NEVER address the reader in academic papers. Avoid 1st and 2nd person pronouns such as “you, your, us, we, our…etc.” in academic writing as this is much too informal and casual.
Never incorporate yourself into a paper unless you are specifically asked to share your own opinion or make personal application of the material. And even then, make sure to do so sparingly. Academic papers lose much of their merit when first person pronouns such as “I, me & my” appear too often in the text.
Never use contractions. Ex: Can’t, don’t doesn’t…etc. (At this level, you should be striving to produce formal documents that have a poised, professional tone.)
Add citations when possible. A document gains great value & merit when the work is verified by outside sources. So if you are trying to make a point, it is always beneficial to incorporate outside references which confirm that information.
Try to avoid “conversational” jargon. The use of slang, idioms, figures of speech and a casual/relaxed tone is not recommended for academic papers.
Write as though the reader does NOT have a thorough background in the subject matter. This will help you provide a more comprehensive presentation (of the context and background).
Please make sure that ALL of your sentences are strong and clear. A weak sentence thrown into the middle of a paragraph can actually weaken the entire paragraph. So make sure each sentence counts AND clearly feeds into the next sentence. And if the sentence is not necessary…then toss it out.
Try to use clean, concise paragraphs. Paragraph breaks not only help you better organize your content, but they can also give the reader a visual delineation of your thought processes…which in turn makes your work easier to read.
It is always helpful to incorporate a “thesis statement” in your work. (This is that sentence or two which appears early in your paper and communicates the main point or focus of your work.) For more specific guidelines on this visit: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/545/1/
Avoid using rhetorical question in academic papers as they do not directly contribute to the content of your paper. Stick to clear, direct statements.
When using the author’s name in a paper or post, you need to give his/her full name the first time. Once you have addressed the author, then you can just use the last names.
When you use exact quotations, please make sure to provide the author’s name, the name of the source and a page number following the specific guidelines of the format (APA, MLA, Turabian/Chicago) you are using. Citation formats differ based upon the specific guidelines of your specific discipline).
WARNING: Just providing the name of a resource in a bibliography does not give you permission to use their content throughout your document in whatever manner you wish. You must also cite your sources throughout because using someone’s work without giving them credit is essentially stealing.
