Hello everyone:

Here is something that my students struggle with all the time: possessive apostrophes and where in the world should they close a quotation mark. Let’s take them one at a time.

Possessive apostrophes are used to show someone or something owns something. They are not used when you want to show more than one of something.

Here is a case in point (or two): All of our workers will get an employees’ bonus. This means that everyone at the company is getting a bonus.

The next example is one employee getting a bonus: John was the only person to receive an employee’s bonus.

The next example has more than one employee, but no bonus: Employees are not going to get a bonus.

The next topic about where to end your quotation mark is relatively easy to figure out. Your in-text citation is NOT part of the quote. Only the quote is part of the quote, so end the quotation mark after the quote is finished.

(BTW, both APA and MLA formatting requires that you cite either the page or paragraph number with a direct quote.  That means, if there are no page numbers, you literally have to count the paragraphs that the article has and list the correct paragraph number. In a paper I once wrote, I had to count to paragraph number 100 and something, but it had to be done.

Hope this helps! If you have any questions, just post them as a reply to this posting and I will be happy to answer.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

Let me share with you a couple of very common mistakes I see when grading students’ essays: the use of a single noun with a plural pronoun and the use of possessive apostrophes when they only mean to use a plural noun.

Folks, where were you when your teachers told you about this in writing class? Here’s the politically incorrect idea here: If you have a single noun (student) and want to use a pronoun with it, you need to use a single pronoun (his or her). Do not use the word “they.” That is a plural pronoun and should be utilized when you are writing about  more than one student (students). Here are some examples of what I mean:

“A student should make sure their homework is done on time.” Nope.

“A student should make sure his or her homework is done on time.” Yep.

“Students should make sure their homework is done on time.” Yep.

Yes, I know that today some folks talk about “zim” and “zer” but those are, in my humble opinion, still single. They should not double-date.

The other issue is when a student means to have more than one noun but uses a possessive apostrophe with the noun. For example, he or she might write the following:

“In that situation, all fee’s could be waived.” Nope. [That was from a senior in college, by the way.] This student MIGHT have meant “In that situation, all fee is could be waived.”  Since there was nothing that the word “fees” was possessing, I have to assume that the individual meant “fee is” but it just doesn’t work with the rest of that sentence. Double nope.

What the student meant to write was the following:

“All fees could be waived.” Yep.

Hope this helps! Have a superb day!

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

Today’s blog is about sentence fragments. They can be the bane of your existence, if you let them. Here are some examples from papers I received on both the undergraduate and graduate levels just this past week:

Input, process and output

One being having little to no human interaction

Also, somewhat unfair if others with the same pay don’t have to work such hours.

In this arena, information, advertising, and entertainment.

Let’s take them one at a time. First, “input, process and output.” How could anyone even think those three nouns and an article make up a worthwhile sentence? I’m sorry but those words did not make any sense even when they were surrounded by other sentences. I believe what the author was trying to say was the following: “One must input information, process it, and evaluate the output.”

Next, we can look at “one being having little to no human interaction.” Now this is obviously something to do with interpersonal communication, so it is easier to figure out. It could be re-written as the following: “There are several difficulties with the development of our personalities, one of which is having little to no human interaction.”

The next fragment could become something like this: “Also, it is somewhat unfair to make some individuals work long hours while others making the same pay do not.”

Finally, we could write: “In this arena, the most important things to consider are information, advertising, and entertainment.”

It doesn’t pay to be stingy with your words; use them to give your sentences subjects and verbs. This will lead to a better grade and will prevent your instructor from sitting there scratching his or her head.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

When you are writing a scholarly essay, article, or book, sometimes you will need to cite a document that has more than one author. It can get pretty tiresome to say repeatedly that an article was written by “Smith, Jones, Thomas, George, and Johns.” It doesn’t exactly make your report sing, if you know what I mean.

To alleviate this problem, scholars came up with this wonderful idea to shorten things up substantially by using the Latin words that mean “and others” in their documents. Hence, the term “et al.” was used instead of that boatload of names.

However, as a courtesy, please use all of the names in your first mention of those writers, and only use “Smith et al.” after you have given me all five names the first time you used the reference. That said, if you have six names to mention, then you can correctly say “Smith et al.” in all of your references. We wouldn’t want to have things become too cumbersome here!

Please do not refer to “et al.’s writing,” since this is really weird. That would be like writing “Smith and other’s’ writing.” As you can see, this includes an extra possessive apostrophe and is simply wrong. It would be better expressed as “The writing of Smith et al. is a tribute to the ability to write collaboratively.”

And, no, “et al.” does not mean that a fellow named Al is from the South, where he has already eaten a meal!

If you have any questions about college, please feel free to post a reply to any of my postings and include the topic that you would like to see covered in a future blog.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

Hello everyone:

Sometimes it can be difficult to determine who to quote in your writing, since the author’s name may be buried somewhere in the article you are reading, but here’s a hint: his or her name is not Mr. or Ms. Ibid. Ever.

When you see the word “ibid” as a reference, what that means in layman’s terms is “I am quoting the same person I just quoted a minute ago, so look at the reference before this one to get that person’s name.”  [This is a very loose translation here; the paraphrase is mine.]

You might have to do a bit of looking back, especially if the article or book you are reading has a whole section where it refers to that same original author. Be persistent here and do not throw in the towel by citing “ibid.” Instead, go backwards with the citations until you run into an actual name. That is the person to cite.

What citation questions have you run into with your own writing? BTW, I am happy to answer questions on topics other than what I have blogged about. Just post your question as a reply and I may turn it into a blog for next time, if it is a subject that others might enjoy hearing about.

Best,

Dr. Sheri

 

Hello everyone:

Have you ever submitted a document for grading, only to have the instructor ask you what in the world you are saying? That probably means that you did not proofread the assignment before you turned it in.

For example, today I read a discussion board posting by one of my graduate students where the individual spelled Friedrich Nietzsche’s name as “Frederick Niche.” Nope, a “niche” is a special segment of the marketplace. For example, I write another blog on being unexpectedly unmarried. My “niche” group is people who have lost their spouse. If you have never been married, you are not in the niche group that I am targeting for my series on being Suddenly Single.

Another student of mine has now written the same discussion board posting incorrectly for the second time. When an instructor gives you feedback, pay attention. We are not doing it for our own health, but for your growth as a student. Like the title for today’s blog, the devil is in the details. You can improve your grades if you just pay attention to the instructions and follow them.  This is not rocket science, unless you are in a class for future rocket scientists. In that case, it is!

If you have questions for your instructor, ask! A question that is not asked will never be answered, I guarantee it. BTW, when you ask, please tell us which class you are taking and the section you are in (if that is relevant), so that we can look at the right syllabus as we answer your query. Like many instructors, I teach a variety of classes each term and it really speeds things up if I don’t have to look up which class you are taking.

I hope this helps. Do post a comment if you have any questions or concerns about the details of an assignment. I would love to hear from you!

Best,

Dr. Sheri