Dos and Don´ts of Academic Writing

Consider following when writing an academic/research paper (in no particular order):

• Writing too much in the passive voice (active voice preferred)
• Using contractions
• Using the non-referential it in the passive voice: It has been found..., It was shown..., etc.
• Overusing sentences beginning with there is/there are
• Writing body paragraphs with no topic sentence
• Writing topic sentences that do not align with the thesis statement
• Capitalizing words for emphasizing ideas
• Failing to include a source in the references list when citing, and failing to cite a source included in the references list.
• Failing to assess each sentence as either an original idea or one that comes from an outside source when determining whether or not to include a citation.
• Including too many indirect citations: As cited in...
• Failing to include enough primarily research articles (from journals, etc.) that provide the basis for one's research or theoretical framework.
• Failing to use proper formatting conventions
• Double space all text
• Equal double spacing between paragraphs and between paragraphs and headings
• One-inch margins all the way around
• 0.5 inch indentation on all paragraphs with the exception of the abstract, which does not include an indentation
• Times New Roman, font size 12 on all text
• Single space within each reference (in the reference list at the end of the document) and double space between each reference
• Font color black
• Headings (note: usually up to three headings is enough)
• Level I heading: bold, centered, on its own line, and main words capitalized
• Level II heading: bold, left-justified, on its own line, and main words are capitalized
• Level III heading: bold, begins the paragraph (with indentation), first word capitalized, and ends with a full stop
• Page number beginning with introduction (not on title page, table of contents, abstract, etc.) appearing at the top, right-hand corner of the page
• First five words of the title appearing in the header (appearing on all pages), in all uppercase lettering, and flush left