CMC Congress Course: Writing Tips

Revise and rewrite. (See the "paramedic method.")
Never use a long Latinate word when a short Anglo-Saxon one will do . As William Zinsser says: "The English language is derived from two main sources. One is Latin, the florid language of ancient Rome. The other is Anglo-Saxon, the plain languages of England and northern Europe. The words derived from Latin are the enemy—they will strangle and suffocate everything you write. The Anglo-Saxon words will set you free."
Cut needless words

Mindless introductory phrases (“It is important to keep in mind the fact that”);
Redundancies ("This is a tough hurricane. One of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water." -- Donald J. Trump, September 18, 2018)

Write with nouns and verbs, not adjectives and adverbs.
Shun the passive voice and forms of the verb to be. Use active verbs.
Vary the length of your sentences and paragraphs .
Do not shift from one verb tense to another if the time frame is the same.
Make your point at the start. Use the rest of the essay to support it.
Do not conclude with a mere summary.
Never use contractions in academic writing.
Proofread. The computer will not catch all your mistakes.
Avoid "dropped quotations."
For endnotes, use Arabic numerals, not lower-case Romans. (Click here to see how to change formats.) Follow these steps if you need to convert footnotes to endnotes.
When referring to the legislative branch, capitalize Congress. When referring to political parties, capitalize Republican and Democratic.
Choose your words carefully. Never use feel for think, verbal for oral, incredibly for very, or novel for a work of non-fiction.
Stay off tangents. Cut anything that fails to advance your argument. In academic essays, avoid sermonettes. (“However, I feel that Franklin Pierce was an incredibly lousy president under who, the national polity was lead into it's crucial crisis ...”)

CMC Congress Course