Tip #1: Go to the Library and Ask for Help!
Your librarian is always happy to help you work on papers and is knowledgeable on APA citations.
Beginning a Paper
- Is it an Analytical, Persuasive, Informative, Creative/Narrative, Critical, or Argumentative essay?
- If you present one point of view in a paper, you must represent all other points of view as well.
- Understand which point of view to write in. Only write in first person point of view if you are writing a narrative/personal paper.
- Read your paper and make sure you aren’t switching your tenses!
Things not to start with:
- Avoid writing your opinion in an analytical, informative, or critical paper
- Never use first person (I, me, my, or our) in a paper unless it is a paper about your life.
- Never use second person in an essay (you or your).
- Never switch your point of view (first, second, or third person).
Throughout Your Paper
- When creating thesis statements, pay attention to the order of your subtopics.
- Use spell check to catch any mistakes (a lot of students do not).
- When using numbers in a paper, write one through nine phonetically and write 10 and up numerically.
- Cite all information from a source. If it did not come from your head, it is plagiarism if uncited.
Remember the following as you write:
- Never use apostrophes to make a plural noun.
- Avoiding use questions in a paper.
- Talking and writing are different things. Avoid slang or text speak.
- Avoid ‘really’ or ‘very’ or other intensifiers, use proper adjectives. LosetheVery.com
Ending Your Paper
- Check your sentences for length. Page count doesn't count if your sentences can be more concise.
- Have someone else read over your paper! (Hint: the Librarian)
Review your paper and remove:
- Avoid the use of flowery language in an academic paper.
- Avoid contractions. Instead of writing ‘isn’t’, write ‘is not.’ (Bonus: It adds to your word count!)
- You don’t need to write ‘in conclusion’ or any other signal phrase like it.
