Writing Guide: Part 1, Style

"[W]riting is the greatest technology known to man...."
Ann-Marie MacDonald, 2003 (The Way the Crow Flies)

Part 1: Style
[click here to see a slide presentation (pdf file) based on Part 1 (Style) of this Writing Guide]

While content is, of course, the heart and soul of the papers you'll write in this class—and in the long run content is what I'm looking for and assessing—all too often I can't grasp the content of your papers because of your writing style. If I can't understand what you're saying because it's stated unclearly, how can I see what you think and thus evaluate the quality of your thought and effort? That's why writing style is important in academic prose.

A. The General Tone of Your Writing