BECOMING A BETTER ACADEMIC WRITER

Avoiding common mistakes and uninspired usages

in formal academic writing

Writing is not the whole of the academic enterprise, but it is a great deal. If we write
well, probably we have mastered our reading, learned from our interactions with others,
understood and applied the principles of analysis, synthesis, professional choices
pertaining to a given situation, etc. If our writing does not reflect these masteries, we
may not be proficient in these aspects of our learning, either.

In the academy, a grade of “A” should signal the highest levels of understanding and
achievement, including writing proficiency. Do not let that intimidate you here. Rather,
use this style sheet as a convenient guide for improvement throughout this course.
Those you serve in ministry will bless you in their hearts; some may thank you.

The issues highlighted here constitute the most common problem areas this professor
has encountered across the years, in student writing assignments of all kinds. If you can
eliminate the mistakes listed here, and emulate the better practices, you will avoid the
great majority of issues common to carelessly prepared assignments. (Note that the
order of presentation here reflects neither the order of their importance, nor the
relative frequency of mistaken usages.)

PAPERS IN PROFESSOR COLESON’S COURSES: FORMATTING, ETC.

 Submit all written work: in Moodle; as Word documents (i.e., not pdf.); using 12-
point font and a “non-exotic” typeface; double-spaced in the body of the text
 Use one space (not two) following sentence-final punctuation
 Always use normal double-spacing between paragraphs (For Microsoft Word to
dictate the practices of other disciplines for the humanities is unconscionable; it
annoys me, and I invite you to join me in this small defense of the traditions of
our disciplines.)
 Adhere to the 600- to 700-word range instruction for short essays
 Do not include a title page or table of contents in short essays
 Do include title page, table of contents page, and bibliography page in longer
(usually end-of-course) papers
 In short essays, include a bibliography as a short, headed entry at the end, but
only if you reference “non-course-text” works in the essay
 Always use in-text citations, not footnotes or endnotes:
“Our interpretive efforts . . . might have understood it” (177).
“Our interpretive efforts . . . might have understood it” (Thompson, 177).
“Our interpretive efforts . . . have understood it” (Thompson 2009, 177).
(Which of these to choose depends on the number and authorship of the
references included in the essay.)
VERB TENSES IN NARRATIVE WRITING
Best Practice: In historical narrative, use past and/or past perfect tenses.
Correct: Moses approached the bush; he had not seen this before!
Incorrect: Moses approaches the bush; he has not seen this before!
(The second example uses the so-called “historical present.” It is inappropriate in
standard written English, though it appears in Greek New Testament narrative,
and may be appropriate in other English settings, written and/or spoken.)

ENGLISH INFINITIVES

Best Practice: Never split any infinitive.

Correct: Jill learned never to split an infinitive.
Incorrect: His professor could count on Jack to always split his infinitives.
(Please ignore grammar advisors who countenance splitting infinitives.)

ENGLISH AUXILIARY VERBS

Best Practice: In most situations, one should not split an auxiliary verb from its main
verb in an English sentence.
Good usage: Just having noticed the bush, Moses had turned aside abruptly.
Poor usage: Having just noticed the bush, Moses had abruptly turned aside.
An exception can be “not”: No one would write (seriously) either “I am going,
not, to go home,” or “I not am going to go home”!

COMPLETE SENTENCES

Best practice: Write complete sentences, using a subject and a predicate in each clause.
Correct: Sarah wrote at least a paragraph in her journal every day.
Incorrect: Always promising herself to really do it tomorrow.
(Some incomplete sentences are correct, even effective, but be very sure you
know what you are doing before attempting one.)

THE APOSTROPHE

Over the years, use of the apostrophe has become more of a bugaboo, not less. Always
double-check every apostrophe, before submitting any assignment.
Correct: person’s, meaning “belonging to one person”
persons, meaning “more than one person”
persons’, meaning “belonging to more than one person”
Incorrect: persons’, meaning either “belonging to one person,”
or “more than one person”
person’s, meaning either “more than one person,”
or “belonging to more than one person”
ITS/IT’S
 Correct: its (“belonging to it”) Incorrect: it’s (“belonging to it”)
it’s (“it is”) its (“it is”)

PERIODS AND COMMAS WITHIN QUOTATION MARKS

U.S. usage: A period or a comma goes inside a final quotation mark, even if it is not part
of the material being quoted.
Correct: He said, “It’s over.” Incorrect: He said, “It’s over”.
He said, “It’s over,” and left. He said, “It’s over”, and left.
(This is U.S. usage; British, Canadian, and some others differ.)

PRONOUNS REFERRING TO DEITY

Best current practice: The trend now is to lowercase the initial letter of all second and
third person pronouns referring to Deity.
Correct: you; yours; yourself; thy; etc.; he (and others referring, e.g., to Jesus)

Best current practice: Avoid gendered pronouns when referring to God in the third
person.
Usually incorrect, referring to deity: He/he; Him/him; His/his; Him/himself;
She/she; Her/her; Hers/hers; Her/herself
(In referring to one Person of the Trinity, only, this rule often does not apply.)

QUOTATIONS

Prudent practice: Always check Turabian or Chicago when formatting any quotation,
until you are familiar with all potential scenarios.

 In general, reproduce quotations exactly. For example, whether the initial letter
of a pronoun referring to deity is capitalized or lower-cased, reproduce the
quotation as is; in this context, it is not necessary to insert [sic].
 The most common exception here is that one may capitalize a lower-case initial
letter, lower-case an initial capital (if not a proper noun), or place one’s own
period or comma inside quotation marks, if and when one’s own sentence--of
which the quotation will be a part--requires it for its own grammatical
correctness. Again, [sic] is not required here.
 Biblical references always belong in the text, enclosed in parentheses.
 In the first biblical reference, or when referencing a different version than the
previous one, indicate the version referenced or quoted.
 Punctuation belongs after the final parenthesis, not before the first.
Correct: “Jesus wept” (John 11:35, KJV).
Incorrect: “Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)
ELLIPSES
Prudent practice: Always check Turabian or Chicago for correct usage of ellipses.
Correct: The three dots themselves always are separated by a single space after
the first, and a single space after the second ( . . . ).
Always incorrect: Microsoft Word’s default ellipses; they do not know this issue.

WRITING CONCISELY; AVOIDING OVERWEIGHT, LETHARGIC SENTENCES

Best practice: Proofread several times, looking for ways to improve each sentence.
Effective: Many people lived there.
Much less effective: There were many people who lived there.
Effective: He said she was alive.
Less effective: He said that she was alive.

WORDS/PHRASES COMMONLY MISUSED AND/OR MISSPELLED

Prudent practice: Always check any of these words before submitting your work. Most
students misuse or misspell them far more often than they use or spell them correctly.

affect/effect Brueggemann millennium, millennia, millennial

for/four/fore Canaan ancient Near East (but, ANE)
might/may Ezekiel first century B.C. (or B.C.E.)
prophecy/prophesy Isaac
than/then Israel
to/too/two canon
whose/who’s desert

HISTORICAL ACCURACY

Prudent practice: These terms commonly are misused--always check before submitting.

Israel/Israelite: all Israel before the division of the monarchy about 928 B.C.;
also, the kingdom/people of the northern kingdom before 721 B.C.;
theologically, sometimes refers to believers of any or every period.
Judea/Judean: the southern kingdom between about 928 B.C. and its end in 586 B.C.;
also, the geographical region of Judah/Judea.
Jew/Jewish: the people of the Judean kingdom from about the time of Hezekiah to the
end of the kingdom in 586 B.C.;
afterward, all (or most) “Israelites” and “Judeans” identified with the faith
called Judaism, through the Second Temple period, and to the present.
Church: no person, group, or institution before the Day of Pentecost. (assembly,
congregation)
Palestine: Always anachronistic of Canaan/Israel/Promised Land/Holy Land prior to
(never use it)
 A.D. 135, when Hadrian imposed it in contempt for the defeated Judeans.
MISCELLANEA

Correct: Bible, biblical

Incorrect: bible, Biblical

Correct: 1207 B.C. (or B.C.E.); A.D. 49 (or 49 C.E.)

Correct: They do their own thing.

Incorrect: Everyone does their own thing.
(Don’t introduce a number usage problem to solve a gender usage problem.)

Correct/refined: as though
Incorrect/inelegant: as if

Correct/refined: concerning, regarding

Abominable: as to
(I do not look down on people who say, e.g., “As to that, we all have the right to
our own opinions.” However, in writing I find this an execrable usage--and these
are, first of all, tips to help you write well in my courses.)

WRITING STRAIGHTFORWARD, CONCISE, VIVID, SPARKLING PROSE

While you are at it, you may as well use these assignments to improve the quality of
your writing, not merely its grammatical, mechanical, and other correctness. The art of
excellent writing is learned by practice, and by reflection on one’s practice. Writing well
will serve you permanently, adding delight, wonder, and joy to your life and ministry--
and impacting others in ways you cannot now imagine.

--JEC/Fall, 2015