Writing PDF

THE ACADEMIC PROPOSAL
An academic proposal is the first step in producing a thesis or major project. Its intent is to
convince a supervisor or academic committee that your topic and approach are sound, so
that you gain approval to proceed with the actual research. (Sometimes you are outlining
hypothetical research, and just want recognition that it would be worth doing.) As well as
indicating your plan of action, an academic proposal should show your theoretical
positioning and your relationship to past work in the area.
An academic proposal is expected to contain these elements:
a rationale for the choice of topic, showing why it is important or useful within the
concerns of the discipline or course. It is sensible also to indicate the limitations of your
aimsdont promise what you cant possibly deliver.
a review of existing published work (the literature) that relates to the topic. Here you
need to tell how your proposed work will build on existing studies and yet explore new
territory (see the handout on The Literature Review).
an outline of your intended approach or methodology (with comparisons to the existing

published work), perhaps including costs, resources needed, and a timeline of when you
hope to get things done.
Particular disciplines have standard ways of organizing the proposal. Ask within your
department about expectations in your field. In any case, in organizing your material, be sure
to emphasize the specific focus of your workyour research question. Use headings, lists,
and visuals to make reading and cross-reference easy. And employ a concrete and precise
style to show that you have chosen a feasible idea and can put it into action. Here are some
general tips:
Start with why your idea is worth doing (its contribution to the field), then fill in how
(technicalities about topic and method).
Give enough detail to establish feasibility, but not so much as to bore the reader.
Show your ability to deal with possible problems or changes in focus.
Show confidence and eagerness (use I and active verbs, concise style, positive phrasing).
Prepared by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support

Over 50 other files giving advice on university writing are available at www.writing.utoronto.ca
A SYSTEM FOR DEALING WITH NEW WORDS WHILE READING

You don't need to interrupt your reading to look up every hard word right away in the dictionaryin fact, experts
say it's actually better to guess first. Try these tactics for making an "educated guess." You'll acquire some real
understanding of how words are used rather than just long vocabulary lists and a tattered dictionary.
Previewing new vocabulary words

Before you start to read, skim through the piece rapidly and choose a few new words that crop up repeatedly
maybe from the title or headings. Look them up in the glossary of your textbook (if it has one) or in a dictionary.
Then write out quick definitions that seem to fit. Change them while you read if necessary.
While reading
First, SOUND out words new to you
Use simple phonics to attempt a pronunciation. You might recognize

the word when you hear it. In any case, you are reinforcing your
visual memory with your auditory memory.
Next, examine the STRUCTURE
Look for familiar word parts, and see if you can tell how the prefixes
and suffixes shape the root meaning.
Then look at the CONTEXT
Guess at the word's meaning from the way it is used in the sentence.
You may find a running definition, or see the meaning reflected in a
contrasting idea, or just be able to tell the meaning by the way the
passage continues.
Only then, check the DICTIONARY
If you can't understand the word's meaning after using the above
steps, mark the passage so you can look up the word later. Only if the
word is absolutely essential to the argument of the piece should you
pause and turn to the glossary or a dictionary. (Note that most good
dictionaries now come with CDs so you can load them on your
computer for help with online reading.) Reinforce your understanding
of the word by writing a usable brief definition or synonym in the
margin or as part of your note-taking.
CONFIRM guesses
Its most efficient to leave dictionary use until you have read through
a piece for the first time, guessing and marking-up as you go. When
you stop after a section to make notes, look up the words you marked.
Read the dictionary entry thoroughly: look for derivation, structure,
and examples of usage. See how close your guess was. Write out the
definition in your own words. Then re-read the piece and take notes.
Reinforcing New Vocabulary Words

Make new words part of your active vocabulary, words you can actually use. Keeping a list on note cards helps you
review. This method keeps the words in context. It also calls on your different physical senses so that you learn in
various ways at once. Keep returning to your cards and repeat the steps until you can do the final one with ease.
1. Say the word out loud according to the dictionary pronunciation guide.
2. Write down the word and mark it up to show its inner structure (root word + prefixes, suffixes). Keep
saying it over aloud (at least in your head).
3. On the other side of the card, write down a brief definition. Then copy out the sentence where you saw
the word usedand say it aloud as you write. (Later, add sentences from other readings.)
4. Read over the card periodically. Eventually try writing a sentence of your own using the word. When
you can do this without even looking at the card, you've arrived!
Further Resources for Building Vocabulary Skills

The best way to increase and deepen your general vocabulary is to spend time reading. A newspaper or popular
magazine will do, as long as you read with an active interest in the words that you find. As your "passive"
vocabulary from reading increases, you will begin to be comfortable actually using new words in speech or
writing. You won't need to use them deliberately; they will simply be there when you need them.
Thinking about words and playing with them also increases your sense of control over vocabulary. That's the
principle behind many of the activities in the English Language Development program at UTSC
(www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/eld/vocabulary.html), for instance. Below are some books and newspaper columns
that concentrate on words. Most of the books are available at university libraries, and many can be bought at the
U of T Bookstores. Some of these items are specifically about skills for increasing vocabulary; others are about
words for their own sake. Dictionaries with CD-ROMs are increasingly common, and very handy. Don't ignore
the columns and games: even if you can't at first compete, you can enjoy the spectacle of other people having fun
with wordsand the atmosphere can be contagious.
Dictionaries
Many mid-sized collegiate dictionary now include a CD-ROM, allowing you to look up words instantly and
also browse among synonyms easily. If youre learning English as a new language, dont rely on translation
dictionaries. Instead, invest in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Its CD-ROM includes audio
pronunciations and also shows how words are used in combination.
At the bookstore (or college book sales)

Some books promise to increase your vocabulary in ten days or ten easy steps. Unfortunately, that's impossible.
These books are more realistic, and they are good reading in themselves.
Gyles Brandreth. The Word Book.
Richard Lederer. The Miracle of Language, Crazy Language, etc.
Robert MacNeill. Wordstruck.
Lewis Thomas. Et Cetera.
At the library
Many of the above books and a multitude of others can be found in university libraries. Look around and find
what interests you.
See the LB 2395 shelves for books giving advice on vocabulary skills.
See the PE 1075 shelves for books about the history of the English language.
In popular journalism
Heated discussions of particular word uses are a mainstay of letters to the editor and a recurrent topic for
columnists on almost any topic. Watch for them and see if you agree or disagreeor just feel amused. A number
of regular columns specialize in word uses--often the amusingly illogical aspects of vocabulary.
"It Pays to Enrich your Word Power," regular feature in Reader's Digest: for the online version, start at
www.rd.com and search for the game Word Power
William Safire and others' "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine; also online if you
register at www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html
On the Web
You'll find games, questions-and-answers, arguments, reference works, words-of-the-day, and articles galore on
the Web. Here are two to start and a link to more.
Richard Lederer, Verbivore (articles on words, links): www.verbivore.com/
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day (and other games): www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl
Vocabulary" links from UTSC: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/twc/addresources.htm#vocab
Developing Coherent Paragraphs

______________________________________________________________
Paragraph structures provide a map for your ideas, guiding readers through your reasoning. Keep
this simple set of principles in mind while you write, and use it as a checklist when you're
revising.
Use Topic Sentences

State the central idea of each paragraph explicitly in a topic sentence. That's one way to show
that you have thought through your material.
In academic writing, the topic sentence nearly always works best at the beginning of a paragraph
so that the reader knows what to expect. Don't count on your readers to guess what your
paragraph is going to be about.
NOTE: The first and last paragraphs of an essay are exceptions to this rule. In both instances,
readers already know you're leading up to something, and you can save the topic sentence to
make a strong paragraph ending.
Expand on the Topic Sentences

The body of a paragraph develops and demonstrates what your topic sentences state. Here are
some common patterns:
Explain more fully what you mean, giving definitions or indicating distinctions.
Offer details, examples, or relevant quotations (with your comments).
Follow through a logical sequence, showing the connections among your ideas in a
recognizable pattern such as cause and effect or comparison and contrast.
(To see other strategies for developing paragraphs, follow this link to U of Ottawa's
HyperGrammar. To learn more about topic sentences, see our file on Using Topic Sentences.)
Show Connections
Be sure your intended logic is clear. Often the simplest words do the most to pull together ideas.
Pronouns such as it and they and this keep the focus on the ideas announced at the
beginning of the paragraphas long as they are clearly linked to specific nouns (see the
Purdue University file on pronoun reference).
Deliberate repetition of key words also helps. The paragraph below shows the
interweaving of key nouns and pronouns to emphasize the point that Canadians share an
interest in communication:
It's perhaps not surprising that Marshall McLuhan, the most influential communications expert
of the twentieth century, was a Canadian. As a nation, we have been preoccupied with forging
communication links among a sparse, widespread population. The old Canadian one-dollar bill,
with its line of telephone poles receding to the distant horizon, illustrates this preoccupation.
Year after year we strive to maintain a national radio and television broadcasting system in the
face of foreign competition. We have been aggressive in entering the international high
technology market with our telecommunications equipment.
(from Northey, Impact: A Guide to Business Communication. Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 1993, p. 3.)
Certain specialized linking words can also be powerful tools for pulling ideas together. But
don't just sprinkle them into your sentencesuse them to support your logic. Here are some
examples:
To signal a reinforcement of ideas:
also
for example
in other words
moreover
in addition
more importantly
on the other hand

yet
nevertheless
however
in contrast
in spite of [something]
therefore
finally
accordingly
so [informal]
To signal a change in ideas:

but
instead
although
To signal a conclusion:
thus
in conclusion
Choose Appropriate Paragraph Length

A series of long paragraphs can make prose dense and unpleasant to read. Check any paragraph
that is longer than a page to see if it would work better as two or more paragraphs. Break it at a
logical place (e.g., where your focus shifts), and see whether you need to create new topic
sentences to make the shift clear
Also look for paragraphs only two or three sentences long. They make academic writing seem
disjointed or skimpy. Try combining a few short paragraphs into one, using a single topic
sentence to hold them together.

WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ADMISSIONS LETTER

When you write a letter or personal statement as part of applying for graduate or professional
school, you make your case as much by the way you write as by what you say. Here are some
qualities to aim for.
Be focussed. Take your cue first from the prompts given in the application form; also research the
program widely, looking for hints about its values and identity. What is the main stated question
(e.g., why you will be a good researcher or lawyer, what experience you can bring to the program,
whether you can stand the pressure)? If the prompt is very general (or lacking), choose an overall
point you want to make: that you are a proven achiever, that you thrive on challenges, that you have
something special to contribute to the profession. . . . Don't just write about law or medicine or
anthropology: write about yourself as a lawyer, physician or anthropologist.
Be coherent. Being "together" is a quality of writing as well as of character. A clearly organized
letter can create a picture of a clear-minded and sensible person. You might want to write from an
outline or a diagram of main points. At least check the topic sentences of each paragraph in your
finished piece to see if they make a logical sequence. Ask a tough-minded friend to give her
impression. (See the advice on the other side of this sheet about possible types of organization.)
Be interpretive. You need to make an impression concisely, so don't use your letter just to repeat
the facts set out in other parts of the application. Provide explicit answers for the question that
arises in the mind of any reader looking at a hundred or more similar documents: "So what?" Use
nouns and adjectives that name qualities (outgoing, curiosity, confident) and verbs that show action
(coordinated, investigated, tried). Make an effort to find the exact right words to suit the evidence
you are offering.
Be specific. There's no point making claims unless you can back them up. Refer to the fact lists in
other parts of your application ("as my academic record shows"), but offer enough examples so that
your letter can stand on its own. Say that they are just instances, not your whole proof ("An incident
from last summer is an example...."). The concrete language you use for these specific references
will also balance the generalizing words of your interpretive points.
Be personal. Your letter substitutes for an interview. In effect, the readers have asked you to tell
stories, mention details, expand on facts. So mention things you might not have put into the rest of
the applicationyour ethnic background or political interests, even, if they're relevant to your
academic interests. Don't be afraid to mention problems or weaknesses if you can show how you
overcame them and what you learned from the experience.
Use I rather than evasive phrases like "this writer" or "was experienced by me." A stylistic tip:
to avoid monotony, start some sentences with a subordinate clause such as "While I scrubbed
floors" or "Because of my difficulties"then go on to I did or I learned.
Options for Organizing an Admissions Letter

Judge by the clues on the application form and by the nature of the profession or discipline what kind
of logical structure you could use to tie your points together into a coherent whole. You may see
indications you are expected to demonstrate your personality, or be self-analytical, or enter into
discussions in the discipline. You will probably use one or more of these standard expository
patterns.
Narrative: A chronological order is easy to organize. It progresses from a beginning to an end, and
you can divide up the middle into manageable sections. But beware of overworked openings
like "I have always wanted to be a dentist," and of excessive detail. Select relevant and
interesting stories and make sure that the readers know why you are telling them.
Analytic: To deal with the central question why you are a good match for the program, give an
overall answer about yourself and then discuss the elements that contribute to your engagement
with the discipline. Discuss your interests in terms of key issues and theories in your discipline.
To balance the dryness of this approach, break into memorable stories at times, using specific
details, and use verbs to put yourself into action. Show what you intend to do after you have
completed the program.
Technical: To indicate your research or professional interests, show your involvement with a
specific issue. Don't just outline the topic you want to work on; write about your summer
research job or independent-study project, or even your program on student radio or your
volunteer experience. Outline specific undergraduate projects as examples. Emphasize what you
learned from these activities, and indicate how your studies will extend that learning.
Other Sources of Advice

Most writing centres at U of T can't work with you on personal documents like admission letters. But
other sources of advice are availablebesides feedback from your professors, TAs, and fellowstudents.
Books on Writing Style: Don't give your readers any excuses to eliminate your application.
Proofread carefully for missing details as well as errors in grammar or punctuation. Write readably;
Don't overload your sentences with jargon or pretentious words. Use books like the ones listed below
(available widely in Robarts and college libraries) as reference works on matters of language
correctness. Read relevant parts to review what people consider interesting and readable style. If you
need to set up your statement as a letter, see Brusaw or Locker on letter formats.
Charles T. Brusaw et al. The Business Writer's Handbook. HF 5726 B874
Kitty O. Locker. Business and Administrative Communication. HF 5718 L63 1997
Margot Northey and Margaret Procter. Writer's Choice. LB 2369 N677
William J. Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. PE 1408 S772
William Zinsser. On Writing Well. PE 1429 Z5
Specific Guidebooks: A number of books give advice on writing graduate admissions letters. Since
they're all focussed on American universities, take their advice and samples with a grain of salt.
Above all, don't imitate too closelysuspected plagiarism or obvious insincerity would lead to quick
rejection. These and other specialized books are all available at the Career Centre Resource Library.
e.g. Donald Asher. Graduate Admissions Essays. LB 2366.2 A84 Robarts, UC
Howard Greene. Beyond The Ivy Wall: 10 Essential Steps to Graduate School Admission.
LB 2371.4 G74 1989 Robarts, UTSC
Dave G. Mumby, Graduate School: Winning Strategies for Getting in With or Without Excellent Grades.
LB 2371 M85 1997 Robarts, Vic, UC, UTM
R.J. Stelzer. How to Write a Winning Personal Statement. LB 2351.52 U6S74 Robarts, SMC, UC, UTSC, Vic
Websites: Sites like these give advice and sometimes include examples. Avoid commercial sites.
e.g. Purdue University, www.owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
University of Wisconsin, www.writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/apessay.html
PsychWeb, www.psywww.com/careers/applicat.htm
Survey on Doctoral Education: questions to ask ahead, www.phd-survey.org/advice/advice.htm
Expressions of Quantity: Special Cases of Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement is generally quite straightforward in English. Check any handbook for the general
rules. However, with subjects that introduce the idea of quantity, some additional rules of thumb are
needed. Here are a few that are useful for academic writing.
1. With fractions, percentages and indefinite quantifiers (e.g., all, few, many, much, some),
the verb agrees with the preceding noun or clause:
With a singular or non-count noun or clause, use a singular verb:
One-third of this article is taken up with statistical analysis.
Much of the book seems relevant to this study.
Half of what he writes is undocumented.
Fifty percent of the job is routine.
All the information is current
With a plural noun, use a plural verb:
One-third of the students have graduate degrees.
Many researchers depend on grants from industry.
Half of his articles are peer-reviewed.
Fifty percent of the computers have CD-ROM drives.
All the studies are current.
With a collective noun, use either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether you want to
emphasize the single group or its individual members:
Half of my family lives/live in Canada.
All of the class is/are here.
Ten percent of the population is/are bilingual.
2. The words majority and minority are used in a variety of ways:

When majority/minority mean an unspecified number more or less than 50%, use a singular verb:
The majority holds no strong views.
A small minority indicates it supports the proposal.
When majority/minority mean a specific percentage, you may use either a singular or a plural verb:
A 75% majority have/has voted against the measure.
A 10% minority are/is opposed to the measure.
When majority/minority refers to a specified set of persons, use a plural verb:
A majority of Canadians have voted for change.
A minority of the students are willing to pay more.
3. Expressions of time, money and distance usually take a singular verb:

Ten dollars is a great deal of money to a child.
Ten kilometres is too far to walk.
Six weeks is not long enough.
4. Adjectives preceded by the and used as plural nouns take a plural verb:
The rich get richer.
The poor face many hardships.
5. Expressions using the phrase number of depend on the meaning of the phrase:
They take a singular verb when referring to a single quantity:
The number of students registered in the class is 20.
They take plural verbs when they are used as indefinite quantifiers (see rule 1 above):
A number of students were late.
Prepared for use at the University of Toronto
by Martine Johnson, Coordinator, English Programme, International Student Centre,
and revised in 2004 by Rebecca Smollett and Margaret Procter.
Faulty Parallelism
What is faulty parallelism?
Look out for faulty parallelism whenever you use one of the following constructions:
a and b
a, b, and c
a or b
a, b, or c
not only a but also b
The clauses or phrases joined by the conjunctions should have similar grammatical structures to ensure
that your reader can follow the logic of your sentence and to avoid awkwardness. Consider the sentence,
My first-year philosophy professor was informative, lively, and a source of inspiration.
Notice that the first two phrases in the a, b, and c construction are adjectives, while the third is a noun
phrase. This sentence suffers from faulty parallelism.
How to identify and repair faulty parallelism

To check whether the elements of a construction are in parallel, place boxes around them. Next, label
the boxes.
a
My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and a source of inspiration .
To repair the faulty parallelism here, you will have to change the elements a and b into noun phrases or
the element c into an adjective. Always choose the simplest option. In this case it is easiest to change the
final element, c, into an adjective:
a
My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and inspiring .
Often faulty parallelism can be repaired by paying close attention to where you place your verbs. The
faulty parallelism in the following sentence is easy to detect once you place boxes around the two
elements of the not only but also construction:
a
My philosophy professor not only demonstrated how to reason persuasively but also how to avoid logical fallacies .
Note that element a begins with a verb but element b doesnt. To repair the faulty parallelism, you can
add a verb to the start of element b. However, since the same verb will work for both parts of the
construction, the more elegant solution is to drag the verb demonstrated to the front of the whole
construction:
a
My philosophy professor demonstrated not only how to reason persuasively but also how to avoid logical fallacies .
Problems with parallelism often arise from the careless use of clauses beginning with the
subordinating conjunction that:
a
He warned me to revise my essay and that I should pay close attention to parallel structures .
To repair the problem, choose either an infinitive (to + verb) or a that clause on both sides of the a and b
construction. In this example, the infinitive provides the more elegant solution:
a
He warned me to revise my essay and to pay close attention to parallel structures .
Prepared by Jerry Plotnick, Director of the University College Writing Centre

Over 50 other files offering advice about university writing are available at www.writing.utoronto.ca
Fixing Comma Splices

What is a Comma Splice?
A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to join two complete sentences without placing an appropriate
joining word between them. The comma just isnt strong enough to do the job of making one grammatical sentence out
of two. Learn to recognize what comma splices look like, and be sure to avoid them in your essays.
Here is a simple example of a comma splice:
X
I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.
A closely related grammatical error is the run-on sentence. It occurs when you join two complete sentences without
any punctuation mark at all:
X
I completed my essay I have not submitted it.
Fixing a run-on sentence is no different from fixing a comma splice.
Some Basic Definitions

The grammatical term for a group of words that can stand on its own as a complete sentence is independent clause.
To be an independent clause, the group of words must contain both a subject and a verb. In the independent clause I
completed my essay, I is the subject, and completed is the verb.
The grammatical term for a joining word is conjunction. Conjunctions refer to those words in the English language
such as and or but or since or because that allow us to build more complex sentences out of simpler ones. The
conjunctions and and but are called coordinating conjunctions; the conjunctions since and because are called
subordinating conjunctions.
It is not essential to remember these grammatical terms, though they can be useful for conveying important points
about grammar. What really matters is to know comma splices when you see them and to be familiar with the various
ways of fixing them.
How to Fix a Comma Splice

Here are four straightforward ways to solve the comma splice problem. Understand the subtle differences between
them, and make sure you dont get into the habit of always solving your comma splice problems in the same way. Look
at each comma splice in your writing as an opportunity to gain mastery over the tools for building complex sentences out
of simpler ones.
Solution 1: Use a period.
The simplest way to fix a comma splice is to separate the two improperly joined sentences. Simply replace the
comma with a period. The two sentences may sound a bit abrupt placed one after the other, but at least they will be
grammatical:
I completed my essay. I have not submitted it.
A period may be your best choice for fixing a comma splice when any of the following conditions holds: (1) the logical
connection between the two independent clauses is self-evident; (2) one or both of the clauses is long; or (3) the ideas
represented in the two clauses are distinct.
I completed my English essay. Now I must go to the library and begin research at once on my fifteen-page History term
paper.
Solution 2: Use a semi-colon.

If you want a simple solution to the comma splice, but you prefer to encapsulate your two ideas in one sentence
rather than two, then use a semi-colon rather than a period:
I completed my essay; I have not submitted it.
A semi-colon is probably the most appropriate remedy for your comma splice when the following two conditions hold:
(1) the logical connection between the two independent clauses is already clear, and (2) the ideas represented in the two
clauses are very closely related. In particular, when the relation between the two clauses is one of sequenceeither a
sequence in time or a logical sequencethen a semi-colon is just what you need:
I completed my English essay; next I will tackle my History essay.
Solution 3: Use a coordinating conjunction.

Like the semi-colon, a conjunction allows you to combine your two ideas in a single sentence. But it has the added
advantage of allowing you to indicate the logical relationship between the two ideas. In our comma splice example, the
relationship is one of contrast: I completed the essay, but I havent submitted it even though that would have been the
expected thing to do.
The coordinating conjunction but compactly conveys this sense of the unexpected or contradictory:
I completed my essay, but I have not submitted it.
In all, there are seven coordinating conjunctions:

and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
They cover the most basic kinds of logical relationships that can exist between two separate ideas.
Solution 4: Use a subordinating conjunction.
Subordinating conjunctions are similar to coordinating conjunctions in that they allow you to indicate the logical
relationship between two independent clauses. However, unlike coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions
lay unequal stress on the two parts of the new sentence. We can use the subordinating conjunction although to solve our
comma splice problem, and we can do so in two distinct ways:
I completed my essay, although I have not submitted it.

Although I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.
As the word subordinating suggests, we place less stress on the clause introduced by the subordinating conjunction. In
the first example, the fact that I have not submitted the essay appears as an afterthought; in the second example, it is the
point.
There are a great many subordinating conjunctions in the English language. Here are a few of the more common
ones:
while, although, because, if, since, unless, whether,
when, why, as, before, after, if, whether, that, once
How Not to Fix a Comma Splice

Never try to join two sentences with a comma followed by a conjunctive adverb. The most common form this error
takes involves joining two sentences with the word however:
X
I completed my essay, however I have not submitted it.
This sentence is still a comma splice. Learn to distinguish conjunctive adverbs from subordinating conjunctions; they do
not function in the same way. Conjunctive adverbs should be used to begin independent clauses, not to join them.
Here is just a small sample of the many conjunctive adverbs that are available to you. Notice that conjunctive
adverbs can consist of phrases as well as single words:
however, nevertheless, furthermore, moreover, hence, therefore,
similarly, certainly, by contrast, in other words, in addition
Note that you can use a conjunctive adverb to help fix a comma splice, but you must remember to put a period or a semicolon in front of the second independent clause:
I completed my essay. However, I have not submitted it.

I completed my essay; however, I have not submitted it.
A conjunctive adverb like however usually makes for a more formal and more emphatic transition between clauses
than the more casual conjunctions but and although. If you rely too heavily on conjunctive adverbs, your writing will
begin to sound stiff. Save your howevers for when you really need them: (1) for emphasizing the key turns in your
argument, or (2) for signaling a contrast between long, complex sentences. Many stylists prefer not to use however right
at the beginning of a sentence.
I completed my essay in just one draft, a process that took me only three hours. This last essay, however, was a mere
two pages long, and I have learned the hard way that neglecting to revise my papers inevitably results in a weaker
paper and a lower grade.

HIT PARADE OF ERRORS

IN GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, AND STYLE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
lack of agreement
sentence fragments
overly-long sentences
overuse of passive voice
faulty parallelism
vague pronouns
dangling modifiers
squinting modifiers
mixed or dead metaphors
faulty word choice / faulty diction
wordiness
comma splices
misuse of comma, semicolon, colon
1.
a.
FAULTY AGREEMENT
Subjects and verbs must agree in number.
Recent discoveries about the weather reveals that several cycles are involved.
Recent discoveries about the weather reveal that several cycles are involved.
The media was biased in its reporting of the event.
The media were biased in their reporting of the event.
b.
Nouns and pronouns must agree in number.
A student is free to express their opinion.

A student is free to express his or her opinion.
Students are free to express their opinions.
c.
Pronouns must agree with each other.
Once one has decided to take the course, you must keep certain policies in mind.
Once you have decided to take the course, you must keep certain policies in mind.
2.
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
A sentence consists of an independent unit with at least a subject and a verb.
All of these rules and regulations should be made aware of.

Athletes should be made aware of all these rules and regulations.
The liquid was poured into a glass beaker. Being a strong acid.
Because it was a strong acid, the liquid was poured into a glass beaker.
3.
OVERLY-LONG SENTENCES (see also #12, comma splices)

A sentence should express only one idea or a clearly connected set of ideas.
Home care has been expanding tremendously over the past few years partly due to recent
technological advances that enable assessments and treatments to be a part of the home setting
which at one time could only be performed within the hospital environment.
Home care has expanded tremendously over the past few years. This increase is partly due to
recent technological advances that now make more assessments and treatments possible in the
home rather than only in the hospital.
4.
OVERUSE OF PASSIVE VOICE

Prefer active verbs to passive verbs, and prefer persons over abstract ideas for the subjects of
these verbs.
It is through this essay that the proposed benefits of active exercise for Chronic Lower Back Pain
(CLBP) will be examined.
This essay will examine the proposed benefits of active exercise for Chronic Lower Back Pain
(CLBP).
5.
FAULTY PARALLELISM
Building parallel elements into a sentence adds clarity and emphasis.
Eating huge meals, snacking between meals, and too little exercise can lead to obesity.
Eating huge meals, snacking between meals, and exercising too little can lead to obesity.
Our coach is paid too much, obese, over forty, and a former champion wrestler.
Our coach is a former champion wrestler, but now he is overpaid, overweight, and over forty.
6.
VAGUE PRONOUNS
Make sure that pronouns such as it and this refer to something specific.
In the report it suggests that moderate exercise is better than no exercise at all.
The report suggests that moderate exercise is better than no exercise at all.
The group wanted to meet in January, but this didnt happen until May.
The group wanted to meet in January, but the conference didnt take place until May.
DANGLING MODIFIERS
Make sure that a modifying phrase or clause has something to modify.
7.
By manipulating the lower back, the pain was greatly eased. (--implies the pain was doing the
manipulating)
By manipulating the lower back, the therapist greatly eased the pain.
When not going to school, my hobbies range from athletics to automobiles. (--implies the hobbies
go to school)
When I am not going to school, my hobbies range from athletics to automobiles.
8.
SQUINTING MODIFIERS
Make sure the modifier clearly refers to the element you want it to modify.
The council advises physicians at regular intervals to administer the drug.

The council advises physicians to administer the drug at regular intervals.
At regular intervals, the council advises physicians to administer the drug.
9.
MIXED OR DEAD METAPHORS

Recognize the literal meanings of your metaphors; avoid clichs.
Like a bolt from the blue the idea grabbed him, and it soon took its place as one of his hobbyhorses.
The idea excited him as soon as he heard of it, and it soon became an obsession.
10.
FAULTY WORD CHOICE / FAULTY DICTION

Dont use fancy words for their own sake; use a dictionary to check words whose meaning you
are not sure of.
Explaining the rationale for treatment can help distil patients fears.
Explaining the rationale for treatment can help dispel patients fears.
11.
WORDINESS
Don't spin empty words; use the minimum number of words.
It is evident that this term is associated with much ambiguity. Many concepts and ideas come to
mind upon first hearing this phrase; however, a true grasp of its meaning is quite difficult to
establish. Despite this ambiguity . . .
[not worth saying -- omit]
A definition that can be employed usefully, according to LaPlante et al. (1993), states that
assistive technology. . .
LaPlante et al. (1993) state that assistive technology . . .
12.
a.
COMMA SPLICES
Use a period or semicolon to separate two independent clauses, or join them with a coordinating
conjunction.
We started to unpack our things, pretty soon clothes were strewn all over the place.
We started to unpack our things; pretty soon clothes were strewn all over the place.
We started to unpack our things, and pretty soon clothes were strewn all over the place.
b.
Use a semicolon as well as a conjunctive adverb to join two independent clauses.
Much of the literature advocates stretching preparatory to exercise, however, the mechanisms are
not well understood.
Much of the literature advocates stretching preparatory to exercise; however, the mechanisms are
These are the most common conjunctive adverbs:
however
therefore
then
therefore
nevertheless
accordingly
as a result
moreover
even so
rather
indeed
for example
13.
a.
MISUSE OF COMMA, SEMICOLON, AND COLON

Use a comma after each item in a series of three or more.
Many studies indicate favourable results in function, decreased pain and range of motion.
Many studies indicate favourable results in function, decreased pain, and range of motion.
b.
Use a comma when you join independent clauses with one of the seven coordinating
conjunctions (and, or, nor, but, so, yet , for).
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
c.
Use a semicolon when you join independent clauses without a coordinating conjunction.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
d.
Do not use a comma to separate subject and verb.
His enthusiasm for the subject and his desire to be of help, led him to volunteer.
His enthusiasm for the subject and his desire to be of help led him to volunteer.
e.
Use a colon to introduce a list or a long or formal quotation after a complete sentence.
Otherwise make the quotation part of the grammar of your sentence.
Strunk (1995) asserts that: Too many programmes are already underfinanced (p. 87).
Strunk (1995) asserts: Too many programmes are already underfinanced (p. 87).
Strunks assertion (1995) that Too many programmes are already underfinanced (p. 87) is based
on questionable assumptions.
Prepared by Dena Taylor,Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret Procter, Writing Support

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
lack of agreement
sentence fragments
faulty parallelism
vague pronouns
dangling modifiers
squinting modifiers
wordiness
comma splices
1.
a.
FAULTY AGREEMENT
b.

c.
2.
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

3.

4.

these verbs.
(CLBP).
5.
FAULTY PARALLELISM
6.
VAGUE PRONOUNS
DANGLING MODIFIERS
7.
manipulating)
go to school)
8.
SQUINTING MODIFIERS

9.

10.

are not sure of.
11.
WORDINESS
12.
a.
COMMA SPLICES
conjunction.
b.
however
therefore
then
therefore
nevertheless
accordingly
as a result
moreover
even so
rather
indeed
for example
13.
a.

b.

c.

d.
e.
HOW NOT TO PLAGIARIZE

From the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters:
It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:
(d) to represent as one's own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic
examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism.
Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on knowing, the offence shall likewise be deemed
to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.
You've already heard the warnings about plagiarism. Obviously it's against the rules to buy essays or
copy from your friends homework, and it's also plagiarism to borrow passages from books or articles or
websites without identifying them. You know that the purpose of any paper is to show your own thinking,
not create a patchwork of borrowed ideas. But you may still be wondering how you're supposed to give
proper references to all the reading you've done and all the ideas you've encountered.
The point of documenting sources in academic papers is not just to avoid unpleasant visits to the Dean's
office, but to demonstrate that you know what is going on in your field of study. Get credit for having done
your reading! Precise documentation is also a courtesy to your readers because it lets them look at the
material you've found. That's especially important for Internet sources.
The different systems for formatting references are admittedly a nuisance. See the advice file Standard
Documentation Formats for an overview. But the real challenge is establishing the relationship of your
thinking to the reading you've done. Here are some common questions and basic answers.
1.
Can't I avoid problems just by listing every source in the reference list?
2.
If I put the ideas into my own words, do I still have to clog up my pages with all those
names and numbers?
No, you need to integrate your acknowledgements into your own writing. Give the reference as soon as
youve mentioned the idea youre using, not just at the end of the paragraph. Its often a good idea to name
the authors (X states and Y argues against X) and then indicate your own stand (A more inclusive
perspective, however, . . . ). The examples on the next page demonstrate various wordings for doing this.
Have a look at journal articles in your discipline to see how experts refer to their sources.
Sorryyes, you do. In academic papers, you need to keep mentioning authors and pages and dates to show
how your ideas are related to those of the experts. It's sensible to use your own words because that saves
space and lets you connect ideas smoothly. But whether you quote a passage directly in quotation marks,
paraphrase it closely, or just summarize it rapidly, you need to identify the source then and there. (That
applies to Internet sources too: you still need author and date as well as title and URL. The file Standard
Documentation Formats gives examples for a range of types.)
3.
But I didn't know anything about the subject until I started this paper. Do I have to give an
acknowledgement for every point I make?
Youre safer to over-reference than to skimp. But you can cut down the clutter by recognizing that some
ideas are common knowledge in the fieldthat is, taken for granted by people knowledgeable about the
topic. Facts easily found in standard reference books are considered common knowledge: the date of the
Armistice for World War I, for example, or the present population of Canada. You dont need to name a
specific source for them, even if you learned them only when doing your research. Theyre easily verified
and not likely to be controversial. In some disciplines, information covered in class lectures doesn't need
acknowledgement. Some interpretive ideas may also be so well accepted that you don't need to name a
specific source: that Picasso is a distinguished modernist painter, for instance, or that smoking is harmful to
health. Check with your professor or TA if you're in doubt whether a specific point is considered common
knowledge in your field.
4.
5.
How can I tell what's my own idea and what has come from somebody else?
Careful record-keeping helps. Always write down the author, title and publication information (including the
specific identifying information for online publications) so you can attach names and dates to specific ideas.
Taking good notes is also essential. Dont paste passages from online sources into your draft: thats asking
for trouble. As you read any textonline or hard-copysummarize useful points for yourself, whether
electronically or in handwriting. If you record a distinctive phrase or sentence you might want to quote, put
quotation marks around it in your notes to remind yourself that you're copying the author's exact words.
And make a deliberate effort as you read to notice connections among ideas, especially contrasts and
disagreements, and to jot down questions or thoughts of your own. If you find as you write that youre
following one or two of your sources too closely, deliberately look back in your notes for other sources that
take different views; then write about the differences and why they exist. (See the advice file "Taking
Notes from Research Reading" for more tips.)
So what exactly do I have to document?

With experience reading academic prose, you'll soon get used to the ways writers in your field refer to their
sources. Here are the main times you should give acknowledgements, with examples showing different ways
of working them into your own prose. (Youll notice many different documentation systems in the following
examples; see the handout file Standard Documentation Formats for guidance and examples.)
a. Quotations, paraphrases, or summaries:
If you use the authors exact words, enclose them in quotation marks, or indent passages of more than four
lines. But its seldom worthwhile to use long quotations. In literary studies, quote a few words at a time and
comment on them. In other disciplines, quote only when the original words are especially memorable;
scientific writing rarely used quotations. In most cases, use your own words to summarize the idea you want
to discuss, emphasizing the points relevant to your argument. Be sure to document these paraphrases or
summaries even when you are not using the exact original words. Mentioning the author's name indicates
where the borrowing starts and stops and gains you some reflected glory for responding to the experts.
e.g. As Morris puts it in The Human Zoo (1983), we can always be sure that today's daring innovation
will be tomorrow's respectability (p. 189).
[APA system]
e.g. Northrop Frye discusses comedy in terms of the spring spirit, which he sees as representing
renewal and integration (Anatomy 163). The ending of The Tempest fits this pattern.
[MLA system]
b. Specific ideas used as evidence for your argument or interpretation:
First consider whether the ideas you're mentioning are common knowledge according to the definition in
point 3 above; if so, you may not need to give a reference. But when you're relying on ideas that might be
disputed by people in your discipline, establish that they're trustworthy by referring to authoritative sources.
e.g.
In September 1914, more than 1300 skirmishes were recorded on the Western Front.8
[traditional endnote/footnote system]
e.g.
Other recent researchers (4, 11, 12) confirm the finding that drug treatment has little effect in
the treatment of pancreatic pseudocysts.
[numbered-note system for biomedical sciences]
c. Distinctive or authoritative ideas, whether you agree with them or not:
The way you introduce the reference can indicate your attitude and lead into your own argument.
e.g. In 1966, Ramsay Cook asserted that Canada was in a period of instability (174). That period is
not yet over, judging by the same criteria of electoral changeability, economic uncertainty, and
confusion in policy decisions.
[MLA system]
e.g. One writer (Von Daniken, 1970) even argues that the Great Pyramid was built for the practical
purpose of guiding navigation.
[APA system]
Updated 14 July 2010 by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
This handout is available online at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize.
See also the list of advice files on academic writing at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF READING

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
-- Francis Bacon
Students need to read efficiently so they can get through all the material they're asked to deal with. It
isn't really a matter of reading fast, but of focussing selectively, then understanding and remembering
what you've read. Here are some tips on reading different kinds of material in appropriate ways. (See
also our Advice files A System for Dealing with New Words while Reading and Taking Notes from
Research Reading.)
Textbooks
Textbooks can repay intensive reading, usually in some parts more than others. Note the signals from
your professor or TA about what sections are most relevant, and know how each section contributes to
the course, especially to the key concepts, issues, and questions in the course. Even before reading,
become aware of the structure of the text. Look at the chapter titles, headings and subheadings first:
they name the concepts (or large ideas) in the course and indicate ways of thinking about them. You
can often gain focus, too, by skimming through the whole thing first, noting what aspects of the subject
seem to get space and attention. Then read through the text with care, noticing especially definitions
and examples of the important concepts. Look also for accounts of disagreement and for references to
current questions and issues in the discipline.
Mark up only key passages in the text; don't rely on only underlining or highlighting. Use marginal
symbols to show different kinds of points (e.g., asterisks for definitions, arrows for examples). Write
brief summarizing notes in your own words, outlining the main ideas and the sequence of the
explanation. That forces you to process the material in your own mind, and it helps you review later.
Primary Sources
Read through each literary work or historical document with attention to your own responses and
questions. "Stickies" will let you express these on the spot without spoiling the pages. Many people
find it useful, immediately after a first reading, to write out a brief journal account of their reading
experience.
A quick re-reading of the work will then let you note how themes or techniques have developed
through the work as a whole or how your questions were answered: use light annotations to show these
patterns. Focus on some specific details and ask yourself why they're there and what they mean.
Research Readings
Be sure to focus your efforts before plunging in. In going through sources for a research essay, you are
looking for ways to answer a research question you have formulated. Start by going through your
textbooks, notes, and perhaps an encyclopaedia or other reference work to get background knowledge
and survey the types of questions and issues being discussed. Now you want information to support
or modify your original view of the topic, and others' opinions to bolster or to challenge your own
outlook.
Use efficient scanning techniques to help choose the most useful sources for your purpose:
For books, flip through the preface, table of contents and index to see the general outlook and
argument. Then start reading sections on your own topic. If you see useful material, expand
your reading to establish the context for ideas you might want to analyse in detail. (Never quote
or paraphrase without understanding the context.)
Journal articles usually outline their argument within the first page. Read the abstract first to
see if the article will be of use to you. If you decide to read it, look through to see what gets
attention, pausing over any charts or graphs. For a heavy scientific article, you may also want
to investigate a specific section of the paper, perhaps the introduction or conclusion, but more
likely the results or even just the tables and figures. Then read through the whole paper, noting
for instance how the details in the body of the paper support the points made in the introduction
or conclusion, or how those sections relate to what you have seen in the presentation of results.
Be especially careful of Internet sources. Check that a Web document, for instance, is written
or published by an accepted authority on the topic. (Find the home page of the site by cutting
off the final sections of the URL.) Note whether the file tells you what its own sources are, and
check that they are acceptable in terms of your course. Then scan the material the way you
would for journal articles, using abstracts and headings in the material, and experimenting with
your own search terms. (For more advice on evaluating such sources, see the online file
Research Using the Internet.)
Write down complete bibliographical information for each source consulted, making a master list as
you go (preferably in a computer file). For notetaking, keep separate cards, pages, or files on specific
points so you can arrange them as needed. Use a subject heading for each note. Summarize ideas in
your own words (only occasionally paraphrasing or copying down quotations), and leave space for
your own comments. (For further guidance, see the file Taking Notes from Research Reading.)
Further Guidance on Reading

U of T libraries stock many books that give advice on different types of reading, including the classic
on literary reading by Adler, How to Read a Book, and others focussing on academic literacy such as
McWhorter, Academic Reading, and Giltrow, Academic Writing. General books on study skills often
include sections on reading strategies: e.g., Pauk, How to Study in College; Fleet, Study for Success.
Besides the files linked above, here are some other websites that give easily accessible advice:
University of Toronto Academic Success Centre, Reading and Note-Taking: Textbooks
www.asc.utoronto.ca/Publications/Reading-and-Note-taking.htm
York University Counselling and Development Centre, Reading Skills for University
www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/skillbuilding/reading.html
University of Guelph, Learning from Textbooks:
www.lib.uoguelph.ca/assistance/learning_services/fastfacts/learning_from_texts.cfm
University of Texas at Austin, Brief Suggestions for Increasing Speed and Effectiveness of Reading:
www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/learning_resources/speed_reading/
University of Toronto Biology 150, Tips for Success:
www.cquest.utoronto.ca/zoo/bio150y/tips.htm
University of Toronto Psychology 100, Hints for Note-Taking, Reading and Studying in PSY 100:
www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/psy100/Handbookw2004/17studyhints.htm
WRITING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography gives an account of the research that has been done on a given topic.
Like any bibliography, an annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of research sources. In
addition to bibliographic data, an annotated bibliography provides a concise summary of each source
and some assessment of its value or relevance. Depending on your assignment, an annotated
bibliography may be one stage in a larger research project, or it may be an independent project
standing on its own.
Selecting the sources:
The quality and usefulness of your bibliography will depend on your selection of sources.
Define the scope and limits of your research carefully so that you can make good judgments about
what to include and exclude:
What problem am I investigating? What question(s) am I trying to pursue? If your bibliography

is part of a research project, this project will probably be governed by a research question. If
your bibliography is an independent project on a general topic (e.g. aboriginal women and
Canadian law), try formulating your topic as a question or a series of questions in order to define
your search more precisely (e.g. How has Canadian law affecting aboriginal women changed as
a result of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? How have these changes affected aboriginal
women? How have aboriginal women influenced and responded to these legal developments?).
What kind of material am I looking for? (academic books and journal articles? government
reports or policy statements? articles from the popular press? primary historical sources? etc.)
Am I finding essential studies on my topic? (Read footnotes in useful articles carefully to see
what sources they use and why. Keep an eye out for studies that are referred to by several of
your sources.)
Summarizing the argument of a source:

An annotation briefly restates the main argument of a source. An annotation of an academic source,
for example, typically identifies its thesis (or research question, or hypothesis), its major methods of
investigation, and its main conclusions. Keep in mind that identifying the argument of a source is a
different task than describing or listing its contents. Rather than listing contents (Example 1 below),
an annotation should account for why the contents are there (Example 2).
Ex. 1
Only lists
contents
McIvor, S. D. (1995). Aboriginal womens rights as existing rights.

Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers de la Femme 2/3, 34-38.
This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects the human
rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution Act (1982), its amendment in
1983, and amendments to the Indian Act (1985). It also discusses the implications
for aboriginal women of the Supreme Court of Canadas interpretation of the
Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991).
Ex. 2
Identifies
the
argument

This article seeks to define the extent of the civil and political
rights returned to aboriginal women in the Constitution Act (1982),
in its amendment in 1983, and in amendments to the Indian Act
(1985). This legislation reverses prior laws that denied Indian
status to aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men. On
the basis of the Supreme Court of Canadas interpretation of the
Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991), McIvor argues that the Act
recognizes fundamental human rights and existing aboriginal rights,
granting to aboriginal women full participation in the aboriginal right
to self-government.
research
question
method &
main
conclusions
The following reading strategies can help you to identify the argument of a source:
Identify the authors thesis (central claim or purpose) or research question. Both the introduction
and the conclusion can help you with this task.
Look for repetition of key terms or ideas, especially those occurring in the thesis. Follow them
through the text and examine what the author does with them.
Notice whether and how a theory is used to interpret evidence. Identify the method used to
investigate the problem/s addressed in the text.
Notice how the text is laid out and organized. What are the main sections? What is
emphasized? Why? Accounting for why will help you move beyond listing contents and toward
accounting for argument. Look also for paragraphs that summarize the argument.
Assessing the relevance and value of a source:

Your annotation should now go on to briefly assess the value of the source to an investigation of
your research question. If your bibliography is part of a research project, briefly identify how you
intend to use the source and why. If your bibliography is an independent project, assess the
source's contribution to the research on your topic. Keep in mind models for assessing arguments in
your course materials and discipline.
Are you interested in the way the source frames its research question or in the way it goes about
answering that question (its method)? Does the source make new connections or open up new
ways of seeing a problem? How effective is the method of investigation? (e.g. bringing the
Sparrow decision concerning aboriginal fishing rights to bear on the scope of womens rights)
Are you interested in the way the source uses a theoretical framework or a key concept? Why
do you find this use valuable? Is it problematic in some ways? (e.g. analysis of existing,
extinguished, and other kinds of rights)
Does the source gather and analyze a particular body of evidence that you want to use? How
good is the evidence? (e.g. the historical development of a body of legislation)
How do the sources conclusions bear on your own investigation?
Written by Deborah Knott, New College Writing Centre. Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. Based on materials
originally developed for the Equity Studies Program, New College.
Paraphrase and Summary

When should I paraphrase, and when should I summarize?
To paraphrase means to express someone elses ideas in your own language. To summarize means
to distill only the most essential points of someone elses work.
Paraphrase and summary are indispensable tools in essay writing because they allow you to include
other peoples ideas without cluttering up your essay with quotations. They help you take greater
control of your essay. Consider relying on either tool when an idea from one of your sources is
important to your essay but the wording is not. You should be guided in your choice of which tool to
use by considerations of space. But above all, think about how much of the detail from your source is
relevant to your argument. If all your reader needs to know is the bare bones, then summarize.
Ultimately, be sure not to rely too heavily on either paraphrase or summary. Your ideas are what
matter most. Allow yourself the space to develop those ideas.
How do I paraphrase?
Whenever you paraphrase, remember these two points:
1. You must provide a reference.
2. The paraphrase must be entirely in your own words. You must do more than merely substitute
phrases here and there. You must also completely alter the sentence structure.
It can be difficult to find new words for an idea that is already well expressed. The following
strategy will make the job of paraphrasing a lot easier:
1. When you are at the note-taking stage, and you come across a passage that may be useful for
your essay, do not copy the passage verbatim unless you think you will want to quote it.
2. If you think you will want to paraphrase the passage, make a note only of the author's basic
point. You dont even need to use full sentences.
3. In your note, you should already be translating the language of the original into your own
words. What matters is that you capture the original idea.
4. Make sure to include the page number of the original passage so that you can make a proper
reference later on.
When it comes time to write the paper, rely on your notes rather than on the author's work. You will
find it much easier to avoid borrowing from the original passage because you will not have recently
seen it. Follow this simple sequence:
1. Convert the ideas from your notes into full sentences.
2. Provide a reference.
3. Go back to the original to ensure that (a) your paraphrase is accurate and (b) you have truly said
things in your own words.
Lets look at examples of illegitimate and legitimate paraphrase. The original passage is from
Oliver Sacks essay An Anthropologist on Mars:
The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence is about one in a thousand, and it
occurs throughout the world, its features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It
is often not recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious in the second or third
year. Though Asperger regarded it as a biological defect of affective contact innate, inborn,
analogous to a physical or intellectual defect Kanner tended to view it as a psychogenic disorder, a
reflection of bad parenting, and most especially of a chillingly remote, often professional,
refrigerator mother. At this time, autism was often regarded as defensive in nature, or confused
with childhood schizophrenia. A whole generation of parents mothers, particularly were made to feel
guilty for the autism of their children.
What follows is an example of illegitimate paraphrase:

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a thousand
children, and it exists in all parts of the world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly
differing cultures. The condition is often not noticeable in the childs first year, yet it becomes more
apparent as the child reaches the ages of two or three. Although Asperger saw the condition as a
biological defect of the emotions that was inborn and therefore similar to a physical defect, Kanner saw
it as psychological in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and particularly a frigidly distant mother.
During this period, autism was often seen as a defense mechanism, or it was misdiagnosed as childhood
schizophrenia. An entire generation of mothers and fathers (but especially mothers) were made to feel
responsible for their offsprings autism (Sacks 247-48).
Most of these sentences do little more than substitute one phrase for another. An additional problem
with this passage is that the only citation occurs at the very end of the last sentence in the paragraph.
The reader might be misled into thinking that the earlier sentences were not also indebted to Sacks
essay.
The following represents a legitimate paraphrase of the original passage:
In An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks lists some of the known facts about autism. We know, for
example, that the condition occurs in roughly one out of every thousand children. We also know that the
characteristics of autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the condition is
difficult to diagnose until the child has entered its second or third year of life. As Sacks points out,
often a child who goes on to develop autism will still appear perfectly normal at the age of one (247).
Sacks observes, however, that researchers have had a hard time agreeing on the causes of autism. He
sketches the diametrically opposed positions of Asperger and Kanner. On the one hand, Asperger saw the
condition as representing a constitutional defect in the childs ability to make meaningful emotional
contact with the external world. On the other hand, Kanner regarded autism as a consequence of harmful
childrearing practices. For many years confusion about this condition reigned. One unfortunate
consequence of this confusion, Sacks suggests, was the burden of guilt imposed on so many parents for
their childs condition (247-48).
Notice that this passage makes explicit right from the beginning that the ideas belong to Sacks, and the
passages indebtedness to him is signaled in more than one place. The single parenthetical note at the
end of each paragraph is therefore all the citation that is needed. The inclusion of explicit references to
Sacks not only makes the job of providing citations easier. It also strengthens the passage by clarifying
the source of its facts and ideas. And it adds an analytical dimension to the paragraph: the passage
doesnt just reiterate the points in Sacks passage but lays out the structure of his argument. Note that
the paraphrase splits the original into two separate paragraphs to accentuate the two-part structure of
Sacks argument. Finally, notice that not all the details from the original passage are included in the
paraphrase.
How do I summarize?
Summary moves much farther than paraphrase away from point-by-point translation. When you
summarize a passage, you need first to absorb the meaning of the passage and then to capture in your
own words the most important elements from the original passage. A summary is necessarily shorter
than a paraphrase.
Here is a summary of the passage from An Anthropologist on Mars:
In An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks notes that although there is little disagreement on the chief
characteristics of autism, researchers have differed considerably on its causes. As he points out,
Asperger saw the condition as an innate defect in the childs ability to connect with the external
world, whereas Kanner regarded it as a consequence of harmful childrearing practices (247-48).

Introductions and Conclusions

Introductions and conclusions play a special role in the academic essay, and they frequently
demand much of your attention as a writer. A good introduction should identify your topic,
provide essential context, and indicate your particular focus in the essay. It also needs to engage
your readers interest. A strong conclusion will provide a sense of closure to the essay while
again placing your concepts in a somewhat wider context. It will also, in some instances, add a
stimulus to further thought. Since no two essays are the same, no single formula will
automatically generate an introduction and conclusion for you. But the following guidelines will
help you to construct a suitable beginning and end for your essay.
Some general advice about introductions

1. Some students cannot begin writing the body of the essay until they feel they have the perfect
introduction. Be aware of the dangers of sinking too much time into the introduction. Some
of that time can be more usefully channeled into planning and writing.
2. You may be the kind of writer who writes an introduction first in order to explore your own
thinking on the topic. If so, remember that you may at a later stage need to compress your
introduction.
3. It can be fine to leave the writing of the introduction for a later stage in the essay-writing
process. Some people write their introduction only after they have completed the rest of the
essay. Others write the introduction first but rewrite it significantly in light of what they end
up saying in the body of their paper.
4. The introductions for most papers can be effectively written in one paragraph occupying half
to three-quarters of the first page. Your introduction may be longer than that, and it may take
more than one paragraph, but be sure you know why. The size of your introduction should
bear some relationship to the length and complexity of your paper. A twenty page paper may
call for a two-page introduction, but a five-page paper will not.
5. Get to the point as soon as possible. Generally, you want to raise your topic in your very first
sentences. A common error is to begin too broadly or too far off topic. Avoid sweeping
generalizations.
6. If your essay has a thesis, your thesis statement will typically appear at the end of your
introduction, even though that is not a hard-and-fast rule. You may, for example, follow your
thesis with a brief road map to your essay that sketches the basic structure of your argument.
The longer the paper, the more useful a road map becomes.
How do I write an interesting, effective introduction?

Consider these strategies for capturing your readers attention and for fleshing out your
introduction:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Find a startling statistic that illustrates the seriousness of the problem you will address.
Quote an expert (but be sure to introduce him or her first).
Mention a common misperception that your thesis will argue against.
Give some background information necessary for understanding the essay.
Use a brief narrative or anecdote that exemplifies your reason for choosing the topic. In an
assignment that encourages personal reflection, you may draw on your own experiences; in a
research essay, the narrative may illustrate a common real-world scenario.
6. In a science paper, explain key scientific concepts and refer to relevant literature. Lead up to
your own contribution or intervention.
7. In a more technical paper, define a term that is possibly unfamiliar to your audience but is
central to understanding the essay.
In fleshing out your introduction, you will want to avoid some common pitfalls:
1. Dont provide dictionary definitions, especially of words your audience already knows.
2. Dont repeat the assignment specifications using the professors wording.
3. Dont give details and in-depth explanations that really belong in your body paragraphs. You
can usually postpone background material to the body of the essay.
Some general advice about conclusions

1. A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a re-statement of your thesis. If you
wish to summarizeand often you mustdo so in fresh language. Remind the reader of how
the evidence youve presented has contributed to your thesis.
2. The conclusion, like much of the rest of the paper, involves critical thinking. Reflect upon the
significance of what youve written. Try to convey some closing thoughts about the larger
implications of your argument.
3. Broaden your focus a bit at the end of the essay. A good last sentence leaves your reader with
something to think about, a concept in some way illuminated by what youve written in the
paper.
4. For most essays, one well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion. In some cases,
a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be appropriate. As with introductions, the length of
the conclusion should reflect the length of the essay.
How do I write an interesting, effective conclusion?

The following strategies may help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your
essay:
1. If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences
of not attending to the problem.
2. Recommend a specific course of action.
3. Use an apt quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the conclusion you have reached.
4. Give a startling statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of your paper.
5. If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point with a
relevant narrative drawn from your own life experiences.
6. Return to an anecdote, example, or quotation that you introduced in your introduction, but
add further insight that derives from the body of your essay.
7. In a science or social science paper, mention worthwhile avenues for future research on your
topic.
How does genre affect my introduction or conclusion?

Most of the advice in this handout pertains to argumentative or exploratory academic essays. Be
aware, however, that different genres have their own special expectations about beginnings and
endings. Some academic genres may not even require an introduction or conclusion. An
annotated bibliography, for example, typically provides neither. A book review may begin with a
summary of the book and conclude with an overall assessment of it. A policy briefing usually
includes an introduction but may conclude with a series of recommendations. Check your
assignment carefully for any directions about what to include in your introduction or conclusion.
Prepared by Leora Freedman and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre
THE LITERATURE REVIEW: A FEW TIPS ON CONDUCTING IT

What is a review of the literature? A literature review is an account of what has been published on
a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a
separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliographysee the bottom of the
next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In
writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas
have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing,
the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the
problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of
the material available, or a set of summaries.
Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and
demonstrate skills in two areas:
1.
information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized
methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books
2.
critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid
studies.
A literature review must do these things:

a)
be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing
b) synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known

c)
identify areas of controversy in the literature
d) formulate questions that need further research

Ask yourself questions like these:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to
define?
What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory?
methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)?
qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals,
books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing
psychology, sociology, medicine)?
How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure Ive
found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the
number of sources Ive used appropriate for the length of my paper?
5.
6.
7.
Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and
questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing
and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?
Ask yourself questions like these about each book or article you include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Has the author formulated a problem/issue?

Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly established?
Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another perspective?
What is the authors research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)?
What is the authors theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental, feminist)?
What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives?
Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the author include
literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?
8. In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design (e.g., population,
intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is the analysis of the
data accurate and relevant to the research question? Are the conclusions validly based upon the
data and analysis?
9. In material written for a popular readership, does the author use appeals to emotion, one-sided
examples, or rhetorically-charged language and tone? Is there an objective basis to the
reasoning, or it the author merely Aproving@ what he or she already believes?
10. How does the author structure the argument? Can you deconstruct the flow of the argument to
see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)?
11. In what ways does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the problem under
study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations?
12. How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am developing?
Final Notes:
A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece
of literature after another. Its usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name
of a researcher. Instead, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or
identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but
to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question.
If you are writing an annotated bibliography, you may need to summarize each item briefly,
but should still follow through themes and concepts and do some critical assessment of material.
Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage and to formulate
the question, problem, or concept your chosen material illuminates. Usually you will have the
option of grouping items into sectionsthis helps you indicate comparisons and relationships.
You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section.
Prepared by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret Procter, Writing Support
Organizing an Essay
Some basic guidelines
The best time to think about how to organize your paper is during the pre-writing stage, not
the writing or revising stage. A well-thought-out plan can save you from having to do a lot of
reorganizing when the first draft is completed. Moreover, it allows you to pay more attention to
sentence-level issues when you sit down to write your paper.
When you begin planning, ask the following questions: What type of essay am I going to be
writing? Does it belong to a specific genre? In university, you may be asked to write, say, a book
review, a lab report, a document study, or a compare-and-contrast essay. Knowing the patterns of
reasoning associated with a genre can help you to structure your essay.
For example, book reviews typically begin with a summary of the book youre reviewing.
They then often move on to a critical discussion of the books strengths and weaknesses. They
may conclude with an overall assessment of the value of the book. These typical features of a
book review lead you to consider dividing your outline into three parts: (1) summary; (2)
discussion of strengths and weaknesses; (3) overall evaluation. The second and most substantial
part will likely break down into two sub-parts. It is up to you to decide the order of the two
subpartswhether to analyze strengths or weaknesses first. And of course it will be up to you to
come up with actual strengths and weaknesses.
Be aware that genres are not fixed. Different professors will define the features of a genre
differently. Read the assignment question carefully for guidance.
Understanding genre can take you only so far. Most university essays are argumentative, and
there is no set pattern for the shape of an argumentative essay. The simple three-point essay
taught in high school is far too restrictive for the complexities of most university assignments.
You must be ready to come up with whatever essay structure helps you to convince your reader
of the validity of your position. In other words, you must be flexible, and you must rely on your
wits. Each essay presents a fresh problem.
Avoiding a common pitfall

Though there are no easy formulas for generating an outline, you can avoid one of the most
common pitfalls in student papers by remembering this simple principle: the structure of an essay
should not be determined by the structure of its source material. For example, an essay on an
historical period should not necessarily follow the chronology of events from that period.
Similarly, a well-constructed essay about a literary work does not usually progress in parallel
with the plot. Your obligation is to advance your argument, not to reproduce the plot.
If your essay is not well structured, then its overall weaknesses will show through in the
individual paragraphs. Consider the following two paragraphs from two different English essays,
both arguing that despite Hamlets highly developed moral nature he becomes morally
compromised in the course of the play:
(a) In Act 3, Scene 4, Polonius hides behind an arras in Gertrudes chamber in order to spy on
Hamlet at the bidding of the king. Detecting something stirring, Hamlet draws his sword and kills
Polonius, thinking he has killed Claudius. Gertrude exclaims, O, what a rash and bloody deed is
this! (28), and her words mark the turning point in Hamlets moral decline. Now Hamlet has blood
on his hands, and the blood of the wrong person. But rather than engage in self-criticism, Hamlet
immediately turns his mothers words against her: A bloody deed almost as bad, good Mother, as
kill a king, and marry with his brother (29-30). One of Hamlets most serious shortcomings is
his unfair treatment of women. He often accuses them of sins they could not have committed. It is
doubtful that Gertrude even knows Claudius killed her previous husband. Hamlet goes on to ask
Gertrude to compare the image of the two kings, old Hamlet and Claudius. In Hamlets words, old
Hamlet has Hyperions curls, the front of Jove, and an eye like Mars (57-58). Despite
Hamlets unfair treatment of women, he is motivated by one of his better qualities: his idealism.
2
(b) One of Hamlets most serious moral shortcomings is his unfair treatment of women. In Act 3,
Scene 1, he denies to Ophelia ever having expressed his love for her, using his feigned madness
as cover for his cruelty. Though his rantings may be an act, they cannot hide his obsessive anger
at one particular woman: his mother. He counsels Ophelia to marry a fool, for wise men know well
enough what monsters you make of them (139-41), thus blaming her in advance for the sin of
adultery. The logic is plain: if Hamlets mother made a cuckold out of Hamlets father, then all
women are capable of doing the same and therefore share the blame. The fact that Gertrudes hasty
remarriage does not actually constitute adultery only underscores Hamlets tendency to find in
women faults that do not exist. In Act 3, Scene 4, he goes as far as to suggest that Gertrude
shared responsibility in the murder of Hamlets father (29-30). By condemning women for actions
they did not commit, Hamlet is doing just what he accuses Guildenstern of doing to him: he is
plucking out the heart of their mystery (3.2.372-74).
The second of these two paragraphs is much stronger, largely because it is not plot-driven. It
makes a well-defined point about Hamlets moral nature and sticks to that point throughout the
paragraph. Notice that the paragraph jumps from one scene to another as is necessary, but the
logic of the argument moves along a steady path. At any given point in your essays, you will
want to leave yourself free to go wherever you need to in your source material. Your only
obligation is to further your argument. Paragraph (a) sticks closely to the narrative thread of Act
3, Scene 4, and as a result the paragraph makes several different points with no clear focus.
What does an essay outline look like?

Most essay outlines will never be handed in. They are meant to serve you and no one else.
Occasionally, your professor will ask you to hand in an outline weeks prior to handing in your
paper. Usually, the point is to ensure that you are on the right track. Nevertheless, when you
produce your outline, you should follow certain basic principles. Here is an example of an
outline for an essay on Hamlet:
thesis: Despite Hamlets highly developed moral nature, he becomes morally compromised while delaying his revenge.
I. Introduction: Hamlets father asks Hamlet not only to seek vengeance but also to keep his mind untainted.
II. Hamlet has a highly developed moral nature.
A. Hamlet is idealistic.
B. Hamlet is aware of his own faults, whereas others are self-satisfied.
C. Hamlet does not want to take revenge without grounds for acting.
III. Hamlet becomes morally compromised while delaying.
A. The turning point in Hamlets moral decline is his killing of Polonius.
B. Hamlets moral decline continues when he sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their death.
C. Hamlet already began his moral decline before the turning point in the play, the killing of Polonius.
1.
Hamlet treats women badly.
2. Hamlet criticizes others in the play for acting falsely to get ahead, but in adopting the disguise of
madness he, too, is presenting a false face to the world.
IV. Though Hamlet becomes more compromised the longer he delays, killing the king would have been a morally
questionable act.
V. Conclusion: The play Hamlet questions the adequacy of a system of ethics based on honour and revenge.
This is an example of a sentence outline. Another kind of outline is the topic outline. It consists
of fragments rather than full sentences. Topic outlines are more open-ended than sentence
outlines: they leave much of the working out of the argument for the writing stage.
When should I begin putting together a plan?

The earlier you begin planning, the better. It is usually a mistake to do all of your research
and note-taking before beginning to draw up an outline. Of course, you will have to do some
reading and weighing of evidence before you start to plan. But as a potential argument begins to
3
take shape in your mind, you may start to formalize your thoughts in the form of a tentative plan.
You will be much more efficient in your reading and your research if you have some idea of
where your argument is headed. You can then search for evidence for the points in your tentative
plan while you are reading and researching. As you gather evidence, those points that still lack
evidence should guide you in your research. Remember, though, that your plan may need to be
modified as you critically evaluate your evidence.
Some techniques for integrating note-taking and planning

Though convenient, the common method of jotting down your notes consecutively on paper
is far from ideal. The problem is that your points remain fixed on paper. Here are three
alternatives that provide greater flexibility:
method 1: index cards
When you are researching, write down every idea, fact, quotation, or paraphrase on a
separate index card. Small (5 by 3) cards are easiest to work with. When youve collected all
your cards, reshuffle them into the best possible order, and you have an outline, though you will
undoubtedly want to reduce this outline to the essential points should you transcribe it to paper.
A useful alternative involves using both white and coloured cards. When you come up with a
point that you think may be one of the main points in your outline, write it at the top of a
coloured card. Put each supporting note on a separate white card, using as much of the card as
necessary. When you feel ready, arrange the coloured cards into a workable plan. Some of the
points may not fit in. If so, either modify the plan or leave these points out. You may need to fill
gaps by creating new cards. You can shuffle your supporting material into the plan by placing
each of the white cards behind the point it helps support.
method 2: the computer
A different way of moving your notes around is to use the computer. You can collect your
points consecutively, just as you would on paper. You can then sort your ideas when you are
ready to start planning. Take advantage of outline view in Word, which makes it easy for you
to arrange your points hierarchically. This method is fine so long as you dont mind being tied to
your computer from the first stage of the writing process to the last. Some people prefer to keep
their planning low-tech.
method 3: the circle method
This method is designed to get your ideas onto a single page, where you can see them all at
once. When you have an idea, write it down on paper and draw a circle around it. When you
have an idea which supports another idea, do the same, but connect the two circles with a line.
Supporting source material can be represented concisely by a page reference inside a circle. The
advantage of the circle method is that you can see at a glance how things tie together; the
disadvantage is that there is a limit to how much material you can cram onto a page.
Here is part of a circle diagram:
H is
idealistic
H is aware
of his
faults
H has a
highly
developed
moral nature
H seeks
grounds
for acting
What is a reverse outline?

When you have completed your first draft, and you think your paper can be better organized,
consider using a reverse outline. Reverse outlines are simple to create. Just read through your
essay, and every time you make a new point, summarize it in the margin. If the essay is
reasonably well-organized, you should have one point in the margin for each paragraph, and your
points read out in order should form a coherent argument. You might, however, discover that
some of your points are repeated at various places in your essay. Other points may be out of
place, and still other key points may not appear at all. Think of all these points as the ingredients
of an improved outline which you now must create. Use this new outline to cut and paste the
sentences into a revised version of your essay, consolidating points that appear in several parts of
your essay while eliminating repetition and creating smooth transitions where necessary.
You can improve even the most carefully planned essay by creating a reverse outline after
completing your first draft. The process of revision should be as much about organization as it is
about style.
How much of my time should I put into planning?

It is self-evident that a well-planned paper is going to be better organized than a paper that
was not planned out. Thinking carefully about how you are going to argue your paper and
preparing an outline can only add to the quality of your final product. Nevertheless, some people
find it more helpful than others to plan. Those who are good at coming up with ideas but find
writing difficult often benefit from planning. By contrast, those who have trouble generating
ideas but find writing easy may benefit from starting to write early. Putting pen to paper (or
typing away at the keyboard) may be just what is needed to get the ideas to flow.
You have to find out for yourself what works best for you, though it is fair to say that at least
some planning is always a good idea. Think about whether your current practices are serving you
well. You know youre planning too little if the first draft of your essays is always a disorganized
mess, and you have to spend a disproportionate amount of time creating reverse outlines and
cutting and pasting material. You know youre planning too much if you always find yourself
writing your paper a day before its due after spending weeks doing research and devising
elaborate plans.
Be aware of the implications of planning too little or too much.
Planning provides the following advantages:
helps you to produce a logical and orderly argument that your readers can follow
helps you to produce an economical paper by allowing you to spot repetition
helps you to produce a thorough paper by making it easier for you to notice whether you
have left anything out
makes drafting the paper easier by allowing you to concentrate on writing issues such as
grammar, word choice, and clarity
Overplanning poses the following risks:
doesnt leave you enough time to write and revise
leads you to produce papers that try to cover too much ground at the expense of analytic
depth
can result in a writing style that lacks spontaneity and ease
does not provide enough opportunity to discover new ideas in the process of writing
Passive Voice:
When to Use It and When to Avoid It
What is passive voice?
In English, all sentences are in either active or passive voice:
ACTIVE:
Werner Heisenberg formulated the uncertainty principle in 1927.
PASSIVE:
The uncertainty principle was formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927.
In an active sentence, the person or thing responsible for the action in the sentence comes
first. In a passive sentence, the person or thing acted on comes first, and the actor is added at the
end, introduced with the preposition by. The passive form of the verb is signaled by a form of
to be: in the sentence above, was formulated is in passive voice while formulated is in
active.
In a passive sentence, we often omit the actor completely:
The uncertainty principle was formulated in 1927.
When do I use passive voice?

In some sentences, passive voice can be perfectly acceptable. You might use it in the following
cases:
1. The actor is unknown:
The cave paintings of Lascaux were made in the Upper Old Stone Age.
(We dont know who made
them.)
2. The actor is irrelevant:

An experimental solar power plant will be built in the Australian desert.
(We are not interested in
who is building it.)
3. You want to be vague about who is responsible:

Mistakes were made.
(Common in bureaucratic writing!)
4. You are talking about a general truth:

Rules are made to be broken.
(By whomever, whenever.)
5. You want to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main topic:
Insulin was first discovered in 1921 by researchers at the University of Toronto. It is still the only
treatment available for diabetes.
6. You are writing in a scientific genre that traditionally relies on passive voice. Passive voice is
often preferred in lab reports and scientific research papers, most notably in the Materials and
Methods section:
The sodium hydroxide was dissolved in water. This solution was then titrated with hydrochloric
acid.
In these sentences you can count on your reader to know that you are the one who did the
dissolving and the titrating. The passive voice places the emphasis on your experiment rather
than on you.
Note: Over the past several years, there has been a movement within many science
disciplines away from passive voice. Scientists often now prefer active voice in most parts of
their published reports, even occasionally using the subject we in the Materials and
Methods section. Check with your instructor or TA whether you can use the first person I
or we in your lab reports to help avoid the passive.
When should I avoid passive voice?

Passive sentences can get you into trouble in academic writing because they can be vague about
who is responsible for the action:
Both Othello and Iago desire Desdemona. She is courted.
(Who courts Desdemona? Othello?
Iago? Both of them?)
Academic writing often focuses on differences between the ideas of different researchers, or
between your own ideas and those of the researchers you are discussing. Too many passive
sentences can create confusion:
Research has been done to discredit this theory.
(Who did the research? You? Your professor?
Another author?)
Some students use passive sentences to hide holes in their research:

The telephone was invented in the nineteenth century.
(I couldnt find out who invented the
telephone!)
Finally, passive sentences often sound wordy and indirect. They can make the reader work
unnecessarily hard. And since they are usually longer than active sentences, passive sentences
take up precious room in your paper:
Since the car was being driven by Michael at the time of the accident, the damages should be paid
for by him.
Weeding out passive sentences

If you now use a lot of passive sentences, you may not be able to catch all of the problematic
cases in your first draft. But you can still go back through your essay hunting specifically for
passive sentences. At first, you may want to ask for help from a writing instructor. The grammar
checker in your word processor can help spot passive sentences, though grammar checkers
should always be used with extreme caution since they can easily mislead you. To spot passive
sentences, look for a form of the verb to be in your sentence, with the actor either missing or
introduced after the verb using the word by:
Poland was invaded in 1939, thus initiating the Second World War.
Genetic information is encoded by DNA.
The possibility of cold fusion has been examined for many years.
Try turning each passive sentence you find into an active one. Start your new sentence with the
actor. Sometimes you may find that need to do some extra research or thinking to figure out who
the actor should be! You will likely find that your new sentence is stronger, shorter, and more
precise:
Germany invaded Poland in 1939, thus initiating the Second World War.
DNA encodes genetic information.
Physicists have examined the possibility of cold fusion for many years.
Prepared by Tim Corson and Rebecca Smollett, University College Writing Centre
Plurals
Regular
The plural form of most nouns is formed by adding s to the end of the word.
There are twelve boys and thirteen girls in that class.
When a word ends in sh, ch, s, z, or x, the plural is usually formed by adding es to the end.
We need three batches of cookies for three different classes at school.
When a word ends in [consonant] + y, the plural is formed by changing the y to ie and adding s.
I may live in only one country at a time, but I feel like a citizen of many countries.
In compound nouns, the principal word is the one made plural.

daughters-in-law, governors general, passers-by, ladies in waiting
Irregular
Many nouns referring to animals have the same form in the singular and in the plural.
The land sustained an abundance of deer and moose, and could also be used to raise sheep.
If a noun ends in f or fe the plural is usually formed by adding s, but is sometimes formed by
changing the f or fe to a ve and adding s.
His beliefs told him that those loaves required sharp knives.
If a noun ends in o, the plural is usually formed by adding s, but is sometimes formed by adding
es.
My heroes all play banjos.
Words borrowed into English from other languages sometimes follow the rules for pluralisation
in English and sometimes those for pluralisation in the original language.
phenomenon, phenomena and thesis, theses from Greek; alumnus, alumni and alumna ,alumnae
from Latin; tableau, tableaux and corps, corps from French
Special Cases
Plurals of symbols, numbers (including years), and uppercase letters are usually formed by
adding s.
He was concerned with the use of @s in formal writing since the 1990s.
I could not suppress a smile when I saw so many As on my transcript.
Plurals of lowercase letters are usually formed by adding s after the letter.
He wondered how many cs and ms were in the word accommodate.
For most proper names, the plural is formed simply by adding s to the end of the name, though
when a proper name ends in s the plural is formed by adding es.
The three Jacks joined the three Jills to fetch three pails of water.
We always worked very hard to keep up with the Joneses.
Collective nouns (referring to groups of people, animals, or things) are usually treated as
singular. If, however, you want to lay stress on the individual members rather than on the overall
unit, you may treat the noun as plural:
A flock of birds is flying in a V formation, but A flock of birds are threatening our crops.
My family is strange, but My family are unpredictable in their tastes.
Possessives
A noun can be made possessive when it could also have of a or of the preceding it.
the bag of a student = a students bag
the orbits of the planets = the planets orbits
Singular
A singular noun is usually made possessive by adding s to the end of the word.
The womans coat is red.
Most proper names are made possessive by adding s to the end.

Wongs argument is compelling.
A singular noun that ends in s can be made possessive either by adding s to the end of the word
or by adding only to the end of the word.
A Christmas Carol is probably Dickens / Dickenss best loved work.
The moss / mosss tendency is to grow only on the north sides of trees.
Classical names ending in s as well as names ending with an s and an iz sound traditionally use
only an apostrophe to mark possession.
Herodotus sense of history is still with us today.
There are many allusions to the sea in Menzies poetry.
Plural
A plural noun that ends in s can be made possessive either by adding only to the end of the
word (the preferred method), or by adding s to the end of the word.
All the soldiers / soldierss uniforms were torn.
A plural noun that ends in a letter other than s can be made possessive by adding s to the end of
the word.
The mens curling match will take place at 2:00, and the womens will take place at 5:00.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns generally do not use an apostrophe to indicate possession. This rule also
applies to the possessive form of it, which is its.
Do you see that woman over there? Her dog is very friendly.
He was late for work because his car did not start this morning.
Is that your house? No, ours is the one beside it.
Virtue is its own reward.
Some possessive pronouns do, however, use s.

That meal would not be to everyones taste.
Note: its is not a possessive but a contraction (short form) for it is.
Its warm in here. = It is warm in here.
Prepared by Mairi Cowan, University College Writing Centre.

English language learning program (ell)
Reading to Write: About Previewing

It is common for students to dive into an academic text and begin reading in a
hurry, which is often counterproductive. When reading for academic purposes,
it is preferable to read with certain goals in mind. This will enable you to place
your focus on the proper elements of the reading and to avoid wasting time on
elements which arent important for your purposes. Your professors and TAs
may read with their research goals in mind. As a student, your primary
purposes in reading are shaped by the course youre taking and/or the papers
youre writing. Spend a few minutes previewing a text before starting to read,
in order to orient yourself toward what is important for you in this reading.
Here is a basic method which can be applied to many texts. Not every question
will be relevant for all texts, and you may find additional questions to ask
yourself.
a. Read the titledont skip over it! Titles are chosen to orient the reader
and should give a sense of the central concepts in the text.
b. Think about the subject matter: Have you read about this topic before?
Where and when? What do you already know about it, or what might
you guess? Is it linked in some way to your personal experience? Do
you already have opinions about some aspect of this topic?
c. Who wrote this text? What information do you have about this author?
Does any information about the author appear anywhere on the title
page or elsewhere in the text? If the author is an historical figure, what
do you already know about him or her?
d. Where was this text originally published? What type of publication is
this, and where does it fit into this field of study? Who would be the
audience for this kind of writing? What would the audience expect to
find in it?
e. When was this text originally published? What is the significance of
this time period in this field of study? Is the text historical? Current?
Or is it possibly outdated? What were the major events or theoretical
trends around the time the text was written or published?
f. Read the chapter titles or the headings that break up the chapter or
article. What seems to be the general progression of ideas here?
g. Why has your professor assigned this text? Where does it fit into the
course as a whole? What kinds of facts and ideas are you expected to
retain from this reading?
Copyright L. Freedman 2012, University of Toronto
Punctuation
Many students do not take full advantage of punctuation. They never venture beyond the comma
and the periodthe two punctuation marks that nobody can do without. Some are afraid that if they
use other forms of punctuation, they will do so incorrectly, so they never take the risk. Learning to
punctuate effectively does involve learning the rules, and this handout summarizes the most
important of them. But learning to punctuate is about much more than rules. Punctuation, when
skillfully deployed, provides you with considerable control over meaning and tone. Try to
experiment with all forms of punctuation in order to expand your expressive range as a writer. And
observe closely how accomplished writers use punctuation to good effect. This handout limits itself
to punctuation that occurs within sentences: commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and parentheses.
Commas
Commas are the most frequently used form of punctuation and probably the hardest to master.
Using commas well is a science and an art: though there are well-defined rules, there is plenty of
room to manouevre as well. Both the science and the art of comma use have changed with time.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers, for example, used commas unsparingly. But do not
think that comma problems boil down to whether we use too many commas or too few. It is best to
learn the rulesand to know which ones can be broken and when. You should break the rules for a
purpose and consciously. Intuition is not always the best guide. In particular, the sometimes
serviceable practice of choosing a comma whenever you would pause in speech can get you into
trouble, especially if you write long sentences and lose your breath easily. Here are a few basic rules
to guide you in your comma use:
1. Commas after many introductory phrases are optional. When the introductory phrase is short,
you can often omit the comma; when the phrase is longer, a comma will help your reader
recognize where the main clause begins:
In the early 1960s Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig independently tried to reduce the tremendous
complexity of the zoo of particles then known at the time. (Steven Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory)
After much preliminary speculation and a few unsuccessful hypotheses, he achieved his central
insight while reading an apparently unrelated work for recreation. (Stephen Jay Gould, Ever Since
Darwin)
When the introductory phrase includes a participle (a verb form ending in -ing or -ed), always
add a comma:
Sitting in traffic, a plumber can't plumb and a deliveryman can't deliver. (Elizabeth Kolbert, Dont
Drive, He Said)
Make sure also to add a comma after an introductory clause (any grammatical unit that contains
a subject and a verb):
As the train straightened after a long curving tunnel near Lhasa, a nomad emerged from his tent on a
hillside. (Pankaj Mishra, The Train to Tibet)
2. When joining two independent clauses (clauses that could stand alone as sentences) with a
coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, but, yet, for, so), you normally place a comma before the
conjunction:
Sweetness is a desire that starts on the tongue with the sense of taste, but it doesnt end there.
(Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire)
This rule can occasionally be broken. The shorter the two independent clauses are, the more
appropriate it is to break the rule. Examples are more likely to be found in fictional prose where
the style is deliberately terse:
It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. (Ernest Hemingway,
Hills Like White Elephants)
3. When joining mere phrases, you usually do not provide a comma:

There have been great civilizations in which the peculiar balance of mind required for science has
only fitfully appeared and has produced the feeblest results. (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the
Modern World)
In this example, the conjunction and joins two verb phrases.

This rule is frequently broken, particularly when the writer wants to convey surprise or to
add an afterthought:
Each of our internal organs has a personality of its own, and a mythology too. (Sherwin Nuland, The
Mysteries Within)
We cannot remain absolutely free, and must give up some of our liberty to preserve the rest. (Isaiah
Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty)
Just make sure that whenever you break the rule, you do so for a reason.
4. Place commas between each element of a list of three or more parallel words, phrases, or
clauses. Writers often place a comma before the conjunction (and or or) preceding the last
element in the list:
The history of interactions among disparate people is what shaped the modern world through
conquest, epidemics, and genocide. (Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel)
Some writers, however, choose not to place a comma before the last element:
The material consequences in the East of the German occupation, the Soviet advance and the partisan
struggles were thus of an altogether different order from the experience of war in the West. (Tony
Judt, Postwar)
Though either method of punctuating is acceptable, try to choose one method and stick with it.
A comma before the final element is less likely to produce unintended ambiguity.
5. Surround interrupting or parenthetical clauses or phrases with commas. Such clauses or phrases
are not essential to the sentence. If you removed them, the central point of the sentence would
remain:
Dr. Johnsons Lives of the Poets, as Boswell tells us, was written at the urging of the London
booksellers. (Leon Edel, Writing Lives)
Richard Lester, the director of Petulia, is a shrill scold in Mod clothes. (Pauline Kael, Going Steady)
Remember to add commas on both sides of an interrupting phrase or clause: dont forget the
second comma.
The interrupting element in the last example is an appositive. It restates the meaning of the
noun phrase it follows. An appositive can, however, narrow down rather than simply restate the
meaning of a noun or noun phrase. When an appositive restates meaning, surround it with
commas; when it narrows down meaning, do not:
Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, has been called the Greta Garbo of presidential children because
she shuns the limelight. (CBS News Report)
Charlotte Bronts sister Emily used weather to great effect in her novel Wuthering Heights. (Karen
Odden, Introduction to Hard Times)
Hillary Clinton has only one daughter; Charlotte Bront had more than one sister. Chelsea is
therefore not essential to the sentence, while Emily is.
Another type of interrupting element, the relative clause, also deserves close attention.
Relative clauses begin with words such as who, which, that, and sometimes where and when:
During the past thirty years the ideal of the unity of learning, which the Renaissance and
Enlightenment bequeathed to us, has been largely abandoned. (E.O. Wilson, Consilience)
As with other interrupting sentence elements, the surrounding commas indicate that the
information in the clause is not essential to the main point of the sentence. E.O. Wilson is
suggesting that there is only one ideal of the unity of knowledge, and we happen to have
inherited that ideal from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Take the relative clause away,
and Wilsons point remains the same: most intellectuals have abandoned this ideal.
Some relative clauses, however, are integral to the meaning of a sentence. In such cases, it is
critical not to surround the clause by commas:
The names of the creative writers who have been more or less Freudian in tone or assumption would
of course be legion. (Lionel Trilling, Freud and Literature)
In this sentence Trilling makes his assertion not about all creative writers but only about those
who are Freudian in their outlook. Remove the clause, and you destroy the sentences meaning.
One final, purely stylistic point: for relative clauses that do not take commas, the word
which or who can be replaced by that:
Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in
minutes. (Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid.)
Semicolons
The semicolon has two main uses. The first is to combine two closely related independent clauses
into one sentence:
A scientific genius is not a person who does what no one else can do; he or she is someone who does
what it takes many others to do. (Malcolm Gladwell, In the Air)
Van Gogh painted almost exclusively from life; Gauguin favored imagination. (Peter Schjeldahl, Different
Strokes)
In either case, the writer could just as well have used two separate sentences, but using the
semicolon helps convey the close connection between two sequential ideas.
The other valid use of semicolons is to separate list elements that are long or complex. If, in
particular, those list elements contain internal commas, semicolons will help show just where each
element begins and ends:
The Idea of North offers little hard data about the history, geography, population, sociology, politics, or
economy of the North; about the burgeoning interest in the North after the Second World War, especially
after the creation of the federal Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources in 1953; about the
aboriginal-land-claims issues being thrashed out in the late sixties. (Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange: The
Life and Art of Glenn Gould)
Colons
Colons offer a way of urging your reader forward. The words preceding the colon create an
expectation; the words following the colon fulfill it:
The entomologists dream of the built-in insecticide was born when workers in the field of applied
entomology realized they could take a hint from nature: they found that wheat growing in soil containing
sodium selenate was immune to attack by aphids or spider mites. (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring)
Our age has produced a new literary breed: the self-hating essayist. (Cristina Nehring, Our Essays,
Ourselves)
The part of the sentence following the colon can expand on an idea (that nature suggests how to
take advantage of built-in insecticides) or answer an implied question (who exactly belongs to this
new literary breed?). Note that a colon is generally preceded by a full independent clause. It can,
however, be followed either by another independent clause, a phrase, or even a word. The phrase
sometimes takes the form of a list:
Shakespeares archvillain had many Shakespearean forerunners: the melodramatic Richard II, the
casuistical Pandulph, the sly and crafty Ulysses. (Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare)
Dashes
Dashes serve some of the same functions as commas and colons, but they assert themselves more
forcefully. Like commas, dashes are used to set off interrupting clauses or phrases, but a pair of
dashes will tend to call more attention to what lies in between:
Old Beijingdesigned for pedestrians and imperial processions but not much in betweenhas turned out
to be a bad framework on which to construct a modern city. (Paul Goldberger, Forbidden Cities)
Acting alone, a dash, like a colon, allows you to expand on or to complete an idea, and dashes used
this way are often interchangeable with colons. But the dash tends to be a little more abrupt and is
particularly good at suggesting irony or surprise:
Nobody ever recommended or even suggested that I be a novelistin fact, some tried to stop me. (Haruki
Murakami, The Running Novelist)
The dash has one other occasional use. Following a list, a dash allows you to tie things together
with an explanatory independent clause:
The manner of giving, the thing which is given, the effect of the giving upon the individualthese are the
factors which determine the progress of the Sufi. (Idries Shah, The Sufis)
If you dont use dashes, adding them to your repertoire will considerably broaden your expressive
range as a writer. But be careful: overusing them will blunt their overall impact.
Parentheses
Parentheses offer a third way of introducing interrupting material. A pair of commas supplies the
standard, matter-of-fact way of doing so. If dashes provide a more forceful alternative to commas,
parentheses offer a tentative and modest one:
Paul, like Jesus, encouraged celibacy not because he loathed the flesh (which in my opinion he did not)
but out of his urgent concern for the practical work of proclaiming the gospel. (Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve,
and the Serpent)
A parenthetical aside often sounds like a footnote. It need not always be perfectly integrated into the
sentence:
In one sense, the epistemic sense (epistemic here means having to do with knowledge), science is
indeed objective. (John R. Searle, Consciousness and Language)
Parentheses can also enclose full sentences. The period goes inside the closing parenthesis:
Ondaatje was born in 1943, into a prominent Sri Lankan family. (He has written a memoir of his relatives,
Running in the Family, published in 1982.) (Louis Menand, The Aesthete)
Prepared 2008 by Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Workshop.

Over 60 other files offering advice about university writing are available at www.utoronto.ca/writing
Using Quotations
How much should I quote?
The focus of your essay should be on your understanding of the topic. If you include too much
quotation in your essay, you will crowd out your own ideas. Consider quoting a passage from one of
your sources if any of the following conditions holds:
1. The language of the passage is particularly elegant or powerful or memorable.
2. You wish to confirm the credibility of your argument by enlisting the support of an authority on
your topic.
3. The passage is worthy of further analysis.
4. You wish to argue with someone elses position in considerable detail.
Condition 3 is especially useful in essays for literature courses.
If an argument or a factual account from one of your sources is particularly relevant to your paper
but does not deserve to be quoted verbatim, consider
paraphrasing the passage if you wish to convey the points in the passage at roughly the same
level of detail as in the original
summarizing the relevant passage if you wish to sketch only the most essential points in the
passage
Note that most scientific writing relies on summary rather than quotation. The same is true of writing in
those social sciencessuch as experimental psychologythat rely on controlled studies and emphasize
quantifiable results. (Almost all of the examples in this handout follow the MLA system of citation,
which is widely used in the humanities and in those social sciences with a less quantitative approach.)
Why is it important to identify my sources?

Quotations come from somewhere, and your reader will want to know where. Dont just parachute
quotations into your essay without providing at least some indication of who your source is. Letting your
reader know exactly which authorities you rely on is an advantage: it shows that you have done your
research and that you are well acquainted with the literature on your topic.
In the following passage, the parenthetical reference to the author does not adequately identify the
source:
The ancient Greeks never saw a need to justify wars that were waged outside the walls of the city state.
Hence we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war, together with the first
notion that there are just and unjust wars (Arendt 12). Yet the Roman conception of a just war differs
sharply from more modern conceptions.
When you are making decisions about how to integrate quotations into your essay, you might imagine
that you are reading the essay out loud to an audience. You would not read the parenthetical note.
Without some sort of introduction, your audience would not even know that the statement about Roman
antiquity was a quotation, let alone where the quotation came from.
How do I introduce a short quotation?

The following offers just one way of introducing the above quotation:
As Hannah Arendt points out in On Revolution, we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first
justification of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars (12). Yet the
Roman conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.
Since the quotation is relatively short, the brief introduction works.

You could, however, strengthen your analysis by demonstrating the significance of the passage
within your own argument. Introducing your quotation with a full sentence would help you assert greater
control over the material:
In On Revolution, Hannah Arendt points to the role the Romans played in laying the foundation for later
thinking about the ethics of waging war: we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification
of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars (12). Yet the Roman
conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.
In these two examples, observe the forms of punctuation used to introduce the quotations. When
you introduce a quotation with a full sentence, you should always place a colon at the end of the
introductory sentence. When you introduce a quotation with an incomplete sentence, you usually place a
comma after the introductory phrase. However, it has become grammatically acceptable to use a colon
rather than a comma:
Arendt writes: we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .
If you are blending the quotation into your own sentence using the conjuction that, do not use any
punctuation at all:
Arendt writes that we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .
If you are not sure whether to punctuate your introduction to a quotation, mentally remove the quotation
marks, and ask yourself whether any punctuation is still required.
Finally, note that you can deviate from the common pattern of introduction followed by quotation.
Weaving the phrases of others into your own prose offers a stylistically compelling way of maintaining
control over your source material. Moreover, the technique of weaving can help you to produce a tighter
argument. The following condenses twelve lines from Arendts essay to fewer than three:
What Arendt refers to as the well-known realities of power politics began to lose their moral
legitimacy when the First World War unleashed the horribly destructive forces of warfare under
conditions of modern technology (13).
What verbs and phrases can I use to introduce my quotations?

Familiarize yourself with the various verbs commonly used to introduce quotations. Here is a partial
list:
argues
maintains
states
writes
suggests
claims
points out
insists
demonstrates
concludes
observes
says
comments
counters
explains
notes
assert
reveals
Each verb has its own nuance. Make sure that the nuance matches your specific aims in introducing the
quotation.
There are other ways to begin quotations. Here are three common phrasings:
In the words of X, . . .
According to X, . . .
In Xs view, . . .
Vary the way you introduce quotations to avoid sounding monotonous. But never sacrifice precision of
phrasing for the sake of variety.
How do I introduce a long quotation?

If your quotation is lengthy, you should almost always introduce it with a full sentence that helps
capture how it fits into your argument. If your quotation is longer than four lines, do not place it in
quotation marks. Instead, set it off as a block quotation:
Although Dickens never shied away from the political controversies of his time, he never, in Orwells
view, identified himself with any political program:
The truth is that Dickens criticism of society is almost exclusively moral. Hence his lack of any
constructive suggestion anywhere in his work. He attacks the law, parliamentary government, the
educational system and so forth, without ever clearly suggesting what he would put in their places.
Of course it is not necessarily the business of a novelist, or a satirist, to make constructive
suggestions, but the point is that Dickens attitude is at bottom not even destructive. . . . For in
reality his target is not so much society as human nature. (416)
The full-sentence introduction to a block quotation helps demonstrate your grasp of the source material,
and it adds analytical depth to your essay. But the introduction alone is not enough. Long quotations
almost invariably need to be followed by extended analysis. Never allow the quotation to do your work
for you. Usually you will want to keep the quotation and your analysis together in the same paragraph.
Hence it is a good idea to avoid ending a paragraph with a quotation. But if your analysis is lengthy, you
may want to break it into several paragraphs, beginning afresh after the quotation.
Once in a while you can reverse the pattern of quotation followed by analysis. A felicitously worded
or an authoritative quotation can, on occasion, nicely clinch an argument.
There is some flexibility in the rule that block quotations are for passages of four lines or more: a
shorter passage can be represented as a block quotation if it is important enough to stand on its own. For
example, when you are quoting two or more lines of poetry, you will probably want to display the verse
as it appears on the page:
In the opening heroic couplet of The Rape of the Lock, Pope establishes the unheroic nature of the poems
subject matter:
What dire offense from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things. (1-2)
If you choose to integrate verse into your own sentence, then use a slash surrounded by spaces to
indicate line breaks:
In Eliots The Waste Land, the symbols of a mythic past lie buried in A heap of broken images, where the
sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief (22-23).
How do I let my reader know Ive altered my sources?

If you need to alter your quotations in any way, be sure to indicate just how you have done so. If you
remove text, then replace the missing text with an ellipsisthree periods surrounded by spaces:
In The Mirror and the Lamp, Abrams comments that the diversity of aesthetic theories . . . makes the
task of the historian a very difficult one (5).
If the omitted text occurs between sentences, then put a space after the period at the end of sentence, and
follow that by an ellipsis. In all, there will be four periods. (See Orwell on Dickens, above.)
Many people overuse ellipses at the beginning and end of quotations. Use an ellipsis in either place
only when your reader might otherwise mistake an incomplete sentence for a complete one:
Abraham Lincoln begins The Gettysburg Address with a reminder of the act upon which the United States
was founded: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation
. . . (1).
Do not use an ellipsis if you are merely borrowing a phrase from the original:
In The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln reminds his listeners of the principles that had inspired the
creation of a new nation (1).
If you need to alter or replace text from the original, enclose the added text within square brackets.
You may, for example, need to alter text to ensure that pronouns agree with their antecedents. Do not
write,
Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to cast your nighted colour off (1.2.68).
Square brackets allow you to absorb Gertrudes words into your own statement:
Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to cast [his] nighted colour off (1.2.68).
Alternatively, you can include Gertrudes original phrasing in its entirety so long as the introduction to
the quotation is not fully integrated with the quotation. The introduction can be an independent clause:
Gertrude implores her son Hamlet to stop mourning the death of his father: cast your nighted colour off
(I.ii.68).
Or it can be an incomplete sentence:

Gertrude implores her son Hamlet, cast your nighted colour off (1.2.68).
How is punctuation affected by quotation?

You must preserve the punctuation of a quoted passage, or else you must enclose in square brackets
any punctuation marks that are your own.
There is, however, one important exception to this rule. You are free to alter the punctuation just
before a closing quotation mark. You may need to do so to ensure that your sentences are fully
grammatical. Do not worry about how the original sentence needs to be punctuated before that quotation
mark; think about how your sentence needs to be punctuated. Note, for example, that if you are using the
MLA system of referencing, a sentence always ends after the parenthetical reference. Do not also
include a period before closing the quotation mark, even if there is a period there in the original. For
example, do not write,
According to Schama, Louis XVI remained calm during his trial: The Terror had no power to frighten an
old man of seventy-two. (822).
The period before the closing quotation mark must go:

old man of seventy-two (822).
However, if you are using footnotes, the period remains inside the quotation mark, while the footnote
number goes outside:
old man of seventy-two.1
In Canada and the United States, commas and periods never go outside a quotation mark. They are
always absorbed as part of the quotation, whether they belong to you or to the author you are quoting:
I am a man / more sinned against than sinning, Lear pronounces in Act 3, Scene 2 (59-60).
However, stronger forms of punctuation such as question marks and exclamation marks go inside the
quotation if they belong to the author, and outside if they do not:
Bewildered, Lear asks the fool, Who is it that can tell me who I am? (1.4.227).
Why is Lear so rash as to let his two daughters dowers digest the third (1.1.127)?
Finally, use single quotation marks for all quotations within quotations:
When Elizabeth reveals that her younger sister has eloped, Darcy drops his customary reserve: I am
grieved, indeed, cried Darcy, grieved shocked (Austen 295).

REVISING AND EDITING

Revising gives you the chance to preview your work on behalf of the eventual reader. Revision is
much more than proofreading, though in the final editing stage it involves some checking of details.
Good revision and editing can transform a mediocre first draft into an excellent final paper. It's
more work, but leads to real satisfaction when you find you've said what you wanted.
Here are some steps to follow on your own. Writing centres can give you further guidance.
Start Large, End Small
Revision may mean changing the shape and reasoning in your paper. It often means adding or
deleting sentences and paragraphs, shifting them around, and reshaping them as you go. Before
dealing with details of style and language (editing), be sure you have presented ideas that are clear
and forceful. Make notes as you go through these questions, and stop after each section to make the
desired revisions.
1. First check whether you have fulfilled the intention of the assignment. Look again at the
instruction sheet, and revise your work to be sure you can say yes to these questions:
o Have you performed the kind of thinking the assignment sheet asked for (e.g., analyse,
argue, compare, explore)?
o Have you written the genre of document called for (e.g., book review, critique, personal
response, field notes, research report, lab report, essay)?
o Have you used concepts and methods of reasoning discussed in the course? Dont be shy
of using theoretical terms from the course. Also beware of just retelling stories or listing
information. Looking at your topic sentences in sequence will show what kinds of ideas you
have emphasized. (See our handout on Developing Coherent Paragraphs.)
o Have you given adequate evidence for your argument or interpretation? Be sure that the
reader knows why and how your ideas are important. A quick way of checking is to note
where your paragraphs go after their topic sentences. Watch out for repetitions of general
ideaslook for progression into detailed reasoning, usually including source referencing.
2. Then look at overall organization. It's worthwhile to print out everything so that you can view
the entire document. Then consider these questions, and revise to get the answers you want:
o Does your introduction make clear where the rest of the paper is headed? If the paper is
argument-based, you will likely use a thesis statement. Research papers often start with a
statement of the research question. (Ask a clear-headed roommate or other friend to give
you a prediction of what he or she expects after reading only the first few paragraphs of your
paper. Dont accept a vague answer.)
o Is each section in the right place to fulfil your purpose? (It might help to make a reverse
outline: take the key idea from each paragraph or section and set it down in a list so you can
see the logical structure of what youve written. Does it hang together? Is it all necessary?
Whats missing? Revise to fill in gaps and take out irrelevant material.)
o Have you drawn connections between the sections? (Look again at your topic sentences to
see if they link back to what has just been said as well as looking forward to the next point.
Find ways to draw ideas together explicitly. Use logical statements, not just a sprinkling of
connecting words.)
o Would a person reading your conclusion know what question you had asked and how you
had arrived at your answer? (Again, ask for a real paraphrase.)
3. Now polish and edit your style by moving to smaller matters such as word choice, sentence
structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You may already have passages that you know
need further work. This is where you can use computer programs (with care) and reference
material such as handbooks and handouts. Here are some tips:
o Read passages aloud to see if you have achieved the emphasis you want. Look for places
to use short sentences to draw attention to key ideas, questions, or argumentative statements.
If you can't read a sentence all the way through with expression, try cutting it into two or
more.
o Be sure to use spell check. It will help you catch most typos and many wrongly spelled
words. But dont let it replace anything automatically, or youll end up with nonsense
words. You will still have to read through your piece and use a print dictionary or writer's
handbook to look up words that you suspect are not right.
o Don't depend on a thesaurus. It will supply you with lists of words in the same general
category as the one you have triedbut most of them won't make sense. Use plain clear
words instead. Use a print dictionary and look up synonyms given as part of definitions.
Always look at the samples of usage too.
o Dont depend on a grammar checker. The best ones still miss many errors, and they give
a lot of bad advice. If you know that you overuse slang or the passive voice, you may find
some of the hits useful, but be sure to make your own choice of replacement phrases. A
few of the explanations may be useful. But nothing can substitute for your own judgement.
A Note on Appearance:
Looks do count. Give your instructor the pleasure of handling a handsome documentor at least of
not getting annoyed or inconvenienced. These are the basic expectations for any type of assignment.
o Include a cover page giving the title of your paper, the name of the course, your name, the
date, and the instructors name. Dont bother with coloured paper, fancy print, or
decorations.
o Number your pages in the top right-hand corner. Omit the number for the first page of your
paper (since it will be headed by the title), starting in with 2 on the second page.
o Double-space your text, including indented quotations, footnotes, and reference lists. Leave
margins of one inch (2.5 cm) on all sides of the page.
o Use a standard font in twelve-point size. For easier reading, don't right-justify your lines.
o Put the reference list or bibliography on a separate page at the end. (See the handout on
Standard Documentation Format: choose your format, then use the examples as guides.)
o Staple your pages; dont use a bulky binding or cover.
APPLICATION LETTERS AND RSUMS: SOME PRACTICAL TIPS

Employers say they want to hire people who can communicate well, work independently as well as
in groups, and analyse complex situations. Your letter of application and rsum give you a chance
to demonstrate all of these qualities. Here are some tips on producing documents that will make an
impression on readers:
Keep the reader's interests in mind. Your message is "you need me," not "I want a job."
Know enough about the organization or company to recognize what it wants and needs.
Then the focus of your documents will be where you fit and what you can contribute. This
principle will also determine your choice of emphasis and even your wording (not "I have
had four years experience" but "My experience will help me do X and Y").
Balance facts and claims. Your documents will be boring and meaningless if they're just
bare lists of facts. They will be empty and unbelievable if they're just grand claims about
yourself. Use each of the two or three paragraphs in the body of your letter to make a few
key interpretive statements ("I can sell aggressively"). Back up each one with some
examples. Then make your rsum follow through with further specifications (e.g.
"achieved highest sales figure among 10 employees for first 3 months of 2000").
Write concisely. There's no space available for word-spinning. Prune your style by
following any good writing guide or the U of T online handout "Wordiness: Danger Signals
and Ways to React."
Specific points about application letters

1. Write a letter for each application, tailored for the specific situation. Even if the ad calls only for
a rsum, send a brief letter anyway. The letter makes a first impression, and it can direct the
reader to notice key points of the rsum.
2. Use standard letter format, with internal addresses (spell names correctly!) and salutations. Use
specific names or at least position titles whenever possible (call the company or check its
Website). Avoid the dated "Dear Sir or Madam" and "To whom it may concern." You can use
an Attention line or a Subject line instead of a salutation if you have to.
3. Most application letters for entry-level jobs are one or two pages in length, short enough to take
in quickly but with room for some real substance.
4. Start strong and clear. For an advertised position, name the job and say where you saw the ad.
For a speculative letter, name a specific function you can offer and relate it to something you
know about the organization.
5. Use paragraph structure to lead your reader from one interpretive point to another. Refer to
specific information in terms of examples for the points you're making, and mention that your
rsum gives further evidence.
6. End strongly by requesting an interview. It is now common to say that you will call soon to set a
time. Phrases like "thank you for your time" are unnecessary.
Specific points about rsums to accompany application letters

7. Have more than one on hand, emphasizing different aspects of your qualifications or aims. Then
you can update and revise them quickly when opportunities arise.
8. Make them easy to read by using headings, point form, and lots of white space. Look at a few
current books of advice to see the range of page formats available. Create one that suits your
situation rather than following a standard one rigidly. Beware using a fancy page design from a
software package. Too many others will also use it.
9. The basic choice is between the traditional chronological organization (with the main sections
Education and Experience) and the functional one (where sections name types of experience or
qualities of character). You can get some of the benefits of both by creating a one- or two-line
introductory section called Profile or Objective to sum up your main unifying point. You may
also use Achievement subsections to emphasize your most important qualifications. These may
include a horizontal list of keywords in noun form to serve in electronic scanning for
information.
10. List facts in reverse chronological order, with the most recent ones first. Shorten some lists by
combining related entries (e.g. part-time jobs). In general, omit details of high-school
achievements. You also don't have to include personal details or full information for people
you're listing as references. But don't try to save space by relying on acronyms for programs or
subjects: they aren't always recognizable by readers or electronic searches.
SELECTED REFERENCE MATERIAL ON APPLICATION-WRITING
See the Career Centre library for a selection of current books of advice. Public libraries and
bookstores also stock a great deal of material. Remember, though, that fashions change quickly and
that little of the published material is Canadian. Websites may be of more use, since they are usually
kept updated, and may be closer to your situation.
Books (in U of T libraries and the Career Centre; see also public libraries)
R. Bolles, What Colour is Your Parachute, HF 5382.7 B64 UNIV REF: on analysing your
choices and creating job-search strategies
R. Brusaw et al, eds. The Business Writer's Handbook, HF 5726 B874 UNIV: shows the
conventions of business writing, including letter and rsum format
M. Munschauer, Jobs for English Majors and Other Smart People, HR 5382.7 M86 ERIN REF
Websites to start from
University Career Centres often provide good advice online. The websites from U of T
(www.careers.utoronto.ca/) and Waterloo (www.careerservices.uwaterloo.ca/) are especially
recommended.

Reading to Write: About Skimming and Scanning

Your perceptions of any written text are deepened through familiarity. One of
the most effective methods for beginning the kind of thoughtful reading
necessary for academic work is to get a general overview of the text before
beginning to read it in detail. By first skimming a text, you can get a sense of
its overall logical progression. Skimming can also help you make decisions
about where to place your greatest focus when you have limited time for your
reading. Here is one technique for skimming a text. You may need to modify it
to suit your own reading style.
a. First, prior to skimming, use some of the previewing techniques.
b. Then, read carefully the introductory paragraph, or perhaps the first
two paragraphs. As yourself what the focus of the text appears to be,
and try to predict the direction of the coming explanations or
arguments.
c. Read carefully the first one or two sentences of each paragraph, as
well as the concluding sentence or sentences.
d. In between these opening and closing sentences, keep your eyes
moving and try to avoid looking up unfamiliar words or terminology.
Your goal is to pick up the larger concepts and something of the overall
pattern and significance of the text.
e. Read carefully the concluding paragraph or paragraphs. What does
the authors overall purpose seem to be? Remember that you may be
mistaken, so be prepared to modify your answer.
f. Finally, return to the beginning and read through the text carefully,
noting the complexities you missed in your skimming and filling in the
gaps in your understanding. Think about your purpose in reading this
text and what you need to retain from it, and adjust your focus
accordingly. Look up the terms you need to know, or unfamiliar words
that appear several times.
Scanning is basically skimming with a more tightly focused purpose:
skimming to locate a particular fact or figure, or to see whether this text
mentions a subject youre researching. Scanning is essential in the writing of
research papers, when you may need to look through many articles and books
in order to find the material you need. Keep a specific set of goals in mind as
you scan the text, and avoid becoming distracted by other material. You can
note what youd like to return to later when you do have time to read further,
and use scanning to move ahead in your research project.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE ON ACADEMIC ESSAY-WRITING

1. Miscellaneous observations on a topic are not enough to make an accomplished academic essay.
An essay should have an argument. It should answer a question or a few related questions (see 2
below). It should try to prove somethingdevelop a single "thesis" or a short set of closely related
pointsby reasoning and evidence, especially including apt examples and confirming citations
from any particular text or sources your argument involves. Gathering such evidence normally
entails some rereading of the text or sources with a question or provisional thesis in mind.
2. Whenas is usually the casean assigned topic does not provide you with a thesis ready-made,
your first effort should be to formulate as exactly as possible the question(s) you will seek to
answer in your essay. Next, develop by thinking, reading, and jotting a provisional thesis or
hypothesis. Don't become prematurely committed to this first answer. Pursue it, but test iteven
to the point of consciously asking yourself what might be said against itand be ready to revise or
qualify it as your work progresses. (Sometimes a suggestive possible title one discovers early can
serve in the same way.)
3. There are many ways in which any particular argument may be well presented, but an essay's
organizationhow it begins, develops, and endsshould be designed to present your argument
clearly and persuasively. (The order in which you discovered the parts of your argument is seldom
an effective order for presenting it to a reader.)
4. Successful methods of composing an essay are various, but some practices of good writers are
almost invariable:
They start writing early, even before they think they are "ready" to write, because they use
writing not simply to transcribe what they have already discovered but as a means of
exploration and discovery.
They don't try to write an essay from beginning to end, but rather write what seems readiest to
be written, even if they're not sure whether or how it will fit in.
Despite writing so freely, they keep the essay's overall purpose and organization in mind,
amending them as drafting proceeds. Something like an "outline" constantly and consciously
evolves, although it may never take any written form beyond scattered, sketchy reminders to
oneself.
They revise extensively. Rather than writing a single draft and then merely editing its
sentences one by one, they attend to the whole essay and draft and redraftrearranging the
sequence of its larger parts, adding and deleting sections to take account of what they discover
in the course of composition. Such revision often involves putting the essay aside for a few
days, allowing the mind to work indirectly or subconsciously in the meantime and making it
possible to see the work-in-progress more objectively when they return to it.
Once they have a fairly complete and well-organized draft, they revise sentences, with special
attention to transitionsthat is, checking to be sure that a reader will be able to follow the
sequences of ideas within sentences, from sentence to sentence, and from paragraph to
paragraph. Two other important considerations in revising sentences are diction (exactness and
aptness of words) and economy (the fewest words without loss of clear expression and full
thought). Lastly, they proofread the final copy.
Professor Anderson Silber, Department of English, University of Toronto. 1987, revised 1995.
(Copies including this notice may be made for any students personal use.)
Other handouts on specific stages of the writing process are available online from
www.writing.utoronto.ca
SPECIAL CASES IN THE USE OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
To decide if you should use the word the, ask yourself these three questions:
1. Is the noun indefinite (unspecified) or definite (specific)?
The general rule states that the first mention of a noun is indefinite and all subsequent references
to this noun are definite and take the:
A man is walking down a road. There is a dog with the man.
The second mention may be a synonym:
Combine butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour to the mixture.
First (indefinite) mention requires a or an for a singular count noun, no article for a plural or
non-count noun. Second mention makes the correct for both count and non-count nouns:
A growing plant must have water and minerals. The plant must also have sunlight. The
minerals must include nitrates and the water must not be saline.
Three special groups of nouns are considered definite in reference even if they have not been
mentioned in the preceding sentence or clause.
a) The first group consists of nouns which refer to shared knowledge of the situation or
context.
For example, in Canada you can say
The Prime Minister will arrive tomorrow
because there is only one Prime Minister in Canada, and so it is clear to whom you are referring.
Similarly, if there is only one hospital in the town, you can say
He's been working in the hospital for two years.
But you couldn't say this in Toronto, where there are many hospitals. You would have to name
the particular hospital in your first reference to it:
He's been working at Toronto General Hospital for two years. He says the hospital is in a
financial mess.
b) The second group consists of nouns referring to unique objects:
e.g., the sun/the earth/the Pope/the sky/the equator
c) Superlative adjectives and unique adjectives form the third group. Because there can be
only one of these (only one of a series can be the tallest or the best or the first), they take the
definite article:
Mexico City is the most populous city in the world.
I enjoyed the first part, but I was disappointed at the end.
She is the principal researcher.
2. Is the noun modified?
a) Premodification: If the noun is preceded by one of the following-this/that/these/those/some/any/each/every/no/none/my/mine
do not use the definite article.
e.g., the red books/some red books/no red book/his red books/each red book
b) Postmodification: if the noun is followed by a relative clause (who/which/that) or a

prepositional phrase (of/in/to...), it is made definite and takes the definite article.
The man who lives next door is Chinese.
We take the regular collection of garbage for granted.
The journey to Vancouver takes three days by train.
No one expected the results that were found.
EXCEPTION: collective nouns take the indefinite article:
a box of matches/a deck of cards/a bar of soap/a herd of cows.
3. Is the noun generic?
Generic reference is used when one refers to a whole group or class, to generalize about all
possible members of a group. There are five patterns one can use:
a) no article PLUS plural count noun:
It's astonishing what gymnasts can do.
b) no article PLUS noncount noun:
Love can cause a lot of suffering.
c) indefinite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what a gymnast can do.
[This pattern cannot be used to discuss the location or existence of something/someone.
You cannot say A lion lives in Africa. You must use pattern (a) or (d)].
d) definite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what the gymnast can do.
e) definite article PLUS plural nationality noun:
The Chinese have an ancient culture.
Pattern (a) is most common in colloquial English; pattern (d) is frequently use in academic
writing.
Sample Corrections of Sentences

___ paper based system is very time consuming and error prone.
A paper based system... Use a if there many such systems and you are referring to one
of them.
The paper based system... Use the if there is only one such system in existence.
Paper based systems... Use the plural if there are many such systems and you are
referring to all of them.
EDI can suffer more from ___ breakdown than the manual system.
EDI can suffer more from a breakdown ... Use a if the type of breakdown has not been
specified or is immaterial.
EDI can suffer more from the breakdown ... Use the only if you have previously
specified which type of breakdown this is.
EDI can suffer more from breakdowns ... Use the plural if there are many types of
breakdowns and all of them can occur.
Organizations should be ready for ___ increased workload.
Organizations should be ready for an increased workload. Use a if there will be only
one type of workload change, but you dont know what kind.
Organizations should be ready for the increased workload. Use the if the increase is
specific.
Organizations should be ready for increased workloads. Use the plural if there are
many types of increased workloads.
It is ___ museums task to explore contemporary culture.
It is a museums task... Use a if you are referring to any museum.
It is the museums task... Use the if you are referring to one specific museum.
Special Uses of Articles

a) Proper nouns. Proper nouns, because they are the names of people or places, are already
specific and so do not need to be made more specific by the definite article. So we say John,
not the John, and Canada, not the Canada. (There are one or two anomalous usages in
place names: e.g., the Netherlands, but Holland.) This rule explains why we say Boyles
Law, not the Boyles Law, and Plancks constant but not the Plancks constant.
Sometimes, however, a proper noun is used as an adjective, and adjectives do not affect the
decision to use the article with the noun. You must look at the noun in order to know whether or
not to use the definite article.
Japans financial problem Japan is a proper noun. No article.
the Japanese financial problem Japanese is an adjective. Look at the noun to decide
if there should be an article: problem is general and must be made specific by using
the.
Japanese financial problems Japanese is an adjective. Look at the noun. It is plural,

so refers to all problems in general. No article.
Smiths book on Japan Smith is the proper name of the person. No article.
the Smith book on Japan Smith is used as an adjective modifying the noun book.
Book is general, and must be made specific by using the article. (If the name is
possessive, it is a proper noun. If not, it is acting as an adjective.)
b) Media and communications:
Use a noun PLUS definite article to refer to systems of communication and the mass media, in
contrast to the actual machine of communications. The telephone is the system of
communication; a telephone is the actual physical machine.
The newspapers are all in agreement on the latest financial disaster.
[exception: television usually has no article: Did you see him on TV?]
c) Means of transportation:
Use the definite article to refer to the whole transport system, rather than to an individual
vehicle:
How long does it take on the bus?
The subway is quicker.
[if you use the construction "by PLUS means of transport," there is no article: I go by
subway].
d) Forms of entertainment:
To refer to a form of entertainment in general, use the definite article:
I enjoy seeing the ballet.
To refer to a particular event, use the indefinite article:
I saw a good movie last night.
e) Place/object or activity nouns:
Certain nouns refer to either a place/object or to an activity. When they refer to an activity, do
not use the definite article:
ACTIVITY
OBJECT
I go to bed at 11 o'clock.
Don't jump on the bed.
She went to school for many years.
The school was too small.
Many families eat dinner together.
The dinner was delicious.
I shower before breakfast.
The breakfast was delicious.
They are at church.
The church is very old.
She is in class.
The class is in Room 102
f) Directions:
Nouns indicating direction do not take the definite article:
Go two blocks south and turn left.
[exception: nouns indicating political divisions take the definite article:
She is on the left of the party.]
g) Periods of time:
Names of decades, centuries and historic periods take the definite article, as they are a form of
unique reference:
The 1960s were a time of student rebellion.
Prepared by Martine Johnson, International Student Centre, University of Toronto.
STANDARD DOCUMENTATION FORMATS

Different disciplines use their own systems to give information about sources. Here are samples of the main systems,
showing the kinds of information needed and some details of punctuation, typeface, and indentation. (Some examples are
fictional.) For more detailed advice, consult the manuals and websites mentioned below for each system.
NOTE: The examples here are single-spaced to fit on the sheet, but academic papers should be double-spaced.
Traditional Endnotes or Footnotes with Superscript Numbers
Some humanities and science disciplines prefer systems using small raised numbers and separate notes. To create them in
Word, click Insert Footnote in the References tab. (Footnotes are usually preferable to endnotes.) If you're writing about a
single literary text, use parentheses inside your sentences to give page or line numbers, with a footnote or endnote only for
the first reference. The excerpt below follows the Chicago Notes-Bibliography style set out in Turabian, Manual for Writers,
7th edition (LB2369 T8 2007). For advice on details such as number format and line spacing, and for examples of second
references to the same sources, see the online version of this handout at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/usingsources/documentation.
When Hamlet protests to Gertrude, "Leave wringing of your hands" (3.4.34),1 he is naming a universally recognizable gesture. As Smith
says, similar broad gestures are "the most direct way of indicating inner turmoil."2 Contemporary actors still use this body movement,3 and
Renaissance audiences would have recognized it as a signal for inner distress,4 perhaps specifically for a condition the Elizabethan author
Reynolds named "ague of the spirits."5 Brown argues that poor sight lines in Elizabethan theatres required highly visible body movements.6
________________________
1
William Shakespeare, Hamlet, in Norton Introduction to Literature, 8th ed., ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, Kelly J. Mays, and
Jerome Beaty (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001), 996. Subsequent parenthetical citations will refer to this edition.
2
John Smith, "Renovating Hamlet for Contemporary Audiences," UTQ 78 (Summer 2009): 963.
Alisa Zubar, "Acting Now," Termagant Society Online, http://www.nouniv.ca/terma/hands.html (accessed August 22, 2010).
Joan Brown, The Renaissance Stage (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), 111.
Peter Reynolds, The Players Chapbooke (1587); quoted in Aline Mahieu, Acting Shakespeare (London: Shaw, 2009), 69.
Brown, 220.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brown, Joan. The Renaissance Stage. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008.
Mahieu, Aline. Acting Shakespeare. London: Shaw, 2009.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. In Norton Introduction to Literature, 8th ed., ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, Kelly J. Mays, and Jerome
Beaty. 941-1033. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001.
Smith, John. "Renovating Hamlet for Contemporary Audiences," UTQ 78 (Summer 2009): 960-69.
Zubar, Alisa. "Acting Now." Termagant Society Online. http://www.nouniv.ca/terma/hands.html (accessed August 22, 2010).
MLA System: Parenthetical Author-Page References
This streamlined format gives author and page in parentheses in the body of the paper, and then sets out full references in
a Works Cited (or Works Consulted) list. Developed by the Modern Language Association, it is now widely accepted in the
humanities. For details, see the seventh edition (2009) of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. This edition asks
you to note the medium of each source, for instance "print" or "web." For journal articles read online, also include the
name of the online database and the date you read the article to distinguish among slightly different versions. With all this
information included, MLA no longer requires the URL, but you should supply one (as below) if your instructor expects it.
When Hamlet protests to Gertrude, "Leave wringing of your hands" (3.4.34), he is naming a universally recognizable gesture. As Smith
says, similar broad gestures are "the most direct way of indicating inner turmoil" (963). Contemporary actors still use this body movement
(Zubar), and Renaissance audiences would have recognized it as a specific signal for inner distress (Brown 111), perhaps specifically for a
condition the Elizabethan author Reynolds named "ague of the spirits" (qtd. in Mahieu 69).
Works Cited
Brown, Joan. The Renaissance Stage. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2008. Print.
Mahieu, Aline. Acting Shakespeare. London: Shaw, 2009. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, Kelly J. Mays, and Jerome Beaty.
8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. 941-1033. Print.
Smith, John. "Renovating Hamlet for Contemporary Audiences." UTQ 78 (2009): 960-69. Project Muse. Web. 21 Sept. 2012.
Zubar, Alisa. "Acting Now." Termagant Society Online. 31 Nov. 2002. Web. 22 Aug. 2012. <http://www.nouniv.ca/terma/hands.html>.
APA System: Parenthetical Author-Date References
The social sciences and many sciences emphasize the author and date. The sixth edition of the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (2009) sets out detailed rules for one common system. The APA system uses only initials for authors'
given names, no quotation marks for article titles, minimal capitalization for titles of books and articles, and italics for volume
numbers as well as for journal titles. The 2009 edition also asks for Digital Object Identifier numbers (DOI), when available, to
identify journal articles and other recent publications. DOIs are now supplied as part of publication information by nearly all
journals and some book publishers. Note also the use of past tense to refer to sources. For further advice on APA
requirements, see the Frequently-Asked Questions page at www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx. Strict APA style, as
shown below, gives in-text page numbers only for quotations, not for paraphrases or summaries. However, many instructors
prefer a modified system that gives page numbers for all references. Ask your instructor about expectations for page numbers.
In his classic study, Pinker (1994) summarized the skepticism of current researchers and observers about whether the signs produced in the
Washoe project were really American Sign Language. His conclusion was that chimpanzees' abilities at anything one would want to call
language are almost nil (p. 339). A group of statisticians (Tannenbaum, Leung, Sudha, & White, 2005) who re-analysed published data
argued that the compound words once claimed as inventions of a particular chimpanzee are the results of repeated random juxtapositions.
Even Premack (2007) has rejected his own past claims for chimpanzee cognition, outlining the key differences between chimpanzees and
humans revealed by brain imaging and calling for closer scrutiny of experimental results.
References
Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: Morrow.
Premack, D. (2007). Human and animal cognition: Continuity and discontinuity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America, 104, 13861-13867. doi:10.1073/pnas.0706147104
Tannenbaum, R. V., Leung, K., Sudha, J. R., & White, M. A. (2005). A re-examination of the record: Pitty Sing's creation of compound
words. Journal of Biostatistics, 20, 368-396.
Numbered Note Systems (e.g., IEEE, Medical and Life Sciences)
Many sciences and applied sciences use a citation-sequence system. They give numbered notes in square brackets in the text
of the paper that match a numbered list of sources at the endgiven in the sequence the sources were mentioned, not in
alphabetical order as in most other systems. Look at copies of journals in your field to see formatting details.
The system worked out by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is often used in Computer Science
and Engineering. See www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecitationref.pdf for helpful examples.
Another very compressed citation-sequence system is used in the life sciences and medical sciences. Model your entries on
journal articles in those fields, or consult the detailed guide (intended for medical journals) at
www.nlm.nih.gov/bsd/uniform_requirements.html.
INTERNET SOURCES
To refer to journal articles and books read online but based on print forms, follow the system for the print publication; MLA
also asks for the database used, if any, and the date of access (though not the URL). See the boxes above for examples of
sources read online and documented in different systems. To refer to sources that exist only online (e.g., websites or email
messages), also follow your chosen system as far as possible, giving information about the author, the page title and the site
title, the publication date, and the DOI or URL if required. Here are examples for some common Internet entries, set up to
show differences between pairs of entries for the same items in the current MLA and APA systems.
[Web page: MLA system, item in Works Cited list] This entry follows the MLA requirement to provide both the date of publication if
it is available, or n.d. if it is not, and the date of accessing the webpage, but not the URL.
Procter, Margaret. "Standard Documentation Formats." Writing at the University of Toronto. n.d. Web. 1 Sept. 2012.
[Web page: APA system, item in References list] NOTE: This entry uses n.d. to indicate that no publication date is available; it also
provides the retrieval date and URL to indicate the version seen.
Procter, M. (n.d.). Standard documentation formats. Retrieved Sept. 1, 2012 from http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/
using-sources/documentation
[Article in journal published only online: MLA system, item in Works Cited list] Access date included, no URL required.
Horning, Alice S. "Where to Put the Manicules: A Theory of Expert Reading." Across the Disciplines 8:2 (6 Oct. 2011). n. pag.
Web. 20 June 2012.
[Article in journal published only online: APA system, item in References list] No DOI available; retrieval date and URL given.
Horning, A.S. (2011, October 6). Where to put the manicules: A theory of expert reading. Across the Disciplines, 8(2). Retrieved
June 20, 2012 from http://wac.colostate.edu/atd/articles/horning2011/index.cfm
[Email: MLA system, item in Works Cited list]
Sills, Paige. <psills@mcmaster.ca>. "Did It Again!" Message to the author. 21 Sept. 2011. E-mail.
[Email: APA system, citation only in text: NOTE: In the APA system, personal communications like email are not included in the
References because they are not available for others to consult. Here is an in-text citation, using parentheses for author and date.
Another success has recently been reported (P. Sills, personal communication, Sept. 21, 2011).
Updated 21 June 2012 by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
For more examples and explanations, see the online version of this handout at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/documentation

________________________
1
2
Brown, 220.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works Cited
References
INTERNET SOURCES
Web. 20 June 2012.
TAKING NOTES FROM RESEARCH READING

Taking notes efficiently is essential to your sanity in facing the wealth of information available in
print and electronic form. It is also a key part of writing well-focussed and coherently argued papers.
Good note-taking strategies will help you read with more understanding and also save time and
frustration when you write your paper. These are three main principles:
Know what kind of ideas you need to record
Focus your approach to the topic before you start detailed research. Then you will read with a purpose in mind,
and you will be able to sort out relevant ideas.
Analyse the assignment sheet to be clear about just what you are going to do with your topic, and what
your topic consists of. (See the file on Understanding Essay Topics).
Then review the commonly known facts about your topic, and also become aware of the range of thinking
and opinions on it. As well as your class notes and textbook, browse in an encyclopedia or other reference
work.
Try making a preliminary list of the subtopics you would expect to find in your reading. These will guide
your attention and may come in handy as search terms and labels for notes.
Choose a component or angle that interests you, perhaps one on which there is already some controversy.
Now formulate your research question. It should allow for reasoning as well as gathering of
information--not just what the proto-Iroquoians ate, for instance, but how valid the evidence is for early
introduction of corn. You may even want to jot down a tentative thesis statement as a preliminary answer
to your question. (See the file Using Thesis Statements for the defining characteristics of a good thesis
statement.)
Then you will know what to look for in your research reading: facts and theories that help answer your
question, and other people's opinions about the value of specific answers.
Don't write down too much

Your essay must be an expression of your own thinking, not a patchwork of borrowed ideas. Plan therefore to
invest your research time in understanding your sources and integrating them into your own thinking. Use your
note cards or note sheets to record only ideas that are relevant to your focus on the topic, and summarize rather
than copy out or paraphrase.
Copy out exact words only when the ideas are memorably phrased or surprisingly expressed--on the few
occasions when you might use them as actual quotations.
Otherwise, compress ideas in your own words. Paraphrasing word by word is a waste of time. Choose the
most important ideas and write them down as labels or headings. Then fill in with a few subpoints that
explain or exemplify.
Don't depend on underlining and highlighting. Find your own words for notes in the margin (or on
"sticky" notes).
Label your notes intelligently

Whether you use cards or pages for note-taking, take notes in a way that allows for later use.
Save bother later by recording bibliographic information in a master list or computer file when you begin
looking at each source (don't forget to note book and journal information for photocopies). Then you can
quickly identify each note by the author's name and page number; when you refer to sources in the essay
you can fill in details of publication easily from your master list. Keep a format guide handy so you get
details right from the start (see the file on Documentation Formats).
Try as far as possible to put notes on separate cards or sheets. This will let you label the topic of each
note. Not only will that keep your notetaking focussed, but it will also allow for grouping and
synthesizing of ideas later. It is especially satisfying to shuffle notes and see how the conjunctions create
new ideas in your own thinking.
Leave lots of space in your notes for comments of your own questions and reactions as you read, second
thoughts and cross-references when you look back at what you've written. These comments can become a
virtual first draft of your paper.

work.
statement.)

"sticky" notes).

Teaching Multilingual Students:

An Overview for Course Instructors and TAs
by Leora Freedman, English Language Learning Coordinator, Faculty of Arts and Science
You will find that many of your students use English as a second or additional language. Many
first-year international students are just starting this new segment of their education that is entirely
in English. You will also have students who were educated in Toronto but still need to develop
greater proficiency in English. How do these conditions affect your teaching duties?
You may have to mark papers that are difficult for you to follow due to language errors. Other
papers may be understandable but still contain many language errors. How will you mark
papers in which the students conceptual grasp of the material is very good but the writing is
quite faulty?
Some students in your classes or tutorials may avoid oral participation because they fear others
will not understand them due to language errors or faulty pronunciation. In some cases this is
just anxiety, but in other cases the student may be difficult for you and others to understand.
How can you encourage these students to participate? How will you make sure you understand
what theyre trying to say?
Some of your students may have difficulty finishing the course readings or comprehending
them. They may also find it difficult to understand the material you present in the tutorials or
lectures. What will you do if it becomes clear that some students are not following the
discussion?
All of this raises the larger question of how to help these students to succeed without imposing a
heavy burden on yourself. Your time is limited, so it is useful to be acquainted with methods that can
simultaneously help your multilingual students AND reduce your own workload. Many of these
approaches prevent the development of problems that would take a great deal of time to solve.
1. Keep in mind the valid process of high-level language acquisition that occurs while a student
is engaged in the regular curriculum. Much research points away from the usefulness of separate
courses for language preparation at this stage and supports the effectiveness of language learning
that is embedded within the usual curriculum. Just by modeling good usage of English in your
field, you are teaching these students a great deal. They are progressing each day, whether or not
you notice the difference. Zamel and Spacks Crossing the Curriculum: Multilingual Learners in
College Classrooms gives a convincing description of this process.
2. Remember that many studentsnot just multilingual oneswill learn concepts faster and
retain them better if you provide some form of visual aid to accompany the lesson. This may
be a handout, overhead, map or list of key words on the board, PowerPoint slides, etc. Dont feel
obligated to reproduce every word you plan to speak, but do give students an outline of the key
terms or concepts. As youre speaking, draw visual representations on the board to show
relationships. It sometimes seems that preparing these visual aids in advance adds to your teaching
time, but in reality this preparation prevents misunderstandings that can take more time to clarify.
Teaching Multilingual Students: An Overview for Course Instructors and TAs
3. Encourage all students to use effective reading strategies. Many students benefit from a brief
preview of a text or its key terms. Point out the larger structure of the reading, focusing on
headings, definitions of terms, and important moves in the argument. Students often get lost in the
details. If a multilingual student asks you for advice about getting through the reading, encourage
him/her not to look up every word but to manage the available time so as to reach the end.
Reassure the student that reading speed and comprehension improve with time, etc. You can often
best help someone learn a language simply by providing encouragement.
4. Try to give students the opportunity to write frequently and not necessarily for a grade. You
can devise exercises that involve responding briefly to a critical question or summarizing the
readingshort pieces that you can go around and read/comment on as part of the session.
Alternatively, students can share what theyve written with a small group. All students benefit from
having to express themselves like this, even if you dont collect or mark the papers. (You could
also collect them and check them off as a participation mark, or just use a simple rubric as a
response). Exercises like these may also alert you to students who should be advised to take their
longer assignments to their Writing Centre for further targeted instruction on specific aspects of
writing: see www.writing.utoronto.ca/writing-centres.
5. If your course has a policy allowing students to show you a rough draft of a longer paper,
encourage them to do so. Do not spend a great deal of time on a rough draft; look carefully at the
first 2-3 paragraphs, which will tell you whether the student has understood the assignment and has
some sense of the necessary structure. Tell them the purpose of the meeting is simply to determine
whether theyre on the right track. If theyre not, give an explanation but do not start actually
helping them revise the paper. If there are serious language errors, circle just some examples. For
more individualized instruction in language use, students can visit their writing centre. Writing
centres do not edit the entire paper, but can be asked to provide instruction in specific elements
of organization, development, grammar, sentence structure, diction, etc. Keep your own
discussions with students focused on how effectively theyve communicated course concepts
6. Refer students who are having difficulty reading, writing, or speaking to the network of
support for English Language Learners. Undergraduate students in Arts and Science can
participate in the Reading eWriting project online or the Communication Cafes, which are drop-in
sessions focusing on academic English. Similar programs are available in other divisions
(including one for graduate students): see www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/english-as-a-secondlanguage. (These programs dont provide individual consultation on papers, thoughthats the
mandate of the writing centres.)
7. Remember that educational backgrounds vary widely. A student may not understand a reading
or an assignment for cultural reasons (i.e. a lack of background knowledge, or a variance in
assumptions). Many educational systems do not emphasize critical thinking, so this may be a new
skill for some of your students. In tutorials, it is helpful if you model the kind of analysis you want
students to do and give them a chance to practice it orally before they have to write. Remember
that many students are coming to English as a third or fourth language, which is harder for many
people than a second language.
8. Students are more likely to speak in smaller groups. To maximize participation, you can divide
your class into smaller groups of 2-6 students, depending on the task, and have them discuss an
issue with each other. One person can be designated to report back to the class as a whole. Youll
be amazed at how many more people will speak if you use this method.
9. Model effective English. Make sure your own expression is very clear and precise, both orally and
in writing. Use large, clear handwriting on papers and on the board.
10. If you receive a paper that would fail due to language issues, consider giving the student a
second chance. (TAs should follow course policy on this issue.) Particularly at the beginning of
their studies, students may not be aware of the resources available to them or the gap between their
level and the universitys expectations. It can be difficult and time-consuming for you to mark a
paper that is disorganized and contains many errors. If course policy permits, you may be able to
tell the student that a paper is not acceptable and that he/she must turn in a revised version after
working with an instructor at a writing centre.
11. If you see plagiarism, remain cool and objective. Your student may indeed have taken the work
of another student or copied an essay from the Internet. However, most plagiarism cases are not as
clear-cut as these. Many of our multilingual students come from educational backgrounds that have
not provided instruction in how to use research sources according to a North American protocol.
These students have no sense of the concept of ownership that we attach to published sources
and have often learned English through memorizing texts. Try to prevent plagiarism by letting
students know that proper referencing is essential. For further advice and explanation, refer them to
relevant files on the Writing at U of T website (www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources),
and the group workshops and individual instruction offered by their writing centres. For an
enlightening discussion of plagiarism and multilingual students, see Belcher and Hirvelas Linking
Literacies: Perspectives on L2 Reading-Writing Connections.
12. In your marking, it may be helpful to make a distinction between errors that obscure
meaning and those that simply distract the reader. You dont need to apologize for the fact that
English is the language of instruction at U of T and that students must write very well in English in
order to get an A. However, you can also mark holistically, taking into account the degree of
depth, complexity, and sophistication in the analysis; overall organization; and use of research.
Sometimes these attributes may outweigh language errors to the point where you feel justified in
giving a good mark. Even if a paper deserves a low mark for serious language errors, it is
validating for the student if you respond to the ideas in the paper and acknowledge the attempt to
communicate. In any case, you can simply circle or underline errors rather than correcting them or
rewriting sections of the paper; this saves time and is often just as helpful in the long run.
Useful Links:
The Faculty section of the website Writing at the University of Toronto at www.writing.utoronto.ca/faculty
contains many other valuable advice files on aspects of teaching writing, including assignment design and
commenting on student work. See the ELL tab in that section for more detailed advice files on specific issues
around reading and grading, including one on helping students with reading comprehension.
The Resources for Students section of the ELL website at www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/undergraduate/ell offers
downloadable student handouts outlining specific strategies for listening, reading, and interpreting texts and
visuals. Undergraduates in Arts and Science can also find information about the ELL summer course,
Communication Cafs, and online Reading e-Writing activities.
All students can consult the page www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/english-as-second-language for annotated lists of
other campus programs (including longstanding ones at UTSC, SGS and the Centre for International Experience)
and links to relevant books and online learning activities.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Prepared 2012 by Leora Freedman, English Language Learning Coordinator, Faculty of Arts and Science,
for the Faculty section of the website Writing at the University of Toronto: www.writing.utoronto.ca.
THESIS AND GRANT PROPOSALS: SOME ADVICE
Process (how to do it)

Look closely at departmental specifications (about timing, scope, length, readers).
Ask other graduate students in your department about their experiences; find a way
to look at past proposals.
Try out your ideas as widely as possible, especially with your supervisor and
committee members (informal discussions, drafts, preliminary meetings,
presentations at colloquia, etc.).
Dont procrastinate: delay just isolates you from sources of help.
Function (what its for)

Show why your research idea is interesting within the field: discuss what others have
done and not done.
Show that you can carry it out: sketch your methodology.
Limit your promises: exclude texts, topics, methods that you wont use (and say
why) as well as outlining those you will use.
Remember that your thesis proposal is a document to be filed, not a publication of
results.
Rhetoric (how it gets through)

Start with why your idea is worth doing (contribution to field), then fill in how
Show confidence and eagerness (use I and active verbs, concise style, positive
phrasing).
A Note on Grant Proposals

Graduate students are often asked to write grant proposals, sometimes along with their thesis
proposals, and they also find themselves part of teams writing proposals for funding to support
their lab activities. Compared to a thesis proposal, a grant proposal typically contains more detail
about practical matters such as resources, budget, and timelines. It may need a section on how
you will monitor and evaluate the results of your research. Use the advice above (including the
recommendation to gain the reader's interest early), within the constraints of length and format
guidelines. When writing as part of a team, work out individual responsibilities before starting.
Take extra care to ensure that all parts of the document are included, correctly formatted, and
consistent with each other.
You will find useful information about grant and doctoral proposals at the websites for
Canadian granting agencies. For direct links to the main ones, start from the page on Finding
Funding at www.library.utoronto.ca/rir/funding/f_finding.html Note the agencies emphasis on
public perception of research projects, and thus on the need to be clear about your purpose.
Other sources of advice

A number of books in campus libraries give advice about graduate writing, including proposalwriting. Here is a selection: Eileen Nickerson, The Dissertation Handbook: A Guide to
Successful Dissertation; Maeve OConnor, Writing Successfully in Science; George Watson,
Writing a Thesis: A Guide to Long Essays and Dissertations
For relevant online advice, visit the Advice page of the Writing at U of T website and browse
through the list of files to find some that deal with your specific challenges, including
Writing a Literature Review, The Abstract, Wordiness: Danger Signals and How to React,
and How Not to Plagiarize (how to integrate your references).
For specific advice on writing grant proposals, see the helpfully annotated list of online advice
files set out by the University of Wisconsin at www.researchguides.library.wisc.edu. One
recommendation is the site of Joseph Levine, Michigan State University, at
www.learnerassociates.net/proposal. The page on Finding Funding at
www.library.utoronto.ca/rir/funding/f_finding.html makes your task easier by listing contact
information, deadlines and announcements, and linking to agencies, databases and forms.
Several writing centres at U of T offer direct instruction on writing grant proposals. The Office
of English Language and Writing Support (ELWS) at SGS offers courses and workshops
that will be relevant to your task: for details, see www.sgs.utoronto.ca/english/. That page
will also show you how to make an appointment for a consultant to look at your document
with you as material for an on-the-spot writing lesson. Students in Dentistry, Exercise
Science, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work also have access to the Health Sciences
Writing Centre for individual consultations: book online through www.hswriting.ca.
Students at OISE may work with peer tutors at the Academic and Cultural Support Centre,
part of Student Services on the fifth floor: see
www.oise.utoronto.ca/studentservices/supportServices/academicWritingCentre.php
N.B. For live links, use the online version of this handout at
www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/help-for-graduate-students/academic-proposals
USING THESIS STATEMENTS

When you are asked to write an essay that creates an argument, your reader will expect a
clear statement of your position. Typically, this summary statement comes in the first
paragraph of the essay, though there is no rigid rule about position. Here are some
characteristics of good thesis statements, with samples of useful and inadequate ones. Note
that the better examples substitute specific argumentative points for sweeping general
statements; they indicate a theoretical basis and promise substantial support. (See Myths
About Thesis Statements [over] for a discussion of times not to organize your writing around
thesis statements.)
1.
It makes a definite and limited assertion that needs to be explained and

supported by further discussion.
trite, irrelevant
Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright.
intriguing
The last scene in Midsummer Night's Dream adds a political

dimension to the comedy ending by incorporating subtle linguistic
and theatrical references to Elizabeth's position as queen.
2.
It shows the emphasis of your argument and indicates its methodology.
emotional, vague
This essay will show that the North American Free Trade agreement
was a disaster for the Canadian furniture industry.
worth attention
Neither neo-protectionism nor post-industrial theory explains the

steep reversal of fortune for the Canadian furniture industry in the
period 1988-1994. Data on productivity, profits, and employment,
however, can be closely correlated with provisions of the North
American Free Trade Agreement that took effect in the same period.
3.
It shows awareness of difficulties and disagreements.
sweeping, vague
Having an official policy on euthanasia just causes problems, as the

Dutch example shows.
suitably complex
Dutch laws on euthanasia have been praised for their use of the
principle of self-determination. Recent cases, however, show that
these laws have not been able to deal adequately with issues
involving technological intervention on unconscious patients.
Hamarckian theory is needed to enlarge the framework used in
creating the Dutch law. It provides one way to examine the key
question of how to assign rights.
N.B. See over for a discussion of faulty ideas about thesis statements.
Myths about Thesis Statements

and some better ideas
Every paper requires one.
Assignments that ask you to write personal responses or to explore a subject don't want you
to prejudge the issues. Essays of literary interpretation often want you to be aware of many
effects rather than seeming to box yourself into one view of the text.
A thesis statement must come at the end of the first paragraph.
This is a natural position for a statement of focus, but it's not the only one. Some theses can
be stated in the opening sentences of an essay; others need a paragraph or two of
introduction; others can't be fully formulated until the end.
A thesis statement must be one sentence in length.
Clear writing is more important than rules like these. Use two or three sentences if you need
them. A complex argument may require a whole tightly-knit paragraph to make its initial
statement of position.
You can't start writing an essay until you have a perfect thesis statement.
It's usually a good idea to draft a hypothesis or tentative thesis statement near the start of a
big project, but changing and refining a thesis is a main task of thinking your way through
your ideas as you write a paper. Some projects need to explore the question in depth without
being locked in too early. Think in terms of a possible answer to your question, not a rigid
commitment. Then go back and reformulate your introduction once you see how far you get.
A thesis statement must give three points of support.
It should indicate that the essay will explain and give evidence for its assertion, but points of
evidence don't need to come in any specific number. It's also important to consider the range
of possible perspectives (including their pros and cons), not just to gather support for one
view.

Using Articles
What are articles?

Articles are special modifiers that appear before nouns or noun phrases. Like other
adjectives, they help clarify the meaning of the noun in your sentence. There are only two
articles in the English language: the and a (and its variant an, used before a word that starts with
a vowel sound). A noun may also appear without an article in front of it. If you are a native
speaker, you will probably know which article to place in front of a noun without having to think
about it. If, however, English is your second language, knowing which article to use where can
be difficult. Learning and consciously applying a few basic principles can help you improve your
article use significantly. With time and a lot of practice, using articles correctly will become
second nature.
Where exactly do articles go?

Articles belong in front of all other modifiers preceding a noun:
a large urban university
the first female college principal
There are other special modifiers called determiners or markers that may appear in front of
a noun phrase. Do not use an article if you also intend to use any of the following markers
directly before the noun: this, that, these, those, my, his, her, your, our, their, its, any, either,
each, every, many, few, several, some, all.
A useful set of rules for using articles

You can determine which article to place in front of almost any noun by answering the
following three questions: Is the noun countable or uncountable? Is it singular or plural? Is it
definite or indefinite?
(1) A noun is countable if you can have more than one instance of it. The word exam is
countable because you can have, say, four exams scheduled at the end of the year. The word
concentration, however, is uncountable, because it would not make sense to speak of having four
concentrations, even though you will need a lot of concentration to study for all four exams.
Many words have both countable and uncountable meanings, depending on the sentence.
(2) Knowing whether the particular use of a noun is singular or plural is quite
straightforward. Just ask the question, Am I referring to more than one instance of something?
(3) A noun is definite when it is clear to your reader which specific instance or instances of
an entity you are referring to; otherwise it is indefinite. Often the first use of a noun is indefinite
and subsequent uses are definite.
When I started university, I had a phobia about exams. I conquered the phobia by writing lots of them.
Here, the first sentence establishes for the reader the existence of the writers former phobia. By
the second sentence, the reader knows exactly which phobia the writer is talking aboutthe one
about exams just referred to in the previous sentence. The first use of a noun can be definite if
the reader can figure out from context or some other clue just which instance of an entity the
writer is referring to.
The point of my professors exams was to make sure we understood the course material.
Note that the prepositional phrase following point narrows down its meaning to something very
specific, while the course material can refer only to the material in this particular professors
course. Both nouns are therefore definite.
Once you have answered all three questions, you can use the following chart to help you
choose the correct article. (The symbol means no article.)
countable
singular
plural
definite
the
indefinite
a, an
e.g. I need to study hardest for the exam

that I write next Wednesday.
e.g. I have an exam to write this afternoon,

and then my summer holiday finally begins.
the
e.g. The exams that I wrote last year were

much easier.
e.g. Exams are an inescapable fact of life for

most university students.
uncountable
singular
definite
the
e.g. The importance of studying hard cannot
be exaggerated.
indefinite
e.g. Do not attach importance to

memorizing facts.
Observe the following: If the noun is definite, it always takes the article the; if the noun is
indefinite it never takes the article the. If you dont have the chart in front of you, you can still
often get the article right just by remembering that simple rule of thumb.
Using articles to refer to classes of objects

Nouns can refer to an entire group of similar objects, sometimes called a class. There are
three ways to refer to a class: using (1) the definite singular, (2) the indefinite singular, or (3) the
indefinite plural. Here is an example of each:
(1)
(2)
(3)
The lion is a majestic animal.

A lion is a majestic animal.
Lions are majestic animals.
All three sentences convey the same meaning with slightly different emphasis. The first
sentence takes one lion as a representative of all lions and then makes its assertion about that
representative. The second sentence in effect states, take any lion you like from the class of all
lions, and what you say about it will be true of all other lions. The third sentence directly makes
its assertion about all lions. This third usage is probably the most common. Choose whichever
usage sounds best in your sentence.
Using articles in front of proper nouns

The rules in the chart do not work in all situations. In particular, they are not much help in
the case of proper nouns. Most proper nouns, however, are governed by simple rules. For
example, do not place an article in front of the names of people.
Stephen Harper is the twenty-second prime minister of Canada.
Most countries, like Canada in the sentence above, do not take articles. Here are two noteworthy
exceptions: the United States, and the United Kingdom. Rivers, mountain ranges, seas, and
oceans should be preceded by the article the: the Amazon River, the Rocky Mountains, the Ural
Sea, the Pacific Ocean. Lakes, on the other hand, dont usually take an article: Lake Louise, Lake
Ontario.
Prepared by Jerry Plotnick, Director of the University College Writing Centre.
Acknowledgements to Marjatta Holt for her chart on article use.
Using Topic Sentences

What is a topic sentence?
A topic sentence states the main point of a paragraph: it serves as a mini-thesis for the
paragraph. You might think of it as a signpost for your readersor a headline
something that alerts them to the most important, interpretive points in your essay. When
read in sequence, your essays topic sentences will provide a sketch of the essays
argument. Thus topics sentences help protect your readers from confusion by guiding
them through the argument. But topic sentences can also help you to improve your essay
by making it easier for you to recognize gaps or weaknesses in your argument.
Where do topic sentences go?

Topic sentences usually appear at the very beginning of paragraphs. In the following
example from Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye establishes the figure of the tragic
hero as someone more than human, but less than divine. He backs up his claim with
examples of characters from literature, religion and mythology whose tragic stature is a
function of their ability to mediate between their fellow human beings and a power that
transcends the merely human:
The tragic hero is typically on top of the wheel of fortune, half-way
between human society on the ground and the something greater in the sky.
Prometheus, Adam, and Christ hang between heaven and earth, between a
world of paradisal freedom and a world of bondage. Tragic heroes are so
much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the
inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to
be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be
instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning: Miltons Samson
destroys the Philistine temple with himself, and Hamlet nearly
exterminates the Danish court in his own fall.
The structure of Fryes paragraph is simple yet powerful: the topic sentence makes an
abstract point, and the rest of the paragraph elaborates on that point using concrete
examples as evidence.
Does a topic sentence have to be at the beginning of a paragraph?

No, though this is usually the most logical place for it. Sometimes a transitional
sentence or two will come before a topic sentence:
We found in comedy that the term bomolochos or buffoon need not be
restricted to farce, but could be extended to cover comic characters who
are primarily entertainers, with the function of increasing or focusing
the comic mood. The corresponding contrasting type is the suppliant, the
character, often female, who presents a picture of unmitigated
helplessness and destitution. Such a figure is pathetic, and pathos,
though it seems a gentler and more relaxed mood than tragedy, is even more
terrifying. Its basis is the exclusion of an individual from the group;
hence it attacks the deepest fear in ourselves that we possessa fear
much deeper than the relatively cosy and sociable bogey of hell. In the
suppliant pity and terror are brought to the highest possible pitch of
intensity, and the awful consequences of rejecting the suppliant for all
concerned is a central theme of Greek tragedy.
The context for this passage is an extended discussion of the characteristics of tragedy. In
this paragraph, Frye begins by drawing a parallel between the figure of the buffoon in
comedy and that of the suppliant in tragedy. His discussion of the buffoon occurred in a
earlier section of the chapter, a section devoted to comedy. The first sentence of the
current paragraph is transitional: it prepares the way for the topic sentence. The delayed
topic sentence contributes to the coherence of Fryes discussion by drawing an explicit
connection between key ideas in the book. In essays, the connection is usually between
the last paragraph and the current one.
Sometimes writers save a topic sentence for the end of a paragraph. You may, for
example, occasionally find that giving away your point at the beginning of a paragraph
does not allow you to build your argument toward an effective climax.
How do I come up with a topic sentence? And what makes a good one?
Ask yourself whats going on in your paragraph. Why have you chosen to include the
information you have? Why is the paragraph important in the context of your argument?
What point are you trying to make?
Relating your topic sentences to your thesis can help strengthen the coherence of
your essay. If you include a thesis statement in your introduction, then think of
incorporating a keyword from that statement into the topic sentence. But you need not be
overly explicit when you echo the thesis statement. Better to be subtle rather than heavyhanded. Do not forget that your topic sentence should do more than just establish a
connection between your paragraph and your thesis. Use a topic sentence to show how
your paragraph contributes to the development of your argument by moving it that one
extra step forward. If your topic sentence merely restates your thesis, then either your
paragraph is redundant or your topic sentence needs to be reformulated. If several of your
topic sentences restate your thesis, even if they do so in different words, then your essay
is probably repetitive.
Does every paragraph need one?

No, but most do. Sometimes a paragraph helps to develop the same point as in the
previous paragraph, and so a new topic sentence would be redundant. And sometimes the
evidence in your paragraph makes your point so effectively that your topic sentence can
remain implicit. But if you are in doubt, its best to use one.
Prepared by Jenny Hall and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre.
UNBIASED LANGUAGE
Recent social changes have made people think about the ways language sometimes deals
disrespectfully with certain groups of people. Common sense and some specific strategies can
help you avoid suggesting putdowns where you don't intend themwithout twisting your style
into knots.
Avoiding He and She: Many standard wordings seem to assume that every individual is male.
It's clumsy to repeat he and she, him and her, his and hers every time you need a pronoun. The
grouping he/she is awkward to say. Fortunately, finding alternatives can be as simple as using
plural rather than singular, or simply bypassing any pronoun.
SEEMS TO EXCLUDE WOMEN
Man is a tool-building animal.
INCLUSIVE
Humans are tool-building animals.
Every artist has learned from those who

came before him.
came before him or her.
Every artist has learned from previous
artists.
INCLUSIVE BUT AWKWARD

INCLUSIVE
Dated Quotations: Historical or literary texts don't always follow these principles. You may
feel they are distasteful, but accusing them of bias isn't usually worthwhile. In academic writing,
do so only if you are sure the original meaning was distorted. Usually you can paraphrase and
comment to show your interpretation of the idea you want to cite:
OBTRUSIVE
MORE SUBTLE
Pope probably meant more than the male population when he said, "The
proper study of mankind [sic] is man [sic]."
Pope affirmed the need for human self-awareness when he said, "The
proper study of mankind is man."
Confusing the Group and the Individual: Many academic disciplines focus on group
behaviour and can describe it precisely. Don't get stuck in the habit, though, of referring to
people only as representatives of categories. That's especially important if you're writing about
(and perhaps to) individual clients or patients or students.
Avoid using adjectives as collective nouns: females, natives, gays, Asians, the blind, etc.
Nouns like women or blind people are easy substitutes in most cases.
Terminology can reflect important distinctions. That's the justification for terms like
hearing-impaired or partially sighted. (A hearing-impaired person has partial hearing,
while a profoundly deaf person has none or almost none.)
On the same principle, consider whether you can give more specific information. How
much sight, and what kind, does the person have? Was Gandhi just Asian, or would be it be
more useful to specify what part of India he came from, and from what caste? In a
marketing analysis, too, data about people's behaviour tells you more than stereotypes do.
Some terms have outlived their usefulness. Again, it's more precise as well as more
considerate, to note that a person has a specific syndrome rather than saying he's a dwarf or
mentally retarded. Racial terms notoriously change fashion: black has gone in and out of
favour, for instance, and native or aboriginal are preferred to Indian. As in the case of gay,
the criterion should be what people in a specific group want to be called. Again, any
adjective used as a noun (a black, a diabetic) seems to reduce people to one characteristic.
Gendered Labels: Terms that label people simply on the basis of their sex have often gathered
negative overtones. They can readily be avoided:
Feminine forms of words such as poetess or woman doctor are certainly outdated, since
they suggest that a woman in the role of poet or doctor is not the real thing. That's the
trouble with policewoman and chairwoman too. You can nearly always replace such terms
with a non-gendered form: poet, doctor, police officer, chair.
Titles like Mr., Mrs., and the recently invented Ms. are less and less used orally in most
parts of North America, and their function in writing is small. They are still expected in the
salutations of formal letters such as applications (Dear Ms. Lee), but are seldom necessary
in less formal communications such as email or internal memos, where first names are
standard (Dear Leila; Hi, Jim). It's also acceptable to say Dear Chris Singh or TO: Chris
Singh and bypass the question of gender.
In academic writing, such titles and the honorifics Professor and Doctor are almost never
used except on cover pages. Use only last names when you refer to your sources, even if
the authors are eminent authorities. When your writing concentrates on a specific figure,
you may want to give the full name on first mention, then revert to last name only: Emily
Dickinson was thoroughly familiar with popular musical forms of her day. . . . In using the
ballad stanza, however, Dickinson varies the meter for her own artistic purposes.
Further References
American Psychological Association. APA Publication Manual, 6th ed., Chapter 3.
Miller, Casey and Kate Swift. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing.
Modern Language Association, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed., sections
1.10 and 3.4.2.
Ontario Ministry of Citizenship. Word Choices: A Lexicon of Preferred Terms for Disability
Issues.

Over 50 other files giving advice on university writing are available at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice
Using Gerunds and Infinitives

______________________________________________________________________________
Gerunds and infinitives are verb forms that can take the place of a noun in a sentence. The
following guidelines and lists will help you figure out whether a gerund or infinitive is needed.
1.
Following a verb (gerund or infinitive)
Both gerunds and infinitives can replace a noun as the object of a verb. Whether you use a
gerund or an infinitive depends on the main verb in the sentence. Consult the lists below to find
out which form to use following which verbs.
I expect to have the report done by Friday.
I anticipate having the report done by Friday.
[INFINITIVE]
[GERUND]
Some common verbs followed by a gerund

(note that phrasal verbs, marked here with *, always fall into this category):
acknowledge
* accuse of
admit
advise
anticipate
appreciate
avoid
complete
consider
defer
delay
deny
discuss
entail
* look after
* insist on
involve
justify
mention
* plan on
postpone
recall
resent
recommend
resist
risk
sanction
suggest
* take care of
tolerate
She acknowledged receiving assistance.

He was accused of smuggling contraband goods.
They admitted falsifying the data.
The author advises undertaking further study.
He anticipates having trouble with his supervisor.
I appreciated having a chance to read your draft.
He avoided answering my question.
I finally completed writing my thesis.
They will consider granting you money.
She deferred writing her report.
We delayed reporting the results until we were sure.
They denied copying the information.
They discussed running the experiments again.
This review procedure entails repeating the test.
He will look after mailing the tickets.
He insisted on proofreading the article again.
This procedure involves testing each sample twice.
My results justify taking drastic action.
The author mentions seeing this event.
They had planned on attending the conference.
The committee has postponed writing the report.
I cannot recall getting those results before.
He resented spending so much time on the project.
She recommends reading Marx.
The writer resists giving any easy answers.
She risks losing her viewing time.
They will not sanction copying without permission.
I suggest repeating the experiment.
He will take care of sending it to you.
She cant tolerate waiting for results.
Some common verbs followed by an infinitive:

afford
agree
appear
arrange
beg
care
claim
consent
decide
demand
deserve
expect
fail
hesitate
hope
learn
manage
neglect
need
offer
plan
prepare
pretend
promise
refuse
seem
struggle
swear
threaten
volunteer
wait
want
wish
2.
We cannot afford to hesitate.

The professors agreed to disagree.
The results appear to support your theory.
They had arranged to meet at noon.
I beg to differ with you.
Would you care to respond?
She claims to have new data.
Will you consent to run for office?
When did he decide to withdraw?
I demand to see the results of the survey.
She deserves to have a fair hearing.
The committee expects to decide by tomorrow.
The trial failed to confirm his hypothesis.
I hesitate to try the experiment again.
What do you hope to accomplish?
We have learned to proceed with caution.
How did she manage to find the solution?
The author neglected to provide an index.
Do we need to find new subjects?
We could offer to change the time of the meeting.
They had planned to attend the conference.
He was not prepared to give a lecture.
I do not pretend to know the answer.
They promise to demonstrate the new equipment.
She refused to cooperate any longer.
Something seems to be wrong with your design.
We struggled to understand her point of view.
He swears to tell the truth.
The team threatened to stop their research.
Will you volunteer to lead the group?
We could not wait to hear the outcome.
She did not want to go first.
Do you wish to participate?
Following a preposition (gerund only)
Gerunds can follow a preposition; infinitives cannot.

Can you touch your toes without bending your knees?
He was fined for driving over the speed limit.
She got the money by selling the car.
A corkscrew is a tool for taking corks out of bottles.
Note: Take care not to confuse the preposition to with an infinitive form, or with an auxiliary
form such as have to, used to, going to.
He went back to writing his paper.
I used to live in Mexico.
I want to go home.
[PREPOSITION + GERUND]
[AUXILIARY + VERB]
[VERB + INFINITIVE]
3. Following an indirect object (infinitive only)

Some verbs are followed by a pronoun or noun referring to a person, and then an infinitive.
Gerunds cannot be used in this position.
Some common verbs followed by an indirect object plus an infinitive:
ask
beg
cause
challenge
convince
encourage
expect
forbid
force
hire
instruct
invite
need
order
persuade
remind
require
teach
tell
urge
want
warn
I must ask you to reconsider your statement.

They begged her to stay for another term.
His findings caused him to investigate further.
Wilkins challenged Watson to continue the research.
Can we convince them to fund our study?
She encouraged him to look beyond the obvious.
They did not expect us to win an award.
The author forbade me to change his wording.
They cannot force her to reveal her sources.
Did the department hire him to teach the new course?
I will instruct her to prepare a handout.
We invite you to attend the ceremony.
They need her to show the slides.
He ordered the group to leave the building.
Can we persuade you to contribute again?
Please remind him to check the references.
They will require you to submit an outline.
We should teach them to follow standard procedures.
Did she tell him to make three copies?
I urge you to read the instructions before you begin.
I do not want you to have an accident.
Why didnt they warn me to turn down the heat?
Prepared for use at the University of Toronto by Martine Johnson, International Student Centre,
and revised 2004 by Rebecca Smollett.
Verbs for Referring to Sources

You can indicate your attitude to the sources you cite by choosing specific verbs to refer to them.
Don't just keep repeating Smith says. There is a wide choice of such verbs in English. Use a
dictionary to check that you have chosen a verb with the nuance you intend.
Here are some grammatical patterns to follow in using these verbs:
Pattern 1:
reporting verb + that + subject + verb
acknowledge
admit
agree
allege
argue
assert
assume
believe
claim
conclude
consider
decide
demonstrate
deny
determine
discover
doubt
emphasize
explain
find
hypothesize
imply
indicate
infer
note
object
observe
point out
prove
reveal
say
show
state
suggest
think
(a) Da Souza argues that previous researchers have misinterpreted the data.
(b) Researchers have demonstrated that the procedure is harmful.
(c) Positivists find that social disorders are exacerbated by class factors.
(d) Singh infers that both states are essential.
Note that these verbs all differ in meaningthey cannot be used interchangeably. For example,
the verb argue in sample sentence (a) indicates your judgement that the authors conclusion is
based on evidence and reasoning, but that other conclusions might be possible. The verb
demonstrate in sentence (b) indicates your judgement that the researchers evidence and
reasoning are so convincing that no other conclusion is possible.
Beware of using the verbs discuss or express followed by that. For example, it is incorrect to
write, The reviewer expressed that the movie is not worth seeing. You can, however, write the
following: The reviewer expressed the view that the movie is not worth seeing.
N.B.: Verbs in this category may also appear in a subordinate clause beginning with As:
(e) As Da Souza argues, misinterpretations by previous researchers need to be corrected.
(f) As researchers have demonstrated, the procedure is harmful.
Pattern 2:
reporting verb + somebody/something + for + noun/gerund
applaud
blame
censure
criticize
disparage
fault
praise
ridicule
single out
thank
(a) Smith criticized Jones for his use of incomplete data (OR for using incomplete data).
(b) Both Smith and Jones condemn previous researchers for distorting the data.
(c) Banting thanked Best for his contribution to the discovery of insulin.
Pattern 3:
reporting verb + somebody/something + as + noun/gerund/adjective
appraise
assess
characterize
class
define
depict
describe
evaluate
interpret
portray
present
refer
(a) Jones describes the findings as resting on irrefutable evidence.
(b) Smith identifies the open window as a source of contamination.
(c) Smith and Jones both present their data as conclusive.
classify
identify
view

by Martine Johnson, International Student Centre,
and revised in 2004 by Rebecca Smollett, Margaret Procter, and Jerry Plotnick.
WORDINESS: DANGER SIGNALS and Ways to React

One of the most efficient ways to improve your writing is to edit it for conciseness. You may
have been struggling to think ideas through as you wroteand piled up alternative wordings. Or
you may have fallen into the habit of using more words than necessary just to use up space. If
you can let your original draft "cool down" a while, you will find it easer to recognize
unnecessary words and edit them out. Your reader will thank you! Here are some common
patterns of wordiness, with sensible things to do about them.
Doubling of Words (INSTEAD, choose one):

e.g.,
mutual agreement (agreement)

consensus of opinion (consensus)
whether or not (whether)
future prospects (prospects)

reconsider again (reconsider)
inadvertent error (error)
Intensifiers, Qualifiers (INSTEAD, omit or give specific details):

e.g.,
very
extremely
a considerable amount of
really
definitely
to a certain extent
Formulaic Phrases (INSTEAD, use a one-word form or omit):

e.g.,
for the purpose of (to)

at this point in time (now)
with regard to (about)
as the case may be (---)
due to the fact that (because)

in the near future (soon)
in view of the fact that (because)
Basically, . . . (---)
Catch-all Terms (INSTEAD, omit wherever possible):

e.g.,
aspect
case
fact
factor
feature
field
kind
matter
nature
problem
quality
situation
sort
thing
type
WEAK
A surprising aspect of most labour negotiations is their friendly quality.
IMPROVED Most labour negotiations are surprisingly friendly.
WEAK
The fact of the war had the effect of causing many changes.
IMPROVED The war caused many changes. Specifically . . .
Padded Verbs (INSTEAD, use a one-word form):

e.g.
to have an expectation, hope, wish, understanding, etc.

(to expect, hope, wish understand, etc.)
to make an arrangement, plan, decision, inquiry, acquisition, etc.
(to arrange, plan, decide, inquire, acquire, etc.)
Unnecessary "to be" and "being" (INSTEAD, omit):

WEAK
The program is considered to be effective.
IMPROVED The book is considered effective OR The program is effective.
WEAK
because of the terrain being rough
IMPROVED because of the rough terrain
Passive Verbs (INSTEAD, use active voice, preferably with a personal subject):
WEAK
It is felt that an exercise program should be attempted by this patient before any
surgery is performed.
IMPROVED The patient should attempt an exercise program before surgery.
IMPROVED I recommend that the patient attempt an exercise program before surgery.
IMPROVED Mr. Lee, please do these exercises every day for six weeks to strengthen your leg
muscles before we try any more surgery.
WEAK
The bevelling jig is said by most users to be faulty.
IMPROVED Most users say the bevelling jig is faulty.
Overuse of Relative Structures ("Who," "Which," "That") (INSTEAD, omit):

WEAK
The novel, which is entitled Ulysses, takes place . . .
IMPROVED The novel Ulysses takes place . . .
WEAK
It was Confucius who said . . .
IMPROVED Confucius said . . .
WEAK
I think that X is the case. . .
IMPROVED X is the case, as this evidence shows: . . .
WEAK
There is a tendency among many writers who may be seen to display certain
signs of lack of confidence that their sentences will be overloaded with relative
clauses and other words which are generally useless in function.
IMPROVED Many hesitant writers overload their sentences with relative clauses and other
useless words.

Writers Block
Writing is never a smooth process, and most successful writing proceeds in fits and starts.
Writers block refers to those greater-than-ordinary blockages. It occurs when a writer feels truly
stuck and unable to write. There are many possible causes, including anxiety, stress, or a simple
lack of understanding of the material. Below are some common causes of writers block, with
some potential solutions. Do not forget that if you have access to a writing centre, probably the
best way to work through writers block is to meet with a writing centre instructor.
Are you having trouble understanding the assignment? You can gain a better understanding
of the assignment through a combination of outside help and self-help:
1. When the instructor gives out an assignment, ask questions about anything that you find
new or confusing. If you have questions, chances are that other students do too.
2. Most assignments use keywords that will help you figure out what you are expected to
do. Look for keywords and phrases such as analyse, discuss, argue, compare, and
provide evidence.
Have you done enough research? If you dont know what to write about, you may need to do
more research or review the research you have already done:
1. Go to the library and speak with a librarian about finding materials on your topic and
specific to the discipline.
2. Go back and reread key passages from your research materials. After reading, make notes
on key ideas or potential pieces of evidence. Write in your own words so that you engage
more fully with the material. Be sure to jot down any of your own ideas as well.
Have you done too much research? Sometimes if youve done a lot of reading on a particular
subject, beginning to write can be overwhelming. See if either of the following two strategies
helps focus your thinking:
1. Come up with a narrow research question that you can reasonably answer within the
assigned word count. This question should help you discard materials that are beyond the
scope of the paper.
2. Put the notes aside and ask yourself, what are the essential points to make about the
topic? When you gather a lot of notes, you can easily become lost in all of the detail.
Do you have a topic? In many of your courses, you must narrow down a topic or even create
your own. This challenging task can make getting started tricky. Try these suggestions:
1. Be sure that you have a specific topic. If you try to write on a topic that is too general or
too vague, you will probably struggle.
2. Use course materials to help you generate or refine your topic. Reread lecture notes or
readings in areas that you find interesting or that relate to the assigned topic. Look at the
bibliographies of course readings to help you discover possible research directions.
3. Talk about your ideas. Have a conversation with a friend or another student in your class.
Speak with your instructor about how to proceed with any thoughts you might already
have for the assignment. Make an appointment at your writing centre. Sometimes
discussing your ideas with another person can help you to clarify them.
4. Try a mind-mapping exercise. Take a piece of paper and write down your topic, or idea
for a topic, in the centre of the page. In the surrounding space, write down any related
ideas from class materials and research. Now, look at this mind map and take note of any
interesting connections. Cross out any unrelated areas. Use the mind map to help create
an essay outline or a research plan.
Have you written a paper in this genre before? It can be hard to get started on a piece of
writing when its in an unfamiliar genre or discipline. For example, if youre used to writing lab
reports, you might not know how to get started on a thesis-driven essay. To solve this problem,
find out the conventions for this type of writing in this particular discipline:
5. Check the course and department websites for examples or explanations.
6. Seek guidance from your professor or TA.
7. Look for handbooks and guides on how to write in specific disciplines.
Are you worried about sounding smart enough? Its normal to have trouble expressing your
ideas in the early drafts of a paper. Here are tips to avoid paralyzing yourself unnecessarily:
8. Dont try to use unfamiliar words to sound smart, and dont convince yourself that your
readers want you to do so. Focus on getting your ideas down simply and clearly.
9. Just get something down on the page! Try a free-writing exercise. Open up a new Word
document and turn off your computer screen. Set a timer for five minutes. Start writing
about whatever comes into your mind on the topic. Dont worry about spelling, grammar,
or punctuation, and dont stop writing. After five minutes, look at what youve written.
Ignore grammar or spelling problems. Instead, look for any important or recurring ideas.
10. Leave plenty of time for revising and editing. Once you have your ideas formulated in a
draft, you can work on combining some of your simple sentences into more complex
ones. You can also improve your word choice and, if necessary, make the overall tone
more formal or academic by eliminating inappropriate colloquialisms and relying on key
terms in your discipline.
Do you find introductions difficult to write? Even very experienced writers often find the
introduction to be the hardest part of a paper. The best remedies relieve the pressure of having to
come up with the ideal introduction before moving on to the body:
11. Write the introduction last. This approach may sound radical, but once youve written
your paper, you will have a better sense of exactly what you need to introduce. Most of
us were taught to write a paper from beginning to end, but research shows that many
people dont think most effectively this way. Dont be afraid to start writing with what
you know, even if it is something that you plan to deal with in a body paragraph. A
writing plan, outline, or focus statement is still a good idea, but you dont need to write
the introduction first.
12. Write the introduction quickly. If you find it impossible to write the paper unless the
earliest draft begins with an introduction, then write one just to get going. But dont
waste time on it or expect it to be perfect. Come back to it after you have completed the
body, and then rewrite it.
Is outside stress distracting you from your academic work? Everybody has a life outside
school, and sometimes outside responsibilities and stress can prevent you from focusing on
writing. Learning new study habits can make a big difference:
13. Try time-management strategies that allow you to set aside separate time for school work
and for other obligations. When you are writing, work somewhere quiet where you
cannot be interrupted, turn off your cell phone, and stay off email and the Internet.
14. Take a break. If you are exhausted, youre unlikely to be productive. Take a nap, go for a
walk, or have a snack. Often time away from an essay allows you to gain perspective or
generate fresh ideas.
Prepared by Sabine LeBel, University College Writing Centre.
Other handouts from UC are available online at www.uc.utoronto.ca/handouts
WRITING CENTRES: How We Work and How to Work with Us

Writing centres at the University of Toronto provide individual consultations with trained writing instructors,
along with group teaching in workshops and courses. Theres no charge for any of this instructionit's
part of your academic program. The mandate of writing centres is to help you develop writing skills as you
progress through your studies. All the undergraduate colleges have writing centres for their students, and so
do most professional faculties and the School of Graduate Studies (see the list on the back of this sheet). Here
are some guidelines on how to take advantage of the specialized instruction available in your writing centre.
ACCESS: Group workshops are usually open to all students: watch for announcements online at
www.writing.utoronto.ca/news. For individual instruction, you are entitled to make use of the writing
centre in the college where you are registered or the writing centre in your professional or graduate faculty.
You may also take work in most college program courses (e.g., the ones prefixed INI, NEW, TRN, UNI, VIC,
or WDW) to the writing centre of the college that offers the program. Each writing centre has its own policy
on how often you may have an individual appointment; usually the limit is once a week.
APPOINTMENTS: It's wise to book appointments for individual sessions well ahead of time, especially for
a session in the last few weeks of term, but occasionally there are last-minute openings. The online booking
system keeps a waiting list, then contacts everybody on it when an appointment becomes available. It's up to
you to log in and secure the appointment for yourself. Please be sure to keep your appointments, or at least
give ample notice if you must cancel one. Writing centres can't afford to let appointments go unused and will
remove access for students who miss appointments.
WHAT WE DO: Writing centres are teaching facilities staffed by trained instructors. We give group
instruction to help you find strategies for common writing problems, and we work individually with you, using
your course assignments in any subject at any level, to help you develop your capacity to plan, organize, write,
and revise academic papers.
Our group instruction presents advice on common questions and concerns. You may find us giving a talk
or a workshop as part of your courses. Some writing centres offer free non-credit courses that give more
extended coverage and offer a chance to practise and receive feedback. Ask at your writing centre to find
a session suited to your needs, and see the webpage www.writing.utoronto.ca/news for
announcements about current programming.
In individual counselling sessions, instructors ask about your plans and discuss them with you to help you
understand your topic and clarify your ideas. We do not design research strategies or provide ideas.
Instructors will help you develop your own skills in revising and editing, and will help you identify
patterns of language errors and work to overcome them. But don't ask us to do your proofreading for
you!
It's usually most effective to focus on work in progress, but we will look at past work on request.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US HELP YOU: A little forethought and lots of followup can help
instructors and students work together efficiently. Here are some pointers.
Bring in your assignment sheet and other course material to help define what is expected.
Come to the writing centre at any stage of work on an assignment, but be sure to leave plenty of time
afterwards to make thorough revisions on your own.
You will profit from your appointments the most if you come back regularly to work on a sequence of
skills in a variety of assignments.
Instructors may refer you to group sessions and to other services and resources in the university, and may
suggest that you consult handbooks about writing or do exercises to practise specific skills. Expect to do
lots of independent work between sessions.
WRITING CENTRES: Contact Information

See over for an explanation of what writing centres do and which one you may use. The box below
lists the various writing centres and their locations. To find more information about your writing
centre and its range of activities, use the links at www.writing.utoronto.ca/writing-centres.
All writing centres except the ones annotated with * below use a shared online booking system for
making appointments. The booking system will confirm the writing centre you are entitled to use,
and will take you through the steps of booking an appointment or joining a waiting list. Start from
https://awc2.wdw.utoronto.ca/awc-login and use your UTORid to log on.
COLLEGE WRITING CENTRES

Innis College Writing Centre, Innis College Room 322
New College Writing Centre, Wilson Hall Rooms 2045 and 2047
St. Michael's College Writing Centre, Kelly Library Rooms 230 and 231
Trinity College Writing Centre, Larkin Building Room 302
University College Writing Centre, Laidlaw Library Rooms 214, 216, and 218
Victoria College Writing Centre, Northrop Frye Hall Rooms 103 A and B
Woodsworth College Academic Writing Centre, Room 214
DEPARTMENTAL WRITING CENTRES

Philosophy Department Essay Clinic: * Book appointments at 416-978-3314
MISSISSAUGA AND SCARBOROUGH WRITING CENTRES

U of T Mississauga, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, Hazel McCallion Academic
Learning Centre Room 390K
U of T Scarborough Writing Centre, Academic Resource Centre Room AC210
* Book appointments online through the UTSC Intranet: start from ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/main
PROFESSIONAL FACULTY WRITING CENTRES

Architecture Writing Program, 230 College Street Room 221C
* Book appointments at 416 978-2586
Engineering Communication Centre, Sandford Fleming Room B670
Health Sciences Writing Centre (for Dentistry, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Nursing,
Pharmacy, Social Work), various locations
OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC), 252 Bloor St West, Room 8-202
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES WRITING CENTRE

English Language and Writing Support, 63 St. George Street, Room 308
For more information about writing centres and writing courses, and for online files of advice about university writing,
visit the website "Writing at the University of Toronto" at www.writing.utoronto.ca
Writing in the Sciences

The basic principles of good writing apply just as well to the sciences as they do to the humanities
and the social sciences. A science paper should be written in a clear and concise style, its
paragraphs should be coherent, and its ideas should be well organized. This handout focuses on
the features of science writing that distinguish it from other, non-scientific genres. Since some of
these features may vary from subject to subject, it focuses on those principles and conventions that
are common to most areas of science. Understanding how the distinctive features of science
writing reflect the activities and goals of science will help you become a more proficient writer of
scientific prose.
Audience
All writers should be aware of their audience. But science writers need to pay particularly close
attention to audience because readers of science-related writing can have very different levels of
knowledge. The key question to ask is always, Am I writing for fellow scientists or for a general
audience? What your readers know or do not know will have a significant effect on both
substance and style.
Titles
Titles in humanities and social science papers are, as a rule, sentence fragments. In science papers
they can be either fragments or full sentences, though usually they are fragments:
The risk of lymphoma development in autoimmune diseases: a meta-analysis
A full-sentence title is good at highlighting one central result:

Brain natriuretic peptide is a potentially useful screening tool for the detection of cardiovascular disease
in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
As this example illustrates, titles in the sciences can be long. Do your best to make sure that every
word counts. Be concrete, but avoid excessive detail.
Some titles are framed as questions, which can succinctly identify just what the authors aim to
discover:
Are there schizophrenics for whom drugs may be unnecessary or contraindicated?
Headings
If you write a humanities essay in university, you will not be encouraged to use headings. The
opposite will be true of your science papers. Headings emphasize the systematic nature of
scientific enquiry. They also provide an excellent organizational tool, often relieving you of the
need to create smooth transitions between the main parts of your paper. Take advantage of them!
In some scientific genres, the sections and heading names are predetermined. For example,
scientific studies as well as lab reports are typically divided into the following sections: Abstract,
Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion. The list may vary slightly according to the discipline,
the course, or the journal. For complicated experiments, you may subdivide sections into
subsections, each with its own subheading.
Headings are not always obligatory. In a shorter paper, they may sometimes prove more of a
hindrance than a help. Use them only if you find that they actually help you to better organize the
material.
Jargon
The word jargon generally refers to language that is unrecognizable to most people, either because
it is deliberately obscure and needlessly difficult, or because it forms part of the technical
terminology common to a discipline. The first type of jargon should be avoided whatever
discipline you are writing in. It can sound pretentious, and it obscures meaning. The second type
of jargon does not carry the same negative connotation. In the sciences, and sometimes in other
disciplines as well, this technical language can be indispensable. Consider the following passage
from a fourth-year geology paper on competing theories about the extinction of the dinosaurs:
The cretaceous period was a time of great change for land plants. It is thought to have seen the origin
of the angiosperms, which exploded in diversity and prominence through the period. It was also a
period which saw large numbers of extinctions. These are extremely well documented in the fossil
record of marine organisms, and less so for land plants. At or near the end of the cretaceous period,
groups such as dinosaurs, belemnites, rudist bivalves, ammonites, and many others went extinct.
The intended audience for this paper consists of fellow geologists. The writer can thus count on
her readers to know what each of the technical terms means. She does not use jargon here to make
her writing sound sophisticated; outside of the scientific terms, the language is simple. The main
function of such jargon is compression. The dictionary definition of each of these terms is two or
three lines long. If the paper had provided definitions, it would have been considerably longer, and
the flow of the argument would have suffered.
Science writing commonly relies on a further form of compression: replacing frequently used
terms consisting of more than one word with an abbreviation, typically formed from the terms
initial letters. The convention is to specify the abbreviation in parentheses immediately after the
first use of the term:
The incidence of acute otitis media (AOM), one of the most common diagnoses among children,
appears to be increasing. Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NAMCS) indicate
that the number of office visits for otitis media increased more than twofold from 1975 to 1990.
Although the NAMCS does not differentiate between AOM and otitis media with effusion, the majority of
these cases are believed to represent AOM. (Pediatrics 108:239)
If you are writing about science for non-scientists, you can still rely on jargon to achieve
compression, but you should at least let your reader know what any uncommon term means the
first time around. Try to avoid abbreviations, however, unless they are commonly used (e.g.,
AIDS for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Sometimes you may think jargon is necessary in your science writing when it is not. Rather
than achieving concision, such jargon will usually make your prose long-winded and even
impenetrable. Is there any good reason for a sentence like the following?
Members of the medical establishment are not presently cognizant of efficacious treatments resulting in
the complete elimination of symptomatology in acute viral nasopharyngitis.
Why not simply say this?

There is no known cure for the common cold.
Always ask if there is a simpler, more transparent way of making a point.

At the same time, train yourself to read critically the language in published scientific work. If
some of the sentences leave you confused, then the science may be intrinsically difficult, the
writing may be weak, the ideas themselves may be confused, or the writer may be trying to gloss
over something. Unraveling an unclear sentence can sometimes provide important insight into the
problems with someone elses argument. Moreover, developing your critical reading skills will
help you to grow as a writer.
Passive versus Active Voice

In humanities and many social science papers, students should try to use active voice whenever
possible. But historically the sciences have encouraged the use of passive voice. Theres a reason
for this tradition. Passive voice helps emphasize the objectivity of the sciences:
The element radon was discovered in 1900.
This stress on objectivity makes especially good sense in the context of a lab report: after all, the
experiment is not about you but about what you did.
Nevertheless, in the past several years there has been a movement in the sciences away from
the passive voice. One reason for this is a philosophical shift in our thinking about science: we are
more ready to acknowledge the role of the observer or investigator in the shaping of knowledge. In
fact, many journals editors have responded to a growing demand for greater transparency in
science by requiring that published scientific papers clearly identify the role and the source of
funding of each contributor. Active voice does a much better job of emphasizing agencythe idea
that every action has an actor. The other good reason behind this growing preference for active
voice is stylistic: often passive voice is simply more awkward, less direct, and less clear.
Learn some simple sentence patterns that will help your writing benefit fully from the
directness of active voice. For example, refer to figures, tables, and equations at the beginning of
the sentence rather than at the end.
Figure 1 illustrates the quadratic relationship between distance and velocity.
Do the same with words and phrases such as results, studies, and evidence:
Experimental evidence shows that the typical dose-response curve has an inverted J-shape.
If you are referring to a technique or procedure, you can also achieve greater directness by making
it the subject of your sentence:
PCR analysis produced clones of the toxin B DNA originally isolated in cultures of C. difficile from
hospital patients.
And even though your course instructor may dissuade you from using I or we, do not shy
away from placing other scientists in the subject position:
Peto provided a detailed description of the logrank test in his 1977 article on the use of survival
analysis in long-term randomized trials.
Note that even the use of the first-person pronouns, I and we, is becoming more acceptable in
scientific discourse, though generally still not as acceptable as active voice. Course instructors,
TAs, and journal editors can all take very different positions on this question. The only way to be
sure is to ask. When I or we is not allowed, the passive voice is sometimes unavoidable.
Even in disciplines where both active voice and first-person pronouns are acceptable, the rules
may be different for lab reports, at least for the Methods section. Some lab instructors insist firmly
on passive voice (in past tense) throughout that section: in other words, they do not accept any
active constructions, even if you avoid using I and we. But the rules have loosened up
considerably outside of the academy. Several journals now permit first-person active constructions
even in the Methods section, and a few courses have followed suit. If youre writing a lab report
and youre not sure of the rules, consult your lab manual or your TA. Whatever the rules for your
course, be careful to comply with them. But remember that such rules usually apply only to the
Methods section. Dont let the habits you cultivate for that specific part of a lab report hamper you
unnecessarily in the rest of your science writing.
Tense
The two most common tenses in science papers are present and past. Future and present perfect
rank a distant third and fourth.
Use present tense when you are making assertions about nature or about concepts:
Turtles are bigger than beetles.
Use past tense when you are describing what you or someone else did or asserted:
Darwin observed the difference in adaptability between turtles and beetles.
Use future tense when you lay out your plan in a proposal:
In my final project, I will compare survival strategies in turtles and beetles.
Note that the use of first-person singular is often appropriate in a proposal.

Use present perfect when you are describing what you have done repeatedly in the past
continuing up to the present:
Over the past several months I have collected data on turtles and beetles.
Observe that we can mix tenses in a single sentence, and indeed we often need to:
Darwin observed that beetles are more adaptable than turtles.
The use of past tense in describing someone elses work is one key difference between science
and the humanities. In the humanities, when we are describing what a writer, an artist, or a scholar
asserted, we think of ourselves as engaging in a conversation that takes place in the eternal
present:
Shakespeare compares the poets lover to a summers day.
The one exception would be when the emphasis is on history, in which case the past tense is called
for:
Shakespeare wrote many of his tragedies during a period of great political instability.
The sciences see the contribution of any individual as adding progressively to an ordered sequence
of investigations. The past tense helps convey a sense of this temporal progression.
References
Science courses rely increasingly on the citation-sequence system of referencing. The details may
differ slightly depending on your discipline, but generally you list references on a separate page at
the end of the paper in numerical sequence according to the order in which sources are cited in the
paper, rather than in alphabetical order. In the body, you insert the reference number in the
appropriate place (within parentheses or as a superscript), repeating a previous number if you have
already cited the same source earlier. The citation-sequence system minimizes clutter and allows
readers to find references quickly.
Some science courses rely on the name-year system. Like the APA system commonly used in
the social sciences, this system lists sources alphabetically and places a greater emphasis on dates
than the citation-sequence and the MLA systems do. Though less streamlined than the citationsequence system, the name-year system offers two advantages: it produces more easily searchable
and therefore more useful reference lists, and it lets the reader know in the body of the paper when
studies were performed.
Check with your TA or your course handbook to find out what your course requires.
The St. George Campus College Writing Centres, in collaboration with University of Toronto Libraries, the Arts and Science
Students Union (ASSU), and the Academic Success Centre are offering this campus-wide series of academic skills workshops
to the Universitys entire student body. All workshops are free and there is no need to pre-register. Come for one, or come for all!
Writing in the Disciplines: In-depth workshops

on specialized assignments.
50-minute workshops,Tuesday afternoons

Location TBD
60-minute workshops, Saturday morning

Woodsworth College, Room 120
m
So
Essay Writing from Start to Finish: Improve your

writingimprove your GPA! Find out how in these
step-by-step workshops.
Understanding the Assignment
4:10
Oct 18
Finding & Reading Scholarly Sources Sep 16
4:10
Oral Presentations
Oct 18
10:45
Developing Your Thesis
4:10
Critiques and Literature Reviews
Oct 18
12:00
4:10
Oct 7
4:10
ot
Oct 14
4:10
60-minute workshops, Saturday mornings

Sep 20 or Jan 17
to
9:30
Finding & Reading Scholarly Sources Sep 20 or Jan 17 10:45
Developing your Thesis
Exam Prep Essentials: Learn to study efficiently and

effectively, and take your exams with confidence!
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ou
: nn
al a
fin be
ns
io
Revising Your Essay
Sep 30
at
Using Sources
Sep 23
9:30
Organizing Your Essay
c
lo
Sep 9
Sep 20 or Jan 17 12:00
Sep 27 or Jan 24
9:30
Using Sources
Sep 27 or Jan 24 10:45
Revizing Your Essay
Sep 27 or Jan 24 12:00

Writing Through Stress
Nov 1
9:30
Preparing for Multiple Choice Exams Nov 1
10:45
Preparing for Essay Exams
12:00
Nov 1
Admissions Letters and Personal Statements:

Applying to Medicine, Law, or another professional
or graduate program? Heres how to present your
strengths to advantage.
Essential Skills: Take control of your U of T

experience by mastering these fundamentals
of student success.

ed
2-hour workshops, various times

TBD
9:30
Date TBA
Time TBA
Sep 13
10:45
Date TBA
Time TBA
Sep 13
12:00
Date TBA
Time TBA
Survival Skills
Sep 13
Critical Reading and Thinking

Note-Taking
Making Your Sentences Flow
Oct 4
9:30
Writing Well Under Pressure
Oct 4
10:45
Memory and Concentration
Oct 4
12:00
THE BOOK REVIEW OR ARTICLE CRITIQUE: GENERAL GUIDELINES

A review (or critique) of a book or article is not primarily a summary. Rather, it analyses,
comments on and evaluates the work. As a course assignment, it situates the work in the light of
specific issues and theoretical concerns being discussed in the course. Your review should show
that you can recognize arguments and engage in critical thinking about the course content. Keep
questions like these in mind as you read, make notes, and then write the review or critique
1.
What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have?
For what readership is it written? (Look in the preface, acknowledgements, reference list and
index for clues about where and how the piece was originally published, and about the
author's background and position.)
2.
Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What
are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements
in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)
3.
What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general
problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?
4.
What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material,
personal observations, literary analysis, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?
5.
How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the
overall argumentative structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific
passages to describe the author's presentation, including writing style and tone.)
6.
Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the author show
awareness of them? In what respects does the author agree or disagree with them?
7.
What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise?
8.
What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?
Browse in published scholarly book reviews to get a sense of the ways reviews function in
intellectual discourse. Look at journals in your discipline or general publications such as
University of Toronto Quarterly, London Review of Books, or New York Review of Books
(online atwww.nybooks.com/archives/ ).
Some book reviews summarize the book's content briefly and then evaluate it; others
integrate these functions, commenting on the book and using summary only to give
examples. Choose the method that seems most suitable according to your professor's
directions.
To keep your focus, remind yourself that your assignment is primarily to discuss the book's
treatment of its topic, not the topic itself. Your key sentences should therefore say "This
book shows...the author argues" rather than "This happened...this is the case."

USING THE COMPUTER TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING

You already know that the computer lets you easily type in text, shift it around, and make small
changes. It can also help in other ways if you know its capacitiesand its limitations. Here are some
simple and practical tips on making the most of the computer to draft and revise your work. Use the
Help key in your word-processing program to learn more about the functions mentioned here.
Composing
If you use word processing only for typing final drafts, you may be surprised how much power you
gain by doing all your writing on the computer.
1. You don't have to create clean or fully developed text the first time. Try jotting down your ideas as they
come, without looking up spelling or other details. Just make a note or insert XXXX or //// or a lot of space
in the text to mark places to return. Use the highlight button from the bar at the top to show passages that
need more work. Create a full draft quicklythen go back and strengthen it.
2. Try doing brainstorming on screen. Write anything that comes to mind about your topic, then see what you
have said. It's encouraging to scroll through your results later and find worthwhile bits to develop. For real
writer's block, turn off the screen lighting and type in what occurs to you on a darkened screen: you'll
probably be surprised at how much sense the seemingly random sequences make. It's like talking out loud.
3. Outlining is easier on computer. Even a simple list of points to cover helps get you started. You can use
Enter and Tab to set up an initial structure. If you like to work from a full outline, try the built-in outliner to
type in your initial ideas in an indented and numbered sequence. (In the old and new versions of Word, it's
Bullets and Numbering, Outline Numbered, or Multilevel List.) With any type of outline you can fill in
as much as you want in each session of writing.
4. A simple idea: don't double-space your text until you're ready to print it out. You need to see as many lines
as possible on screen to get a sense of the flow of your work.
5. Save time by using short forms in your first draft. Then use the Search or Find function (Ctrl-f is the
standard shortcut key) to insert full wordings. For instance, you can type sov while you're writing your draft,
and then replace it with sovereignty-association when you're ready to print. (But confirm each replacement.)
Revising
Word processing comes into its own with the real work of good writingcutting, arranging, and rewriting. Get
to know what your computer can and can't do to support you.
6. Don't be deceived by the orderly look of text on the screen. Print out your paper several times in order to
look at it as a wholenot just 24 lines at a time. Read it through critically, comparing sections and checking
overall flow and logic.
7. This kind of checking may make you want to restructure your essay completely. Luckily, the computer
makes that easy with its cut-and-paste functions (Ctrl-x and Ctrl-v). If you're uncertain about where a
section should go, try copying it and looking at it in both places; then you can choose which position you
prefer.
8. Keep all your drafts in case you want to go back to an earlier version. Use the Save As function from the File
menu to rename the drafts in sequence (that's easier than navigating the automatic Versions option in Word).
Later you can open multiple windows to see two or more drafts at once.
9. It's worthwhileespecially for group workto learn the Comment (or New Comment) command from the
Insert menu. You can write notes to yourself (or your co-writer) that show up behind highlighted passages
but don't change the layout of the text. The Track Changes function in Word automatically uses different
coloured font to show suggested changes in wording. It's easy to accept or reject specific changes later.
10. To go quickly to a specific passage in your draft, use the Search or Find function of any word processor
(Ctrl-f). Type in a word or two you remember using and ask the computer to find them. It's much quicker
than scrolling through.
11. The computer can help you a lot with documentation of your sources. Footnotes or endnotes take only a few
keystrokes from the Insert or References menu. Parenthetical references are easy to check and complete.
The first time you enter a parenthetical reference, type out the full publication information at the end of the
document to form a rough Reference list. You can format and alphabetize these entries later by using the
Sort function; just highlight that portion of the text.
12. Be sure to use the spellchecker (Tools or Review, Spell Check) as a final touch to your editing. It can catch
typos as well as spelling errors. Set the Language to Canadian English rather than US or British English to
avoid wondering whether it's labour or labor. Don't accept all the suggestions a spellchecker makes. It won't
recognize personal names or technical terms. And you will definitely still need to proofread for sense. If you
are writing about research on lungs, you don't want to find that your document talks about lunch instead. And
the computer can't tell you that you've mistyped form when you meant from, much less that you've misused
principle for principal.
13. So don't throw out your print or online dictionary. You will have to look up the words that spellcheckers
don't recognize; and of course you will need it to check meaning and usage. Using the computer Thesaurus
is generally NOT advisable for academic writing. It supplies words in the same general grouping as the ones
you highlight, but pays no attention to meaning or sense. If you do use it, at least be sure not to use a
suggested word if you aren't sure of its meaning.
14. The grammar checkers built into word processors may help you overcome bad habits such as overusing
jargon or the passive voice, but only if you already know how to come up with alternatives. Don't count on
these programs, however, to clear up problems with sentence structure or word choice. They catch only a
few kinds of grammar errors, and they often flag good sentences mistakenly. If you do use a grammar
checker, study the options and the onscreen comments. You might learn something, or you might just see
how badly the program has read your sentence. Find the Options button and select only the features that are
useful and understandable. WARNING: Don't accept the check "as-you-go" features (turn them off under
Tools, Spelling and Grammar or Review, Spelling and Grammar, Options in Word). The red or green
lines bouncing up as you type are distracting, and at least half their flags are wrong.
15. You can do your own style checking by making the most of the simple Find function (Ctrl-f). For instance,
if you know you tend to overuse or misuse a certain word or phrase, let Find call up each instance and then
look at it in context to see if another word would be better. This can even work with types of words: try
searching for ion or met (type a space after those letters) to notice how many abstract words you have used
ending in those letters. Even looking at each use of and, but, or which can show up some habits of sentence
structuring. Use your judgement about what to change.
16. If you hit a tough passage to revise, give yourself lots of screen space to try out new versions. Do a hardpage return (Ctrl-Enter) and use the rest of the screen to play around with your ideas. It can sometimes help
to make a list or other visual structureuse Enter and Tab as much as you like until you see the essential
shape of your ideas. Revise, then delete the Enters and Tabs to get back your text.

The Comparative Essay

What is a comparative essay?
A comparative essay asks that you compare at least two (possibly more) items. These items will
differ depending on the assignment. You might be asked to compare
positions on an issue (e.g., responses to midwifery in Canada and the United States)
theories (e.g., capitalism and communism)
figures (e.g., GDP in the United States and Britain)
texts (e.g., Shakespeares Hamlet and Macbeth)
events (e.g., the Great Depression and the global financial crisis of 20089)
Although the assignment may say compare, the assumption is that you will consider both the
similarities and differences; in other words, you will compare and contrast.
Make sure you know the basis for comparison

The assignment sheet may say exactly what you need to compare, or it may ask you to come up
with a basis for comparison yourself.
Provided by the essay question: The essay question may ask that you consider the figure of the
gentleman in Charles Dickenss Great Expectations and Anne Bronts The Tenant of Wildfell
Hall. The basis for comparison will be the figure of the gentleman.
Developed by you: The question may simply ask that you compare the two novels. If so, you
will need to develop a basis for comparison, that is, a theme, concern, or device common to both
works from which you can draw similarities and differences.
Develop a list of similarities and differences

Once you know your basis for comparison, think critically about the similarities and differences
between the items you are comparing, and compile a list of them.
For example, you might decide that in Great Expectations, being a true gentleman is not a
matter of manners or position but morality, whereas in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, being a true
gentleman is not about luxury and self-indulgence but hard work and productivity.
The list you have generated is not yet your outline for the essay, but it should provide you with
enough similarities and differences to construct an initial plan.
Develop a thesis based on the relative weight of similarities and differences

Once you have listed similarities and differences, decide whether the similarities on the whole
outweigh the differences or vice versa. Create a thesis statement that reflects their relative weights.
A more complex thesis will usually include both similarities and differences. Here are examples of
the two main cases:
1. Differences outweigh similarities:
While Callaghans All the Years of Her Life and Mistrys Of White Hairs and Cricket both follow the
conventions of the coming-of-age narrative, Callaghans story adheres more closely to these conventions
by allowing its central protagonist to mature. In Mistrys story, by contrast, no real growth occurs.
2. Similarities outweigh differences:

Although Darwin and Lamarck came to different conclusions about whether acquired traits can be
inherited, they shared the key distinction of recognizing that species evolve over time.
Come up with a structure for your essay

1. Alternating method: Point-by-point pattern
In the alternating method, you find related points common to your central subjects A and B, and
alternate between A and B on the basis of these points (ABABAB ). For instance, a
comparative essay on the French and Russian revolutions might examine how both revolutions
either encouraged or thwarted innovation in terms of new technology, military strategy, and the
administrative system.
A
B
A
B
A
B
Paragraph 1 in body
Paragraph 2 in body
Paragraph 3 in body
Paragraph 4 in body
Paragraph 5 in body
Paragraph 6 in body
new technology and the French Revolution

new technology and the Russian Revolution
military strategy and the French Revolution
military strategy and the Russian Revolution
administrative system and the French Revolution
administrative system and the Russian Revolution
Note that the French and Russian revolutions (A and B) may be dissimilar rather than similar in
the way they affected innovation in any of the three areas of technology, military strategy, and
administration. To use the alternating method, you just need to have something noteworthy to
say about both A and B in each area. Finally, you may certainly include more than three pairs of
alternating points: allow the subject matter to determine the number of points you choose to
develop in the body of your essay.
When do I use the alternating method?
Professors often like the alternating system because it generally does a better job of highlighting
similarities and differences by juxtaposing your points about A and B. It also tends to produce a
more tightly integrated and analytical paper. Consider the alternating method if you are able to
identify clearly related points between A and B. Otherwise, if you attempt to impose the
alternating method, you will probably find it counterproductive.
2. Block method: Subject-by-subject pattern
In the block method (AB), you discuss all of A, then all of B. For example, a comparative essay
using the block method on the French and Russian revolutions would address the French
Revolution in the first half of the essay and the Russian Revolution in the second half. If you
choose the block method, however, do not simply append two disconnected essays to an
introductory thesis. The B block, or second half of your essay, should refer to the A block, or
first half, and make clear points of comparison whenever comparisons are relevant. (Unlike A,
B . . . or Like A, B . . .) This technique will allow for a higher level of critical engagement,
continuity, and cohesion.
How the French Revolution encouraged or thwarted
A Paragraphs 13 in body innovation
How the Russian Revolution encouraged or thwarted
B Paragraphs 46 in body innovation
When do I use the block method?
The block method is particularly useful in the following cases:
You are unable to find points about A and B that are closely related to each other.
Your ideas about B build upon or extend your ideas about A.
You are comparing three or more subjects as opposed to the traditional two.
Prepared by Vikki Visvis and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre
CRITICAL READING TOWARD CRITICAL WRITING

Critical writing depends on critical reading. Most of the essays you write will involve reflection
on written texts -- the thinking and research that have already been done on your subject. In
order to write your own analysis of this subject, you will need to do careful critical reading of
sources and to use them critically to make your own argument. The judgments and
interpretations you make of the texts you read are the first steps towards formulating your own
approach.
CRITICAL READING: WHAT IS IT?
To read critically is to make judgments about how a text is argued. This is a highly reflective
skill requiring you to stand back and gain some distance from the text you are reading. (You
might have to read a text through once to get a basic grasp of content before you launch into an
intensive critical reading.) THE KEY IS THIS:
--
dont read looking only or primarily for information
--
do read looking for ways of thinking about the subject matter
When you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists of
evidence, lists of facts and examples. Avoid approaching a text by asking What information
can I get out of it? Rather ask How does this text work? How is it argued? How is the
evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text reach its
conclusions?
HOW DO I READ LOOKING FOR WAYS OF THINKING?
1. First determine the central claims or purpose of the text (its thesis). A critical reading
attempts to identify and assess how these central claims are developed or argued.
2. Begin to make some judgments about context. What audience is the text written for? Who
is it in dialogue with? (This will probably be other scholars or authors with differing
viewpoints.) In what historical context is it written? All these matters of context can
contribute to your assessment of what is going on in a text.
3.
Distinguish the kinds of reasoning the text employs. What concepts are defined and used?
Does the text appeal to a theory or theories? Is any specific methodology laid out? If there
is an appeal to a particular concept, theory, or method, how is that concept, theory, or
method then used to organize and interpret the data? You might also examine how the text
is organized: how has the author analyzed (broken down) the material? Be aware that
different disciplines (i.e. history, sociology, philosophy, biology) will have different ways
of arguing.
4. Examine the evidence (the supporting facts, examples, etc) the text employs. Supporting
evidence is indispensable to an argument. Having worked through Steps 1-3, you are now
in a position to grasp how the evidence is used to develop the argument and its controlling
claims and concepts. Steps 1-3 allow you to see evidence in its context. Consider the kinds
of evidence that are used. What counts as evidence in this argument? Is the evidence
statistical? literary? historical? etc. From what sources is the evidence taken? Are these
sources primary or secondary?
5. Critical reading may involve evaluation. Your reading of a text is already critical if it
accounts for and makes a series of judgments about how a text is argued. However, some
essays may also require you to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an argument. If the
argument is strong, why? Could it be better or differently supported? Are there gaps, leaps,
or inconsistencies in the argument? Is the method of analysis problematic? Could the
evidence be interpreted differently? Are the conclusions warranted by the evidence
presented? What are the unargued assumptions? Are they problematic? What might an
opposing argument be?
SOME PRACTICAL TIPS:
1. Critical reading occurs after some preliminary processes of reading. Begin by skimming
research materials, especially introductions and conclusions, in order to strategically choose
where to focus your critical efforts.
2. When highlighting a text or taking notes from it, teach yourself to highlight argument: those
places in a text where an author explains her analytical moves, the concepts she uses, how
she uses them, how she arrives at conclusions. Dont let yourself foreground and isolate facts
and examples, no matter how interesting they may be. First, look for the large patterns that
give purpose, order, and meaning to those examples. The opening sentences of paragraphs
can be important to this task.
3. When you begin to think about how you might use a portion of a text in the argument you are
forging in your own paper, try to remain aware of how this portion fits into the whole
argument from which it is taken. Paying attention to context is a fundamental critical move.
4. When you quote directly from a source, use the quotation critically. This means that you
should not substitute the quotation for your own articulation of a point. Rather, introduce the
quotation by laying out the judgments you are making about it, and the reasons why you are
using it. Often a quotation is followed by some further analysis.
5. Critical reading skills are also critical listening skills. In your lectures, listen not only for
information but also for ways of thinking. Your instructor will often explicate and model
ways of thinking appropriate to a discipline.
Prepared by Deborah Knott, Director of the New College Writing Centre

approach.
--
--
conclusions?
3.
of arguing.


general tips:

THE ABSTRACT
Abstracts are important because they give a first impression of the document that follows,
letting readers decide whether they want to continue reading and showing them what to look
for if they do. Though some abstracts only list the contents of the document, the most useful
abstracts tell the reader more. An abstract should represent as much as possible of the
quantitative and qualitative information in the document, and also reflect its reasoning.
Typically, an informative abstract answers these questions in about 100-250 words:
Why did you do this study or project?
What did you do, and how?
What did you find?
What do your findings mean?
If the paper is about a new method or equipment the last two questions might be changed to
What are the advantages (of the method or equipment)?
How well does it work?
Here are some other points to keep in mind about abstracts:
An abstract will nearly always be read along with the title, so do not repeat or rephrase
the title. However, it will likely be read without the rest of the document, so make it
complete enough to stand on its own.
Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose,
methods, and main findings. Emphasize the different points in proportion to the emphasis
they receive in the body of the document.
Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document.
You may want to avoid using I or we, but choose active verbs instead of passive when
possible (the study tested response rates rather than response rates were tested by the
study).
Avoid if possible using trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would
need to explain them, and that takes too much room.
Use the most important terms and concepts from the document. Include the ones that will
attract people to read your piece. (Indexers of published articles mine abstracts for
keywords.)


general tips:

WRITING AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

What is an annotated bibliography?
An annotated bibliography gives an account of the research that has been done on a given topic.
Like any bibliography, an annotated bibliography is an alphabetical list of research sources. In
addition to bibliographic data, an annotated bibliography provides a concise summary of each source
and some assessment of its value or relevance. Depending on your assignment, an annotated
bibliography may be one stage in a larger research project, or it may be an independent project
standing on its own.
Selecting the sources:
The quality and usefulness of your bibliography will depend on your selection of sources.
Define the scope and limits of your research carefully so that you can make good judgments about
what to include and exclude:
What problem am I investigating? What question(s) am I trying to pursue? If your bibliography

is part of a research project, this project will probably be governed by a research question. If
your bibliography is an independent project on a general topic (e.g. aboriginal women and
Canadian law), try formulating your topic as a question or a series of questions in order to define
your search more precisely (e.g. How has Canadian law affecting aboriginal women changed as
a result of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? How have these changes affected aboriginal
women? How have aboriginal women influenced and responded to these legal developments?).
What kind of material am I looking for? (academic books and journal articles? government
reports or policy statements? articles from the popular press? primary historical sources? etc.)
Am I finding essential studies on my topic? (Read footnotes in useful articles carefully to see
what sources they use and why. Keep an eye out for studies that are referred to by several of
your sources.)
Summarizing the argument of a source:

An annotation briefly restates the main argument of a source. An annotation of an academic source,
for example, typically identifies its thesis (or research question, or hypothesis), its major methods of
investigation, and its main conclusions. Keep in mind that identifying the argument of a source is a
different task than describing or listing its contents. Rather than listing contents (Example 1 below),
an annotation should account for why the contents are there (Example 2).
Ex. 1
Only lists
contents

This article discusses recent constitutional legislation as it affects the human
rights of aboriginal women in Canada: the Constitution Act (1982), its amendment in
1983, and amendments to the Indian Act (1985). It also discusses the implications
for aboriginal women of the Supreme Court of Canadas interpretation of the
Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991).
Ex. 2
Identifies
the
argument

This article seeks to define the extent of the civil and political
rights returned to aboriginal women in the Constitution Act (1982),
in its amendment in 1983, and in amendments to the Indian Act
(1985). This legislation reverses prior laws that denied Indian
status to aboriginal women who married non-aboriginal men. On
the basis of the Supreme Court of Canadas interpretation of the
Constitution Act in R. v. Sparrow (1991), McIvor argues that the Act
recognizes fundamental human rights and existing aboriginal rights,
granting to aboriginal women full participation in the aboriginal right
to self-government.
research
question
method &
main
conclusions
The following reading strategies can help you to identify the argument of a source:
Identify the authors thesis (central claim or purpose) or research question. Both the introduction
and the conclusion can help you with this task.
Look for repetition of key terms or ideas, especially those occurring in the thesis. Follow them
through the text and examine what the author does with them.
Notice whether and how a theory is used to interpret evidence. Identify the method used to
investigate the problem/s addressed in the text.
Notice how the text is laid out and organized. What are the main sections? What is
emphasized? Why? Accounting for why will help you move beyond listing contents and toward
accounting for argument. Look also for paragraphs that summarize the argument.
Assessing the relevance and value of a source:

Your annotation should now go on to briefly assess the value of the source to an investigation of
your research question. If your bibliography is part of a research project, briefly identify how you
intend to use the source and why. If your bibliography is an independent project, assess the
source's contribution to the research on your topic. Keep in mind models for assessing arguments in
your course materials and discipline.
Are you interested in the way the source frames its research question or in the way it goes about
answering that question (its method)? Does the source make new connections or open up new
ways of seeing a problem? How effective is the method of investigation? (e.g. bringing the
Sparrow decision concerning aboriginal fishing rights to bear on the scope of womens rights)
Are you interested in the way the source uses a theoretical framework or a key concept? Why
do you find this use valuable? Is it problematic in some ways? (e.g. analysis of existing,
extinguished, and other kinds of rights)
Does the source gather and analyze a particular body of evidence that you want to use? How
good is the evidence? (e.g. the historical development of a body of legislation)
How do the sources conclusions bear on your own investigation?
Written by Deborah Knott, New College Writing Centre. Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. Based on materials
originally developed for the Equity Studies Program, New College.
APPLICATION LETTERS AND RSUMS: SOME PRACTICAL TIPS

Employers say they want to hire people who can communicate well, work independently as well as
in groups, and analyse complex situations. Your letter of application and rsum give you a chance
to demonstrate all of these qualities. Here are some tips on producing documents that will make an
impression on readers:
Keep the reader's interests in mind. Your message is "you need me," not "I want a job."
Know enough about the organization or company to recognize what it wants and needs.
Then the focus of your documents will be where you fit and what you can contribute. This
principle will also determine your choice of emphasis and even your wording (not "I have
had four years experience" but "My experience will help me do X and Y").
Balance facts and claims. Your documents will be boring and meaningless if they're just
bare lists of facts. They will be empty and unbelievable if they're just grand claims about
yourself. Use each of the two or three paragraphs in the body of your letter to make a few
key interpretive statements ("I can sell aggressively"). Back up each one with some
examples. Then make your rsum follow through with further specifications (e.g.
"achieved highest sales figure among 10 employees for first 3 months of 2000").
Write concisely. There's no space available for word-spinning. Prune your style by
following any good writing guide or the U of T online handout "Wordiness: Danger Signals
and Ways to React."
Specific points about application letters

1. Write a letter for each application, tailored for the specific situation. Even if the ad calls only for
a rsum, send a brief letter anyway. The letter makes a first impression, and it can direct the
reader to notice key points of the rsum.
2. Use standard letter format, with internal addresses (spell names correctly!) and salutations. Use
specific names or at least position titles whenever possible (call the company or check its
Website). Avoid the dated "Dear Sir or Madam" and "To whom it may concern." You can use
an Attention line or a Subject line instead of a salutation if you have to.
3. Most application letters for entry-level jobs are one or two pages in length, short enough to take
in quickly but with room for some real substance.
4. Start strong and clear. For an advertised position, name the job and say where you saw the ad.
For a speculative letter, name a specific function you can offer and relate it to something you
know about the organization.
5. Use paragraph structure to lead your reader from one interpretive point to another. Refer to
specific information in terms of examples for the points you're making, and mention that your
rsum gives further evidence.
6. End strongly by requesting an interview. It is now common to say that you will call soon to set a
time. Phrases like "thank you for your time" are unnecessary.
Specific points about rsums to accompany application letters

7. Have more than one on hand, emphasizing different aspects of your qualifications or aims. Then
you can update and revise them quickly when opportunities arise.
8. Make them easy to read by using headings, point form, and lots of white space. Look at a few
current books of advice to see the range of page formats available. Create one that suits your
situation rather than following a standard one rigidly. Beware using a fancy page design from a
software package. Too many others will also use it.
9. The basic choice is between the traditional chronological organization (with the main sections
Education and Experience) and the functional one (where sections name types of experience or
qualities of character). You can get some of the benefits of both by creating a one- or two-line
introductory section called Profile or Objective to sum up your main unifying point. You may
also use Achievement subsections to emphasize your most important qualifications. These may
include a horizontal list of keywords in noun form to serve in electronic scanning for
information.
10. List facts in reverse chronological order, with the most recent ones first. Shorten some lists by
combining related entries (e.g. part-time jobs). In general, omit details of high-school
achievements. You also don't have to include personal details or full information for people
you're listing as references. But don't try to save space by relying on acronyms for programs or
subjects: they aren't always recognizable by readers or electronic searches.
SELECTED REFERENCE MATERIAL ON APPLICATION-WRITING
See the Career Centre library for a selection of current books of advice. Public libraries and
bookstores also stock a great deal of material. Remember, though, that fashions change quickly and
that little of the published material is Canadian. Websites may be of more use, since they are usually
kept updated, and may be closer to your situation.
Books (in U of T libraries and the Career Centre; see also public libraries)
R. Bolles, What Colour is Your Parachute, HF 5382.7 B64 UNIV REF: on analysing your
choices and creating job-search strategies
R. Brusaw et al, eds. The Business Writer's Handbook, HF 5726 B874 UNIV: shows the
conventions of business writing, including letter and rsum format
M. Munschauer, Jobs for English Majors and Other Smart People, HR 5382.7 M86 ERIN REF
Websites to start from
University Career Centres often provide good advice online. The websites from U of T
(www.careers.utoronto.ca/) and Waterloo (www.careerservices.uwaterloo.ca/) are especially
recommended.

THE BOOK REVIEW OR ARTICLE CRITIQUE: GENERAL GUIDELINES

A review (or critique) of a book or article is not primarily a summary. Rather, it analyses,
comments on and evaluates the work. As a course assignment, it situates the work in the light of
specific issues and theoretical concerns being discussed in the course. Your review should show
that you can recognize arguments and engage in critical thinking about the course content. Keep
questions like these in mind as you read, make notes, and then write the review or critique
1.
What is the specific topic of the book or article? What overall purpose does it seem to have?
For what readership is it written? (Look in the preface, acknowledgements, reference list and
index for clues about where and how the piece was originally published, and about the
author's background and position.)
2.
Does the author state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What
are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly? (Again, look for statements
in the preface, etc. and follow them up in the rest of the work.)
3.
What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general
problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?
4.
What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material,
personal observations, literary analysis, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?
5.
How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the
overall argumentative structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific
passages to describe the author's presentation, including writing style and tone.)
6.
Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the author show
awareness of them? In what respects does the author agree or disagree with them?
7.
What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise?
8.
What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?
Browse in published scholarly book reviews to get a sense of the ways reviews function in
intellectual discourse. Look at journals in your discipline or general publications such as
University of Toronto Quarterly, London Review of Books, or New York Review of Books
(online atwww.nybooks.com/archives/ ).
Some book reviews summarize the book's content briefly and then evaluate it; others
integrate these functions, commenting on the book and using summary only to give
examples. Choose the method that seems most suitable according to your professor's
directions.
To keep your focus, remind yourself that your assignment is primarily to discuss the book's
treatment of its topic, not the topic itself. Your key sentences should therefore say "This
book shows...the author argues" rather than "This happened...this is the case."

USING THE COMPUTER TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING

You already know that the computer lets you easily type in text, shift it around, and make small
changes. It can also help in other ways if you know its capacitiesand its limitations. Here are some
simple and practical tips on making the most of the computer to draft and revise your work. Use the
Help key in your word-processing program to learn more about the functions mentioned here.
Composing
If you use word processing only for typing final drafts, you may be surprised how much power you
gain by doing all your writing on the computer.
1. You don't have to create clean or fully developed text the first time. Try jotting down your ideas as they
come, without looking up spelling or other details. Just make a note or insert XXXX or //// or a lot of space
in the text to mark places to return. Use the highlight button from the bar at the top to show passages that
need more work. Create a full draft quicklythen go back and strengthen it.
2. Try doing brainstorming on screen. Write anything that comes to mind about your topic, then see what you
have said. It's encouraging to scroll through your results later and find worthwhile bits to develop. For real
writer's block, turn off the screen lighting and type in what occurs to you on a darkened screen: you'll
probably be surprised at how much sense the seemingly random sequences make. It's like talking out loud.
3. Outlining is easier on computer. Even a simple list of points to cover helps get you started. You can use
Enter and Tab to set up an initial structure. If you like to work from a full outline, try the built-in outliner to
type in your initial ideas in an indented and numbered sequence. (In the old and new versions of Word, it's
Bullets and Numbering, Outline Numbered, or Multilevel List.) With any type of outline you can fill in
as much as you want in each session of writing.
4. A simple idea: don't double-space your text until you're ready to print it out. You need to see as many lines
as possible on screen to get a sense of the flow of your work.
5. Save time by using short forms in your first draft. Then use the Search or Find function (Ctrl-f is the
standard shortcut key) to insert full wordings. For instance, you can type sov while you're writing your draft,
and then replace it with sovereignty-association when you're ready to print. (But confirm each replacement.)
Revising
Word processing comes into its own with the real work of good writingcutting, arranging, and rewriting. Get
to know what your computer can and can't do to support you.
6. Don't be deceived by the orderly look of text on the screen. Print out your paper several times in order to
look at it as a wholenot just 24 lines at a time. Read it through critically, comparing sections and checking
overall flow and logic.
7. This kind of checking may make you want to restructure your essay completely. Luckily, the computer
makes that easy with its cut-and-paste functions (Ctrl-x and Ctrl-v). If you're uncertain about where a
section should go, try copying it and looking at it in both places; then you can choose which position you
prefer.
8. Keep all your drafts in case you want to go back to an earlier version. Use the Save As function from the File
menu to rename the drafts in sequence (that's easier than navigating the automatic Versions option in Word).
Later you can open multiple windows to see two or more drafts at once.
9. It's worthwhileespecially for group workto learn the Comment (or New Comment) command from the
Insert menu. You can write notes to yourself (or your co-writer) that show up behind highlighted passages
but don't change the layout of the text. The Track Changes function in Word automatically uses different
coloured font to show suggested changes in wording. It's easy to accept or reject specific changes later.
10. To go quickly to a specific passage in your draft, use the Search or Find function of any word processor
(Ctrl-f). Type in a word or two you remember using and ask the computer to find them. It's much quicker
than scrolling through.
11. The computer can help you a lot with documentation of your sources. Footnotes or endnotes take only a few
keystrokes from the Insert or References menu. Parenthetical references are easy to check and complete.
The first time you enter a parenthetical reference, type out the full publication information at the end of the
document to form a rough Reference list. You can format and alphabetize these entries later by using the
Sort function; just highlight that portion of the text.
12. Be sure to use the spellchecker (Tools or Review, Spell Check) as a final touch to your editing. It can catch
typos as well as spelling errors. Set the Language to Canadian English rather than US or British English to
avoid wondering whether it's labour or labor. Don't accept all the suggestions a spellchecker makes. It won't
recognize personal names or technical terms. And you will definitely still need to proofread for sense. If you
are writing about research on lungs, you don't want to find that your document talks about lunch instead. And
the computer can't tell you that you've mistyped form when you meant from, much less that you've misused
principle for principal.
13. So don't throw out your print or online dictionary. You will have to look up the words that spellcheckers
don't recognize; and of course you will need it to check meaning and usage. Using the computer Thesaurus
is generally NOT advisable for academic writing. It supplies words in the same general grouping as the ones
you highlight, but pays no attention to meaning or sense. If you do use it, at least be sure not to use a
suggested word if you aren't sure of its meaning.
14. The grammar checkers built into word processors may help you overcome bad habits such as overusing
jargon or the passive voice, but only if you already know how to come up with alternatives. Don't count on
these programs, however, to clear up problems with sentence structure or word choice. They catch only a
few kinds of grammar errors, and they often flag good sentences mistakenly. If you do use a grammar
checker, study the options and the onscreen comments. You might learn something, or you might just see
how badly the program has read your sentence. Find the Options button and select only the features that are
useful and understandable. WARNING: Don't accept the check "as-you-go" features (turn them off under
Tools, Spelling and Grammar or Review, Spelling and Grammar, Options in Word). The red or green
lines bouncing up as you type are distracting, and at least half their flags are wrong.
15. You can do your own style checking by making the most of the simple Find function (Ctrl-f). For instance,
if you know you tend to overuse or misuse a certain word or phrase, let Find call up each instance and then
look at it in context to see if another word would be better. This can even work with types of words: try
searching for ion or met (type a space after those letters) to notice how many abstract words you have used
ending in those letters. Even looking at each use of and, but, or which can show up some habits of sentence
structuring. Use your judgement about what to change.
16. If you hit a tough passage to revise, give yourself lots of screen space to try out new versions. Do a hardpage return (Ctrl-Enter) and use the rest of the screen to play around with your ideas. It can sometimes help
to make a list or other visual structureuse Enter and Tab as much as you like until you see the essential
shape of your ideas. Revise, then delete the Enters and Tabs to get back your text.

The Comparative Essay

What is a comparative essay?
A comparative essay asks that you compare at least two (possibly more) items. These items will
differ depending on the assignment. You might be asked to compare
positions on an issue (e.g., responses to midwifery in Canada and the United States)
theories (e.g., capitalism and communism)
figures (e.g., GDP in the United States and Britain)
texts (e.g., Shakespeares Hamlet and Macbeth)
events (e.g., the Great Depression and the global financial crisis of 20089)
Although the assignment may say compare, the assumption is that you will consider both the
similarities and differences; in other words, you will compare and contrast.
Make sure you know the basis for comparison

The assignment sheet may say exactly what you need to compare, or it may ask you to come up
with a basis for comparison yourself.
Provided by the essay question: The essay question may ask that you consider the figure of the
gentleman in Charles Dickenss Great Expectations and Anne Bronts The Tenant of Wildfell
Hall. The basis for comparison will be the figure of the gentleman.
Developed by you: The question may simply ask that you compare the two novels. If so, you
will need to develop a basis for comparison, that is, a theme, concern, or device common to both
works from which you can draw similarities and differences.
Develop a list of similarities and differences

Once you know your basis for comparison, think critically about the similarities and differences
between the items you are comparing, and compile a list of them.
For example, you might decide that in Great Expectations, being a true gentleman is not a
matter of manners or position but morality, whereas in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, being a true
gentleman is not about luxury and self-indulgence but hard work and productivity.
The list you have generated is not yet your outline for the essay, but it should provide you with
enough similarities and differences to construct an initial plan.
Develop a thesis based on the relative weight of similarities and differences

Once you have listed similarities and differences, decide whether the similarities on the whole
outweigh the differences or vice versa. Create a thesis statement that reflects their relative weights.
A more complex thesis will usually include both similarities and differences. Here are examples of
the two main cases:
1. Differences outweigh similarities:
While Callaghans All the Years of Her Life and Mistrys Of White Hairs and Cricket both follow the
conventions of the coming-of-age narrative, Callaghans story adheres more closely to these conventions
by allowing its central protagonist to mature. In Mistrys story, by contrast, no real growth occurs.
2. Similarities outweigh differences:

Although Darwin and Lamarck came to different conclusions about whether acquired traits can be
inherited, they shared the key distinction of recognizing that species evolve over time.
Come up with a structure for your essay

1. Alternating method: Point-by-point pattern
In the alternating method, you find related points common to your central subjects A and B, and
alternate between A and B on the basis of these points (ABABAB ). For instance, a
comparative essay on the French and Russian revolutions might examine how both revolutions
either encouraged or thwarted innovation in terms of new technology, military strategy, and the
administrative system.
A
B
A
B
A
B
Paragraph 1 in body
Paragraph 2 in body
Paragraph 3 in body
Paragraph 4 in body
Paragraph 5 in body
Paragraph 6 in body
new technology and the French Revolution

new technology and the Russian Revolution
military strategy and the French Revolution
military strategy and the Russian Revolution
administrative system and the French Revolution
administrative system and the Russian Revolution
Note that the French and Russian revolutions (A and B) may be dissimilar rather than similar in
the way they affected innovation in any of the three areas of technology, military strategy, and
administration. To use the alternating method, you just need to have something noteworthy to
say about both A and B in each area. Finally, you may certainly include more than three pairs of
alternating points: allow the subject matter to determine the number of points you choose to
develop in the body of your essay.
When do I use the alternating method?
Professors often like the alternating system because it generally does a better job of highlighting
similarities and differences by juxtaposing your points about A and B. It also tends to produce a
more tightly integrated and analytical paper. Consider the alternating method if you are able to
identify clearly related points between A and B. Otherwise, if you attempt to impose the
alternating method, you will probably find it counterproductive.
2. Block method: Subject-by-subject pattern
In the block method (AB), you discuss all of A, then all of B. For example, a comparative essay
using the block method on the French and Russian revolutions would address the French
Revolution in the first half of the essay and the Russian Revolution in the second half. If you
choose the block method, however, do not simply append two disconnected essays to an
introductory thesis. The B block, or second half of your essay, should refer to the A block, or
first half, and make clear points of comparison whenever comparisons are relevant. (Unlike A,
B . . . or Like A, B . . .) This technique will allow for a higher level of critical engagement,
continuity, and cohesion.
How the French Revolution encouraged or thwarted
A Paragraphs 13 in body innovation
How the Russian Revolution encouraged or thwarted
B Paragraphs 46 in body innovation
When do I use the block method?
The block method is particularly useful in the following cases:
You are unable to find points about A and B that are closely related to each other.
Your ideas about B build upon or extend your ideas about A.
You are comparing three or more subjects as opposed to the traditional two.
Prepared by Vikki Visvis and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre

approach.
--
--
conclusions?
3.
of arguing.

approach.
--
--
conclusions?
3.
of arguing.

approach.
--
--
conclusions?
3.
of arguing.
A SYSTEM FOR DEALING WITH NEW WORDS WHILE READING

You don't need to interrupt your reading to look up every hard word right away in the dictionaryin fact, experts
say it's actually better to guess first. Try these tactics for making an "educated guess." You'll acquire some real
understanding of how words are used rather than just long vocabulary lists and a tattered dictionary.
Previewing new vocabulary words

Before you start to read, skim through the piece rapidly and choose a few new words that crop up repeatedly
maybe from the title or headings. Look them up in the glossary of your textbook (if it has one) or in a dictionary.
Then write out quick definitions that seem to fit. Change them while you read if necessary.
While reading
First, SOUND out words new to you
Use simple phonics to attempt a pronunciation. You might recognize

the word when you hear it. In any case, you are reinforcing your
visual memory with your auditory memory.
Next, examine the STRUCTURE
Look for familiar word parts, and see if you can tell how the prefixes
and suffixes shape the root meaning.
Then look at the CONTEXT
Guess at the word's meaning from the way it is used in the sentence.
You may find a running definition, or see the meaning reflected in a
contrasting idea, or just be able to tell the meaning by the way the
passage continues.
Only then, check the DICTIONARY
If you can't understand the word's meaning after using the above
steps, mark the passage so you can look up the word later. Only if the
word is absolutely essential to the argument of the piece should you
pause and turn to the glossary or a dictionary. (Note that most good
dictionaries now come with CDs so you can load them on your
computer for help with online reading.) Reinforce your understanding
of the word by writing a usable brief definition or synonym in the
margin or as part of your note-taking.
CONFIRM guesses
Its most efficient to leave dictionary use until you have read through
a piece for the first time, guessing and marking-up as you go. When
you stop after a section to make notes, look up the words you marked.
Read the dictionary entry thoroughly: look for derivation, structure,
and examples of usage. See how close your guess was. Write out the
definition in your own words. Then re-read the piece and take notes.
Reinforcing New Vocabulary Words

Make new words part of your active vocabulary, words you can actually use. Keeping a list on note cards helps you
review. This method keeps the words in context. It also calls on your different physical senses so that you learn in
various ways at once. Keep returning to your cards and repeat the steps until you can do the final one with ease.
1. Say the word out loud according to the dictionary pronunciation guide.
2. Write down the word and mark it up to show its inner structure (root word + prefixes, suffixes). Keep
saying it over aloud (at least in your head).
3. On the other side of the card, write down a brief definition. Then copy out the sentence where you saw
the word usedand say it aloud as you write. (Later, add sentences from other readings.)
4. Read over the card periodically. Eventually try writing a sentence of your own using the word. When
you can do this without even looking at the card, you've arrived!
Further Resources for Building Vocabulary Skills

The best way to increase and deepen your general vocabulary is to spend time reading. A newspaper or popular
magazine will do, as long as you read with an active interest in the words that you find. As your "passive"
vocabulary from reading increases, you will begin to be comfortable actually using new words in speech or
writing. You won't need to use them deliberately; they will simply be there when you need them.
Thinking about words and playing with them also increases your sense of control over vocabulary. That's the
principle behind many of the activities in the English Language Development program at UTSC
(www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/eld/vocabulary.html), for instance. Below are some books and newspaper columns
that concentrate on words. Most of the books are available at university libraries, and many can be bought at the
U of T Bookstores. Some of these items are specifically about skills for increasing vocabulary; others are about
words for their own sake. Dictionaries with CD-ROMs are increasingly common, and very handy. Don't ignore
the columns and games: even if you can't at first compete, you can enjoy the spectacle of other people having fun
with wordsand the atmosphere can be contagious.
Dictionaries
Many mid-sized collegiate dictionary now include a CD-ROM, allowing you to look up words instantly and
also browse among synonyms easily. If youre learning English as a new language, dont rely on translation
dictionaries. Instead, invest in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Its CD-ROM includes audio
pronunciations and also shows how words are used in combination.
At the bookstore (or college book sales)

Some books promise to increase your vocabulary in ten days or ten easy steps. Unfortunately, that's impossible.
These books are more realistic, and they are good reading in themselves.
Gyles Brandreth. The Word Book.
Richard Lederer. The Miracle of Language, Crazy Language, etc.
Robert MacNeill. Wordstruck.
Lewis Thomas. Et Cetera.
At the library
Many of the above books and a multitude of others can be found in university libraries. Look around and find
what interests you.
See the LB 2395 shelves for books giving advice on vocabulary skills.
See the PE 1075 shelves for books about the history of the English language.
In popular journalism
Heated discussions of particular word uses are a mainstay of letters to the editor and a recurrent topic for
columnists on almost any topic. Watch for them and see if you agree or disagreeor just feel amused. A number
of regular columns specialize in word uses--often the amusingly illogical aspects of vocabulary.
"It Pays to Enrich your Word Power," regular feature in Reader's Digest: for the online version, start at
www.rd.com and search for the game Word Power
William Safire and others' "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine; also online if you
register at www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/index.html
On the Web
You'll find games, questions-and-answers, arguments, reference works, words-of-the-day, and articles galore on
the Web. Here are two to start and a link to more.
Richard Lederer, Verbivore (articles on words, links): www.verbivore.com/
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day (and other games): www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwod.pl
Vocabulary" links from UTSC: www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~ctl/twc/addresources.htm#vocab
Developing Coherent Paragraphs

______________________________________________________________
Paragraph structures provide a map for your ideas, guiding readers through your reasoning. Keep
this simple set of principles in mind while you write, and use it as a checklist when you're
revising.
Use Topic Sentences

State the central idea of each paragraph explicitly in a topic sentence. That's one way to show
that you have thought through your material.
In academic writing, the topic sentence nearly always works best at the beginning of a paragraph
so that the reader knows what to expect. Don't count on your readers to guess what your
paragraph is going to be about.
NOTE: The first and last paragraphs of an essay are exceptions to this rule. In both instances,
readers already know you're leading up to something, and you can save the topic sentence to
make a strong paragraph ending.
Expand on the Topic Sentences

The body of a paragraph develops and demonstrates what your topic sentences state. Here are
some common patterns:
Explain more fully what you mean, giving definitions or indicating distinctions.
Offer details, examples, or relevant quotations (with your comments).
Follow through a logical sequence, showing the connections among your ideas in a
recognizable pattern such as cause and effect or comparison and contrast.
(To see other strategies for developing paragraphs, follow this link to U of Ottawa's
HyperGrammar. To learn more about topic sentences, see our file on Using Topic Sentences.)
Show Connections
Be sure your intended logic is clear. Often the simplest words do the most to pull together ideas.
Pronouns such as it and they and this keep the focus on the ideas announced at the
beginning of the paragraphas long as they are clearly linked to specific nouns (see the
Purdue University file on pronoun reference).
Deliberate repetition of key words also helps. The paragraph below shows the
interweaving of key nouns and pronouns to emphasize the point that Canadians share an
interest in communication:
It's perhaps not surprising that Marshall McLuhan, the most influential communications expert
of the twentieth century, was a Canadian. As a nation, we have been preoccupied with forging
communication links among a sparse, widespread population. The old Canadian one-dollar bill,
with its line of telephone poles receding to the distant horizon, illustrates this preoccupation.
Year after year we strive to maintain a national radio and television broadcasting system in the
face of foreign competition. We have been aggressive in entering the international high
technology market with our telecommunications equipment.
(from Northey, Impact: A Guide to Business Communication. Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 1993, p. 3.)
Certain specialized linking words can also be powerful tools for pulling ideas together. But
don't just sprinkle them into your sentencesuse them to support your logic. Here are some
examples:
To signal a reinforcement of ideas:
also
for example
in other words
moreover
in addition
more importantly
on the other hand

yet
nevertheless
however
in contrast
in spite of [something]
therefore
finally
accordingly
so [informal]
To signal a change in ideas:

but
instead
although
To signal a conclusion:
thus
in conclusion
Choose Appropriate Paragraph Length

A series of long paragraphs can make prose dense and unpleasant to read. Check any paragraph
that is longer than a page to see if it would work better as two or more paragraphs. Break it at a
logical place (e.g., where your focus shifts), and see whether you need to create new topic
sentences to make the shift clear
Also look for paragraphs only two or three sentences long. They make academic writing seem
disjointed or skimpy. Try combining a few short paragraphs into one, using a single topic
sentence to hold them together.

WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ADMISSIONS LETTER

When you write a letter or personal statement as part of applying for graduate or professional
school, you make your case as much by the way you write as by what you say. Here are some
qualities to aim for.
Be focussed. Take your cue first from the prompts given in the application form; also research the
program widely, looking for hints about its values and identity. What is the main stated question
(e.g., why you will be a good researcher or lawyer, what experience you can bring to the program,
whether you can stand the pressure)? If the prompt is very general (or lacking), choose an overall
point you want to make: that you are a proven achiever, that you thrive on challenges, that you have
something special to contribute to the profession. . . . Don't just write about law or medicine or
anthropology: write about yourself as a lawyer, physician or anthropologist.
Be coherent. Being "together" is a quality of writing as well as of character. A clearly organized
letter can create a picture of a clear-minded and sensible person. You might want to write from an
outline or a diagram of main points. At least check the topic sentences of each paragraph in your
finished piece to see if they make a logical sequence. Ask a tough-minded friend to give her
impression. (See the advice on the other side of this sheet about possible types of organization.)
Be interpretive. You need to make an impression concisely, so don't use your letter just to repeat
the facts set out in other parts of the application. Provide explicit answers for the question that
arises in the mind of any reader looking at a hundred or more similar documents: "So what?" Use
nouns and adjectives that name qualities (outgoing, curiosity, confident) and verbs that show action
(coordinated, investigated, tried). Make an effort to find the exact right words to suit the evidence
you are offering.
Be specific. There's no point making claims unless you can back them up. Refer to the fact lists in
other parts of your application ("as my academic record shows"), but offer enough examples so that
your letter can stand on its own. Say that they are just instances, not your whole proof ("An incident
from last summer is an example...."). The concrete language you use for these specific references
will also balance the generalizing words of your interpretive points.
Be personal. Your letter substitutes for an interview. In effect, the readers have asked you to tell
stories, mention details, expand on facts. So mention things you might not have put into the rest of
the applicationyour ethnic background or political interests, even, if they're relevant to your
academic interests. Don't be afraid to mention problems or weaknesses if you can show how you
overcame them and what you learned from the experience.
Use I rather than evasive phrases like "this writer" or "was experienced by me." A stylistic tip:
to avoid monotony, start some sentences with a subordinate clause such as "While I scrubbed
floors" or "Because of my difficulties"then go on to I did or I learned.
Options for Organizing an Admissions Letter

Judge by the clues on the application form and by the nature of the profession or discipline what kind
of logical structure you could use to tie your points together into a coherent whole. You may see
indications you are expected to demonstrate your personality, or be self-analytical, or enter into
discussions in the discipline. You will probably use one or more of these standard expository
patterns.
Narrative: A chronological order is easy to organize. It progresses from a beginning to an end, and
you can divide up the middle into manageable sections. But beware of overworked openings
like "I have always wanted to be a dentist," and of excessive detail. Select relevant and
interesting stories and make sure that the readers know why you are telling them.
Analytic: To deal with the central question why you are a good match for the program, give an
overall answer about yourself and then discuss the elements that contribute to your engagement
with the discipline. Discuss your interests in terms of key issues and theories in your discipline.
To balance the dryness of this approach, break into memorable stories at times, using specific
details, and use verbs to put yourself into action. Show what you intend to do after you have
completed the program.
Technical: To indicate your research or professional interests, show your involvement with a
specific issue. Don't just outline the topic you want to work on; write about your summer
research job or independent-study project, or even your program on student radio or your
volunteer experience. Outline specific undergraduate projects as examples. Emphasize what you
learned from these activities, and indicate how your studies will extend that learning.
Other Sources of Advice

Most writing centres at U of T can't work with you on personal documents like admission letters. But
other sources of advice are availablebesides feedback from your professors, TAs, and fellowstudents.
Books on Writing Style: Don't give your readers any excuses to eliminate your application.
Proofread carefully for missing details as well as errors in grammar or punctuation. Write readably;
Don't overload your sentences with jargon or pretentious words. Use books like the ones listed below
(available widely in Robarts and college libraries) as reference works on matters of language
correctness. Read relevant parts to review what people consider interesting and readable style. If you
need to set up your statement as a letter, see Brusaw or Locker on letter formats.
Charles T. Brusaw et al. The Business Writer's Handbook. HF 5726 B874
Kitty O. Locker. Business and Administrative Communication. HF 5718 L63 1997
Margot Northey and Margaret Procter. Writer's Choice. LB 2369 N677
William J. Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. PE 1408 S772
William Zinsser. On Writing Well. PE 1429 Z5
Specific Guidebooks: A number of books give advice on writing graduate admissions letters. Since
they're all focussed on American universities, take their advice and samples with a grain of salt.
Above all, don't imitate too closelysuspected plagiarism or obvious insincerity would lead to quick
rejection. These and other specialized books are all available at the Career Centre Resource Library.
e.g. Donald Asher. Graduate Admissions Essays. LB 2366.2 A84 Robarts, UC
Howard Greene. Beyond The Ivy Wall: 10 Essential Steps to Graduate School Admission.
LB 2371.4 G74 1989 Robarts, UTSC
Dave G. Mumby, Graduate School: Winning Strategies for Getting in With or Without Excellent Grades.
LB 2371 M85 1997 Robarts, Vic, UC, UTM
R.J. Stelzer. How to Write a Winning Personal Statement. LB 2351.52 U6S74 Robarts, SMC, UC, UTSC, Vic
Websites: Sites like these give advice and sometimes include examples. Avoid commercial sites.
e.g. Purdue University, www.owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
University of Wisconsin, www.writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/apessay.html
PsychWeb, www.psywww.com/careers/applicat.htm
Survey on Doctoral Education: questions to ask ahead, www.phd-survey.org/advice/advice.htm
Expressions of Quantity: Special Cases of Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement is generally quite straightforward in English. Check any handbook for the general
rules. However, with subjects that introduce the idea of quantity, some additional rules of thumb are
needed. Here are a few that are useful for academic writing.
1. With fractions, percentages and indefinite quantifiers (e.g., all, few, many, much, some),
the verb agrees with the preceding noun or clause:
With a singular or non-count noun or clause, use a singular verb:
One-third of this article is taken up with statistical analysis.
Much of the book seems relevant to this study.
Half of what he writes is undocumented.
Fifty percent of the job is routine.
All the information is current
With a plural noun, use a plural verb:
One-third of the students have graduate degrees.
Many researchers depend on grants from industry.
Half of his articles are peer-reviewed.
Fifty percent of the computers have CD-ROM drives.
All the studies are current.
With a collective noun, use either a singular or a plural verb, depending on whether you want to
emphasize the single group or its individual members:
Half of my family lives/live in Canada.
All of the class is/are here.
Ten percent of the population is/are bilingual.
2. The words majority and minority are used in a variety of ways:

When majority/minority mean an unspecified number more or less than 50%, use a singular verb:
The majority holds no strong views.
A small minority indicates it supports the proposal.
When majority/minority mean a specific percentage, you may use either a singular or a plural verb:
A 75% majority have/has voted against the measure.
A 10% minority are/is opposed to the measure.
When majority/minority refers to a specified set of persons, use a plural verb:
A majority of Canadians have voted for change.
A minority of the students are willing to pay more.
3. Expressions of time, money and distance usually take a singular verb:

Ten dollars is a great deal of money to a child.
Ten kilometres is too far to walk.
Six weeks is not long enough.
4. Adjectives preceded by the and used as plural nouns take a plural verb:
The rich get richer.
The poor face many hardships.
5. Expressions using the phrase number of depend on the meaning of the phrase:
They take a singular verb when referring to a single quantity:
The number of students registered in the class is 20.
They take plural verbs when they are used as indefinite quantifiers (see rule 1 above):
A number of students were late.
by Martine Johnson, Coordinator, English Programme, International Student Centre,
and revised in 2004 by Rebecca Smollett and Margaret Procter.
Faulty Parallelism
What is faulty parallelism?
Look out for faulty parallelism whenever you use one of the following constructions:
a and b
a, b, and c
a or b
a, b, or c
not only a but also b
The clauses or phrases joined by the conjunctions should have similar grammatical structures to ensure
that your reader can follow the logic of your sentence and to avoid awkwardness. Consider the sentence,
My first-year philosophy professor was informative, lively, and a source of inspiration.
Notice that the first two phrases in the a, b, and c construction are adjectives, while the third is a noun
phrase. This sentence suffers from faulty parallelism.
How to identify and repair faulty parallelism

To check whether the elements of a construction are in parallel, place boxes around them. Next, label
the boxes.
a
My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and a source of inspiration .
To repair the faulty parallelism here, you will have to change the elements a and b into noun phrases or
the element c into an adjective. Always choose the simplest option. In this case it is easiest to change the
final element, c, into an adjective:
a
My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and inspiring .
Often faulty parallelism can be repaired by paying close attention to where you place your verbs. The
faulty parallelism in the following sentence is easy to detect once you place boxes around the two
elements of the not only but also construction:
a
My philosophy professor not only demonstrated how to reason persuasively but also how to avoid logical fallacies .
Note that element a begins with a verb but element b doesnt. To repair the faulty parallelism, you can
add a verb to the start of element b. However, since the same verb will work for both parts of the
construction, the more elegant solution is to drag the verb demonstrated to the front of the whole
construction:
a
My philosophy professor demonstrated not only how to reason persuasively but also how to avoid logical fallacies .
Problems with parallelism often arise from the careless use of clauses beginning with the
subordinating conjunction that:
a
He warned me to revise my essay and that I should pay close attention to parallel structures .
To repair the problem, choose either an infinitive (to + verb) or a that clause on both sides of the a and b
construction. In this example, the infinitive provides the more elegant solution:
a
He warned me to revise my essay and to pay close attention to parallel structures .

Fixing Comma Splices

What is a Comma Splice?
A comma splice occurs when you use a comma to join two complete sentences without placing an appropriate
joining word between them. The comma just isnt strong enough to do the job of making one grammatical sentence out
of two. Learn to recognize what comma splices look like, and be sure to avoid them in your essays.
Here is a simple example of a comma splice:
X
I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.
A closely related grammatical error is the run-on sentence. It occurs when you join two complete sentences without
any punctuation mark at all:
X
I completed my essay I have not submitted it.
Fixing a run-on sentence is no different from fixing a comma splice.
Some Basic Definitions

The grammatical term for a group of words that can stand on its own as a complete sentence is independent clause.
To be an independent clause, the group of words must contain both a subject and a verb. In the independent clause I
completed my essay, I is the subject, and completed is the verb.
The grammatical term for a joining word is conjunction. Conjunctions refer to those words in the English language
such as and or but or since or because that allow us to build more complex sentences out of simpler ones. The
conjunctions and and but are called coordinating conjunctions; the conjunctions since and because are called
subordinating conjunctions.
It is not essential to remember these grammatical terms, though they can be useful for conveying important points
about grammar. What really matters is to know comma splices when you see them and to be familiar with the various
ways of fixing them.
How to Fix a Comma Splice

Here are four straightforward ways to solve the comma splice problem. Understand the subtle differences between
them, and make sure you dont get into the habit of always solving your comma splice problems in the same way. Look
at each comma splice in your writing as an opportunity to gain mastery over the tools for building complex sentences out
of simpler ones.
Solution 1: Use a period.
The simplest way to fix a comma splice is to separate the two improperly joined sentences. Simply replace the
comma with a period. The two sentences may sound a bit abrupt placed one after the other, but at least they will be
grammatical:
I completed my essay. I have not submitted it.
A period may be your best choice for fixing a comma splice when any of the following conditions holds: (1) the logical
connection between the two independent clauses is self-evident; (2) one or both of the clauses is long; or (3) the ideas
represented in the two clauses are distinct.
I completed my English essay. Now I must go to the library and begin research at once on my fifteen-page History term
paper.
Solution 2: Use a semi-colon.

If you want a simple solution to the comma splice, but you prefer to encapsulate your two ideas in one sentence
rather than two, then use a semi-colon rather than a period:
I completed my essay; I have not submitted it.
A semi-colon is probably the most appropriate remedy for your comma splice when the following two conditions hold:
(1) the logical connection between the two independent clauses is already clear, and (2) the ideas represented in the two
clauses are very closely related. In particular, when the relation between the two clauses is one of sequenceeither a
sequence in time or a logical sequencethen a semi-colon is just what you need:
I completed my English essay; next I will tackle my History essay.
Solution 3: Use a coordinating conjunction.

Like the semi-colon, a conjunction allows you to combine your two ideas in a single sentence. But it has the added
advantage of allowing you to indicate the logical relationship between the two ideas. In our comma splice example, the
relationship is one of contrast: I completed the essay, but I havent submitted it even though that would have been the
expected thing to do.
The coordinating conjunction but compactly conveys this sense of the unexpected or contradictory:
I completed my essay, but I have not submitted it.
In all, there are seven coordinating conjunctions:

and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet
They cover the most basic kinds of logical relationships that can exist between two separate ideas.
Solution 4: Use a subordinating conjunction.
Subordinating conjunctions are similar to coordinating conjunctions in that they allow you to indicate the logical
relationship between two independent clauses. However, unlike coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions
lay unequal stress on the two parts of the new sentence. We can use the subordinating conjunction although to solve our
comma splice problem, and we can do so in two distinct ways:
I completed my essay, although I have not submitted it.

Although I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.
As the word subordinating suggests, we place less stress on the clause introduced by the subordinating conjunction. In
the first example, the fact that I have not submitted the essay appears as an afterthought; in the second example, it is the
point.
There are a great many subordinating conjunctions in the English language. Here are a few of the more common
ones:
while, although, because, if, since, unless, whether,
when, why, as, before, after, if, whether, that, once
How Not to Fix a Comma Splice

Never try to join two sentences with a comma followed by a conjunctive adverb. The most common form this error
takes involves joining two sentences with the word however:
X
I completed my essay, however I have not submitted it.
This sentence is still a comma splice. Learn to distinguish conjunctive adverbs from subordinating conjunctions; they do
not function in the same way. Conjunctive adverbs should be used to begin independent clauses, not to join them.
Here is just a small sample of the many conjunctive adverbs that are available to you. Notice that conjunctive
adverbs can consist of phrases as well as single words:
however, nevertheless, furthermore, moreover, hence, therefore,
similarly, certainly, by contrast, in other words, in addition
Note that you can use a conjunctive adverb to help fix a comma splice, but you must remember to put a period or a semicolon in front of the second independent clause:
I completed my essay. However, I have not submitted it.

I completed my essay; however, I have not submitted it.
A conjunctive adverb like however usually makes for a more formal and more emphatic transition between clauses
than the more casual conjunctions but and although. If you rely too heavily on conjunctive adverbs, your writing will
begin to sound stiff. Save your howevers for when you really need them: (1) for emphasizing the key turns in your
argument, or (2) for signaling a contrast between long, complex sentences. Many stylists prefer not to use however right
at the beginning of a sentence.
I completed my essay in just one draft, a process that took me only three hours. This last essay, however, was a mere
two pages long, and I have learned the hard way that neglecting to revise my papers inevitably results in a weaker
paper and a lower grade.


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
lack of agreement
sentence fragments
faulty parallelism
vague pronouns
dangling modifiers
squinting modifiers
wordiness
comma splices
1.
a.
FAULTY AGREEMENT
b.

c.
2.
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

3.

4.

these verbs.
(CLBP).
5.
FAULTY PARALLELISM
6.
VAGUE PRONOUNS
DANGLING MODIFIERS
7.
manipulating)
go to school)
8.
SQUINTING MODIFIERS

9.

10.

are not sure of.
11.
WORDINESS
12.
a.
COMMA SPLICES
conjunction.
b.
however
therefore
then
therefore
nevertheless
accordingly
as a result
moreover
even so
rather
indeed
for example
13.
a.

b.

c.

d.
e.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
lack of agreement
sentence fragments
faulty parallelism
vague pronouns
dangling modifiers
squinting modifiers
wordiness
comma splices
1.
a.
FAULTY AGREEMENT
b.

c.
2.
SENTENCE FRAGMENTS

3.

4.

these verbs.
(CLBP).
5.
FAULTY PARALLELISM
6.
VAGUE PRONOUNS
DANGLING MODIFIERS
7.
manipulating)
go to school)
8.
SQUINTING MODIFIERS

9.

10.

are not sure of.
11.
WORDINESS
12.
a.
COMMA SPLICES
conjunction.
b.
however
therefore
then
therefore
nevertheless
accordingly
as a result
moreover
even so
rather
indeed
for example
13.
a.

b.

c.

d.
e.
HOW NOT TO PLAGIARIZE

From the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters:
It shall be an offence for a student knowingly:
(d) to represent as one's own any idea or expression of an idea or work of another in any academic
examination or term test or in connection with any other form of academic work, i.e. to commit plagiarism.
Wherever in the Code an offence is described as depending on knowing, the offence shall likewise be deemed
to have been committed if the person ought reasonably to have known.
You've already heard the warnings about plagiarism. Obviously it's against the rules to buy essays or
copy from your friends homework, and it's also plagiarism to borrow passages from books or articles or
websites without identifying them. You know that the purpose of any paper is to show your own thinking,
not create a patchwork of borrowed ideas. But you may still be wondering how you're supposed to give
proper references to all the reading you've done and all the ideas you've encountered.
The point of documenting sources in academic papers is not just to avoid unpleasant visits to the Dean's
office, but to demonstrate that you know what is going on in your field of study. Get credit for having done
your reading! Precise documentation is also a courtesy to your readers because it lets them look at the
material you've found. That's especially important for Internet sources.
The different systems for formatting references are admittedly a nuisance. See the advice file Standard
Documentation Formats for an overview. But the real challenge is establishing the relationship of your
thinking to the reading you've done. Here are some common questions and basic answers.
1.
Can't I avoid problems just by listing every source in the reference list?
2.
If I put the ideas into my own words, do I still have to clog up my pages with all those
names and numbers?
No, you need to integrate your acknowledgements into your own writing. Give the reference as soon as
youve mentioned the idea youre using, not just at the end of the paragraph. Its often a good idea to name
the authors (X states and Y argues against X) and then indicate your own stand (A more inclusive
perspective, however, . . . ). The examples on the next page demonstrate various wordings for doing this.
Have a look at journal articles in your discipline to see how experts refer to their sources.
Sorryyes, you do. In academic papers, you need to keep mentioning authors and pages and dates to show
how your ideas are related to those of the experts. It's sensible to use your own words because that saves
space and lets you connect ideas smoothly. But whether you quote a passage directly in quotation marks,
paraphrase it closely, or just summarize it rapidly, you need to identify the source then and there. (That
applies to Internet sources too: you still need author and date as well as title and URL. The file Standard
Documentation Formats gives examples for a range of types.)
3.
But I didn't know anything about the subject until I started this paper. Do I have to give an
acknowledgement for every point I make?
Youre safer to over-reference than to skimp. But you can cut down the clutter by recognizing that some
ideas are common knowledge in the fieldthat is, taken for granted by people knowledgeable about the
topic. Facts easily found in standard reference books are considered common knowledge: the date of the
Armistice for World War I, for example, or the present population of Canada. You dont need to name a
specific source for them, even if you learned them only when doing your research. Theyre easily verified
and not likely to be controversial. In some disciplines, information covered in class lectures doesn't need
acknowledgement. Some interpretive ideas may also be so well accepted that you don't need to name a
specific source: that Picasso is a distinguished modernist painter, for instance, or that smoking is harmful to
health. Check with your professor or TA if you're in doubt whether a specific point is considered common
knowledge in your field.
4.
5.
How can I tell what's my own idea and what has come from somebody else?
Careful record-keeping helps. Always write down the author, title and publication information (including the
specific identifying information for online publications) so you can attach names and dates to specific ideas.
Taking good notes is also essential. Dont paste passages from online sources into your draft: thats asking
for trouble. As you read any textonline or hard-copysummarize useful points for yourself, whether
electronically or in handwriting. If you record a distinctive phrase or sentence you might want to quote, put
quotation marks around it in your notes to remind yourself that you're copying the author's exact words.
And make a deliberate effort as you read to notice connections among ideas, especially contrasts and
disagreements, and to jot down questions or thoughts of your own. If you find as you write that youre
following one or two of your sources too closely, deliberately look back in your notes for other sources that
take different views; then write about the differences and why they exist. (See the advice file "Taking
Notes from Research Reading" for more tips.)
So what exactly do I have to document?

With experience reading academic prose, you'll soon get used to the ways writers in your field refer to their
sources. Here are the main times you should give acknowledgements, with examples showing different ways
of working them into your own prose. (Youll notice many different documentation systems in the following
examples; see the handout file Standard Documentation Formats for guidance and examples.)
a. Quotations, paraphrases, or summaries:
If you use the authors exact words, enclose them in quotation marks, or indent passages of more than four
lines. But its seldom worthwhile to use long quotations. In literary studies, quote a few words at a time and
comment on them. In other disciplines, quote only when the original words are especially memorable;
scientific writing rarely used quotations. In most cases, use your own words to summarize the idea you want
to discuss, emphasizing the points relevant to your argument. Be sure to document these paraphrases or
summaries even when you are not using the exact original words. Mentioning the author's name indicates
where the borrowing starts and stops and gains you some reflected glory for responding to the experts.
e.g. As Morris puts it in The Human Zoo (1983), we can always be sure that today's daring innovation
will be tomorrow's respectability (p. 189).
[APA system]
e.g. Northrop Frye discusses comedy in terms of the spring spirit, which he sees as representing
renewal and integration (Anatomy 163). The ending of The Tempest fits this pattern.
[MLA system]
b. Specific ideas used as evidence for your argument or interpretation:
First consider whether the ideas you're mentioning are common knowledge according to the definition in
point 3 above; if so, you may not need to give a reference. But when you're relying on ideas that might be
disputed by people in your discipline, establish that they're trustworthy by referring to authoritative sources.
e.g.
In September 1914, more than 1300 skirmishes were recorded on the Western Front.8
[traditional endnote/footnote system]
e.g.
Other recent researchers (4, 11, 12) confirm the finding that drug treatment has little effect in
the treatment of pancreatic pseudocysts.
[numbered-note system for biomedical sciences]
c. Distinctive or authoritative ideas, whether you agree with them or not:
The way you introduce the reference can indicate your attitude and lead into your own argument.
e.g. In 1966, Ramsay Cook asserted that Canada was in a period of instability (174). That period is
not yet over, judging by the same criteria of electoral changeability, economic uncertainty, and
confusion in policy decisions.
[MLA system]
e.g. One writer (Von Daniken, 1970) even argues that the Great Pyramid was built for the practical
purpose of guiding navigation.
[APA system]
Updated 14 July 2010 by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support
This handout is available online at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize.
See also the list of advice files on academic writing at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice.
HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF READING

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
-- Francis Bacon
Students need to read efficiently so they can get through all the material they're asked to deal with. It
isn't really a matter of reading fast, but of focussing selectively, then understanding and remembering
what you've read. Here are some tips on reading different kinds of material in appropriate ways. (See
also our Advice files A System for Dealing with New Words while Reading and Taking Notes from
Research Reading.)
Textbooks
Textbooks can repay intensive reading, usually in some parts more than others. Note the signals from
your professor or TA about what sections are most relevant, and know how each section contributes to
the course, especially to the key concepts, issues, and questions in the course. Even before reading,
become aware of the structure of the text. Look at the chapter titles, headings and subheadings first:
they name the concepts (or large ideas) in the course and indicate ways of thinking about them. You
can often gain focus, too, by skimming through the whole thing first, noting what aspects of the subject
seem to get space and attention. Then read through the text with care, noticing especially definitions
and examples of the important concepts. Look also for accounts of disagreement and for references to
current questions and issues in the discipline.
Mark up only key passages in the text; don't rely on only underlining or highlighting. Use marginal
symbols to show different kinds of points (e.g., asterisks for definitions, arrows for examples). Write
brief summarizing notes in your own words, outlining the main ideas and the sequence of the
explanation. That forces you to process the material in your own mind, and it helps you review later.
Primary Sources
Read through each literary work or historical document with attention to your own responses and
questions. "Stickies" will let you express these on the spot without spoiling the pages. Many people
find it useful, immediately after a first reading, to write out a brief journal account of their reading
experience.
A quick re-reading of the work will then let you note how themes or techniques have developed
through the work as a whole or how your questions were answered: use light annotations to show these
patterns. Focus on some specific details and ask yourself why they're there and what they mean.
Research Readings
Be sure to focus your efforts before plunging in. In going through sources for a research essay, you are
looking for ways to answer a research question you have formulated. Start by going through your
textbooks, notes, and perhaps an encyclopaedia or other reference work to get background knowledge
and survey the types of questions and issues being discussed. Now you want information to support
or modify your original view of the topic, and others' opinions to bolster or to challenge your own
outlook.
Use efficient scanning techniques to help choose the most useful sources for your purpose:
For books, flip through the preface, table of contents and index to see the general outlook and
argument. Then start reading sections on your own topic. If you see useful material, expand
your reading to establish the context for ideas you might want to analyse in detail. (Never quote
or paraphrase without understanding the context.)
Journal articles usually outline their argument within the first page. Read the abstract first to
see if the article will be of use to you. If you decide to read it, look through to see what gets
attention, pausing over any charts or graphs. For a heavy scientific article, you may also want
to investigate a specific section of the paper, perhaps the introduction or conclusion, but more
likely the results or even just the tables and figures. Then read through the whole paper, noting
for instance how the details in the body of the paper support the points made in the introduction
or conclusion, or how those sections relate to what you have seen in the presentation of results.
Be especially careful of Internet sources. Check that a Web document, for instance, is written
or published by an accepted authority on the topic. (Find the home page of the site by cutting
off the final sections of the URL.) Note whether the file tells you what its own sources are, and
check that they are acceptable in terms of your course. Then scan the material the way you
would for journal articles, using abstracts and headings in the material, and experimenting with
your own search terms. (For more advice on evaluating such sources, see the online file
Research Using the Internet.)
Write down complete bibliographical information for each source consulted, making a master list as
you go (preferably in a computer file). For notetaking, keep separate cards, pages, or files on specific
points so you can arrange them as needed. Use a subject heading for each note. Summarize ideas in
your own words (only occasionally paraphrasing or copying down quotations), and leave space for
your own comments. (For further guidance, see the file Taking Notes from Research Reading.)
Further Guidance on Reading

U of T libraries stock many books that give advice on different types of reading, including the classic
on literary reading by Adler, How to Read a Book, and others focussing on academic literacy such as
McWhorter, Academic Reading, and Giltrow, Academic Writing. General books on study skills often
include sections on reading strategies: e.g., Pauk, How to Study in College; Fleet, Study for Success.
Besides the files linked above, here are some other websites that give easily accessible advice:
University of Toronto Academic Success Centre, Reading and Note-Taking: Textbooks
www.asc.utoronto.ca/Publications/Reading-and-Note-taking.htm
York University Counselling and Development Centre, Reading Skills for University
www.yorku.ca/cdc/lsp/skillbuilding/reading.html
University of Guelph, Learning from Textbooks:
www.lib.uoguelph.ca/assistance/learning_services/fastfacts/learning_from_texts.cfm
University of Texas at Austin, Brief Suggestions for Increasing Speed and Effectiveness of Reading:
www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/learning_resources/speed_reading/
University of Toronto Biology 150, Tips for Success:
www.cquest.utoronto.ca/zoo/bio150y/tips.htm
University of Toronto Psychology 100, Hints for Note-Taking, Reading and Studying in PSY 100:
www.psych.utoronto.ca/users/psy100/Handbookw2004/17studyhints.htm
Paraphrase and Summary

When should I paraphrase, and when should I summarize?
To paraphrase means to express someone elses ideas in your own language. To summarize means
to distill only the most essential points of someone elses work.
Paraphrase and summary are indispensable tools in essay writing because they allow you to include
other peoples ideas without cluttering up your essay with quotations. They help you take greater
control of your essay. Consider relying on either tool when an idea from one of your sources is
important to your essay but the wording is not. You should be guided in your choice of which tool to
use by considerations of space. But above all, think about how much of the detail from your source is
relevant to your argument. If all your reader needs to know is the bare bones, then summarize.
Ultimately, be sure not to rely too heavily on either paraphrase or summary. Your ideas are what
matter most. Allow yourself the space to develop those ideas.
How do I paraphrase?
Whenever you paraphrase, remember these two points:
1. You must provide a reference.
2. The paraphrase must be entirely in your own words. You must do more than merely substitute
phrases here and there. You must also completely alter the sentence structure.
It can be difficult to find new words for an idea that is already well expressed. The following
strategy will make the job of paraphrasing a lot easier:
1. When you are at the note-taking stage, and you come across a passage that may be useful for
your essay, do not copy the passage verbatim unless you think you will want to quote it.
2. If you think you will want to paraphrase the passage, make a note only of the author's basic
point. You dont even need to use full sentences.
3. In your note, you should already be translating the language of the original into your own
words. What matters is that you capture the original idea.
4. Make sure to include the page number of the original passage so that you can make a proper
reference later on.
When it comes time to write the paper, rely on your notes rather than on the author's work. You will
find it much easier to avoid borrowing from the original passage because you will not have recently
seen it. Follow this simple sequence:
1. Convert the ideas from your notes into full sentences.
2. Provide a reference.
3. Go back to the original to ensure that (a) your paraphrase is accurate and (b) you have truly said
things in your own words.
Lets look at examples of illegitimate and legitimate paraphrase. The original passage is from
Oliver Sacks essay An Anthropologist on Mars:
The cause of autism has also been a matter of dispute. Its incidence is about one in a thousand, and it
occurs throughout the world, its features remarkably consistent even in extremely different cultures. It
is often not recognized in the first year of life, but tends to become obvious in the second or third
year. Though Asperger regarded it as a biological defect of affective contact innate, inborn,
analogous to a physical or intellectual defect Kanner tended to view it as a psychogenic disorder, a
reflection of bad parenting, and most especially of a chillingly remote, often professional,
refrigerator mother. At this time, autism was often regarded as defensive in nature, or confused
with childhood schizophrenia. A whole generation of parents mothers, particularly were made to feel
guilty for the autism of their children.
What follows is an example of illegitimate paraphrase:

The cause of the condition autism has been disputed. It occurs in approximately one in a thousand
children, and it exists in all parts of the world, its characteristics strikingly similar in vastly
differing cultures. The condition is often not noticeable in the childs first year, yet it becomes more
apparent as the child reaches the ages of two or three. Although Asperger saw the condition as a
biological defect of the emotions that was inborn and therefore similar to a physical defect, Kanner saw
it as psychological in origin, as reflecting poor parenting and particularly a frigidly distant mother.
During this period, autism was often seen as a defense mechanism, or it was misdiagnosed as childhood
schizophrenia. An entire generation of mothers and fathers (but especially mothers) were made to feel
responsible for their offsprings autism (Sacks 247-48).
Most of these sentences do little more than substitute one phrase for another. An additional problem
with this passage is that the only citation occurs at the very end of the last sentence in the paragraph.
The reader might be misled into thinking that the earlier sentences were not also indebted to Sacks
essay.
The following represents a legitimate paraphrase of the original passage:
In An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks lists some of the known facts about autism. We know, for
example, that the condition occurs in roughly one out of every thousand children. We also know that the
characteristics of autism do not vary from one culture to the next. And we know that the condition is
difficult to diagnose until the child has entered its second or third year of life. As Sacks points out,
often a child who goes on to develop autism will still appear perfectly normal at the age of one (247).
Sacks observes, however, that researchers have had a hard time agreeing on the causes of autism. He
sketches the diametrically opposed positions of Asperger and Kanner. On the one hand, Asperger saw the
condition as representing a constitutional defect in the childs ability to make meaningful emotional
contact with the external world. On the other hand, Kanner regarded autism as a consequence of harmful
childrearing practices. For many years confusion about this condition reigned. One unfortunate
consequence of this confusion, Sacks suggests, was the burden of guilt imposed on so many parents for
their childs condition (247-48).
Notice that this passage makes explicit right from the beginning that the ideas belong to Sacks, and the
passages indebtedness to him is signaled in more than one place. The single parenthetical note at the
end of each paragraph is therefore all the citation that is needed. The inclusion of explicit references to
Sacks not only makes the job of providing citations easier. It also strengthens the passage by clarifying
the source of its facts and ideas. And it adds an analytical dimension to the paragraph: the passage
doesnt just reiterate the points in Sacks passage but lays out the structure of his argument. Note that
the paraphrase splits the original into two separate paragraphs to accentuate the two-part structure of
Sacks argument. Finally, notice that not all the details from the original passage are included in the
paraphrase.
How do I summarize?
Summary moves much farther than paraphrase away from point-by-point translation. When you
summarize a passage, you need first to absorb the meaning of the passage and then to capture in your
own words the most important elements from the original passage. A summary is necessarily shorter
than a paraphrase.
Here is a summary of the passage from An Anthropologist on Mars:
In An Anthropologist on Mars, Sacks notes that although there is little disagreement on the chief
characteristics of autism, researchers have differed considerably on its causes. As he points out,
Asperger saw the condition as an innate defect in the childs ability to connect with the external
world, whereas Kanner regarded it as a consequence of harmful childrearing practices (247-48).

Introductions and Conclusions

Introductions and conclusions play a special role in the academic essay, and they frequently
demand much of your attention as a writer. A good introduction should identify your topic,
provide essential context, and indicate your particular focus in the essay. It also needs to engage
your readers interest. A strong conclusion will provide a sense of closure to the essay while
again placing your concepts in a somewhat wider context. It will also, in some instances, add a
stimulus to further thought. Since no two essays are the same, no single formula will
automatically generate an introduction and conclusion for you. But the following guidelines will
help you to construct a suitable beginning and end for your essay.
Some general advice about introductions

1. Some students cannot begin writing the body of the essay until they feel they have the perfect
introduction. Be aware of the dangers of sinking too much time into the introduction. Some
of that time can be more usefully channeled into planning and writing.
2. You may be the kind of writer who writes an introduction first in order to explore your own
thinking on the topic. If so, remember that you may at a later stage need to compress your
introduction.
3. It can be fine to leave the writing of the introduction for a later stage in the essay-writing
process. Some people write their introduction only after they have completed the rest of the
essay. Others write the introduction first but rewrite it significantly in light of what they end
up saying in the body of their paper.
4. The introductions for most papers can be effectively written in one paragraph occupying half
to three-quarters of the first page. Your introduction may be longer than that, and it may take
more than one paragraph, but be sure you know why. The size of your introduction should
bear some relationship to the length and complexity of your paper. A twenty page paper may
call for a two-page introduction, but a five-page paper will not.
5. Get to the point as soon as possible. Generally, you want to raise your topic in your very first
sentences. A common error is to begin too broadly or too far off topic. Avoid sweeping
generalizations.
6. If your essay has a thesis, your thesis statement will typically appear at the end of your
introduction, even though that is not a hard-and-fast rule. You may, for example, follow your
thesis with a brief road map to your essay that sketches the basic structure of your argument.
The longer the paper, the more useful a road map becomes.
How do I write an interesting, effective introduction?

Consider these strategies for capturing your readers attention and for fleshing out your
introduction:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Find a startling statistic that illustrates the seriousness of the problem you will address.
Quote an expert (but be sure to introduce him or her first).
Mention a common misperception that your thesis will argue against.
Give some background information necessary for understanding the essay.
Use a brief narrative or anecdote that exemplifies your reason for choosing the topic. In an
assignment that encourages personal reflection, you may draw on your own experiences; in a
research essay, the narrative may illustrate a common real-world scenario.
6. In a science paper, explain key scientific concepts and refer to relevant literature. Lead up to
your own contribution or intervention.
7. In a more technical paper, define a term that is possibly unfamiliar to your audience but is
central to understanding the essay.
In fleshing out your introduction, you will want to avoid some common pitfalls:
1. Dont provide dictionary definitions, especially of words your audience already knows.
2. Dont repeat the assignment specifications using the professors wording.
3. Dont give details and in-depth explanations that really belong in your body paragraphs. You
can usually postpone background material to the body of the essay.
Some general advice about conclusions

1. A conclusion is not merely a summary of your points or a re-statement of your thesis. If you
wish to summarizeand often you mustdo so in fresh language. Remind the reader of how
the evidence youve presented has contributed to your thesis.
2. The conclusion, like much of the rest of the paper, involves critical thinking. Reflect upon the
significance of what youve written. Try to convey some closing thoughts about the larger
implications of your argument.
3. Broaden your focus a bit at the end of the essay. A good last sentence leaves your reader with
something to think about, a concept in some way illuminated by what youve written in the
paper.
4. For most essays, one well-developed paragraph is sufficient for a conclusion. In some cases,
a two-or-three paragraph conclusion may be appropriate. As with introductions, the length of
the conclusion should reflect the length of the essay.
How do I write an interesting, effective conclusion?

The following strategies may help you move beyond merely summarizing the key points of your
essay:
1. If your essay deals with a contemporary problem, warn readers of the possible consequences
of not attending to the problem.
2. Recommend a specific course of action.
3. Use an apt quotation or expert opinion to lend authority to the conclusion you have reached.
4. Give a startling statistic, fact, or visual image to drive home the ultimate point of your paper.
5. If your discipline encourages personal reflection, illustrate your concluding point with a
relevant narrative drawn from your own life experiences.
6. Return to an anecdote, example, or quotation that you introduced in your introduction, but
add further insight that derives from the body of your essay.
7. In a science or social science paper, mention worthwhile avenues for future research on your
topic.
How does genre affect my introduction or conclusion?

Most of the advice in this handout pertains to argumentative or exploratory academic essays. Be
aware, however, that different genres have their own special expectations about beginnings and
endings. Some academic genres may not even require an introduction or conclusion. An
annotated bibliography, for example, typically provides neither. A book review may begin with a
summary of the book and conclude with an overall assessment of it. A policy briefing usually
includes an introduction but may conclude with a series of recommendations. Check your
assignment carefully for any directions about what to include in your introduction or conclusion.
Prepared by Leora Freedman and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre
THE LITERATURE REVIEW: A FEW TIPS ON CONDUCTING IT

What is a review of the literature? A literature review is an account of what has been published on
a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a
separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliographysee the bottom of the
next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In
writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas
have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. As a piece of writing,
the literature review must be defined by a guiding concept (e.g., your research objective, the
problem or issue you are discussing, or your argumentative thesis). It is not just a descriptive list of
the material available, or a set of summaries.
Besides enlarging your knowledge about the topic, writing a literature review lets you gain and
demonstrate skills in two areas:
1.
information seeking: the ability to scan the literature efficiently, using manual or computerized
methods, to identify a set of useful articles and books
2.
critical appraisal: the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify unbiased and valid
studies.
A literature review must do these things:

a)
be organized around and related directly to the thesis or research question you are developing
b) synthesize results into a summary of what is and is not known

c)
identify areas of controversy in the literature
d) formulate questions that need further research

Ask yourself questions like these:
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the specific thesis, problem, or research question that my literature review helps to
define?
What type of literature review am I conducting? Am I looking at issues of theory?
methodology? policy? quantitative research (e.g. on the effectiveness of a new procedure)?
qualitative research (e.g., studies )?
What is the scope of my literature review? What types of publications am I using (e.g., journals,
books, government documents, popular media)? What discipline am I working in (e.g., nursing
psychology, sociology, medicine)?
How good was my information seeking? Has my search been wide enough to ensure Ive
found all the relevant material? Has it been narrow enough to exclude irrelevant material? Is the
number of sources Ive used appropriate for the length of my paper?
5.
6.
7.
Have I critically analysed the literature I use? Do I follow through a set of concepts and
questions, comparing items to each other in the ways they deal with them? Instead of just listing
and summarizing items, do I assess them, discussing strengths and weaknesses?
Have I cited and discussed studies contrary to my perspective?
Will the reader find my literature review relevant, appropriate, and useful?
Ask yourself questions like these about each book or article you include:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Has the author formulated a problem/issue?

Is it clearly defined? Is its significance (scope, severity, relevance) clearly established?
Could the problem have been approached more effectively from another perspective?
What is the authors research orientation (e.g., interpretive, critical science, combination)?
What is the authors theoretical framework (e.g., psychological, developmental, feminist)?
What is the relationship between the theoretical and research perspectives?
Has the author evaluated the literature relevant to the problem/issue? Does the author include
literature taking positions she or he does not agree with?
8. In a research study, how good are the basic components of the study design (e.g., population,
intervention, outcome)? How accurate and valid are the measurements? Is the analysis of the
data accurate and relevant to the research question? Are the conclusions validly based upon the
data and analysis?
9. In material written for a popular readership, does the author use appeals to emotion, one-sided
examples, or rhetorically-charged language and tone? Is there an objective basis to the
reasoning, or it the author merely Aproving@ what he or she already believes?
10. How does the author structure the argument? Can you deconstruct the flow of the argument to
see whether or where it breaks down logically (e.g., in establishing cause-effect relationships)?
11. In what ways does this book or article contribute to our understanding of the problem under
study, and in what ways is it useful for practice? What are the strengths and limitations?
12. How does this book or article relate to the specific thesis or question I am developing?
Final Notes:
A literature review is a piece of discursive prose, not a list describing or summarizing one piece
of literature after another. Its usually a bad sign to see every paragraph beginning with the name
of a researcher. Instead, organize the literature review into sections that present themes or
identify trends, including relevant theory. You are not trying to list all the material published, but
to synthesize and evaluate it according to the guiding concept of your thesis or research question.
If you are writing an annotated bibliography, you may need to summarize each item briefly,
but should still follow through themes and concepts and do some critical assessment of material.
Use an overall introduction and conclusion to state the scope of your coverage and to formulate
the question, problem, or concept your chosen material illuminates. Usually you will have the
option of grouping items into sectionsthis helps you indicate comparisons and relationships.
You may be able to write a paragraph or so to introduce the focus of each section.
Prepared by Dena Taylor, Health Sciences Writing Centre, and Margaret Procter, Writing Support
Organizing an Essay
Some basic guidelines
The best time to think about how to organize your paper is during the pre-writing stage, not
the writing or revising stage. A well-thought-out plan can save you from having to do a lot of
reorganizing when the first draft is completed. Moreover, it allows you to pay more attention to
sentence-level issues when you sit down to write your paper.
When you begin planning, ask the following questions: What type of essay am I going to be
writing? Does it belong to a specific genre? In university, you may be asked to write, say, a book
review, a lab report, a document study, or a compare-and-contrast essay. Knowing the patterns of
reasoning associated with a genre can help you to structure your essay.
For example, book reviews typically begin with a summary of the book youre reviewing.
They then often move on to a critical discussion of the books strengths and weaknesses. They
may conclude with an overall assessment of the value of the book. These typical features of a
book review lead you to consider dividing your outline into three parts: (1) summary; (2)
discussion of strengths and weaknesses; (3) overall evaluation. The second and most substantial
part will likely break down into two sub-parts. It is up to you to decide the order of the two
subpartswhether to analyze strengths or weaknesses first. And of course it will be up to you to
come up with actual strengths and weaknesses.
Be aware that genres are not fixed. Different professors will define the features of a genre
differently. Read the assignment question carefully for guidance.
Understanding genre can take you only so far. Most university essays are argumentative, and
there is no set pattern for the shape of an argumentative essay. The simple three-point essay
taught in high school is far too restrictive for the complexities of most university assignments.
You must be ready to come up with whatever essay structure helps you to convince your reader
of the validity of your position. In other words, you must be flexible, and you must rely on your
wits. Each essay presents a fresh problem.
Avoiding a common pitfall

Though there are no easy formulas for generating an outline, you can avoid one of the most
common pitfalls in student papers by remembering this simple principle: the structure of an essay
should not be determined by the structure of its source material. For example, an essay on an
historical period should not necessarily follow the chronology of events from that period.
Similarly, a well-constructed essay about a literary work does not usually progress in parallel
with the plot. Your obligation is to advance your argument, not to reproduce the plot.
If your essay is not well structured, then its overall weaknesses will show through in the
individual paragraphs. Consider the following two paragraphs from two different English essays,
both arguing that despite Hamlets highly developed moral nature he becomes morally
compromised in the course of the play:
(a) In Act 3, Scene 4, Polonius hides behind an arras in Gertrudes chamber in order to spy on
Hamlet at the bidding of the king. Detecting something stirring, Hamlet draws his sword and kills
Polonius, thinking he has killed Claudius. Gertrude exclaims, O, what a rash and bloody deed is
this! (28), and her words mark the turning point in Hamlets moral decline. Now Hamlet has blood
on his hands, and the blood of the wrong person. But rather than engage in self-criticism, Hamlet
immediately turns his mothers words against her: A bloody deed almost as bad, good Mother, as
kill a king, and marry with his brother (29-30). One of Hamlets most serious shortcomings is
his unfair treatment of women. He often accuses them of sins they could not have committed. It is
doubtful that Gertrude even knows Claudius killed her previous husband. Hamlet goes on to ask
Gertrude to compare the image of the two kings, old Hamlet and Claudius. In Hamlets words, old
Hamlet has Hyperions curls, the front of Jove, and an eye like Mars (57-58). Despite
Hamlets unfair treatment of women, he is motivated by one of his better qualities: his idealism.
2
(b) One of Hamlets most serious moral shortcomings is his unfair treatment of women. In Act 3,
Scene 1, he denies to Ophelia ever having expressed his love for her, using his feigned madness
as cover for his cruelty. Though his rantings may be an act, they cannot hide his obsessive anger
at one particular woman: his mother. He counsels Ophelia to marry a fool, for wise men know well
enough what monsters you make of them (139-41), thus blaming her in advance for the sin of
adultery. The logic is plain: if Hamlets mother made a cuckold out of Hamlets father, then all
women are capable of doing the same and therefore share the blame. The fact that Gertrudes hasty
remarriage does not actually constitute adultery only underscores Hamlets tendency to find in
women faults that do not exist. In Act 3, Scene 4, he goes as far as to suggest that Gertrude
shared responsibility in the murder of Hamlets father (29-30). By condemning women for actions
they did not commit, Hamlet is doing just what he accuses Guildenstern of doing to him: he is
plucking out the heart of their mystery (3.2.372-74).
The second of these two paragraphs is much stronger, largely because it is not plot-driven. It
makes a well-defined point about Hamlets moral nature and sticks to that point throughout the
paragraph. Notice that the paragraph jumps from one scene to another as is necessary, but the
logic of the argument moves along a steady path. At any given point in your essays, you will
want to leave yourself free to go wherever you need to in your source material. Your only
obligation is to further your argument. Paragraph (a) sticks closely to the narrative thread of Act
3, Scene 4, and as a result the paragraph makes several different points with no clear focus.
What does an essay outline look like?

Most essay outlines will never be handed in. They are meant to serve you and no one else.
Occasionally, your professor will ask you to hand in an outline weeks prior to handing in your
paper. Usually, the point is to ensure that you are on the right track. Nevertheless, when you
produce your outline, you should follow certain basic principles. Here is an example of an
outline for an essay on Hamlet:
thesis: Despite Hamlets highly developed moral nature, he becomes morally compromised while delaying his revenge.
I. Introduction: Hamlets father asks Hamlet not only to seek vengeance but also to keep his mind untainted.
II. Hamlet has a highly developed moral nature.
A. Hamlet is idealistic.
B. Hamlet is aware of his own faults, whereas others are self-satisfied.
C. Hamlet does not want to take revenge without grounds for acting.
III. Hamlet becomes morally compromised while delaying.
A. The turning point in Hamlets moral decline is his killing of Polonius.
B. Hamlets moral decline continues when he sends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their death.
C. Hamlet already began his moral decline before the turning point in the play, the killing of Polonius.
1.
Hamlet treats women badly.
2. Hamlet criticizes others in the play for acting falsely to get ahead, but in adopting the disguise of
madness he, too, is presenting a false face to the world.
IV. Though Hamlet becomes more compromised the longer he delays, killing the king would have been a morally
questionable act.
V. Conclusion: The play Hamlet questions the adequacy of a system of ethics based on honour and revenge.
This is an example of a sentence outline. Another kind of outline is the topic outline. It consists
of fragments rather than full sentences. Topic outlines are more open-ended than sentence
outlines: they leave much of the working out of the argument for the writing stage.
When should I begin putting together a plan?

The earlier you begin planning, the better. It is usually a mistake to do all of your research
and note-taking before beginning to draw up an outline. Of course, you will have to do some
reading and weighing of evidence before you start to plan. But as a potential argument begins to
3
take shape in your mind, you may start to formalize your thoughts in the form of a tentative plan.
You will be much more efficient in your reading and your research if you have some idea of
where your argument is headed. You can then search for evidence for the points in your tentative
plan while you are reading and researching. As you gather evidence, those points that still lack
evidence should guide you in your research. Remember, though, that your plan may need to be
modified as you critically evaluate your evidence.
Some techniques for integrating note-taking and planning

Though convenient, the common method of jotting down your notes consecutively on paper
is far from ideal. The problem is that your points remain fixed on paper. Here are three
alternatives that provide greater flexibility:
method 1: index cards
When you are researching, write down every idea, fact, quotation, or paraphrase on a
separate index card. Small (5 by 3) cards are easiest to work with. When youve collected all
your cards, reshuffle them into the best possible order, and you have an outline, though you will
undoubtedly want to reduce this outline to the essential points should you transcribe it to paper.
A useful alternative involves using both white and coloured cards. When you come up with a
point that you think may be one of the main points in your outline, write it at the top of a
coloured card. Put each supporting note on a separate white card, using as much of the card as
necessary. When you feel ready, arrange the coloured cards into a workable plan. Some of the
points may not fit in. If so, either modify the plan or leave these points out. You may need to fill
gaps by creating new cards. You can shuffle your supporting material into the plan by placing
each of the white cards behind the point it helps support.
method 2: the computer
A different way of moving your notes around is to use the computer. You can collect your
points consecutively, just as you would on paper. You can then sort your ideas when you are
ready to start planning. Take advantage of outline view in Word, which makes it easy for you
to arrange your points hierarchically. This method is fine so long as you dont mind being tied to
your computer from the first stage of the writing process to the last. Some people prefer to keep
their planning low-tech.
method 3: the circle method
This method is designed to get your ideas onto a single page, where you can see them all at
once. When you have an idea, write it down on paper and draw a circle around it. When you
have an idea which supports another idea, do the same, but connect the two circles with a line.
Supporting source material can be represented concisely by a page reference inside a circle. The
advantage of the circle method is that you can see at a glance how things tie together; the
disadvantage is that there is a limit to how much material you can cram onto a page.
Here is part of a circle diagram:
H is
idealistic
H is aware
of his
faults
H has a
highly
developed
moral nature
H seeks
grounds
for acting
What is a reverse outline?

When you have completed your first draft, and you think your paper can be better organized,
consider using a reverse outline. Reverse outlines are simple to create. Just read through your
essay, and every time you make a new point, summarize it in the margin. If the essay is
reasonably well-organized, you should have one point in the margin for each paragraph, and your
points read out in order should form a coherent argument. You might, however, discover that
some of your points are repeated at various places in your essay. Other points may be out of
place, and still other key points may not appear at all. Think of all these points as the ingredients
of an improved outline which you now must create. Use this new outline to cut and paste the
sentences into a revised version of your essay, consolidating points that appear in several parts of
your essay while eliminating repetition and creating smooth transitions where necessary.
You can improve even the most carefully planned essay by creating a reverse outline after
completing your first draft. The process of revision should be as much about organization as it is
about style.
How much of my time should I put into planning?

It is self-evident that a well-planned paper is going to be better organized than a paper that
was not planned out. Thinking carefully about how you are going to argue your paper and
preparing an outline can only add to the quality of your final product. Nevertheless, some people
find it more helpful than others to plan. Those who are good at coming up with ideas but find
writing difficult often benefit from planning. By contrast, those who have trouble generating
ideas but find writing easy may benefit from starting to write early. Putting pen to paper (or
typing away at the keyboard) may be just what is needed to get the ideas to flow.
You have to find out for yourself what works best for you, though it is fair to say that at least
some planning is always a good idea. Think about whether your current practices are serving you
well. You know youre planning too little if the first draft of your essays is always a disorganized
mess, and you have to spend a disproportionate amount of time creating reverse outlines and
cutting and pasting material. You know youre planning too much if you always find yourself
writing your paper a day before its due after spending weeks doing research and devising
elaborate plans.
Be aware of the implications of planning too little or too much.
Planning provides the following advantages:
helps you to produce a logical and orderly argument that your readers can follow
helps you to produce an economical paper by allowing you to spot repetition
helps you to produce a thorough paper by making it easier for you to notice whether you
have left anything out
makes drafting the paper easier by allowing you to concentrate on writing issues such as
grammar, word choice, and clarity
Overplanning poses the following risks:
doesnt leave you enough time to write and revise
leads you to produce papers that try to cover too much ground at the expense of analytic
depth
can result in a writing style that lacks spontaneity and ease
does not provide enough opportunity to discover new ideas in the process of writing
Passive Voice:
ACTIVE:
PASSIVE:
active.

cases:
them.)


Mistakes were made.

Methods section:
acid.
than on you.

Another author?)

telephone!)
for by him.

precise:
Passive Voice:
ACTIVE:
PASSIVE:
active.

cases:
them.)


Mistakes were made.

Methods section:
acid.
than on you.

Another author?)

telephone!)
for by him.

precise:
Plurals
Regular
The plural form of most nouns is formed by adding s to the end of the word.
There are twelve boys and thirteen girls in that class.
When a word ends in sh, ch, s, z, or x, the plural is usually formed by adding es to the end.
We need three batches of cookies for three different classes at school.
When a word ends in [consonant] + y, the plural is formed by changing the y to ie and adding s.
I may live in only one country at a time, but I feel like a citizen of many countries.
In compound nouns, the principal word is the one made plural.

daughters-in-law, governors general, passers-by, ladies in waiting
Irregular
Many nouns referring to animals have the same form in the singular and in the plural.
The land sustained an abundance of deer and moose, and could also be used to raise sheep.
If a noun ends in f or fe the plural is usually formed by adding s, but is sometimes formed by
changing the f or fe to a ve and adding s.
His beliefs told him that those loaves required sharp knives.
If a noun ends in o, the plural is usually formed by adding s, but is sometimes formed by adding
es.
My heroes all play banjos.
Words borrowed into English from other languages sometimes follow the rules for pluralisation
in English and sometimes those for pluralisation in the original language.
phenomenon, phenomena and thesis, theses from Greek; alumnus, alumni and alumna ,alumnae
from Latin; tableau, tableaux and corps, corps from French
Special Cases
Plurals of symbols, numbers (including years), and uppercase letters are usually formed by
adding s.
He was concerned with the use of @s in formal writing since the 1990s.
I could not suppress a smile when I saw so many As on my transcript.
Plurals of lowercase letters are usually formed by adding s after the letter.
He wondered how many cs and ms were in the word accommodate.
For most proper names, the plural is formed simply by adding s to the end of the name, though
when a proper name ends in s the plural is formed by adding es.
The three Jacks joined the three Jills to fetch three pails of water.
We always worked very hard to keep up with the Joneses.
Collective nouns (referring to groups of people, animals, or things) are usually treated as
singular. If, however, you want to lay stress on the individual members rather than on the overall
unit, you may treat the noun as plural:
A flock of birds is flying in a V formation, but A flock of birds are threatening our crops.
My family is strange, but My family are unpredictable in their tastes.
Possessives
A noun can be made possessive when it could also have of a or of the preceding it.
the bag of a student = a students bag
the orbits of the planets = the planets orbits
Singular
A singular noun is usually made possessive by adding s to the end of the word.
The womans coat is red.
Most proper names are made possessive by adding s to the end.

Wongs argument is compelling.
A singular noun that ends in s can be made possessive either by adding s to the end of the word
or by adding only to the end of the word.
A Christmas Carol is probably Dickens / Dickenss best loved work.
The moss / mosss tendency is to grow only on the north sides of trees.
Classical names ending in s as well as names ending with an s and an iz sound traditionally use
only an apostrophe to mark possession.
Herodotus sense of history is still with us today.
There are many allusions to the sea in Menzies poetry.
Plural
A plural noun that ends in s can be made possessive either by adding only to the end of the
word (the preferred method), or by adding s to the end of the word.
All the soldiers / soldierss uniforms were torn.
A plural noun that ends in a letter other than s can be made possessive by adding s to the end of
the word.
The mens curling match will take place at 2:00, and the womens will take place at 5:00.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns generally do not use an apostrophe to indicate possession. This rule also
applies to the possessive form of it, which is its.
Do you see that woman over there? Her dog is very friendly.
He was late for work because his car did not start this morning.
Is that your house? No, ours is the one beside it.
Virtue is its own reward.
Some possessive pronouns do, however, use s.

That meal would not be to everyones taste.
Note: its is not a possessive but a contraction (short form) for it is.
Its warm in here. = It is warm in here.
Prepared by Mairi Cowan, University College Writing Centre.

Reading to Write: About Previewing

It is common for students to dive into an academic text and begin reading in a
hurry, which is often counterproductive. When reading for academic purposes,
it is preferable to read with certain goals in mind. This will enable you to place
your focus on the proper elements of the reading and to avoid wasting time on
elements which arent important for your purposes. Your professors and TAs
may read with their research goals in mind. As a student, your primary
purposes in reading are shaped by the course youre taking and/or the papers
youre writing. Spend a few minutes previewing a text before starting to read,
in order to orient yourself toward what is important for you in this reading.
Here is a basic method which can be applied to many texts. Not every question
will be relevant for all texts, and you may find additional questions to ask
yourself.
a. Read the titledont skip over it! Titles are chosen to orient the reader
and should give a sense of the central concepts in the text.
b. Think about the subject matter: Have you read about this topic before?
Where and when? What do you already know about it, or what might
you guess? Is it linked in some way to your personal experience? Do
you already have opinions about some aspect of this topic?
c. Who wrote this text? What information do you have about this author?
Does any information about the author appear anywhere on the title
page or elsewhere in the text? If the author is an historical figure, what
do you already know about him or her?
d. Where was this text originally published? What type of publication is
this, and where does it fit into this field of study? Who would be the
audience for this kind of writing? What would the audience expect to
find in it?
e. When was this text originally published? What is the significance of
this time period in this field of study? Is the text historical? Current?
Or is it possibly outdated? What were the major events or theoretical
trends around the time the text was written or published?
f. Read the chapter titles or the headings that break up the chapter or
article. What seems to be the general progression of ideas here?
g. Why has your professor assigned this text? Where does it fit into the
course as a whole? What kinds of facts and ideas are you expected to
retain from this reading?
Punctuation
Many students do not take full advantage of punctuation. They never venture beyond the comma
and the periodthe two punctuation marks that nobody can do without. Some are afraid that if they
use other forms of punctuation, they will do so incorrectly, so they never take the risk. Learning to
punctuate effectively does involve learning the rules, and this handout summarizes the most
important of them. But learning to punctuate is about much more than rules. Punctuation, when
skillfully deployed, provides you with considerable control over meaning and tone. Try to
experiment with all forms of punctuation in order to expand your expressive range as a writer. And
observe closely how accomplished writers use punctuation to good effect. This handout limits itself
to punctuation that occurs within sentences: commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and parentheses.
Commas
Commas are the most frequently used form of punctuation and probably the hardest to master.
Using commas well is a science and an art: though there are well-defined rules, there is plenty of
room to manouevre as well. Both the science and the art of comma use have changed with time.
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century writers, for example, used commas unsparingly. But do not
think that comma problems boil down to whether we use too many commas or too few. It is best to
learn the rulesand to know which ones can be broken and when. You should break the rules for a
purpose and consciously. Intuition is not always the best guide. In particular, the sometimes
serviceable practice of choosing a comma whenever you would pause in speech can get you into
trouble, especially if you write long sentences and lose your breath easily. Here are a few basic rules
to guide you in your comma use:
1. Commas after many introductory phrases are optional. When the introductory phrase is short,
you can often omit the comma; when the phrase is longer, a comma will help your reader
recognize where the main clause begins:
In the early 1960s Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig independently tried to reduce the tremendous
complexity of the zoo of particles then known at the time. (Steven Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory)
After much preliminary speculation and a few unsuccessful hypotheses, he achieved his central
insight while reading an apparently unrelated work for recreation. (Stephen Jay Gould, Ever Since
Darwin)
When the introductory phrase includes a participle (a verb form ending in -ing or -ed), always
add a comma:
Sitting in traffic, a plumber can't plumb and a deliveryman can't deliver. (Elizabeth Kolbert, Dont
Drive, He Said)
Make sure also to add a comma after an introductory clause (any grammatical unit that contains
a subject and a verb):
As the train straightened after a long curving tunnel near Lhasa, a nomad emerged from his tent on a
hillside. (Pankaj Mishra, The Train to Tibet)
2. When joining two independent clauses (clauses that could stand alone as sentences) with a
coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, but, yet, for, so), you normally place a comma before the
conjunction:
Sweetness is a desire that starts on the tongue with the sense of taste, but it doesnt end there.
(Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire)
This rule can occasionally be broken. The shorter the two independent clauses are, the more
appropriate it is to break the rule. Examples are more likely to be found in fictional prose where
the style is deliberately terse:
It was very hot and the express from Barcelona would come in forty minutes. (Ernest Hemingway,
Hills Like White Elephants)
3. When joining mere phrases, you usually do not provide a comma:

There have been great civilizations in which the peculiar balance of mind required for science has
only fitfully appeared and has produced the feeblest results. (Alfred North Whitehead, Science and the
Modern World)
In this example, the conjunction and joins two verb phrases.

This rule is frequently broken, particularly when the writer wants to convey surprise or to
add an afterthought:
Each of our internal organs has a personality of its own, and a mythology too. (Sherwin Nuland, The
Mysteries Within)
We cannot remain absolutely free, and must give up some of our liberty to preserve the rest. (Isaiah
Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty)
Just make sure that whenever you break the rule, you do so for a reason.
4. Place commas between each element of a list of three or more parallel words, phrases, or
clauses. Writers often place a comma before the conjunction (and or or) preceding the last
element in the list:
The history of interactions among disparate people is what shaped the modern world through
conquest, epidemics, and genocide. (Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel)
Some writers, however, choose not to place a comma before the last element:
The material consequences in the East of the German occupation, the Soviet advance and the partisan
struggles were thus of an altogether different order from the experience of war in the West. (Tony
Judt, Postwar)
Though either method of punctuating is acceptable, try to choose one method and stick with it.
A comma before the final element is less likely to produce unintended ambiguity.
5. Surround interrupting or parenthetical clauses or phrases with commas. Such clauses or phrases
are not essential to the sentence. If you removed them, the central point of the sentence would
remain:
Dr. Johnsons Lives of the Poets, as Boswell tells us, was written at the urging of the London
booksellers. (Leon Edel, Writing Lives)
Richard Lester, the director of Petulia, is a shrill scold in Mod clothes. (Pauline Kael, Going Steady)
Remember to add commas on both sides of an interrupting phrase or clause: dont forget the
second comma.
The interrupting element in the last example is an appositive. It restates the meaning of the
noun phrase it follows. An appositive can, however, narrow down rather than simply restate the
meaning of a noun or noun phrase. When an appositive restates meaning, surround it with
commas; when it narrows down meaning, do not:
Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, has been called the Greta Garbo of presidential children because
she shuns the limelight. (CBS News Report)
Charlotte Bronts sister Emily used weather to great effect in her novel Wuthering Heights. (Karen
Odden, Introduction to Hard Times)
Hillary Clinton has only one daughter; Charlotte Bront had more than one sister. Chelsea is
therefore not essential to the sentence, while Emily is.
Another type of interrupting element, the relative clause, also deserves close attention.
Relative clauses begin with words such as who, which, that, and sometimes where and when:
During the past thirty years the ideal of the unity of learning, which the Renaissance and
Enlightenment bequeathed to us, has been largely abandoned. (E.O. Wilson, Consilience)
As with other interrupting sentence elements, the surrounding commas indicate that the
information in the clause is not essential to the main point of the sentence. E.O. Wilson is
suggesting that there is only one ideal of the unity of knowledge, and we happen to have
inherited that ideal from the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Take the relative clause away,
and Wilsons point remains the same: most intellectuals have abandoned this ideal.
Some relative clauses, however, are integral to the meaning of a sentence. In such cases, it is
critical not to surround the clause by commas:
The names of the creative writers who have been more or less Freudian in tone or assumption would
of course be legion. (Lionel Trilling, Freud and Literature)
In this sentence Trilling makes his assertion not about all creative writers but only about those
who are Freudian in their outlook. Remove the clause, and you destroy the sentences meaning.
One final, purely stylistic point: for relative clauses that do not take commas, the word
which or who can be replaced by that:
Research that once required days in the stacks or periodical rooms of libraries can now be done in
minutes. (Nicholas Carr, Is Google Making Us Stupid.)
Semicolons
The semicolon has two main uses. The first is to combine two closely related independent clauses
into one sentence:
A scientific genius is not a person who does what no one else can do; he or she is someone who does
what it takes many others to do. (Malcolm Gladwell, In the Air)
Van Gogh painted almost exclusively from life; Gauguin favored imagination. (Peter Schjeldahl, Different
Strokes)
In either case, the writer could just as well have used two separate sentences, but using the
semicolon helps convey the close connection between two sequential ideas.
The other valid use of semicolons is to separate list elements that are long or complex. If, in
particular, those list elements contain internal commas, semicolons will help show just where each
element begins and ends:
The Idea of North offers little hard data about the history, geography, population, sociology, politics, or
economy of the North; about the burgeoning interest in the North after the Second World War, especially
after the creation of the federal Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources in 1953; about the
aboriginal-land-claims issues being thrashed out in the late sixties. (Kevin Bazzana, Wondrous Strange: The
Life and Art of Glenn Gould)
Colons
Colons offer a way of urging your reader forward. The words preceding the colon create an
expectation; the words following the colon fulfill it:
The entomologists dream of the built-in insecticide was born when workers in the field of applied
entomology realized they could take a hint from nature: they found that wheat growing in soil containing
sodium selenate was immune to attack by aphids or spider mites. (Rachel Carson, Silent Spring)
Our age has produced a new literary breed: the self-hating essayist. (Cristina Nehring, Our Essays,
Ourselves)
The part of the sentence following the colon can expand on an idea (that nature suggests how to
take advantage of built-in insecticides) or answer an implied question (who exactly belongs to this
new literary breed?). Note that a colon is generally preceded by a full independent clause. It can,
however, be followed either by another independent clause, a phrase, or even a word. The phrase
sometimes takes the form of a list:
Shakespeares archvillain had many Shakespearean forerunners: the melodramatic Richard II, the
casuistical Pandulph, the sly and crafty Ulysses. (Harold C. Goddard, The Meaning of Shakespeare)
Dashes
Dashes serve some of the same functions as commas and colons, but they assert themselves more
forcefully. Like commas, dashes are used to set off interrupting clauses or phrases, but a pair of
dashes will tend to call more attention to what lies in between:
Old Beijingdesigned for pedestrians and imperial processions but not much in betweenhas turned out
to be a bad framework on which to construct a modern city. (Paul Goldberger, Forbidden Cities)
Acting alone, a dash, like a colon, allows you to expand on or to complete an idea, and dashes used
this way are often interchangeable with colons. But the dash tends to be a little more abrupt and is
particularly good at suggesting irony or surprise:
Nobody ever recommended or even suggested that I be a novelistin fact, some tried to stop me. (Haruki
Murakami, The Running Novelist)
The dash has one other occasional use. Following a list, a dash allows you to tie things together
with an explanatory independent clause:
The manner of giving, the thing which is given, the effect of the giving upon the individualthese are the
factors which determine the progress of the Sufi. (Idries Shah, The Sufis)
If you dont use dashes, adding them to your repertoire will considerably broaden your expressive
range as a writer. But be careful: overusing them will blunt their overall impact.
Parentheses
Parentheses offer a third way of introducing interrupting material. A pair of commas supplies the
standard, matter-of-fact way of doing so. If dashes provide a more forceful alternative to commas,
parentheses offer a tentative and modest one:
Paul, like Jesus, encouraged celibacy not because he loathed the flesh (which in my opinion he did not)
but out of his urgent concern for the practical work of proclaiming the gospel. (Elaine Pagels, Adam, Eve,
and the Serpent)
A parenthetical aside often sounds like a footnote. It need not always be perfectly integrated into the
sentence:
In one sense, the epistemic sense (epistemic here means having to do with knowledge), science is
indeed objective. (John R. Searle, Consciousness and Language)
Parentheses can also enclose full sentences. The period goes inside the closing parenthesis:
Ondaatje was born in 1943, into a prominent Sri Lankan family. (He has written a memoir of his relatives,
Running in the Family, published in 1982.) (Louis Menand, The Aesthete)
Prepared 2008 by Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Workshop.

Over 60 other files offering advice about university writing are available at www.utoronto.ca/writing
Using Quotations
How much should I quote?
The focus of your essay should be on your understanding of the topic. If you include too much
quotation in your essay, you will crowd out your own ideas. Consider quoting a passage from one of
your sources if any of the following conditions holds:
1. The language of the passage is particularly elegant or powerful or memorable.
2. You wish to confirm the credibility of your argument by enlisting the support of an authority on
your topic.
3. The passage is worthy of further analysis.
4. You wish to argue with someone elses position in considerable detail.
Condition 3 is especially useful in essays for literature courses.
If an argument or a factual account from one of your sources is particularly relevant to your paper
but does not deserve to be quoted verbatim, consider
paraphrasing the passage if you wish to convey the points in the passage at roughly the same
level of detail as in the original
summarizing the relevant passage if you wish to sketch only the most essential points in the
passage
Note that most scientific writing relies on summary rather than quotation. The same is true of writing in
those social sciencessuch as experimental psychologythat rely on controlled studies and emphasize
quantifiable results. (Almost all of the examples in this handout follow the MLA system of citation,
which is widely used in the humanities and in those social sciences with a less quantitative approach.)
Why is it important to identify my sources?

Quotations come from somewhere, and your reader will want to know where. Dont just parachute
quotations into your essay without providing at least some indication of who your source is. Letting your
reader know exactly which authorities you rely on is an advantage: it shows that you have done your
research and that you are well acquainted with the literature on your topic.
In the following passage, the parenthetical reference to the author does not adequately identify the
source:
Hence we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war, together with the first
notion that there are just and unjust wars (Arendt 12). Yet the Roman conception of a just war differs
sharply from more modern conceptions.
When you are making decisions about how to integrate quotations into your essay, you might imagine
that you are reading the essay out loud to an audience. You would not read the parenthetical note.
Without some sort of introduction, your audience would not even know that the statement about Roman
antiquity was a quotation, let alone where the quotation came from.
How do I introduce a short quotation?

The following offers just one way of introducing the above quotation:
As Hannah Arendt points out in On Revolution, we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first
justification of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars (12). Yet the
Roman conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.
Since the quotation is relatively short, the brief introduction works.

You could, however, strengthen your analysis by demonstrating the significance of the passage
within your own argument. Introducing your quotation with a full sentence would help you assert greater
control over the material:
In On Revolution, Hannah Arendt points to the role the Romans played in laying the foundation for later
thinking about the ethics of waging war: we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification
of war, together with the first notion that there are just and unjust wars (12). Yet the Roman
conception of a just war differs sharply from more modern conceptions.
In these two examples, observe the forms of punctuation used to introduce the quotations. When
you introduce a quotation with a full sentence, you should always place a colon at the end of the
introductory sentence. When you introduce a quotation with an incomplete sentence, you usually place a
comma after the introductory phrase. However, it has become grammatically acceptable to use a colon
rather than a comma:
Arendt writes: we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .
If you are blending the quotation into your own sentence using the conjuction that, do not use any
punctuation at all:
Arendt writes that we must turn to Roman antiquity to find the first justification of war . . .
If you are not sure whether to punctuate your introduction to a quotation, mentally remove the quotation
marks, and ask yourself whether any punctuation is still required.
Finally, note that you can deviate from the common pattern of introduction followed by quotation.
Weaving the phrases of others into your own prose offers a stylistically compelling way of maintaining
control over your source material. Moreover, the technique of weaving can help you to produce a tighter
argument. The following condenses twelve lines from Arendts essay to fewer than three:
What Arendt refers to as the well-known realities of power politics began to lose their moral
legitimacy when the First World War unleashed the horribly destructive forces of warfare under
conditions of modern technology (13).
What verbs and phrases can I use to introduce my quotations?

Familiarize yourself with the various verbs commonly used to introduce quotations. Here is a partial
list:
argues
maintains
states
writes
suggests
claims
points out
insists
demonstrates
concludes
observes
says
comments
counters
explains
notes
assert
reveals
Each verb has its own nuance. Make sure that the nuance matches your specific aims in introducing the
quotation.
There are other ways to begin quotations. Here are three common phrasings:
In the words of X, . . .
According to X, . . .
In Xs view, . . .
Vary the way you introduce quotations to avoid sounding monotonous. But never sacrifice precision of
phrasing for the sake of variety.
How do I introduce a long quotation?

If your quotation is lengthy, you should almost always introduce it with a full sentence that helps
capture how it fits into your argument. If your quotation is longer than four lines, do not place it in
quotation marks. Instead, set it off as a block quotation:
Although Dickens never shied away from the political controversies of his time, he never, in Orwells
view, identified himself with any political program:
The truth is that Dickens criticism of society is almost exclusively moral. Hence his lack of any
constructive suggestion anywhere in his work. He attacks the law, parliamentary government, the
educational system and so forth, without ever clearly suggesting what he would put in their places.
Of course it is not necessarily the business of a novelist, or a satirist, to make constructive
suggestions, but the point is that Dickens attitude is at bottom not even destructive. . . . For in
reality his target is not so much society as human nature. (416)
The full-sentence introduction to a block quotation helps demonstrate your grasp of the source material,
and it adds analytical depth to your essay. But the introduction alone is not enough. Long quotations
almost invariably need to be followed by extended analysis. Never allow the quotation to do your work
for you. Usually you will want to keep the quotation and your analysis together in the same paragraph.
Hence it is a good idea to avoid ending a paragraph with a quotation. But if your analysis is lengthy, you
may want to break it into several paragraphs, beginning afresh after the quotation.
Once in a while you can reverse the pattern of quotation followed by analysis. A felicitously worded
or an authoritative quotation can, on occasion, nicely clinch an argument.
There is some flexibility in the rule that block quotations are for passages of four lines or more: a
shorter passage can be represented as a block quotation if it is important enough to stand on its own. For
example, when you are quoting two or more lines of poetry, you will probably want to display the verse
as it appears on the page:
In the opening heroic couplet of The Rape of the Lock, Pope establishes the unheroic nature of the poems
subject matter:
What dire offense from amorous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things. (1-2)
If you choose to integrate verse into your own sentence, then use a slash surrounded by spaces to
indicate line breaks:
In Eliots The Waste Land, the symbols of a mythic past lie buried in A heap of broken images, where the
sun beats, / And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief (22-23).
How do I let my reader know Ive altered my sources?

If you need to alter your quotations in any way, be sure to indicate just how you have done so. If you
remove text, then replace the missing text with an ellipsisthree periods surrounded by spaces:
In The Mirror and the Lamp, Abrams comments that the diversity of aesthetic theories . . . makes the
task of the historian a very difficult one (5).
If the omitted text occurs between sentences, then put a space after the period at the end of sentence, and
follow that by an ellipsis. In all, there will be four periods. (See Orwell on Dickens, above.)
Many people overuse ellipses at the beginning and end of quotations. Use an ellipsis in either place
only when your reader might otherwise mistake an incomplete sentence for a complete one:
Abraham Lincoln begins The Gettysburg Address with a reminder of the act upon which the United States
was founded: Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation
. . . (1).
Do not use an ellipsis if you are merely borrowing a phrase from the original:
In The Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln reminds his listeners of the principles that had inspired the
creation of a new nation (1).
If you need to alter or replace text from the original, enclose the added text within square brackets.
You may, for example, need to alter text to ensure that pronouns agree with their antecedents. Do not
write,
Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to cast your nighted colour off (1.2.68).
Square brackets allow you to absorb Gertrudes words into your own statement:
Gertrude asks her son Hamlet to cast [his] nighted colour off (1.2.68).
Alternatively, you can include Gertrudes original phrasing in its entirety so long as the introduction to
the quotation is not fully integrated with the quotation. The introduction can be an independent clause:
Gertrude implores her son Hamlet to stop mourning the death of his father: cast your nighted colour off
(I.ii.68).
Or it can be an incomplete sentence:

Gertrude implores her son Hamlet, cast your nighted colour off (1.2.68).
How is punctuation affected by quotation?

You must preserve the punctuation of a quoted passage, or else you must enclose in square brackets
any punctuation marks that are your own.
There is, however, one important exception to this rule. You are free to alter the punctuation just
before a closing quotation mark. You may need to do so to ensure that your sentences are fully
grammatical. Do not worry about how the original sentence needs to be punctuated before that quotation
mark; think about how your sentence needs to be punctuated. Note, for example, that if you are using the
MLA system of referencing, a sentence always ends after the parenthetical reference. Do not also
include a period before closing the quotation mark, even if there is a period there in the original. For
example, do not write,
old man of seventy-two. (822).
The period before the closing quotation mark must go:

old man of seventy-two (822).
However, if you are using footnotes, the period remains inside the quotation mark, while the footnote
number goes outside:
old man of seventy-two.1
In Canada and the United States, commas and periods never go outside a quotation mark. They are
always absorbed as part of the quotation, whether they belong to you or to the author you are quoting:
I am a man / more sinned against than sinning, Lear pronounces in Act 3, Scene 2 (59-60).
However, stronger forms of punctuation such as question marks and exclamation marks go inside the
quotation if they belong to the author, and outside if they do not:
Bewildered, Lear asks the fool, Who is it that can tell me who I am? (1.4.227).
Why is Lear so rash as to let his two daughters dowers digest the third (1.1.127)?
Finally, use single quotation marks for all quotations within quotations:
When Elizabeth reveals that her younger sister has eloped, Darcy drops his customary reserve: I am
grieved, indeed, cried Darcy, grieved shocked (Austen 295).

REVISING AND EDITING

Revising gives you the chance to preview your work on behalf of the eventual reader. Revision is
much more than proofreading, though in the final editing stage it involves some checking of details.
Good revision and editing can transform a mediocre first draft into an excellent final paper. It's
more work, but leads to real satisfaction when you find you've said what you wanted.
Here are some steps to follow on your own. Writing centres can give you further guidance.
Start Large, End Small
Revision may mean changing the shape and reasoning in your paper. It often means adding or
deleting sentences and paragraphs, shifting them around, and reshaping them as you go. Before
dealing with details of style and language (editing), be sure you have presented ideas that are clear
and forceful. Make notes as you go through these questions, and stop after each section to make the
desired revisions.
1. First check whether you have fulfilled the intention of the assignment. Look again at the
instruction sheet, and revise your work to be sure you can say yes to these questions:
o Have you performed the kind of thinking the assignment sheet asked for (e.g., analyse,
argue, compare, explore)?
o Have you written the genre of document called for (e.g., book review, critique, personal
response, field notes, research report, lab report, essay)?
o Have you used concepts and methods of reasoning discussed in the course? Dont be shy
of using theoretical terms from the course. Also beware of just retelling stories or listing
information. Looking at your topic sentences in sequence will show what kinds of ideas you
have emphasized. (See our handout on Developing Coherent Paragraphs.)
o Have you given adequate evidence for your argument or interpretation? Be sure that the
reader knows why and how your ideas are important. A quick way of checking is to note
where your paragraphs go after their topic sentences. Watch out for repetitions of general
ideaslook for progression into detailed reasoning, usually including source referencing.
2. Then look at overall organization. It's worthwhile to print out everything so that you can view
the entire document. Then consider these questions, and revise to get the answers you want:
o Does your introduction make clear where the rest of the paper is headed? If the paper is
argument-based, you will likely use a thesis statement. Research papers often start with a
statement of the research question. (Ask a clear-headed roommate or other friend to give
you a prediction of what he or she expects after reading only the first few paragraphs of your
paper. Dont accept a vague answer.)
o Is each section in the right place to fulfil your purpose? (It might help to make a reverse
outline: take the key idea from each paragraph or section and set it down in a list so you can
see the logical structure of what youve written. Does it hang together? Is it all necessary?
Whats missing? Revise to fill in gaps and take out irrelevant material.)
o Have you drawn connections between the sections? (Look again at your topic sentences to
see if they link back to what has just been said as well as looking forward to the next point.
Find ways to draw ideas together explicitly. Use logical statements, not just a sprinkling of
connecting words.)
o Would a person reading your conclusion know what question you had asked and how you
had arrived at your answer? (Again, ask for a real paraphrase.)
3. Now polish and edit your style by moving to smaller matters such as word choice, sentence
structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. You may already have passages that you know
need further work. This is where you can use computer programs (with care) and reference
material such as handbooks and handouts. Here are some tips:
o Read passages aloud to see if you have achieved the emphasis you want. Look for places
to use short sentences to draw attention to key ideas, questions, or argumentative statements.
If you can't read a sentence all the way through with expression, try cutting it into two or
more.
o Be sure to use spell check. It will help you catch most typos and many wrongly spelled
words. But dont let it replace anything automatically, or youll end up with nonsense
words. You will still have to read through your piece and use a print dictionary or writer's
handbook to look up words that you suspect are not right.
o Don't depend on a thesaurus. It will supply you with lists of words in the same general
category as the one you have triedbut most of them won't make sense. Use plain clear
words instead. Use a print dictionary and look up synonyms given as part of definitions.
Always look at the samples of usage too.
o Dont depend on a grammar checker. The best ones still miss many errors, and they give
a lot of bad advice. If you know that you overuse slang or the passive voice, you may find
some of the hits useful, but be sure to make your own choice of replacement phrases. A
few of the explanations may be useful. But nothing can substitute for your own judgement.
A Note on Appearance:
Looks do count. Give your instructor the pleasure of handling a handsome documentor at least of
not getting annoyed or inconvenienced. These are the basic expectations for any type of assignment.
o Include a cover page giving the title of your paper, the name of the course, your name, the
date, and the instructors name. Dont bother with coloured paper, fancy print, or
decorations.
o Number your pages in the top right-hand corner. Omit the number for the first page of your
paper (since it will be headed by the title), starting in with 2 on the second page.
o Double-space your text, including indented quotations, footnotes, and reference lists. Leave
margins of one inch (2.5 cm) on all sides of the page.
o Use a standard font in twelve-point size. For easier reading, don't right-justify your lines.
o Put the reference list or bibliography on a separate page at the end. (See the handout on
Standard Documentation Format: choose your format, then use the examples as guides.)
o Staple your pages; dont use a bulky binding or cover.
Reading to Write: About Skimming and Scanning

Your perceptions of any written text are deepened through familiarity. One of
the most effective methods for beginning the kind of thoughtful reading
necessary for academic work is to get a general overview of the text before
beginning to read it in detail. By first skimming a text, you can get a sense of
its overall logical progression. Skimming can also help you make decisions
about where to place your greatest focus when you have limited time for your
reading. Here is one technique for skimming a text. You may need to modify it
to suit your own reading style.
a. First, prior to skimming, use some of the previewing techniques.
b. Then, read carefully the introductory paragraph, or perhaps the first
two paragraphs. As yourself what the focus of the text appears to be,
and try to predict the direction of the coming explanations or
arguments.
c. Read carefully the first one or two sentences of each paragraph, as
well as the concluding sentence or sentences.
d. In between these opening and closing sentences, keep your eyes
moving and try to avoid looking up unfamiliar words or terminology.
Your goal is to pick up the larger concepts and something of the overall
pattern and significance of the text.
e. Read carefully the concluding paragraph or paragraphs. What does
the authors overall purpose seem to be? Remember that you may be
mistaken, so be prepared to modify your answer.
f. Finally, return to the beginning and read through the text carefully,
noting the complexities you missed in your skimming and filling in the
gaps in your understanding. Think about your purpose in reading this
text and what you need to retain from it, and adjust your focus
accordingly. Look up the terms you need to know, or unfamiliar words
that appear several times.
Scanning is basically skimming with a more tightly focused purpose:
skimming to locate a particular fact or figure, or to see whether this text
mentions a subject youre researching. Scanning is essential in the writing of
research papers, when you may need to look through many articles and books
in order to find the material you need. Keep a specific set of goals in mind as
you scan the text, and avoid becoming distracted by other material. You can
note what youd like to return to later when you do have time to read further,
and use scanning to move ahead in your research project.
SOME GENERAL ADVICE ON ACADEMIC ESSAY-WRITING

1. Miscellaneous observations on a topic are not enough to make an accomplished academic essay.
An essay should have an argument. It should answer a question or a few related questions (see 2
below). It should try to prove somethingdevelop a single "thesis" or a short set of closely related
pointsby reasoning and evidence, especially including apt examples and confirming citations
from any particular text or sources your argument involves. Gathering such evidence normally
entails some rereading of the text or sources with a question or provisional thesis in mind.
2. Whenas is usually the casean assigned topic does not provide you with a thesis ready-made,
your first effort should be to formulate as exactly as possible the question(s) you will seek to
answer in your essay. Next, develop by thinking, reading, and jotting a provisional thesis or
hypothesis. Don't become prematurely committed to this first answer. Pursue it, but test iteven
to the point of consciously asking yourself what might be said against itand be ready to revise or
qualify it as your work progresses. (Sometimes a suggestive possible title one discovers early can
serve in the same way.)
3. There are many ways in which any particular argument may be well presented, but an essay's
organizationhow it begins, develops, and endsshould be designed to present your argument
clearly and persuasively. (The order in which you discovered the parts of your argument is seldom
an effective order for presenting it to a reader.)
4. Successful methods of composing an essay are various, but some practices of good writers are
almost invariable:
They start writing early, even before they think they are "ready" to write, because they use
writing not simply to transcribe what they have already discovered but as a means of
exploration and discovery.
They don't try to write an essay from beginning to end, but rather write what seems readiest to
be written, even if they're not sure whether or how it will fit in.
Despite writing so freely, they keep the essay's overall purpose and organization in mind,
amending them as drafting proceeds. Something like an "outline" constantly and consciously
evolves, although it may never take any written form beyond scattered, sketchy reminders to
oneself.
They revise extensively. Rather than writing a single draft and then merely editing its
sentences one by one, they attend to the whole essay and draft and redraftrearranging the
sequence of its larger parts, adding and deleting sections to take account of what they discover
in the course of composition. Such revision often involves putting the essay aside for a few
days, allowing the mind to work indirectly or subconsciously in the meantime and making it
possible to see the work-in-progress more objectively when they return to it.
Once they have a fairly complete and well-organized draft, they revise sentences, with special
attention to transitionsthat is, checking to be sure that a reader will be able to follow the
sequences of ideas within sentences, from sentence to sentence, and from paragraph to
paragraph. Two other important considerations in revising sentences are diction (exactness and
aptness of words) and economy (the fewest words without loss of clear expression and full
thought). Lastly, they proofread the final copy.
Professor Anderson Silber, Department of English, University of Toronto. 1987, revised 1995.
(Copies including this notice may be made for any students personal use.)
Other handouts on specific stages of the writing process are available online from
www.writing.utoronto.ca
SPECIAL CASES IN THE USE OF THE DEFINITE ARTICLE
To decide if you should use the word the, ask yourself these three questions:
1. Is the noun indefinite (unspecified) or definite (specific)?
The general rule states that the first mention of a noun is indefinite and all subsequent references
to this noun are definite and take the:
A man is walking down a road. There is a dog with the man.
The second mention may be a synonym:
Combine butter, sugar and eggs. Add flour to the mixture.
First (indefinite) mention requires a or an for a singular count noun, no article for a plural or
non-count noun. Second mention makes the correct for both count and non-count nouns:
A growing plant must have water and minerals. The plant must also have sunlight. The
minerals must include nitrates and the water must not be saline.
Three special groups of nouns are considered definite in reference even if they have not been
mentioned in the preceding sentence or clause.
a) The first group consists of nouns which refer to shared knowledge of the situation or
context.
For example, in Canada you can say
The Prime Minister will arrive tomorrow
because there is only one Prime Minister in Canada, and so it is clear to whom you are referring.
Similarly, if there is only one hospital in the town, you can say
He's been working in the hospital for two years.
But you couldn't say this in Toronto, where there are many hospitals. You would have to name
the particular hospital in your first reference to it:
He's been working at Toronto General Hospital for two years. He says the hospital is in a
financial mess.
b) The second group consists of nouns referring to unique objects:
e.g., the sun/the earth/the Pope/the sky/the equator
c) Superlative adjectives and unique adjectives form the third group. Because there can be
only one of these (only one of a series can be the tallest or the best or the first), they take the
definite article:
Mexico City is the most populous city in the world.
I enjoyed the first part, but I was disappointed at the end.
She is the principal researcher.
2. Is the noun modified?
a) Premodification: If the noun is preceded by one of the following-this/that/these/those/some/any/each/every/no/none/my/mine
do not use the definite article.
e.g., the red books/some red books/no red book/his red books/each red book
b) Postmodification: if the noun is followed by a relative clause (who/which/that) or a

prepositional phrase (of/in/to...), it is made definite and takes the definite article.
The man who lives next door is Chinese.
We take the regular collection of garbage for granted.
The journey to Vancouver takes three days by train.
No one expected the results that were found.
EXCEPTION: collective nouns take the indefinite article:
a box of matches/a deck of cards/a bar of soap/a herd of cows.
3. Is the noun generic?
Generic reference is used when one refers to a whole group or class, to generalize about all
possible members of a group. There are five patterns one can use:
a) no article PLUS plural count noun:
It's astonishing what gymnasts can do.
b) no article PLUS noncount noun:
Love can cause a lot of suffering.
c) indefinite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what a gymnast can do.
[This pattern cannot be used to discuss the location or existence of something/someone.
You cannot say A lion lives in Africa. You must use pattern (a) or (d)].
d) definite article PLUS singular count noun:
It's astonishing what the gymnast can do.
e) definite article PLUS plural nationality noun:
The Chinese have an ancient culture.
Pattern (a) is most common in colloquial English; pattern (d) is frequently use in academic
writing.
Sample Corrections of Sentences

___ paper based system is very time consuming and error prone.
A paper based system... Use a if there many such systems and you are referring to one
of them.
The paper based system... Use the if there is only one such system in existence.
Paper based systems... Use the plural if there are many such systems and you are
referring to all of them.
EDI can suffer more from ___ breakdown than the manual system.
EDI can suffer more from a breakdown ... Use a if the type of breakdown has not been
specified or is immaterial.
EDI can suffer more from the breakdown ... Use the only if you have previously
specified which type of breakdown this is.
EDI can suffer more from breakdowns ... Use the plural if there are many types of
breakdowns and all of them can occur.
Organizations should be ready for ___ increased workload.
Organizations should be ready for an increased workload. Use a if there will be only
one type of workload change, but you dont know what kind.
Organizations should be ready for the increased workload. Use the if the increase is
specific.
Organizations should be ready for increased workloads. Use the plural if there are
many types of increased workloads.
It is ___ museums task to explore contemporary culture.
It is a museums task... Use a if you are referring to any museum.
It is the museums task... Use the if you are referring to one specific museum.
Special Uses of Articles

a) Proper nouns. Proper nouns, because they are the names of people or places, are already
specific and so do not need to be made more specific by the definite article. So we say John,
not the John, and Canada, not the Canada. (There are one or two anomalous usages in
place names: e.g., the Netherlands, but Holland.) This rule explains why we say Boyles
Law, not the Boyles Law, and Plancks constant but not the Plancks constant.
Sometimes, however, a proper noun is used as an adjective, and adjectives do not affect the
decision to use the article with the noun. You must look at the noun in order to know whether or
not to use the definite article.
Japans financial problem Japan is a proper noun. No article.
the Japanese financial problem Japanese is an adjective. Look at the noun to decide
if there should be an article: problem is general and must be made specific by using
the.
Japanese financial problems Japanese is an adjective. Look at the noun. It is plural,

so refers to all problems in general. No article.
Smiths book on Japan Smith is the proper name of the person. No article.
the Smith book on Japan Smith is used as an adjective modifying the noun book.
Book is general, and must be made specific by using the article. (If the name is
possessive, it is a proper noun. If not, it is acting as an adjective.)
b) Media and communications:
Use a noun PLUS definite article to refer to systems of communication and the mass media, in
contrast to the actual machine of communications. The telephone is the system of
communication; a telephone is the actual physical machine.
The newspapers are all in agreement on the latest financial disaster.
[exception: television usually has no article: Did you see him on TV?]
c) Means of transportation:
Use the definite article to refer to the whole transport system, rather than to an individual
vehicle:
How long does it take on the bus?
The subway is quicker.
[if you use the construction "by PLUS means of transport," there is no article: I go by
subway].
d) Forms of entertainment:
To refer to a form of entertainment in general, use the definite article:
I enjoy seeing the ballet.
To refer to a particular event, use the indefinite article:
I saw a good movie last night.
e) Place/object or activity nouns:
Certain nouns refer to either a place/object or to an activity. When they refer to an activity, do
not use the definite article:
ACTIVITY
OBJECT
I go to bed at 11 o'clock.
Don't jump on the bed.
She went to school for many years.
The school was too small.
Many families eat dinner together.
The dinner was delicious.
I shower before breakfast.
The breakfast was delicious.
They are at church.
The church is very old.
She is in class.
The class is in Room 102
f) Directions:
Nouns indicating direction do not take the definite article:
Go two blocks south and turn left.
[exception: nouns indicating political divisions take the definite article:
She is on the left of the party.]
g) Periods of time:
Names of decades, centuries and historic periods take the definite article, as they are a form of
unique reference:
The 1960s were a time of student rebellion.
Prepared by Martine Johnson, International Student Centre, University of Toronto.

________________________
1
2
Brown, 220.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works Cited
References
INTERNET SOURCES
Web. 20 June 2012.

________________________
1
2
Brown, 220.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works Cited
References
INTERNET SOURCES
Web. 20 June 2012.

work.
statement.)

"sticky" notes).


work.
statement.)

"sticky" notes).

Teaching Multilingual Students:

An Overview for Course Instructors and TAs
by Leora Freedman, English Language Learning Coordinator, Faculty of Arts and Science
You will find that many of your students use English as a second or additional language. Many
first-year international students are just starting this new segment of their education that is entirely
in English. You will also have students who were educated in Toronto but still need to develop
greater proficiency in English. How do these conditions affect your teaching duties?
You may have to mark papers that are difficult for you to follow due to language errors. Other
papers may be understandable but still contain many language errors. How will you mark
papers in which the students conceptual grasp of the material is very good but the writing is
quite faulty?
Some students in your classes or tutorials may avoid oral participation because they fear others
will not understand them due to language errors or faulty pronunciation. In some cases this is
just anxiety, but in other cases the student may be difficult for you and others to understand.
How can you encourage these students to participate? How will you make sure you understand
what theyre trying to say?
Some of your students may have difficulty finishing the course readings or comprehending
them. They may also find it difficult to understand the material you present in the tutorials or
lectures. What will you do if it becomes clear that some students are not following the
discussion?
All of this raises the larger question of how to help these students to succeed without imposing a
heavy burden on yourself. Your time is limited, so it is useful to be acquainted with methods that can
simultaneously help your multilingual students AND reduce your own workload. Many of these
approaches prevent the development of problems that would take a great deal of time to solve.
1. Keep in mind the valid process of high-level language acquisition that occurs while a student
is engaged in the regular curriculum. Much research points away from the usefulness of separate
courses for language preparation at this stage and supports the effectiveness of language learning
that is embedded within the usual curriculum. Just by modeling good usage of English in your
field, you are teaching these students a great deal. They are progressing each day, whether or not
you notice the difference. Zamel and Spacks Crossing the Curriculum: Multilingual Learners in
College Classrooms gives a convincing description of this process.
2. Remember that many studentsnot just multilingual oneswill learn concepts faster and
retain them better if you provide some form of visual aid to accompany the lesson. This may
be a handout, overhead, map or list of key words on the board, PowerPoint slides, etc. Dont feel
obligated to reproduce every word you plan to speak, but do give students an outline of the key
terms or concepts. As youre speaking, draw visual representations on the board to show
relationships. It sometimes seems that preparing these visual aids in advance adds to your teaching
time, but in reality this preparation prevents misunderstandings that can take more time to clarify.
3. Encourage all students to use effective reading strategies. Many students benefit from a brief
preview of a text or its key terms. Point out the larger structure of the reading, focusing on
headings, definitions of terms, and important moves in the argument. Students often get lost in the
details. If a multilingual student asks you for advice about getting through the reading, encourage
him/her not to look up every word but to manage the available time so as to reach the end.
Reassure the student that reading speed and comprehension improve with time, etc. You can often
best help someone learn a language simply by providing encouragement.
4. Try to give students the opportunity to write frequently and not necessarily for a grade. You
can devise exercises that involve responding briefly to a critical question or summarizing the
readingshort pieces that you can go around and read/comment on as part of the session.
Alternatively, students can share what theyve written with a small group. All students benefit from
having to express themselves like this, even if you dont collect or mark the papers. (You could
also collect them and check them off as a participation mark, or just use a simple rubric as a
response). Exercises like these may also alert you to students who should be advised to take their
longer assignments to their Writing Centre for further targeted instruction on specific aspects of
writing: see www.writing.utoronto.ca/writing-centres.
5. If your course has a policy allowing students to show you a rough draft of a longer paper,
encourage them to do so. Do not spend a great deal of time on a rough draft; look carefully at the
first 2-3 paragraphs, which will tell you whether the student has understood the assignment and has
some sense of the necessary structure. Tell them the purpose of the meeting is simply to determine
whether theyre on the right track. If theyre not, give an explanation but do not start actually
helping them revise the paper. If there are serious language errors, circle just some examples. For
more individualized instruction in language use, students can visit their writing centre. Writing
centres do not edit the entire paper, but can be asked to provide instruction in specific elements
of organization, development, grammar, sentence structure, diction, etc. Keep your own
discussions with students focused on how effectively theyve communicated course concepts
6. Refer students who are having difficulty reading, writing, or speaking to the network of
support for English Language Learners. Undergraduate students in Arts and Science can
participate in the Reading eWriting project online or the Communication Cafes, which are drop-in
sessions focusing on academic English. Similar programs are available in other divisions
(including one for graduate students): see www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/english-as-a-secondlanguage. (These programs dont provide individual consultation on papers, thoughthats the
mandate of the writing centres.)
7. Remember that educational backgrounds vary widely. A student may not understand a reading
or an assignment for cultural reasons (i.e. a lack of background knowledge, or a variance in
assumptions). Many educational systems do not emphasize critical thinking, so this may be a new
skill for some of your students. In tutorials, it is helpful if you model the kind of analysis you want
students to do and give them a chance to practice it orally before they have to write. Remember
that many students are coming to English as a third or fourth language, which is harder for many
people than a second language.
8. Students are more likely to speak in smaller groups. To maximize participation, you can divide
your class into smaller groups of 2-6 students, depending on the task, and have them discuss an
issue with each other. One person can be designated to report back to the class as a whole. Youll
be amazed at how many more people will speak if you use this method.
9. Model effective English. Make sure your own expression is very clear and precise, both orally and
in writing. Use large, clear handwriting on papers and on the board.
10. If you receive a paper that would fail due to language issues, consider giving the student a
second chance. (TAs should follow course policy on this issue.) Particularly at the beginning of
their studies, students may not be aware of the resources available to them or the gap between their
level and the universitys expectations. It can be difficult and time-consuming for you to mark a
paper that is disorganized and contains many errors. If course policy permits, you may be able to
tell the student that a paper is not acceptable and that he/she must turn in a revised version after
working with an instructor at a writing centre.
11. If you see plagiarism, remain cool and objective. Your student may indeed have taken the work
of another student or copied an essay from the Internet. However, most plagiarism cases are not as
clear-cut as these. Many of our multilingual students come from educational backgrounds that have
not provided instruction in how to use research sources according to a North American protocol.
These students have no sense of the concept of ownership that we attach to published sources
and have often learned English through memorizing texts. Try to prevent plagiarism by letting
students know that proper referencing is essential. For further advice and explanation, refer them to
relevant files on the Writing at U of T website (www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources),
and the group workshops and individual instruction offered by their writing centres. For an
enlightening discussion of plagiarism and multilingual students, see Belcher and Hirvelas Linking
Literacies: Perspectives on L2 Reading-Writing Connections.
12. In your marking, it may be helpful to make a distinction between errors that obscure
meaning and those that simply distract the reader. You dont need to apologize for the fact that
English is the language of instruction at U of T and that students must write very well in English in
order to get an A. However, you can also mark holistically, taking into account the degree of
depth, complexity, and sophistication in the analysis; overall organization; and use of research.
Sometimes these attributes may outweigh language errors to the point where you feel justified in
giving a good mark. Even if a paper deserves a low mark for serious language errors, it is
validating for the student if you respond to the ideas in the paper and acknowledge the attempt to
communicate. In any case, you can simply circle or underline errors rather than correcting them or
rewriting sections of the paper; this saves time and is often just as helpful in the long run.
Useful Links:
The Faculty section of the website Writing at the University of Toronto at www.writing.utoronto.ca/faculty
contains many other valuable advice files on aspects of teaching writing, including assignment design and
commenting on student work. See the ELL tab in that section for more detailed advice files on specific issues
around reading and grading, including one on helping students with reading comprehension.
The Resources for Students section of the ELL website at www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/undergraduate/ell offers
downloadable student handouts outlining specific strategies for listening, reading, and interpreting texts and
visuals. Undergraduates in Arts and Science can also find information about the ELL summer course,
Communication Cafs, and online Reading e-Writing activities.
All students can consult the page www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/english-as-second-language for annotated lists of
other campus programs (including longstanding ones at UTSC, SGS and the Centre for International Experience)
and links to relevant books and online learning activities.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Prepared 2012 by Leora Freedman, English Language Learning Coordinator, Faculty of Arts and Science,
for the Faculty section of the website Writing at the University of Toronto: www.writing.utoronto.ca.
THESIS AND GRANT PROPOSALS: SOME ADVICE
Process (how to do it)

Look closely at departmental specifications (about timing, scope, length, readers).
Ask other graduate students in your department about their experiences; find a way
to look at past proposals.
Try out your ideas as widely as possible, especially with your supervisor and
committee members (informal discussions, drafts, preliminary meetings,
presentations at colloquia, etc.).
Dont procrastinate: delay just isolates you from sources of help.
Function (what its for)

Show why your research idea is interesting within the field: discuss what others have
done and not done.
Show that you can carry it out: sketch your methodology.
Limit your promises: exclude texts, topics, methods that you wont use (and say
why) as well as outlining those you will use.
Remember that your thesis proposal is a document to be filed, not a publication of
results.
Rhetoric (how it gets through)

Start with why your idea is worth doing (contribution to field), then fill in how
Show confidence and eagerness (use I and active verbs, concise style, positive
phrasing).
A Note on Grant Proposals

Graduate students are often asked to write grant proposals, sometimes along with their thesis
proposals, and they also find themselves part of teams writing proposals for funding to support
their lab activities. Compared to a thesis proposal, a grant proposal typically contains more detail
about practical matters such as resources, budget, and timelines. It may need a section on how
you will monitor and evaluate the results of your research. Use the advice above (including the
recommendation to gain the reader's interest early), within the constraints of length and format
guidelines. When writing as part of a team, work out individual responsibilities before starting.
Take extra care to ensure that all parts of the document are included, correctly formatted, and
consistent with each other.
You will find useful information about grant and doctoral proposals at the websites for
Canadian granting agencies. For direct links to the main ones, start from the page on Finding
Funding at www.library.utoronto.ca/rir/funding/f_finding.html Note the agencies emphasis on
public perception of research projects, and thus on the need to be clear about your purpose.
Other sources of advice

A number of books in campus libraries give advice about graduate writing, including proposalwriting. Here is a selection: Eileen Nickerson, The Dissertation Handbook: A Guide to
Successful Dissertation; Maeve OConnor, Writing Successfully in Science; George Watson,
Writing a Thesis: A Guide to Long Essays and Dissertations
For relevant online advice, visit the Advice page of the Writing at U of T website and browse
through the list of files to find some that deal with your specific challenges, including
Writing a Literature Review, The Abstract, Wordiness: Danger Signals and How to React,
and How Not to Plagiarize (how to integrate your references).
For specific advice on writing grant proposals, see the helpfully annotated list of online advice
files set out by the University of Wisconsin at www.researchguides.library.wisc.edu. One
recommendation is the site of Joseph Levine, Michigan State University, at
www.learnerassociates.net/proposal. The page on Finding Funding at
www.library.utoronto.ca/rir/funding/f_finding.html makes your task easier by listing contact
information, deadlines and announcements, and linking to agencies, databases and forms.
Several writing centres at U of T offer direct instruction on writing grant proposals. The Office
of English Language and Writing Support (ELWS) at SGS offers courses and workshops
that will be relevant to your task: for details, see www.sgs.utoronto.ca/english/. That page
will also show you how to make an appointment for a consultant to look at your document
with you as material for an on-the-spot writing lesson. Students in Dentistry, Exercise
Science, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Social Work also have access to the Health Sciences
Writing Centre for individual consultations: book online through www.hswriting.ca.
Students at OISE may work with peer tutors at the Academic and Cultural Support Centre,
part of Student Services on the fifth floor: see
www.oise.utoronto.ca/studentservices/supportServices/academicWritingCentre.php
N.B. For live links, use the online version of this handout at
www.writing.utoronto.ca/faqs/help-for-graduate-students/academic-proposals
USING THESIS STATEMENTS

When you are asked to write an essay that creates an argument, your reader will expect a
clear statement of your position. Typically, this summary statement comes in the first
paragraph of the essay, though there is no rigid rule about position. Here are some
characteristics of good thesis statements, with samples of useful and inadequate ones. Note
that the better examples substitute specific argumentative points for sweeping general
statements; they indicate a theoretical basis and promise substantial support. (See Myths
About Thesis Statements [over] for a discussion of times not to organize your writing around
thesis statements.)
1.
It makes a definite and limited assertion that needs to be explained and

supported by further discussion.
trite, irrelevant
Shakespeare was the world's greatest playwright.
intriguing
The last scene in Midsummer Night's Dream adds a political

dimension to the comedy ending by incorporating subtle linguistic
and theatrical references to Elizabeth's position as queen.
2.
It shows the emphasis of your argument and indicates its methodology.
emotional, vague
This essay will show that the North American Free Trade agreement
was a disaster for the Canadian furniture industry.
worth attention
Neither neo-protectionism nor post-industrial theory explains the

steep reversal of fortune for the Canadian furniture industry in the
period 1988-1994. Data on productivity, profits, and employment,
however, can be closely correlated with provisions of the North
American Free Trade Agreement that took effect in the same period.
3.
It shows awareness of difficulties and disagreements.
sweeping, vague
Having an official policy on euthanasia just causes problems, as the

Dutch example shows.
suitably complex
Dutch laws on euthanasia have been praised for their use of the
principle of self-determination. Recent cases, however, show that
these laws have not been able to deal adequately with issues
involving technological intervention on unconscious patients.
Hamarckian theory is needed to enlarge the framework used in
creating the Dutch law. It provides one way to examine the key
question of how to assign rights.
N.B. See over for a discussion of faulty ideas about thesis statements.
Myths about Thesis Statements

and some better ideas
Every paper requires one.
Assignments that ask you to write personal responses or to explore a subject don't want you
to prejudge the issues. Essays of literary interpretation often want you to be aware of many
effects rather than seeming to box yourself into one view of the text.
A thesis statement must come at the end of the first paragraph.
This is a natural position for a statement of focus, but it's not the only one. Some theses can
be stated in the opening sentences of an essay; others need a paragraph or two of
introduction; others can't be fully formulated until the end.
A thesis statement must be one sentence in length.
Clear writing is more important than rules like these. Use two or three sentences if you need
them. A complex argument may require a whole tightly-knit paragraph to make its initial
statement of position.
You can't start writing an essay until you have a perfect thesis statement.
It's usually a good idea to draft a hypothesis or tentative thesis statement near the start of a
big project, but changing and refining a thesis is a main task of thinking your way through
your ideas as you write a paper. Some projects need to explore the question in depth without
being locked in too early. Think in terms of a possible answer to your question, not a rigid
commitment. Then go back and reformulate your introduction once you see how far you get.
A thesis statement must give three points of support.
It should indicate that the essay will explain and give evidence for its assertion, but points of
evidence don't need to come in any specific number. It's also important to consider the range
of possible perspectives (including their pros and cons), not just to gather support for one
view.

Using Topic Sentences

What is a topic sentence?
A topic sentence states the main point of a paragraph: it serves as a mini-thesis for the
paragraph. You might think of it as a signpost for your readersor a headline
something that alerts them to the most important, interpretive points in your essay. When
read in sequence, your essays topic sentences will provide a sketch of the essays
argument. Thus topics sentences help protect your readers from confusion by guiding
them through the argument. But topic sentences can also help you to improve your essay
by making it easier for you to recognize gaps or weaknesses in your argument.
Where do topic sentences go?

Topic sentences usually appear at the very beginning of paragraphs. In the following
example from Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye establishes the figure of the tragic
hero as someone more than human, but less than divine. He backs up his claim with
examples of characters from literature, religion and mythology whose tragic stature is a
function of their ability to mediate between their fellow human beings and a power that
transcends the merely human:
The tragic hero is typically on top of the wheel of fortune, half-way
between human society on the ground and the something greater in the sky.
Prometheus, Adam, and Christ hang between heaven and earth, between a
world of paradisal freedom and a world of bondage. Tragic heroes are so
much the highest points in their human landscape that they seem the
inevitable conductors of the power about them, great trees more likely to
be struck by lightning than a clump of grass. Conductors may of course be
instruments as well as victims of the divine lightning: Miltons Samson
destroys the Philistine temple with himself, and Hamlet nearly
exterminates the Danish court in his own fall.
The structure of Fryes paragraph is simple yet powerful: the topic sentence makes an
abstract point, and the rest of the paragraph elaborates on that point using concrete
examples as evidence.
Does a topic sentence have to be at the beginning of a paragraph?

No, though this is usually the most logical place for it. Sometimes a transitional
sentence or two will come before a topic sentence:
We found in comedy that the term bomolochos or buffoon need not be
restricted to farce, but could be extended to cover comic characters who
are primarily entertainers, with the function of increasing or focusing
the comic mood. The corresponding contrasting type is the suppliant, the
character, often female, who presents a picture of unmitigated
helplessness and destitution. Such a figure is pathetic, and pathos,
though it seems a gentler and more relaxed mood than tragedy, is even more
terrifying. Its basis is the exclusion of an individual from the group;
hence it attacks the deepest fear in ourselves that we possessa fear
much deeper than the relatively cosy and sociable bogey of hell. In the
suppliant pity and terror are brought to the highest possible pitch of
intensity, and the awful consequences of rejecting the suppliant for all
concerned is a central theme of Greek tragedy.
The context for this passage is an extended discussion of the characteristics of tragedy. In
this paragraph, Frye begins by drawing a parallel between the figure of the buffoon in
comedy and that of the suppliant in tragedy. His discussion of the buffoon occurred in a
earlier section of the chapter, a section devoted to comedy. The first sentence of the
current paragraph is transitional: it prepares the way for the topic sentence. The delayed
topic sentence contributes to the coherence of Fryes discussion by drawing an explicit
connection between key ideas in the book. In essays, the connection is usually between
the last paragraph and the current one.
Sometimes writers save a topic sentence for the end of a paragraph. You may, for
example, occasionally find that giving away your point at the beginning of a paragraph
does not allow you to build your argument toward an effective climax.
How do I come up with a topic sentence? And what makes a good one?
Ask yourself whats going on in your paragraph. Why have you chosen to include the
information you have? Why is the paragraph important in the context of your argument?
What point are you trying to make?
Relating your topic sentences to your thesis can help strengthen the coherence of
your essay. If you include a thesis statement in your introduction, then think of
incorporating a keyword from that statement into the topic sentence. But you need not be
overly explicit when you echo the thesis statement. Better to be subtle rather than heavyhanded. Do not forget that your topic sentence should do more than just establish a
connection between your paragraph and your thesis. Use a topic sentence to show how
your paragraph contributes to the development of your argument by moving it that one
extra step forward. If your topic sentence merely restates your thesis, then either your
paragraph is redundant or your topic sentence needs to be reformulated. If several of your
topic sentences restate your thesis, even if they do so in different words, then your essay
is probably repetitive.
Does every paragraph need one?

No, but most do. Sometimes a paragraph helps to develop the same point as in the
previous paragraph, and so a new topic sentence would be redundant. And sometimes the
evidence in your paragraph makes your point so effectively that your topic sentence can
remain implicit. But if you are in doubt, its best to use one.
Prepared by Jenny Hall and Jerry Plotnick, University College Writing Centre.
UNBIASED LANGUAGE
Recent social changes have made people think about the ways language sometimes deals
disrespectfully with certain groups of people. Common sense and some specific strategies can
help you avoid suggesting putdowns where you don't intend themwithout twisting your style
into knots.
Avoiding He and She: Many standard wordings seem to assume that every individual is male.
It's clumsy to repeat he and she, him and her, his and hers every time you need a pronoun. The
grouping he/she is awkward to say. Fortunately, finding alternatives can be as simple as using
plural rather than singular, or simply bypassing any pronoun.
Man is a tool-building animal.
INCLUSIVE
Humans are tool-building animals.

came before him.
came before him or her.
Every artist has learned from previous
artists.
INCLUSIVE BUT AWKWARD

INCLUSIVE
Dated Quotations: Historical or literary texts don't always follow these principles. You may
feel they are distasteful, but accusing them of bias isn't usually worthwhile. In academic writing,
do so only if you are sure the original meaning was distorted. Usually you can paraphrase and
comment to show your interpretation of the idea you want to cite:
OBTRUSIVE
MORE SUBTLE
Pope probably meant more than the male population when he said, "The
proper study of mankind [sic] is man [sic]."
Pope affirmed the need for human self-awareness when he said, "The
proper study of mankind is man."
Confusing the Group and the Individual: Many academic disciplines focus on group
behaviour and can describe it precisely. Don't get stuck in the habit, though, of referring to
people only as representatives of categories. That's especially important if you're writing about
(and perhaps to) individual clients or patients or students.
Avoid using adjectives as collective nouns: females, natives, gays, Asians, the blind, etc.
Nouns like women or blind people are easy substitutes in most cases.
Terminology can reflect important distinctions. That's the justification for terms like
hearing-impaired or partially sighted. (A hearing-impaired person has partial hearing,
while a profoundly deaf person has none or almost none.)
On the same principle, consider whether you can give more specific information. How
much sight, and what kind, does the person have? Was Gandhi just Asian, or would be it be
more useful to specify what part of India he came from, and from what caste? In a
marketing analysis, too, data about people's behaviour tells you more than stereotypes do.
Some terms have outlived their usefulness. Again, it's more precise as well as more
considerate, to note that a person has a specific syndrome rather than saying he's a dwarf or
mentally retarded. Racial terms notoriously change fashion: black has gone in and out of
favour, for instance, and native or aboriginal are preferred to Indian. As in the case of gay,
the criterion should be what people in a specific group want to be called. Again, any
adjective used as a noun (a black, a diabetic) seems to reduce people to one characteristic.
Gendered Labels: Terms that label people simply on the basis of their sex have often gathered
negative overtones. They can readily be avoided:
Feminine forms of words such as poetess or woman doctor are certainly outdated, since
they suggest that a woman in the role of poet or doctor is not the real thing. That's the
trouble with policewoman and chairwoman too. You can nearly always replace such terms
with a non-gendered form: poet, doctor, police officer, chair.
Titles like Mr., Mrs., and the recently invented Ms. are less and less used orally in most
parts of North America, and their function in writing is small. They are still expected in the
salutations of formal letters such as applications (Dear Ms. Lee), but are seldom necessary
in less formal communications such as email or internal memos, where first names are
standard (Dear Leila; Hi, Jim). It's also acceptable to say Dear Chris Singh or TO: Chris
Singh and bypass the question of gender.
In academic writing, such titles and the honorifics Professor and Doctor are almost never
used except on cover pages. Use only last names when you refer to your sources, even if
the authors are eminent authorities. When your writing concentrates on a specific figure,
you may want to give the full name on first mention, then revert to last name only: Emily
Dickinson was thoroughly familiar with popular musical forms of her day. . . . In using the
ballad stanza, however, Dickinson varies the meter for her own artistic purposes.
Further References
American Psychological Association. APA Publication Manual, 6th ed., Chapter 3.
Miller, Casey and Kate Swift. The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing.
Modern Language Association, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed., sections
1.10 and 3.4.2.
Ontario Ministry of Citizenship. Word Choices: A Lexicon of Preferred Terms for Disability
Issues.

Over 50 other files giving advice on university writing are available at www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice

______________________________________________________________________________
1.
[INFINITIVE]
[GERUND]

acknowledge
* accuse of
admit
advise
anticipate
appreciate
avoid
complete
consider
defer
delay
deny
discuss
entail
* look after
* insist on
involve
justify
mention
* plan on
postpone
recall
resent
recommend
resist
risk
sanction
suggest
* take care of
tolerate


afford
agree
appear
arrange
beg
care
claim
consent
decide
demand
deserve
expect
fail
hesitate
hope
learn
manage
neglect
need
offer
plan
prepare
pretend
promise
refuse
seem
struggle
swear
threaten
volunteer
wait
want
wish
2.


I want to go home.
[AUXILIARY + VERB]
[VERB + INFINITIVE]

ask
beg
cause
challenge
convince
encourage
expect
forbid
force
hire
instruct
invite
need
order
persuade
remind
require
teach
tell
urge
want
warn


______________________________________________________________________________
1.
[INFINITIVE]
[GERUND]

acknowledge
* accuse of
admit
advise
anticipate
appreciate
avoid
complete
consider
defer
delay
deny
discuss
entail
* look after
* insist on
involve
justify
mention
* plan on
postpone
recall
resent
recommend
resist
risk
sanction
suggest
* take care of
tolerate


afford
agree
appear
arrange
beg
care
claim
consent
decide
demand
deserve
expect
fail
hesitate
hope
learn
manage
neglect
need
offer
plan
prepare
pretend
promise
refuse
seem
struggle
swear
threaten
volunteer
wait
want
wish
2.


I want to go home.
[AUXILIARY + VERB]
[VERB + INFINITIVE]

ask
beg
cause
challenge
convince
encourage
expect
forbid
force
hire
instruct
invite
need
order
persuade
remind
require
teach
tell
urge
want
warn

Verbs for Referring to Sources

You can indicate your attitude to the sources you cite by choosing specific verbs to refer to them.
Don't just keep repeating Smith says. There is a wide choice of such verbs in English. Use a
dictionary to check that you have chosen a verb with the nuance you intend.
Here are some grammatical patterns to follow in using these verbs:
Pattern 1:
reporting verb + that + subject + verb
acknowledge
admit
agree
allege
argue
assert
assume
believe
claim
conclude
consider
decide
demonstrate
deny
determine
discover
doubt
emphasize
explain
find
hypothesize
imply
indicate
infer
note
object
observe
point out
prove
reveal
say
show
state
suggest
think
(a) Da Souza argues that previous researchers have misinterpreted the data.
(b) Researchers have demonstrated that the procedure is harmful.
(c) Positivists find that social disorders are exacerbated by class factors.
(d) Singh infers that both states are essential.
Note that these verbs all differ in meaningthey cannot be used interchangeably. For example,
the verb argue in sample sentence (a) indicates your judgement that the authors conclusion is
based on evidence and reasoning, but that other conclusions might be possible. The verb
demonstrate in sentence (b) indicates your judgement that the researchers evidence and
reasoning are so convincing that no other conclusion is possible.
Beware of using the verbs discuss or express followed by that. For example, it is incorrect to
write, The reviewer expressed that the movie is not worth seeing. You can, however, write the
following: The reviewer expressed the view that the movie is not worth seeing.
N.B.: Verbs in this category may also appear in a subordinate clause beginning with As:
(e) As Da Souza argues, misinterpretations by previous researchers need to be corrected.
(f) As researchers have demonstrated, the procedure is harmful.
Pattern 2:
reporting verb + somebody/something + for + noun/gerund
applaud
blame
censure
criticize
disparage
fault
praise
ridicule
single out
thank
(a) Smith criticized Jones for his use of incomplete data (OR for using incomplete data).
(b) Both Smith and Jones condemn previous researchers for distorting the data.
(c) Banting thanked Best for his contribution to the discovery of insulin.
Pattern 3:
reporting verb + somebody/something + as + noun/gerund/adjective
appraise
assess
characterize
class
define
depict
describe
evaluate
interpret
portray
present
refer
(a) Jones describes the findings as resting on irrefutable evidence.
(b) Smith identifies the open window as a source of contamination.
(c) Smith and Jones both present their data as conclusive.
classify
identify
view

by Martine Johnson, International Student Centre,
and revised in 2004 by Rebecca Smollett, Margaret Procter, and Jerry Plotnick.
WORDINESS: DANGER SIGNALS and Ways to React

One of the most efficient ways to improve your writing is to edit it for conciseness. You may
have been struggling to think ideas through as you wroteand piled up alternative wordings. Or
you may have fallen into the habit of using more words than necessary just to use up space. If
you can let your original draft "cool down" a while, you will find it easer to recognize
unnecessary words and edit them out. Your reader will thank you! Here are some common
patterns of wordiness, with sensible things to do about them.
Doubling of Words (INSTEAD, choose one):

e.g.,
mutual agreement (agreement)

consensus of opinion (consensus)
whether or not (whether)
future prospects (prospects)

reconsider again (reconsider)
inadvertent error (error)
Intensifiers, Qualifiers (INSTEAD, omit or give specific details):

e.g.,
very
extremely
a considerable amount of
really
definitely
to a certain extent
Formulaic Phrases (INSTEAD, use a one-word form or omit):

e.g.,
for the purpose of (to)

at this point in time (now)
with regard to (about)
as the case may be (---)
due to the fact that (because)

in the near future (soon)
in view of the fact that (because)
Basically, . . . (---)
Catch-all Terms (INSTEAD, omit wherever possible):

e.g.,
aspect
case
fact
factor
feature
field
kind
matter
nature
problem
quality
situation
sort
thing
type
WEAK
A surprising aspect of most labour negotiations is their friendly quality.
IMPROVED Most labour negotiations are surprisingly friendly.
WEAK
The fact of the war had the effect of causing many changes.
IMPROVED The war caused many changes. Specifically . . .
Padded Verbs (INSTEAD, use a one-word form):

e.g.
to have an expectation, hope, wish, understanding, etc.

(to expect, hope, wish understand, etc.)
to make an arrangement, plan, decision, inquiry, acquisition, etc.
(to arrange, plan, decide, inquire, acquire, etc.)
Unnecessary "to be" and "being" (INSTEAD, omit):

WEAK
The program is considered to be effective.
IMPROVED The book is considered effective OR The program is effective.
WEAK
because of the terrain being rough
IMPROVED because of the rough terrain
Passive Verbs (INSTEAD, use active voice, preferably with a personal subject):
WEAK
It is felt that an exercise program should be attempted by this patient before any
surgery is performed.
IMPROVED The patient should attempt an exercise program before surgery.
IMPROVED I recommend that the patient attempt an exercise program before surgery.
IMPROVED Mr. Lee, please do these exercises every day for six weeks to strengthen your leg
muscles before we try any more surgery.
WEAK
The bevelling jig is said by most users to be faulty.
IMPROVED Most users say the bevelling jig is faulty.
Overuse of Relative Structures ("Who," "Which," "That") (INSTEAD, omit):

WEAK
The novel, which is entitled Ulysses, takes place . . .
IMPROVED The novel Ulysses takes place . . .
WEAK
It was Confucius who said . . .
IMPROVED Confucius said . . .
WEAK
I think that X is the case. . .
IMPROVED X is the case, as this evidence shows: . . .
WEAK
There is a tendency among many writers who may be seen to display certain
signs of lack of confidence that their sentences will be overloaded with relative
clauses and other words which are generally useless in function.
IMPROVED Many hesitant writers overload their sentences with relative clauses and other
useless words.

WRITING CENTRES: How We Work and How to Work with Us

Writing centres at the University of Toronto provide individual consultations with trained writing instructors,
along with group teaching in workshops and courses. Theres no charge for any of this instructionit's
part of your academic program. The mandate of writing centres is to help you develop writing skills as you
progress through your studies. All the undergraduate colleges have writing centres for their students, and so
do most professional faculties and the School of Graduate Studies (see the list on the back of this sheet). Here
are some guidelines on how to take advantage of the specialized instruction available in your writing centre.
ACCESS: Group workshops are usually open to all students: watch for announcements online at
www.writing.utoronto.ca/news. For individual instruction, you are entitled to make use of the writing
centre in the college where you are registered or the writing centre in your professional or graduate faculty.
You may also take work in most college program courses (e.g., the ones prefixed INI, NEW, TRN, UNI, VIC,
or WDW) to the writing centre of the college that offers the program. Each writing centre has its own policy
on how often you may have an individual appointment; usually the limit is once a week.
APPOINTMENTS: It's wise to book appointments for individual sessions well ahead of time, especially for
a session in the last few weeks of term, but occasionally there are last-minute openings. The online booking
system keeps a waiting list, then contacts everybody on it when an appointment becomes available. It's up to
you to log in and secure the appointment for yourself. Please be sure to keep your appointments, or at least
give ample notice if you must cancel one. Writing centres can't afford to let appointments go unused and will
remove access for students who miss appointments.
WHAT WE DO: Writing centres are teaching facilities staffed by trained instructors. We give group
instruction to help you find strategies for common writing problems, and we work individually with you, using
your course assignments in any subject at any level, to help you develop your capacity to plan, organize, write,
and revise academic papers.
Our group instruction presents advice on common questions and concerns. You may find us giving a talk
or a workshop as part of your courses. Some writing centres offer free non-credit courses that give more
extended coverage and offer a chance to practise and receive feedback. Ask at your writing centre to find
a session suited to your needs, and see the webpage www.writing.utoronto.ca/news for
announcements about current programming.
In individual counselling sessions, instructors ask about your plans and discuss them with you to help you
understand your topic and clarify your ideas. We do not design research strategies or provide ideas.
Instructors will help you develop your own skills in revising and editing, and will help you identify
patterns of language errors and work to overcome them. But don't ask us to do your proofreading for
you!
It's usually most effective to focus on work in progress, but we will look at past work on request.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP US HELP YOU: A little forethought and lots of followup can help
instructors and students work together efficiently. Here are some pointers.
Bring in your assignment sheet and other course material to help define what is expected.
Come to the writing centre at any stage of work on an assignment, but be sure to leave plenty of time
afterwards to make thorough revisions on your own.
You will profit from your appointments the most if you come back regularly to work on a sequence of
skills in a variety of assignments.
Instructors may refer you to group sessions and to other services and resources in the university, and may
suggest that you consult handbooks about writing or do exercises to practise specific skills. Expect to do
lots of independent work between sessions.
WRITING CENTRES: Contact Information

See over for an explanation of what writing centres do and which one you may use. The box below
lists the various writing centres and their locations. To find more information about your writing
centre and its range of activities, use the links at www.writing.utoronto.ca/writing-centres.
All writing centres except the ones annotated with * below use a shared online booking system for
making appointments. The booking system will confirm the writing centre you are entitled to use,
and will take you through the steps of booking an appointment or joining a waiting list. Start from
https://awc2.wdw.utoronto.ca/awc-login and use your UTORid to log on.
COLLEGE WRITING CENTRES

Innis College Writing Centre, Innis College Room 322
New College Writing Centre, Wilson Hall Rooms 2045 and 2047
St. Michael's College Writing Centre, Kelly Library Rooms 230 and 231
Trinity College Writing Centre, Larkin Building Room 302
University College Writing Centre, Laidlaw Library Rooms 214, 216, and 218
Victoria College Writing Centre, Northrop Frye Hall Rooms 103 A and B
Woodsworth College Academic Writing Centre, Room 214
DEPARTMENTAL WRITING CENTRES

Philosophy Department Essay Clinic: * Book appointments at 416-978-3314
MISSISSAUGA AND SCARBOROUGH WRITING CENTRES

U of T Mississauga, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, Hazel McCallion Academic
Learning Centre Room 390K
U of T Scarborough Writing Centre, Academic Resource Centre Room AC210
* Book appointments online through the UTSC Intranet: start from ctl.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/main
PROFESSIONAL FACULTY WRITING CENTRES

Architecture Writing Program, 230 College Street Room 221C
* Book appointments at 416 978-2586
Engineering Communication Centre, Sandford Fleming Room B670
Health Sciences Writing Centre (for Dentistry, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Nursing,
Pharmacy, Social Work), various locations
OISE Student Success Centre (OSSC), 252 Bloor St West, Room 8-202
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES WRITING CENTRE

English Language and Writing Support, 63 St. George Street, Room 308
For more information about writing centres and writing courses, and for online files of advice about university writing,
visit the website "Writing at the University of Toronto" at www.writing.utoronto.ca

The basic principles of good writing apply just as well to the sciences as they do to the humanities
and the social sciences. A science paper should be written in a clear and concise style, its
paragraphs should be coherent, and its ideas should be well organized. This handout focuses on
the features of science writing that distinguish it from other, non-scientific genres. Since some of
these features may vary from subject to subject, it focuses on those principles and conventions that
are common to most areas of science. Understanding how the distinctive features of science
writing reflect the activities and goals of science will help you become a more proficient writer of
scientific prose.
Audience
All writers should be aware of their audience. But science writers need to pay particularly close
attention to audience because readers of science-related writing can have very different levels of
knowledge. The key question to ask is always, Am I writing for fellow scientists or for a general
audience? What your readers know or do not know will have a significant effect on both
substance and style.
Titles
Titles in humanities and social science papers are, as a rule, sentence fragments. In science papers
they can be either fragments or full sentences, though usually they are fragments:
The risk of lymphoma development in autoimmune diseases: a meta-analysis
A full-sentence title is good at highlighting one central result:

Brain natriuretic peptide is a potentially useful screening tool for the detection of cardiovascular disease
in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
As this example illustrates, titles in the sciences can be long. Do your best to make sure that every
word counts. Be concrete, but avoid excessive detail.
Some titles are framed as questions, which can succinctly identify just what the authors aim to
discover:
Are there schizophrenics for whom drugs may be unnecessary or contraindicated?
Headings
If you write a humanities essay in university, you will not be encouraged to use headings. The
opposite will be true of your science papers. Headings emphasize the systematic nature of
scientific enquiry. They also provide an excellent organizational tool, often relieving you of the
need to create smooth transitions between the main parts of your paper. Take advantage of them!
In some scientific genres, the sections and heading names are predetermined. For example,
scientific studies as well as lab reports are typically divided into the following sections: Abstract,
Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion. The list may vary slightly according to the discipline,
the course, or the journal. For complicated experiments, you may subdivide sections into
subsections, each with its own subheading.
Headings are not always obligatory. In a shorter paper, they may sometimes prove more of a
hindrance than a help. Use them only if you find that they actually help you to better organize the
material.
Jargon
The word jargon generally refers to language that is unrecognizable to most people, either because
it is deliberately obscure and needlessly difficult, or because it forms part of the technical
terminology common to a discipline. The first type of jargon should be avoided whatever
discipline you are writing in. It can sound pretentious, and it obscures meaning. The second type
of jargon does not carry the same negative connotation. In the sciences, and sometimes in other
disciplines as well, this technical language can be indispensable. Consider the following passage
from a fourth-year geology paper on competing theories about the extinction of the dinosaurs:
The cretaceous period was a time of great change for land plants. It is thought to have seen the origin
of the angiosperms, which exploded in diversity and prominence through the period. It was also a
period which saw large numbers of extinctions. These are extremely well documented in the fossil
record of marine organisms, and less so for land plants. At or near the end of the cretaceous period,
groups such as dinosaurs, belemnites, rudist bivalves, ammonites, and many others went extinct.
The intended audience for this paper consists of fellow geologists. The writer can thus count on
her readers to know what each of the technical terms means. She does not use jargon here to make
her writing sound sophisticated; outside of the scientific terms, the language is simple. The main
function of such jargon is compression. The dictionary definition of each of these terms is two or
three lines long. If the paper had provided definitions, it would have been considerably longer, and
the flow of the argument would have suffered.
Science writing commonly relies on a further form of compression: replacing frequently used
terms consisting of more than one word with an abbreviation, typically formed from the terms
initial letters. The convention is to specify the abbreviation in parentheses immediately after the
first use of the term:
The incidence of acute otitis media (AOM), one of the most common diagnoses among children,
appears to be increasing. Data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NAMCS) indicate
that the number of office visits for otitis media increased more than twofold from 1975 to 1990.
Although the NAMCS does not differentiate between AOM and otitis media with effusion, the majority of
these cases are believed to represent AOM. (Pediatrics 108:239)
If you are writing about science for non-scientists, you can still rely on jargon to achieve
compression, but you should at least let your reader know what any uncommon term means the
first time around. Try to avoid abbreviations, however, unless they are commonly used (e.g.,
AIDS for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).
Sometimes you may think jargon is necessary in your science writing when it is not. Rather
than achieving concision, such jargon will usually make your prose long-winded and even
impenetrable. Is there any good reason for a sentence like the following?
Members of the medical establishment are not presently cognizant of efficacious treatments resulting in
the complete elimination of symptomatology in acute viral nasopharyngitis.
Why not simply say this?

There is no known cure for the common cold.
Always ask if there is a simpler, more transparent way of making a point.

At the same time, train yourself to read critically the language in published scientific work. If
some of the sentences leave you confused, then the science may be intrinsically difficult, the
writing may be weak, the ideas themselves may be confused, or the writer may be trying to gloss
over something. Unraveling an unclear sentence can sometimes provide important insight into the
problems with someone elses argument. Moreover, developing your critical reading skills will
help you to grow as a writer.
Passive versus Active Voice

In humanities and many social science papers, students should try to use active voice whenever
possible. But historically the sciences have encouraged the use of passive voice. Theres a reason
for this tradition. Passive voice helps emphasize the objectivity of the sciences:
The element radon was discovered in 1900.
This stress on objectivity makes especially good sense in the context of a lab report: after all, the
experiment is not about you but about what you did.
Nevertheless, in the past several years there has been a movement in the sciences away from
the passive voice. One reason for this is a philosophical shift in our thinking about science: we are
more ready to acknowledge the role of the observer or investigator in the shaping of knowledge. In
fact, many journals editors have responded to a growing demand for greater transparency in
science by requiring that published scientific papers clearly identify the role and the source of
funding of each contributor. Active voice does a much better job of emphasizing agencythe idea
that every action has an actor. The other good reason behind this growing preference for active
voice is stylistic: often passive voice is simply more awkward, less direct, and less clear.
Learn some simple sentence patterns that will help your writing benefit fully from the
directness of active voice. For example, refer to figures, tables, and equations at the beginning of
the sentence rather than at the end.
Figure 1 illustrates the quadratic relationship between distance and velocity.
Do the same with words and phrases such as results, studies, and evidence:
Experimental evidence shows that the typical dose-response curve has an inverted J-shape.
If you are referring to a technique or procedure, you can also achieve greater directness by making
it the subject of your sentence:
PCR analysis produced clones of the toxin B DNA originally isolated in cultures of C. difficile from
hospital patients.
And even though your course instructor may dissuade you from using I or we, do not shy
away from placing other scientists in the subject position:
Peto provided a detailed description of the logrank test in his 1977 article on the use of survival
analysis in long-term randomized trials.
Note that even the use of the first-person pronouns, I and we, is becoming more acceptable in
scientific discourse, though generally still not as acceptable as active voice. Course instructors,
TAs, and journal editors can all take very different positions on this question. The only way to be
sure is to ask. When I or we is not allowed, the passive voice is sometimes unavoidable.
Even in disciplines where both active voice and first-person pronouns are acceptable, the rules
may be different for lab reports, at least for the Methods section. Some lab instructors insist firmly
on passive voice (in past tense) throughout that section: in other words, they do not accept any
active constructions, even if you avoid using I and we. But the rules have loosened up
considerably outside of the academy. Several journals now permit first-person active constructions
even in the Methods section, and a few courses have followed suit. If youre writing a lab report
and youre not sure of the rules, consult your lab manual or your TA. Whatever the rules for your
course, be careful to comply with them. But remember that such rules usually apply only to the
Methods section. Dont let the habits you cultivate for that specific part of a lab report hamper you
unnecessarily in the rest of your science writing.
Tense
The two most common tenses in science papers are present and past. Future and present perfect
rank a distant third and fourth.
Use present tense when you are making assertions about nature or about concepts:
Turtles are bigger than beetles.
Use past tense when you are describing what you or someone else did or asserted:
Darwin observed the difference in adaptability between turtles and beetles.
Use future tense when you lay out your plan in a proposal:
In my final project, I will compare survival strategies in turtles and beetles.
Note that the use of first-person singular is often appropriate in a proposal.

Use present perfect when you are describing what you have done repeatedly in the past
continuing up to the present:
Over the past several months I have collected data on turtles and beetles.
Observe that we can mix tenses in a single sentence, and indeed we often need to:
Darwin observed that beetles are more adaptable than turtles.
The use of past tense in describing someone elses work is one key difference between science
and the humanities. In the humanities, when we are describing what a writer, an artist, or a scholar
asserted, we think of ourselves as engaging in a conversation that takes place in the eternal
present:
Shakespeare compares the poets lover to a summers day.
The one exception would be when the emphasis is on history, in which case the past tense is called
for:
Shakespeare wrote many of his tragedies during a period of great political instability.
The sciences see the contribution of any individual as adding progressively to an ordered sequence
of investigations. The past tense helps convey a sense of this temporal progression.
References
Science courses rely increasingly on the citation-sequence system of referencing. The details may
differ slightly depending on your discipline, but generally you list references on a separate page at
the end of the paper in numerical sequence according to the order in which sources are cited in the
paper, rather than in alphabetical order. In the body, you insert the reference number in the
appropriate place (within parentheses or as a superscript), repeating a previous number if you have
already cited the same source earlier. The citation-sequence system minimizes clutter and allows
readers to find references quickly.
Some science courses rely on the name-year system. Like the APA system commonly used in
the social sciences, this system lists sources alphabetically and places a greater emphasis on dates
than the citation-sequence and the MLA systems do. Though less streamlined than the citationsequence system, the name-year system offers two advantages: it produces more easily searchable
and therefore more useful reference lists, and it lets the reader know in the body of the paper when
studies were performed.
Check with your TA or your course handbook to find out what your course requires.
The St. George Campus College Writing Centres, in collaboration with University of Toronto Libraries, the Arts and Science
Students Union (ASSU), and the Academic Success Centre are offering this campus-wide series of academic skills workshops
to the Universitys entire student body. All workshops are free and there is no need to pre-register. Come for one, or come for all!
Writing in the Disciplines: In-depth workshops

on specialized assignments.
50-minute workshops,Tuesday afternoons

Location TBD

m
So
Essay Writing from Start to Finish: Improve your

writingimprove your GPA! Find out how in these
step-by-step workshops.
4:10
Oct 18
Finding & Reading Scholarly Sources Sep 16
4:10
Oral Presentations
Oct 18
10:45
Developing Your Thesis
4:10
Critiques and Literature Reviews
Oct 18
12:00
4:10
Oct 7
4:10
ot
Oct 14
4:10

Sep 20 or Jan 17
to
9:30
Finding & Reading Scholarly Sources Sep 20 or Jan 17 10:45
Developing your Thesis
Exam Prep Essentials: Learn to study efficiently and

effectively, and take your exams with confidence!
nc
ou
: nn
al a
fin be
ns
io
Revising Your Essay
Sep 30
at
Using Sources
Sep 23
9:30
c
lo
Sep 9
Sep 20 or Jan 17 12:00
Sep 27 or Jan 24
9:30
Using Sources
Sep 27 or Jan 24 10:45
Revizing Your Essay
Sep 27 or Jan 24 12:00

Writing Through Stress
Nov 1
9:30
Preparing for Multiple Choice Exams Nov 1
10:45
Preparing for Essay Exams
12:00
Nov 1
Admissions Letters and Personal Statements:

Applying to Medicine, Law, or another professional
or graduate program? Heres how to present your
strengths to advantage.
Essential Skills: Take control of your U of T

experience by mastering these fundamentals
of student success.

ed
2-hour workshops, various times

TBD
9:30
Date TBA
Time TBA
Sep 13
10:45
Date TBA
Time TBA
Sep 13
12:00
Date TBA
Time TBA
Survival Skills
Sep 13
Critical Reading and Thinking

Note-Taking
Making Your Sentences Flow
Oct 4
9:30
Writing Well Under Pressure
Oct 4
10:45
Memory and Concentration
Oct 4
12:00

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THE ACADEMIC PROPOSAL

an outline of your intended approach or methodology (with comparisons to the existing

Show your ability to deal with possible problems or changes in focus.

Prepared by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support

A SYSTEM FOR DEALING WITH NEW WORDS WHILE READING

Previewing new vocabulary words

Use simple phonics to attempt a pronunciation. You might recognize

Next, examine the STRUCTURE

Then look at the CONTEXT

Only then, check the DICTIONARY

Reinforcing New Vocabulary Words

Further Resources for Building Vocabulary Skills

At the bookstore (or college book sales)

Developing Coherent Paragraphs

Use Topic Sentences

Expand on the Topic Sentences

on the other hand

To signal a change in ideas:

Choose Appropriate Paragraph Length

Prepared by Dr. Margaret Procter, University of Toronto Coordinator, Writing Support

WRITING AN EFFECTIVE ADMISSIONS LETTER

Options for Organizing an Admissions Letter

Other Sources of Advice

Expressions of Quantity: Special Cases of Subject-Verb Agreement

2. The words majority and minority are used in a variety of ways:

3. Expressions of time, money and distance usually take a singular verb:

How to identify and repair faulty parallelism

My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and a source of inspiration .

My first-year philosophy professor was informative , lively , and inspiring .

He warned me to revise my essay and to pay close attention to parallel structures .

Prepared by Jerry Plotnick, Director of the University College Writing Centre

Fixing Comma Splices

I completed my essay, I have not submitted it.

I completed my essay I have not submitted it.

Fixing a run-on sentence is no different from fixing a comma splice.

Some Basic Definitions

How to Fix a Comma Splice

I completed my essay. I have not submitted it.

Solution 2: Use a semi-colon.

I completed my essay; I have not submitted it.

I completed my English essay; next I will tackle my History essay.

Solution 3: Use a coordinating conjunction.

I completed my essay, but I have not submitted it.

In all, there are seven coordinating conjunctions:

I completed my essay, although I have not submitted it.

How Not to Fix a Comma Splice

I completed my essay, however I have not submitted it.

I completed my essay. However, I have not submitted it.

Prepared by Jerry Plotnick, Director of the University College Writing Centre

HIT PARADE OF ERRORS

Nouns and pronouns must agree in number.

A student is free to express their opinion.

Pronouns must agree with each other.

All of these rules and regulations should be made aware of.

OVERLY-LONG SENTENCES (see also #12, comma splices)

OVERUSE OF PASSIVE VOICE

The council advises physicians at regular intervals to administer the drug.

MIXED OR DEAD METAPHORS

FAULTY WORD CHOICE / FAULTY DICTION

Use a semicolon as well as a conjunctive adverb to join two independent clauses.

MISUSE OF COMMA, SEMICOLON, AND COLON

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.