Random Comments on Writing and Analysis

REVISED, 2/26

Writing

• A "prompt" is a symbol on a display screen. This course assigns questions or topics, not "prompts."  
• Introduce quotations.  See here for more detail, despite the SW errors in using state and however. 
• Avoid  phrases such as "The purpose of this paper is . . . . " or "In this paper, I will attempt to . . . ." 
• Maintain verb tense consistency.
• Never start  a sentence with a numeral.
• Learn about the apostrophe.
• Use italics for the titles of books, magazines, and newspapers.  Use quotation marks for the titles of articles or chapters.
• Do not put superscripts together.  If you are referring to more than one source in a sentence, you may put those sources in one endnote. Here is an example:
• 7 Squidward Tentacles, I Am Superior (Bikini Bottom: University of Bikini Bottom Press, 1984), 34-36; Patrick Star, Not Reading Books (Asheville: Echinoderm Press, 1987), 21-23; Spongebob Squarepants, Candide Under Water (Hollywood: Pretense Press, 1980), 4.

Analysis

• Use the term platform only to refer to a formal statement of positions by a party organization.
• There is no such thing as "the" Tea Party.  It is a loose term referring to an even looser set of individuals and organizations with diverse and often conflicting opinions.
• Strategy and tactics mean different things.