We've all been there. You're writing an essay, minding your own business, when suddenly MS Word pops up with the message: "Passive Voice (consider revising)." You turn in that essay, only to have it returned to you, with "Passive Voice" written all over it in red ink. Reading over the passages your instructor has marked, you … Continue reading How to Avoid Passive Voice
Effective information organization is one of the most challenging problems non-writers encounter when tasked with a composition project. While the lowly 5-paragraph essay would be a poor format choice for your dissertation, it has proven to be very effective when used to write book reviews, cover letters, and pitches. This is a handy guide to … Continue reading How to Write a 5-Paragraph Essay
The thesis statement is the one sentence in academia that generates the most angst among students. It is the axis on which the entire essay revolves, and it must be in sync with the rest of the paper, or else the entire endeavor falls apart. This article addresses the most common mistakes made in crafting a … Continue reading How to Write a Thesis Statement
A great professor once told me that you're either a heavy planner or a heavy reviser. Some people can plot out every step of a project and follow through in turn, while others need to get their hands dirty in order to make anything worthwhile. Personally, I think George Burns had it right: The best … Continue reading How to Outline Anything
The problem I hear hobbyist writers--the ones with notebooks of poetry and short stories that they have no interest in publishing--complain about the most is their lack of knowledge regarding English grammatical structure. Now, as an English major who has studied the history and development of the language, I can tell you with 100% certainty that … Continue reading How to Write a Complete Sentence