Style Sheet
AUTHOR'S NAME: Use the full name the FIRST instance, for example, "Barabara Lazear Ascher says. Use the LAST name thereafter, for example, "Ascher says." NEVER use the author's GIVEN NAME to refer to her/him unless you know him/her personally, for example, "Barbara says."
HYPENATED WORDS: NOT a descriptive story telling style, BUT a descriptive, story-telling style. Note the addition of the comma between serial adjectives not connected by a conjuntion, such as "a descriptive and story-telling style (conjunction, no comma) but "a descriptive, story-telling style" (comma but no conjunction). To complicate matters further, The American Heritage College dic tion ar y shows "storyteller" as a single word. Perhaps a better example is "a long none too interesting explanation" which should be punctuated as " a long, none-too-interesting explanation."
VERB MEANING COMMUNICATES: Yes, Sylvia, there are talking books, but mostly books do not TALK. Authors who speak on radio or in public about their ideas do TALK. Otherwise, when one is reading the essay or novel, the author communicates, shows, demonstrates, mentions, tells about something, but he/she does not TALK. Listen carefully to the page; if it utters sound, you may use TALK. Otherwise, use TELLS or another verb.
IDIOMS: We do not say "the author uses metaphor 'to express ON HOW' the style meets purpose" but we use THAT instead: "The author uses metaphor to express THAT style meets purpose." NEW EXAMPLE: "Oliver had expressed about how nature can be frightening." No. "Oliver expresses that nature can be frightening." Better.
YOU this and YOU that. Students may use the familiar "you" when
referring to "a person," "the reader," or "someone"
not specifically identified, as in "You just know someone will jump out
of the bushes with an ax."
BUT do not use "you" to REFER BACK to a third person antecedent
as in "A student should know that you don't miss homework assignments
in this class." It is correct to write, "A student should know that
he/she does not miss homework assignments in this class." The reason
here is that "you" is a second person pronoun ONLY, and must match
its antecendent in person. But when used generally it is an INPERSONAL pronoun.
Use present tense when writing about writing. For example, "Mary Oliver expresses (not expressed) her sentiments that roses are as frightening as are owls."
Avoid ending a paragraph without a concluding comment or observation of your own.
Write exactly what you mean; exact clarity from your pen.
Use quotations of fewer than six to eight words, and couch those quoted words in your own syntax. Avoid extended quotations.
Strive for full development of your argument. Use at least two supporting arguments in a paragraph to support your topic sentence.
Use quotation marks around a quoted word. "The teacher used dope talking to the students," is totally different that "The teacher used 'dope' talking to the students."
Be as direct as possible introducing you author and title: "Mary Oliver exhausts her reader and herself in "Owls" through extended parallelism and climax." NOT "In Mary Oliver's "Owls" she exhausts her reader and herself thorugh extended parallelism and climax." The first is elegant. The second lame."
Introduce quotations like this: "Mary Oliver demonstrates . . . ," or "Oliver says . . . " but not "Mary Oliver in this quotation tells the reader . . . "
Use care choosing quotations to illustrate your argument. Use text that DIRECTLY and obviously and specifically supports your point. Text which only peripherally supports, or seems to support your point should be avoided.
Analyze. Don't judge the professional writer. Avoid "Oliver builds an argument that is more than acceptable" or "Oliver uses diction very well in her passage." Instead say "Oliver uses varied pacing to first accelerate the tension building in her description, then to slow at the point of conclusion," or "Oliver uses complex variations of meaning to demonstrate the multitudinousness of nature."
