Download LOU`s Rules for Writing

LOU’s Rules for Writing
- You must include a list of works cited (bibliography) at the end of any piece of writing that
contains references to any sources other than yourself.
Example: Fry, Stephen. Making History. London: Arrow Books, 1996.
The examples are presented in MLA style.
No other bibliographical format will be accepted!
FAILURE TO DO THIS CONSTITUTES PLAGIARISM AND WILL BE
SEVERELY DEALT WITH!
All assignments will be handed in to the teacher as a print out on the due date.
Delays will be penalized.
General Layout1
- Write your full name, student number and group number as a header in the top left-hand corner of
- Italicize titles of books, newspapers and magazines; place titles of articles and short stories
-
- Make sure that every paragraph includes
the first page.
Indicate word count between parentheses at the end of your assignment.
Place your name in a header in the top right-hand corner of every page.
Pages must be numbered and stapled.
Double-space your assignments.
between inverted commas.
•a topic sentence (top bun)
•at least one supporting sentence that further develops the
topic (cheese, sauce or accompanying vegetables)
• at least one concrete illustration (example or evidence);
this illustration may be a direct or indirect quote (meat)
• at least one supporting sentence that further develops the
illustration (cheese, sauce or accompanying vegetables)
• a concluding sentence (this sentence sums up the message
to be drawn from the example; even if it means stating the
obvious) (bottom bun).
- Give every piece of writing a title. Keep it short and to the point!
• Make up your own titles. (no quotation, saying, proverb, cliché, etc.)
• Capitalize your title according to the academic norms. All ‘important’
words (except for prepositions and articles) begin with a capital letter.
• If you give your text a two-part title, the two parts are separated by a
colon (:). The second part is a subtitle and must be capitalized as if it
were completely separated from the first.
Example: Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post 9-11
Injustice edited by Alia Malek
known phrases you might consider universally known. If you use them, you must cite their
source.
Example: “I have a dream” (King, Dream, 1963)
- You must use quotation marks (“ “ English inverted commas!) around any segment of text you
borrow from someone else, even if you mention their name in the text.
-Mind the coherence and unity of your text! Every sentence
and paragraph must bear some relationship to the stated topic. Include proper transitions and
signposts to facilitate legibility and understanding.
- Use a (semi-)formal register!
• Use vocabulary that is as specific as possible. Choose words that mean exactly what you want
to say. Avoid all-purpose vague verbs like ‘make,’ ‘do,’ ‘get,’ ‘have’ and ‘be’!
• Avoid using 1st person pronouns (I,we) and directly addressing the reader (you, your) wherever
possible. Instead, use: humans, human beings, people, individuals, an individual, a person, no
one, anyone, someone, mankind, humankind, etc. Alternatively, use the passive voice to express
an action carried out by an unknown agent. Avoid using the impersonal pronoun ‘one’.
• DO NOT use familiar language (kid, guy, big, get, like, kinda, wanna, gonna, etc.)
• DO NOT use contractions (can’t, I’m, won’t, doesn’t, let’s, etc.)
• DO NOT begin sentences with ‘also,’ ’and,’ ‘because,’ ’but,’ ‘plus’ or ‘so’.
• DO NOT use abbreviations when mentioning something for the first time. Always write out the
entire correct name of the country or institution the first time you mention it, followed by the
abbreviation in parentheses. After the first mention, you may use just the abbreviation.
- All quotations must be followed by parenthetical references, in which you include
Language
-Indent all paragraphs (except the very first one), and as a rule of thumb do not
leave spaces between paragraphs.
-Every time you end a sentence and go to the next line, you are beginning a
new paragraph. Every time you begin a new paragraph, you must develop a
new idea.
Content
- Quote carefully and accurately!
- Indicate sources for all information you have gathered through research. This also includes well-
PRINT AND PROOFREAD EVERY ASSIGNMENT BEFORE YOU TURN IT IN!
• the last name of the author (if it is not mentioned in your sentence)
• a short title if there are more than one entries by the same author in your
bibliography (it allows your reader to identify the volume in your bibliography)
• and the page number of the quote.
Example: “This story, which can start everywhere and nowhere like a circle,
starts, for me - and it is after all, my story and no one else’s, never could be anyone
else but mine - it starts with a dream I dreamed one night in May” (Fry, History, 3).
- Write all numbers in letters up to twenty (except for percentages and decimal figures).
- Mind comma splices (the use of a comma to join two independent clauses)! Use a semi-colon (;) to
separate two complete sentences (i.e., two clauses that both contain a subject and a verb).
- Avoid fragments (i.e., stand-alone dependent clauses) and write complete sentences! Relative,
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The present document has been adapted from “ROB’s Rules for Writing” by Prof. Jean Robertson of the University of Mons
and has been reproduced with her kind agreement.
MLE/O
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Rules for Writing
subordinate and participle clauses must be connected to a main clause.
Example: Conspicuous consumption is a contemporary phenomenon. According to some
studies, women tend to engage in conspicuous consumption more often than men. *Because
they want to protect their romantic relationships.
MLE/O
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Rules for Writing
CORR.: Conspicuous consumption is a contemporary phenomenon. According to
some studies, women tend to engage in conspicuous consumption more than men
because they want to protect their romantic relationships.
- Avoid dangling participles and dangling pronouns. Past and present participles as well as pronouns
must refer to a proper antecedent.
Example: *Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.
In this sentence, the subject (or antecedent) of ‘flitting’ should be the bee, but the syntax
implies otherwise.
The room contained a chair, a table, and a lone night bulb. *It was twenty-six
feet long by seventeen fee wide.
Which word does the pronoun ‘it’ refer to?
Similarly, DO NOT start your text by ‘it’s about’ or ‘this is about’. In both cases, the pronouns ‘it’ and
‘this’ do not have any antecedent.
- DO NOT omit a conjunction (‘and’ or ‘or’) before the last item in a list, even if there are only two
items on the list.
- DO NOT use ellipses (…) to mean etcetera (etc.).
Correction Code2
- redundant (typically repetition)
(redundant)
//
- element missing
(^)
//
- fragments (i.e. incomplete syntax)
(frag.)
//
- verbless or subjectless clauses
(VlC)/(SlC)
////
- incomprehensible or inaccurate text
(?)
- end focus (new info at the end of the clause/
sentence)
(EF)
//
- double orientation (2 elements/adverbs before
subject)
(DO)
//
- dangling modifier
(DM)
//
- dangling participle
(DP)
///
- Improper use of participle clauses
(part. cl.)
// to ////
- wrong connective
(conn.)
///
- wrong conjunction
(conj.)
///
- adjective or adverb in the wrong position
(Adv/j pos)
///
- word order, also mistakes in S/V inversion
(WO)
///
(
)
///
1. Errors in FormaPing and Structuring the
Text
- no or a wrongly capitalized title
(Title!)
- capitalization
(cap)
///
- non-indented body paragraphs/indented
introductory ¶
( )
- paragraph layout
(§ lay)
////
- paragraph structure
(§)
- register mistake (too informal)
(register)
//
- use of contracted/abbreviated forms
(abbr)
//
- ellipsis (…) vs. etcetera (etc.)
(…/etc.)
///
- numbers written incorrectly
(#)
/ or //
- numbers up to 20: in full
- percentages and decimal figures:
numbers
- £1,250 vs. 60.2%
2. Sentence Structures
- choppy prose; staccato sentences
(CP)
//
- run-on sentence
(run-on)
///
2
- parallel syntax (e.g. with 'and')
- wrong use of auxiliary (have/be/do)
(aux.)
////
- wrong use of modal auxiliary
(mod.)
/// to ////
- subject/verb agreement
(S/V)
(//)
//
- improper syntax between brackets or dashes
() or — —
////
- key information between brackets
(!)
//to ////
3. Grammatical Mistakes
4. Spelling and Vocabulary Mistakes
- count/uncount
- spelling
(sp)
// to ///
- wrong preposition
(prep)
// to ////
- vocabulary
(voc)
/ or //
- unidiomatic collocations
(col.)
/ to ///
- use of umbrella words (e.g. thing, big, have,
make, get,...)
(umb.)
/ to ////
- French expressions/structures (‘calques’),
including 'faux amis'
(FR)
// to ////
((un)c)
///
- singular/plural
(sg/pl)
////
- one of + plural
(One+)
- irregular plurals
(irr.pl.)
////
- adverb or adjective
(adv/adj)
////
- adjective agreement
(AAgr)
- comparative or superlative
(comp/sup)
- wrong or missing determiner
(det)
/// to ////
- wrong quantifier (typically much/many)
(quant.)
- wrong or missing possessive
(poss)
////
- wrong or missing Saxon genitive ('s)
(SG)
///
- pronominal reference
(ref?)
// to ////
- wrong choice or misuse of umbrella pronouns
(it, this, that)
(umb. pron.)
// to ////
- wrong choice of, misuse of, or missing relative
pronoun
(rel)
////
- gerund or infinitive
(-ing/to)
////
- tense
(T)
// / to ////
- transitive verb (typically missing object)
(tv)
////
- verb conjugation (typically did + -ed) &
irregular verbs
(conjug.)
////
(-ed/-ing)
////
(IR)
e.g. *He tried to resolve the problem (interference
from résoudre) solve
! Use a dictionary to check the exact meaning of
a word
! Watch out for false friends (e.g. Fr. actuel(le) vs.
E. actual)
5. Punctuation Errors
(punct)
/
e.g. - a missing punctuation mark at the end of a
sentence
- a missing comma when listing things
- a missing comma before but or and
- a missing comma before a non-restrictive
relative clause
- comma splice
- missing quotation marks
6. Content & Argumentation
- For longer essays, missing introduction, body
paragraph or conclusion
(IBC)
- New idea in the conclusion
(id.ccl)
- Unclear or missing contextualization
(ctxt)
/// to ////
- Unclear or missing definitions
(def)
///
- Unclear or missing explanation
(expl.)
// to ////
- Non sequitur
(non seq.)
Adapted from Ms. Ghesquière’s correction sheet.
MLE/O
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Rules for Writing
MLE/O
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Rules for Writing
RUB'Ms (Really Unforgivably Big Mistakes)
The RUB’Ms are English teachers’ pet peeves and should become
yours.
For RUB’Ms zero tolerance will apply.
S/V agreement
Adjective agreement
*One of + sg
Conjugation mistakes esp. *did + -ed or
omiPed auxiliaries in questions and
negative sentences
*I want + that
*I help + -ing
Irregular verbs
MLE/O
For spontaneous writing assignments: 1 =
4/10
2 or more = 2/10
For essays: 1 = 8/20
2 or more = 4/20
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Rules for Writing