Your paper’s content should be made clear to readers from the outset. The paper’s title should give an indication of the general topic and — if appropriate — of your thesis. The first sentence should draw the reader in: make sure it runs well and is not too long! The reader should know what your argument is by the end of the first few paragraphs, and roughly how you intend to prove it one or two paragraphs later. At this point, if  readers are still reading, you can assume that they are at least basically interested.

For the rest of the paper, make sure you do not lose your audience. Make both structure and style as easy to follow as you can. Your argument should proceed smoothly from one paragraph to the next, and it ought to be internally consistent (unlike some of the material we will read this semester!). Sentences should make sense and not run on. I will criticize spelling, grammatical errors, or inconsistent use of tense, as it is important to realize that all of these are barriers to understanding your argument. (Unless such problems are egregious, however, they are unlikely to affect your grade.) Each time the reader has to pause or go back to make sure he or she has read a word or a sentence correctly, you provide a small temptation to stop reading. In addition, you make it harder to follow your argument. Nothing should come between your reader and your argument; least of all eminently preventable problems such as spelling errors.

At the end of your paper, you should restate your argument and the main points you have made—do not assume the reader has remembered everything exactly. You want to leave readers with an impression that reflects the whole paper, not just the last part of your argument.

Below follow some practical suggestions to help you write a better paper. Note the word “suggestions”: these are not absolute rules. Indeed, there are very few absolute rules in writing. However, if you do choose to ignore one of these suggestions, you should at least think it through for yourself and have a good reason for your decision. If you are interested in more detailed guidance, there are two books on reserve at the library for my courses: Arthur Biddle, Writer’s Guide: Political Science. (DC Heath, 1987) and William Zinsser, On Writing Well (Harper, 1998). If you’ve never written a seminar paper before, I strongly recommend you read it. Once you know what to write, Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style is unsurpassed in its concise guidelines for how to write.

1. Choose a paper topic (if not already provided for you). Pick a topic that interests you, and about which you would like to learn more. A lack of interest in your topic means that the research will be less rewarding and that you will be less likely to do much of it. Moreover, if you do not find your topic interesting, you are unlikely to make it interesting to your readers — in other words, your paper is less likely to be successful at persuading anyone.
2. Decide what you want to argue, preferably without referring directly to the  source material.
3. Write an outline of the paper, listing the important points to be made in the different paragraphs, still without referring directly to the material, although you may want to note which author, passage, etc. you think you will want to refer to.
4. Write an introductory paragraph, closing with your thesis. The exact contents of this paragraph may need to be changed at the end, but it is important to have a thesis in your mind as you write.
5. Write a first draft of your conclusion. This will give you an idea of what you need to work towards as you write. The conclusion should restate your thesis and the most important point(s) from the body of the paper. It is not the place to introduce new ideas for the first time!
6. Do the actual writing (see below)
7. Rewrite your conclusion, making sure you do not claim to have argued, shown, or proven something unless you have indeed done so in the preceding pages.
8. Rewrite your introductory paragraph, making sure your thesis statement matches the conclusion and the argument throughout the paper.
9. Write a brief road-map paragraph, to follow the introduction, which gives the reader an idea of how you are going to persuade her. This is where you would indicate which authors or subjects you are going to discuss (and in what context), for example.
10. Proofread, spell-check, and read your paper aloud to make sure it sounds right.

1. If you are going to be commenting on books, articles, etc., do not assume the reader knows or can guess what you are talking about. Give a brief paraphrase or synopsis of the main argument of the passage or work you are discussing.
2. The burden is upon you to make sure the reader does not suspect you misrepresent an author to the latter’s disadvantage. This is where quotations may come in handy. Use them sparingly, however. If you fall for the temptation to string quotations together, you will not be making any argument of your own. As a rule, try to avoid quoting passages longer than 3 lines, unless you feel doing so is crucial to supporting your argument.
3.  The burden is also upon you to make sure you do not represent the writing and ideas of others as your own, even accidentally! When you make a claim, make it clear whether this is your argument or that of one of the authors. When you cite or paraphrase an author, make sure it is followed by a correct citation (do not cite a random page in a book!). Not giving credit for sentences, ideas, or facts that are not common knowledge is tantamount to plagiarism, and will be treated seriously! To avoid inadvertently quoting an author from your notes, always try to use your own language — just changing 1 or 2 words in a sentence is not enough!
4. Whether you agree or disagree with an author, make it clear which is the case, and explain why!! Do not just assume that this will be obvious to the reader.
5. Think through the implications of your argument. Think of the logical extreme implied by your argument, and see if you agree with yourself. If not, you may want to qualify your claims.
6. Similarly, make it a point to write down the two strongest objections to your argument. Do not content yourself merely with thinking through them—write them down. This will make it more difficult accidentally to overlook an aspect of an objection you cannot handle satisfactorily.
7. Make sure your argument is coherent. Do not jump from one topic to the next randomly. Make the connection between different parts of your argument clear. If you find it impossible to proceed smoothly from one paragraph to the next, you need to re-examine your argument!
8. On a related note, make sure there is a sense of progression to the argument. The reader must be drawn from one paragraph to the next and be able to follow along with your argument in a natural manner. For example, do not make your main point first, and then pad with some marginally related smaller issues. Your audience will lose interest before you get to the end.

1. Does the paper have a short introductory section ending with a clear statement of the argument? Does the paper have a short concluding section that restates the argument and pulls everything together?
2. Have you thought about how authors you criticize (or ignore) might respond to your argument?
3. Are any of the paragraphs longer than 2/3 of a page? If so, check whether the paragraph makes more than one point, and consider rewriting it or splitting it into two parts.
4. Have you not toyed with margins and font size to a noticeable degree? If your paper is considerably longer than the assigned length, you may be trying to tackle too much at once — simplify your main argument and cut out paragraphs that do not add to it. If your paper is considerably shorter, you may be approaching the issue too simplistically. (Have you really considered item 2 above? Most authors we read are/were intelligent people, and cannot just be waved off in a single paragraph).
5. Have you either a) read the paper out loud or b) given it to a friend to look at? Try to catch typos, confusing language, and holes in your argument before handing it in.
6. Have you spell-checked and proofread again after you made your final, small changes?

1. As noted above, you must indicate the source (in some standard citation format) of every quotation. Quoting a lot is not a good idea, but leaving off quotation marks to reduce the apparent amount of quotation is considerably worse (and opens you up to charges of plagiarism)!!
2. Avoid sentences that run longer than 3 lines, where possible. They slow down the reader unnecessarily, and the longer the sentence, the greater the risk that it becomes badly structured.
3. Look up any word of whose meaning you are not entirely sure!! Even a slight shade of difference between a word’s meaning and the one you intend can colour or distort your argument.
4. Be careful with your use of this, these, etc. Is it clear what these words are referring to (usually the subject or object of the previous sentence)? If there is any ambiguity, try to rewrite your sentence so you can eliminate the issue.
5. Common errors to check for: cite vs. site vs. sight, its vs. it’s, principle vs. principal, imminent vs. immanent, accept vs. except, etc. An excellent and detailed listing of general errors in English can be found at: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/. There is no excuse for committing such common errors at this point in your academic careers, and they will be factored in my grading decisions.

The list of grammar points that follows on the next page is not mine — it is borrowed at least in part from New York Times columnist (and former Nixon speechwriter) William Safire, and circulates widely in writing departments, for good reasons…
 

1. Avoid run-on sentences they are hard to read.
2. Never use no double negatives
3. Use the semicolon properly, always where it is appropriate; and never where it is not.
4. Reserve the apostrophe for it’s proper use and omit it where its not needed.
5. Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
6. No sentence fragments.
7. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
8. Avoid commas, that are not necessary.
9. If you reread your work, you will find on rereading that a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing.
10. A writer must not shift your point of view.
11. Do not overuse exclamation points!!!
12. And do not start a sentence with a conjunction.
13. Place pronouns as closely as possible, especially in long sentences, as of ten or more words, to their antecedents.
14. Hyphenate only between syllables and avoid un-necessary hyphens.
15. Write all adverbial forms correct.
16. Don’t use contractions.
17. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided.
18. It is incumbent on us to avoid archaisms.
19. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is.
20. Steer clear of incorrect verb forms that have snuck into the language.
21. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixed metaphors.
22. Avoid modernisms that sound flaky.
23. Avoid barbarisms: they impact too forcefully.
24. Never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
25. Everyone should be careful to use singular pronouns with singular nouns in their writing.
26. If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times: avoid hyperbole.
27. Also, avoid awkward or affected alliteration.
28. Do not string a large number of prepositional phrases together unless you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death.
29. Always pick on the correct idiom.
30. “Avoid overuse of ‘quotation “marks.”’”
31. Never use more words than are necessary in order to get your point across: be concise.
32. Alwayz chek you’re spilling.
33. Always be avoided by the passive voice.
34. Every sentence a verb.
35. Do not give other professors or I a paper with improper use of personal pronouns. Them and me do not like that.
36. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague: seek viable alternatives.