Advice about Papers

Writing

• Introduce quotations. See here for more detail.
• Avoid phrases such as "The purpose of this paper is . . .. 
• Maintain verb tense consistency.
• Media is the plural of medium. Data is the plural of datum. These words take plural verbs.
• Never start a sentence with a numeral.
• Learn about the apostrophe.  (It is not the same thing as a hyphen.)
• In US English, periods and commas go inside quotation marks.
• Use italics for the titles of books, magazines, and newspapers. Use quotation marks for the titles of articles or chapters.
• For references, use Arabic numerals, not lower-case Romans.
• In footnotes and endnotes, the author's first name goes first.
• Superscripts follow the period, not the other way around.
• Do not put superscripts together. If you are referring to more than one source in a sentence, you may put those sources in one endnote. Here is an example:
• 7. Squidward Tentacles, I Am Superior (Bikini Bottom: University of Bikini Bottom Press, 1984), 34-36; Patrick Star, Not Reading Books (Asheville: Echinoderm Press, 1987), 21-23; Spongebob Squarepants, Candide Under Water (Hollywood: Pretense Press, 1980), 4.

Analysis

• Do not assume that ownership dictates editorial policy or that editorial policy creates bias in news coverage.
• Remember that "coverage" may consist of a set of stories, not just one.
• Be careful to distinguish hard news coverage from analysis and commentary. Also distinguish op-eds and wire copy from material by the news organization's own staff.

• Analysis: discussion of the trends, data, or personalities behind hard-news stories. 
• Feature: in-depth, magazine-length story with in-depth analysis
• Editorial: unsigned piece giving the opinion of the organization's editorial board
• Op-Ed: "opposite the editorial page" expresses the opinions of an outside named writer 
• Column: opinion essay by a writer who regularly writes for the paper or a syndicate
• Sidebar: a story that accompanies the main news story, focusing on a particular aspect of an event.