Writing Effective Essays and Reports

Writing Effective Essays and Reports

7th Edition Rob de Lo?

University of Waterloo

Copyright ? 2017 Rob de Lo?

This booklet may be freely used and duplicated for noncommercial educational purposes only. The costs of duplicating the booklet may be recouped. However, it must not be sold for profit. If you use this booklet in your course(s), then I would like you to send me a note indicating your organization, the course in which you used the booklet, and the number of students in your course. I would appreciate receiving any feedback that I can use to improve the booklet.

Rob de Lo? University of Waterloo

Waterloo, ON rdeloe@uwaterloo.ca

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Future versions of the booklet will be available at this site.

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Table of Contents

1. The Importance of Writing Well ..............................1

1.1. Purpose of the Guide ................................................. 2

1.2. Organization...............................................................2

2. Organizing and Presenting Your Essays and Reports.................................................5

2.1. Beginnings, Middles, and Endings.............................5 Baiting the Hook: The Introduction................................ 6 Delivering the Goods: The Body ................................... 7 Wrapping Things Up: The Conclusion .......................... 8

2.2. Presentation and Layout ............................................ 9 Headings..................................................................... 10 Page Numbers ............................................................ 10 Footnotes and Endnotes............................................. 11 Fonts, Line Spacing and Margins ............................... 11 Figures, Tables, Boxes and Equations ....................... 12

2.3. General Writing Style Conventions .......................... 14

3. Citing Sources and Quoting Text .........................19

3.1. When You Should Cite a Source ............................. 20

3.2. Building the Citation Into the Text ............................ 21 Citing Sources With One Author ................................. 22 Citing Sources With Two Authors ............................... 24 Citing Sources With Three or More Authors ............... 24 Works by Same Author Having the Same Date .......... 24 Using Multiple Sources to Support One Point............. 25

3.3. Using Quotations Effectively .................................... 25 Building the Quotation Into the Text............................ 26 Block Quotations......................................................... 27 Rules for Modifying Quotations ................................... 28 Paraphrasing an Author's Words ................................ 30

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4. The Reference List ................................................ 33

4.1. Formatting the Reference List ................................. 34

4.2. Organizing Entries in the Reference List: Common Cases....................................................... 35

Books and Reports ......................................................35 Refereed Journal Articles ............................................36 Chapter in Edited Books..............................................37

4.3. Organizing Entries in the Reference List: The Works ...................................................................... 38

Books and Reports with Editions or Report Numbers ......................................................................39 Books in a Series.........................................................39 Entire Edited Books .....................................................40 Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations...............40 Unpublished and Undated Works ................................41 Papers in Conference Proceedings.............................41 Chapter in Author's Own Work ....................................42 Articles in Magazines and Newspapers.......................42 Oral Presentations Given at Conferences ...................43 Websites ......................................................................43

5. Summary and Checklist........................................ 45

6. Appendix ................................................................ 49

6.1. Finding Literature to Support Your Arguments ............................................................... 49

Where to Begin?..........................................................49 Tools for Finding Literature..........................................50 Search Strategies ........................................................54 The Importance of Serendipity ....................................57

6.2. Common Word Usage and Grammar Problems ................................................................. 58

6.3. Additional Resources .............................................. 61

Dictionary and Thesaurus............................................61 Grammar and Punctuation ..........................................61 Research and Writing Guides......................................62

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