Mechanical Errors
This error occurs when two complete sentences are joined with only a comma.
What is a comma splice?
When you join two ideas to emphasize both ideas equally you have a sentence that uses this strategy.
What is coordination?
This pronoun is almost never used in academic writing
What is second person or you?
This involves paying attention to the author, publication information, and title.
What is previewing?
In college, this grade means "satisfactory work" and is often the average grade in a college class.
What is a C?
Use this punctuation when you want to join two independent clauses to show a close relationship.
What is a semicolon?
Using grammatically equivalent forms to join similar ideas
What is parallelism?
Every day, conversational words
What is colloquial language?
A quotation that is not effectively integrated into the summary
What is a dropped quote (or quote bomb or dropped quote)?
Using three or more words in a row from a source and not enclosing them in quotation marks.
What is plagiarism?
One reason this sentence error occurs is because students confuse the word "although" with the word "however"
What is a sentence fragment?
Adverb clauses and adjective clauses create this kind of sentence
What is a sentences that uses subordination or a complex sentence?
Examples of this kind of language include "pretty as a picture" and "busy as a bee."
What are cliches?
This serves as an outline for your formal summary.
What is a paragraph-by-paragraph summary?
Professor Sparks is best reached to answer questions in this way.
What is through email?
"Locked in the vault for many years, the owner of the jewels has decided to sell them" is an example of this kind of error.
What is a dangling modifier?
An expletive construction
What is a wordy structure that begins with "there" or "it" and is followed by a be verb?
The -ing form of the verb that can work as an adjective
What is a participial?
Marking up a text--writing in the margins, circling unknown words, asking questions
What is annotating?
The amount of time you're expected to study for most 3-hour college classes.
What is between 6 and 9 hours a week?
When the antecedent is unclear
What is a vague pronoun?
This sentence is an example: The rabbit was being chased by the dog.
What is a sentence that uses passive voice?
A writer who uses a $75 word when a $5 word would work just fine is guilty of this.
What is pretentious language?
When you understand something that is not stated directly, such as the thesis
What is infer?
Unlike when you write your own essays, this appears in the first sentence of a summary.
What is the author's thesis?