Transcript Honestly speaking…

Honestly speaking…
we need to talk about our writing…
again.
First things first…
Always make sure you fully understand what the
assignment is asking you to do. That includes:
• Format of expected response
• Length of response
• Requirements (quotes, MLA format, no dead
words, no contractions, evidence of
proofreading)
• Many of you only talked about your quote in each
journal and you should have responded to both
chapters for each journal
In Academic Writing…
There are several things you always want to
avoid when writing for an academic purpose:
• Contractions
• Any symbol for the word and (&)
• Don’t use etc.
• Starting sentences with And or But
• Know the difference between there, their, and
they’re
Academic Writing Continued
• Know the difference between your and you’re
(you are)
• Do not overuse pronouns (he, she, they).
Speaking of they, stop using it in your writing
right now as it is not allowed in AP.
• Do not end sentences with:
For, by, of, in, is, has, this, was, are, be, to, with.
Academic Writing Continued…
• NO informal language (stuff, cool, fly, you know)
• Avoid overuse of exclamation points
• Use strong diction (be very specific of what you
say and who and what you mean)
• Use sentence variety (this means do not start
every sentence with the same word AND do not
write all of your sentences the same length)
• Avoid generalizing statements (Everyone knows,
all teenagers ….., If you think this, everyone
sees…All parents want this for their children…)
Dead Words Reminder
Dead words are words that are not specific and
are generally overused: (USED TO DEATH)
LIKE
PRETTY
NICE
BAD
GOOD
A LOT
SO
COOL
TOO
VERY
PROBABLY
GET/GOT
NICE
LOTS
BUT
FUNNY
GREAT
ALSO
HAVE TO
THEN
BIG
FINE
LOOK
REALLY
Toward vs. Towards
• See definition