Editing Guide
Fixing the Text - Circle all instances of “you,” “your,” “yours,” “yourself,” etc. Delete them and rewrite the sentences so that no vague words appear.
- Circle all subjects; put a box around all verbs; check for agreement and tense errors.
- Check that all of your pronouns agree in number with the nouns they represent.
And be sure the pronoun cannot possibly represent two different nouns.
- and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so: use commas with coordinating conjunctions (SV, and SV.)
- The oak tree in the front yard fell on the roof, so we will have to move.
- Gulliver set his alarm for 6:00 AM, yet he still managed to get stuck in traffic.
- however, therefore, instead (vs.) although, because, whereas
- The oak tree in the front yard fell on the roof; therefore, we will have to move.
- Because the oak tree in the front yard fell on the roof, we will have to move.
- Gulliver set his alarm for 6:00 AM; nevertheless, he managed to get stuck in traffic.
- Although Gulliver set his alarm for 6:00 AM, he still managed to get stuck in traffic.
- introductory clauses and phrases (comma before the subject) (Intro, SV.)
- With no roof to keep the rain out, our house needs serious repair.
- Whereas GSC offers a personal environment, UGA is more socially challenging.
Errors to avoid - Any form of the lazy cliche “As I said before” or “In summary” or “In conclusion”
- “This” and “that” used by itself as a pronoun (especially as a subject)
- This shows that I needed to sleep more often.
- That was the worst day of my high school career.
- Mr. Clark proved this to me in sixth grade.
- I believed that for a long time.
- “it” used as a subject
- Confusing: It is scary to walk in the dark.
- Clear: Walking in the dark frightens me.
- “By doing this . . . it will improve”
- Confusing: By Mr. Horton reviewing my outline, it will help me improve my paper.
- Clear: By reviewing my outline, Mr. Horton will help me improve my paper.
- dangling modifiers
- Confusing: As a GSC college student, textbooks are expensive.
- Clear: As a GSC college student, I spend a lot of money on textbooks.
MLA Formatting - Use 1” margins
- Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font
- Double-space the text
- Put last name and page number in upper right header.
- Use four-line heading on first page
- Leave out extra spaces between paragraphs or around title
- Are all sources cited, either in the sentence itself or in parentheses?
- Double-check the punctuation of your citations in the text.
- On Works Cited page, center the title Works Cited at the top (no italics).
- Put works cited entries in alphabetical order and double-spaced.
