{revised 3.09.06, 5.30.06}
Ten Most Common
Problems in RDs and FDs
Failure to:
1. identify the assignment
(RD2, FD4, etc.)
3. follow reviewers'
suggestions
4. use correct case in your
essay title and other titles
5. use the recommended line
spacing
6. avoid the empty it
or there
7. avoid 2nd-person you
constructs
8. avoid rhetorical questions
(or RQs)
9. avoid the use of get
and its variations
10. correctly punctuate
direct quotes
These are the ten most common
problems in review drafts and final drafts -- key on them in all your RD and FD
reviews.
1. Failure to correctly
identify the assignment. Know the difference between "RD1" and
"FD1." Don't use RD1
when submitting a final draft for our first paper. Instead, use FD1. The
correct label for the review draft for our fourth paper will be RD4. These
labels are important to me, but they're much more important to you! To
give you proper credit, I need to know exactly which draft you're submitting.
For example, a final draft labeled as RD2 will be recorded as review draft #2.
If it's really your FD3, you won't receive credit for submitting a final draft
#3.
(Note: Review the 8-point
checklist.)
2. Failure to append* peer comments received in the RD (review Draft) to
the FD (Final Draft). Also, failure to identify the reviewer for each of the
comments.
[*Append means to
attach to the end or bottom.]
3. In Final Drafts (FDs),
failure to incorporate suggestions made by peer
reviewers. Read your RD reviews and consider the advice of your
classmates. However, if the suggestions are obviously incorrect, you would be
wise to disregard them.
4. Failure to apply correct upper-case
and lower-case to your essay title and other titles.
Incorrect: The murder of
an angel
Incorrect: THE MURDER OF AN ANGEL
Incorrect: The Murder Of An Angel
Correct: The Murder of an Angel.
In your essay title, don't use quotes or special formatting such as underscore,
italics, or bold.
The
rule for case in your essay titles as well as other titles:
·
Always
uppercase the first and last word in your title.
·
Uppercase
all nouns, verbs, pronouns (she, he, her, him, our, we, us, them), adjectives, adverbs, and
subordinating conjunctions (because, although, though, while, because, as,
since).
·
Lowercase
all articles (the,
a, an), coordinating conjunctions (and,
but, because, so, or), and prepositions (in, to, of, for, with, from).
·
Option:
capitalize prepositions that are longer than five characters (before,
after, within, between).
Example: A Practical Guide
for Conducting Research in a Hospital
5. Failure to use correct line
spacing. Remember: Use double-spacing between
paragraphs, but single-spacing within
paragraphs.
6. Failure to avoid the
empty-IT and empty-THERE constructs.
Empty-IT: It is an exciting story.
Revision: The story is exciting.
Empty-THERE: There are a number of
reasons for the collapse of the Roman Empire.
Revision: The Roman Empire collapsed for a number of reasons.
(Note: Review the list of
AIP or style errors.)
7. Failure to avoid
2nd-person "you" constructs (except when necessary).
2nd-person: The government expects you
to pay taxes without complaining.
Revision: The government expects citizens to pay taxes without
complaining.
8. Failure to avoid
rhetorical questions (or RQs).
RQ: Do we want how-to instructions on building an atom
bomb freely available on the web?
Revision: We don't want how-to instructions on building an atom
bomb freely available on the web.
9. Failure to avoid the use
of "get" and its variations when other, more meaningful alternatives
are available.
get/got: Let's get down to the store to get some envelopes for the invitations that we got to get
in the mail.
Revise: Let's go to the
store to buy some envelopes for the invitations that we need to mail.
10. Failure to correctly
punctuate direct quotes. Periods and commas are inserted within the closing quote. Also, the first letter
of the first word of a quote that is a complete sentence should be capitalized -- even if it's lower-case in the
original.
Incorrect: Smith said, "punctuation is very important in
college papers".
Correct: Smith said,
"Punctuation
is very important in college papers."