Shanafelt Writing Guide

Writing Requirements

1. Point of View (first, second, & third-person)

Use the most persuasive point of view considering the purpose, context, audience, and genre of your communication. 

1. • • First-Person: Personal pronouns (I, me, we, & us) may be used as a deliberate rhetorical choice depending upon your purpose, context, audience, & genre. (Focus: you.)

     • Second-Person: The personal pronoun you may be used as a deliberate rhetorical choice. However, overusing you can sound preachy, accusatory, & bossy. (Focus: reader)

     • Third-Person: Personal pronouns (I, me, we, you, & us) are deliberately omitted to create a fair, balanced, objective, informative, or fact-based tone. (Focus: message)

   • General guidelines for the use of first-person (I, me, we, and us) and third-person point of view (no personal pronouns) are as follows:

     • Expressive, emotion-based, and argumentative compositions such as persuasive proposals, descriptive narratives, position papers, reflective essays, speeches, presentations, book reviews, memoirs, interviews, creative literature, biographies, and satires may use first  (I, me, we, and us) or third person as a rhetorical choice.

     • Referential, fact-based compositions such as research papers, expository essays, lab reports, historical documents, procedural manuals, news reports, technical reports, encyclopedia entries, and government reports generally require third-person point of view (omit personal pronouns).

2. Contractions

Use contractions such as it’s, can’t, won’t, & y’all as a deliberate rhetorical choice when their inclusion is likely to better persuade a specific audience.

3. Slang, cliches, & colloquialisms

Avoid these speech patterns unless they provide greater persuasive appeal to a specific target audience.

4. Numbers

   • • Spell out all numbers zero to one hundred, except mathematical figures and first words of titles & sentences. 

     • Hyphenate all compound numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine when spelled out (e.g. "thirty-two"). 

5. Fourth Wall

Do not mention your class, assignment, or your own paper in your essay.

5. • • Example: "In this paper, I will prove the claim made in assignment prompt #3 . . ."

6. MLA Document Format

   • • See Document Format.

     • Format your essay document according to MLA Document Format guidelines.

* The document format is the first thing a grader sees!

6. • • MLA Document Format: Owl @ Purdue or MLA Document Format Page

7. Essay Submissions 

   • • Discussion Forms: Write your discussion forum response directly in the text box provided.

* Do not upload a PDF document. 

7. • • Essay Submissions: Submit your paper to its online assignment page in Canvas in PDF format.
       * PDF file types required
         ** No papers will be accepted via email!! 

8. Source Requirements

   • • See Source Requirements.

       • • DO NOT cite encyclopedias, Wikipedia, Cliff’s Notes, digests, reviews, or common websites.

         • DO NOT cite sources with no title.

         • DO NOT cite sources with no author

• Except highly reputable .gov sources or well-known and highly respected organizations. 

8. • • Page Numbers: Numbered pages are highly recommended to facilitate full in-text citations.

     • Definitions: Cite dictionary definitions from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
         * The OED does not count as one of your required sources.

     • Research: Research and find credible sources using the college library databases for your research.

     • Sources & Essay Types

       • • Rhetorical Analysis: Analyze op-ed, viewpoint, editorial, and opinion pieces ( print, video, or audio)

         • Research Papers: Cite peer-reviewed journal articles, credible news & information articles, primary sources, and raw data sources.    

         • Persuasive Pieces: Cite peer-reviewed journal articles, credible news & information articles, primary sources, and raw data sources.  

         • Literary Analysis: Cite  peer-reviewed literary criticism journal articles covering your work or topic. 

9. Thesis

   • • See Thesis Requirements. 

     • Thesis Content: State your essay's primary argument, make a debatable claim, and include a short list of evidence to be used to prove the claim.

     • Thesis Templates: Use the appropriate thesis template for the type of essay you are composing.

   • Thesis Placement: The thesis should normally be last sentence of the first (introductory) paragraph.

     • • • Proposal Claim Statements should normally be last sentence of the first (introductory) or second paragraphs, unless you are using the Rogerian argument structure. 

   • Resources: Owl @ Purdue (Thesis) or the Thesis in this guide.

10. Topic Sentences

    • • See Topic Sentences 

      • Placement: The first sentence of each paragraph should be its topic sentence. 

      • Content (Rhetorical Analysis): Reference the element of rhetoric the paragraph will analyze and make a claim regarding how or why that element effectively or ineffectively persuades the target audience of the piece being analyzed. Be clear, concise, and direct!

      • Content (Literary Analysis): Reference the element of literature the paragraph will analyze and make a claim regarding how or why that element creates meaning in the piece of literature being analyzed. Be clear, concise, and direct!

      • Content (other genres): The content of topic sentences for expressive, emotion-based, and argumentative essays are determined according to the rhetorical context. However, all topic sentences should be clear, concise, and effectively introduce the content of the paragraph that follows.

11. Paragraph Development

    • • See Paragraph Development. 

      • Content: Start each paragraph with a strong topic sentence (TS) followed by three (3) pieces of evidence (EV) from the text being analyzed or an outside source. Follow each piece of evidence with several sentences of scholarly analysis (AN) explaining why or how that piece of evidence proves the claim made in the topic sentence.

      • Template: The minimum template for a well-developed paragraph is TS, (EV-AN-AN), (EV-AN-AN), (EV-AN-AN).

      • See Text Structures for additional paragraph structures to be used a rhetorical choice accoriding to your purpose, message, and audience. 

12. Quotations

    • • See Quotations. 

      • Weaving: Weave small sections of quotations (i.e. evidence) into the natural flow of your writing.

      • Video Lecture: View Shanafelt's full video lecture on Quotation Marks and the Quotations page in this guide. 

      • Length: Two Lines Max. Do not include long quotations. Quotes should run no longer than two lines.

      • Introduce & Explain: All quotations and paraphrased text should be introduced with a signal phrase and/or contextual information, documented with MLA 9, and analyzed in detail using two to four sentences of scholarly analysis proving why that quotation proves the claim made in the topic sentence (which supports the thesis).

        • • A sentence, paragraph, or essay should never begin with a quotation mark!!

      • When quoting poetry, cite the line number rather than the page. If you are citing parts of multiple lines in one sentence, use the page number.

      • Punctuation: Commas and periods go INSIDE quotation marks like this, "quoted text."

        • Exception - Unless there is an in-text citation like this, "quoted text" (Dickinson 3).

13. MLA In-Text Citations

    • • See In-Text Citations. 

      • Student's original language, "quoted text" (Smith 5).

      • Shakespeare concedes, "quoted text" (5). <<== Signal Phrase! No need to rewrite the author's name in the internal citation ("Shakespeare concedes . ..).

      • If a source has no page numbers, use books, sections, paragraphs, chapters, cantos, lines, or parts if they are already numbered in the primary text.
          * A list of appropriate abbreviations can be found here: MLA abbreviations

14. Style Requirements:

    • • Avoid the term "talks about." Use remarks, concludes, hypothesizes, claims, observes, reflects, states, declares, asserts, reflects, etc.

      • Italicize words quoted as words such as the word justice in the following sentence: "The idea of justice is analyzed in Plato's Republic."

      • Have conviction. Never say "I feel," "I think," “Some people believe,” etc. Profess, claim, and decree. Do not hint, ask, or suggest!

      • Delete vague constructions. Do not be tempted to say, “Many experts agree . . .” You need to find that information in a valid study and cite that study.

      • No Rhetorical Questions. Do not ask rhetorical questions in your essay. Tell, do not ask.

15. MLA Works Cited:

    • • See Works Cited. 

      • MLA page number format: 265-89   << NOT  >> 265-289.

      • Add the date you accessed each digital online file: Accessed 25 April 2023, 25 Sept. 2023, or 25 Dec. 2023.

16. Academic Integrity: 

    • • Revise your essay if your similarity rating is above 18% (SafeAssign or Turnitin.com)

      • All work, writing, and ideas must be your own and original to you unless properly cited.

      • Do not use ChatGPT, paraphrasing tools, or any similar AI writing tool. 

      • Do not use online citation machines. They will fail you every time. Create your citations manually.