WriteCast Episode 58: Steps for Revising, Part II: The Small Stuff

A companion to Episode57: Steps for Revising Part I: The Big Stuff, this podcast episode focuses on line edits and smaller concerns like APA formatting and comma use.

To listen to this episode, click the player below. You can also visit our WriteCast Podcast show page to access our complete episode archive.

Recommended resources:

• Grammar resources
• Interactive grammar modules
• Grammarly 
• Revision journals
• "When/How to Conduct Revision and Proofreading" blog post
• "Top 10 Preproposal and Proposal Fixes for Capstone Writers" blog post
• Walden University Writing Center Blog posts on grammar and mechanics
• Interactive modules on APA style
• Paper reviews 
• Microsoft Word help for Walden students through the Academic Skills Center

The Walden University Writing Center produces WriteCast: A Casual Conversation for Serious Writers to support the community of scholarly writers at Walden University.

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Grammar for Academic Writers: Can I Begin a Sentence with "And"?

During my 7th grade year, my English teacher conducted a multi-month unit on sentence structure. We learned patterns of sentences with acronyms like SV, SSVV, DC, IC, and the list goes on. These acronyms explained the different structures a “correct” sentence could take, with S standing for subject, V standing for verb, DC standing for dependent clause, and IC standing for independent clause. (There were many more acronyms and structures, but I’ll stop there for now.) The approach was a continual drill practice of sentence construction, which at the time seemed terribly tedious, but all these years later these patterns stuck with me.

When I say “correct” sentence construction, I’m referring to more formal, academic writing and what is deemed correct in that context. I clarify because in our day-to-day use of language, whether it is spoken or written, we often don’t follow these formal, academic patterns. Some of us might think we do, but it’s a rare person who speaks with the same grammatical accuracy and formality with which they write. Additionally, in different genres of writing, a broader range of sentence structures are often used and considered appropriate. 

Here are a couple of ways I wrote sentences this week that didn’t follow one of correct structures I learned in my 7th grade English class:

• I gave my daughter a strawberry. But she said didn’t like it even though she loved them yesterday. So I gave her a peach slice instead. And then she asked for a strawberry.

• I cleaned our front windows in preparation for the party. But then my toddler woke up from her nap. Needless to say, I cleaned them again. (Can anyone else relate?)

The “problem” in these sentences, from an academic writing perspective, is that some of the sentences begin with the words and, but, or so. These words (and other coordinating conjunctions) should typically be used within sentences to connect ideas rather than used to begin a sentence. Beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction can lend an informal tone to the writing, therefore impacting scholarly voice. Additionally, these sentences would be deemed incorrect by my 7th grade English teacher.

The best fix for a sentence beginning with a coordinating conjunction is to either make a compound sentence, using the coordinating conjunction to connect the ideas, or to use a different connecting or transition word that is more suitable to begin a sentence. 

Here’s what each situation might look like:

Using a compound sentence instead of starting with a coordinating conjunction 

I gave my daughter a strawberry, but she said didn’t like it even though she loved them yesterday, so I gave her a peach slice instead. Then, she asked for a strawberry.

Using an alternative connecting word

I cleaned our front windows in preparation for the party. However, my toddler woke up from her nap. Needless to say, I cleaned them again.

While I imagine not all of us can remember back to middle school English class, especially if the teacher didn’t use the drill method, there’s plenty of hope to be had. You’re already on the right track to learn about and be on the lookout for sentences that begin with and, but, or so. For a more comprehensive explanation of sentence structures in scholarly writing, including compound sentences, view our Mastering the Mechanics 2 and 3 webinars.   

Amy Bakke is a senior writing instructor and multilingual writing specialist at the Walden Writing Center. She enjoys researching cultural differences in education and considering how students with different educational perspectives and histories experience writing at Walden. In her non-work time, she’s outside (as much as possible in the Midwest) with her husband, toddler, and dog.  

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Grammar for Academic Writers: Essential Clauses

Whether you are a native or non-native English speaker, you may come across situations where you are unsure where to place commas in a sentence. Today, I’ll cover those phrases where you should not use a comma to surround supporting information—essential clauses—and discuss the difference between these and nonessential clauses. The decision to add a comma in these cases often depends on the meaning of the sentence, so it can require some reflection and detective work.

Here’s an example of an essential clause (bolded for emphasis):

The students who visited the writing center enhanced their confidence.

Here, we have an essential clause because we are explaining a specific group of students. Which students? The ones who visit the writing center.

You might be tempted in this example to use commas instead for something like this:

The students, who visited the writing center, enhanced their confidence.

Here’s where it gets tricky because both of these sentences are grammatically correct—they just have different meaning depending on if we use commas or not.

In the first example we mean specifically that the students who visited the writing center enhanced their confidence. This implies that there are other students who did not visit the writing center. In the second example, we mean that all the students visited the writing center and therefore their visit is not essential information to understanding our meaning—it’s nonessential, meaning we should surround it with commas.

Another way to think of this is if you are considering surrounding a clause with commas, try writing out the sentence without the information in the commas. If that sentences still conveys the meaning you intended, then you have a nonessential clause. However, if the sentence makes sense but doesn’t convey the meaning you intended, then it’s likely an essentialclause and shouldn’t use commas.

An example will be helpful to illustrate this situation.

The assignment due Thursday was very difficult.

Let’s try the comma test:

The assignment, due Thursday, was very difficult à The assignment was very difficult.

So now we have a decision to make: Do we want to emphasize that it’s this specific assignment? In that case, we’ll keep it without commas. But if the date it’s due doesn’t impact the meaning we intend, we’ll add those commas.

Next time you’re wondering about comma placement and essential or nonessential information, consider your meaning and try this simple test!

Note that essential clauses can also be called restrictive clauses, whereas nonessential clauses can be called nonrestrictive clauses. Read more on our grammar page on this topic as well!

Claire Helakoski is a writing instructor at the Walden Writing Center. Claire also co-hosts WriteCast, the Writing Center's podcast. Through these multi-modal avenues, Claire delivers innovative and inspiring writing instruction to Walden students around the world.

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Grammar for Academic Writers: Conjunction Functions

The overarching expectation of scholarly writing is that scholars provide readers with unique and complex arguments based on their synthesis and analysis of previous scholarship while also writing clear, sophisticated sentences in relation to those complex arguments. If that sounds easy to you, count yourself lucky! Whether English is your native language or not, once you begin to write about complex topics, writing itself can become more difficult because the ideas are more complex.

In the Writing Center, I often work with students on clarifying their complex ideas by providing sentence structure revision recommendations. Some sentence structure issues I find students struggle with are conjunctions and, subsequently, semi-colon and comma use. In this blog post, I hope to help demystify conjunctions and related semi-colon and comma use.

As parts of speech, conjunctionsserve to connect words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. The three types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions, paired conjunctions, and subordinating conjunctions. Let’s take a look at each of these conjunctions!

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions are part of compound sentences which are sentences that have two independent clauses—independent clauses are complete sentences that have a subject, verb, and object. Since compound sentences have two independent clauses, if a writer wants to bring them together, they can do so in three ways: with a coordinating conjunction and a comma, with a coordinating conjunction and a semi-colon and a comma, and with semi-colon.

In the examples below, the highlighting and font correspond to the parts of the sentence: yellow highlighting in bold type is the subject of the sentence; green highlighting in underlined type is the verb of the sentence; blue highlighting in italicized type is the object of the sentence; grey highlighting in bold, underlined type is the coordinating conjunction of the sentence.

Coordinating Conjunction and a Comma

When two independent clauses—complete sentences with a subject, verb, and object—are brought together with a coordinating conjunction (such as “but” here), a comma is included before the coordinating conjunction.

Example: Ilike cinnamon lattes, but he prefers straight espresso.

Coordinating Conjunction and a Semi-colonand a Comma

Transition words, such as “however,” or “therefore,” might also serve as a coordinating conjunction in a sentence. When they do, they would be set off with both a semi-colon and a comma.

Example: Ilike cinnamon lattes; however, he prefers straight espresso.

No Coordinating Conjunction and a Semi-colon 

If two independent clauses are brought together without a coordinating conjunction or a transition word, then a semi-colon would be used.

Example: Ilike cinnamon lattes; he prefers straight espresso.

Paired Conjunctions

Now let’s take a look at paired conjunctions. Paired conjunctions are two words or phrases brought together to assist with making a point or to express alternatives. Note that paired conjunctions can create wordy sentences, so they shouldn’t be used often. Here are some examples of pared conjunctions:

both / and: Example: I likeboth cinnamon lattes and straight espresso.

either / or: Example: I couldeither have a cinnamon latte or a straight espresso.

not only / but also: Example: Not only do I likecinnamon lattes, but I also like straight espresso.

Subordinating Conjunctions

Finally, there are subordinating conjunctions. Subordinating conjunctions bring together a main clause and a subordinate clause to express the relationship between the two. There are two main ways subordinating conjunctions might be placed in a sentence—they might come after the main clause or before the main clause. There are many subordinating conjunctions, such as “until” and “while.”

Main Clause + Subordinate Clause  

Iam cranky in the morning until I have my cinnamon latte.

Iwant a cinnamon latte while I wait for you.

Subordinate Clause + [comma] + Main Clause 

Note that when the subordinate clause comes before the main clause, a comma is used after the subordinate clause.

UntilI have my cinnamon latte, I am cranky in the morning.

WhileI wait for you, I wanta cinnamon latte.

Knowing how to use conjunctions, and subsequently, semi-colons and commas, can help ensure that readers are able to follow your arguments. The Writing Center has many resources on sentence structure and grammar to include our Mastering the Mechanics archived webinar series and our grammar modules where you can practice and test your knowledge of sentence structure and grammar.

What sentence structure, grammar, and or mechanics parts of speech do you struggle with? Also, let us know what tips you have for revising and proofreadingfor sentences for structure and clarity! 

Veronica Oliver is a Writing Instructor in the Walden Writing Center. In her spare time she writes fiction, binge watches Netflix, and occasionally makes it to a 6am Bikram Yoga class.

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"That's Not Inflammable!" and other Double-Negative Adventures

When I was little I tried to use the explanation of double negatives to win arguments.

Older kid: “There’s not no such thing as Santa!”
Me: “You said ‘not no’! So you’re saying there is such a thing as Santa!”

This approach did not work. It was probably good foreshadowing for my future career interests, though.

Grammatically speaking, a double negative is when a writer or speaker uses two negations in a single sentence. And a negation is a word or addition to a word that reverses its meaning. Examples of negations include: no, not, nothing, nowhere, never, the prefixes un- (as in, uncovered or unintentional) and in- (as in inexcusable and indirect), and the suffix -less (as in useless and motionless). (Though just because the English language is weird, “flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing.) 

While it’s sometimes easy to understand the intended meaning of a double negative (like in the case of the kid who argued against Santa’s existence) it’s important to avoid double negatives as they can occasionally be confused with litotes.

Litotes is a fancy word for a figure of speech that uses understatement for emphasis. For example, someone might say “I don’t have no time.” If they are using a double negative, this would mean that they do not have availability in their schedule. In the case of litotes, however, they might be emphasizing the fact that they do have a little time. They could be clarifying that they’re not completely unavailable. Someone who says, “I can’t go nowhere” could either mean they are unable to leave their current location or that they absolutely must leave that location (“I can’t go nowhere!”) Like many other grammar rules, the difference between litotes and double negatives is usually obvious when said aloud, and is clarified by the speaker’s tone. Let's look at a few examples to illustrate my point.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters movie, Kristin Wiig’s character finds herself without her proton energy pack or identifying jumpsuit just as the supernatural apocalypse begins. She rushes to the street to flag down a cab and frantically tells the driver (Dan Aykroyd in a fan-appreciated cameo) where she needs to go. Aykroyd shrugs and tells her, “Eh, that’s a little bit further uptown than I like to go.” When Wiig protests that there are “real ghosts” invading New York, Aykroyd flippantly responds, “I don’t drive wackos, I don’t go to Chinatown, and I ain’t afraid of no ghosts” before driving off. Audiences watching this scene are not likely to confuse Aykroyd's meaning – he doesn’t want to drive Wiig to Chinatown, and he isn’t afraid of the ghosts she points out.

Alternatively, inflection is harder to convey in academic writing. A writer trying to clarify responsibility for patient care, for example, might want to emphasize the patient’s own agency while not diminishing the importance of responsible professional care. Their paper might read, “The patient’s care should not never be considered part of the patient’s own day-to-day priorities.” 

Here the writer would want the reader to read this as litotes. But a reader might mistakenly believe the writer is not following conventional grammar rules, and actually believes that the patient’s day-to-day priorities should never include their own care.

To ensure clarity, the writer could revise this to “Although a patient’s care is always an important part of a health professional’s responsibilities, the patient themselves should also prioritize their own care.” 

In U.S. academic writing, the onus is on the writer to make sure the reader understands exactly what each sentence means. Since we currently don’t have a way to establish tone and inflection in writing, it’s best to avoid double negatives, even now that you’ve got such an excellent understanding of how they work.

And while this post probably won’t help you win any debates through grammatical explanation, you can impress your friends with your knowledge of “litotes” at your next party. Or you can blow their minds with the whole flammable/inflammable thing.

Kacy Walz is a Minnesota native currently living in St. Louis, MO. She has been a Writing Instructor at Walden since 2016 and spends most of her free time trying to complete her PhD, seeking out adventure, and playing with her puppy dog.

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Thursday Thoughts: Live Webinars in May

Spring is a great time to build your academic writing knowledge and skills and we have several live webinars in May to help you do just that! As usual, we have relevant webinars for every student.

Plagiarism Prevention: The Three Components to Avoiding Plagiarism

Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 8:00p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)

Plagiarism can be an intimidating concept for many student writers. Everyone wants to avoid plagiarism, but it can be unclear what exactly plagiarism is and how to avoid it. Join the Writing Center for our three ways to avoid plagiarism in your writing. In this session you'll learn how to identify plagiarism, but then practical ways to avoid plagiarism in your own writing.

Mastering the Mechanics Part 3: Revising Sentence Structure

Tuesday, May 7th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
In this webinar we will discuss advanced sentence structure errors and how to avoid them, focusing on revising tips and practice. Attend this webinar to learn how to become a better proofreader of your own grammar!

Strategies for Demystifying Walden Assignment Prompts

Wednesday, May 15th, 2019 6:00 p.m.-2700 p.m. (Eastern)
It's difficult to fulfill all of the requirements of an assignment if you're not sure what the assignment prompt is asking you to do, right? This webinar takes students through the three sections of Walden assignment prompts, presenting 7 strategies you can use for dissecting and demystifying the writing assignment requirements. We will also discuss what to do when you find an assignment prompt confusing and tips for what requirements are often required but left unsaid (like a thesis statement).

Writing at the Graduate Level
Monday, May 20th. 2019 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)
We are not born knowing how to write academically, and you did not enter graduate school knowing how to write like a graduate student. After all, writing is a learning process. This session will discuss the characteristics of scholarly writing, giving you strategies to elevate your writing to graduate school expectations.

Discussing Method, Procedure, and Study Design
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Your reader not only wants to understand the results of your study, but also how you achieved those results: in other words, the rationale for your design and the methodology for collecting data. Join this webinar for a discussion of common writing issues students face when discussing these elements as well as strategies for overcoming them.

Writing Effective Academic Paragraphs

Thursday, May 30th, 2019 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Paragraphs are the building blocks of an academic essay, and the strength of your writing and argument depend on developing effective paragraphs. Learn how to develop effective academic paragraphs by using topic, analysis, evidence, and concluding sentences (including an explanation of the MEAL plan). You will leave this webinar with a better understanding of the components of an effective paragraph, as well as tips for creating cohesion between and within paragraphs.

If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website. The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and you can watch them free and on-demand. 

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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Thursday Thoughts: Practice and Test Your Writing and APA Knowledge

Looking to test and practice your knowledge of sentence structure or grammar? How about your knowledge of APA and avoiding plagiarism? In addition to many of our web pages that provide “knowledge check” links for students to test their writing knowledge, the Writing Center also has interactive modules on several different grammartopics, sentence structure, APA style, plagiarism prevention, and even paragraph development  and transitions.



You can access our modules at any time, so check out one or more of our modules today!
Once you check out our modules, tell us what you think—what modules did you try and how have they helped you continue to practice and test your knowledge of writing and APA?

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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Thursday Thoughts: Live Webinars in March

Can you believe it’s March already? How is your progress on your New Year’s writing goals?

Whether you did or didn’t set any writing goals for yourself this year, why not plan to work on your writing now by joining us for some of our live webinars in March!

Improving Your Writing: Strategies for Revising, Proofing, and Using Feedback
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
8:00p.m.-9:00 p.m. (Eastern)
This webinar will discuss the revision process in all its forms, including explaining the difference between proofreading and revising, how to revise on your own, how to revise using Writing Center or peer feedback, and how to revise using faculty feedback.

APA Citations Part 2: Nontraditional Sources
Thursday, March 14, 2019
12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m. (Eastern)
In this second of two APA sessions, Writing Center staff members will discuss nontraditional APA citations and reference entries, with an emphasis on those that are common to Walden assignments. We will provide guidance on citing discussion posts, course videos, and other sources that are required at Walden but not explored thoroughly in the APA manual. Participants will receive links and other tools for helping students master these formats.

Reviewing the Literature and Incorporating Previous Research
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (Eastern)
This session will focus on writing approaches to synthesizing the research, including strategies to help organize and evaluate your sources, particularly in the literature review of doctoral capstone studies.

Practical Writing Skills: Using & Integrating Quotes
Thursday, March 21, 2019
7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. (Eastern)
Learn the best way to use and integrate quotes in your academic writing in this interactive webinar. In the first half of this webinar you'll learn the basic principles for incorporating quotes into your writing, and then in the second half you'll practice integrating quotes so you can master this writing skill.

Mastering the Mechanics Part 2: Compound & Complex Sentences
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
3:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. (Eastern)
The second webinar in the Mastering the Mechanics series focuses on writing compound and complex sentences, with an emphasis on using correct punctuation, identifying common errors, and practicing skills. This webinar will support students in composing varied, sophisticated, and grammatically correct sentences.

If you are unable to attend any of these sessions in person, we post recordings of every live webinar event on the Walden University Writing Center website. The recordings of these sessions are posted 24 hours after they take place, and you can watch them free and on-demand. 

The Walden University Writing Center creates content to help students with a range of topics related to scholarly writing, APA style, and the writing process. We host webinars, and offer paper reviews, live chat, and a podcast.

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Can Social Change Start At the Sentence Level?

As a Walden student, the main focus of your academic work is likely creating positive social change. Your scholarly research may be on finding therapies for treating PTSD or addressing a lack of housing assistance in your community. These goals may seem distant while you pour over research and critically analyze texts. However, as you are taking notes, developing your thesis, and synthesizing your sources, change can occur on a smaller, local level. One by one, the sentences you write can in fact be a source for good. By using active, rather than passive voice in your research writing, you can create positive social change one simple sentence at a time.

When active voice is used, the subject becomes the focus of the sentence. This emphasis on the subject clarifies who is performing the action, and therefore, agency is given to the subject. Using the active voice can create clarity and concision in your writing, but it can also be a tool for giving your subject power.

For example, let’s take a look at a sentence in passive voice: “The connections between BMI and heart disease were analyzed.” Here, the attention is on what comes first in the sentence, “the connections,” rather than who analyzed the connections. In passive voice, the researchers themselves would not be important. Instead, what the researchers analyzed would be emphasized.

Now, look closely at a similar sentence that has been revised for active voice: “The researchers analyzed the connections between BMI and heart disease.” Because the researchers come first, and they are performing the action, the focus of the sentence is on the researchers and their work. The reader’s attention is drawn to the researchers, rather than the connections they analyzed.

While active voice can be used to clarify, it can also be used to give a subject power and control. By using active voice in the following sentence, I demonstrate patients’ agency over their own healthcare: “Every day, the patients share their mental health concerns with their social worker.” In this sentence, the patients are in control of their health, as they share their concerns. The patients are not standing by while doctors and social workers engage around them.

In the following example, passive voice takes away the agency of the patient: “Every day, the patient’s mental health concerns are shared with their social worker.” In this sentence, it is unclear who is sharing the patient’s health concerns with the social worker. Perhaps a doctor or staff member is providing this information on behalf of the patient, but the patient is no longer in control. These may be small differences between sentences, but with active voice, it is clearly communicated to the reader that the patient has agency in the situation.

Let’s look at another example. In the following sentence, passive voice emphasizes the object, trauma: “By using cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic therapies, the trauma was worked through by the patient.

Alternatively, you could use the active voice to emphasize the patient’s ability to overcome their trauma: “By using cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic therapies, the patient worked through their trauma.” Here, the power or control the patient has over their trauma is the focus. By using active voice, the patient’s agency is celebrated, rather than trauma itself becoming the focus.

While active voice creates clarity and concision in your writing, more importantly, it is a way of holding the microphone for those who have been silenced. It can be the means through which you share the stories of others and give them control over their own experiences.  Perhaps the steps towards social change really do start at the sentence level. Through the structure of a simple sentence, you can begin to write the steps for change.

Tasha Sookochoff is a writing instructor in the Walden University Writing Center. Along with earning degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Stout and Depaul University, Tasha has written documentation for the U.S. House of Representatives that increases government transparency, blogged for DePaul University, copy-edited the Journal of Second Language Writing, tutored immigrants and refugees at literacy centers, and taught academic writing to college students.

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