Things+to+avoid+in+research+papers

-History is always written in the past tense – do not use the present when speaking about events that have already transpired. Past tense verbs tend to end in "ed." I know that you have done the opposite in English classes, but I hate to tell you, Shakespeare is dead, really dead, so he is in the past tense.

-Do not just stick in a quote at the end of a paragraph or leave a quote not analyzed. Quotes are awesome, but only use them if you totally are unable to restate it or it is like a pearl of wisdom that adds tremendously to your paper (with your analysis of course) and cite your source either way obviously.

-You should be transitioning between paragraphs so make sure that there is a bridge between topics and that you aren't just jumping around randomly. I suggest chronological order or thematic order.

-The proper way to cite in-text: “Your quote is in quotes.” And Turabian we will be going over in class.

-More than 8 quotes is really pushing it. Every single quote must be analyzed and if you don't know how to do a quote longer than 3 lines, look it up in the back of your English book.

-Don't ever, wouldn't even consider, shouldn't accidentally allow even one contraction.

-The words I, my, you, your, we, and us will not appear unless in a quote from a person who was there in the era you are writing about.

-Read every sentence out loud and make sure that your writing sounds like an actual human would say it out loud to another human.

-Do not use the thesaurus. It does not make you sound smarter to just use a bigger word, it makes you sound confused. You are not confused, you are an expert in your topic; let your readers know this with a clear voice.

- You are making an argument in this paper, prove it with facts. Vague ramblings earn no points in life or on this paper.

-Make sure that all of your topic sentences back up your thesis.