Typos, spelling mistakes, bad punctuation. Slip-ups happen to the best of us when we’re rushing, tired, under pressure or a bit confused: which is pretty much the description of a stressed out university student writing an essay that’s due soon. At best, they make you look silly and careless. At worst, they can undermine the
Abraham Lincoln said ‘the best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend’. With respect to thesis examiners, the opposite is closer to the mark—the best way to destroy a friend is to make him or her an enemy. ‘Friend’ and ‘enemy’ are hardly accurate descriptions of the relationship between a candidate
What do you do when you need to insert a set of parentheses within another set of parentheses? This is an issue that commonly arises in academic writing, particularly when inserting additional information about an in-text reference. For example, you have a parenthetical element, such as an in-text reference (e.g., Elite Editing, 2014). Now, you
Students often overuse italics in their essays and theses. Here are some facts about italics that can help improve your writing: Italics can be used for foreign language words. For example, ‘It was a quid pro quo agreement’. However, note that ‘et. al’, ‘ibid’, ‘e.g.’ and other Latin words used in referencing are not
Knowing when to use ‘that’ and when to use ‘which’ in certain sentences can be confusing—in fact, getting the two mixed up is an error that even experienced and effective writers make. So what’s the difference between the two, and how can you tell which is the correct word to use? It doesn’t have to
A book review is a critical review that gives an analysis, description and evaluation of a book. There are no fixed rules regarding how to write a book review because the format will depend on the context in which the book review is being written and the personal perspective of the reader. The style of
The comma is one of the most common and important punctuation marks in the English language. It is also one of the most commonly misused. It is not uncommon when asking someone why he or she has used a comma incorrectly to receive answers like ‘because it just looked like it needed one,’ or ‘I
The semicolon is a commonly misunderstood punctuation mark. It may be useful to consider the semicolon as something between a comma and a full stop; it both separates and links the clauses it falls between. Though there are varying opinions about the instances where a semicolon is required, the three usages that follow are widely
Most writing consists almost entirely of clauses. Good writing will connect, relate and contrast these clauses, so that the transition from one to the next appears seamless. Ultimately, however, each clause must, at the very least, name a subject and describe an action performed by or on that subject, and must place this action in
No matter what your field of research, completing a thesis is a lengthy and challenging undertaking. Once you begin actually writing your thesis, you might feel as though you’re endlessly repeating yourself as you reiterate your key findings and draw them back to your central argument. How do you know if that repetition is helping
