Common Writing Issues

1. Common Writing Issues

2. Always know the genre of the piece you are writing about • We use novels, plays or dramas, and poems • In the novel Crime and Punishment • In the play A Doll’s House • In the poem “A Dream Deferred” • Do not refer to the work as a story or a book.

3. Use the correct punctuation for titles • Titles of whole pieces that stand alone are underlined or italicized. (Novels, Plays, Newspapers, Magazines, Encyclopedias, etc) • The Great Gatsby The Crucible Time Magazine • Titles of pieces that do not stand alone or are parts of a collection (Poems, Short Stories, Articles, Chapter titles, Section titles, etc.) • “Dream Variations” • “A Rose For Emily”

4. Avoid Quotes that are too Long! • The rule of thumb is for every quoted line you should provide two lines of commentary. • Quotes should always be apt and specific • Whenever possible quotes should be embedded • Jane Eyre speaks to her master boldly: "You are human and fallible" ignoring the conventions of their relationship (129).

5. More on Quotes: Just use what you need to prove your point • A Christmas frost had come at midsummer; a white December storm had whirled over June; ice glazed the ripe apples, drifts crushed the blowing roses; on hayfield and cornfield lay a frozen shroud: lanes which last night blushed full of flowers, to-day were pathless with untrodden snow; and the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy and flagrant as groves between the tropics, now spread, waste, wild, and white as pine-forests in wintry Norway. • The discovery of Bertha brought ice to Jane’s passion for Rochester, “A Christmas frost had come at midsummer.” The fiery passion that gave her new life was now dead, “…the woods, which twelve hours since waved leafy…now spread, waste wild and white as pine-forests in wintery Norway” (175).

6. Vocabulary:Sometimes a Fire is just a Fire • After the conflagration Thornfield Hall lay in ruins. • conflagration\ kon-fluh-GRAY-shuhn \  , noun; 1.A large and destructive fire; a general burning.

7. Use Vocabulary Properly • Keep in mind words have connotations and shades of meaning • Not Good – Jane was treated incorrectly • Good – Jane was treated unfairly.

8. Other Advice • “For every word you cut, you keep a reader” – Peter Elbow • Focus on perfecting your thesis statements • Never use “I” • Use Transitions between paragraphs, ideas, and quotes

9. What to Avoid • Avoid critiquing the author “Famous,” “Fabulous,” & “World renowned” • Avoid repetition of words like “Also” “Even” • Be strong in your claims – avoid • “seems like” “may” • Avoid Clichés