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Remember to spell check
You will still need to proofread, though. Spell checkers cannot correct your
mistake if you type
“there”
instead
of “their.”
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Be careful with homonyms
Their vs. there
It’s (= it is) vs.
its (indicates possession)
Principle vs. principal
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Write your first draft with time to spare
You will have fresher eyes for catching errors and improving the style if
you take a break before making revisions.
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Avoid gender identification unless we know the
person’s
identity
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Avoid overused words, such as
“basically”
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The word
“data”
is plural
“These data
are” rather than
“This data
is”
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Don’t
start a sentence with a symbol
1996 marked the first year of production. (incorrect)
X varied more than Y. (incorrect)
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Use parentheses to indicate multiplication
4,000(1.1) (correct)
4,000*1.1 (incorrect)
4,000 x 1.1 (incorrect)
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Use a superscript or ^ for power
0.52 (correct)
0.5^2 (correct)
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Put a space before and after an = sign
x = y (correct)
x=y (incorrect)
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Put a 0 in front of a decimal point if
needed
0.5 (correct)
.5 (incorrect)
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Use an em-dash—in place of a double
hyphen--
“The economy will
boom—at least until the election—and profits should be
robust.”
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Put one space, not two, after a period or
colon
Wolfy is happy. Therefore, she wags her tail. (correct)
Wolfy is happy. Therefore, she wags her tail. (incorrect)
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Use smart quotes instead of dumb quotes
“The eagle has
landed.” (correct)
"The eagle has landed." (incorrect)
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Avoid split infinitives
I need to carefully check my work. (incorrect)
I need to check my work carefully. (correct)
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Avoid hopefully
Hopefully, the dog will be able to safely cross the road. (incorrect)
I hope that the dog will be able to cross the road safely. (correct)
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Hyphens
Well-built car vs. reasonably priced car (both correct)
Good-fielding shortstop vs. wonderfully talented shortstop (both correct)
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That vs. Which
This class is in the Carnegie Building, which was constructed in 1929.
(correct)
This is the only Pomona building that was constructed in 1929. (correct)
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Avoid
“I believe, I
think”
I believe that we should use a histogram to display these data. (incorrect)
We used a histogram to display these data. (correct)
Figure 1 uses a histogram to display these data. (correct)
**Remember: data = plural form of datum
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Passive vs. Active
It is to be hoped that the pattern in these data is apparent. (incorrect)
These data show a clear pattern. (correct)
Upon close inspection, it can be seen clearly that there is no relationship
between presidential ages and life expectancies. (incorrect)
Clearly, life expectancies are not correlated with presidential ages.
(correct)
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A repetitive structure can be deadly; parallel
construction can be effective
We went to the library and found the data. We talked to the reference librarian
and she was very helpful. We went to the computer center and graphed the
data. (incorrect)
We came. We saw. We conquered. (correct)
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Vary sentence lengths and structure
Jasper will be a terrific employee—easily among the best we have sent
you in the past five years. Hire him. Promote him. Treasure him.
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Parenthetical Citations
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Author’s name is
mentioned in the sentence.
According to H.G. Wells,
“one day statistical
thinking will be as necessary to efficient citizenship as the ability to
read and
write”(102).
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Author’s
name is not mentioned in sentence.
“One of the difficulties
with the classical approach to probabilities is that there may be compelling
evidence that the possible events are not equally
likely”(Smith 75).
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Works Cited
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Book
Last name of author, First name. Title of book. Place of publication:
Publisher, Year.
Example: Smith, Gary. Statistical Reasoning. United States:
McGraw-Hill, 1994.
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Author with an editor
Last name of author, First name. Title of book. Ed.
Editor’s Name. Place
of publication: Publisher, Year.
Example: Reiser, Paul. Couplehood . Ed. Rob Weisbach.
New York: Bantam Books, 1994.
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Work in an anthology
Last name of author, First name.
“Title.”
Name of anthology. Ed. Name of editor. Place of publication: Publisher,
Year. Page number/s.
Example: Friedman, Milton ,and Leonard J. Savage.
“The Utility Analysis
of Choices Involving
Risk.” Readings
in Price Theory. Eds. J.G. Stigler and K.E. Boulding. Homewood, Illinois:
Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1952. 318.
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Article in a monthly magazine
Last name, First name.
“Title of
article.” Name
of magazine Month Year: Page number/s.
Example: Dash, Judy.
“You Take Care of
Your Family.”
Family Circle. May 1998: 97-99.
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Article in a Journal
Last name, First name.
“Title of
article.” Name
of journal Volume number.Issue number (Year): Page number/s.
Example: Modigliani, Franco.
“New Developments
on the Oligopoly
Front.” Journal
of Political Economy 66.3 (1958): 204-17.
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Online Information
Last name, First name.
“Title of
article.” Name
of source Date of source. Online. Name of internet provider. Date of
access.
Example: Morgenstern, Oskar.
“Demand Theory
Reconsidered.”
Quarterly Journal of Economics. Feb. 1995. Online. Microsoft Network.
8 Jan. 1999.
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Government Publications
Name of government. Name of government agency. Name of material. Place
of publication: Publisher, Year.
Example: United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment
Trends in 1998. Washington: GPO, 1999.
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