Specific writing recommendations include:
- As you prepare to write, clearly identify the questions or topic which you will be addressing, narrow your focus, and check your final work to make sure you fully address each element of the assignment.
- Construct an outline to organize your goals. Include elements such as an introduction, thesis statement, body, and conclusion to help structure your work.
- Be clear and concise. Explain how and why something is important - how it benefits your audience, professional world, or addresses an issue. Focus on essential points that help educate and persuade your audience. Avoid wordiness, redundancy, repetition, and long complicated sentences.
- Do not begin or end a paragraph with a direct quote. Quotes should support your statements, not replace them.
- In general, use words for numbers below 10 and numerals for numbers 10 and above. Always use words instead of numerals to begin a sentence. Statistical or mathematical functions, percentages, ratios and decimal amounts are expressed in numerals.
- Vary sentence beginnings. Include 3-5 sentences per paragraph to fully develop an idea.
- Seek to communicate with precision and clarity. Avoid contractions, minimize the use of pronouns and eliminate cliches, slang, jargon, bias, stereotypes, derogatory statements, as well as idiomatic and inflammatory language.
- Use third person or neutral pronouns unless the statements being made describe your personal actions, direct experiences, or engagement. Avoid attributing human characteristics to animals or inanimate objects. Use gender neutral language unless referring to a specific individual. Use only last names of individuals. The use of first names can introduce bias.
- Use active, rather than passive voice, and be aware of the tone and mood that is set by your words. Use appropriate verb tense. Check for subject and verb agreement. Remember that any published material should be referred to using past tense language.
- See tips for writing an interview in APA format.
- Read and model your writing after professionals who are known for communicating well.
- Spell check and proofread your work. You can use Microsoft Word's settings to help.
- Have someone proofread your work before submission. Read your own work aloud. Set the work aside and read it later to gain fresh perspective. Get feedback about what you have written. It is a good idea to check your paper for originality with a plagiarism checker such as Turnitin (You can choose “Draft for Originality Check” instead of “Final” in the area you submit your assignments).