IT practitioners must have strong writing skills to be successful. Writing is a skill and you will get better with practice. Use your college assignments to improve your writing. It is time well spent.

Many of you have English as a second language. Faculty recognize and respect this fact. Please take advantage of the services offered by the Writing Center and English Language Institute.

Honor Code

• It should always be clear what are your own words and what are someone else's. Direct quotes should be in quotation marks. Don't paraphrase. If you are tempted to paraphrase, chances are you have not synthesized what you have learned.
• Illustrations should be your own work or clearly footnoted if not. Remember, if you are publishing on the web, you must have the author's permission to use materials that are not your own (since you are re-publishing the work).
• Faculty would much rather spend half an hour helping you learn to proofread than spending a half hour filling out honor code violation paperwork. Please ask for help if you need it. Don't plagiarize. It isn't worth it.

Grammar and Spelling

• Check the usage of "its" and "it's". "It's" is the contraction of "it is." "Its" is possessive.
• Check the usage of "their," "there," and "they're."
• Check the usage of "affect" versus "effect."
• Check the usage of "sight" versus "site" versus "cite." (Example: You cite a reference on a web site.)
• Spell check and Grammar check! While these tools are not perfect, and are not a substitute for proofreading, they will catch many errors.
• Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Get help from the GMU Writing Center.

References

• Use recent source material.
• Use a variety of source materials (books, articles and web pages).
• Avoid relying on one author. Use primary sources when possible.
• Do not paraphrase. Use your own words. Any time you quote another author, clearly indicate that it is a quotation by using quotation marks or indenting and single spacing (quotes greater than 3 lines long). Failure to do so will be considered plagiarism.
• Footnote any information that is not general knowledge. It should always be clear how to find the sources you used.
• When you use a web source, ask yourself whether it is a reliable source of information. Is the author an expert? The the author selling something? Is the author a student? Where did the author get his/her information?
• Your professor may have a preference for style (MLA vs APA) but both may be used in our field. For formats to use for web references, see: http://writingcenter.gmu.edu/resources/onlinehandouts.html

Style

• Organize your thoughts so that they are presented in a logical order.
• Make sure you are clearly addressing the requirements given in the assignment.
• Explain clearly without excessive wordiness.
• Use short, action sentences. Look for unnecessary words to delete. Look for run-on sentences that should be divided into two or more sentences.
• Avoid passive constructions and use of the first person. Avoid mixing person and tenses.
• Read your paper aloud to yourself or to a friend.
• Write for your audience. Ask yourself if you are writing at an appropriate level of abstraction. For example, a user will need more detail and direction than another specialist.

Useful links

• GMU Writing Center
• ITE Writing Guide
• Purdue Online Writing Lab
• Style and Grammar Guides