by George Brosi

All truly scholarly work is, in essence, argument. That is why the paper a scholar does to fulfill the requirements for a master's degree is called a "thesis." Always be sure your academic papers are arguments in support of a thesis.

Your thesis should be as specific as practical and stated positively. It is much more impressive to argue for a particular solution to a problem or cause for a phenomenon than against one. Also, be sure that your thesis is controversial. Nobody is impressed with a research paper which argues the obvious!

Refer to source material, whether fiction or non-fiction, in the present tense as something on-going. For example, "Hernandez criticizes previous scholars" or "Penelope finally recognizes Odysseus." Past tense is permissible only when you are referring directly to past events.

Write in the active voice. Employ the passive voice only seldom and briefly as appropriate.

Express yourself with appropriate nouns and avoid the awkward word, "one." Avoid the second person. Do not informally address the reader by employing the word, "you," or use "we" to imply the reader and writer together or make commands which are implicitly addressed to the reader. Such forms of address give writing a patronizing tone. Also avoid the first person. Do not use the words "I" and "me." Do not self-consciously refer to your own work in preparing your paper. Your reader knows you are the author, so you can argue in an objective writing style. Also avoid using the awkward expression "he or she." Instead use plural nouns and the plural pronoun, they.

The Modern Languages Association (MLA) has established a different way to present quotations of more than four lines of text. However, when you utilize "block quotes" you diminish your command of your paper. To appear, and simply to be, more rigorous, keep all quotations less than four lines.

Use only primary sources. If you read an article that quotes, paraphrases, or summarizes another source, do not use the information in that form. Instead try to find the primary source, where the information was first written. If you are unable to find the primary source, substantiate your point in another way. You may, however, use a source's references to direct oral communication. In other words, if your source quoted what somebody said, not what they wrote, you are o.k. Refer to the person who spoke in your narrative, but put the author who quoted that person in your parenthetical documentation and works cited because that is where it can be found by readers.