Common+Problems+with+Papers

= Notes about Common Mistakes and Writing Center =

If you did not receive a score of 20 points on your first paper, it probably had one of these common problems:

Capitalization: It is obvious when I read your papers that you are a generation of text messagers. You must be careful to take yourself out of texting mode and put yourself into paper writing mode, capitals are important. Capitalize all proper nouns, names, and beginnings of sentences.

Misspellings: You are in college now. It is expected of you to be able to write papers with no errors in them. Please make sure to proof read your papers and remember that spell checker will not correct some words that are really words when you miss-type them.

Grammatical Errors: Make sure all of your words and sentences make sense, make sure that your word order makes sense too.

Length: Not so much of a problem with these papers, all of you did OK, but make sure to watch your length for the coming parts of your project.

Paragraphs: Probably the worst problem with this batch of papers. You must separate your work into paragraphs. If you are not sure where to put them, try reading your paper aloud and everywhere you take a breath, you should separate with a new paragraph. When you "change gears" and start talking about something else, you should start a new paragraph. Small paragraphs are OK. Paragraphs help the reader to separate information.

Numbers: Again with the text messaging... You have to write out your small numbers. In a paper, three should never be 3. The general rule is write it out if it is under 100. I did not take points off for this this time, but I will in the future, so if you were warned, pay attention to your next paper.

All in all, your papers were mostly good. Some of you may consider visiting the Writing Center if you need help. I will give you two points extra credit for all future parts of the project if you take them to the writing center. You must show me the original copy of your work that they help you with and your edited copy in order to receive the points.

If you received a score of 15 points or below, you have the option to rewrite this paper and turn in it for a better grade.