SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITING ACADEMIC PAPERS
William M. Reisinger, Department of Political Science, University of Iowa

When I grade papers, my eye automatically “catches” at misspellings, bad grammar or particularly awkward sentences. Not only do such mistakes indirectly hurt the grade you receive, my policy is to explicitly lower your grade if there are more than a few, since they show a lack of care and attention to the assignment. You are responsible for turning in papers that meet the requirements both substantively and stylistically. This being the case, a set of guidelines will serve as “fair warning.”

SOME GENERAL CONVENTIONS

1. Papers should be neat and easy for me to read. Use a reasonably sized (usually 12 points) and not exotic font. Double-space the text. Set margins no smaller than .75 inches. I indicate the required length of writing assignments in terms of the number of words, so formatting does not affect the paper’s length.

2. If being submitted as a hard copy, papers must be typed on 8.5” x 11” white, unlined paper, one-sided and double-spaced, stapled.

3. Papers over 5 pages long should have a cover sheet with the title, your name, the course number and the date. If you do have a cover sheet, the page numbers begin after it.

4. At the top of p.1 of the essay, repeat the title of the paper.

5. Except for page 1 of the essay itself (i.e., excluding the cover sheet), page numbers should appear on each page as part of either a header or footer.

6. Remove “widows”: paragraphs that provide a title for a section of your paper should not end up located at the bottom of one page while the text that follows begins the next page. Use your word processor to force headings or subheadings to stay with the next paragraph (“keep with next” in MS Word’s format paragraph, e.g.).

7. Papers should end with a bibliography listing all the books and articles from which you used information in writing the paper, whether you cited them or not. See chapter 7 of Lee Cuba, A Short Guide to Writing About Social Science, 4^th ed., (New York: Addison-Wesley-Longman, 2002). For help referencing material that you acquire electronically, see Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger, Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources (New York: St. Martin’s, 2000).

8. You should cite‑‑that is, tell the reader how to find‑‑any of the following: 1) direct quotes, 2) unquoted passages that rely on someone else’s wording, and 3) sentences in which you have referred to evidence found in a book, article or other source. Failure to cite the language or ideas of others that you use in your paper is plagiarism. It constitutes a serious breach of academic integrity. Citations can be given in a number of ways, but the way you choose should be clear and should stay the same throughout the paper. If you choose to present the citations in notes, I prefer footnotes (at the bottom of the page) over endnotes. Alternately, you can do as many scholarly journals require. You list the following in parentheses after the appropriate sentence: a) the surname of the author, b) the year the work was published and‑‑if you’re citing a particular passage as opposed to the whole work‑‑c) the page number. Here’s an example: “. . . rise in steel output (Jackson 2007, 36).” The reader then has the option of referring to the bibliography for more information. If the name of the author is part of your sentence, just put the year and page within the parentheses: “As Churchill (1948, 703) famously said about Russia . . . .”

FORMAL STYLE

Any papers you turn in for a college class should be written using formal style. This means that many words and phrases, many ways of expressing yourself, that are fine when speaking with friends are inappropriate. Consistent disregard for formal style distracts the reader from your arguments and shows that you are not aware that a formal style is required for academic papers. The following are some elements of formal style that I want to highlight.

1. Do not weaken your argument by constantly referring to yourself. The reader is already aware that the author is the one making any uncited comments; phrases like “I think” make the reader wonder whether the sentence is just an idle opinion (I think Coke is better than Pepsi) instead of a well-grounded argument. This extends to such variations as “The present author thinks,” “we believe,” etc. However, if you are describing something you yourself did (if it is a research paper, for instance), by all means say so: “I then compiled all instances of . . . .”

2. Do not use a contraction unless it is part of a verbatim quote.

3. Avoid starting your sentences with “And,” “Or,” “But,” or “Nor.” In informal writing, sentences beginning with such words are fine, but in formal papers it is more proper to use such words as “Moreover,” “However,” “Despite this,” etc. Such words might begin the sentence or be set off by commas within the sentence: “She saw this, moreover, as . . . .”

4. Avoid splitting infinitives (“To boldly go”) unless the sentence will sound funny with the adjective before or after the infinitive.

5. Avoid unnecessarily gender-specific language, including gender-specific terms for groups of people and the characterization of such groups as male. Some ways of being gender-neutral, however, are undesirable. Do not use “he/she.” “He or she” is better but still awkward. Do not use plural pronouns to refer to singular nouns (A Party member must not lose their Party card.). Often, you can avoid problems by making the noun plural (Party members must not lose their Party cards.).

6. Although it is becoming common to omit commas after introductory phrases, I strongly prefer that the commas be put in for clarity and ease of reading. Note the previous sentence for an example. Also, such words as “Moreover,” “Nevertheless,” and “Therefore,” should be followed by commas when they begin a sentence.

7. Acronyms should be spelled out the first time they appear, with the initials following in parentheses: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Thereafter, use only the initials.

8. Cardinal numbers from zero to nine are spelled out unless they begin a sentence. Those over nine are indicated as numerals (99 members of the State Duma). Ordinal numbers are spelled out (third, tenth, hundreds, etc.). Decades are indicated by numerals and a small “s” with no apostrophe (1980s). Dates always use numbers (September 10, 1957). Fractions are spelled out and hyphenated (one-third of the sample). Percentages are always expressed as a numeral followed by “%” even if the numeral is less than 10 (7%) except when the percentage begins a sentence (Seventy percent felt. . . .).

9. “Try and” is almost always an incorrect usage that we use in spoken English to mean “try to.” (He will try to pass the course.)

TIPS ON ORGANIZATION, STYLE, AND GRAMMAR

Note: The points below concerning style and organization may not be what all assignments call for, but they are quite common expectations.

1. Start your paper with an introductory paragraph that ends with a sentence‑‑the “thesis”‑‑that stakes out a position your paper will defend. The paragraph should begin with general points and narrow down until the thesis is reached. In narrowing down, try to touch upon the main areas you will deal with in the paper. A good introduction brings the reader’s attention from the world at large to the specific issue you want to discuss and indicates the contours of your argument. This following is an example (its thesis statement is nonsense, by the way):

The twentieth century saw numerous reigns of terror. The nineteenth century had been marked by strong nationalist feelings. Those feelings helped produce the reigns of terror in the twentieth century. This is particularly true in the Soviet Union under Stalin, a Georgian-born Bolshevik whose roots led him to initiate the purges. Despite what many have claimed, Stalinism resulted from the Georgian national character.

2. Use the first and last sentences of each paragraph (or a few words in them) as road signs to inform the reader how the next topic relates to the previous one: “In addition, . .” “Despite this argument, however, . . .” “This success was not to last long.”

3. While keeping #2 in mind, avoid resorting to “I will now show that,” etc., whenever possible. E.B. White recommends that one “Write in a way that draws the reader’s attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than to the mood and temper of the author.” Although you must make the flow of the argument clear to the reader, phrases such as “It therefore seems. . .” or “This leads to a need for. . .” or “Correspondingly,” etc. are better than “Well, there, I showed you that, now I will show you this.”

4. Two dashes are used‑‑in much the same way as parentheses‑‑to set off extra material. Printed books and articles use only one dash for this purpose, but it is a longer dash than the one they use to join two words. When typing, use two dashes‑‑with no spaces on either side of them.

5. A single dash (hyphen) is used to join words or to split a word at the end of a line. In particular, join two or more words with a dash when you are using them as a single adjective (long-term behavior, one-party system). The exception to this rule is when one of the words is an adverb and the words follow the noun or stand alone. Then omit the hyphens (policy was ill advised, body was well developed). Avoid splitting a word at the end of a line if doing so will leave fewer than three letters on either line (i.e., do not let the your word processing program do it automatically).

6. Use the active voice almost all the time. Passive voice is used when something was done by someone instead of someone did something. “The ball was struck by Big Frank” is a passive sentence. “The Big Hurt walloped a dinger” uses active voice. Passive sentences, because the actor is not the grammatical subject of the sentence, sap the energy or drama of what you are writing. Hiding the actor can also be a deliberate way to avoid responsibility since the “by whom” is not grammatically necessary. A now very common (sadly) example is “Mistakes were made.” A couple of exceptions to this rule: Sometimes it would be a distraction to write out the actor because the actor is commonly known or not relevant: e.g., “By the 1930s, the prohibition against liquor had been repealed.”) And, sometimes the most important element of the sentence is the actor, and you can strengthen the impact by naming the actor at the end of the sentence.

7. Mix short and long sentences.

8. Short is sweet. Whenever possible without altering your meaning, eliminate words.

The following sentences came from a student’s paper (48 words):

Stalinist terror in my opinion could have perhaps been successful in countries where no established government was firmly entrenched. I don’t believe his terror would have had any kind of a chance of being successful in the United States, where an established form of government was firmly established.

A possible revision would be (27 words):

Although Stalinist terror might have been successful in countries without an established government, it would not have succeeded in the U.S. where the government was firmly established.

Besides words that do not add anything (First of all, At this point in time, etc.), some words just convey little meaning. They have been called “twinkie” words because they are like junk food‑‑no substance. The list includes: Needless to say, interesting, exciting, fascinating, meaningful, hopefully, key, insightful, great, there are, and so on, parameter, bottom line.

9. The sound “its” can be spelled two ways. The spelling “it’s” is a contraction of “it is.” (It should not, therefore, be found in formal papers.) Use the spelling “its” to describe something that belongs to “it.” It is never correct to put the apostrophe after the “s”.

10. Do not add “wise” to the end of words.

11. Outline, outline, outline. Figure out where you are going. Write out a preliminary outline early in the research. Think through in detail the final outline before you start your first draft. This “thinking through” is the heart of the paper.

12. Write, write‑‑then revise, revise, revise. Do not worry about polishing a first draft, just get the ideas written down. You should never turn in a first draft in any case. For a longer paper, even a second draft should not be turned in. After each draft, have someone else read it. Have that person look for spelling and grammar, logic, how well the arguments are defended, irrelevant material, and unclear wording. Often, when you explain to someone else what you mean by a sentence, you do so in a better sentence. Students who turn in papers they have not shown to anyone else do so at their own great peril.

13. Shortly before you turn a paper in, give it a final careful reading. If it is a hard copy, neatly correct in ink any misspellings or other typos you find. Neatly corrected errors will not be held against you. If, however, there are more than two or three on a given page, you should re-print that page.

Metaphors for Priming the Pump

Finally, I include here a list of rather amusing questions to ask yourself as you are trying to get a handle on what you have learned about a particular subject. They come from Peter Elbow, Writing With Power (New York: Oxford, 1981), chapter 9. One of the most difficult parts of writing a paper is to transform notes into an outline; it requires integrating the knowledge and developing some theme that you want to convey to the reader. Doing the following might help.

The trick in answering one of these questions is to come up with something without spending too long. And then go on to the next one. That means making things up and sometimes producing nonsense: cartwheels of the mind. If it takes you more than a minute or two, go on to the next one anyway. Not to worry. You may find it impossible to answer all the questions in a set. But you do need to bring to these questions a spirit of entering in, pretending, playing. . . . But before you conclude that the questions are too silly, think about the fact that you engage in the same kind of far-fetched, metaphorical thinking every night when you dream (even if you don’t remember). Your ability to make rich and creative metaphorical connections is there ready to be brought under more conscious control.

Questions to help you write about an organization or group of people [perhaps the Unified Russia Party, the KGB, the United Nations, the Congress of the U.S., etc.]

1. What animal is _____?

2. What are the rhythms in the history of _____? Events or cycles that recur, whether on a scale of decades or days?

3. What are some of the things that have only happened once to _____?

4. What are the three most important moments in the history of _____?

5. _____ is alive, chooses, acts. Describe its behavior as completely conscious, willed, deliberate.

6. _____ has feelings. What does it feel now? What is the history of its feelings?

7. If there were two of _____, where would the second one be? How would they interact?

8. Imagine _____ is a machine, like a car or a pinball machine. Describe how it works. (For example, where is the motor? the flipper?)

9. What is the most important part of the machine? Which part breaks down most often?

10. Map _____ onto your body: where are the head, feet, hands, ears, eyes?

11. Imagine all organizations had the same structure or mode of operating that _____ has. What would be the effect on the world?

12. What human qualities does _____ bring out in members? Which ones does it suppress or fail to use?

13. If, in addition to French-kissing, there were _____ kissing, what would that kind of kissing be like?

14. Describe _____ as a poison; its effects; its antidote.

15. Describe _____ as a weapon. How do you make it go off? What does it do? Who invented it?

16. Think of _____ in the scheme of evolution. What did it evolve from? What is it evolving toward?

17. What physical shape is _____? Imagine that shape in locomotion: how does it move?

18. Think about _____ as part of an ecological system: What does it depend on? What depends on it? What does it eat? What does it emit? What eats it? What emits it?

Questions to help you write about an abstract concept [such as power, freedom, democracy, communism, women’s rights, etc.]

1. What color is _____?

2. What shape?

3. Imagine that shape moving around: what is its mode of locomotion?

4. Give the worst, most biased, distorted definitions of _____ you can give.

5. Imagine this word or phrase did not exist. (Imagine a people with no word for it in their language.)

6. What would be different because the word did not exist?

7. Imagine _____ is a place. Describe it.

8. What animal would make a good insignia for _____?

9. What persons are connected in your mind with?

10. If _____ fell in love with something else, what would that something else be? What would they have for children?

11. Design a flag for _____.

12. Think of three or four abstractions that are bigger than _____ or can beat it up; and three or four which are smaller or can be beaten up by _____.

13. Think about _____ as part of an ecological system: What does it depend on? What depends on it? What does it eat? What does it emit? What eats it? What emits it?

14. What are the most memorable sounds associated with _____? Smells?