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Dr. Troboy's Writing Tips |
Page Links:
| Formatting Memos | Formatting
Papers | Other Formatting Tips |
| Top 10 Grammar
Errors | Correcting Grammar and Spelling
Errors | Punctuation
and Connecting Phrases | Writing Style Hints |
| Citation
of Sources | Parenthetical References | List
of References | General APA Style Forms |Example
Reference List |
| Resources and Online Guides |
|PDF File
of this document | Home |
Introduction |
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All writing in this class should employ a standard format.
In the case of team efforts, make sure that the entire document is
consistent with respect to formatting. Refer to Assignment instructions,
but use this document if an issue is not addressed in those instructions.
For papers, use the APA style guide, with minor exceptions as indicated
below. For the most part, this document adheres to APA format and can
serve as an example. |
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There are generally two acceptable styles for spacing the body of
a memo. One style is to indent the first line of a paragraph, double-space,
and not place extra lines between paragraphs. The second style is to
not indent the first line, single-space each paragraph, and double-space
between paragraphs. Be sure to begin the body of the memo on the same
page as the documenting information. |
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Formatting Papers |
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Double-space everything in essays or papers. Double-space after every title, heading, subheading, table, figure, and extended quotation. To adjust the spacing of a portion of the document in Word, select the desired text, click Format, Paragraph, and the down-arrow in the Line Spacing list-box. Click the ‘Single’ option. Display a short title (2 to 3 words) in the header area of each page. Place it flush right, about one inch from the top of the page in the header area of the document. Also, display page numbers to the right of this title on the same line. Use a right-justify tab in the header to accomplish this. Do this on every page, including the title page, abstract page, and each page of the body of the paper. To access the header area of a Word Document, click View in the menu bar, then click the ‘Header and Footer’ option. All lines on the title page should be double-spaced. The title of the paper should be in title case and centered. Next, place the author’s name, the institution (Arkansas Tech University), the course number and name, and the date, each on separate lines. Center this material vertically on the page. To do so, click File and Page Setup in the Menu bar. In the dialog box that pops up, click the Layout tab. Then click the Vertical Alignment list box in the Page section. Select ‘Centered’ rather than ‘Top’ options. Make sure the ‘This section’ is selected in the Apply To list box in the Preview section. The abstract page should include the word ‘Abstract’ at the top of the page, double-spaced below the short title. Double-space to the abstract paragraph. This paragraph should be flush left (do not indent the first line), double-spaced, and less than 150 words long. Use the Word Count feature from the Tools option on the Menu bar. The title on the first page of the body of the paper should be double-spaced from the short title, should be in title case, and should be centered. Double-space the title if it is longer than one line. Double-space after the title to the first paragraph of the body of the paper. Second-level headings should be flush left, in title case, and underlined. Third-level headings should be indented, in sentence case, underlined, and ended with a period. Within the body of a paper, do not place any extra lines between paragraphs. Indent the first line of each paragraph five spaces (or about ½ inch). To change the paragraph formatting, click the ‘Format’ option in the Menu bar. Then click the ‘Paragraph’ option in the drop-down menu. In the dialog box that opens up, click on the down arrow for the text box labeled ‘Special’, just above and to the right of the center of that window. Click on the ‘First line’ option. Then click the ‘Ok’ button near the bottom of the dialog box window. This will indent the first line of each paragraph until overridden with additional formatting instructions. |
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Other Formatting Tips |
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Place one space after periods at the end of a sentence. When using a parenthetical reference at the end of a sentence to cite a source, place the parenthetical reference before the period that ends the sentence. Use no spaces after periods used in abbreviations within a sentence (as in U.S., i.e., a.m., p.m., etc.). Place double quote marks around all direct quotations. For extended quotations (more than 3 lines long), indent and single-space the quotation. Reference the source either in the text above the quotation or at the end of the quotation, as appropriate. Do not indent the first line of the quoted paragraph except in the rare case that there are multiple paragraphs in the quotation. Generally, use single quote marks to indicate quotes within quotes. Punctuation internal to the quote itself should be placed inside the final double quote. Punctuation ending the sentence containing the quote should be placed outside the final double quote. Avoid excessive use of quotations. Do not use quotations as a crutch to avoid writing or to avoid flags by Turnitin.com or some other plagiarism detection service. Use an ellipsis (three periods in a row) to indicate a gap in material in direct quotes rather than using two or more separate quotes in a row. Use one space before and after the ellipsis. Minimize use of multiple or extended bullet or number lists. Do not use lists as an excuse to write text. Maintain an essay format as much as possible. Avoid occurrences of ‘widows’ and ‘orphans’ in the text. A ‘widow’ is a title or the first line of a paragraph that appears by itself at the bottom of a page. An ‘orphan’ is the last line of a paragraph that appears by itself at the top of a page (at least two lines of the paragraph should be there). To have Word automatically provide protection against ‘widows’ and ‘orphans’, click Format in the Menu Bar and then Paragraph in the drop-down menu. In the dialog box that opens up, click the ‘Line and Page Breaks’ tab near the top of the window. Make sure that the ‘Widow/Orphan control’ check box in the Pagination Form is checked. If it isn’t, click it until a check appears. Then click the ‘Ok’ button near the bottom of the window. |
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In an effort to help improve student writing skills, the management and marketing faculty have agreed to hold students accountable for complying with the ten grammatical rules listed below. Outside Assignments: For each rule you break on an assignment prepared outside of class, you will lose one-half of a letter grade. The maximum penalty on outside assignments is two letter grades. In-Class Assignments: If you break four or more rules on an assignment completed during class time (including an exam), you will lose one letter grade. The maximum penalty on in-class assignments is one letter grade. The following ten rules are the only ones for which the above penalties will be assessed. Individual faculty members may include additional penalties for other errors.
When unsure about how to use the words in this list correctly, look
them up in a dictionary. There are links to online dictionaries below.
DO NOT DEPEND ON THE SPELL-CHECKER TO CATCH THESE ERRORS! PROOFREAD
THE WORK! |
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Correcting Grammar and Spelling Errors |
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Turn on the grammar checker and the spelling checker in Word by clicking on Tools in the Menu bar and then on Options in the drop-down menu. In the dialog box that appears, click the ‘Spelling & Grammar’ tab. Consider clicking these options: ‘Spell as you type’. ‘Always suggest corrections’, ‘Check grammar as you type’, and ‘Check grammar with spelling’. The Writing style option selected should be ‘Grammar & Style’. Click the ‘Settings’ button to explore other options that can further personalize the actions of these features. Then click the ‘Ok’ button near the bottom of the window. Spelling errors in the document will then be indicated with an underlying red squiggly line. Grammar errors will then be indicated with an underlying green squiggly line. Right-mouse-clicking on the green squiggly line will result in suggestions as to the nature of the grammar error detected by Word and suggestions for correcting this error. The grammar and spelling checkers in a word processor can identify many such errors and suggest corrections. However, these features are far from perfect, have serious limitations, and may make incorrect suggestions. Neither feature will catch all errors. For example, the spelling checker may not identify a wrong word choice when the wrong word is correctly spelled (such as ‘form’ where ‘from’ should be used). Sometimes the grammar error indicated is just extra spaces between words. Therefore, the writer must also proofread the text. Reading the text aloud will sometimes identify errors or awkward phrasing. When unsure of the proper grammar, check one of the online grammar guides listed at the bottom of this document, take the paper to the ATU Writing lab, or ask the instructor for further assistance. Writing and style guides can help writers avoid the most common mistakes. Some people need a good editor to review and correct the text of their document. Some writers commit errors involving improper use of articles (‘a’, ‘an’, or ‘the’), particularly if English is not the writer’s first language. For example, one should use ‘an’ if the referenced word starts with a vowel (‘an essay’ rather than ‘a essay’ and ‘a book’ rather than ‘an book’). Another example involves a singular versus a plural reference word. Use the phrase ‘a retail store’ or ‘the retail stores’ rather than ‘a retail stores’. The terms ‘information’, ‘software’, and ‘data’ are used as both singular and plural forms. ‘Informations’ and ‘sofwares’ are never correct usage. Failure to use an article can also be an error (‘customers surf Web daily’ rather than ‘customers surf the Web daily’). |
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Punctuation and connecting phrases can be problem. When starting or ending a sentence with a phrase, separate the phrase from the rest of the sentence with a comma, especially in the case of an if/then type of sentence structure. If a writer wants to connect two complete phrases, he should use a comma and a conjunction (‘and’, ‘or’, or ‘but’) or just a semicolon without a conjunction; sentences should only be connected if they are logically related. Separate all items in a series of three or more with a comma, and insert a conjunction (‘and’ or ‘or’) before the last item in the series. Each of the items in a series should have the same grammatical form. For example, all items should be nouns or all items should be phrases of the same type. An example of a series of nouns would be ‘disks, tapes, and CD-ROMs’. An example of a series of phrases with the same grammar form would be ‘the customer surfs the web-based catalog, sees the product, and clicks on the image’. An example of a series of that does not have the same grammatical form for each item would be ‘writing good memos, interviews well, or other skills’. A correct version of that example would be ‘writing good memos, conducting informative interviews, or having other skills’. |
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Writing Style Hints |
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Good writing is more than simply getting the grammar and spelling right. In formal essays, the writer should avoid use of slang terms and expressions, excessive use of jargon, and unnecessary repetition of any particular word. Avoid use of first or second person voice, which is often indicated by the use of these words: ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’, ‘mine’, ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘we’, and ‘our’. Minimize use of passive voice, which can make the text seem vague, indecisive, and weak. Consider the statement ‘cookies are thought to invade the privacy of customers’. Do cookies think? Who thinks cookies invade privacy? Compare to the statement ‘Savvy customers worry that cookies invade their privacy’. Do not make sweeping generalizations or strong statements that are not supported by citations from sources with good credentials. Develop or support points logically; explain points with specific examples or illustrations. Consider the statement ‘all cookies are horrible and dangerous, and a web surfer should never permit a web site to store a cookie on her hard drive’. Another example would be the statement that ‘this fantastic software solves all problems’. |
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Citation of Sources |
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Failure to reference and cite significant passages of direct quotes (any instance over a sentence in length) will result in a grade of zero on the paper and may result in further penalties according to the policies in this course and the student handbook. Failure to reference and cite significant passages of indirect quotes will result in major deductions of points (up to 10 points per instance). When in doubt, ask the instructor. Give credit where credit is due. Do not commit plagiarism. Reference the source when using someone else’s idea or phrasing or when stating facts discovered or researched by someone else. While footnotes and endnotes are correct approaches to citing sources, parenthetical references minimize the duplication of full citation information and make it easy for a reader to locate the source using the bibliography. Use parenthetical references in work submitted in this course. |
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Parenthetical References |
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Usually, a parenthetical reference includes some variation on the last name of the author and the year of publication inside parenthesis. Full citation information is provided only once in the list of references at the end of the paper. Since the list is in alphabetic order by the first author’s last name, this information can be found easily by a reader wanting to know more about the source. The following paragraphs contain examples of these types of references. An online guide provided by the Duke library also has some good examples (see http://www.lib.duke.edu/libguide/within.htm#APA). This sentence is an example showing how to reference the work of an author at the end of a sentence (Author, year). Notice that the period ending the sentence follows the closing parenthesis. List the name of the author without initials, given names, or titles. List the year of publication (or retrieval) as a 4-digit year. A writer can also reference an author (year) in the middle of a sentence to allow for some variation. This sentence gives an example of referencing several articles together to support a point (Author, year; Author, year; Author, year). In this case, semi-colons separate the article references. It is not appropriate to reference only once at the end of a paragraph. Reference the first sentence in which someone else’s ideas, facts, or phases are used. In subsequent statements, indicate clearly in the sentence structure whether the ideas expressed are from that source or from the writer himself. In the case of direct quotes, enclose the exact text in double-quotation marks, word for word. The parenthetical reference then also includes the relevant page number from the source publication. If the source document doesn’t have a page number, as in the case of web pages, use a paragraph or section number. Here is an example of “how to include a page number in a direct quote” (Troboy, 2005, p. 8). Here is an example of “how to include a paragraph number in a direct quote” (Troboy, 2005, para. 2). Here is an example of “how to include a section number in a direct quote” (Troboy, 2005, chap 2. “Title of a Chapter”). In the case of an extended quotation, indent and single-space the quoted material. Place the parenthetical reference at the end of the last line of this indented text, outside of quote marks. A number of variations are possible. This sentence provides an example of how to reference the work of an article with two authors (Author1 and Author2, year). If the article has three to five authors, the initial reference usually gives all three names and subsequent references include only name of the first author and the abbreviation “et al.” (Author1 et al., year). If the article has six or more authors, just use the first author and the et al. phrase. However, the entry for this item in the list of references must include the names of all of the authors. Sometimes, the text will reference the work of two articles by the same author that were published in the same year. In this case, use lower case letters appended to the year to show their order of appearance in the bibliography (Author1, 2005a; Author1, 2005b). Include the appropriate letters with the year in the bibliographic entries for those items. Sometimes a source has no known author. While it is correct to list the author as “Anonymous” in this situation, the preferred approach in this class is to list the name of the organization responsible for the material. If material is published without the identity of the sponsoring organization or publisher, do not use it. If no one is willing to take responsibility, the accuracy of the material may be questionable, and the reader cannot evaluate the motives or biases of the author or publisher. Use of such material would be an example of sloppy and suspect scholarship. |
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List of References |
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Place a list of references on a separate page at the end of the document (memo, PowerPoint slides, paper, etc.). The objective of each bibliographic entry is to provide enough information that the reader could locate the original source for herself. Specific examples of various bibliographic entries follow this discussion. Use the APA formatting style. Be consistent, particularly with respect to punctuation and use of authors’ first names or initials. Check the last section of this document for some links to online style guides for additional examples and guidance. Any disagreement with the examples and comments may be resolved by referencing an APA style manual. Use the title ‘References’ centered at the top of the page. Each item in the bibliography should be single-spaced and use a hanging paragraph format. Place one blank line between entries. Avoid splitting one entry across two pages. Entries should be in alphabetic order by first author’s last name. Where two entries have the same author, order the entries by date. Where two entries have the same author and year, append a lowercase letter to distinguish between them. Alphabetize items by the first author’s last name. If there are two or more entries for the same author, place them in date order and place a lower case letter at then end of the year. For example, the first entry would be 2005a, the second entry would be 2005b, and so on. The authors’ initials should follow his or her name. Do not use given names or titles. An author’s first name and middle initial may be used rather than just the initials. However, use of initials only is preferred because this approach is shorter and reduces the opportunity for gender bias. The title of a periodical (newspaper, newsletter, magazine, journal, etc.), book, pamphlet, government publication, monograph, or web article should be in italics. While it is technically correct to underline the title of a periodical or book, underlining now implies a web site URL (uniform resource locator such as http://www.atu.edu), also known as a hyperlink. Therefore, the use of italics is preferable for the title of a publication. Include all available information in the citation as to the volume, issue, of the periodical from which the article was taken and relevant page numbers for a section such as an article, chapter, or case. If necessary, use the ATU Library online bibliographic databases or card catalog to obtain this information. The abstract in the databases typically includes all of this information, including a database document id. For a web site, include the full URL for the article, not just the home page URL for that site. If the article was obtained through a bibliographic database, list the database and document idea instead of the lengthy URL. |
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General APA Style Forms |
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Note: These examples do not display the hanging paragraph format at the moment (need to use an updated version of Dreamweaver for to achieve this.) Your reference list should use hanging paragraph format, as shown in the Example Reference List link below. Also, refer to the online citation and style guides at the end of this document. Online Periodicals Online magazine: Online scholarly journal: Online newspaper: Print Periodicals Magazine: Scholarly journal: Newspaper (signed article): Newspaper (anonymous – variation from APA style): Anonymous. Title of Article. Title of Newspaper. (year, Month day)., pp. A1, A6. (note: include the actual phrase ‘pp.’.) Newspaper (editorial or letter to the editor): Author, A. A. (year, Month Day). Title of Article (Editorial). Title of Periodical, pp. A1, A6. Article obtained through a database: Article published online in a combination periodical (print
and web): Online web page or article: Article from a conference: Books Multiple-author book: Part of a book: Author, A. A. (year). Chapter 1. Title of book. Publisher city, State: Publisher. Author, A. A. (year). Wal-Mart Logistics Case. Title of book. Publisher city, State: Publisher. Edited volume: Chapter or signed article in edited volume: Personal Communications Interview: Author, B.B. (personal phone interview). Title of Interview. Place. Month Day, Year. Author, C.C. (personal teleconference interview). Title of Interview. Place. Month Day, Year. Author D. D. (Speaker). (Year). Interview with A. A. Author. (cassette recording). Title of Interview. Location of cassette recording (library, institution). Other Types of Sources Author, A. A. (year). Title of publication (publication number or designation). City, State: Publishing Office or Organization (additional publication or organization designation). Report obtained from a document and deposit service (ERIC,
NTIS, LEXIS/NEXIS, etc.): Author, A. A. (year). Title of publication (publication number or designation). City, State: Publishing Office or Organization (additional publication or organization designation). (Service/database document number). Dictionary (print): Dictionary (electronic): Film: Television Program: Lecture or Presentation (variation from APA style): |
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Example Reference List You can also use this as a guide. |
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Resources and Online Guides |
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ATU Writing Lab http://lfa.atu.edu/english/Computer_Labs.html ATU Library web site Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: Documentation Guidelines A Guide for Writing Research Papers Based on Styles Recommended
by the American Psychological Association Guide to Grammar and Writing Elements of Style Grammar and Writing Tips WritingDen List of Technical and General Online Dictionaries List of Online Translators |
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