Writing Tips

General

· Avoid passive voice:

Bad: The lesson was designed to help students multiply.

Good: I designed the lesson to help students multiply.

Good: I selected this lesson from [book] to help students multiply.

· The word “data” is plural:

Bad: The data is shocking!

Good: These data are shocking!

· Watch the placement of punctuation with quotation marks: periods and commas go inside the close-quote; colons and semi-colons go outside, and question marks go inside or out, depending on where the question ends.

Bad: For short, we call it “SAS”.

Good: Joe said, “Three,” but Mary disagreed. She yelled, “Four”; others in the class echoed this. Was she guessing when she said, “Four”? Perhaps, because Mary later asked, “How did you get three?”

· Spell out integer names from zero to ten.

· Make tenses consistent across an event.

· Don’t use “they” and “it” unless the referent is obvious, nearby, and matching in number.

Bad: I assigned ten problems. They really struggled with it.

Good: I assigned ten problems. My students really struggled with these.

· Use page numbers!

And for this assignment:

· Make reference to and cite readings, at least in Reflection section! (OK to cite last name only).

· Write in prose, not outline form.