The Writing Page
You will write better.
In General
Writing well rests on the ability to think clearly and critically. The material below will help you in developing those skills.
| Active Writing | preferring the active voice and more |
| Comparison and Contrast | a brief consideration |
| The Drama of Shakespeare's England: A Writing Guide for Students | available free on this site |
| Fallacies and False Starts | pitfalls to avoid in literary thinking |
| Sample Essays A short sample essay by a real undergraduate student A longer sample essay written by Dr. Pettigrew when he was an undergraduate (Word). |
|
| Sources: How to use them
Crediting Secondary Sources Correctly Animated tutorial on plagiarism from Acadia University. |
Brief guides for literary research. |
| Thesis: developing a significant one | advice and examples |
A hypertext list of symbols used to indicate errors
Writing better is also a matter of avoiding errors of grammar and style. The following table gives a list of symbols I use to note errors in papers. Where needed, explanations have links to further explanations and examples.
Learn to avoid these Common errors.
| ? | unclear: restructure for clarity |
| agr | improper subject-verb agreement or improper pronoun-antecedent agreement |
| amb | ambiguous: reword to be more precise |
| apos | misuse of the apostrophe |
| awk | awkwardly phrased |
| breaks | show line breaks for passages in verse |
| cit? | citation needed |
| cliché | use more original wording |
| coh | sentence lacks coherence |
| coll | avoid this colloquial usage |
| contra | this passage is self-contradictory; review logic or phrasing |
| CS | comma splice |
| DS | double space |
| eg? | provide examples |
| ev? | provide evidence, usually direct quotation from the text |
| fall | fallacy |
| fused | fused sentence; revise by dividing into two sentences, or rewording, or using suitable punctuation |
| gws | goes without saying; omit this sentence or phrase, or reword |
| inc | incomplete sentence or phrase |
| int | integrate quoted material |
| ital | word or phrase should be underlined or italicized |
| MLA | citations do not conform to MLA style. |
| MM | misplaced modifier |
| NS | non sequitur: rephrase so that each thought follows logically from the previous one |
| over | overstated; use more measured language |
| P | new paragraph required |
| pass | misuse of the passive voice. See above under "Active Writing" |
| punc | punctuation error |
| red | redundant |
| rel? | unclear relevance: indicate how the material relates to the larger argument |
| ref? | unclear pronoun reference |
| sp | incorrect spelling |
| sum | avoid summary |
| tense | incorrect use of verb tense, usually failing to use the present tense when required |
| tone | inappropriate tone; often too casual or conversational |
| under | understated; be more direct |
| wdy | wordy: conciser is nicer |
| WW | wrong word: replace with a more appropriate term |
| X | delete the indicated word, partial word, phrase, passage, or space |