Style Sheet for Essays

(Dr. Colgan)

Read through this document carefully before writing assignments for this module and keep it as a reference guide for all assignments. Everything on here is vital information!! If you have any questions on the Style Sheet or on the document explaining plagiarism and how to avoid it, please do not hesitate to ask me. a. Make sure the text is left aligned and not justified. With left aligned text, the left margin forms a straight line and the right margin is ragged (like this document). With justified text both the left and right margins form a straight line. b. Make sure each paragraph of your text begins with an indent to five to seven spaces, or in. from the left margin. c. Leave a single space after sentence terminators (i.e. ., ?, !). d. Capitalize the first letter following a colon if the clause following the colon is a complete sentence. e. Make sure you do not hyphenate (split) words at the end of a line. f. Staple or clip the finished product (do not bother with fancy folders, etc.). Remember to avoid ellipses at the beginning and ending of quotations. Reserve them only for omissions (words left out) in the middle of quotations. h. Use complete sentences. i. j. Make sure that your subjects/verbs and nouns/pronouns agree. Make sure you have not joined two independent sentences with a comma; doing so produces a comma splice which is a major grammatical error. k. Have a subject and a verb in every sentence. If one of these is missing you have created a sentence fragment. This is a major grammatical error. l. Make sure you do not over generalize and thus produce facts which are not true. For instance: Everyone knows Shakespeare was a great writer (Everyone? Great?). In Seventeenth Century England Puritans were persecuted (Puritans? g. If you use ellipses (. . .), make sure each dot is preceded and followed by a space.

Always? Everywhere?). Check and double check all generalizations, claims and facts in your essay.

m. The first sentence of a paragraph must be independent (able to stand on its own).
For example consider While these studies are important, there is . . . This sentence would be correct in the middle of a paragraph, but as the first sentence, it should more appropriately read, While studies of the effects of whatever on whatever else are important, there is . . . n. Do not use slang (e.g., put a damper on, get mad at etc.), clichs and hackneyed nonsense (As we all know, boys will be boys.).

o. Do not use contractions. That is, instead of it's and thats, use it is and that is.
p. If you are doubtful about the spelling of a word, do not guess. Look up the correct spelling in an appropriate reference source (e.g., Merriam-Webster.com). q. Proofread the copy that you submit and make sure to correct minor typographical errors, formatting, spelling, or even the wording, with a pencil. These corrections are inevitable and will communicate that you are serious about your work. It is better to hand up an assignment with corrections that you have made yourself than to hand up a neater-looking assignment full of errors. r. Make sure you limit the number of long quotes to two or three in a 4 page paper. Make sure you do not pad with long quotes: You should know that most of us who grade English essays look very hard at block quotes of more than four or five lines; they are the most common way students stretch a paper to meet a specified word count or page quota!! s. Embed quotations of less than 35-40 words quotes within a paragraph: You should not end a paragraph with a long quote. Follow it with a sentence comment of your own IN THE SAME PARAGRAPH. t. Make sure you do not use quotes to summarize the story: Use quotes to ILLUSTRATE a claim or assertion you have made and wish to prove. u. Make sure all commas and periods go inside the quotation marks, like this: last words of quotation, or last words of quotation. But if the parenthetical reference (a reference in brackets) is added, the comma or period is moved to a new position, like this: last words of quotation (164), or last words of quotation (164). v. The colon and semicolon are placed outside the quotation marks, like this: last words of quotation: and/or last words of quotation;

w. When a parenthetical reference is added, these punctuation marks are also moved: last words of quotation (164): and/or last words of quotation (164); x. Where the punctuation inside the quotation marks is a question mark (?) or exclamation point (!), the mark is left inside when a parenthetical reference is added. And because these marks include a period, no period is added after the parenthetical remark: last words of question? (164)

y. Display a quotation of more than 35-40 words as free-standing block of text indented
5 to seven spaces from the left margin (doubles spaced as usual). Omit the quotation marks and include the page number in parentheses after the last period. Be consistent throughout. 1 z. At the top of your paper, on the left hand side write the following details as shown: ID number: Module Title: Module Convenor: Dr. John-Paul Colgan Title of the Assignment: DO NOTE INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON ASSIGNMENTS, ONLY YOUR SEEU ID NUMBER!!!

See Plonsky, M. "APA Style Guide." www.uwsp.edu. University of Wisconsin. 20 Dec. 2005 <http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm>.