My personal favorite.....putting quotation marks around "random" words. Example: The "boy" and his "sister" were playing "catch." Ummmm....do I want to know what they were *really* doing?!?
And by the way, it's not just my students who are guilty of this--my local supermarket is as well. I've seen them advertise both "fresh" lettuce and fresh "lettuce," not to mention a notice saying they were hiring "cashiers" to work the "back counter" on the night shift! Rachelle Lipschultz ********************************************* Rachelle E. Lipschultz, M.A. Psychology Department Anne Arundel Community College 101 College Parkway Arnold, MD 21012 (410) 777-2060 ********************************************* -----Original Message----- Subject: Re: Writing Pet Peeves From: Steven Specht <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 15:30:11 -0500 X-Message-Number: 7 I agree with inappropriate use of "affect" and "effect" being high on the list. Also misuse of "its" and it's". I also try to get my students NOT to say "the results found..." or "the study concluded that..." Also see attached list of awkward phrases (I provide this as one page in a technical writing guide for my students. Of course providing it and having them use it are two different "animals") Wallace Dixon wrote: > Dear Colleague, > I am teaching my research methods course about what not to do when > writing manuscripts. If you would care to share, could you give me your top > 5 or 10 pet peeves about student writing? I would like to share these lists > with my students. I think it would also be interesting to see how much > overlap there among/between us. > > My top 6 > > 1) misuse of affect / effect > 2) use of male-female when men and women should be used > 3) the phrase "Smith and Jones did a study and found" > 4) a rhetorical style which presents 1 study and its finding per paragraph, > w. no integration > 5) colloquialisms & dramatics > 6) the phrase "there was no significance" > > wedj > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Wallace E. Dixon, Jr. | > Chair and Associate Professor | Rocket science is child's play > of Psychology | compared to understanding > Department of Psychology | child's play > East Tennessee State University | -unknown > Johnson City, TN 36714 | > (423) 439-6656 | > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
