1. Don’t know your professor’s perspective or your purpose: If you haven’t thought about your professor’s perspective or your purpose, don’t start writing, If you do, you might be caught offguard by his reaction AND not accomplish what you intended to do.
2. Don’t develop a main point: If you’ve ever read a paper that goes on and on without getting anywhere, you recognize why this is a real no-no. Bear in mind if you don’t know your main point, your professor might draw his own conclusion, which might not be the one you wanted to convey.
3. Haven’t done research to determine whether your main point is valid: If it isn’t, you’d need to modify or even change the main message or theme of your paper. If you conclude that your hypothesis is correct, you’d gather the information you need to build a convincing case.
4. Haven’t determined your logic flow: If you’ve read a paper that jumps from one topic to the next without any apparent reason, you understand why not having a logic flow makes it difficult for a reader to follow your thinking.
5. Haven’t figured out the points you’ll make: Once you’ve done the necessary research, you need to develop an outline before you start writing. For each section of your logic flow, you’d determine the specific points or issues you’d cover. If you don’t use an outline, you might leave out an important piece of information or put your information in an illogical order.
6. Don’t check spelling, grammar, “voice,” and “person”: If your spelling isn’t good, use spell-check. If your grammar’s a problem, ask a friend for help. Highly-technical papers often use a passive voice such as, “The solution was divided into equal parts of chemical A and chemical B.” But, in a class paper, you should use an active voice such as, “The scientist divided the solution into its component parts, chemical A and chemical B.” You also need to choose whether you’ll write in the first (“I”), second (“you”), or third (“he,” “she,” or “they”) person. In a class paper, you’ll usually write in the third person, such as, “Voters in Texas did not follow the pattern set by voters elsewhere.”
7. Don’t write short sentences and paragraphs: It’s easier and more straightforward to write a short sentence that’s followed by other short sentences. If one paragraph discusses one subject and you then want to discuss a different subject, you’d start a new paragraph.
8. Don’t use simpler words: Don’t use long words just because you think that they’d impress your professor. If a word like “arrogance” would work, why use a word like “braggadocio”?
9. Don’t handle attribution and formatting correctly: Follow your university’s, department’s, or professor’s approach to handling footnotes, bibliographies, etc. You never want to be accused of plagiarizing (stealing) someone’s else work. And if your university, your department, or even your professor recommends—or requires—a particular format, use it. If neither your university, your department, nor your professor recommends a certain format, ask your professor for suggestions on which approach to use.
10. Don’t revise your paper and get feedback: Once you’ve finished your paper, put it aside overnight or even for a few days. Then revisit your work. Most likely, you’ll see how you can improve it. After you do so, you can ask a friend who communicates well to read your paper and give you feedback.
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