Writing and Research

J. Pitney

CMC Government Department

 

Click here for an example of a Gov 101 paper. 

Click here for an example of a Gov 106 paper.

Click here for Turabian citation guide.

 

Writing 

• Revise and rewrite. 
• Never use a long Latinate word when a short Anglo-Saxon one will do.   
• Cut needless words
  • Mindless introductory phrases (“It is important to keep in mind the fact that”);
  • Redundancies (“[T]o dismiss the case would be unprecedented  from a historical standpoint, because it has never been done before.” -- Asa Hutchinson, 1/25/99)
• Write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs. 
• Shun the passive voice and forms of the verb to be.  Use active verbs.
• Vary the length of your sentences and paragraphs.
• Make your point at the start.  Use the rest of the essay to support it.
• In a short essay, do not end with a summary.  When you have finished, just stop.
• Never use contractions in academic writing.
• Proofread.  The computer will not catch all your mistakes.
• Choose your words carefully.  Never use feel for think, verbal for oral, incredibly for very, or novel for a work of non-fiction.  See
• Stay off tangents.  Cut anything that fails to advance your argument.  In academic essays, avoid sermonettes. (“However, I feel that Franklin Pierce was an incredibly lousy president under who, the national polity was lead into it's crucial crisis ...”)

Research

• Check your facts.  Do not trust your memory. 

• Do not believe a claim just because you find it in print or on the Internet.  Ask

·        Does the source have a bias?

·        How did the source get the information?

·        Does the source have a reputation for thoroughness and accuracy?

• Cite your sources unless the material is well-known (George Washington served as the first President) or self-evident (two and two make four). In citing   your sources, use a standard reference such as Turabian .  You should own such a manual but if you need a another short onlineguide, see: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocChicago.html

•  Do not take data out of context.  In the movie JFK, Oliver Stone shows footage of President Kennedy saying:  “In the final analysis, it is their [the Vietnamese] war.  They are the ones who must win it or lose it.”  Stone uses this clip to suggest that JFK wanted to pull out of Vietnam.  But he omits what JFK said a few moments later:  “All we can do is help, and we are making it clear, but I  don't agree with those who say we should withdraw.  That would be a great mistake.”[1] There may well be evidence that JFK did want to withdraw, but that interview does not suffice.

• Build your argument from facts and logic, not just from quotations by those who agree with you.  Acknowledge contrary data or arguments.  You may refute them, but you may not neglect them.

•  Beware letting your conclusions get ahead of your evidence.  When you discover that Bill Clinton went to Moscow and Prague, you should not automatically conclude that he served as a KGB agent.

• Do not underestimate the time you must spend.  But do not give up too easily.

   

Pitney’s List of Dumbass Mistakes

 

affect effect

angle angel

Capital Capitol

cite site sight

counsel council

fare fair

heel heal

its it’s

lead led

lose loose

mute moot

perspective  prospective

pole poll

populace  populous

principal  principle

tenet tenant

than then

their there they’re

vain vein vane

verses versus

warehouse Wherehouse Wearhouse

whose  who’s

 

A Poem

 

I have a spelling checker,

It came with my PC.

It plainly marks four my revue

Mistakes I cannot sea.

I’ve run this poem threw it,

I’m shore your pleas too no,

Its letter perfect in it’s weigh,

My checker tolled me sew.

 

Quotation and Plagiarism

 

Your paper should consist mainly of your own words.  You must avoid plagiarism.  Carefully review the definition of the term at http://registrar.claremontmckenna.edu/acpolicy/plagiarism.asp

 

At the same time, you should also avoid excessive quotations of secondary sources.  Put the ideas or information into your own words, then cite.  Whenever you do use direct quotations, name the source in your text.  See http://www.virtualsalt.com/quotehlp.htm