10 Ways to Polish Your Paper

10 Ways to Polish Your Paper

“Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

Gene Fowler (1890 - 1960)

1. Write everything yourself... (or give credit to others).

· Before you begin that paper (UCLA Dean of Students)

· Plagiarism: What it is; how to recognize and avoid it

· Plagiarism

2. Get writing help.

· Covel Commons Composition Tutorials (Call 310-206-1491 to get a schedule of workshops) http://www.college.ucla.edu/up/ct/comp.htm

3. Follow your instructor’s preferred citation style.

· Purdue University. “Online Resources for Documenting Electronic Sources”

Handouts and exercises (APA, MLA, & discipline-specific citation styles.)

· How to Cite (APA & MLA Styles)

4. Annotate your bibliography.

How? In a sentence or two, mention good & bad points about each item & explain why you used it for your paper.

5. Print off and attach copies of Web pages you used for research.

Web pages may change or disappear. Protect yourself by showing where you went & how the page looked.

6. Check your writing style.

Strunk, William. The elements of style. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

College Library: PE1421 S772 2000

www.bartleby.com/141/

7. Ask a friend to comment on your draft.

8. Use the spell check feature in your word processing program.

For example: Go to the “Tools” menu in Word and select “Spelling and Grammar...”

9. Check your grammar.

For example: In the Word “Tools” menu, select “Spelling and Grammar...”. Click “Options” & select “Check grammar as you type”

· Writer’s Workshop. “Grammar Handbook”

Complete with style help and tips.

· Capital Community College. “Guide to Grammar and Writing”

· ________. “Interactive Quizzes.”

Test yourself!

10. Look for some catchy quotations to put on your title page.

· Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations 10th ed., 1919.

· Bartleby Quotations site