The style an author chooses to write in is important to consider as this will affect whether readers will engage in wanting to hear what the topic is about or the position that is being taken on the issue. The first thing you should take into account is who is my audience. Is it people who are familiar with my subject? Is my issue current and well known in the mainstream? Do I write conversationally or in a formal way to scholars? Once you decide who your audience is, next there are some writing tips that are good to abide by when writing a research paper.
One of the tips is to be clear and brief in your writing while keeping words to a minimum and eliminating modifiers, like very, really, great, etc. Another tip is to eliminate introductory phrases and get to the point. Stock phrases such as, as a matter of fact or in the event of and others like it are not necessary for this type of writing. it just clutters the paper up with additional words.
A writer must decide whether they will be writing their paper in an active voice or a passive voice. An active voice always states who is doing the action. For example: Iraq's army bombed the school full of children.
A passive voice would say, A school was damaged. When writing in a passive voice it does not always say who or what did the action.
Staying with a consistent point of view is important in order for the reader to be able to follow what happened. Pick whether you will speak in first, second, or third person and stick with it all of the way through the paper.
Word choice should be carefully scrutinized. Ask yourself if you are writing formal enough and if you are using the specialized language necessary for your topic in order to connect with your readers. Pay attention to whether you are writing too technical for your audience as well. Keep your language interesting and engaging. Sentence structure should vary. If you are beginning too many sentences with the same word and not using pronouns, that can become annoying for readers. Short and choppy sentences can sound robotic and dull. By mixing up different types of sentences it will add rhythm to your paper.
Good transitions move a paper along and are pleasing to the reader. You can do this by using transitional words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs that move the reader to the next subtopic. I like to end some of my paragraphs with a sentence that refers to what was just read but leads to what is next.
This chapter also addressed the way we introduce sources or authors in our paper. We need to be careful to stay neutral if that is our intent. If we are intending to persuade, the language we use can give credence to the sources that are supporting the stance we want to take.
Sexist language should never be used in a paper. Common stereotypes should never be a part of the wording in your paper. Readers will get a bad impression of you.
Reading often and a wide variety of all types of literature can only help improve how an author writes!
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