Graduate Level Writing

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Graduate Level Writing

• Cheryl Hawkinson Melkun

Spring 2009
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What is graduate level writing?
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Facts do not cease to exist because they are
ignored.

• Aldous Huxley

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What constitutes critical thinking?
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Figures wont lie, but liars will figure.

• Charles H. Grosvenor

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What is a quality source?
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Evaluating Online Sources
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Dont tell me the moon is shining show me the
glint of light on broken glass.

• Anton Chekov

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Evidence
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Distinguishing telling facts
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The time to begin writing an article is when you
have finished it to your satisfaction. By that
time you begin to clearly and logically perceive
what it is you really want to say.

• Mark Twain

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The Writing Process
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Tact is the art of making a point without making
an enemy.

• Howard Newton

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Haitians Swarmed the Florida Coast. -
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

• DO

• DO NOT

• Address your primary audience
• Realize that audience may not share your beliefs
• Show respect for others opinions
• Teach the reader something new
• Use language that is objective
• Avoid personal pronouns
• Avoid contractions and abbreviations such as
  etc.
• Choose words with appropriate denotations and
  connotations
• Observe parity when addressing individuals who
  are peers

• Assume that the audience shares your beliefs and
  opinions
• Insult your audience
• State the obvious
• Use language that is subjective
• Use the second person you
• Employ clichés
• Use words incorrectly
• Choose inappropriate words and phrases that could
  be construed as sexist, racist, or culturally
  ethnocentric

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I am returning this otherwise good typing paper
to you because someone has printed gibberish all
over it and put your name at the top.

• English Professor (name unknown), Ohio State

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Final Tips