing 

more familiar. (In other words, the author explains something that he or she knows about by 

comparing it to something that readers in general may know about.) The following paragraph 

compares the house of the author’s grandmother to one of those large, compartmented, spiralshaped 

shells that people often find when walking along an ocean beach: 

My grandmother’s house is like a chambered nautilus; it 

has many rooms, yet it is not a mansion. Its proportions are small 

and its design simple. It is a house that has grown organically, 

according the needs of its inhabitants. To all of us in the family it 

30



is known as la casa de Mama. It is the place or our origin; the 

stage for our memories and dreams of island life. 

• Judith Ortiz Cofer, “More Room” 

Cause/Effect – demonstrates how an earlier event (or set of events) brought about a later event (or 

set of events. You can use this pattern to write about personal or public events from the distant or 

recent past. The following paragraph argues that teachers sometimes kill a little child’s interest in 

reading by forcing him or her to read aloud in class: 

From the very beginning of school, we make books and 

reading a constant source of possible failure and public 

humiliation. When children are little, we make them read aloud, 

before the teacher and other children, so that we can be sure they 

“know” all the words they are reading. This means that when 

they don’t know a word, they are going to make a mistake, right 

in front of everyone. Instantly, they are made to realize that they 

have done something wrong. Perhaps some of the other children 

will begin to wave their hands and say “Ooooh! O-o-o-oh! 

Perhaps they will just giggle, or nudge each other, or make a 

face. Perhaps the teacher will say, “Are you sure?” or ask 

someone else what he things. Or perhaps, if the teacher is kindly, 

she will just smile a sweet, sad smile—often one of the most 

painful punishments a child can suffer in school. In any case, the 

child who has made the mistake knows that he has made it, and 

feels foolish, stupid, and ashamed, just as any of us would in his 

shoes. 

• John Holt, “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” 

Comparison/Contrast – shows the similarities and differences of two somewhat related items. For 

example, you could in fact compare apples and oranges to create an essay that communicates 

fruitful information. But there probably would be little knowledge to be gained in comparing 

apples and donkeys. The following paragraph compares and contrasts the two most famous 

generals of the American Civil War in order to show how each of them symbolized the societies 

that they fought for: 

So Grant and Less were in complete contrast, 

representing two diametrically opposed elements in American 

life. Grant was the modern man emerging; beyond him, ready to 

come on the stage, was the great age of steel and machinery, of 

crowded cities and a restless burgeoning vitality. Lee might have 

ridden down from the old age of chivalry, lance in hand, silken 

banner fluttering over his head. Each man was the perfect 

champion of his cause, drawing both his strengths and 

weaknesses from the people he led. 

• Bruce Catton, “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” 

Definition – sets the boundaries or limits of an item. Just as a foul line sets a baseball field within a 

larger stadium and then separates it from the foul ball area, so also definition places an item within 

a large category and then distinguishes it from other items in that category. The following 

paragraph explains the meaning of the linguistic term doublespeak: 

31



Doublespeak is language that pretends to communicate 

but really doesn’t. It is language that makes the bad seem good, 

the negative appear positive, the unpleasant appear attractive or 

at least tolerable. Doublespeak is language that avoids or shifts 

responsibility, language that is at variance with its real or 

purported meaning. It is language that conceals or prevents 

thought; rather than extending thought, doublespeak limits it. 

• William Lutz, “Doublespeak” 

Division/Classification – separates a group of items into related subgroups. By dividing or 

classifying, we make a large, even huge, area of knowledge more manageable by breaking it into 

smaller groups. The following paragraph breaks down the overall act of listening to classical music 

into three more specific types of listening: 

We all listen to music according to our capacities. But, 

for the sake of analysis, the whole listening process may become 

clearer if we break it into its component parts, so to speak. In a 

certain sense, we all listen to music on three separate planes. For 

the lack of a better terminology, one might name these: (1) the 

sensuous plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly musical 

plane. The only advantage to be gained from mechanically 

splitting up the listening process into these hypothetical planes is 

the clearer view to be had of the way in which we listen. 

• Aaron Copland. “How We Listen” 

Example/Illustration – supplies several instances or samples of an item in order to make that item 

more understandable. By supplying instances or samples of something, especially an abstraction, 

we give that thing “flesh and bone” so that people can see that thing more readily. The following 

paragraph supplies humorous examples of events in a woman’s life to illustrate her belief that she 

was a victim of entropy—in other words, that her life was breaking down: 

It was about two months ago when I realized that 

entropy was getting the better of me. On the same day my car 

broke down (again), my refrigerator conked out, and I learned 

that I needed root canal work in my right rear tooth. The 

windows in the bedroom were still leaking every time it rained, 

and my son’s baby sitter was still failing to show up every time I 

really needed her. My hair was turning gray and I needed 

glasses. My son’s sneakers were developing holes and I was 

developing a deep sense of futility. 

• K. C. Cole, “The Arrow of Time” 

Process – breaks down a procedure into its individual steps or stages. This pattern of development 

helps differs from the cause/effect pattern because this pattern generally involves a repeatable 

series of activities. In contrast, the cause/effect pattern generally involves a series of events that 

happened once and for all. The following paragraph explains the steps involved in the scientific 

process photosynthesis: 

32



The initial process in photosynthesis is the 

decomposition of water into oxygen, which is released, and 

hydrogen. Direct light is required for this process. The hydrogen 

and the carbon and oxygen of carbon dioxide are then converted 

into a series of increasingly complex compounds that result 

finally in a stable organic compound, glucose, and water. This 

phase of photosynthesis utilizes stored energy and therefore can 

proceed in the dark. In general, the results of this process are the 

reverse of those in respiration, in which carbohydrates are 

oxidized to release energy, with the production of carbon dioxide 

and water. 18 

The table below lists each pattern, defines it, and then gives the titles of essays that commonly 

appear in college composition collections and that display that pattern: 

Pattern Definition Examples 

1. Analogy Comparing the unfamiliar to 

the familiar in order to make 

the unfamiliar more familiar 

• Annie Dillard, “The Death 

of a Moth” 

• Barry Lopez, “My Horse” 

2. Cause/Effect Showing how an earlier event 

or set of events brought about a 

later event or set of event 

3. Comparison/Contrast Showing the similarities and 

differences of two somewhat 

related items 

4. Definition Setting the boundaries or limits 

of an item 

5. Division/Classification Separating a group of items 

into related subgroups 

6. Example/Illustration Supplying several instances or 

samples of an item 

7. Process Breaking down a procedure 

into a sequence of steps 

• William Severini Kowinski, 

“Kids in the Mall: Growing 

Up Controlled” 

• Maya Angelou, “Why 

Blacks Are Returning to 

Their Southern Roots” 

• Bruce Catton, “Grant and 

Lee: A Study in Contrasts” 

• Deborah, “Gender in the 

Classroom” 

• Joan Didion, “Self-Respect” 

• Francis Bacon, “On 

Revenge” 

• Randy Shilts, “Good AIDS, 

Bad AIDS’ 

• Judith Viorst, “What, Me? 

Showing Off?” 

• Thomas Jefferson, “The 

Declaration of 

Independence” 

• Mary Karr, “Dysfunctional 

Nation” 

• Alexander Petrunkevitch, 

“The Spider and the Wasp” 

• Jessica Mitford, “Behind the 

Formaldehyde Curtain” 

18 Adapted from “Photosynthesis: The Photosynthetic Process” at the following URL: 

http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/photosyn_ThePhotosyntheticProcess.asp. 

33



Opening and Closing Paragraphs 

Because of their positions in essays, opening and closing paragraphs have special functions that 

paragraphs in the body of the essay do not. For example, an essay’s opening paragraph functions 

much like a thesis sentence at the top of a paragraph does. That is, the opening paragraph 

introduces the essay’s topic, announces its thesis, and sets the tone of the essay. Conversely, a 

closing paragraph completes an essay by conveying the sense that the writer has properly covered 

his or her subject and has satisfied the main reasons for writing. 

Opening Paragraphs 

Some effective types of opening paragraphs are named below, with advice on how to use them. 

• Direct Opening – Open the first paragraph with the thesis of the entire essay. The 

following paragraph illustrates this style. Written in the early 1940s, the paragraph reflects 

both the more conservative spirit of that era and the careful and methodical nature of its 

subject—namely, Wilbur and Orville Wright, inventors of the airplane: 

From earliest years both Wilbur and Orville Wright were 

motivated by what Thorstein Veblen called the “instinct of 

workmanship.” Their father, the Reverend Milton Wright, used 

to encourage them in this and never chided them for spending on 

their hobbies what little money they might have. But he did urge 

them to try to earn enough money to meet the costs of whatever 

projects they were carrying on. “All the money anyone needs,’ 

he used to say, “is just enough to prevent on from being a burden 

on others.” 19 

• Inverted Pyramid – Start with a general statement, narrow to a more specific statement, and 

then end with the most specific statement as the thesis of your essay. In the broad, opening 

statement, the writer generally says something that readers already know and then moves 

toward an idea that readers don’t know, but which the essay will discuss. This strategy 

creates a link between people’s current knowledge and new information that the essayist 

wants them to learn. By moving gradually from the known to the unknown, the inverted 

pyramid paragraph (also called a funnel paragraph) pulls you in and keeps your reading. 

The following paragraph begins with the simple fact that lots of people like camping 

vacations and then uses more and more narrow statements to arrive at a specific point 

about potential camping problems that people may not be aware of: 

Each year, thousands of people throughout the United 

States choose to spend their vacations camping in the great 

outdoors. Depending on an individual's sense of adventure, there 

are various types of camping to choose from, including log cabin 

camping, recreational vehicle camping, and tent camping. Of 

these, tent camping involves "roughing it" the most, and with 

proper planning the experience can be gratifying. Even with the 

best planning, however, tent camping can be an extremely 

19 Fred C. Kelly. The Wright Brothers. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1943. Rpt. New 

York: Dover Publications, 1989. Page 5. 

34



frustrating experience due to uncontrolled factors such as bad 

weather, wildlife encounters, and equipment failures. 20 

• Question – Pose a question in the first sentence of the opening paragraph and then answer 

it by the last sentence of the opener. Make that last sentence the thesis of your essay. The 

thesis need not answer the question directly, but the thesis must follow logically from the 

series of intervening sentences in order to show readers the respect they expect and 

deserve. Writers who use the question/answer strategy believe that a starter question 

arouses a reader’s curiosity and keeps him or her reading in hopes that the writer will 

satisfy that feeling. The following paragraph introduces a Time magazine essay that 

discusses how raw contemporary wrestling shows on television have become over the last 

twenty years: 

What kind of programming do you identify with cable 

television? Probably shows like Larry King Live on CNN and 

Nick at Nite’s reruns of Bewitched, or Biography on A&E and 

maybe those documentaries about Adolf Hitler that the History 

Channel always seems to carry (this week’s is a classic: Hitler 

and the Occult). These offerings may seem emblematic of cable, 

but if you think they represent its most popular shows, you are 

very wrong. Cable’s TV’s true signature is not a conversation 

between Larry King and Trent Lott; it is a Hell in a Cell bout 

between Stone Cold Steve Austin and his archrival Kane. 21 

Serious writers almost always write to solve a problem for themselves or to answer a 

question of their own, so you might think that this opening strategy is very common. In 

fact, it isn’t. For example, Andy Rooney, the veteran CBS reporter, seems famous for 

beginning his commentaries at the end of the television show, 60 Minutes, with the nasaltoned 

remark, “Have your ever…?” In research we did while preparing this book, however, 

we discovered that he almost never, if at all, begins his commentaries that way. And when 

we looked at hundreds of essays in composition anthologies, we also found that the 

question/answer opener is very rare. So feel free to make this strategy your own. Just don’t 

overuse it in one class or in class after class with the same instructor! 

• Anecdote or Description – An anecdote is brief story about an event. The anecdote should 

not only introduce the essay but also illustrate the thesis to be supported in the rest the 

essay. In other words, don’t begin with a story just to begin with one, hoping that it will 

grab readers for whatever comes next. As with an anecdote, you can begin with a brief, 

lively description that sets the scene for the rest of the essay. (Remember that description 

uses concrete words to create a picture in the reader’s mind.) The description need not 

name the thing being described. (In fact, sometimes a picture of some unnamed person, 

place, or thing can be very intriguing.) But the description itself must be clear, consistent, 

and precise. The paragraph below, by Gretel Erhlich, vividly describes something. At first, 

we are not sure what it is; however, as we read further, we realize that she is writing about 

her first semi-conscious moments after having been hit by lightning: 

20 “Sample Five-Paragraph Essay.” North Carolina Conference of English Instructors. August 5, 

2005. http://www.nccei.org/essaybasics/5_paragraph_essay.html. 

21 James Collins. “Lords of the Ring.” Time. June 29, 1998. Rpt. In Barbara Fine Clouse. Patterns 

for a Purpose: A Rhetorical Reader. 3 rd ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003. Page 363. 

35



Deep in an ocean. I am suspended motionless. The water 

is gray. That’s all there is, and before that? My arms are held out 

straight, cruciate, my head and legs hang limp. Nothing moves. 

Brown kelp lies flat in mud and fish are buried in liquid clouds 

of dust. There are no shadows or sounds. Should there be? I 

don’t know if I am alive, but if not, how do I know I am dead? 

My body is leaden, heavier than gravity. Gravity is done with 

me. No more sinking and rising or bobbing in currents. There is 

a terrible feeling of oppression with no oppressor. I try to lodge 

my mind against some boundary, some reference point, but the 

continent of the body dissolves…. 22 

What to Avoid in an Opening Paragraph 

• Beginning with dull or needless definition – Opening with a dictionary definition, 

especially of a well-known term. 

o Example: The dictionary defines love as “strong affection or deep regard for 

another person.” 

• Restating assignment – Repeating for your instructors or reading audiences what they 

already know to be your topic. 

o 

Example: It’s important that we respond to our instructor’s assignment regarding 

the cruelties of slavery that helped cause the Civil War and the great costs of 

intolerance against former slaves after the war. 

• Stating something blatantly obvious – Saying something so obvious or bland that you 

immediately kill your reader’s interest in your topic. 

o Example: In today’s world in which we live, young people face many challenges. 

[Notice also the unnecessary repetition in the introductory clause.] 

• Apologizing – Claiming or pretending to be unqualified to handle the topic of the essay. 

o Example: Although the mapping of the human genome has received much publicity 

in the media, I am not sure that I can predict what the future holds for society in 

light of our new scientific knowledge. 

• Being lazy or careless - Making a false statement or committing a major typographic error. 

o 

Example: What do historians find when they put their noses into the anals of 

history? 23 

Closing Paragraphs 

• Summarize briefly – Sum up the thesis of each paragraph block from the body of the essay, 

but do so only briefly. (In a short essay—fewer than three pages—omit it.) By creating an 

“essay in miniature,” you help readers reabsorb the whole essay in just a few sentences and 

give them a sense of intellectual and stylistic wholeness. In an essay about the Civil War 

figure Joshua Chamberlain, Glenn LaFantasie uses the strategy of a summarizing final 

paragraph. The essay itself discusses Chamberlain’s commitment to chivalry and honor, his 

success at being praised as a hero, and his enthusiastic retelling of the 20 th Maine 

22 Gretel Ehrlich. “Struck by Lightning.” A Match to the Heart: One Woman’s Story of Being Struck 

by Lightning. New York: Pantheon Books, 1994. (Rpt. In Barbara Fine Clouse. Patterns for a Purpose: A 

Rhetorical Reader. 3 rd ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2003. 137.) 

23 For this example of an unintended opening to a student’s final examination essay, I am indebted 

to Douglas Carlson, former teaching colleague at The King’s College in New York, who now teaches at 

Northwestern College in Iowa. 

36



Regiment’s exploits on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. LaFantasie organizes 

his final paragraph similarly and creates the sense of wholeness that many essayists (and 

readers) desire: 

Like nothing else in his life, the charge at Gettysburg 

defined who Joshua Chamberlain was and who he would always be. 

But his greatest achievement—greater than any assault he led, any 

would he survived, any medal he earned, any obstacle he 

overcame—was how he had lived his dreams and made them come 

true. He wanted to be a chivalrous knight and an Old Testament 

warrior, and so in his own eyes and those of his contemporaries he 

became those things. The Civil War gave him the opportunity to 

turn his deepest aspirations into reality. But it is our need for 

heroes… that has enabled Chamberlain to achieve the glory he 

longed for throughout the war and most of his life. All in all, he 

accomplished what few men, either in his own time or in our own, 

can ever honestly claim: he lived his dreams to the fullest. 24 

• Look to the future – Suggest to your readership the importance or benefit to them of what 

you have said in the essay. Whether you write to tell a story, describe a scene, provide 

information, or defend a viewpoint, you also must consider how readers might profit from 

what you have written. They are spending time reading your writing, after all, and they 

should derive some reward for their effort. In the following paragraph, Martin Luther King, 

Jr., concludes an essay-like letter that he wrote to some Birmingham, Alabama, clergymen 

who wanted him to go slow with early efforts at racial integration. After arguing many 

points raised by those who wrote to him, King concludes by discussing the benefits of 

more rapid progress toward racial equality in their city and the nation: 

I hope this letter finds you strong in the faith. I also hope 

that circumstances will soon make it possible for me to meet each of 

your, not as an integrationist or a civil-rights leader but as a fellow 

clergyman and a Christian brother. Let us all hope that the dark 

clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of 

misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched 

communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars 

of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all 

their scintillating beauty. 25 

• End with a clinching statement – The equivalent of beginning an essay directly is to end 

with a clinching statement. Such a statement seals or confirms what has gone before. It 

tries to capture in one concentrated phrase both the intellectual and emotional content of 

the essay. To execute this strategy, for example, some writers restate the thesis in the 

words of a famous quotation from the Bible, a historical figure, or other revered source. 

Other writers may quote the words of someone they interviewed when preparing the essay 

and who seems to encapsulate the author’s own ideas. The following paragraph uses even 

another clinching strategy: the blunt remark that is both ironic and satiric. The irony and 

24 Glenn LaFantasie. “Joshua Chamberlain and the American Dream.” The Gettysburg Nobody 

Knows. Ed. Gabor S. Boritt. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. 55. 

25 Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” The Norton Reader. 11 th ed. New York: 

W. W. Norton, 2004. 902. 

37



satire of this closing paragraph is especially strong because it comes after a twenty-sixparagraph-long 

description of how bodies might be prepared for viewing at a funeral home: 

It is the function of directing the participants through this 

maze of gadgetry that the funeral director has assigned to himself 

the relatively new role of “grief therapist.” He has relieved the 

family of every detail, he has revamped the corpse to look like a 

living doll, he has arranged for it to nap for a few days in a slumber 

room, he has put on a well-oiled performance in which the concept 

of death has played no part whatsoever—unless it was 

inconsiderately mentioned by the clergyman who conducted the 

religious service. He has done everything in his power to make the 

funeral a real pleasure for everyone concerned. He and his team 

have given their all to score an upset victory over death. 26 

• Recall the opening anecdote or description – If you begin an essay with a brief 

anecdote/description, then often the most logical way to finish the essay is to round off the 

anecdote/description in the final paragraph. By completing the opening 

anecdote/description, the final paragraph satisfies readers’ curiosity as to why you opened 

as you did and gives a sense of stylistic completeness too. The following two paragraphs 

come from an essay about the dangers that could arise as more and more nations 

developing nuclear weapons. The first paragraph opens the essay and introduces a scene 

from 1945, right after the end of World War II. The second paragraph ends the essay by 

recalling the opening scene and by tying up the author’s thesis about the need for effective 

diplomacy to stop nuclear proliferation: 

Sixty years ago, on a stormy night in 1945, the charismatic 

American physicist Robert Oppenheimer mounted the stage of a 

movie theater in the secret city of Los Alamos, New Mexico. Lean 

and intense, he was there to address hundreds of scientists—the men 

and women who built the first atomic bombs under his direction. 

Exploded over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 

August 6 and 9, 1945, those bombs had just ended the most 

destructive war in human history—and changed the face of war 

forever. 

* * * * * 

Neils Bohr and Robert Oppenheimer would recognize our 

dilemma: What to do with the double-edged sword they handed us, 

forged from exotic metals by a nuclear reaction that science 

stumbled across one day in 1938 while going about its business of 

discovering how the world works. Their advice, I think, still holds: 

Only cooperation among nations can secure the deadly metals from 

which nuclear weapons are made. Only negotiated reductions in 

arsenals and limitations on weapons development can diminish the 

long-term risk to us all. That’s what Bohr and Oppenheimer 

fervently believed, and what Oppenheimer told the scientists of Los 

Alamos that rainy night 60 years ago. 27 

26 Mitford, Jessica. “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain.” The American Way of Death. New York: 

Knopf, 1998. (Rpt. From Barbara Fine Clouse. Patterns for a Purpose: A Rhetorical Reader. 3 rd ed. Boston: 

McGraw-Hill, 2003. 339). 

27 Rhodes, Richard. “Living with the Bomb.” National Geographic. 208:2. August 2005. 100, 113. 

38



What to Avoid in a Closing Paragraph 

• Repeating the thesis – Don’t just restate the thesis, especially in a short essay, as if you 

forgot to do so. 

• Starting on new topic – Don’t wander onto a new topic unrelated to the topic of the essay. 

• Pretending to prove more than you have – Don’t claim that your essay shows more than 

you have shown. If your discussion is incomplete or your argument is weak, complete the 

discussion or strengthen the argument. 

• Unnecessarily bringing thesis into doubt – Don’t apologize for weaknesses in the essay or 

claim a false humility. 

39



Part 5 – Using Logic and Evidence 

Introduction 

The first rule of good writing is to tell the truth. No matter how clear, concise, and organized your 

writing might be, readers will reject your work if you don’t understand your subject or try to 

deceive them. To be truthful, you also must be logical. That is, you must present reasonable 

arguments based on facts, evidence, and expert opinion. The second rule of good writing is to 

respect your audience. No matter how truthful your writing may be, readers also will reject your 

work if you attack them personally. 28 Normally, we would discuss the first rule first and the second 

rule second. However, people generally can control their emotions when writing academic 

assignments more easily than reason logically, so we will tackle the second issue—respect for your 

audience—first. 

Respect your audience by maintaining a balanced tone. The tone of an essay is the mood or 

feeling that it conveys to its readers. This tone comes through in the author’s word choice, sentence 

structure, paragraph structure, and punctuation. 

Articles in scientific magazines and journals, for example, usually try to strike a rational and 

serious tone of voice, reflecting the dominant attitude of scientists that they deal in matters of 

objective fact, verifiable by research and experimentation. For example, in their now-famous 1953 

article announcing the revolutionary discovery of the proper structure of DNA, James Watson and 

Francis Crick struck a very restrained mood or feeling in their first two paragraphs. Words such as 

suggest, considerable, and unsatisfactory indicate a controlled tone. An irrational or superior tone 

might have involved the words insist upon, immense, and stupid. 

We wish to suggest a structure for the salt of 

deoxyribose nucleic acid (D.N.A.). This structure has novel 

features which are of considerable biological interest. 

A structure for nucleic acid has already been proposed 

by Pauling and Corey. They kindly made their manuscript 

available to us in advance of publication. Their model consists of 

three intertwined chains, with the phosphates near the fibre axis, 

and the bases on the outside. In our opinion, this structure is 

unsatisfactory for two reasons: We believe that the material 

which gives the X-ray diagrams is the salt, not the free acid. 

Without the acidic hydrogen atoms it is not clear what forces 

would hold the structure together, especially as the negatively 

charged phosphates near the axis will repel each other. Some of 

the van der Waals distances appear to be too small. 29 

In contrast, a letter the editor of a newspaper, especially on politics, may be passionate in its choice 

of language and punctuation. Unfortunately, letters to the editor often do little more than give those 

28 Television commentator Christ Matthews once suggested that Americans despise politicians who 

insult them. This may explain why the 2000 presidential election was so close. Matthews says that, at one 

televised debate, the audience “preferred the notion of having a guy in the White House who often spoke 

English as if it were his second language [George Bush] to one who spoke to us as if English were our 

second language [Al Gore].” http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/Chronicles/June2002/0602Lott.html. 

29 http://biocrs.biomed.brown.edu/Books/Chapters/Ch%208/DH-Paper.html 

40



who write in the opportunity to vent their emotions. For example, in the first paragraph of the 

following example, the letter criticizes the Federal Communications Commission for 2005 rulings 

against indecent broadcasting practices by using inflammatory words like burden ourselves, taken 

control, and indiscriminately, without offering any evidence that the offenses referred to have 

actually occurred. The second paragraph describes the writer’s fellow citizens as people who sit 

idly by like sheep and elected officials as a gang of crooks and liars. This paragraph also lacks any 

supporting evidence, helping to make the letter sound like a frustrated outburst rather than a 

reasoned attempt to persuade readers: 

Dear Editor: 

We should all feel a little lighter. No longer do we have to burden 

ourselves with deciding what to watch and listen to. Our government has taken 

control of the dials. The Federal Communications Commission can now 

indiscriminately levy huge fines against anyone it chooses, without precedent, 

guidelines or a day in court ["Crackdown on indecency," News, Feb. 17]. 

And we all sit idly by like sheep. The people we elected have failed us, and 

the only way to fight back is to make sure you don't vote for anyone, Republican 

or Democrat, currently in office. Kick them out and give the next gang of crooks 

and liars a chance to stand up for us and prove their worth. 30 

The following letter does a better job of telling the truth and respecting its audience. The two 

quoted words—voluntary and free—at first appear to be sarcastic or ironic quips, but they actually 

are quotations from the news story to which the letter responds. Similarly, this letter (written by a 

college student) offers evidence for its positions without losing control of its tone: 

Dear Editor: 

It is ironic that the Daily printed an editorial supporting free air time for 

candidates on the same day that they printed a special section on the First 

Amendment. The Federal Communication Commission's plan to encourage 

stations to give free air time to candidates is a violation of the free speech rights 

of the stations involved, and would not have the positive effects that the editorial 

suggests. 

Broadcasters should be allowed to own the airwaves they broadcast on just 

as newspapers are allowed to own the printing presses with which they print their 

papers. As long as the FCC is given the arbitrary authority to deny renewal of the 

licenses to any broadcaster who doesn't do what it wants, free speech in the 

broadcast industry is a farce. This case is one example of this problem. 

Regardless of what the FCC says, when they ask a station to carry free political 

ads, it is not "voluntary." Behind such a request is the thinly veiled threat that the 

FCC will force them to comply or revoke their licenses if they don't. 

The editorial writer is also unreasonably optimistic about the practical 

results of such a plan. Like all businesses, TV stations are there to make money, 

and they will put the "free" advertising in the lowest-priced slots in their lineups. 

This means that the ads will tend to run late at night and in the early morning 

when almost no one is watching. Furthermore, there is no reason to think that the 

broadcasters would give third-party candidates air time, since the FCC is run by 

people appointed by Republicans and Democrats. Rather than leveling the 

30 February 21, 2005 letter to Newsday, the major newspaper on Long Island, NY, as printed at the 

following URL: http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/letters/. 

41



playing field, this could further increase the advantage that major-party 

candidates have over their third-party opponents. 

The FCC was created to ensure that wireless communications and electrical 

devices do not interfere with each other, and that is all it should do. Political 

decisions regarding campaign financing and broadcasters' obligations should be 

dealt with by our elected officials, not bureaucrats who are not responsible to the 

American people. 31 

Tell the truth by understanding and using logic and evidence. To help you write more logically, 

you should learn a few basic terms of logic. Knowing these terms will help improve your chances 

of writing logically and avoid fooling yourself and others. More importantly, perhaps, learning 

these terms will help you reduce the odds that others will fool you with writing that appears 

sensible but is nothing more than fancy words and slick tactics. 

Understanding the Two Basic Types of Reasoning 

1. Induction – drawing a general conclusion from representative specific events or instances. 

a. Example: My roommate goes out for pizza three days a week. Therefore, my 

roommate probably loves pizza. 

b. Example: New York State has voted Democratic in the last five straight 

presidential elections. Therefore, New York has more Democrats than 

Republicans. 

2. Deduction – drawing a specific conclusion from more general principles. (Deduction often 

uses a syllogism, which is a three-part deduction based upon a major premise and a minor 

premise.) 

a. Example: All students in the RCC Honors program must have at least a 3.00 GPA. 

John Smith is in the RCC Honors program. Therefore, John Smith has at least a 

3.00 G.P.A. 

b. Example: All men are mortal. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal. 

Besides learning some basic terms of logic, also watch for common errors in reasoning that you 

could fall into unless you think through things carefully. 

Examples of Informal Fallacies 

(Fallacy – a faulty form of reasoning; that is, reasoning illogically, whether from true or false 

premises, and whether arriving at a true or false conclusion.) 

1. Faulty Generalization – drawing a general conclusion from insufficient or unrepresentative 

specific evidence. 

a. Example: When faced with a major purchase, men are always more irrational than 

are women! 

b. Example: “I don’t understand how Bush could have won the election! I don’t know 

anyone who voted for him!” 

2. Begging the Question (or circular reasoning) – drawing a conclusion from a premise that 

states essentially the same idea as the conclusion itself. 

a. Example: Anyone who is old enough to fight for his country should have the vote 

because anyone over 18 should be allowed to vote. 

31 Letter to the Editor of the Minnesota Daily, November 19, 1998. Available at the following URL: 

http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1998/11/19/editorial_opinions/l1119.lett/ 

42



b. Example: Anyone who wins the popular vote should be president because the 

Electoral College should not dictate who is elected president. 

3. Post hoc reasoning – concluding that a later event must result from an earlier one simply 

because that later event occurred after the first. 

a. Example: The city garbage men picked up the garbage today, and my garbage can 

lid is missing. Those bums must have stolen my lid. 

b. Example: The stock market went up after Clinton became president and went down 

after Bush became president. Obviously, Democrats are good for the economy and 

Republicans aren’t. 

4. Either-or reasoning – Reasoning that only two arguments (or lines of reasoning) exist on 

an issue, and then drawing one of those two conclusions, usually after portraying the other 

one as absurd (i.e., illogical). 

a. Example: We must build more nuclear power plants immediately or we will 

depend too much on Middle East oil for the rest of our lives. 

b. Example: The government must eliminate nuclear power plants or we are going to 

wipe out our country with radioactive spills and similar forms of pollution. 

5. Ad hominem reasoning – Attacking the people who advocate an argument rather than 

attacking the argument itself. 

a. Example: Greedy big business hates the common person, so we need a higher 

minimum wage to protect poor workers. 

b. Example: Anti-war groups are full of liars who hate America, so we can ignore 

anything they have to say about the Iraq war. 

6. Bandwagon appeal – advocating a conclusion just because it is, or claims to be, popular. 

a. Example: Everyone knows that capital punishment is cruel and inhumane, so we 

ought to eliminate the death penalty. 

b. Example: Over 90 percent of Americans believe in God, so we ought to allow 

prayer in the schools. 

43



Part 6 – Finding, Recording, and Using Sources in a Research Paper 

Introducing the Research Paper 

A common assignment in college writing is the research paper. A research paper involves 

investigating one or more sources of knowledge, summarizing the key findings in that area, and 

then responding to those findings with personal analysis and/or interpretation. Colleges and 

universities usually charge their English Departments with training students in the art of writing 

research papers. Thus, a paper in an introductory English Composition course often involves 

reading essays, novels, poems, or dramas, and then writing an interpretative paper about those 

works, either with support from or in response to secondary sources from commentators and critics 

who also have interpreted the literary work. 

However, a research paper can have many other topics. For example: 

• In a history class, you might read eyewitness accounts and other documents about a 

historical event and then write your own interpretive summary of that event. 

• In a mathematics class, you might investigate the history of a key mathematical discovery 

and comment upon its significance for the world of mathematics in general. 

• In a sociology class, you might prepare a written survey on a social problem, interview 

people about it, and then report those findings along with the findings of experts who have 

researched the same topic. 

• In a physics class, you might research the history of a particular experiment, re-perform the 

experiment for yourself, and then write a report showing whether your results conform to 

those of the previous research. 

Whatever your topic might be, the reasons for writing a research paper usually come down to one 

or more of the following: 

• To introduce you to facts and expert opinions about a topic. 

• To familiarize you with a specific field so that you yourself begin to be an expert about it. 

• To develop investigative and critical thinking skills that will serve you in later courses, 

your profession, and your personal life. 

• To give you a sense of accomplishment at having learned something on your own. 

In short, professors assign papers so that you will learn about something, learn how to learn, and 

help you to mature as a person. 

For many students doing a research paper deeply annoys them. These students often just buy or 

copy a paper from someone else, hoping that their teacher won’t catch them at plagiarism. At the 

other end of the spectrum, many students are terrified of doing a paper, but they do the same as the 

first group. A third group, however, understands the key to research paper success: Identify the 

topic to be investigated, develop a plan involving manageable steps, and execute the plan to a 

successful result. If you learn the information in this chapter, you can be one of those successful 

people. 

Describing the Research Paper 

A research paper closely resembles the standard essay that we already have discussed in earlier 

chapters. For example, the research paper usually begins with a thesis statement followed by a 

series of paragraphs that develop and illustrate the thesis. However, research papers generally also 

1. Are longer, usually five to twenty typed pages. (A senior seminar paper, required for 

graduation from college, can run fifty pages.) 

44



2. Contain research from books and articles, interviews, surveys, clinical observations, and/or 

laboratory experiments. 

3. Require that you follow a citation format for quotations, summaries, and paraphrases that is 

approved and published by an academic or professional society. 

4. Require a Works Cited page, which lists just the sources used in the paper, or a 

Bibliography, which lists sources used in the paper and additional suggested readings on 

the topic of the paper. 

5. Count for a significant or majority portion of the final grade. 

Introducing Library Research 

When setting business priorities, many business people do what’s called a cost-benefit analysis. 

Simply put, a cost-benefit analysis involves determining how much it will cost a business in raw 

materials, services supplied by outside suppliers, employee hours, and similar expenses vs. the 

financial and related benefits that the company will receive from those expenses. When deciding to 

do assignments, you probably make a similar decision. However, for you, the analysis doesn’t 

involve items such as raw materials, but the following: 

• How much time you want to spend on the assignment (The cost) 

• What kind of grade you want (Benefit 1) 

• What you will learn from doing it (Benefit 2) 

Now that students have access to the Internet for doing college work preparation, they often give in 

to the temptation of cutting back on preparation and research time by using questionable Internet 

sources. You should resist this temptation by knowing the following: 

• What departments and resources does your library offer? 

• How do you find books and articles for a paper? 

• How do you record information from books and articles that you may use in the paper? 

The following three sections offer guidance on these key questions. 

Knowing Library Departments and Resources 

Different schools have different departments and resources, but they all generally have an online 

catalog, a reserve section, a reference section, a periodicals department, open stacks, and 

multimedia. 

The Online Catalog – Instead of the hundreds of wooden drawers that students used in the 1980s 

and earlier, today you can find lists of books and articles by searching a computer-based catalog. 

Before computerized catalogs, students could search for books only by subject area, book title, or 

book author. Now, you can search by not only the three previous features but also the following 

features: 

• ISBN, or International Standard Book Number 

• Library of Congress Subject Heading 

• Publisher 

• Document type 

• Library of Congress call number 

• Language in which the book is written 

The Reserve Section – Instructors sometimes assign readings from personally owned materials or 

very new books or articles not readily available to other people. In these cases, instructors often 

have librarians hold books or journals in a dedicated section of the library (usually behind the 

checkout desk) and limit checkout times to one hour, two hours, overnight, or some other brief time 

45



limit. Putting difficult-to-obtain books in this dedicated area makes it easier for all students in the 

class to read the book without someone in the class hoarding the book, making it hard for others to 

read it. 

The Reference Section – This department contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, journal indexes, 

anthologies, author or subject bibliographies, and similar materials that provide general information 

on all sorts of topics. Almost always, students may not remove reference books from the library 

because large reference books are expensive and they provide foundational background 

information to which all students need access. Quite often, reference books also contain 

bibliographies of more detailed readings to guide you toward further research materials. 

In the case of author or subject bibliographies, the whole book is just a list of other books, 

magazines, newspapers, academic journals, and similar materials. These bibliographies often have 

short, descriptive sentences or paragraphs, called annotations, that help you quickly determine 

whether the bibliography item relates to the specific topic that you want to write about. 

The following table lists major books in print for different academic fields that you usually will 

find in a reference section: 32 

Academic Area 

Anthropology 

Art and Architecture 

Biology 

Business 

Chemistry 

Print Resources 

Abstracts in Anthropology 

Annual Review of Anthropology 

Dictionary of Anthropology 

Encyclopedia of World Cultures 

Art Abstracts 

Art Index 

BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art 

Encyclopedia of World Art. 

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Art 

Biological Abstracts 

Biological and Agricultural Index 

Encyclopedia of the Biological Sciences 

Henderson’s Dictionary of Biological Terms 

Zoological Record 

Accounting and Tax Index 

Blackwell Encyclopedia of Management 

Encyclopedia of Business Information Sources 

ABI/Inform 

Chemical Abstracts (CASEARCH) 

Dictionary of Chemistry 

Van Nostrand Reinhold Encyclopedia of Chemistry 

32 Part 8, “Using the Internet to Do Academic Research,” lists Web sites for finding academically respected 

sources of information. Some of those Web sites may require registration fees or access through a college 

library. 

46



Academic Area 


Classics 

Communications and Journalism 

Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Classical World 

Oxford Classical Dictionary 

Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites 

Annotated Media Bibliography 

Communication Abstracts 

International Encyclopedia of Communications 

Journalism Abstracts 

Computer Science and Technology Computer Abstracts 

Dictionary of Computing 

Encyclopedia of Computer Science 

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology 

Cultural Studies, American and 

Ethnic Studies 

Economics 

Education 

Engineering 

Environmental Sciences 

Film 

Encyclopedia of World Cultures 

Dictionary of American Negro Biography 

Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America 

Mexican American Biographies 

American Studies Web 

EconLit 

PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service 

Dictionary of Education 

Education Index 

Encyclopedia of Educational Research 

International Encyclopedia of Education 

Resources in Education 

Applied Science and Technology Index 

Engineering Index 

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Engineering 

Dictionary of the Environment 

Encyclopedia of Energy, Technology, and the Environment 

Encyclopedia of the Environment 

Environment Abstracts 

Environment Index 

Dictionary of Film Terms 

The Film Encyclopedia 

Film Literature Index 

Film Index International 

47



Academic Area 

Geography 

Geology 

Health and Medicine 

History 

Languages and Linguistics 

Literature 

Mathematics 

Music 

Philosophy 


Geographical Abstracts 

Longman Dictionary of Geography 

Modern Geography: An Encyclopedic Survey 

Bibliography and Index of Geology 

Challinor’s Dictionary of Geology 

The Encyclopedia of Field and General Geology 

American Geological Institute 

American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine 

Cumulated Index Medicus 

Medical and Health Information Directory 

Nutrition Abstracts and Reviews 

Martindale’s Health Science Guide 

America: History and Life 

Dictionary of Historical Terms 

Encyclopedia of American History 

An Encyclopedia of World History 

Historical Abstracts 

Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language 

An Encyclopedic Dictionary of Language and Languages 

International Encyclopedia of Linguistics 

LLBA: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts 

MLA International Bibliography 

Concise Oxford Guide of Literary Terms 

Handbook to Literature 

MLA International Bibliography 

The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics 

American Statistics Index 

Dictionary of Mathematics 

International Dictionary of Applied Mathematics 

Mathematical Reviews (MathSciNet) 

Music Index 

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 

New Oxford Companion to Music 

RILM Abstracts of Musical Literature 

Dictionary of Philosophy 

Philosopher’s Index 

Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

48



Academic Area 

Physics 

Political Science 

Psychology 

Religion 

Sociology 

Theater and Dance 

Women’s Studies 


Dictionary of Physics 

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Physics 

Physics Abstracts 

Almanac of American Politics 

Congressional Quarterly Almanac 

Encyclopedia of Government and Politics 

International Political Science Abstracts 

Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) 

International Dictionary of Psychology 

International Encyclopedia of Psychiatry, Psychology, 

Psychoanalysis, and Neurology 

Psychological Abstracts 

Dictionary of Bible and Religion 

Encyclopedia of Religion 

Religion Index 

Annual Review of Sociology 

Encyclopedia of Social Work 

Encyclopedia of Sociology 

Sociological Abstracts 

International Index to the Performing Arts 

International Encyclopedia of the Dance 

McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama 

Women’s Studies: A Guide to Information Sources 

Women’s Studies Abstracts 

Women’s Studies Encyclopedia 

The Periodicals Department – This department contains magazines, newspapers, academic 

journals, and other publications that appear daily, weekly, monthly, or at other regular intervals. 

These types of publications help when you are writing papers about the literary reputations of 

authors when they were alive, about first impressions of eyewitnesses to historical events, about 

current events, and so on. This department also contains printed periodical indexes that list articles 

by author, subject, and/or title so that you can find articles more readily. 

The Open Stacks – These are the library shelves that contain books intended for general circulation. 

Elementary schools, high schools, and public libraries usually organize books by subjects 

numbered with the Dewey Decimal System, from 000 to 900—or ten categories—plus a fiction 

section. However, almost all colleges and universities use the Library of Congress Classification 

(LOCC) to number their books and journals. The LOCC has the advantage of dividing materials 

into more sections, since it divides books from A to Z. Do not assume that books on anthropology 

appear in the A section or that literature appears in the L section. The following table indicates 

which letters represent which general topics: 

49



Letter Subject Letter Subject 

A General Works M Music and Books on Music 

B Philosophy, Psychology, Religion N Fine Arts 

C Auxiliary Sciences of History P Language and Literature 

D History (General) and History of Q Science 

Europe 

E History: America R Medicine 

F History: America S Agriculture 

G Geography, Anthropology, Recreation T Technology 

H Social Sciences (Sociology, etc.) U Military Science 

J Political Science V Naval Science 

K Law Z Bibliography, Library Science, 

Information Resources (General) 

L Education 

Multimedia – This is the newest section of college libraries, and contains items such as records, 

films, videotapes, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and similar materials that contain audio or audio-visual 

materials rather than text-based documents. 

Finding Books and Articles 

To find books and articles in the library, follow this general strategy. 

1. Start by reviewing reference books to learn general background information about the topic 

you will write about. For example, depending on the class your are taking, you may want 

to look at a literary dictionary that contains brief biographies of literary authors, a science 

encyclopedia that explains the basics of the Big Bank theory, an encyclopedia of biomedical 

ethics that discusses the competing views on stem cell research, a historical 

encyclopedia that lists major battles of the American Civil War, etc. 

Feel free to call upon reference librarians to help you find general-level materials that will 

best inform you about your chosen topic. Even within a narrow area such as literature, you 

can find books devoted to languages, United States literature, British literature, other 

European literatures, South American literature, Asian literature, African literature, 

Canadian/Australian/New Zealander literature, poetic and other literary terms, and on and 

on and on. 

2. Develop a list of books, articles, and other sources related to your author or specific topic 

and find them in the library’s online catalog. Look for the books in the open stacks, and 

check out the ones that seem most helpful to your paper. If you know that a book exists but 

cannot find it on the shelves, ask a librarian if it is in the reserve section or is checked out. 

Sometimes, you can put in a written request for a book or article and the library will notify 

the person who has it and request that he/she return it for your use, especially if that person 

has had the material for several weeks or longer. 

3. Look for articles in the periodicals department. If needed, look at printed indexes as well as 

the online catalog for potential research sources, since some libraries may catalog 

periodicals in their computer databases only after they have finished with their books. 

4. Finally, unless you are writing a paper on a piece of music or film, go to the multimedia 

department last. While you may be fascinated by videos and DVDs about authors, 

50



historical movements, scientific discoveries, etc., your instructors will look mostly for 

written sources on the Works Cited page of your research paper. Even the most serious of 

television productions can, in one hour, cover only the surface of serious topic. 

Recording Potentially Useful Information 

After checking out materials from the library, you must record information from those sources on 

pages or cards that you can use at all hours of the day or night. Keeping books and articles for 

several weeks or the whole semester may make life easier for you when writing a paper, but doing 

do shows great disrespect for your instructors, classmates, and other people whose academic life is 

just as important as yours. 

With easy access to photocopy machines, the Internet, word processors, and similar text-handling 

tools, you may be tempted just to make copies or printouts of the research materials and underline 

or highlight them as you read. If you have the money to generate such large amounts of paper, feel 

free to do so. However, by listing books and taking notes on note cards, you gain the advantage of 

truly absorbing and organizing the material you are reading and of identifying the most essential 

material you need for a paper. 

The following strategy for taking notes is a tried and true method, and will earn you the deep and 

undying love and admiration of your instructors. 

Bibliography Cards – Record the bibliographic data of books and articles on 3 x 5 index cards. Be 

sure to include any and all information that you will need to place in a Works Cited page, and 

include a short summary of the source so that you have an overview of the source. In one of the 

upper corners of the card, identify the source by the last name of the author or by a letter of the 

alphabet. For each new source, record the last name or a new letter, the bibliographic information, 

and a summary. A sample bibliography card appears below: 

Buckley 

Buckley, James, Jr. Classic Ballparks. New York: Barnes 

and Noble Books, 2005. 

Summary - Excellent introduction to the Polo Grounds, 

Fenway Park, Tiger Stadium, Ebbets Field, Wrigley 

Field, and Yankee Stadium. Complete with many 

photographs and index. 

Content Cards – Record quotations or summaries from sources that already have bibliography 

cards. In an upper corner of the card, record the author’s last name and/or letter that you placed on 

the corresponding bibliography card. A quotation is a direct, word-for-word reproduction of the 

words and sentences of the author. A summary is a brief retelling of the author’s main points in 

your own words. When recording quotes and summaries, use some sort of mark(s) to distinguish 

clearly between the two. For example, make sure that quotations have obvious opening and closing 

quotation marks or some other indication as to exactly where the quote begins and ends. Make sure 

51



that you write Summary in front of summarized material or use some other obvious mark(s) to 

indicate that situation. 

If you leave material off of the beginning of a quotation, either introduce it with phrasing and 

punctuation that provides a grammatical bridge into the quotation, or add a capital letter in brackets 

to show that the opening word appears somewhere other than at the beginning of a sentence. If you 

leave material out of the middle of a passage, use an ellipsis, or three periods, where you have left 

out material. (Of course, leave out intermediate material only if the omission does not change the 

basic meaning of the source.) If you leave material off the end of a sentence, add an ellipsis for the 

omitted material and then a fourth period to indicate the end of the sentence. 

Using an Ellipsis for Omitted Material within a Sentence 

If you leave material out of the middle of a passage, use an 

ellipsis . . . where you have left out material. 

Using an Ellipsis for Omitted Material at the End of a Sentence 

If you leave material off the end of a sentence, add a fourth 

period to indicate the end of the sentence…. 

The following is an example of a well-prepared Content Card (Notice that this is a direct quotation, 

as indicated by the word QUOTATION that appears before and after the quote. Notice also that 

QUOTATION is indented, indicating that this is the first sentence of a paragraph. Finally, notice 

that the last sentence uses the ellipsis plus a fourth period to indicate that text from the end of the 

original sentence is missing.): 

Buckley/113 

QUOTATION The places where Major 

League Baseball was played, until 1923, were 

“parks,” or “fields,” or “grounds.” In 1923, a new 

colossus arose, and it was no mere ballyard, no 

mere meadow; it was a stadium, muscular, huge, 

dominant, the first in the game’s history to take 

that name. It was Yankee Stadium…. 

QUOTATION 

Understanding Paraphrase, Summary, and Direct Quotation 

When writing papers, students often ask when to use supporting paraphrases, summaries, or direct 

quotations. Before providing advice on such strategies, we should define our terms clearly so that 

you understand the differences among these types of information: 

• A paraphrase involves restating a text or passage in your own words, in roughly the same 

number of words, to clarify the source’s meaning for yourself. You often would use 

paraphrase to remember source information and to ensure that you understand it 

thoroughly. 

52



• A summary also involves restating a text or passage in your own words, but in much 

fewer words. For example, you might summarize a book chapter in just a paragraph or a 

paragraph in just one sentence. Again, your goal in summarizing usually is to help you 

remember the source information and to ensure that you can express the material in terms 

that you understand. 

• A direct quotation involves repeating the exact words of an original source. Quote a 

source whenever your readers would benefit from seeing the exact wording of a writer 

rather than just a summary. For example, 

o To express a thought in concise terms that might take you longer to summarize. 

o To display the style of a source that you intend to analyze. 

o To express the exact words of a source because those words are in dispute. 

o To restate or reinforce something you have said or will say in your own words. 

When writing a paper that requires supporting material, generally use only summaries or direct 

quotations, not paraphrases. As noted above, a paraphrase is roughly the same length as the source 

it comes from and is in your own words. Thus, a paraphrase has two disadvantages: its phrasing is 

no more economical than that of its source, and it contains a less accurate rendition thereof. Also, 

you can confuse a long paraphrase with an actual quotation, accidentally incorporate it into your 

paper, and make the mistake of putting quotation marks around it. Much to their regret, a surprising 

number of professional writers have committed this error. You could too. 

Using a Paraphrase 

As stated above, use paraphrasing mainly as a learning tool. For example, imagine that you are 

reading the essay entitled “The World's Oldest Virtue,” by the etiquette expert Judith Martin (also 

known as “Miss Manners”). 33 To paraphrase the opening two paragraphs of her essay, you might 

rewrite her phrasing as follows: 

Original Source 

Whenever there is a contest between etiquette and 

acknowledged virtues, etiquette loses. Hardly anyone would 

dispute the proposition that morals are more important than mere 

manners, and the assertion that etiquette can and should be 

jettisoned for a higher good is commonly made and accepted in 

everyday life. 

"I'm concerned about people's health," is a typical 

explanation offered by someone who admonishes others, 

sometimes even strangers in restaurants, that what they're eating 

is bad for them. The moral virtue of devotion to the well-being 

of others supposedly obliterates the rule of etiquette against 

minding other people's business. [97 words] 

Paraphrase of Source 

Whenever people struggle between following etiquette 

and what they view as moral, etiquette loses. Most people would 

argue that morals are more important than manners. They also 

would say that we should reject manners when a higher value is 

at stake. 

33 http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9305/articles/martin.html 

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“I’m focused on people’s health,” is what you might say, 

even to strangers in a restaurant, if you thought they were eating 

something unhealthy. If you feel you have the right to give 

advice to people about their health, you might ignore the 

etiquette of minding your own business. [90 words] 

Comment: The paraphrase uses some words of the original, but contains mainly your own words, 

uses common synonyms, and has a more casual tone of voice. (Most of us write more informally 

than does Judith Martin.) Also, the paraphrase is roughly the same number of words as the source. 

In short, the paraphrase puts the source into simpler terms readers easily can understand, helping 

them to assimilate the source’s meaning. 

Using Summary 

When you summarize a source in a research paper, introduce that source with words of your own. 

This introduction, or frame, should provide a proper grammatical transition between your own 

words and those of the source and will advise readers that the upcoming words are someone else’s. 

For example, imagine that you want summarize the first two paragraphs of Martin’s essay. Your 

summary might look something like this. 

According to one etiquette expert, most people say that 

their values are more important than manners. You might tell 

people, “I want people to be healthy” if you think they are eating 

something unhealthy or feel that giving advice about their health 

is more important than keeping quiet (Martin 22). 

Comment: In this case, you have omitted Martin’s details and focused on only her key points, so 

your rewrite runs to less than half the length of her original remarks. Your five-word frame makes 

your summary forty-eight words long. Since you have not mentioned Martin’s name in your frame, 

you must add her name, along with the source’s page number, in your MLA parenthetic citation. 

Finally, for a short quotation or summary, place the period of your last sentence after the closing 

parenthesis. 

If you added Martin’s name to your frame, your summary would look like this: 

According to the etiquette expert Judith Martin, most 

people say that their values are more important than manners. 

You might tell people, “I want people to be healthy” if you think 

they are eating something bad for them or feel that giving advice 

about their health is more important than keeping quiet (22). 

Comment: Because you have placed Martin’s name in your introductory frame, you need not 

include it in your MLA parenthetic citation. Again, notice that the period goes after the closing 

parenthesis. 

Using Direct Quotation 

As you should with summaries, always introduce a quoted source. Again, this frame should provide 

a proper grammatical transition and advise readers that a source is coming. The following samples 

demonstrate various ways to introduce quoted material. 

54



Short Quotation with Author’s Name in Frame – Begin with an introductory frame that includes the 

author’s name, use a comma—if needed—to introduce the quotation, open the quotation marks, 

reproduce the source’s exact wording, close the quotation marks, give only the page number in the 

parenthetic citation, and then end with a period. (If the quoted source has a quotation inside of it, 

use single quotation marks for the interior quote.) 

The etiquette expert Judith Martin has written, “Whenever there 

is a contest between etiquette and acknowledged virtues, 

etiquette loses” (22). 

Short Quotation with Author’s Name in Parenthetic Citation – Begin with an introductory frame 

that omits the author’s name, add a comma if needed, open the quotation marks, reproduce the 

source’s exact wording, close the quotation marks, provide the parenthetic citation with the 

author’s name and page number, and then add a period. (Again, if the quoted source has a 

quotation inside of it, use single quotation marks for the interior quote.) 

One etiquette expert has written that “[w]henever there is a 

contest between etiquette and acknowledged virtues, etiquette 

loses” (Martin 22). 

Long Quotation with Author’s Name in Frame – Begin with an introductory frame that mentions 

the author’s name, add a comma if needed, indent the whole quotation ten spaces from only the left 

margin, add the period, and then add the parenthetic citation with only the page number. (Since 

your long quotation is indented on the left, do not use opening and closing quotation marks. If your 

quoted source contains a quotation, however, reproduce the quotation marks just as they appear in 

the source.) 

According to the etiquette expert Judith Martin, 


acknowledged virtues, etiquette loses. Hardly anyone 

would dispute the proposition that morals are more 

important than mere manners, and the assertion that 

etiquette can and should be jettisoned for a higher good 

is commonly made and accepted in everyday 

life. (22) 

Long Quotation with Author’s Name in Parenthetic Citation – Begin with an introductory frame 

that omits the author’s name, add a comma if needed, indent the whole quotation ten spaces from 

only the left margin, add the period, and then include a parenthetical citation with both the author’s 

name and the page number. (Again, since your long quotation is indented on the left, do not use 

opening and closing quotation marks. Also, if your quoted source contains a quotation, reproduce 

the quotation marks just as they appear in the source.) 

According to one etiquette expert, 


acknowledged virtues, etiquette loses. Hardly anyone 

would dispute the proposition that morals are more 

important than mere manners, and the assertion that 

etiquette can and should be jettisoned for a higher good 

55



is commonly made and accepted in everyday life. 

(Martin 22) 

Note Well: In all of the sample citations, we have single-spaced the text to save space. However, in 

a research paper all of it—the MLA heading on the top of page 1, the essay title, your analysis, 

short quotations, long quotations, and the Works Cited page—must be double-spaced. 

A Checklist for Writing Superior Papers 

Prepare for the Paper 

___ 1. Choose a topic 

___ 2. Begin preliminary reading 

___ 3. Restrict the subject 

___ 4. Write a tentative thesis 

Gather Information 

___ 1. Assemble a working bibliography 

___ 2. Prepare the bibliography on 3 x 5 cards 

___ 3. Start your research your library’s reference room. Look at the following references: 

___ a. general bibliographies 

___ b. trade bibliographies 

___ c. indexes (books and collections, literature in periodicals, newspaper indexes, 

pamphlet indexes) 

___ d. library electronic catalogue 

Take Notes 

___ 1. Read about and understand the nature of plagiarism 

___ 2. Develop a preliminary outline 

___ 3. Evaluate your primary sources and secondary sources. 

___ 4. Record summaries and quotations on 4 x 6 cards. 

Write the Paper 

___ 1. Develop the final outline. 

___ 2. Put your note cards in the order that your outline is in. 

___ 3. Consider your reading audience and the proper tone and style for the paper. 

___ 4. Write the rough draft. 

___ 5. Check your documentation carefully. 

___ 6. Revise and rewrite. 

___ 7. Check the format of the text, citations, notes, and bibliography (most instructors recommend 

MLA or APA format). 

___ 8. Proofread and correct your paper. 

56



Part 7 - Writing the Literary Research Paper and Avoiding Plagiarism 

Introduction 

Writing a documented essay, research paper, or class thesis—whatever your teacher calls it—can 

be the most challenging task in all of your classes. Some writers never complete this type of 

project. Other writers complete the project, but—for any number of reasons—do a poor job or 

accidentally commit plagiarism. A third group doesn’t care about the project at all, so they 

deliberately commit plagiarism and hope that their instructors will never check their work. Too 

often, they are right about their instructors. Other times, they are wrong, and they pay a serious 

academic penalty. However, a fourth group of students always succeeds at the project. Why? 

Because they understand that route to success is through following that age-old advice: “Plan your 

work, and then work your plan.” In that spirit, the following advice will help you succeed at the 

research paper. 

Know the assignment, and pick a subject related to it. 

Nothing is more frustrating or embarrassing than to write a fine research paper, but then receive a 

poor grade because you did the wrong assignment or only something indirectly related to it. Some 

instructors will make adjustments for such a mistake, especially if you are in an introductory course 

and/or their guidance was a bit weak. However, other instructors will hold you responsible for a 

flawed project, often because they believe that—by the time you arrive at college—you are an 

adult and must be held accountable for your actions. 

Some faculty will give you a specific topic to write about, others will give you a list to choose 

from, but others will simply give you a broad subject area in which to work. Make sure that you 

know how limited your assignment is. To ensure that you are doing the right assignment, listen 

carefully when the assignment is first given, read all paperwork handed out about the project, and 

ask questions when you do not understand the project or some element of it. 

Limit your subject to a topic. 

If this advice sounds the same as for writing a regular essay, it is. However, with a research paper, 

there are a few common ways to limit the subject that do not come into play when you write a 

regular essay from scratch. The following are some typical ways to limit your paper: 

• Read your primary source. A primary source is the nearest or most direct source of 

information about your topic. For example, if you were to write about George Orwell’s 

political philosophy, your primary sources would be the books and articles that he wrote 

about politics. If your subject were Harriet Jacobs’ slave narrative, Incidents in the Life of a 

Slave Girl, then your primary source would the narrative itself. If your subject were the last 

flight of the shuttle Columbia, your primary source would be the official accident report of 

the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 

• While reading your primary source, record comments or questions in response to your 

reading. In the past, before computers became widespread, students were encouraged to 

use 3 x 5 index cards as bibliography cards to record each book, article, or other primary 

source. Students were then encouraged to use another set of index cards as content cards to 

write down direct quotations or summaries of their reading. Using index cards is still an 

excellent way to record your research. 

o For the bibliography cards, you would write down the author, title, city, publisher, 

and copyright date, and ascribe a different letter of the alphabet to each book. 

o For the content cards, you would record the letter of the book and the page 

number(s) from which the quotation or summary appeared. 

57



• Since the advent of computers, you can simply print out and highlight the key points that 

you want to quote from or summarize in the body of your paper. If you make printouts 

instead of 3 x 5 index cards, make sure that each different printout has the full 

bibliographic information needed to identify the source. 

Limit your topic to a thesis. 

For this stage, you can follow the same advice that appears in Part 2 of this text: narrow the topic 

by brainstorming, clustering, freewriting, asking reporters’ questions, etc. Narrow the topic to a 

thesis by asking questions about your topic and then using your knowledge gained from your 

general education, your life experience, and your primary reading to come up with answers. 

Choose the best and most interesting answer and use it as the foundation for a rough draft. 

Write a rough draft of the paper, without using secondary sources. 

Having read your primary source(s) and taken notes, and having worked from a subject to a topic 

to a thesis, you can write a rough draft of your paper. You can organize such a paper in several 

different ways, but one traditional way of doing so is as follows: 

1. Depending on the length of your poem, story, or drama, write a one- or two-paragraph 

summary of the literary work. Refer to events in the work in the present tense, as if the 

work comes alive as you retell it. If you refer to historical events about the literary work, 

such as when the author was born or when he or she published the work, provide that 

information in the past tense, because those are completed events in the past. 

2. Focus on one aspect of the literary work for discussion, either plot, character, setting, or 

form. Describe that one aspect, being sure to use evidence from the work to support your 

interpretation. 

a. If you discuss the plot of a narrative or dramatic poem, a novel or short story, or a 

drama, then move through your analysis from earlier events to later events, even if 

the author tells of the events out of their normal chronological order. 

b. If you discuss a character, it’s a safe strategy to focus on three basic aspects of 

characterization: what the character says, what the character does, and what other 

say about the character. Otherwise, you can analyze the character scene by scene, 

but moving in chronological order even if the author tells about the character’s 

actions in a jumbled chronology. 

c. If you discuss setting, focus on both time and place. When and why do events 

occur when they do? How does the historical period of the literary work limit or 

expand the characters or situation? Where does the literary work occur? Could the 

events of the story take place anywhere, or is there some special significance to the 

physical locale? 

d. If you discuss form, then what are the key elements of form that help us understand 

the literary work? For example, is there lots of imagery in the poem or is it fairly 

abstract. Does the presence or lack of imagery add to or detract from the poem? If 

so, how and why? In a drama, is there lots of foreshadowing of later events in the 

plot? If so, what tone or mood does that foreshadowing create? Does the 

foreshadowing exist to burden the tone or lighten the tone of the drama? 

3. Conclude your discussion by discussing the significance or importance of the literary work. 

What, if anything, does the author want to show or teach us? How does the work reflect the 

time and place in which it was written, and what does that information tell us about the 

culture that the literary work grew out of? How does the literary work advance our 

understanding of ourselves or our culture? 

58



Read secondary sources about the literary work. 

After writing a rough draft, you then have a basic understanding of what you have read and have a 

context in which to read secondary sources. Secondary sources are the commentaries, analyses, or 

critiques about the primary source. These sources generally come in several different forms: 

• Remarks or reviews written at the time that the literary work was published. 

The remarks can include diary entries by the author or his/her acquaintances, letters to and 

from the author, etc. Reviews would appear in magazines, journals, newspapers, and 

similar publications. 

• Critical biographies and literary analyses by academic authors. One common obligation 

of college professors is that they must research and write about their field. English 

teachers, language professors, and the like write books and articles about literary works 

and publish them with accepted publishers or academic journals. 

• Newspaper articles or reviews. Even long after a work is written, if it has enough respect 

in the literary world, journalists may write about it in later years. Major newspapers like 

the London Times, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and so on have book 

review sections that cover these works. 

• Anthologies and casebooks - Professors and other scholars sometimes publish books 

containing a collection of book chapters, articles, and other similar studies that comment 

upon the primary source. An anthology is a collection of literary pieces such as poems, 

short stories, or plays—all of which relate to a common work or topic. The editors of 

anthologies often provide an introduction to orient you to the rest of the book. A book that 

collects both the original work and secondary sources that comment upon that work is 

called a casebook. 

• Reference works - These sources include dictionaries, glossaries, encyclopedias, indexes, 

bibliographies, or related works. 

o Dictionaries, handbooks, and glossaries define the terms that people use in a 

particular academic field, like business, literature, science, and so on. 

o Encyclopedias provide brief overviews of authors, literary movements, literary 

terms, and so on. 

o Indexes provide a master list of articles that appear in specialized magazines, 

journals, and newspapers. 

o Bibliographies provide a master list of books and articles on a topic. Quite often, 

bibliographies have annotations—that is, a sentence or paragraph that describes 

the nature and/or key points of each book or article listed in the bibliography. 

A list of helpful reference works for literature appears below: 

Dictionaries, Handbooks, and Encyclopedias 

• Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature - covers American literature from 

the era of European exploration to the early 1990s; contains entries on authors, titles, 

characters, literary genres, periodicals, movements, etc. 

• Twentieth-Century Literary Movements Dictionary - defines literary terms and movements 

and authors associated with them. 

• Common Knowledge: A Reader's Guide to Literary Allusions – a dictionary that contains 

over four thousand literary allusions, or references, their sources, and brief explanations. 

• A Handbook to Literature - defines major literary terms; also lists winners of literary 

prizes. 

59



• Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature – identifies authors and works; literary 

landmarks and terms; characters from myth, folklore, and literature; literary movements; 

and awards and prizes. Includes pronunciation guides. 

• The Oxford Companion to English Literature - includes author biographies, summaries of 

major works, and descriptions of literary societies, magazines, and prizes. 

• The Oxford Companion to American Literature - includes author biographies, plot 

summaries of major works, and descriptions of literary societies, magazines, and prizes. 

Bibliographies and Research Guides 

• The Year's Work in English Studies - emphasizes English literature and covers other 

literature in English; organized by critic, author, and subject. 

• Literary Research Guide – key research sources in American and English literature; 

describes key bibliographies, indexes, databases, dictionaries, etc. 

• American Literary Scholarship: An Annual - essays review the previous year's published 

research in American literature; organized by author and subject. 

• Bibliographical Guide to the Study of the Literature of the U.S.A. - lists books and articles 

on American literature and literary research. 

• The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature - covers authors in English from 

the Old English period to 1950; volumes 1-4 have a chronological, sub-divided 

organization by type of literature; volume 5 is an index. 

Biographies, Criticism, and History 

• Contemporary Literary Criticism - provides biographical sketches, brief overviews, and 

excerpts from previously published criticism; each volume has a title index to the volume 

and a cumulative author index to this and other Gale Research anthologies series. 

• Poetry Criticism – contains biographical sketches, brief overviews, and excerpts from 

previously published criticism on poets; each volume has cumulative indexes by author 

and nationality. 

• Short Story Criticism – contains biographical sketches, brief overviews, and excerpts from 

previously published criticism on short fiction writers; each volume has cumulative 

indexes by author, topic, and nationality. 

• A Literary History of England – contains entries on major writers, literary movements, and 

types of literature. Indexes are by author and title. 

• Columbia Literary History of the United States – covers early Native American cave 

painting to the 1980s; long chapters cover major writers, literary movements, and types of 

literature. Indexes are by author and subject. 

• Dictionary of Literary Biography – contains many volumes on English and American 

writers; gives lists of works, biographical data, criticism, bibliographies, and illustrations; 

each volume includes a cumulative index to the entire series. 

• Contemporary Authors - covers current authors in various fields and nationalities; entries 

include biographical and critical data, lists of works, and bibliographies. Parallel series 

exist for other genres and are entitled Contemporary Poets, Contemporary Dramatists, and 

Contemporary Novelists. 

Book Reviews and Articles 

• Book Review Digest – lists book reviews published in select American and English 

periodicals and includes abstracts and review excerpts; arranged alphabetically by book 

author; indexes by subject and title. 

60



• Book Review Index – lists more reviews than does Book Review Digest, but includes no 

abstracts or review excerpts. Arranged alphabetically by author. Indexed by book title. 

• Essay and General Literature Index – lists essays and articles in over six hundred books 

per year; contains biographical, critical, and bibliographical material. 

• MLA Bibliography – contains exhaustive lists of periodicals, books, and dissertations in 

modern languages and literatures; hardcopy is arranged chronologically within subdivisions 

by nationality; includes subject index; is available through libraries on the 

Internet. 

As you read the secondary sources, you again should create bibliography cards and content cards. 

Remember: The bibliography cards should be coded by letter and contain all required bibliographic 

information. The content cards should have the book/article letter and the page number from which 

the quotation or summary originated. 

Write a second draft of the research paper. 

The second draft may differ only a little from the first draft. In such a case, you can expand your 

first draft by including relevant remarks from your secondary sources to further illustrate or support 

your first conclusions. If your secondary source reading has steered you towards a greatly revised 

thesis, then your second draft should reflect that information. Perhaps you missed some essential 

events or ideas in the literary work and your secondary reading has pointed you towards those 

things. Or you understood what happened in the literary work but missed important images or 

symbols that add greatly to the meaning of the work. Your secondary sources may have called 

those images or symbols to your attention. Whatever the case may be, make sure that any 

quotations or summaries of secondary sources appear along with MLA-style sentence citations of 

the author and page number right after your enter the quote or summary. 

Write successive drafts improving on the clarity, organization, and evidence in the paper. 

As you work toward the final draft, revise your word choice, rewrite your sentences, and 

reorganize your paragraphs so they are clear and concise. Be sure that your discussion keeps 

moving forward towards the last paragraph, but also includes sufficient evidence to make your 

interpretations and conclusions believable. Also make sure that sentence citations appear for every 

single quotation or summary that comes from a secondary source. Whether you accidentally or 

purposely leave out references to borrowed material, you have still committed plagiarism and can 

earn an F on the paper. 

Type a final draft and include a Works Cited page. 

Use the following checklist to verify that you have the correct format for an MLA-style paper on a 

literary work: 

• Your last name and page number appear in the top right corner of each page, one-half inch 

from the top edge of the paper, in 10-point font. 

• The rest of the paper is typed in 12-point font, with a one-inch top and bottom margin and 

a 1.25-inch left and right margin. 

• On page 1, your name, the professor’s name, the course name and number, and the paper’s 

due date appear in the upper-left corner. 

• The title of your paper is centered below the MLA heading but above the first paragraph. 

This title is in caps and lower case, not all caps, not bolded, etc. 

• The first and succeeding paragraphs of your paper are indented one tab stop from the left, 

left aligned only. 

61



• Short quotations (fewer than five lines) are introduced and ended with quotation marks, 

then follows the open parenthesis, then the author’s last name, a space, the page number, 

the closing parenthesis, and then the period. 

• Long quotations (five or more full lines) are NOT opened and closed with quotation marks. 

Instead, you indent one additional inch on the left and right. The parenthesis, author’s 

name, page number, and close parenthesis appear AFTER the last period of the quotation. 

• The Works Cited page appears at the end of the paper. You center the title, “Works Cited.” 

(but with no quotation marks) at the top of the page. Your book and articles entries are 

alphabetized by author’s last name and typed with a hanging indent. That means that, in 

contrast to a paragraph, the first line of the bibliography entry is aligned left, but any 

following lines are indented one tab stop. 

• All sections of the paper are double spaced. The heading is double spaced, the body of the 

paper is double-spaced, all quotations or summaries are double-spaced, and the cited works 

are double-spaced both within and between each entry. 

Defining Plagiarism 

In general terms, plagiarism is the use of the words and/or distinctive ideas of someone 

else, but passing them off as your own. It does not matter whether you plagiarize accidentally or 

purposely. The only thing that does matter is if your presentation fails to indicate that that the 

source is someone other than you. 

You might be able to say that, ethically or morally, accidental plagiarism is not as serious 

as purposeful plagiarism. However, readers—and graders—have no way of determining whether or 

not you intended to plagiarize. They can only determine whether you have given clear and proper 

credit for sources. 

Plagiarism can occur because you were lazy or dishonest and you didn’t care whether you 

used someone else’s material. It also can occur because you neglected to cite your sources or took 

sloppy notes and missed sources that need citing. Or it can occur because you had a personal 

emergency to attend to but still wanted to submit something to your instructor. 

Understanding the Penalties for Plagiarism 

Some teachers are lenient about plagiarism and will let you redo a paper. Others, especially 

those who give clear and repeated instructions, may discipline you in your first case. Colleges and 

universities often have the following policy about plagiarism: 

• First offense – an “F” on the assignment 

• Second offense – an “F for the course 

• Third offense – expulsion from school 

All of this talk of penalties may suggest that the only reason to avoid plagiarism is to avoid a 

failing grade. But if that were the case, the quickest and easiest way to solve this problem would be 

to eliminate failing grades! Therefore, avoiding punishment may be your motivation not to 

plagiarize, but that cannot be your reason to avoid it. Instead, cite your sources properly for the 

following reasons: 

1. To receive credit for looking at the work of other people 

2. To acknowledge your debt to other people for the work they have done before you 

3. To show that your ideas have the support of facts and/or well-reasoned opinion 

4. To show who your opponents are in an argument if you want to argue partially or 

completely against what they have said 

5. To let your fellow learners know where they can find more information on your topic 

62



Whatever your school’s policy is, the best way to avoid plagiarism is to take careful notes on 

outside sources and properly acknowledge them in your papers. 

Examples of Plagiarized Passages and Solutions to Them 

Original Source 1 

Throughout most of recorded history, theologians and philosophers have extolled propriety and 

correct social behavior as virtues akin to morality. It is chiefly in this century that they have come 

to regard etiquette as a dispensable frill, at best; at worse, they have denounced it as a sin. 

Hypocrisy is the damning label now attached to any polite inhibition that disguises a sincerely held 

opinion or restrains a righteous impulse for action. (Judith Martin, “The World’s Oldest Virtue.” 

First Things 33 (May 1993): 22-25.) 

Plagiarized 

In most of recorded history, theologians and philosophers have claimed that proper 

etiquette and social behavior are virtues resembling morality. In the 20 th century, these 

people have come to view etiquette as a dispensable frill or even a sin. They now use the 

word hypocrisy to describe any polite inhibition that disguises sincerely held opinions or 

restrains righteous impulses for action. 

Not Plagiarized 

Judith Martin notes that, before the 20 th century, theologians and philosophers encouraged 

people to display proper social behavior. Only now do these thinkers regard such behavior 

as a “dispensable frill” or even a “sin” (23). 

Comment: The plagiarized version uses wording that is extremely close to the original and fails to 

cite the author and page number of the source. However, the non-plagiarized version provides a 

proper summary in your own words, supplies the author’s name in the introductory frame, and 

includes the page number in the parenthetic citation. 

Original Source 2 

Sometime around 130 B.C. Greek mathematician Hipparchus broke with the oral traditions of 

poetry and mythology, set pen to parchment, and compiled the first written catalog of the stars. His 

singular document contained about 850 entries, loosely organized by constellations and 

coordinates. It was a modest start for a distinctly immodest project—taking stock of the entire 

universe and trying to figure out what, exactly, is out there. (Corey S. Powell, “Field Guide to the 

Entire Universe.” Discover 26:12 (December 2005) .) 

Plagiarized 

Around 130 B.C. Hipparchus broke with oral tradition, set pen to parchment, and 

assembled the first written star catalog. His distinctive document has over 800 entries 

arranged by constellations and coordinates. He made a modest start for a bold project, 

taking stock of the whole universe and trying to figure out what exactly is out there 

(Powell). 

Not Plagiarized 

One historian of astronomy has noted that, around 130 B.C., the Greek mathematician 

Hipparchus “broke with the oral traditions of poetry and mythology, set pen to parchment, 

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and compiled the first written catalog of the stars. His singular document contained about 

850 entries, loosely organized by constellations and coordinates” (Powell). 

Comment: Again, the plagiarized passage uses wording that is too close to that of the original 

source, even though the passage adds the name of the source’s author in parentheses. However, the 

non-plagiarized version uses the original phrasing, provides quotation marks exactly where needed 

to mark the section of the source being quoted, and provides the source author’s name. Since the 

source is an online Web page in HTML format, you need not provide page numbers because such 

numbers would vary according to the size of the font on your computer screen. 

Understanding the 2009 MLA Format for Bibliography Entries 

The following section contains names of actual authors, titles, publishers, etc. for books, articles, 

online sources, and so on. What is important is to learn the elements and order in which 

information appears. Notice that the format for Works Cited is to left align the first line of the entry 

and then indent the second and other following lines one tab space from the left. 

Note Well: We have saved space in this guide by single-spacing all sample entries. However, in 

an actual paper, you must double-space within and between all entries. 

Books 

Generic Form - Books 

Author(s). Title of Book. Additional Publishing Information [if needed]. Place of Publication: 

Publisher, Year of Publication. Publication Medium. 

Book with One Author 

Tan, Amy. Saving Fish from Drowning. New York: Putnam, 2005. Print. 

Two Books by the Same Author 

McPhee, John. The Founding Fish. New York: Farrar, 2006. Print. 

---. Uncommon Carriers. New York: Farrar, 2002. Print. 

(After the first appearance of an author's name, use three hyphens and a period for the author's 

name for additional books. List books alphabetically by the author’s last name and then by the first 

main word of the title.) 

Book with Two or Three Authors 

Clarke, Harold, Allan Kornberg, and Thomas Scotto. Making Political Choices: Canada and the 

United States. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2009. Print. 

(If there are more than three authors, list only the first author followed by the Latin phrase et al. in 

place of the other names.) 

Book with a Corporate Author 

World Health Organization. The World Health Report 2008: Primary Health Care, Now More 

Than Ever. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2008. Print. 

Book with an Anonymous Author 

The Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas. London: Dorling, 2007. Print. 

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Book with an Editor 

Plath, Sylvia. The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Karen Kukil. New York: Anchor, 

2000. Print. 

Book with a Translator 

Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Ed. Allen Mandelbaum. New York: Bantam, 1982. Print. 

A Government Publication 

Stiller, Ann. Historic Preservation and Tax Incentives. US Dept. of Interior. Washington: GPO, 

2003. Print. 

A Sacred Text 

The Holy Bible. Thomas Scofield, NIV. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1983. Print. 

The Qu’ran: Translation. Trans. Abdullah Usuf Ali. Elmhurst: Tahrike, 2000. Print. 

Section of a Book 

Generic Form - Book Section (E.g., Chapter or Essay) 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Collection. Ed. Editor's Name(s). Place of Publication: 

Publisher, Year. Pages. Publication Medium. 

Article in an Anthology 

Manning, Brad. “Arm Wrestling with My Father.” The Brief Bedford Reader. 10 th ed. Eds. X. J. 

Kennedy et al. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 126-130. Print. 

Two or More Items in a Collection 

Chopin, Kate. “The Storm.” Kennedy and Gioia 115-18. 

Kennedy, X. J. and Dana Gioia, eds. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 

10 th ed. New York: Longman, 2007. Print. 

O’Connor, Flannery. “Revelation.” Kennedy and Gioia 368-81. 

(Supply the full bibliographic data for the anthology, but supply only the author(s), title, editor(s), 

and page number for the specific items. Alphabetize by the general editors’ and specific authors’ 

last names, even if the entry for the anthology appears after one of the specific titles.) 

Article from a Reference Book 

“Sonata.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4 th ed. 2000. Print. 

Wenner, Manfred W. “Arabia.” The New Encyclopaedia Britannica: Macropaedia. 15h ed. 2007. 

Print. 

Articles in Journals, Magazines, Newspapers, etc. 

Generic Form - Periodical Article (E.g., Newspaper or magazine) 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Source Day Month Year: Pages. Publication Medium. 

(For the date, list the day, a three-letter abbreviation of the month [except for May, June, and July], 

and a four-digit year. If the periodical comes out in more than one edition in a day, week, or month, 

then indicate the relevant edition.) 

65



Article in a Magazine or Newspaper 

Lord, Lewis. “There’s Something about Mary Todd.” US News and World Report 19 Feb. 2001: 

53. Print. 

Stout, David. “Blind Win Court Ruling on US Currency.” New York Times 21 May 2008, natl. ed.: 

A23. Print. 

Generic Form - Article in Academic Journal 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal Volume:Issue (Year of Publication): Pages. 

Publication Medium. 

Article in an Academic Journal 

Ryan, Katy. “Revolutionary Suicide in Toni Morrison’s Fiction.” African-American Review 34.3 

(2000): 389-412. Print. 

Electronic Sources 

Note Well: In listing electronic sources, be sure to list not only the publication date but also the 

access date because Web pages often change. At a later date, the desired source may be moved to a 

different Web address or be deleted. 

Generic Entry – Entire Web Site 

Title of Web Site. Publisher or Sponsor, publication date. Electronic Medium. Access Date. 

Entire Web Site 

The Recovered Memory Project. Taubman Center for Public & American Institutes. Brown U, 

2005. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 

Generic Entry – Page on a Web Site 

Author. “Title of Work.” Title of Web Site. Publisher or Sponsor, publication date. Electronic 

Medium. Access Date. 

Page on a Web Site 

Merriman, C.D. “James M. Barrie.” The Literature Network. Jalic, 2006. Web. 20 November 2009. 

Generic Form - Article in an Online Journal 

Author(s). "Title of Article." Periodical Title Volume.Issue (Year): Pages/Paragraphs. Electronic 

Medium. Date of Access. 

(Some journals and magazines provide paragraph or page numbers. Include them if they appear on 

a Web page.) 

Article in an Online Journal 

Nealon, Jeffrey T. “The Swerve Around P: Literary Theory after Interpretation.” Postmodern 

Culture 17.3 (2007): n. pag. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 

Generic Entry - Article in an Online Newspaper or Magazine 

Author. “Article Title.” Newspaper or Magazine Title Day Month Year. Electronic Medium. 

Access Date. 

66



Article in an Online Newspaper or Magazine 

Dina, Stephen. “Immigration Bill Is Promoted for 2010.” The Washington Times. 14 Nov. 

2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 

Steyn, Mark. “Tragedy or Scandal?” National Review. 14 Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 

E-mail to Student 

Tanaka, Allen. "Writing Rough Drafts.” Message to the author. 22 Apr. 2009. E-mail. 

Generic Form – Entry in a Weblog (Blog) 

Author. Name of Weblog. Publication Source. Date. Electronic Medium. Access Date. 

Entry in a Weblog (Blog) 

Shin, Annys. Some Surprising Findings About Identity Theft. Washington Post, 28 Feb. 2006. Web. 

20 Nov. 2009. 

Generic Entry - Article or Publication from Electronic Database 

Author. “Article Title.” Publication Name. Volume.Issue (Publication Date): page(s). Name of 

Database. Electronic Medium. Access Date. 

Article/Publication from Electronic Database 

Cox, James M. "Mark Twain and the South." The Southern Literary Journal. 8.1 (1975): 144+. 

Literature Resource Center. Web. 20 Nov. 2009. 

67



Part 8 - Using the Internet to Do Academic Research 

Introduction 

This is the only place in this book that uses all capital letters when giving advice. THE INTERNET 

DOES NOT YET OFFER A COMPLETE SUPPLY OF ACADEMICALLY RELIABLE 

SOURCES ORGANIZED IN EASILY ACCESSIBLE WAYS. THEREFORE, AVOID 

OVERUSING IT FOR RESEARCH PAPERS. INSTEAD, CONTINUE TO LEARN ABOUT 

AND RELY UPON COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES FOR ACADEMIC 

MATERIALS. Despite this warning, many students will use the Internet most of the time for 

research. Therefore, it’s important that you have advice on this subject so that the items you do find 

will be as reliable and relevant to your work as possible. 

Understanding the Internet 

The Internet is the huge, international computer network that links thousands of small networks and 

millions of computers via the TCP/IP protocol. A computer network is a set of two or more 

computers that connect to each other to route, manage, store, and/or share information. In 

computing, a protocol is the generally agreed upon set of rules that computers use to interface with 

each other. The networks and computers on the Internet are located at government departments and 

military agencies, educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, corporations and small 

business, and even individual computers belong to a private person. 

The most popular feature of the Internet is electronic mail, or e-mail. E-mail involves the 

electronic transfer of messages, documents, graphics, and other electronic files via the Internet or 

an internal network known as an intranet. Other popular forms of communication involve 

discussion groups, also called newsgroups or bulletin boards. Once you join such groups, you can 

post messages and look for responses from other people to those messages, engage in real-time 

conversations via chat rooms (as if you were on the telephone), play electronic games, and perform 

similar activities online. 

Since the Internet is a huge network of small networks and single computers, you can use it to 

access a huge amount of data. However, the monstrous size of the Internet also leads to what was 

suggested at the beginning of this section of the textbook—a great deal of confusion and 

disorganization. Therefore, many Internet sites do not contain information in and of themselves, 

but simply provide the means to search for and find text, graphics, audio files, video files, and other 

forms of data. 

The Internet grew out of a series of increasingly complex computer networks that began in 1969 as 

the ARPAnet, which was a project of the Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, a 

division of the United States government. The ARPAnet began with just four nodes, three in 

California and one in Utah, but gradually added more nodes as other universities became interested 

in the network. 

In 1972, e-mail was added to the Internet, and in 1973 the TCP/IP protocol became the standard for 

communication among computers on the network. One of the TCP/IP protocols, the FTP protocol, 

enables users to log on to a remote computer, see a list of folders and files on that computer, and 

then upload files to the computer or download files from it. 

The network grew and grew, and in 1982 the word Internet was first used to describe the network. 

The larger and larger network made it harder and harder for people to remember how to contact 

others, so in 1984, the Domain Name System, or DNS, was established. A domain name is the 

68



text-based address on the Internet that correlates to the numeric address of a computer on the 

Internet. Each domain name must be unique so that, when you try to connect to that address, you 

reach only that address and none other. 

Also in the 1980s, the federal government’s National Science Foundation (NSF) created the 

NSFnet to link five supercomputer centers. Soon, this network replaced the ARPAnet as the central 

element of the Internet. In 1995, however, the NSF decommissioned the NSFnet, and the private 

sector took over responsibility for the Internet. By the 1990s, the World Wide Web was booming 

because more and more people had personal computers and commercial enterprises were now 

allowed onto the Internet. By 2000, the number of U.S. adults using the Internet may have 

surpassed 100 million. 

In the last few years, the Internet has exploded with new types of Web sites and Web files. For 

example, in 2001 the open-source Wikipedia website (www.wikipedia.org) started. As an opensource 

site, it solicited encyclopedia entries from anyone and everyone, hoping that thousands of 

Internet users would create a free but reliable reference source. Unfortunately, the dream of free 

and reliable data has been problematic. Legal troubles in recent years have forced the site to impose 

stricter editorial controls over who can work with entries. The site still has too much unreliable or 

plagiarized data on it to be usable as an academically respected site, but it does have some 

beneficial features, such as interesting images as well as hyperlinks to many reliable data sources. 

In 2005, the YouTube website (www.youtube.com) came on line, where people post short videos 

that either they have created or culled from other websites that post videos. Personal networking 

sites like Facebook (www.facebook.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com) also have come on 

line, making it easy for people to reach out to others with their personal data and stories. In the 

huge and chaotic world of the Internet, these sites have both positive and negative aspects. On one 

hand, site members can easily contact both old friends and new acquaintances without large 

expenditures of time and money. On the other hand, because such sites interconnect people with 

millions and millions of Internet users, some site members have suffered cyber-abuse from 

unethical and/or criminal elements. 

Internet crime in other areas also has occurred. The online site for the Information Please Almanac 

(www.infoplease.com) estimates that by 2003, Internet users had downloaded illegally more than 

2.6 billion music files per month. Infoplease also says that in 2004, an Internet virus of the worm 

variety, called MyDoom or Novarg, spread through Internet servers, causing roughly one in twelve 

e-mail messages to be infected. 34 On a more serious note, many government websites in democratic 

countries have suffered cyber-attacks from less scrupulous nations. On the positive side, however, 

the Internet makes it increasing possible for users of all ages to learn more about other people and 

cultures, do online research thought of as unthinkable just a few years ago, contact and/or interview 

famous people and experts without undue intrusions, and improve their purchasing power as the 

Internet has increased price competition for both goods and services. 

The following two tables offers some interesting statistics on Internet usage in the fifteen countries 

that use the Internet and some data on the purposes of Internet use in the United States, which 

has—by far—the most computers with Internet service. 

34 http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193167.html 

69



Top 15 Countries in Internet Usage, 2008 

(Source: www.infoplease.com) 

Nation Internet users 

(thousands) 

1. European Union 247,000 

2. U.S. 208,000 

3. China 162,000 

4. Japan 87,540 

5. India 60,000 

6. Brazil 42,600 

7. Germany 38,600 

8. South Korea 34,120 

9. UK 33,534 

10. France 31,295 

11. Italy 28,855 

12. Russia 25,689 

13. Canada 22,000 

Mexico 22,000 

15. Spain 18,578 

Top 15 Total 1,061,811 

Worldwide Total 1,018,057 

Daily Internet Activities 

(Source: www.infoplease.com) 

Activity 

Percent of Those 

with Internet Access 

Most Recent 

Survey Date 

1. Use the Internet 70% May 2008 

2. Send or read email 60 Dec. 2007 

3. Use a search engine to find information 49 May 2008 

4. Get news 39 May 2008 

5. Look for info on a hobby or interest 29 Feb.–March 

2007 

6. Surf the Web for fun 28 Feb.–April 

2006 

7. Do any type of research for your job 23 Feb.–March 

2007 

8. Check the weather 30 May 2008 

9. Research a product or service before buying 20 Sept. 2007 

10. Look online for news or information about politics 

or the upcoming campaigns 

23 May 2008 

Understanding the World Wide Web 

The World Wide Web is a global collection of Web sites containing text and multimedia 

documents that constitute a huge library you can access via hyperlinks. A Web site is a page or set 

of related pages dealing with one subject or topic. The main page of a Web site is the home page, 

which should orient you to the Web site by indicating its main topic and organization. 

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Web sites are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). HTML is a coding language that 

enables you to establish the format of text and graphics, add hyperlinks to a page, create lists and 

tables, divide the page into subsections, insert and format graphics, etc. The advantage of HTML is 

that it works on different brands of computers and in different Web browsers. These days, Web 

page builders also use additional programming languages known as XML, JavaScript, and Flash. 

A Web browser is a software program that enables you to search for and find Web sites, that 

organizes sites on your computer screen, and enables you to navigate, or move among, Web sites. 

The two most common Web browsers are Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator, commonly 

called just Netscape. When the World Wide Web first became popular, Netscape was the most 

common Web browser; however, about 90% of Web users now use Internet Explorer to navigate 

the Web. 

A hyperlink is a word, phrase, graphic, or other specific location on a Web page that—when 

clicked—takes you to another area of the same document, a different document in the same Web 

site, or a different site. Hyperlinks enable you to move quickly within a document, within pages of 

a Web site, or from site to site. Ideally, the hyperlinks in one site will take you to other information 

that directly relates to the information you have sought on the first site. However, some sites may 

contain hyperlinks to other sites that have little, if anything, to do with the site you just left. 

Finally, remember that the World Wide Web is just one part of the Internet, but because of its ease 

of use, has taken over the vast majority of the Internet. In fact, the World Wide Web is so popular 

that many people use the term Web interchangeably for Internet. 

Major Types of Web Sites 

Commercial sites contain product information, service information, advertising, answers to 

frequently asked questions, customer service pages, and other data that people commonly want and 

need from a company. Commercial sites may tell you about the following: 

• Major international corporations like General Motors (www.gm.com) or Microsoft 

(www.microsoft.com). 

• Small business like car repair shop (www.nowestautobody.com/) or a local florist 

(www.heavenearthfloral.com). 

Because it is easy to order products on the Web and have them delivered to you, many companies 

have no retail stores at all and do only electronic commerce, or e-commerce. E-commerce refers to 

the buying and selling of goods and services and/or the distributing and receiving of information on 

the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. Business people often use this term and a newer 

term, e-business, interchangeably. An example of a company that closed all of its “brick-andmortar” 

stores to go exclusively online is Egghead Software (www.egghead.com). 

Government sites contain information about official political regions and organizations. Sites for 

democracies generally have many separate web sites, usually for the executive, legislative, legal, 

and other branches of government. Restrictive countries tend to have very few Web sites and/or 

pages. Naturally, non-English speaking countries will display their official Web sites in their native 

language. However, some countries also have English-language pages containing much of the 

information contained in the non-English pages. Some sample governmental sites are the 

following: 

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• A nation like Iraq - http://www.iraqigovernment.org/ 

• A political arm of the government like the United States Senate – www.senate.gov 

• A local ruling body such as the City Council of Auckland, New Zealand - 

http://www.govt.nz/record?tid=2&recordid=210. 

Educational sites contain information about elementary schools, high schools, colleges, 

universities, and related organizations. These sites often contain information about a school’s 

location; its educational program and supporting organizations such as the PTA; its teachers, 

administrators, and support staff; and its student clubs and activities. Many school sites have a 

subsection where teachers can post classroom information and students can post homework or 

related material. Some schools even have a Web site section where students can create personal 

pages as long as those pages conform to the school’s posting regulations. 

Different types of educational organizations will have different endings to their Web addresses. For 

example, only colleges and universities tend to use the .edu ending. The following table lists 

examples of education Web sites: 

Name of Organization Type of Organization Web Address 

The Cittone Institute Private business school chain www.cittone.com 

Levittown Public Schools Public school district www.levittownschools.com 

Abbey Lane School Public elementary school www.levittownschools.com/abbeylane 

Suffern High School Public high school shs.ramapocentral.org 

Boston Latin School Private high school www.bls.org 

Rockland Community College Public two-year school www.sunyrockland.edu 

University of California, Public university 

www.berkeley.edu 

Berkeley 

Organization sites contain information about non-profit organizations such museums, professional 

organizations, charities, public broadcasting stations, and the like. These sites generally display the 

work of qualified experts in the field covered by the site, so you usually can use their official 

materials in academic work. However, be careful to distinguish between those parts of the site that 

contain articles and other expert-generated materials and those parts that contain just raw data used 

in support of site—for example, personal diaries or journals quoted in the official articles. 

The following table lists some examples of organizational sites: 

Type of Organization Organization Name Web Address 

Non-profit The Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org 

Professional The Modern Language Association www.mla.org 

Charities The American Red Cross www.redcross.org 

Public radio network National Public Radio www.npr.org 

Personal sites contain information about individual people. Computer programs like Microsoft’s 

FrontPage and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver have sprouted up that make it easy to create Web 

sites, so these types of sites have become exceedingly popular over the last few years. People may 

post personal information about themselves in resumes, information about pets and hobbies they 

have, photographs of friends and neighbors, genealogical information about their families, or 

similar data. Be cautious about surfing such sites because some of them can be somewhat gross or, 

at the worst, just plain obscene. 

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Searching the World Wide Web 

• Entering URLs – The most direct and fastest way to find information on the Web is to enter 

the Web address, or URL, of the Web site in which you are interested into the address bar 

of the Web browser. The acronym URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator, which is a 

verbal equivalent of a numerical code used by all sites on the Internet. 

• Using Search Engines – A second way to find information is to use a search engine, which 

is a software program that enables you to enter search terms called keywords to find 

listings of Internet sites that might relate to the kind of information you seek. Major search 

engines are Google, Yahoo, Ask Jeeves, All the Web, AOL Search, and Teoma. 

• Using Directories – A third way to find information is to use a search directory, which 

contains very broad categories like art, business and finance, computing, education, 

religion, and so on. You pick one of the largest categories in the directory and then work 

through more and more narrow categories until you find specific sites related to your 

search. For example, if you start by searching in Art, you may be able to narrow your 

search to Literature, then American Literature, then Horror Fiction, and then Stephen King. 

• Using Metasearch Engines – Even another way to find information is to use a larger search 

engine that gathers information from several search engines and lists the search results 

either in one master list or by each search engine. Use this type of search engine when you 

find that using only one search tool produces disappointingly few results. You also may 

want to use such a tool when trying to compare and contrast how individual search engines 

find and sort the same Web sites using the same keyword(s). 

Evaluating Web Sites 

Since the Internet is a massive collection of files from anyone and everyone, be skeptical about the 

truthfulness of what you find there. Certainly, many Web sites are sponsored by major publishers, 

educational institutions, reliable non-profit groups, and the like. However, many others—even 

those with attractive text and quality graphics—are nothing more than one person’s unfettered 

image of reality. Therefore, double-check the content of a Web site that you want to use for 

academic work against the following basic guidelines: 

• Accuracy – Does the site contain correct or truthful information, or does it just promote the 

gut-level opinions of its owner or webmaster? 

• Reliability – Does the site contain information that comes from trained, educated, and/or 

experienced persons in the field(s) discussed on the site, or is it just the work of someone 

with few or no qualifications to speak on the issues? 

• Neutrality – Does the site have an independent position and role regarding controversial 

subjects that it discusses, or does it just promote the ideas of a particular interest group like 

a political party, special-interest group, and so on? 

• Comprehensiveness – Does the site contain exhaustive information on a topic, or does it 

pick and choose its material to promote a slanted agenda? 

• Currency – Does the site contain up-to-date information, or does it contain outdated 

information that does not account for recent research and discoveries related to its main 

topic? 

Using Search Engines and Web Sites 

Many search engines will provide feedback from virtually any type of site that contains the same 

keyword(s) that you entered for a search. Others will search only a limited range of predetermined 

sites in order to increase your chances of finding sites that directly relate to the topic on which you 

are performing a search. Similarly, many Web sites, such as news sites like MSNBC, will cover a 

wide range of topics—everything from art to entertainment to health to politics to sports. Others, 

such as the United States National Parks Service Web site, will focus on specific topics—in this 

73



case, the system of federally owned parks in the United States, what they contain, how to visit 

them, and similar topics of interest to vacationers and other visitors. 

The following table lists a few search engines and Web sites that are appropriate for general 

searching and/or information: 

General Topics 

Search Engines (by Popularity) 

Google – www.google.com 

Yahoo - www.yahoo.com 

Ask Jeeves - www.ask.com 

All the Web - www.alltheweb.com 

Hotbot - www.hotbot.com 

Teoma - www.teoma.com 

Web Sites (Alphabetical) 

Arts and Letters Daily - www.aldaily.com 

Dictionary.com – www.dictionary.com 

Information Please Almanac - www.infoplease.com 

Encyclopedia.com - www.encyclopedia.com 

Internet Public Library - www.ipl.org 

Refdesk.com - www.refdesk.com 

The table starting on the next page lists search engines and/or specific websites appropriate for 

searching and/or information in specific academic areas. For sites that have both lowercase and 

uppercase characters, be sure to use the exact font indicated in the Web address. 

74



Academic Area 

Anthropology 

Art and Architecture 

Biology 

Business 

Chemistry 

Web Resources & Addresses 

American Anthropology Association 

http://www.aaanet.org 

WWW Virtual Library: Anthropology 

http://vlib.anthrotech.com/ 

Academic Info: Art & Art History 

http://www.academicinfo.net/art.html 

Art History: Resources for the Study of Art History 

http://Witcombe.sbc.edu/ARTHLinks.html 

Voice of the Shuttle Art History and Architecture 

http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp 

The Louvre 

http://www.louvre.fr/anglais/title.htm 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 

http://www.metmuseum.org/home.asp 

The National Gallery 

http://www.nga.gov/ 

BioLinks 

http://www.bioview.com 

National Science Foundation: Biology 

http://www.nsf.gov/home/bio/ 

WWW Virtual Library: Biosciences 

http://mcb.harvard.edu/BioLinks.html 

The Scout Report for Business and Economics Archives 

http://scout.wisc.edu/Reports/BusEcon/archive/ 

Bigcharts 

http://www.bigcharts.com 

Business Week Magazine 

http://www.businessweek.com/ 

CBS MarketWatch 

http://marketwatch.com 

Forbes Magazine 

http://www.forbes.com 

Fortune Magazine 

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/ 

Internet Public Library – Business & Economics Section 

http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/bus00.00.00/ 

American Chemical Society 

http://www.acs.org/portal/chemistry> 

Sheffield ChemDex 

http://www.chemdex.org 

WWW Virtual Library: Chemistry 

http://www.chem.ucla.edu/chempointers.html 

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Academic Area 


Classics 

Communications & Journalism 

Computer Science & Technology 

Cultural Studies, American and 

Ethnic Studies 

Economics 

Ancient World Web 

http://www.julen.net/ancient/ 

Internet Classics Archive 

http://classics.mit.edu 

Perseus Project 

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu 

The American Communication Association 

http://www.americancomm.org 

Communication Institute for Online Scholarship 

http://www.cios.org/ 

FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting 

http://www.fair.org 

Journalism Resources on the World Wide Web 

http://library.austincc.edu/research/w3/Humanities/jrn/jrn.htm 

FOLDOC (Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing) 

http://wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk/foldoc/index.html 

MIT Laboratory for Computer Science 

http://www.lcs.mit.edu 

Information Technology Resource Central 

http://www.utexas.edu/computer 

New American Studies Web 

http://crossroads.georgetown.edu/asw/ 

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage 

http://www.si.edu/folklife/ 

Ethnic and Cultural Studies Resources 

http://www.educationindex.com/culture/ 

National Museum of the American Indian 

http://www.nmai.si.edu 

American Economic Association 

http://www.aeaweb.org/ 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

http://www.sec.gov 

Resources for Economists on the Internet 

http://rfe.wustl.edu/ 

Education 

Engineering 

Ask ERIC 

http://ericir.sunsite.syr.edu/ 

EdWeb 

http://www.edwebproject.org/ 

Education World 

www.education-world.com 

U.S. Department of Education 

http://www.ed.gov 

IEEE Spectrum 

http://www.spectrum.ieee.org 

WWW Virtual Library: Engineering 

http://www.eevl.ac.uk/wwwvl.html 

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Academic Area 


Environmental Sciences 

Film 

Geography 

Geology 

Health and Medicine 

History 

Languages and Linguistics 

Literature 

Envirolink 

http://envirolink.org 

Environmental Protection Agency 

http://www.epa.gov 

WWW Virtual Library: Earth Science 

http://www.vlib.org/EarthScience.html 

Cinema Sites 

http://www.cinema-sites.com/ 

Internet Movie Database 

http://us.imdb.com 

Movie Web 

http://www.movieweb.com 

Atlapedia Online 

http://www.atlapedia.com/index.html 

Internet Resources for Geographers 

http://www.Colorado.EDU/geography/virtdept/resources/contents.htm 

The WWW Virtual Library: Geography 

http://www.icomos.org/WWW_VL_Geography.html 

American Geological Institute 

http://www.agiweb.org 

U.S. Geological Survey 

http://www.usgs.gov 

Martindale’s Health Science Guide 

http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/~martindale/HSGuide.html 

PubMed 

http://www.nlm.nih.gov 

World Health Organization 

http://www.who.ch 

Yale Medical Library 

http://www.med.yale.edu/library/ 

Electronic Documents in History 

http://www.tntech.edu/www/acad/hist/edocs.html 

History Net 

http://www.thehistorynet.com/ 

HyperHistory Online 

www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/History_n2/a.html 

WWW Virtual Library: History 

http://www.ukans.edu/history/VL/ 

Center for Applied Linguistics 

http://www.cal.org 

Linguistics Resources on the Web 

http://www.sil.org/linguistics/ 

Literary Resources on the Net 

http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/ 

Online Books Page, University of Pennsylvania 

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books 

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Academic Area 


Project Gutenberg 

http://promo.net/pg 

Voice of the Shuttle 

http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp 

Mathematics 

Music 

Philosophy 

American Mathematical Society 

http://www.ams.org 

Math Forum 

http://mathforum.com/ 

MathWorld 

http://mathworld.wolfram.com 

WWW Virtual Library: Mathematics 

http://web.math.fsu.edu/Science/math.html 

Classical Music on the Web 

http://classicalusa.com/ 

MusicLink 

http://www.lib.utk.edu:90/~music/songwizard/musicbrief.html 

Worldwide Internet Music Sources 

http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources 

American Philosophical Association 

http://www.udel.edu/apa 

Guide to Philosophy on the Internet 

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/philinks.htm 

Philosophy in Cyberspace 

http://www-personal.monash.edu.au/~dey/phil/ 

Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy 

http://plato.stanford.edu 

Physics 

Political Science 

American Institute of Physics 

http://www.aip.org 

American Physical Society 

http://www.aps.org 

Physics: An Annotated List of Key Resources on the Internet 

http://www.ala.org/acrl/resmar00.html 

PhysicsWeb 

http://physicsweb.org 

National Political Index 

http://www.politicalindex.com 

Political Resources on the Net 

www.politicalresources.net 

Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet 

http://thomas.loc.gov 

United Nations 

http://www.un.org 

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Academic Area 

Psychology 

Religion 

Sociology 

Theater and Dance 

Women’s Studies 


American Psychological Association 

http://www.apa.org 

American Psychological Society 

http://www.psychologicalscience.org 

PsycCrawler – Indexing the Web for the Best in Psychology 

www.psychcrawler.com 

PsychWeb 

http://www.psywww.com 

Comparative Religion 

http://www.academicinfo.net/religindex.html 

Religions and Scriptures 

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~stwright/rel/ 

Sacred and Religious Texts 

http://davidwiley.com/religion.html 

Academic Info Sociology: Databases and Centers 

http://www.academicinfo.net/socdata.html 

American Sociological Association 

http://asanet.org 

Social Work and Social Services Web Sites, Washington University 

in St. Louis 

http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/websites.html 

SocioWeb 

http://www.socioweb.com/~markbl/socioweb/indexes/ 

Brief Guide to Internet Resources in Theatre and Performance Studies 

http://www.stetson.edu/departments/csata/thr_guid.html 

Dancin’ on the Web 

http://www.artswire.org/Artswire/www/dance/browse.html 

The Theater Links Page 

http://www.theatre-link.com/ 

National Women’s History Project 

http://www.nwhp.org 

Women’s Resource Project 

http://sunsite.unc.edu/cheryb/women 

Women’s Studies Resources 

http://www.mith2.umd.edu/WomensStudies/ 

Using a Library Web Site 

Part 8 contains several warnings about the reliability of information on the Internet. However, if 

you use a library site to access information, you usually can rest assured that the research materials 

found there have academic value. You can do so because, as part of their online services, libraries 

tend to link to Internet sources already screened for scholarly reliability. Also, libraries often have 

access to databases that contain materials from only academically respected books, magazines, 

newspapers, journals, and so on. 

The following six tutorials, complete with screenshots, use a local college library to show you how 

to access and search reliable academic databases. Many colleges and universities enable you to 

79



access such databases directly from their on-campus computers. If you access the databases from 

off-campus computers, you almost always need a user ID and password to access information. 35 

• Finding Books and Articles in a College Library Catalog 

• Finding Academic Information in the EBSCO Host Database 

• Finding Academic Information in the MLA Bibliography 

• Finding Academic Information in the Gale Research Database 

• Finding Academic Information in the H.H. Wilson Database 

35 Libraries make this data available to only faculty, staff, and properly enrolled students because the libraries 

must pay large fees to access such databases. 

80



Part 9 – Basics of Grammar [unfinished] 

This section will describe the most common writing errors that appear in college papers. Until this 

section is complete, please consult the following Web pages: 

The Bedford, St. 

Martin’s Web Site 

Oregon State 

University Writing 

Guide 

Dartmouth 

University 

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/easywriter3e/20errors/ 

http://wic.oregonstate.edu/wic_grammar_error_sheets.html 

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~writing/materials/student/ac_paper/grammar.shtml 

81



Part 10 - Basics of Punctuation and Mechanics 

I was born in New Jersey but raised in New York, so I can make the following statements 

with impunity: People from New York like to complain about driving in New Jersey. (Of course, 

people from New Jersey like to complain about driving in New York!) The New Yorker’s usual 

complaint is that Jersey roads are laid out badly and that road signs are badly placed or too vague. 

But there is something worse than having to drive through New Jersey, and that is having to read a 

badly punctuated sentence. You see, punctuation marks are like road signs on the road to meaning. 

So poor punctuation forces people to work too hard to determine your meaning. And if you have 

written a serious piece on a difficult topic, then poor punctuation makes your work even more 

difficult to understand. Be kind to your readers—learn to punctuate using generally accepted rules. 

Don’t force people to drive through New Jersey. 

The first set of rules covers the main problems you will encounter when trying to punctuate 

correctly categorized by types of sentence structure. The second set provides more detailed rules 

categorized by type of punctuation mark. 

MAJOR PUNCTUATION RULES 

a) Start a sentence with a capital letter, and end it with a period. 

• I went to the store to buy groceries. 

• The author says that life can be confusing. 

• When I study carefully, I do better in school. 

b) Use a semi-colon between two independent clauses that have no conjunction. 

• I like to watch horror movies; they scare me immensely. 

• I love to watch situation comedies on television; I laugh at all of the jokes. 

• I read five essays by Joan Didion; she is fond of using anecdotes in her writing. 

c) Use a comma between two independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction, 

placing the comma before the conjunction that introduces the second clause. 

• I like to watch horror movies, but they scare me immensely. 

• I love to watch situation comedies, and I laugh at all of the jokes. 

• I read five essays by Joan Didion, for she is fond of using personal anecdotes in her 

writing. 

d) Use a semi-colon and a comma between two independent clauses joined by an 

adverbial conjunction, placing the semi-colon before the conjunction and the comma 

after it. 

• I like to watch horror movies; however, they scare me immensely. 

• I love to watch situation comedies; furthermore, I laugh at all of the jokes. 

• I read all five assigned essays by Joan Didion; nevertheless, I still did not understand 

her. 

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e) Use a comma between a [a] long introductory prepositional phrase, [b] subordinate 

clause, or [c] modifying verbal phrase and the independent clause that follows. 

Long prepositional phrase: 

• In the movie theater down the road, I watch all sorts of movies. 

• At the delicatessen on the corner, I have long conversations with the owner at closing 

time. 

Subordinate clause: 

• When I am sick or exhausted, I love to watch situation comedies to cheer me. 

• Even if I studied hard before an examination, I sometimes don’t do very well on the 

test. 

Verbal phrase: 

• To be or not to be, that is the question. 

• Reading as fast as I could, I finished all of Joan Didion’s essays assigned for class. 

f) Use NO comma between an independent clause and a following dependent clause if 

the dependent clause restricts the meaning of the independent clause; DO use a 

comma between an independent clause and a following dependent clause if the 

dependent clause does NOT restrict the meaning of the independent clause. 

Dependent clause is restrictive: 

• I watch horror movies only when I can go with my friends. 

• I read all of Joan Didion’s essays that were assigned for class. 

• I love to watch television shows that were first produced during the 1950s. 

Dependent clause is NON-restrictive: 

• I watch horror movies regularly, which is why I often have nightmares. 

• I read all of Joan Didion’s essays, even the ones that are in the back of the book. 

• I watch situation comedies, although I don’t like the ones with profanity. 

g) Use a set of commas, parentheses, or dashes at both ends of a sentence element that 

interrupts the flow of major sentence elements like the subject and predicate, 

predicate and direct object, etc. 

• I watch horror movies, the only type of movie that I like, at my local theater. 

• Joan Didion’s husband (who also was a writer) died about two years ago. 

• The Boston Red Sox—can you believe it?!—won the World Series in 2004! 

Capitalization - Capitalize the following: 

Proper nouns and adjectives derived from proper nouns: 

• Washington, Washingtonian 

• Buddha, Buddhist 

• China, Chinese 

(Generally, do not capitalize vocabulary words derived from proper nouns:) 

• china plates 

• french fries 

• the gospel of success 

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The names of geographic divisions, regions, localities, and topographical features such as 

rivers, lakes, and mountains: 

• South America 

• The Middle East 

• the Atlantic Ocean 

• Lake Mead 

• Long Island 

• the Ozark Mountains 

(Do not capitalize compass directions:) 

• I live fifty miles south of Chicago. 

• He lives three miles west of the main intersection of town. 

• I like to go south in the winter. 

The names of major nationalities, ethnic groups, tribes, and languages, even when used as 

modifiers: 

• Spanish, the Spanish language 

• The Bantu tribe 

• Asian-American heritage 

Titles that come before a name: 

• President George W. Bush 

• Aunt Juanita 

• Doctor Samuel Johnson 

• Professor Hammersmith 

• Queen Victoria 

(Do not capitalize such terms elsewhere:) 

• a biography of the queen 

• the congresswoman’s speech 

• my aunt, Juanita Jones 

• the president's fundraising efforts 

• the residence of the vice-president 

Epithets (i.e. labels or titles applied to person, especially famous ones): 

• Ivan the Terrible was one of the czars of Russia. 

• Abraham Lincoln is known as the Great Emancipator. 

• New Orleans is sometimes called “The Big Easy” for its relaxed atmosphere. 

The names of specific political and judicial bodies, social organizations, councils, and 

departments: 

• The United States Congress 

• The Socialist Workers Party 

• The Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce 

• The American Red Cross 

84



The names of specific historical periods, events, and documents: 

• The Early Middle Ages 

• The Ancient World 

• The Battle of Gettysburg 

• The Declaration of Independence 

The names for streets, buildings, and monuments: 

• Broadway 

• The San Francisco Opera House 

• Camden Yards 

• The Statue of Liberty 

The names for the supreme deity and major religious books: 

• God 

• The Lord Almighty 

• Allah 

• The Talmud 

• The Analects of Confucius 

The names for major religious faiths, groups, denominations, and their members: 

• Catholicism, Catholics 

• Hinduism, Hindus 

• Islam, Muslims 

• Judaism, Jews 

• Protestants, Protestantism 

The days of the week, months of the year, holidays, and holy days: 

• Monday, Tuesday, etc. 

• January, February, etc. 

• Yom Kippur 

• Presidents’ Day 

• Christmas 

• Kwanzaa 

The pronoun I: 

• I told her that I wanted to turn left, not right. 

• When do you think I should take the swimming course? 

• At what time should I arrive? 

The first word in the salutation and complimentary close of a letter: 

• My dearest Carole, 

• To Whom It May Concern: 

• Sincerely yours, 

• Very truly yours, 

85



The first word of a sentence, including questions and exclamations: 

• We are going to a flea market this weekend. 

• Were you on time to work today? 

• Dinner is served! 

The first word of a direct quotation, except when the quotation is split: 

• He asked me, “Do you really like squirrels?” 

• “Yes,” said my friend, Bob, “they're so cute.” 

• It was Patrick Henry who said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” 

The first word and all the key words in the title of a literary or other artistic work: 

• A Streetcar Named Desire (play) 

• Starry Night (painting) 

• Light in August (novel) 

• The White Album (record/CD) 

• The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (drama) 

• The Song of Roland (epic poem) 

• “Everyday Use” (short story) 

• “The Colonel” (short poem) 

• “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (tale) 

The main words in names of ships, aircraft, and space vehicles: 

• USS Ronald Reagan (ship) 

• The Spirit of St. Louis (airplane) 

• The space shuttle Atlantis 

The names of galaxies, constellations, planets, stars, and other astronomical bodies: 

• The Milky Way (galaxy) 

• Neptune (planet) 

• The Big Dipper (constellation) 

• Alpha Centauri (star) 

The names of geologic eras, periods, epochs, and names of prehistoric divisions: 

• The Paleozoic Era 

• The Cambrian Period 

• The Bronze Age 

The genus (but not the species or subspecies) when using scientific binomial nomenclature. 

• Quercus alba (white oak) 

• Haliaeetus leucocephalus leucocephalus (southern bald eagle) 

• Homo sapiens (humanity – literally, “wise man”) 

86



Italicization - Italicize the following (or underline if writing by hand): 

The titles of books, plays, book-length poems, whole magazines or newspapers, and other 

long, written works: 

• War and Peace (novel) 

• The Iliad (epic poem) 

• National Geographic (magazine) 

• The International Herald Tribune (newspaper) 

The titles of entire movies, radio programs, or television shows: 

• How Stella Got Her Groove Back (movie) 

• Law and Order (television show) 

• CSI Miami (television show) 

• Car Talk (radio program) 

The titles of works of art, including paintings, sculptures, and major musical compositions: 

• Starry, Starry Night (painting) 

• The Thinker (sculpture) 

• The Nutcracker Suite (ballet) 

• Porgy and Bess (opera) 

(Do not italicize musical compositions named by number and/or key signature:) 

• Quartet in E minor 

• Symphony No. 9 in D major 

• Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor 

Words, letters, and numbers used as themselves: 

• How do you spell bubble? 

• Does your first name begin with a c or a k? 

• The 3 looked like an 8. 

Foreign words and phrases not yet absorbed into the English language: 

• Gerald’s Schadenfreude did not amuse us. 

• Pommes frites is the French term for french fries. 

• Some critics accused the politician of offering a quid pro quo to his opponent. 

Words and phrases that need emphasis: 

• Manhattan was the place to be in the 1990s. 

• Did you say you were tired after ten hours of sleep? 

• I did not tell him that I had lice; I said I’d had rice! 

The names of the plaintiff and defendant in legal citations (but not the letter “v” in between 

the parties’ names): 

• Johnson v. Smith. 

• Rove v. Wade 

• Brown v. The Topeka Board of Education 

87



The names of ships, aircraft, and space vehicles: 

• USS Maine 

• The Spirit of St. Louis 

• The space shuttle Challenger 

PUNCTUATION 

Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Points 

Use a period after a declarative or mild imperative statement: 

• I went to the library. 

• Sign your name here. 

• I am reading about generally accepted punctuation. 

Use a question mark after a direct question or to indicate uncertainty: 

• Where did you park the automobile? 

• Did you read that new biography of Hillary Clinton? 

• The birth and death dates of Geoffrey Chaucer's are 1340?–1400. 

• The American Civil War began on April 15 (?) of 1861. 

(Do not use a question mark after an indirect question.) 

• I asked them what time they were leaving. 

• He asked to see the contents of my locker. 

• She requested that we have new photographs taken. 

Use an exclamation point after an emphatic sentence or interjection: 

• Hey! Don’t do that! 

• You’ll give me a heart attack! 

• Ouch! 

Comma - Use a comma 

To separate words in a list or series (including just before the last and joining the elements of 

the series): 

• The baby likes bananas, peaches, and watermelon. 

• I am taking courses in computing, biology, English, and mathematics. 

• My favorite old-time comedic groups are Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, and Burns 

and Allen. 

To separate two or more adjectives before a noun when you can substitute the word and 

without changing the meaning: 

• She had a kind, generous disposition. 

• Did you have a nightmare again about the long, dark tunnel? 

• The doctor wore a clean, white smock during my examination. 

88



(Do not use the comma if the adjectives together express a single idea or the noun is a 

compound made up of an adjective and a noun: ) 

• The kitchen had bright green curtains. 

• Four bald eagles passed overhead when we went birding. 

• I had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch. 

To set off words, phrases, or clauses in apposition to a noun: 

• George Eliot, the great nineteenth-century novelist, was born in 1819. 

• George Eliot, whose actual name was Mary Ann Evans, wrote several major novels. 

• Eliot’s husband, a disciple of modern philosophy, died before she did. 

(Do not use commas when the appositive word or phrase is essential to the meaning of the 

sentence.) 

• The novelist George Eliot was born in 1819. 

• The president William Jackson was installed by the chamber of commerce. 

• My friend Bobbie Jellico was in the Olympics. 

To set off nonessential phrases and clauses: 

• My English instructor, who has a good sense of humor, often starts class by telling a joke. 

• The Apollo 11 space mission, the first to land someone on the moon, occurred in 1969. 

• Apollo 11, the movie starting Tom Hanks, premiered in 1996. 

Do not use commas when the phrase or clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence: 

• The professor who teaches my evening class has no sense of humor. 

• The man who ran the red light is parked over there. 

• The levee that broke in New Orleans let in millions of gallons of water. 

To separate the independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, 

for, so, yet) in a compound sentence: 

• He lives in New Jersey, but she lives in California. 

• Some people like baseball, yet others like softball. 

• He was born in Tucson, and she was born there too. 

To set off interrupters such as of course, however, I think, and by the way from the rest of the 

sentence: 

• She knew, of course, that he was telling the truth. 

• Oh, by the way, I'll be away next week. 

• Our parents, in contrast, will be here all summer. 

To set off an introductory word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of a sentence: 

• No, I would rather go alone to the library. 

• After three years of hunting him down, I finally found my long-lost dog. 

• Being tall, he often has thought about playing football. 

To set off a word in direct address: 

• Thanks, folks, for all your help while I was in jail. 

• How was your vacation, Ray? 

• Madam, would you please lower that shotgun? 

89



To set off “tag questions”: 

• Please wash the dishes, would you? 

• Bring that computer over here, okay? 

• You will work the night shift, right? 

To introduce a short quotation: 

• Marie Antoinette supposedly said, “Let them eat cake!” 

• I asked him, “Want to go swimming?” 

• She asked me, “Where did you get that milk?” 

To close the salutation in a personal letter and the complimentary close in a business or 

personal letter: 

• Dear Mary, 

• Dearest Dad, 

• Sincerely, Fred 

• Very truly yours, Juliette DuBois 

To set off titles and degrees: 

• Sarah Little, Ph.D. 

• Alfred Johnson, Jr. (but not Alfred Johnson III) 

• Jerrold Ford, M.D. 

To separate sentence elements that might be read incorrectly without the comma: 

• At the fun house, in the mirror they could see distorted images of themselves. 

• As an American, pie is one of my favorite kinds of dessert. 

• For most, reading the novel Lonesome Dove would be a challenging three-day assignment. 

To set off the month and day from the year in full dates: 

• The seminar will take place on September 6, 2006. 

• I was born on March 11, 1965. 

• Did you say that you were married on April 22, 1980? 

(Do not use a comma when only the month and year appear:) 

• The seminar will take place in September 2006. 

• The American Civil War began in April 1861. 

• The American essayist Calvin Trillin was born in December 1935. 

To set off the city and state in an address: 

• Godfrey Arthur 

1450 Banning Street 

Boston, MA 02345 

• Wilma Randolph 

428 Elm Street 

Dallas, TX 75005 

• Charles Rodriguez 

14565 Bakersfield Boulevard 

Fresno, CA 91500 

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If the address is inserted into text, add a second comma after the state: 

• Shaker Heights, Ohio, is their home town. 

• My sister was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1945. 

• Did you say that your school in Brockton, ME, was closed in 1990? 

Colon - Use a colon: 

To introduce a list or words, phrases, and clauses that explain, enlarge upon, or summarize 

what has gone before: 

• Please provide the following data: your first name, your last name, and your birth date. 

• I was completely shocked by my surprise birthday party: I am a very trusting person. 

• Kindness, generosity, tenderness, mercy, compassion: these traits are hard to come by. 

To introduce a long quotation: 

• According to James Boswell, Samuel Johnson once said: "Knowledge is of two kinds. We 

know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." 

• On June 14, 1960, John F. Kennedy said: “We must formulate, with both imagination and 

restraint, a new approach to the Middle East—not pressing our case so hard that the Arabs 

feel their neutrality and nationalism are threatened, but accepting those forces, and seeking 

to help channel them along constructive lines, while at the same time trying to hasten the 

inevitable Arab acceptance of the permanence of Israel.” 

• One of Jane Austen’s witty remarks goes as follows: “Human nature is so well disposed 

towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or 

dies, is sure to be kindly spoken of.” 

To separate hour, minutes, and seconds in standard time notation: 

• The express train will arrive at 10:42 a.m. 

• The shuttle was launched at precisely 12:12:12 a.m. 

• It’s 8:30 a.m., David, time to get up! 

To close the salutation in a business letter: 

• Dear Sir or Madam: 

• To Whom It May Concern: 

• Dear Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Semicolon - Use a semicolon: 

To separate the independent clauses in a compound sentence not joined by a conjunction: 

• Only three tables were left; we needed four. 

• I root for the Yankees; my sister roots for the Red Sox. 

• ZIP codes have five digits; area codes have only three. 

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To separate two independent clauses, the second of which begins with an adverbial 

conjunction such as however, consequently, moreover, or therefore: 

• We waited an hour; however, we couldn't stay any longer. 

• I went to college in Illinois; nevertheless, I then moved back to Idaho after graduation. 

• We want to visit Los Angeles; furthermore, we want to see the redwood forests near San 

Francisco. 

To separate elements in a series that already contains commas: 

• I sent messages to the professors, associate professors, and assistant professors; the 

secretary of the department; and some retired faculty members. 

• I have lived in Bakersfield, CA; Chicago, IL; and Miami, FL. 

• He attended Harvey Mudd College, in Claremont, California; UCLA, which is in Los 

Angeles; and then the University of Illinois, Urbana. 

Dashes & Hyphens 

Use a dash to indicate a sudden break in continuity or to set off an explanatory, defining, or 

emphatic phrase: 

• It looks like rain—where are our children? 

• Nuclear war—who could joke about such a topic?—could still occur in our lifetime. 

• I am—I can’t find my shirt!—late for work. 

Use a hyphen to join the elements of a compound word or to join the elements of a compound 

modifier before a noun: 

• I work with college-aged people all day long. 

• I used to have a one-of-a-kind job. 

• A ready-to-wear suit makes good business travel clothing. 

Use a hyphen to divide a word at the end of a line: 

• General Erwin Rommel is one of history's most enigmatic 

and intriguing figures. 

• Jane Austen’s writings often focus on male-female relationships 

of the late 1700s. 

• Corazon Aquino of the Philippines was a strong advocate of freedom 

of the press, 

Brackets & Parentheses 

Use brackets to set off words or phrases that you have added to the phrasing of another 

writer: 

• “She [Denise Levertov] is certainly one of the great poets of the twentieth century.” 

• “The term ad hominem [meaning toward the man] refers to a personal attack directed at 

people rather than at their arguments.” 

• “Mark Twain [i.e., Samuel Clemens] was the greatest of American humorists.” 

• 

Use parentheses to set off nonessential information: 

• We spent a week (more or less) vacationing in Virginia. 

• Turn left (not right) at the third light after you cross Baltimore Road. 

92



• The commander of the outnumbered American revolutionaries (George Washington, of 

course) had to know when to fight and when to run. 

Apostrophe - Use an apostrophe to indicate: 

The possessive case of singular and plural nouns, indefinite pronouns, and proper nouns: 

• My mother’s brother (regular singular possessive) 

• Someone’s abandoned briefcase caused great concern at the airport. (indefinite pronoun, 

singular possessive) 

• My parents’ retirement village (regular plural possessive) 

• The children’s toys (irregular plural possessive) 

• Charles Darwin’s most famous book is entitled The Origin of Species. (possessive after 

regular proper noun) 

• Xerxes’ rise to the throne came just after the death of his father. (possessive after a proper 

noun with multiple “s” sounds) 

The plural of letters, numbers, symbols, and words used as themselves: 

• I gave the delicatessen clerk five 10’s 

• The word eerie is spelled with three e’s. 

• Delete the extra and’s in your sentence. 

Missing letters in contractions and missing numbers in dates: 

• The song asks, “What’s the matter with kids today?” (What is) 

• I’m going to walk to the other side of town. (I am) 

• Who’s going to go with me to the store? (Do not confuse the contraction for who is with 

whose, as in “Whose bicycle did you borrow today?”) 

Quotation Marks - Use quotation marks: 

To set off direct quotations: 

• “Let's go to the museum,” she suggested. 

• “A stitch in time saves nine, son” was one of my late father’s favorite bits of advice. 

• One old army proverb says, “If it moves salute it. If it doesn’t move, pick it up. If you can’t 

pick it up, paint it.” 

To set off titles of short artistic works such as tales, articles, chapters, essays, songs, poems, 

and individual radio and television programs. 

• O. Henry wrote “The Gift of the Magi.” (short story) 

• I have read Chapter 9, entitled “A Vanished Empire.” 

• We sang the “Star-Spangled Banner” just before the soccer game. (song) 

• T. S. Eliot wrote “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” (essay) 

To set off words and phrases used in an unusual way or that might use the phrase so-called: 

• My friend’s “punishment” for spraying graffiti was to teach children how to improve their 

penmanship. 

• The science article says that bees appear to “remember” physical landmarks. 

• I “love” broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower—don’t you? 

93



Part 11 – Exercises 

Using the Dictionary 

Use each of the following words in a sentence that provides enough context to indicate that 

you know the meaning of the word. 

• Poor example: “Mitosis” is a new word that I just learned. 

• Good Example: Mitosis is a cell division process involving four stages. 

Word 

1. Abrogate 

2. Bowdlerize 

3. Enervate 

4. Facetious 

5. Feckless 

6. Gerrymander 

7. Hubris 

8. Infrastructure 

9. Loquacious 

10. Nanotechnology 

11. Oligarchy 

12. Oxidize 

13. Paradigm 

14. Plagiarize 

15. Quasar 

16. Reparation 

17. Soliloquy 

18. Suffragist 

19. Taxonomy 

20. Tempestuous 

21. Unctuous 

22. Vehement 

23. Vortex 

24. Xenophobe 

25. Yeoman 

Sentence that Provides Context 

94

Choosing Appropriate Words 



Rewrite the following sentences to convert slang to a middle level of diction. 

1. We took the kids to Mickey D’s so they could scarf down some fast food. 

2. If we don’t hit the books for the final exam, our whole semester is going to go down the 

tubes. 

3. Visiting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC really flipped my 

switch because I really groove on planes and stuff. 

4. The Yankees tanked in the playoffs last year, which really ticked me off. 

5. When James Baldwin needed to get a point across or out of his mind, he would write. 

6. The way that Alice Walker’s father and brothers treated women was a put down of the 

opposite sex. 

Rewrite the following sentences to lower the elevated diction to a middle level. 

1. For years the indigenous body politic of South Africa attempted to negotiate legal 

enfranchisement, but without result. 

2. When our progenitors reach advanced chronological status, we frequently put them in 

senior citizen housing units where they can gradually decline until mortality sets in. 

3. Economically deprived people are often the first individuals of the population to be 

downsized during a downturn in the general economic cycle of our nation. 

4. My parents’ single family dwelling unit appreciated markedly in value because of the 

strong economic conditions over the past twelve fiscal quarters. 

5. The legal counselor wrote his court-intended documents with an excess of vocabulary 

derived from Latinate etymology. 

6. At the commencement of the American republic, a tantalizing means of indulging a 

youthful desire for escape and recreation was a lengthy sojourn in the capital of the French 

Republic. 

Rewrite the following sentences, replacing the clichés with more original phrasing. 

1. I really keep my nose to the grindstone, so to speak, when I am in summer school because I 

don’t want my education to hit the skids. 

2. Even though my car skidded out of control, I was cool as a cucumber and recovered in 

time to avoid hitting a brick wall like a ton of bricks. 

3. When writing essays for English Composition, you should avoid clichés like the plague. 

Otherwise, Mr. Smith might punch out your headlights gradewise. 

4. If you stop acting like a stuck pig, maybe your girlfriend won’t tell you that your 

relationship is water under the bridge. 

5. When my friend wanted to add insult to injury, he would say something that made me feel 

as flat as a pancake. 

6. Contrary to gender stereotypes, my father was as gentle as a lamb and my mother was as 

hard as a rock when they disciplined us during our childhoods. 

95



Identifying Paragraphs 

Read each paragraph below, and then decide which pattern of development it uses—for 

example, analogy, definition, process, etc. Be prepared to explain why you chose the pattern 

that you did. 

The idea of democracy originated, of course, in ancient Greece, more than two millennia 

ago. Piecemeal efforts at democratization were attempted elsewhere as well, including in India. But 

it is really in ancient Greece that the idea of democracy took shape and was seriously put into 

practice (albeit on a limited scale), before it collapsed and was replaced by more authoritarian and 

asymmetric forms of government. There were no other kinds anywhere else. 

• Amartya Sen, “Democracy as a Universal Value” 

“Farb” was the worst insult in the hardcore vocabulary. It refers to [Civil War] reenactors 

who approached the past with a lack of verisimilitude. The word’s etymology was obscure; Young 

guessed that “farb” was short for “far-be-it-from-authentic,” or possible a respelling of “barf.” 

Violations serious enough to earn the slur included wearing a wristwatch, smoking cigarettes, 

smearing oneself with sunblock or insect repellent—or, worst of all, fake blood. “Farb” was also a 

fungible word; it could become an adjective (farby), a verb (as in, don’t farb out on me” (an adverb 

(farbily) and a heretical school of thought (Farbism or Farbiness). 

• Tony Horwitz, Confederates in the Attic 

Immediately after the meetings at Valladolid, the potential co-leaders of the [Magellan] 

expedition presented a list of demands to the crown; they were couched in respectful language, but 

they were demands nonetheless. They included an exclusive franchise on the Spice Islands for a 

full ten years, 5 percent of the rent and proceeds “of all such lands that we would discover,” and the 

privilege of trading for their own accounts, so long as they paid taxes to the king. They asked to 

keep any “islands” they discovered for themselves, if they discovered more than six, as well as 

permission to pass the newly discovered lands on to “our heirs and successors.” 

• Laurence Bergreen, Over the Edge of the World 

I see four kinds of pressure working on college students today: economic pressure, parental 

pressure, peer pressure, and self-induced pressure. It is easy to look around for villains—to blame 

the colleges for charging too much money, the professors for assigning too much work, the parents 

for pushing their children too far, the students for driving themselves too hard. But there are no 

villains; only victims. 

• William Zinsser, “College Pressures” 

Our daughter, Jill, has two grandmothers who are as different as chalk and cheese. One 

grandmother taught her to count cards and make her face as blank as a huge, white Kleenex when 

she bluffed at blackjack. They practiced in the bathroom mirror. The other grandmother taught her 

where to place the salad forks. When Jill was three, this grandmother taught her not to touch 

anything until invited to do so. The other grandmother taught her to slide down four carpeted stairs 

on a cookie sheet. 

• Deborah Dalfonso, “Grammy Rewards” 

My mother talks about “back home” as a safe place, a silk cocoon frozen in time where we 

are sheltered by family and friends. Back home, my sister and I do not argue about food with my 

parents. Home is where they know all the rules. We trust them to guide us safely through the maze 

of city streets for which they have no map, and we trust them to feed and take care of us, the way 

parents should. 

• Geeta Kothari, “If You Are What You Eat, Then What Am I?” 

96



Contrary to the biological theories of war, it is not easy to get men to fight. In recent 

centuries, men have often gone to great lengths to avoid war—fleeing their homelands, shooting 

off their index fingers, feigning insanity. So unreliable was the rank and file of the famed 

eighteenth-century Prussian army that military rules forbade camping near wooded areas: The 

troops would simply melt away into the trees. Even when men are duly assembled for battle, killing 

is not something that seems to come naturally to them. As Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman 

argued in his book On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, one 

of the great challenges of military training is to get soldiers to shoot directly at individual enemies. 

• Barbara Ehrenreich, “The Roots of War” 

Newspaper financial sections carry almost daily pronouncements from the computer 

industry and other businesses about their high-tech hopes for America's schoolchildren. Many of 

these are joined to philanthropic commitments to helping schools make curriculum changes. This 

sometimes gets businesspeople involved in schools, where they've begun to understand and work 

with the many daunting problems that are unrelated to technology. But if business gains too much 

influence over the curriculum, the schools can become a kind of corporate training center—largely 

at taxpayer expense. 

• Todd Oppenheimer, “The Computer Delusion” 

To paint double-hung windows, first remove them from their frames. Drill holes and insert 

two nails into the legs of a wooden stepladder. Then mount the window easel style for easy 

painting. Otherwise, lay the window flat on a bench or sawhorses. Then, using a tapered sash 

brush, start painting the wood next to the glass. Use the narrow edge of brush and overlap paint 

onto the glass to create a weathertight seal. Next, clean any excess paint off the glass with a putty 

knife wrapped in a clean cloth. (Rewrap the knife often so that you always wipe with a clean piece 

of fabric.) Overlap the paint onto the glass about 1/16 of an inch to create a good seal. Finally, 

paint the flat portions of the sashes, then the case moldings, the sill, and the apron. 

• Adapted from www.homedepot.com 

Cricket is an outdoor game played with bats, a ball, and two wickets by two teams of 

eleven players each. Baseball also is played outdoors, but generally in a stadium rather than a large 

field, as cricket tends to be. Like cricket players, baseball players also use a bat and ball. However, 

a baseball bat is round rather than flat, and baseball players bat at home plate instead of in front of 

a wicket. Finally, baseball teams have nine players each instead of eleven. 

• D. Langley 

97



Distinguishing Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences 

Read the text in the second column and determine if it is a phrase, a clause or a sentence. In 

the third column, write the letter “P” if the text is a phrase, the letter “C” if the text is a 

clause, or the letter “S” if the text is a sentence. [Do not let the period at the end of each bit of 

text fool you.] 

Text 

1. Wandering around the beautiful town of Suffern, New York. 

2. I went to see the doctor yesterday to learn the results of my physical. 

3. In the basement near the washer and dryer. 

4. Under the stairs between the living room and the bedroom. 

5. My favorite meal is a house salad, penne ala vodka, and chocolate 

mousse. 

6. Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house. 

7. To play baseball in the spring and then throughout the summer. 

8. In the middle of the night, I heard raccoons going after the food our 

garbage cans. 

9. I heard raccoons going after the food in our garbage cans. 

10. Which is why I put straps on all of our cans. 

11. Where in the world is your little brother, Michael? 

12. Have you ever seen a dream walking? 

13. Dive, dive, dive! 

14. If you ask that question one more time. 

15. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. 

16. After he wrote Moby Dick and several other major novels. 

17. Although she never graduated from college. 

18. My aunt Gertrude was a successful doctor in San Francisco in the 1950s. 

19. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. 

20. Beneath the pile of books on my computer desk. 

21. Inside the storage room at the back of the building where I work. 

22. To fly into space on the space shuttle Atlantis. 

23. At the curb where I usually park my automobile. 

24. Downtown is where I like to go to eat fancy meals. 

25. As a freshman I failed swimming because I could not swim the length of 

the pool. 

Phrase, Clause, 

or Sentence? 

98



Distinguishing Subordinate and Main Clauses 

Read the text in the second column and determine if it is a subordinate clause or a main 

clause. In the third column, write the letter “S” if the text is a subordinate clause. Write the 

letter “M” if the text is a main clause. [Do not let the period at the end of each bit of text 

fool you.] 

Text 

1. When I went away to my favorite summer camp. 

2. I like to swim in my uncle’s lake. 

3. Even if he is not taking his medicine. 

4. Can you tell me what time it is? 

5. When I pulled the paper out of the printer. 

6. After I ran for student body president during my junior year in high school. 

7. Are we there yet? 

8. Run for your life! 

9. He went into the dean’s office to demand his tuition back. 

10. After he obtained his degree in philosophy from an East Coast university. 

11. The president scored over 1200 on his SATs when he was in high school. 

12. I almost scored that amount on my own tests. 

13. Even though he graduated near the top of his class in law school. 

14. When I saw the spectacular grandeur of the western part of our country. 

15. Because he was born in the country of Japan. 

16. A friend of mine knows several Asian languages. 

17. While he served in the military during the second Gulf War. 

18. The most interesting thing about the book is that the most intriguing 

characters are not human. 

19. While she was writing her latest poems late at night. 

20. Is it just me, or is it really hot in here? 

21. No man is an island, entire unto himself. 

22. When I am old, I shall wear purple. 

23. Until he stopped trying to breathe under water whenever he made a turn in 

the pool. 

24. This is the last question in this exercise—can you believe it?! 

25. Jump! 

Subordinate or 

Main Clause? 

99



Distinguishing Verbal Phrases and Prepositional Phrases 

Identify whether the bolded element in each sentence is a gerund phrase, participial phrase, 

infinitive phrase, or prepositional phrase. If the element is an infinitive phrase, indicate in the 

last column if it functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb. If the element is a prepositional 

phrase, indicate in the last column if it functions as an adjective or adverb. 

Sentence 

1. Thinking about my teaching duties, I made up this exercise. 

2. Grading papers consumes the most time of any English teacher’s work 

week. 

3. He wrote his first essay in the library basement. 

4. Looking at his final grades was very exciting to him. 

5. She felt happy about her work, especially after she finished it. 

6. My main goal in class is to teach students how to write more 

effectively. 

7. Writing papers that are clear, concise, organized, and thoughtful is our 

main goal in class. 

8. Writing papers that are clear and organized is our main goal in class. 

9. I have never taught a class that favored going to the library on a daily 

basis. 

10. I have taught classes that avoided going to the library at all. 

11. Winning the best job at work is Jeremy’s main goal in her current 

career. 

12. Winning the best job at work, Jeremy then decided to apply to graduate 

school for her MBA. 

13. I liked finishing my essays, but I didn’t like starting them. 

14. I liked starting my papers, but I didn’t like finishing them. 

15. Proofreading an essay is as important as writing it. 

16. Effective writing involves the act of rewriting, which suggests that 

writing is a process and not a one-step activity. 

17. Writing this exercise took about twenty minutes to complete. 

18. It took twenty minutes to complete the writing of this exercise. 

19. To run around in the rain is sure way to catch a cold. 

20. To catch a cold, just run around in a cold rain for several minutes. 

Type of 

Phrase 

Noun, 

adjective, 

or adverb? 

100



Punctuating Sentences 

Use the major punctuation rules in Part 10 of this textbook, and punctuate the sentences 

appearing in the second column. In the third column, record the rule number that you 

followed. If the sentence has correct punctuation, just write the letter “C.” 

Sentence 

1. Reading and writing stimulate and reinforce each other so we assign many readings 

along with your writing assignments. 

2. In the essay entitled “Autobiographical Notes” James Baldwin talks about his family 

life. 

3. In his essays James Baldwin talks about several major issues—for example, family, 

racism, and American culture. 

4. By helping injured companions porpoises have shown a strong sense of community. 

5. There is no sound outside and the street below is still dark. 

6. “Notes of a Native Son” is one of James Baldwin’s great essays I read it often. 

7. Annie Dillard is one of my favorite authors but I did not assign her this semester. 

8. The author says that if we kept our brains but had a dolphin’s body we would have to 

give up the idea of trying to mold the world to our liking. 

9. Joan Didion is a social critic who writes about everything from self-respect to 

America’s influence in the world. 

10. John McPhee who is an old man now is one of America’s great essayists of the 20 th 

century. 

11. McPhee still writes for The New Yorker magazine which is published almost every 

week. 

12. Barbara Tuchman now deceased wrote many books aimed at popular readers. 

13. Tuchman’s essay entitled “The Black Death” discusses the bubonic plague of the 

14th century. 

14. If you are interested the anarchist movement of the early 1900s read Tuchman’s 

essay entitled “The Idea and the Deed” 

15. It’s almost as if you are there with him. 

16. You may not feel as if you are making a difference but you are helping to improve 

someone’s life. 

17. By concentrating on only fifteen writers the authors of our anthology have been able 

to include four essays for each writer. 

18. In the essay “The Long Loneliness” Loren Eiseley writes about dolphins. 

19. For example someone who wants to have great wisdom must go into a wilderness 

and be alone for a while. 

20. Eiseley is constantly reminded about the topic of time and its passing. 

Rule 

Number 

101



Punctuating Correctly 

In the second column, correctly punctuate the following sentences. In the third column, 

record the number of the punctuation rule that you followed from Part 10 of the textbook. If 

the sentence is correctly punctuated, write the letter “C” in the last column. 

Sentence 

1. I love to watch videos on the weekend my wife loves to go bike riding instead. 

2. If I have to tell you again to stop you won’t get ice cream for dessert! 

3. The challenger ran a great campaign, but the incumbent won both the popular and 

the electoral votes. 

4. Hamlet the prince of Denmark kills the king’s foolish advisor. 

5. I read the essays by Tom Wolfe but I did not enjoy his writing style. 

6. Even though my wife recently had surgery we still plan to take dance lessons. 

7. I love to watch old movies on late-night television. 

8. Although I went to a small, private college I received a great education. 

9. Did you wash your hands? Did you take the dog for a walk? Did you lose your sister 

again? 

10. I consulted my handout on punctuation rules and then I punctuated all of the 

sentences correctly! 

11. Do you think that Prof Smith will give everyone As on the final exam? 

12. Syracuse which is in upstate New York is one of the cloudiest cities in the United 

States. 

13. I like Dreyer’s chocolate ice cream but I like Klugen-Hass vanilla ice cream even 

more. 

14. If you want to be a good writer you really must read a lot too. 

15. Alice Walker one of America’s famous novelists also writes essays. 

16. My printer broke down so I will have to hand in my paper late. 

17. I don’t care if Prof Smith thinks you are intelligent it’s dumb to put the dog in the 

microwave after giving it a bath! 

18. I like to watch The West Wing which is on television on Wednesday nights. 

19. I went to the information booth that stands at the corner of Woodlawn and Fifth 

Street. 

20. Hamilton Community College located in Woodlawn is one of our leading 

community colleges. 

Rule No. 

102



Appendix 1 – Dictionary of Commonly Confused Words 

Affect/effect – Affect is a verb that means “to cause something to change.” Effect is a noun 

meaning “a result brought about by a cause.” 

• The young boy affected the outcome of the ballgame by preventing the outfielder from 

catching the baseball. 

• The boy’s actions had an effect upon the outcome of the ballgame. 

Aggravate/irritate – Aggravate means “to worsen.” Irritate means “to annoy or cause minor 

pain.” 

• The loud music next door aggravated my sister’s already painful headache. 

• My sister became irritated when the loud music started again next door. 

All ready/already – All ready means “prepared, fitted, or arranged.” Already means “by this time 

or so soon.” 

• We were all ready for the concert at 8:30 p.m. 

• The concert already had begun at 8:00 p.m., so we were late. 

Allusion/illusion – An allusion is a reference to something outside of the text or speech that 

includes the reference. An illusion is an incorrect perception or incorrect concept or belief. 

• Shakespeare’s dramas often contain allusions to the Bible. 

• Hamlet wonders if the ghost of his father is just an illusion or an actual spirit. 

Aural/oral – Aural means “relating to an aura” or “relating to or perceived by the ear.” Oral means 

“spoken rather than written” or “relating to the mouth.” 

• My aural perception has suffered as I have grown older. 

• I had oral surgery last month to remove a wisdom tooth. 

Awhile/ a while – Awhile is an adverb (used to modify verbs) and means “briefly or for a short 

time.” A while is the indefinite article plus a noun (used the direct object of a sentence) and means 

“a period of time, generally short.” 

• Come in and rest awhile so I can make some tea. 

• My friend stayed for a while so I could make him some tea. 

Backward/backwards – Backward means “shy and retiring, directed or facing back or toward the 

rear, or behind in progress or development.” Backwards has similar meanings, but you should use 

it only as an adverb, never as an adjective. 

• I noticed his backward look when the herd of horses started gaining on us. 

• Look backwards, friend, if the horses start gaining on us and let me know how fast they are 

approaching. 

Bad/badly – Bad is an adjective, meaning “inferior, immoral, rotted, or in poor health.” Badly is an 

adverb, meaning “in a poor manner or to a worse degree.” 

• I could tell he was a bad man when he struck his sister on the cheek. 

• The man behaved badly toward his sister. 

103



Bazaar/bizarre – Bazaar means “a market, shop, fair, or similar sale.” Bizarre means “odd, 

peculiar, or unconventional.” 

• The bazaar raised over $25,000 for the hurricane victims. 

• The hurricane acted in a bizarre manner and caught the city emergency crews off guard. 

Beside/besides – Beside means “next to.” Besides means “in addition to.” 

• The actor pretended to weep beside the bed of the actress who portrayed the dying mother. 

• Besides watching “As the World Burns,” I also watched “Guiding Nightlight.” 

Between/among – Between is used when something is shared by only two people or things. Among 

is used for three or more persons or things. 

• I stood between the bride and the groom in one of the wedding photographs. 

• I stood among the five people who participated in the wedding ceremony. 

Breath/breathe – Breath is a noun that means “respiration, vitality, inhaled and exhaled air, etc.” 

Breathe is a verb that means “to inhale and exhale, to be alive, to express an idea or feeling, etc.” 

• I took a quick breath after receiving the slight shock from the lamp. 

• I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that the shock came from just static electricity. 

Capital/capitol – Capital means “a political center, money invested in a company, etc. Capitol 

means “the building where a legislature meets.” 

• Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas. 

• The state capitol in Little Rock resembles the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. 

Child/kid – Child is middle diction. Kid is a young goat or slang for child. Prefer child and 

children over kid and kids. 

• Preferred: The political candidate made his announcement with his children standing 

behind him. 

• Not preferred: The candidate made his announcement with his kids standing behind him. 

Council/counsel – Council means “a group of legislators, clergy, or similar body.” Counsel is a 

noun that means “advice or guidance” or a verb that means “to give advice or guidance.” 

• The council met in the capitol to discuss how to finance the recent crisis. 

• The instructor counseled the student to hand in his remaining papers on time. 

Compare to/compare with – Use compare to when indicating similarity between things 

compared. Use compare with to indicate difference. 

• The novelist compared her main character to a wounded animal. 

• The novelist compared her sympathetic characters with her unsympathetic ones. 

Complement/complement – Complement means “something that completes.” Compliment means 

“a flattering praising statement.” 

• Bread and butter complement each other nicely, even at a backyard barbeque. 

• The cook at the barbeque received our compliments with humility. 

Continual/continuous – Continual means “something that recurs, but can stop.” Continuous 

means “something that never stops.” 

• Astronomers continually study the heavens for signs of runaway asteroids. 

• The moon rotates continuously around the earth. 

104



Criterion/criteria – Criterion means “a standard or principle.” Criteria is the plural of criterion. 

• My criterion for sports teams is simple: are they in first place at the end of the season? 

• The criteria for a great ballplayer is that he must hit, hit with power, run, field, and throw. 

Different than/different from – Use different than when using a complete clause to contrast two 

items. Use different from to indicate that you are comparing two persons or things. 

• My book is a newer edition, so it is different from yours. 

• Since the new computer building has gone up, our campus looks different than it did last 

year. 

Discreet/discrete – Discreet means “prudent, tactful, cautious, etc.” Discrete means “separate, 

distinct, detached, etc.” 

• I gave a discreet nod to the actor so he would know it was time to go on stage. 

• Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part II are two discrete plays by Shakespeare. 

Etc./e.g./i.e. – Etc. is short for et cetera and means “and so forth or so on.” E.g. is short for exempli 

gratia and means “for example.” I.e. is short for id est and means “that is.” 

• My sister likes chicken, fish, vegetables, etc. 

• My sister eats meals that do not include red meat—e.g., chicken, fish, vegetables, etc. 

• My sister does not eat veal, beef, or bison—i.e., no red meat. 

Forward/forwards – Prefer forward over forwards. 

• Preferred: We went forward with our plans to build the new computer center. 

• Not preferred. We went forwards with plans to build the new computer center. 

Get – Get is slang and can have an almost endless number of meanings. Avoid using the word by 

preferring a middle level of diction. 

• Preferred: Do not obtain your wedding license just minutes before you are to marry! 

• Not Preferred: Don’t get your wedding license just minutes before you are to marry! 

Good/well – Good is an adjective that means “moral, proper, fine, superior, etc.” Well is an adverb 

that means “healthy, fit, sound, etc.” 

• I knew that my father was a good person because of his forgiving spirit. 

• My father was not well in his last few weeks of life. 

Hanged/hung – Hanged refers to people and means “executed by hanging.” Hung refers to objects 

and means “suspended, draped, etc.” 

• John Wilkes Booth’ co-conspirators were hanged after being convicted in the assassination 

of President Lincoln. 

• Pictures of the late president were hung in parlor windows for many weeks after his death. 

If/whether – If is a subordinating conjunction used to set up a condition or to indicate general 

speculation. Use the word whether when presenting two alternatives. 

• Condition: If it is cold on Saturday, then I won’t go to the outdoor concert. 

• General speculation: I wonder if it will be very cold on Saturday. 

• Two Alternatives: I am not sure whether I will go to the game on Saturday. (Note: do not 

add the phrase or not after the word whether; that phrase is unnecessary.) 

105



Its/it’s – Its is the third person possessive pronoun for it. It’s is the contract for it is. 

• The dog had the bone in its mouth for nearly half an hour. 

• It’s a funny sight to see a dog hold on to a bone for nearly half an hour. 

Lay/lie – Lay is the transitive verb (taking an object) that means “to place or position on a surface.” 

Lie is the intransitive verb (taking no object) that means “to recline or rest.” 

• Lay the book on my desk before leaving class, please. 

• The books will lie there until someone picks them up. 

Caution: Lay also can function as the past tense of to lie. Example: The books lay there yesterday, 

but no one picked them up. 

Less/fewer – Use less to indicate items that cannot be counted. Use fewer to indicate items that you 

can count. 

• The glass has less water in it today than it did yesterday. 

• There are fewer glasses on the table today than yesterday. 

Lightening/lightning – Lightening means “becoming less cumbersome or less dark.” Lightning 

means “a powerful electric strike in the atmosphere.” 

• The robbers were lightening their load as they rushed from the bank in the lightening 

morning. 

• Lightning struck the robbers’ van as they headed out of town during the freak storm at 

daybreak. 

Like/as – Like is a preposition that means “similar to.” As is a subordinate conjunction used in 

subordinate clauses involving comparison. 

• The Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg is like no other on the battlefield. 

• The Confederates yelled as they made their charge across the open field. 

Little/few – Use little to refer to quantities that you cannot count. Use few to refer to quantities that 

you can count. 

• There was little time at the end of class to introduce a new topic. 

• Only a few minutes remained in class when the teacher introduced a new subject. 

Medium/media – As a noun, medium means “an intervening substance, agency, news outlet, etc.” 

Media is the plural of medium. 

• The preferred medium for transmitting electricity in houses is copper wiring. 

• The news media criticized the administration for its recent handling of the storm. 

Much/many – Much generally refers to quantities that you cannot count. Many refers to quantities 

that you can count. 

• It did not take much to see that the football player was near the end of his career. 

• The football player had so many catches in one day that I could not count them all! 

Percent/percentage – Percent means “per hundred.” Percentage is the noun form of percent and 

means “parts expressed in hundredths.” 

• You can represent the decimal amount of 0.10 as ten percent. 

• What percentage of the time do you spend working out mathematics problems? 

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Predominant/predominate – Predominant is an adjective that means “most common or 

prevalent.” Predominate is the verb form that means “to be most common or prevalent.” 

• The predominant ethnic group in our town is Italian-Americans. 

• Italian-Americans predominate the ethnic groups in our town. 

Principle/principal – Principle is a noun that means “standard, attitude, belief, etc.” Principal is 

the noun for the senior member of a school or is an adjective that means “chief, primary, key, etc.” 

• I try to follow the principle that one should treat others as one wants to be treated. 

• Being more than fair to others is the principal value by which my friend tries to live. 

Prior/previous/before – Prior and previous mean the same thing and are interchangeable: 

“preceding in time or order; former or earlier.” Before is an adverb that means “earlier in time” or a 

preposition that means “in front or ahead.” 

• Just prior to his hanging, Nathan Hale reportedly said, “I only regret that I have but one life 

to lose for my country.” 

• The Battle of Hastings (1066) occurred previous to the signing of the Magna Carta (1215). 

• The Battle of Hastings occurred before the signing of the Magna Carta. 

Prophecy/prophesy – Prophecy is a noun that means “a prediction of future events or a similar 

inspired message.” Prophesy is a verb that means “to predict future events or similar inspired 

messages.” 

• The sports columnist made the prophecy that the pitching staff would fail his favorite team. 

• The columnist prophesied that the pitchers would fail his favorite team. 

Quote/quotation – Quote is a verb that means “to repeat the exact words of another person.” 

Quotation is a noun that means “an exact reproduction of another person’s words.” 

• The student wanted to quote Willa Cather in his paper. 

• The quotation goes as follows: “The dead might as well try to speak to the living as the old 

to the young.” 

Real/really – Real is an adjective meaning “actual, true, etc.” Really is an adverb that means, 

“truly, actually, or indeed.” 

• I bought real milk for the new-born kitten. 

• The new kitten was really young—only four days old! 

So – The word so can be an adverb, adjective, conjunction, pronoun, or interjection. 

• Adverb: It was so hot today that I wore a tank top when I mowed the lawn. 

• Adjective: Everything on my sister’s desk must be exactly so. 

• Conjunction: It quickly grew cold over night, so I closed the bedroom window. 

• Pronoun: He started as a good friend and remained so. 

• Interjection: So! You did decide to come to my surprise birthday party. 

Stationary/stationery – Stationary means “still, inactive, fixed, etc.” Stationery means “writing 

paper, envelopes, etc.” 

• The monument is now stationary, even though the heavy rains tried to wash it away. 

• I used fine stationery to write a brief history of the monument that almost washed away. 

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Than/then – Use than to compare one thing with another. Use then to indicate a time sequence. 

• It was later than I thought it was, so I rose quickly, washed, and dressed. 

• I then went drove to work, but please don’t ask how fast I was going! 

Their/there/they’re – Their is the possessive form of they. There indicates not here. They’re is the 

contraction for They are. Do NOT confuse these three words with each other. 

• They built the house over there, near the college. 

• Their house is made of brick. 

• They’re expecting to live in that house for less than a decade. 

Toward/towards – Toward is middle diction. Towards is slang. 

• Preferred: I hit the softball toward left field. 

• Not Preferred: I hit the baseball towards the outfield. 

Try to/Try and – Try to means “to attempt to, taste, sample, etc.” Do NOT use try and as a 

substitute for try to. Use try and only if you follow it with an unrelated action. 

• I try to shop every third day, but sometimes I cannot. 

• It is better to try and then fail than not to try at all. 

Use to/used to – Use to is the incorrect form of used to. 

• Preferred: I used to go to therapy, but then I found out that my therapist was insane! 

• Not Preferred: I use to go to therapy…. 

Which/that – Use which when adding non-restrictive, additional information. Use that to indicate 

restrictive or essential information. 

• I often rent a car for long trips, which is easier than buying a second car. 

• I often go on trips that require overnight stops. 

Who/whom – Who is the nominative form of the pronoun; use it as the subject or predicate 

nominative of a sentence. Whom is the objective form; use it as the direct object, indirect object, or 

object of a preposition. 

• Who is going to go to the library with me to study? 

• You went to the library with whom? 

Who’s/whose – Who’s is the contraction of who is. Whose is the possessive form of who. 

• Who’s going to go to the library tonight? 

• Whose books are those in the library? 

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Appendix 2 – Commonly Misspelled Words 

absence abundance accessible 

accidentally acclaim accommodate 

accomplish accordion accumulate 

achievement acquaintance across 

address advertisement aggravate 

alleged annual apparent 

appearance argument atheist 

athletics attendance auxiliary 

balloon barbecue barbiturate 

bargain basically beggar 

beginning believe biscuit 

bouillon boundary Britain 

Buddha business calendar 

camouflage cantaloupe category 

cemetery chagrined challenge 

characteristic changing chief 

cigarette climbed collectible 

colonel colossal column 

coming committee commitment 

comparative competent completely 

concede conceive condemn 

condescend conscientious consciousness 

consistent continuous controlled 

coolly corollary convenient 

correlate correspondence counselor 

courteous courtesy criticize 

deceive defendant deferred 

dependent descend description 

desirable despair desperate 

develop development difference 

dilemma dining disappearance 

disappoint disastrous discipline 

disease dispensable dissatisfied 

dominant drunkenness easily 

ecstasy efficiency eighth 

either eligible emperor 

enemy entirely equipped 

equivalent especially exaggerate 

exceed excellence excellent 

exhaust existence expense 

experience experiment explanation 

extremely exuberance fallacious 

fallacy familiar fascinate 

feasible fictitious finally 

financially fluorescent forcibly 

foreign forfeit formerly 

foresee forty fourth 

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fulfill fundamentally gauge 

generally genius government 

governor grievous guarantee 

guerrilla guidance handkerchief 

happily harass height 

heinous hemorrhage heroes 

hesitancy hindrance hoarse 

hoping humorous hypocrisy 

hypocrite ideally idiosyncrasy 

ignorance imaginary immediately 

implement incidentally incredible 

independence independent indicted 

indispensable inevitable influential 

information inoculate insurance 

intelligence intercede interference 

interrupt introduce irrelevant 

irresistible island jealousy 

judicial knowledge laboratory 

legitimate leisure length 

lenient liaison license 

lieutenant lightning likelihood 

likely longitude loneliness 

losing lovely luxury 

magazine maintain maintenance 

manageable maneuver marriage 

mathematics medicine millennium 

millionaire miniature minuscule 

minutes mischievous missile 

misspelled mortgage mosquito 

mosquitoes murmur muscle 

mysterious narrative naturally 

necessary necessity neighbor 

neutron ninety ninth 

noticeable nowadays nuisance 

obedience obstacle occasion 

occasionally occurred occurrence 

official omission omit 

omitted opinion opponent 

opportunity oppression optimism 

ordinarily origin outrageous 

overrun panicky parallel 

parliament particularly pavilion 

peaceable peculiar penetrate 

perceive performance permanent 

permissible permitted perseverance 

persistence physical physician 

picnicking piece pilgrimage 

pitiful planning pleasant 

portray possess possessive 

potato potatoes practically 

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prairie preference preferred 

prejudice preparation prescription 

prevalent primitive privilege 

probably procedure proceed 

professor prominent pronounce 

pronunciation propaganda psychology 

publicly pursue quandary 

quarantine questionnaire quizzes 

realistically realize really 

recede receipt receive 

recognize recommend reference 

referred relevant relieving 

religious remembrance reminiscence 

repetition representative resemblance 

reservoir resistance restaurant 

rheumatism rhythm rhythmical 

roommate sacrilegious sacrifice 

safety salary satellite 

scary scenery schedule 

secede secretary seize 

sentence separate sergeant 

several shepherd shining 

similar simile simply 

sincerely skiing soliloquy 

sophomore souvenir specifically 

specimen sponsor spontaneous 

statistics stopped strategy 

strength strenuous stubbornness 

subordinate subtle succeed 

success succession sufficient 

supersede suppress surprise 

surround susceptible suspicious 

syllable symmetrical synonymous 

tangible technical technique 

temperature tendency themselves 

theories therefore thorough 

though through till 

tomorrow tournament tourniquet 

transferred truly twelfth 

tyranny unanimous undoubtedly 

unnecessary until usage 

usually vacuum valuable 

vengeance vigilant village 

villain violence visible 

warrant Wednesday weird 

wherever wholly yacht 

yield 

zoology 

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Student Suggestions Page 

List the Part number and page number of this booklet where you see a problem with either 

the instructional material or the format. Briefly describe the problem. Briefly describe a 

solution to that problem. Feel free to provide a suggested sentence or two to revise the 

weakness in the text. 

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The Basics of Good Writing - SUNY Rockland Community College

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