Write in an organized manner, have a good thesis statement, supporting paragraphs that flow into the next paragraph, and start to demonstrate critical thinking by analyzing the literature at this level of your education.

Students will be introduced to APA Style formatting as you progress in your studies; however, it is more important that you learn how to write in an organized manner, have a good thesis statement, supporting paragraphs that flow into the next paragraph, and start to demonstrate critical thinking by analyzing the literature at this level of your education.

• Stay away from using Quotes. Paraphrase your analysis and stay away from using quotes in your paper. What is needed is your original analysis of the literature. If you use direct quotes, you will lose points. Once again, your analysis in your original voice is needed.
• Think about the audience that you are trying to connect with in your paper. Are you writing to the discipline, profession, or policy-makers, etc.? Use scholarly language that demonstrates your command of the topic.
• Stay away from using first person voice. Work on using third person. Make sure you are not using the passive voice in your work. Use good time management and edit your paper looking for errors so that you submit your best work.
• A good tool to use for your academic writing is to set-up your Word document to check for basic spelling, English & grammar errors, passive voice, and first person. To do this you need to set-up the advance setting in your Word Spell Check. This tool is a great resource to help you establish good writing habits and edit your paper.
• Your work should be your own original writing. Please view the university plagiarism policy to avoid problems. Make sure to give credit to all sources that inspired your thinking with in-text citations in the body of your work and listed in alphabetical order on your reference list.
• Your work is to be submitted in a Word document and uploaded within the assignment section of the class. The Turnitin function will automatically check your work for originality once you have submitted work, and generate a report within 10-15 minutes of submitting the assignment. Both student and professor will be able to retrieve the Turnitin report.
• Writing should be organized and flow smoothly. Make sure that you edit your work before submitting so that you turn in your best quality work. Make sure to view the CJ Formal Written Assignment Final Paper Rubrics.pdf as checklist so that you cover all graded areas in paper.