Mechanics of Writing Essays

Mechanics of Writing Essays Mechanics of Writing Paper Mechanics of Writing Paper What is mechanics in writing? The goal of the mechanics of writing is to make the writing precise and grammatically correct. It is directed to make the writing systematic and being concerned about how to be correct in spelling, punctuation, italics and so on. The mechanics of writing are the rules that must be followed while preparing research paper so that the research strategies and the format becomes systematic and consistent in all academic sectors. If one does not follow or if there are no such rules of writing then the writing would be certainly very difficult. Factors in mechanics of writing The important factors in mechanics of writing are: Spelling Punctuation Italics( underlying) Names of persons Titles of works in the research paper Quotations Capitalization and personal names Spelling Spelling in the research work should be consistent, clean and correct expert in quotations. The spelling in the quotation must be the original whether correct or incorrect. If we have to divide any words, we should not do so at the end of the line. If the word does not fit there, we should leave the space and bring the words in the next line. Punctuation The purpose of punctuation is to bring clarity in writing and to make it comprehensible. Punctuation clarifies sentence structure, separating some words and grouping others. It adds meaning to written words and guides for readers to understand as they move through sentences. Commas, full stops, semicolons, colons, dashes and parenthesis, hyphens, apostrophes, quotation marks and exclamation point all serve the function of punctuation and one should take account of all these marks while writing research works. Italics (underlining) In research papers and manuscripts submitted for publication, words that would be italicized in print are usually underlined. In general, we should underline foreign words used in an English text. The name of the book in which a person is doing research is always italicized. Names of Persons Generally, a researcher should state a person’s name in a text of his or her research paper fully, accurately and exactly as it appears in the original source. For example, Martin Luther King, Jr. should be used as it is not as only Martin Luther. A researcher must not use formal titles in referring to men as women, living or dead, such as Prof. Devklota. Dr.Sangita. Instead of it, the researcher should only write Devkota, Sangita and so on. Titles of works in the Research Paper Title of the publication works in the research paper should be cited form the title page not form the cover page. For capitalizing titles, one should capitalize the first words, the last words, the words and the principal words, the last words and the principal words in both titles and sub-titles. Generally title of the works must be underlined or italicized. Title of the names of books, pamphlets, periodicals, films, radio and television programs etcetera should be underlined if hand written or italicized if printed in the research paper. Titles of the names of articles, essays, short stories, short poems, chapters of book and so on should be put with in quotation marks. The same is for the case of unpublished work, such as lectures and speeches. Quotations Only the most important words, phrases, lines and passages should be quoted in the research paper as briefly as possible. The researcher should put them with in quotation mark if they are three lines or less than three lines. If a quotation runs to make than four lines, it should be put under indent. Capitalization and personal names The chief reason to capitalize a word is that the word is proper, not because the word has greater status than other words. A proper noun identiï ¬ es a speciï ¬ c member of a class. A common noun, on the other hand, denotes either the whole class or any random member of the class. For example, King Henry VIII (a particular member of a class) was a king of England (the class itself). Answering the following question can help you determine whether a noun is proper. If the answer is yes, the noun is probably a common noun. References umuc.edu/library/libhow/apa_examples.cfm http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/03/ http://viewourperspective.blogspot.com/2010_10_01_archive.html