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Learn essential strategies to improve your formal writing skills in this comprehensive guide. Discover how to avoid common mistakes, structure your arguments boldly, and elevate your writing style. From formatting book titles to utilizing quotes effectively, this resource covers all aspects of formal writing.
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A few notes about formal writing • Book titles can be underlined OR italicized-just be consistent. Poems, songs, short stories are in quotes. • Stay away from conversational lingo like “lots,” “anyways,” “I am basically saying that,” “freaked out” and so on. • Do not use contractions or abbreviations like etc. in formal writing • Do not use 1st person in formal writing (for this project, exceptions include scrapbook descriptions or personal poetry comparisons)
Be Bold! Instead of this: “These are the reasons Victor Frankenstein is the real monster.” Be BOLD and state : “Victor Frankenstein is the real monster due to his selfish behavior, his hatred of his own creation, and his elevation of ambition over family.”
BIG mistake Not Good The first reason why Victor is the real monster is because he is selfish. Better The first reason Victor is the real monster is that he is selfish. Best Victor is the real monster because he is selfish.
Get out your red pen Avoid extra phrases that you don’t need: NO: “My poem that I wrote is….” YES: “My poem is….” NO: “In the novel Victor Frankenstein is very selfish.” YES: “Victor Frankenstein is very selfish.”
Smaller, common mistakes • Because the Creation is a specific being and has no other name, capitalize “creation” when it comes after “the.” If you write “his creation” then you do not need to capitalize. • Frankenstein is a novel, or a book, but do not refer to the entire work as a “story.” • The first time that you introduce a work or a character you need to use the full name/title.
Quotes! Avoid “hanging quotes”: quotes that just sit in the middle of a paragraph without any introduction. Victor Frankenstein is the real monster. “example quote.” Therefore, Victor shows selfishness, which makes him the monster.
Most common mistake The Creation’s appearance is hideous and monstrous. On page 67 it says, “……..” Better The Creation appears hideous and monstrous, as described by Victor, “…………..” (67).
Victor Frankenstein is also a hypocrite. He says, “Why does the man boast……” Better Victor Frankenstein is also a hypocrite, which is illustrated by his question, “why does the man boast of sensibilities superior to those apparent in the brute” (page #).
Great example • These actions illuminate the creature’s selflessness and desire to please. Indeed, he says himself that he thought “that it might be in my power to restore happiness to these deserving people” (117).
Also • Quotes should be no longer than 2 lines, or three shorter lines. Longer quotes are fine when writing a much longer piece. • We haven’t studied this, so you won’t be graded on it, but try your best to include citations in text, according to MLA format. • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
For creative projects • Avoid simply paraphrasing and summarizing events from the book. Add descriptions, figurative language, and other poetic forms. • Just because it’s creative doesn’t mean you don’t need paragraphs.
Presentation Order Period 1 December 16 Angela Fozzie Polly Charissa December 17 Audrey Ethan Bryce Chance Peter
Presentation Order Period 3 December 16 Sharon Anson Jim Jack
Presentation Order Period 7 December 16 Steen Daniel Odette December 17 Danny Max Zain Logan
