Writing Tips and Friendly Advice

Capitalization

• The South is capitalized, southerners are not. Same with the East, West, North when places and not directions.

• It is 1660s, not 1660’s • Capitalize President of the United States as well

as the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. Capitalize Senator and Representative when you refer to a specific individual, as in Senator Calhoun. The president of the Star Trek club is not capitalized.

“Throughout History”

• Do not use grandiose terms like “throughout history.” Once people stop snickering, they will wonder what you meant. If your topic is Colonial Virginia, then specify it. Be specific.

Passive Voice

• Avoid the passive voice:

• Passive voice: The prisoner was driven to the jail.

• Active voice: The sheriff drove the prisoner to the jail.

• Passive voice obscures the sentence’s primary actor. In this case, an active voice sentence tells us more.

Tense

• For the purpose of these essays, when writing about past events, keep your writing in the past tense. For instance: “The New South Creed fused Lost Cause mythology with…”

• When writing about the views of an author that you are analyzing alive or dead, use the present tense. For instance: “Cobb discusses the emergence of the New South Creed…”

Some examples of editing

• “Slavery was certainly one of the most complicated issues of the day back when people like George Washington were alive and making our history.”

Chop, Chop, Chop

• “Slavery was certainly one of the most complicated issues of the day back when people like George Washington were alive and making our history.”

• “certainly” is redundant

• “of the day back when people like” is silly

• As is “were alive and making our history.”

Revision 1

• “Slavery was one of the most complicated issues in the era of George Washington.”

• How can we make this sentence work harder for us?

• Be more specific, and be more concise.

Revision 2

• “Slavery was one of the most complicated issues in the era of George Washington.”

• What do we mean by “most complicated issues?”

• Operating a VCR can also be a “complicated issue.”

• Slavery is a “moral dilemma.” • “Slavery was one of the greatest moral

dilemmas facing America in the era of George Washington”

Another example

• “To begin, there are a set of common factors that faced all slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves.”

Drop excess baggage.

• “To begin, there are a set of common factors that faced all slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves.”

• Proper grammar would be “to begin with…” – but no matter. Avoid this unless constructing a list (firstly, secondly, etc.)

Word Choice and Syntax:

• “To begin, there are a set of common factors that faced all slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves.”

• “Factors” do not “face” the “slaveholders.” It is the slaveholders who must face the factors.

Be concise.

• “To begin, there are a set of common factors that faced all slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves.”

• Would “slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves” be the same thing as “emancipationist-minded slaveholders?”

Be precise.

• Even with editing things down a lot: “All emancipationist-minded slaveholders faced a common set of factors.”

• Factors? They face obstacles.

Before and After:

• “To begin, there are a set of common factors that faced all slaveholders who even thought of freeing their slaves.”

• Becomes:

• “All emancipationist-minded slaveholders faced a common set of obstacles.”

• (notice that I also changed the tense to past-tense.)

A Third Example

• “Bacon’s rebellion in Virginia led to less white indentured servants so that there would be a smaller population that would cause trouble.”

Obvious word-use errors

• “Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia led to fewer white indentured servants so that there would be a smaller population that would cause trouble.”

Fundamental problems in logic:

• “Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia led to fewer white indentured servants so that there would be a smaller population that would cause trouble.”

• Jumping around too much: Bacon’s Rebellion did ultimately result in fewer white indentured servants in Virginia, but there are important steps in between the rebellion and its ultimate effect.

Be clear and precise.

• Replace: “Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia led to fewer white indentured servants so that there would be a smaller population that would cause trouble.”

• With: “Bacon’s Rebellion led Virginia’s elite to seek ways to reduce the number of troublesome landless whites.”

Why edit?

• Producing a lengthy paper is not a sin. Producing an needlessly long paper is.

• You will make a greater impact with concise and carefully chosen words.

• Writing is work. Good writing is hard work.