c


1) Font size for the main body of all text should be 12 point.

2) Though students often like to play with different fonts, for formal writing, especially
writing to be sent to the , the fonts must be appropriate to the task. Roman times and
courier are two fonts appropriate for formal writing.


  

1) Student writing is measured in words, not in pages. Four-thousand words is about ten
pages typed and double spaced in 12 font; 1500 words is about two and half such pages.


c


1) Formal writing, especially writing that needs to be graded by teachers or IB examiners,

should be double spaced. This makes it easier to read and provides white-space for
teacher/examiners to make comments within the text.








 

1) Titles of plays, books, poems published as books, magazines, newspapers, films, television
programs, ballets, long musical compositions, compact discs, cassettes, records, operas,
paintings, sculptures, and pamphlets, must all be underlined.

2) When citing or referring to works from online, the writer should underline the scholarly
project or database name. Professional or personal site names should also be underlined.

3) Exceptions to the above rules are: The Bible, Old Testament, Genesis, Gospels, Talmud,
Koran, and the Upanishads. These works should be treated like any other book, however, in
the works-cited list and bibliography.

4) Additional exceptions are: Laws, Acts, and Similar Political Documents. Some examples
are: Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Treaty of Trianon.

 

  




c 

1) Quotation marks should be used to indicate the beginning and end of a character¶s speech
in prose fiction.

2) Quotation marks should be used in formal writing to indicate when words, phrases or
passages are taken from another person or source.

3) Quotation marks are to be used to indicate the titles of short works of poetry, titles of
magazines or journal articles, short plays (one act), short stories, articles found online, and
titles of songs.
4) Quotations of passages of three or more lines should not be put in quotation marks, but a
line should be skipped before and after the quotation and it should be indented to separate it
from the rest of the text. Parenthetical notation should also be used to indicate the page on
which the quotation can be found. The following example comes from the opening two
sentences of an essay.

Joyce¶s startling opening to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow that was coming down
along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy
named baby tuckoo (3)

often jars the readers senses as it places the reader in the mind set of a child. Faulkner found
this technique so startling that he imitated when he decided to portray the thought processes
of a mentally disabled person in his book The Sound and the Fury.

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1) A contraction is when two words are joined by an apostrophe. Examples are: haven¶t,
you¶re, and I¶ll. Contractions should not be used in formal writing. The only exception to this
is when quoting another source that uses contractions.

c Ö
  


 

The form of source citation currently accepted at the American School is the parenthetical
citation in the body of the paper. This form has taken the place of endnotes (used for larger
works that contain many chapters so as to prevent any interruption of the flow of the text) and
footnotes (which are used for explanatory notes that are not part of the main body of a paper).
The parenthetical citation provides a simplified yet effective method of crediting sources
properly. Below are examples of parenthetical citation and the different ways it changes to
accommodate the more complex issues of citation.

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c 

According to Madge Poulson, "the most important factor involved in determining the correct
amount of water to give a Venus Flytrap is the amount of flies eaten by the plant in one-
week" (958).

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c 

When citing more than one work in a paper it is necessary to include the authors name in the
citation to make clear which work you are referring to:

There is a sharp contrast between the Kurtz¶s statement, "The horror! The horror!" (Conrad
153) and Hamlet¶s statement, "The readiness is all!" (Shakespeare 67).

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c "c
# 
When citing more than one work by the same author it is necessary to use the title of the
work to distinguish which work is being cited:

We can see the different tone Joyce creates by looking at the opening words of the two
books; in one we get "Stately, plump, Buck Mulligan" (Ulysses 1) and in the other we get
"Once upon a time, and a very good time it was" (Portrait 1).

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c 

1) Use the same practice as above, however, what is more important is to be sure the Works
Cited and or Bibliography pages include the complete internet address of the site from which
the source was obtained. To be sure this done properly, a basic guide is given explaining the
steps that need to be taken for this under the heading Sources Cited at the end of the paper
that appears hereafter. A more thorough and authoritative source can be found in the school
library, and that is the 1999 Publication of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research
Papers. Because of the various types of sources that can be found on the internet, we do not
provide a generic example here. Neither do we wish to provide more than we have in that
section because of the rapidly changing practices for what is accepted as a conventional
approach to these citations.

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1) A sources cited page serves as a limited Bibliography. It is a list of only those sources
which are directly quoted or cited in paper, and very often it is also used as key to how each
work will be cited. The Bibliography, by contrast includes works that have informed the
thinking of the paper, but that may not be quoted from or directly cited in the paper itself.

 


c
 




 

1) Foreign words in quotations must be reproduced with all accents and other marks as they
would appear in the original language. If the writer does not have a keyboard or typewriter
that includes these accents and symbols, the writer should add these markings by hand.

2) Foreign words included outside of quotations must also be reproduced faithfully to the
original language, and should be italicized to indicate that they are from another language.

3) If the paper or essay in which foreign words appear is handwritten, it is acceptable to

substitute underlining for italics.


"

1) In non-scientific or mathematical papers, use of numerals should be avoided. It is okay to

use numerals for fractions, decimals, and large numbers. But other numbers should be written
in letters. Numerals should not appear at the beginning of sentences.
2) Other instances that numerals are acceptable in non-scientific or mathematical papers are
in reference to weight, height, time, percentages, money, dates, and page numbers.

3) For large numbers it is acceptable to use a combination of numerals and words:

6.5 million.

4) Related numbers must be expressed in the same style:

8 of the 120 board members

between 1 million and 2.5 billion
approximately 50 motorcycles and 25 cars

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Effective writing requires a sound understanding of the mechanics of good writing. A useful
analogy in thinking about the mechanics of writingis that of driving a car. Important
information includes

` the various components of the car (or parts of speech in writing), and how they
function together (the rules of grammar), and
` what is needed to keep the car moving along, stopping and starting in the right places,
and pausing whenever it is necessary (punctuation).

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The basic element of writing is the word. The first important thing to recognize is that there
are several types of words used in written and spoken speech, each with its defining
characteristics and its specific purposes.


 are naming words, those that give names to people, to things, or to places. The
following sentence shows some examples (italicized) of nouns.

` Although h
 is located in
dne Australia it is a universit where you are likely

to meet students who come from many countries in the world.

All the italicized words are nouns. Some of them are singular nouns (for example, universit
world) and others are plural (for example, students countries). Some are proper nouns, or
those that name places and people (for example, h

dne Australia). Note that they
begin with a capital letter. Nouns can also express collectivit, that is, groups of people or
entities (for example, the amil, the arliament, the Committee) and it is important to note
that they are treated like singular nouns (for example, The committee believes that there was
insufficient information to make an evaluation of the scientific merit of the proposal).



 stand in place of nouns. They can be ersonal ronouns standing for people (for
example, he she ou) or imersonal ronouns that stand for things (for example, it those).
Pronouns can also be subjective case which means they are the subject of the sentence (for
example, I want to write effectively; or You are reading about writing). They can be objective
case, or the object of the sentence (for example, This material interests ou; or I am pleased
to know about it). Also, pronouns can denote ossession (for example, Your understanding
pleases me; or M reading of the novel captures their interest).

Š" are doing words. They express action. The following sentence shows some examples
(italicized) of verbs.

` Although UNSW is in Sydney, Australia, it is a university where you are likely to

meet students who have come to study from many countries in the world. Like many
Australian universities, UNSW grew during the 1970s and 1980s. Who knows how
large UNSW will become in the next twenty years.

All the italicized words are verbs. Some of them indicate that the action is taking place now,
and are therefore in the resent tense (for example, is knows), others are in the ast (for
example, have come) and still others indicate action that is to take place in the uture (for
example, will become).

Verbs can be in the active or in the assive voice. That simply refers to whether the subject of
the verb acts (for example, Sally drove the car) or is acted uon (for example, the car was
driven by Sally).

Some parts of speech that sometimes present problems are resent articiles, which might
be thought of as almost verbs. These are words that end in "ing" (for example, driving, or
writing). The most important thing to note about present participles is that they cannot
function as verbs. The following sentence shows some correct and incorrect uses of present
participles.

` Learning to write effectively.

The students are learning to write effectively.

# have a deinite orm (that is, the) and two indeinite orms (that is, a or an). The
difference between them is that the deinite article indicates one particular noun or thing is
being referred to (for example, in the sentence, "The student who enjoys the psychology
lectures", the refers to a particular student), whereas when the indeinite article is used, it
could be any of a number of people or things (for example, A student who enjoys the
psychology lectures). An is the form of indeinite article used with a noun that begins with a
vowel (for example, an argument).

#'& describe nouns and pronouns and adverbs describe or modify verbs or adjectives,
as the italicized words in the following sentence show.

` UNSW is an Australian (adjective) university where students willingl (adverb) make

a strong (adjective) commitment to learning and activel (adverb) engage in
articularl (adverb) coherent (adjective) programs of study.

 
 are used to denote relationships between nouns and pronouns and other parts of
speech. The italicized words in the following sentences are prepositions.

` Students at UNSW are engaged in the learning o various disciplines with the primary
aim for some students being employment within a particular profession, and or
 others, simply the path b which they come to decide the area of work in which they
will ultimately want to move.

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 are joining words. And is a conjunction that provides the link between two
words (for example, "The teachers and the students arrive by bus each day"). Other
conjunctions (as although than) are required to link two things in the same sentence (for
example, "Although learning to write effectively can take some time, it is worth the trouble in
the end"; or "As should be apparent, the issues here are straightforward"; or "Psychology is
more interesting than Mathematics"). The conjunctions that often present problems for
writers are however nevertheless and moreover). They must be used to link ideas in adjacent
sentences. The following sample sentences show correct and incorrect usage of these
conjunctions.

` Learning to write effectively can take some time, however, it is worth the effort,
and you might have to work hard, nevertheless, you should try.
Learning to write effectively can take some time. It is, however, worth the effort.
You might have to work hard. Nevertheless, you should try.

(&

 that we use often are who whom which and that. These relative
pronouns are often used incorrectly, so it is worth drawing attention to a few important points
about them. First, while who and whom are used to refer to people, that generally refers to
objects, animals or things (for example, "The students who come to university are generally
learning the subject that interests them most"; or "the students about whom I was speaking,
are in this class"). Second, that should be used to introduce a clause indispensable to the
meaning of a sentence (for example, "The component of this material that is of greatest value
is the section on grammar"). In contrast, which should be used to introduce a parenthetical
clause, or one that could be omitted without changing the meaning of the sentence (for
example, "These programs, which attract many highly able students, cover diverse skills and
abilities").

A  consists of more than one word. Khrases express a component of an idea. The
following sentence is broken into its phrases.

` The students (phrase 1) at the University of New South Wales (phrase 2 =

prepositional) who come (phrase 3) from overseas (phrase 4 = prepositional)
contribute much (phrase 5) to the cultural life (phrase 6) at UNSW (phrase 7 =
prepositional).

A  also consists of more than one word. A clause contains a verb and at least a subject.
Some clauses are deendent because they are incomplete and cannot stand on their own as a
sentence, whereas others are indeendent and contain a complete thought, as in the following
example.

` The students at the University of New South Wales who come from overseas
(dependent clause 1) contribute much to the cultural life at UNSW.

A 

 contains a verb and a subject. A sentence is a complete idea in itself. A simple
sentence can include a subject and a verb (for example, He goes.), can have an object of the
verb (for example, She rode the waves), or can be more complex and consist of more than
one clause, as in the preceding example concerning the students at the University of New
South Wales.





A well written piece of work must also have good punctuation. By learning to use different
forms of punctuation you will be able to communicate and express your ideas and arguments
more clearly. Below, we have listed the most frequently used forms of punctuation and their
functions.

c  (.) have three distinct uses. 1. to mark the end of a sentence; 2. to indicate
abbreviated words, and 3. to punctuate numbers and dates.

Ö 
 (:) are used to separate a clause that introduces a list, quotation or summary.

` For example You must take the ollowing on the tri: sweatshirt swimmers and
cliboard.

A colon can also be used to separate an initial sentence or clause from a second clause, list,
phrase or quotation that supports the first in a particular way.

` For example riting an assignment is not eas: to begin with ou have to do a lot o
research.

c
) 
 (;) separate two complete sentences that are, however, closely linked. The semi-
colon can be replaced by a full-stop, but the direct link between the two parts is lost.

` For example, To err is human; to orgive divine.

Do not go near the lions; the could bite ou.

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 () have a vital role to play in longer sentences. They separate information into
readable units. Skilful use of commas can ensure the correct reading of a sentence, especially
one that starts with a long introductory element.

` For example, Although the ironic theor o mental control can exlain the increase in
unwanted thoughts that occurs when the suression o those thoughts is attemted it
is unable to exlain wh this occurs or some tes o thoughts and not others.

Sets of commas also serve to separate items in a list.

` For example, Clinical schologists assess and treat a wide range o schological
disorders including mood disorders anxiet disorders eating disorders and
schizohrenia.



 (?) are used at the end of a sentence that is a question.

` For example, hat are some o the causes o deression?

#   (µ) have two uses. 1. One is to show that something has been left out.
 ` For example, when we use the words or phrases, Don¶t It¶ll
he¶ll

2. The second is to indicate ownership or possession.

` For example, The bos¶ locker room.

The dog¶s tail

ý
 (-) link two or more words that would not normally be placed together, in order that
they work as one idea.

` For example, There are several dieting-related disorders.

% (--) are like brackets; they enclose extra information.

` For example, There are three major tes o eating disorders ² anorexia nervosa
bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder ² and the diagnostic criteria can be seen
in D
M-IV.

Commas work just as well, and they are probably more frequently used than dashes in
academic writing.