Information for Authors

Chapter 8: Tools for Authors

8-1: Punctuation and Grammar

8-1-A: Commonly Confused Word Pairs

Affect: to influence
Effect: result (n) or to cause something to happen (v)

Altar: used in a church
Alter: to change

Bazaar: a fair or marketplace
Bizarre: unusual

Canvas: a kind of cloth
Canvass: a noun or verb denoting a survey

Censor: to prohibit or restrict
Censure: to condemn

Complement: noun or verb denoting completeness or the process of supplementing something
Compliment: praise (n), to praise (v)

Continual: steady repetition
Continuous: uninterrupted

Dying: death
Dyeing: changing color

Emigrate (from): leaving a country
Immigrate (to): coming to a country

Farther: physical distance
Further: an extension of time or of degree

Grisly: horrifying
Grizzly: grayish, or the shortened name of a type of bear

Hangar: for planes
Hanger: for clothes

Incredible: unbelievable
Incredulous: skeptical

Principal: noun and Adjective denoting someone of rank or authority
Principle: noun meaning fundamental truth, law, etc.

Reign: the period a ruler is on the throne
Rein: leather strap for a horse

Stationary: to stand still
Stationery: writing paper

It’s: it is, it has
Its: possessive pronoun (Please note that the possessive "its" has no apostrophe.)

Then: a time
Than: a comparison

Their: possessive pronoun
There: a place
They’re: contraction of "they are"

Your: possessive pronoun
You’re: contraction of "you are"

Accept: to agree to
Except: an exception to

Insure: to guarantee against risk
Ensure: to make certain
Assure: to make certain or to set the mind at rest

Note:
Insure, Assure, and Ensure all mean, "to make sure or certain." Only assure is used for a person in the sense of "to set the mind at rest." Only insure is now used in American English in the commercial sense of guarding property against risk.

8-1-B: Capitalization

Do capitalize the following:

• The first word in a complete sentence
• Following a colon, the first word that begins a complete sentence
• Major words in titles of books and articles: Pride and Prejudice, From Here to Eternity (Exception: In reference lists, only the first word, the first word after a colon or a dash, and proper nouns in titles are capitalized.)
• Proper nouns (names), brand names, and trade names
• Names of university departments when referring to a specific department in a specific university: the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work
• Names of academic courses, when referring to a specific course: Philosophy 101, Algebra 3
• Nouns followed by numerals or letters (Example: On Day 4 of our trip, we found we had been moved to Cabin B.)
• The "I" in Internet, and the "W" in Web site
• The "A" in association, when referring to a specific association (like NASW) that has been previously identified.
• The "C" in chapter, when referring to a specific chapter of an organization or association by its proper name, and afterward in the same document when referring to a specific, previously identified chapter: The Utah Chapter, the NASW New Jersey Chapter
• Abbreviations of degrees: MSW, PhD (omit periods)
• The first letter of a complete sentence following a colon
• Job titles or offices when they precede a name: President Bush, Vice President Johnson, Sen. Kennedy

Do not capitalize the following:

• Academic degrees that are spelled out: bachelor’s degree, master’s degree
• Non-specific academic courses or subjects: child psychology, elementary education
• When writing about a time, use lower case letters to denote morning or afternoon: 1:30 p.m., 8:00 a.m., 10 a.m. (note there is no space between the letters)
• The first letter of an incomplete sentence following a colon
• Job titles or offices, when they follow a name: Bill Clinton, president, and Al Gore, vice president
• Job titles and offices when used in place of a name: the president, the vice president
• The "c" in chapter, when not speaking of a specific, previously identified chapter of an organization or association: There was a chapter meeting at 7 p.m. last night.
• Do not capitalize nouns followed by numbers, which denote common parts of books or tables. Example: I looked in chapter 4, and found that row 12 of the table contained the information I needed.

8-1-C: Numbers

• In general, spell out numbers one through nine and use figures for numbers 10 and above. However, always use numbers with million, billion, percent, and section and page numbers.

Examples: Three years, 10 years old, nine-year-old child, age 17, two weeks, one hour, 3 million, 11 billion, 1 percent, section 5, part 2, chapter 3, pp. 8-15

• Use numbers when referring to specific points on a scale.

Examples: Rank subjects from 1 = never to 5 = always, but a seven-point scale, a 10-point scale

• Use numbers when referring to centuries or decades. There should not be an apostrophe between the numbers and the "s" when referring to a decade.

Examples: During the 1960s (Not: 1960’s, or "during the sixties"); 20th century

• Use numbers to designate parts of books, experiments, and so forth.

Example: chapter 4, page 6, day 1 subject 3

• Spell out ordinals up to, but not including, 10.

Examples: fifth grade, but grade 5; third week, but week 3; 21st century, 10th conference

• Spell out and hyphenate fractions less than one. Use figures with quantities that comprise whole numbers and fractions.

Examples: two-thirds consensus; one-half; but 4½

• Spell out numbers that begin a sentence (or, better yet, rework the sentence).

Example: Forty-five students responded. (A total of 45 students responded.)

• With number ranges, use "to" in text and headings. Use an en dash (hyphen) in tables and in the reference list.

Example: The mortality rate of babies weighing 1,000 to 1,500 grams dropped from 50 percent in the late 1960s to 20 percent in the mid-1980s.

• Mixing categories within a sentence is acceptable.

Example: Three boys, ages four, five, and 11 years, and 14 teachers participated in the study.

• Spell out ages if referring to them generally.

Example: Most of the respondents were in their forties.

• Insert commas as appropriate in figures of 1,000 or more.

• Avoid roman numerals, except with Type I or Type II errors and Axes 1 through IV of the DSM-IV.

8-1-D: Pronouns and Use of First Person

Pronouns

Use pronouns, which replace nouns, carefully so that their antecedents (preceding nouns) are clear. The following pronouns are used most frequently without a clear antecedent: it, they, we, this, these. These words should nearly always be accompanied or replaced by a specific noun.

There are several types of pronouns, including nominative, objective, and reflexive. The following list helps clarify which pronouns fall under which category:

To decide which pronoun to use, ignore any other noun or pronoun in the sentence and then choose the correct pronoun, keeping the same form when you add the other nouns and pronouns.

Nominative pronouns are the subject of the verb, i.e., the person or thing "doing" something.

Example: She and her mother went to the museum.

Objective pronouns are the object of a verb or preposition, the person to whom (or thing to which) something "was done."

Example: My mother asked me to go to the museum.

Reflexive pronouns must reflect back to the subject of the verb, referring to the same person or thing "doing" the action.

Example: I enjoyed myself at the museum with my mother.

Who and whom follow the same basic rules as other pronouns. Who is always the subject of a verb, while whom is always the object. To help decipher this sometimes-sticky situation, try substituting he/him for who/whom in a sentence. The masculine forms sound much like who/whom, but are often easier to choose between. If him would be the correct choice in a sentence, choose whom. If he is the solution, use who.

Example: Who/Whom may I say is calling? (Translates to "Should I say who/whom is calling?") Substitute he/him: Should I say him is calling? Should I say he is calling? He is the correct choice, so in the original sentence you would want to use "Who": Who may I say is calling?

Remember the following points:

1. Pronouns must agree in gender and number with their antecedents. Use neutral pronouns (it, that, which) to refer to animals and things.
   
   Incorrect: Social workers that are members of several teams might wish to compare the computations for each team.
   Correct: Social workers who are members of several teams might wish to compare the computations for each team.
   
   Incorrect: Each client must decide for themselves.
   Correct: Each client must decide for himself or herself.
   Even better: Clients must decide for themselves.
   
   Incorrect: The dog who caught that Frisbee is athletic.
   Correct: The dog that caught that Frisbee is athletic.
   Incorrect: The association, who released the data first, was well respected.
   Correct: The association, which released the data first, was well respected.
   
2. Take care that the same pronoun does not refer to two different antecedents.
   
   Original: The reform movement is a successful outcome of the legislation. Opponents, however, continue to criticize it.
   Better: The reform movement is a successful outcome of the legislation. Opponents of the legislation, however, continue to criticize it (the legislation).
   Or use: The reform movement is a successful outcome of the legislation. Opponents of the movement, however, continue to criticize it (the movement).
   
3. When deciding to use I or me in a sentence, remember this rule: Use the pronouns you would choose if the sentence was broken into two separate phrases.
   
   Incorrect: She and me had a 3 p.m. meeting.
   Correct: She and I had a 3 p.m. meeting. (She had a 3 p.m. meeting. I had a 3 p.m. meeting.)
   
   Incorrect: There has been some tension between she and me.
   Correct: There has been some tension between her and me. ("between her," and "between me" are correct. You would never say "…between she" or "…between I.")
   
4. When discussing people, do not resort to contrived forms of expressing gender, like he/she or s/he. Instead, you may want to use he or she, reversing it and equal number of times to she or he throughout the document.
   
   Incorrect: When a social worker first meets a client, he/she needs to…
   Correct: When a social worker first meets a client, she or he needs to…
   
5. Better yet, take the time to rework the document using the plural form as often as possible. Pluralizing words eliminates the problems associated with expressing gender.
   
   Best form: When social workers first meet their clients, they need to…

First Person

For years, the convention had been that scholarly works require the use of the third, not the first person. The NASW Press considers the use of the first person appropriate for scholarly work depending on the context and the way in which it is used. Language that has been forced into the third person to conform to a rigid house style comes across as pompous and contrived.

Furthermore, the use of the third person often results in the excessive use of the passive voice, which takes the life out of an article. It is important, however, that the focus be on the information the article imparts rather than the author. Excessive use of "we feel," "I think," "I did," and so forth emphasizes the author, not the information, whereas language such as "we studied" or "in the study we found" simply imparts information.

Original: It was found that attendance in the group was improved by providing child care.

Better: We found that providing child care improved attendance in the group.

The first person should not be used globally. For example, it is not accurate to say "we" when the author means the entire social work profession.

Original: We seek to treat both the individual and the environment.

Better: Social workers seek to treat both the individual and the environment.

It is difficult to set an absolute rule for the use of the first person. Although it is always preferable to say who did what instead of putting an action in the abstract, use of the first person will be less frequent in a quantitative research report. On the other hand, an ethnographic report, which requires that the researcher-author be personally connected to the research, demands the use of the first person. In addition, in editorials and columns that argue a point of view, authors have greater latitude in using the first person.

For more information, consult the publications and Web sites listed in the "Resources" entry.

8-1-E: Punctuation

Please note that only one (1) space should appear after any form of punctuation, including periods. Please do not place two spaces between sentences.

Commas

Commas are used to set less critical information aside from more important phrases within sentences. As a rule of thumb, if there would be a very brief pause before the phrase when reading the sentence out loud, the writer should use commas to separate it. If there would be a longer pause, or if the aside would be very obvious when reading out loud, use parentheses.

• Commas are used to separate information to help readers understand it more easily.

Incorrect: The building rose high above the sidewalk where people rushed on their way to work.
Correct: The building rose high above the sidewalk, where people rushed on their way to work.

Incorrect: We cruised around the islands and made a side trip to Orlando last June.
Correct: We cruised around the islands, and made a side trip to Orlando, last June.

• Commas should be used between lists of three or more words. NASW complies with APA style, which dictates that a comma should also appear before the final word in the list.

APA Style—I packed my sweater, jeans, socks, and boots in an overnight bag.
AP Style (traditional)—I packed my sweater, jeans, socks and boots in an overnight bag.

While either version is correct, all written material at NASW should adhere to the APA style model to ensure consistency.

• Commas instead of parentheses often separate information that only slightly breaks the flow of a sentence. If an aside seriously interferes with the sentence, though, parentheses should be used.

Less Correct: She gratefully dropped her briefcase (filled with files and books) on the nearest chair.
Correct: She gratefully dropped her briefcase, filled with files and books, on the nearest chair.

Incorrect: The nearest Metro station, Washington, D.C.’s clean, safe, public transportation system, is only four blocks from the hotel.
Correct: The nearest Metro station (Washington, D.C.’s clean, safe public transportation system) is only four blocks from the hotel.

When writing dates, use commas to separate two or more numbers or parenthetic information (Parenthetic information, which qualifies other words, is easy to spot by reading the sentence out loud. If there is normally a pause before the word/s in question, it should be separated by commas or parentheses.). If listing only the month and year in a phrase, do not use a comma.

Incorrect: January 1 2000 (When writing a date in this style: "1 January 2000," you need not use a comma to separate the numbers and month. This form is uncommon, however.)
Correct: January 1, 2000

Incorrect: April to May 2003 or April, to May, 2003.
Correct: April to May, 2003 (2003 is "parenthetic information" in this case.)

Incorrect: Monday June 9, 2003.
Correct: Monday, June 9, 2003.

Incorrect: The meeting is set for September, 2004. The April, 1997 conference was a success.
Correct: The meeting is set for September 2004. The April 1997 conference was a success.

(Please note: May 21st, 2003 is not an acceptable form. The date should read, May 21, 2003.)

• When using two or more adjectives that are equal in importance (if the commas could be replaced with the word "and," they are equal), use a comma to separate them. Do not use a comma to separate the last adjective from the noun, however.

Incorrect: She interacted with the child in a quiet comforting manner.
Correct: She interacted with the child in a quiet, comforting manner.

Incorrect: He sliced several fresh firm aromatic tomatoes for the salad.
Correct: He sliced several fresh, sweet, aromatic tomatoes for the salad.

Incorrect: The car has a quiet, comfortable, ride.
Correct: The car has a quiet, comfortable ride.

• Use commas when writing numbers greater than 999.

Incorrect: 1200
Correct: 1,200

• Use commas when stating ages (without the phrase "years old") within a sentence: "Jane Smith, 36, who grew up in Baltimore, moved to San Diego last year."

• Use commas with direct quotes, to introduce them or with attributions.

Incorrect: The veterinarian said "I have never treated such a well behaved dog."
Correct: The veterinarian said, "I have never treated such a well behaved dog."

Incorrect: "My breakfast was delicious" she said "especially the waffles."
Correct: "My breakfast was delicious," she said, "especially the waffles."

Incorrect: "The diet industry has grown from less than $10 billion to almost $60 billion" according to the report.
Correct: "The diet industry has grown from less than $10 billion to almost $60 billion," according to the report.

Apostrophes

• Use apostrophes when you want to show possession with singular nouns.

Examples: Joanna’s desk, the Association’s conference room.

• If a noun ends in an S, or if you are creating the possessive of a plural noun, simply place the apostrophe at the end of the word.

Examples: Charles’ computer, the Smiths’ house.

• Do not use apostrophes when writing about days of the week or creating plural nouns:

Incorrect: Monday’s at noon
Correct: Mondays at noon

Incorrect: in the 1970’s
Correct: in the 1970s

Incorrect: a variety of cheese’s
Correct: a variety of cheeses

• Its vs. It’s: The apostrophe in "it’s" is showing a contraction. In other words, "it’s" really means, "it is." To form a possessive noun using "it," you should write "its," with no apostrophe.

Incorrect: I went to the park for lunch because its a beautiful day.
Correct: I went to the park for lunch because it’s (meaning: it is) a beautiful day.

Incorrect: Each hotel has it’s own unique view of the ocean.
Correct: Each hotel has its (possessive form) own unique view of the ocean.

Periods

• Periods are placed at the end of complete sentences, including imperative sentences (orders), rhetorical, and indirect questions. They should never appear at the end of incomplete sentences.

Incorrect: The orange one. (incomplete sentence)
Correct: Put the platter on the table. (imperative)
He asked what was in the picnic basket. (indirect question)
Why didn’t you say so. (rhetorical question – not requiring an answer).

• In a list of bulleted or numbered points, place periods at the end of complete phrases only. For consistency, if there is a mix of complete and incomplete phrases in the list, do not place periods at the end of any of the points.

Incorrect: l The older children. (incomplete sentence – do not use a period)
Correct: l The older children

Incorrect: l We work together to achieve our mutual goals (complete sentence – use period)
Correct: l We work together to achieve our mutual goals.

NOTE: It is not appropriate to end an article with a bulleted list, as readers may be left with a feeling that the article is incomplete. Also, many bulleted lists do not include punctuation (if they are incomplete sentences), which could result in an article ending with no punctuation mark whatsoever. It is important to end articles with a summary paragraph or appropriate quote.

• Never place a period at the end of a Web address (URL) or at the end of an e-mail address, even when they occur at the end of a sentence. The period may confuse a reader who physically types an address into his or her computer, rather than linking from the text.

Incorrect: For more information, please visit www.socialworkers.org.
Correct: For more information, please visit www.socialworkers.org

Incorrect: You may contact me at Hsix@naswdc.org.
Correct: You may contact me at Hsix@naswdc.org

• When using a quotation, always place the period inside the quotation marks.

Incorrect: She said, "I had a wonderful weekend".
Correct: She said, "I had a wonderful weekend."

• Use periods with initials preceding last names, but not when referring to someone by initials alone.

Example: J.F. Kennedy; JFK

• According to APA style, do not use periods when referring to academic degrees or acronyms. Acronyms must be spelled out in full when first referred to, with the acronym in parentheses. After that, you may use the acronym by itself.

Examples:
Degrees—Mary O’Neil, PhD, MSW
Acronyms—Members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) were surveyed about their preferences… (and then, later in the same document) According to the survey of NASW members, most preferred…

Colons

Colons are used to introduce lists, illustrative quotations, or to emphasize points. They let readers know that what follows is related to the preceding phrase. Colons are more powerful separators than commas, less powerful than semicolons, and more formal than dashes.

• The first letter of a complete sentence following a colon is always capitalized. If a colon is followed by an incomplete sentence, that phrase begins with a lower case letter.

Incorrect: There are at least two ways to core an apple: With a knife, or with an apple corer. (This is an incomplete phrase following a colon.)
Correct: There are at least two ways to core an apple: with a knife, or with an apple corer.

Incorrect: When baking an apple pie, remember one thing: the apples will cook down, so it is important to heap plenty of them in the unbaked pie shell. (This is a complete phrase following a colon.)
Correct: When baking an apple pie, remember one thing: The apples will cook down, so it is important to heap plenty of them in the unbaked pie shell.

• Colons should not separate verbs from their objects.

Incorrect: Social workers are adept at working with: the aging, victims of trauma and disasters, and families in crisis. (separates verb from its object)
Correct: Social workers are adept at working with a variety of groups, including: the aging, victims of trauma and disasters, and families in crisis. (verb and object are together)

• Colons always go outside quotation marks, unless they are part of the quotation.

Correct: She recalled a line from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay: "My candle burns at both ends…" (This is an example of an illustrative quotation.)
Correct: The street was crowded: Rush hour had begun. (In this example, the phrase following the colon simply emphasizes the first.)

• Colons are also used in salutations in letters, within titles of books and articles, and in standard memos.

Examples:
To: John Smith
From: Joan Kelly
Re: March Payroll

Dear Mr. Smith:
Social Work Speaks: National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements

Semicolons

Semicolons show a greater separation of thought than a comma or colon.

• Semicolons are used to separate complete, or independent, phrases, usually where "and," "but," or "for" would normally be used.

Example: A breeze had sprung up overnight; the sea sparkled, capped with foam.
Instead of: A breeze had sprung up overnight, and the sea sparkled, capped with foam.
Both are correct… this is really a matter of style.

• Semicolons are also used to separate lists of lengthy phrases, or phrases in which other elements must be separated by commas. This helps avoid confusion. They are more formal than dashes or hyphens.

Incorrect: The student body was diverse, with children as young as six years old and, in some cases, younger, children from varying ethnic backgrounds, including Eastern European, African-American, Asian, and Hispanic, and an almost equal number of male and female students. (This list becomes very confusing.)

Correct: The student body was diverse, with children as young as six years old and, in some cases, younger; children from varying ethnic backgrounds, including Eastern European, African American, Asian, and Hispanic; and an almost equal number of male and female students. (This sentence is much easier to understand.)

• Semicolons are often used when incomplete sentences appear in a bulleted list, rather than ending the phrases with no punctuation at all. The second to last item in the list should end with "; and," leading into the final item, which ends in a period.

Example:
These barriers include the following:
l  Lack of information and guidance;
l  Medical child care needs that are associated with chronic illnesses;
l  The high cost of child care for chronically ill children; and
l  The lack of specialized child care.

Hyphens

• Use hyphens to join or clarify words to eliminate ambiguity.

Incorrect: The Association will host a reception for small business owners. (This implies that the owners, themselves, are small.)
Correct: The Association will host a reception for small-business owners. (Here, the hyphen joins "small" and "business," forming them into a single idea.)

Incorrect: Maria and Jim recovered their sofa. (This sentence makes the reader wonder when they "lost" their sofa.)
Correct: Maria and Jim re-covered their sofa.

• Use hyphens with compound modifiers (two or more words expressing a single concept) modifying a noun. Do not, however, use hyphens with the word "very" or with any word ending in "-ly." Also, do not hyphenate modifiers that follow the noun they modify.

Incorrect: A little known novelist… (Sounds like the novelist is little.)
Correct: A little-known novelist…
Correct: The novelist was little known…

Incorrect: That was a very-relaxing cruise.
Correct: That was a very relaxing cruise.

Incorrect: The mother held a part time job and was a full time student.
Correct: The mother held a part-time job and was a full-time student.

Incorrect: The mother worked part-time and was also a student full-time. (These qualifiers should not be hyphenated, as they appear after the words they qualify.)
Correct: The mother worked part time and was also a student full time. (A better, more readable sentence would be: "The mother worked part time and was also a full-time student.")

• Hyphens are used with numbers that end in "Y," when they are spelled out: Twenty-one, thirty-five.

• Hyphens are also used when spelling out fractions: One-fourth of all students; two-thirds of all social workers…

• Use hyphens to avoid duplicated vowels or tripled consonants in compound words: Pre-empt, bell-like, meta-analysis.

Dashes

• Long hyphens are also known as "em dashes," and may usually be created (in a Microsoft Word document) by typing two hyphens together. They are used instead of parentheses to set off a remark or aside that is pertinent to the sentence. For publication purposes, there is no space between an em dash and the words next to it.

Example:
I asked my children if they would like a dog—a small breed, like a spaniel—when we move into our new house.

Quotation marks

• Always use quotation marks when directly quoting a source. (If a quotation is lengthy, however, do not use quotation marks. The block of quoted material should be "set in" by ½-inch margins on either side.)

• Do not use quotation marks when paraphrasing a quote.

• Commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation points always go inside the quotation marks, along with any other punctuation that is part of the quotation.

• When a phrase is already enclosed by quotation marks, use single quotation marks to denote a quotation within a quotation.

Examples:
"Last night I read ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ to my children for the hundredth time this weekend."
OR
"It’s polite to say, ‘Excuse me,’ when you step on someone’s toes," the teacher explained.

(Note: Formally, "quotation" is a noun(the phrase/s you are incorporating into your writing. "Quote" is a verb, meaning the action of quoting. Informally, many people use the word "quote" for both, saying they "got a good ‘quote’ for a story.")

8-2: Style

8-2-A: Choosing Hard-Working Words

• Make sure every single word serves a purpose, working to heighten the impact of the piece. Remember one simple rule when choosing words: don’t settle for less than the best.

• Be skeptical about adjectives and adverbs(always look for one that is more specific, and try eliminating some of them altogether. Particularly, try not to use "very."

• Avoid using clichés, overly casual, or colloquial language, except when writing dialogue or there is no other way to convey a message.

• Resist the temptation to use long, complicated words and phrases when shorter, clearer ones will do.

• Avoid being overly descriptive(many modifiers are redundant and unnecessary. One powerful word is better than three lazy words.

Example: "She ran quickly down the stairs." To run is to move quickly. "She ran down the stairs," is a more energetic sentence. "She bounded down the stairs," is even better. Learn to love your thesaurus.

• By practicing the principles of good writing, you can easily compensate for the additional length caused by eliminating the old "shorthand" for describing people (for example, using people with disabilities instead of the disabled). Use strong active verbs and eliminate all convoluted passive constructions.

• Strike out qualifiers and other redundancies.

Examples:

Redundant	Simplified
has been engaged in a study of	studied
successfully avoided	avoided
has the capability of	can
particularly unique	unique
most often is the case that	often is

8-2-B: Lazy Words and Clutter: Terms to Avoid

• The following words and phrases clutter sentences and make your writing less powerful and specific:

Too	Kind of	Really
Very	Rather	Pretty much
A bit	Quite	In a sense
A little	Like
Sort of	Too

• Avoid using these words, as they whittle away at your credibility, making readers wonder whether you "are," or "are not."

Examples:
I am rather excited.
I am excited.

I am sort of tired.
I am tired.

The study was pretty much wrapped up.
The study was wrapped up, except for a few small details.

• Avoid redundant or contrasting adjectives and adverbs that confuse or tire the reader:

Examples:
The true effects of the study (there are no untrue effects)
Slightly spartan (this is not possible)
Totally flabbergasted (you either are or are not flabbergasted)

Rough sandpaper
A little bit (By nature, a bit is little: use either "a little" or "a bit.")

• Do not make verbs out of other words:

Examples:
I tasked her that report.
I instant messaged (or I.M.-ed) my friend about that.
The cut in funding impacted the level of services provided.

8-2-C: Passive and Active Voice

The active voice usually makes for livelier and more vigorous writing, according to Strunk and White, authors of Elements of Style. While there are rare occasions when the passive voice is preferable to the active, writing that relies on passively worded sentences lacks force, is less concise, and is less attractive to readers.

Following are some suggestions:

• Try to avoid using passive verbs unless there is absolutely no way to get around it, or you need to use it to emphasize a particular subject:

Examples:
Active: The kitten jumped on the catnip mouse.
Passive: The catnip mouse was jumped on by the kitten.

Active: She patted the dog.
Passive: The dog was patted by her.

• Using the passive voice changes the emphasis in a sentence. There are times when this is desirable (not often); it is a useful tool to master, and can help you highlight a specific point or subject.

Examples:
Active: The parents loved the child. (emphasizes the parents)
Passive: The child was loved by its parents. (emphasizes the child)

Active: A three-alarm fire blazed through an apartment building on King Street last night, leaving several residents homeless. (emphasizes the fire)
Passive: Several residents of an apartment building on King Street were left homeless when a fire blazed through their building last night. (emphasizes the people)

The passive voice usually results in long sentences, which can sap the writing’s energy, as well as your readers’ enthusiasm. Often, readers end up feeling unsure about who has done what to whom…

• Use precise verbs, rather than those attached or dependent on prepositions:

Examples:
Not precise: He stepped down.
Precise: He retired.
Precise: He was fired. (This is a somewhat passive voice, but is better than "stepped down. It is an example of using the passive voice to highlight the subject of a sentence: "He was fired" is much different in meaning than "The company fired him." Note where the emphasis is in each sentence: the first emphasized "him," while the second emphasized "the company.")
Precise: He resigned.

• Choose verbs that stand on their own and say exactly what you want them to say:

Examples:
Not precise: I set up my business.
Precise: I launched my business.
Precise: I opened my business.

• Always distrust "there is" and "there are" at the beginning of a sentence(the verb "to be" offers little chance of action (a state of being is, in itself, a passive concept). It often leads into a bland, unenergetic, passive-voice sentence.

Examples:
Original: There was no one who helped him move the desk.
Good: No one helped him move the desk.
(Note how the second sentence is shorter, punchier, and has more energy…)

• Always express negatives using a positive form. This takes a little more effort, but results in well-written and active sentences.

Examples:
Negative: The Legislature did not consider the Governor’s proposal.
Positive: The Legislature refused to consider the Governor’s proposal.
Positive: The Legislature failed to consider the Governor’s proposal.

Negative: Human resources reported that not all employees used up their vacation days.
Positive: Human resources reported that some employees had vacation days remaining.

The following quotation is a good illustration of the power of the active voice, from the Associated Press Guide to News Writing:

Some years ago, a specialist in the analysis of extortion notes and terrorist threats told an interviewer that a note that reads ‘I will kill you’ suggests the writer means business. ‘You will be killed,’ on the other hand, suggests that the writer may waver, lacking "sufficient commitment to identify himself as the agency of the threat."

8-2-D: Style Suggestions

• Mixing up the length of sentences and paragraphs will make any writing more exciting and accessible. A paragraph of one-length sentences is choppy and can sound repetitive. Also vary the length of words in sentences, to avoid ending up with a chain of monosyllabic words.

• Be careful about run-on sentences. If a sentence is more than 25-words long, give or take a few words, consider breaking it up into two sentences, or use a semi colon.

• Avoid beginning every sentence or paragraph with the same word. This may not be noticeable when writing a piece, but will stand out to the reader. When revising, keep an eye out for repetitiveness and redundancy.

• Sentences usually should not begin with "But" or "And" (except, sometimes, in informal writing, when "And" at the beginning of a sentence can add emphasis).

• Whenever possible, sentences should not end with prepositions.

Example: "Joe was not sure who to deliver the letter to," should be, "Joe was not sure to whom he should deliver the letter."

If following the preposition rule makes a sentence too arrogant or stiff, however, disregard it, and write naturally.

• Learn how to choose the proper case of pronoun (he, she, him, her), and make sure your pronouns, subjects, and verbs agree in number.

Examples:
Incorrect: Everyone thinks they have a good sense of humor. ("Everyone" cannot be used with a plural form, as it is a singular pronoun.)
Correct: Everyone thinks she has a good sense of humor. ("Everyone" means "every one," so takes a singular form.)

Note: For more information, see the entry on Pronouns.

• Learn the difference between passive and active verbs, and strive to eliminate the passive tense as often as possible.

Example: "The evening news had been delivered by the same anchor for five years."
"Had been delivered" is an example of passive tense.
While it is not incorrect, the sentence has more impact if the verb is active:
"The same anchor delivered the evening news for five years."

• Remember that "data" is always plural, and requires a plural verb form. "Datum" is the singular form of the word, and requires a singular verb.

• Avoid using the verb "to share," unless you are talking about splitting something, like a dessert. It should never be used to denote the conveying of information.

Example:
Incorrect: I would like to share my feelings on the topic before we go on with the meeting.
Correct: I would like to let you know how I feel about this topic before we go on with the meeting.

• Never use Dr. and PhD at the same time. Always identify a person for the first time using her or his academic credentials (MD or PhD). Once you have identified a person, you may then use the title "Dr."

Examples:
Incorrect: Dr. Jane Brown, PhD
Correct: Jane Brown, PhD (Later in the same document, Dr. Brown is the preferred form.)
Correct: Jane Brown, MD (Later in the same document, Dr. Brown is the preferred form.)

For more information on writing with clarity and style, refer to:
The Elements of Style, by William Strunk Jr., and E.B. White
On Writing Well, by William K. Zinsser

8-3: Usage

8-3-A: Guidelines for Writing About People

By writing in a way that engages readers, encouraging them to absorb your content and put it to use, it is possible to communicate social work-related information, while also improving human lives. Eliminating the old "shorthand" for describing people will necessarily add some length to a paper—substituting members of racial and ethnic groups for minorities, or people with disabilities for the disabled, adds words—but it is more accurate and eliminates bias.

• Seek and use the preference of the people about whom you are writing. Ask people you work with how they prefer to be described, and use the terms they give you. If people within a group disagree on preference, report the different terms and try to use the one most often used within the group.

NASW Press, for example, does not object to using alternate terms, such as black and African American, within an article or chapter as long as the content is clearly written so readers are not confused. Be sensitive to real preferences and do not adopt descriptions that may have been imposed on people, such as senior citizens.

• Be as specific as possible. Whenever possible, use specific racial or ethnic identities instead of collecting different groups under a general heading.
  For example: If you have studied work experiences among Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans, report on these three groups, rather than lumping them together as Hispanics.

• Describe people in positive terms. Describe what people are, rather than what they are not. For example, do not use the terms nonwhite or nonparticipant.

• Remember that you are writing about people. Help the reader see that you are writing about people, not subjects or objects. Use the terms sample or subject for statistics, and describe participants as respondents, participants, workers, and so forth. Keep in mind that a group of 100 people who share certain characteristics also have many traits unique to them, even if these traits are not included in your report. Imagine you are a member of the group about whom you are writing and see how you would react to the terms you have used to describe them.

• Avoid using terms that label people. When adjectives that describe a person’s condition or status are used as nouns, they become labels that often connote a derogatory intent. For example, people who do not earn enough money to provide for their needs are often referred to collectively as the poor. Use poor people if you are referring to them in the aggregate. People who have lived a long time become the elderly or the aged. If you cannot use specific ages or age ranges, use terms like elders or older people. Do not refer to people with disabilities as the disabled or the handicapped. Note that the use of the article the in front of a noun is a good warning sign that you may be using a label.

Specific Populations

Age

Use boy or girl only for children and adolescents, though, for high school students, young man or young woman may be preferable. Do not use terms like senior citizen, oldster, or graybeard for people older than 65. Use specific age ranges whenever possible. Use aging and elderly as adjectives, not as nouns.

Class

Classism often creeps into our language. Instead of assigning class to people, you should describe their situations. This does not mean you should assume all people have the same socioeconomic advantages, but that you should describe the advantages or lack of advantages, rather than assigning attributes to people.

Examples:

Poor Usage	Better Usage
lower class	people who are poor
underclass	with low incomes
poverty class	living under poverty conditions
upper class	with high incomes
the disadvantaged	with socio-economic disadvantages

Classism is often combined with bias toward people in terms of race or ethnicity; it is important to take care with language that might perpetuate discrimination.

Disability

Remember that people, themselves, are not disabilities—they have disabilities. Additionally, the disabilities may be barriers, like stairs or curbs that handicap people.

Examples:

Poor Usage	Better Usage
the handicapped	people with disabilities
schizophrenics	people diagnosed with schizophrenia
challenged	person who has ___
wheelchair-bound	uses a wheelchair
the blind	people who are blind

HIV/AIDS

Say people with AIDS, not AIDS victims or innocent victims of AIDS. Avoid language that may imply a moral judgment on behavior or lifestyles. Instead of high-risk groups, which suggests demographic traits may be responsible for AIDS exposure, use high-risk behavior.

Race and Ethnicity

Ascertain what the population group prefers and use that term. Whenever possible, be specific, and describe individual population groups rather than collecting many different groups under one term.

• Avoid using minority and nonwhite. Many people described in this way view the terms as pejorative and discriminatory. Assuming white people are the predominant population group is an inaccurate portrayal of most countries in the world, as well as many areas within the United States.

• Many people prefer to use people of color, but it is not a precise term. Not all people who might be included in the group under such a heading would describe themselves in this way.

• Black and white are adjectives that should be used (in lowercase only, unless they begin a sentence) to modify nouns, such as black Americans, white men, or black women.

• African Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans are all proper nouns that should be capitalized; hyphens should never be inserted in multiword names, even when the names are modifiers. Some individuals prefer to use Hispanic or Latino as the descriptive terms for people who have a Spanish background, and some use the two together.

• Native American or American Indian—there has been considerable discussion over which of these terms is preferable. Many people prefer the former, because it is a more precise description.

• The U.S. government combines Asian and Pacific Islander, but most Pacific Islanders prefer that they be separated.

• Like other racial and ethic groups, many people who are white prefer not to be described by a collective term. If it is possible to be more specific—using Italian American or Eastern European, for example—do so.

• Take care with modifiers when describing racial and ethnic groups, ensuring that you are not suggesting or assuming they are in different socio-economic groups. For example, "We compared the reactions of African American and Hispanic men with those of middle-class white men," suggests that the first two groups are in a different status. Given historical stereotyping, the assumption would likely be that they were in a lower status.

Examples:

Poor Usage	Possible Substitutes
minorities	specific population or racial and ethnic groups
tribes	people or nations
blacks	black people
nonwhites	specific populations

Sex

• Use plural forms when possible, or, if writing a how-to article, address the reader directly, using I, you, and we. You can often substitute we for he, and our or the for his.

• Do not use contrived forms, like s/he or he/she. Also, try to avoid using alternating masculine and feminine pronouns within an article. Instead, use he or she, interspersing it equally with she or he throughout the document.

Examples:

Poor Usage	Better Usage
The social worker will find that he…	Social workers will find that they…
Every employee should select his best option.	Employees should select the best option for them.
He calls his children "kids."	We call our children "kids."
The teacher should encourage his/her student	Teachers should encourage their students
She should be careful…	You should be careful…

• Avoid words that suggest judgment, that describe women in patronizing terms (like the little lady), suggest second-class status (like authoress), demean a woman’s ability (lady lawyer), or are rarely used to describe men (co-ed).

• Do not suggest that women are possessions of men, or that they cannot carry out a role or perform a job that men do.

Examples:

Poor Usage	Better Usage
Doctors often neglect their wives	Doctors often neglect their families
policemen	police officers
man a project	staff a project
chairman	chair
housewife	homemaker
pioneers and their wives and children	pioneer families
mankind	humans, human beings

• Do not construct feminine versions of words that carry a masculine connotation. Chair or representative should be used instead of chairman, spokesman, chairwoman, or spokeswoman. Never use chairman to refer to a woman.

• Do not specify sex unless it is a variable or is essential to the discussion. Be sure to use parallel construction: men and women, not men and females or girls and men. Men and women are nouns, whereas female and male are best used as adjectives.

Sexual Orientation

• Orientation is a state of being, while preference is a choice. You should not use the latter to refer to homosexuality or heterosexuality.

• Homosexual should only be used as an adjective. You should use lesbians, gay men, or bisexual men or women to refer to people whose orientation is not exclusively heterosexual.

• Distinguish between sexual orientation and sexual behavior. You should write, "the client reported same-gender sexual fantasies," instead of, "the client reported homosexual fantasies." When describing sexual activity, the appropriate terms include: female-female, male-male, male-female, and same-gender.

Accurate Historical Reporting

When quoting any document, you must quote it exactly as the words were written or said. If describing a historical situation, you will likely want to use the words that were used in that context. You should, however, make that context clear. If you find the language too egregious, you may want to add a footnote saying this is not your language but the language of the time in which it was written.

8-3-B: Unbiased Writing

NASW is committed to the fair and equal treatment of all individuals and groups. The material published by the NASW Press should not promote stereotypic or discriminatory attitudes and assumptions about people.

Language that might imply sexual, ethnic, or other kinds of biases, discriminations, or stereotyping may not be used. Language can reinforce either inequality or balanced, accurate, and fair treatment of individuals.

Gender

Recast writing that uses male pronouns to include all people. Use plurals when possible to avoid gender reference. Be sure that terms for groups of men and women are parallel. (In other words, do not use "male" doctors with "women" doctors(use "female" doctors instead.) Change terms that give the impression that only people of one sex perform certain duties or work in certain professions. (For example, use "police officer" instead of "policeman.") In case examples, use both masculine and feminine names for clients, social workers, doctors, patients, and others.

Race and Ethnicity

Styles and preferences for nouns referring to ethnic and other groups change over time. In some cases even members of a particular group disagree about the preferred name at a specific time. Try to ascertain the most acceptable current terms and use them. Change or expand terms for groups that could be read as negative or pejorative.

When referring to members of a group, do not use adjectives as nouns (for example, use black Americans, white Americans, African Americans, Puerto Rican individuals, gay men, people with disabilities, and poor people, rather than blacks, whites, Puerto Ricans, gays, the handicapped, or the poor).

Avoid language that implies a moral judgment on behavior or lifestyles. For example, say "people with AIDS" rather than "AIDS victims" or "innocent victims of AIDS." "High-risk groups" implies that some kind of demographic trait, rather than behavior is responsible for AIDS exposure. A more appropriate term is "high-risk behavior."

8-3-C: Biased and Unbiased Terms

More examples:
Incorrect: An African American student, John James works as a part-time clerk.
Correct: John James works as a part-time clerk.

Incorrect: Not the type to stay at home, Betty Wong has chosen a career in politics.
Correct: Betty Wong has chosen a career in politics.

(Some of the examples of biased and unbiased language come from Maggio, R. (1987). The nonsexist word finder. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press; and Guidelines for equal treatment of the sexes in McGraw-Hill Book Company Publications.)

8-3-D: Usage Suggestions

Refer to the following pages for terms to avoid and to use. Consult Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, (10th ed.) or The Social Work Dictionary (5th ed.) for terms not found in this list. Use only the primary spelling listed in Webster's.

Terms to Use and Avoid

The following is a list of commonly misused words and expressions to avoid and, in many cases, the appropriate preferred term for each one.

Acronyms that do not need to be spelled out:

AIDS	HMO
BSW	IQ
CD-ROM	IV
DSM-IV	MSW
DSW	NASW
GED	PhD
HIV	SPSS

In addition, parties and states of members of Congress are abbreviated in parentheses.
Example: Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).

University Names

Variations occur in the way some universities (often within the same university system) refer to themselves. Preferred usage for some of these institutions is as follows:

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)
State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Francisco
University College, University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland at Baltimore
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Minnesota, Bloomington
University of Minnesota-Minneapolis
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Texas, Arlington
University of Texas at Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Foreign Languages

Occasionally a manuscript contains words or text in a foreign language. It is important that this material be as correct as possible.

• Foreign words or phrases are sometimes inserted into English text. If the word or phrase is in Webster's, it is considered to have become part of the English language and is not italicized. Be sure to check that the spelling(including diacriticals, phonetic marks used in many non-English languages, like accents (é) or umlauts (ë)(is correct.

• If the word is not in Webster's, italicize it and include (or query the author for) a parenthetical translation if it is not clear from the context. In addition, if the word is not in the dictionary and you are thus unable to verify that it is spelled correctly, query the author to check the spelling.

• Occasionally a sentence or more, or a title in the reference list, is in a foreign language. In text such material should be in italics; in the reference list, follow the same rules for italicizing as with English.

Commonly Used Terms

Note: Many of these terms are exceptions to general style rules

Key:
adj = adjective
n = noun
adv = adverb
v = verb

A

• acknowledgment
• acquired immunodeficiency syndrome—use AIDS, without spelling out
• acting out (n)
• acute care hospital
• ad hoc (roman, not italics)
• additionally—use also or in addition
• administration (Clinton administration)
• adviser
• African American (adj, n)
• aftercare (adj, n)
• after-school (adj)
• age—people ages 14 to 40; age 13 and under
• aged—use elderly person; older adults
• Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
• Alaska Natives
• alpha level
• American Indian
• Asian American (adj, n)
• Axes I through IV (from DSM-IV)
• azidothymidine (AZT)

B

• Beck's Depression Index (BDI)
• biopsychosocial
• birth mother
• birth parent
• birthweight (n), low-birthweight baby
• black person or black American
• black power movement
• burnout

C

• caregiver
• caregiving
• case finding (n), case-finding (adj), case finders (n)
• caseload
• casework, caseworker
• Catholic Church, the Church
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—name changed in 1993, but the acronym is still CDC. "Centers" is considered singular.
• census
• Chicano/Chicana
• child care (adj, n)
• child rearing (n)
• child-rearing (adj)
• child welfare agency
• childbearing (adj, n)
• chi square (n)
• chi-square (adj)
• civil rights movement
• coauthor
• co-coordinator
• codependent
• coleader
• community at large
• control group (not controls)
• cost-effective (even after verb)
• countertransference
• coworker
• Cramer's V
• Cronbach's alpha

D

• data (always plural, requires plural verb form)
• database (adj, n)
• datum (singular form, requires singular verb form)
• day-by-day (adj)
• day care (adj, n) "
• decision maker
• decision making (n)
• decision-making (adj)
• depression, Great Depression
• diagnosis-related groups (DRGs)
• disc (optically stored, like CD-ROM) but: disk (magnetically stored, like floppies)
• discharge planning (adj, n)
• drop out (v)
• dropout (adj, n)
• DSM-III-R (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition-Revised; no italics when abbreviated)
• DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; no italics when abbreviated)

E

• eldercare
• elementary school-age children
• e-mail (lowercase "e" except at the beginning of a sentence)
• ensure (to make sure; see also insure)
• ex-patient—preferable: former patient
• ex-wife—preferable: former wife

F

• factor analytic (adj)
• family functioning (n)
• family life education program
• family services agency
• family welfare work
• federal government
• fee-charging (adj, n)
• field service training
• flextime
• follow-up (adj, n)
• follow up (v)
• Food Stamp program
• food stamps
• for-profit (adj)
• freelance
• freestanding
• frontline
• full-time (adj, adv)
• fundraiser
• fundraising

G

• gay liberation movement
• GED (general equivalency diploma; sometimes called graduate equivalency diploma)
• gender—use instead of sex
• grassroots (adj, n)
• group-serving agencies
• group therapy program
• group work

H

• halfway house
• Hawaiian, not native Hawaiian
• Head Start
• health care
• high school-age (adj)
• Hispanic people
• home health aide
• home health care
• homebuilders
• homemaker
• hot line
• human services

I

• impact—use only as a noun; use affect or influence as verb
• individualized family service plan (IFSP)
• individualized education plan (IEP)
• in-house
• in-kind (adj), in kind (adv)
• inner city (n)
• inner-city (adj)
• inpatient
• in-service training I
• insure—use only in reference to financial guarantees
• IQ—don't spell out

L

• Latino/Latina
• layoff (v)
• layoff (n)
• layperson, laypeople
• leisure-time (adj)
• lifestyle
• long-standing
• long-term care referral
• low-cost housing
• low-income (adj)

M

• macro
• macro level (adj, n)
• macropractitioner
• macro system (adj, n)
• many-faceted (adj), but multifaceted
• Medicaid
• Medicare
• member-at-large (hyphenate when used as a title)
• meta-analysis
• methodology—use methods or method
• Mexican American (adj, n)
• micro
• micropractitioner
• micro system (adj, n)
• middle age (n)
• middle-aged (adj)
• middle class (n)
• middle-class (adj)
• middle-income (adj)
• Model Cities Program

N

• narcotic addiction
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH)
• Native American
• near-crisis situation
• nonprofit
• non-social worker
• non-English-speaking

O

• often-overlooked (adj)
• OK
• old age (n)
• old-age (adj), but old age pension
• old-old (adj) (gerontological term)
• one-to-one relationship
• online
• on-the-job training
• outpatient
• outreach (adj, n, v)

P

• parent-child interaction
• parent-teacher association
• part-time (adj, adv)
• past (not last) when referring to periods of time
• payer
• Payment-in-Kind (for the agricultural program only)
• payment in kind
• peer group (n)
• peer-group (adj)
• peer review (adj, n)
• people with AIDS (PW As)
• percent (following number or figure), but "percentage" without number
• Persian Gulf conflict
• person-in-environment (PIE)
• persons—use people
• P.L. 98-142 (do not use No.; use hyphen, close up P.L.)
• policymaker
• policy making (n)
• policy-making (adj)
• posthospitalization
• posttest
• posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• preferred provider organizations (PPOs)
• pretest
• preventive, not preventative
• problem solving (n)
• problem-solving (adj)
• proved, not proven
• psychoanalytic
• psychosexual
• psychosocial
• public school districts
• public welfare (adj, n)
• public welfare administration

R

• relief giving (n)
• relief-giving (adj)
• residential treatment (adj, n)
• role perception
• role play (n)
• role playing (n)
• role-playing (adj, v)
• role-set

S

• school-age (adj)
• schoolchild
• schoolteacher
• schoolwork
• services—use plural: human services workers, social services agency
• sex-role stereotyping
• single female-headed households
• single-room occupancy hotels (SROs)
• sit-ins
• social security
• Social Security Act of 1935
• social security amendments
• social security laws
• social services
• social worker-client relationship
• standard setting (n)
• standard-setting (adj)
• Supreme Court, the Court

T

• teenage
• teenagers (not teens)
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)
• third-party payers
• Third World
• time-series analysis
• time span

U

• under way
• United States (n), U.S. (adj)
• upper middle class (n)
• upper-middle-class (adj)
• up-to-date
• utilization—use in the sense of patterns or rates of use of a service

V

• VA—U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, formerly Veterans Administration
• versus in text, v. for court cases
• veterans benefits
• vice president
• Vietnam War
• visiting teacher program

W

• War on Drugs
• War on Poverty
• Web site (n)
• well-being (n)
• white-collar housing
• Wilks's lambda
• within—in is usually appropriate
• women's liberation
• women's liberation movement
• women's movement
• workers' compensation
• workfare
• workforce
• workload
• workplace
• work setting
• work site
• workweek
• work year
• World War I
• World War II
• World Wide Web
• Worldview

Y

• youth (singular), youths (plural)

Z

• zip code (n)

8-4: Revision and Editing

8-4-A: Resources

Books

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Barker, R.L. (2003). The social work dictionary (5th ed.). Washington, DC: NASW Press.

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (1979). The elements of style (4th ed.).Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

University of Chicago Press. (1993). The Chicago manual of style (14th ed.). Chicago: Author.

Zinsser, W. (1990). On writing well: The classic guide to writing nonfiction (25th Anniversary ed.) New York: Harper Collins.

Web Sites

Search engines:

Google
http://www.google.com

ProFusion
http://www.profusion.com

Yahoo!
http://www.yahoo.com

White Pages
http://www.whitepages.com

Reference:

National Center for Health Statistics
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

Bartleby (includes Bartlett’s Quotations)
http://www.bartleby.com

Merriam-Webster Online
http://m-w.com/home.htm

Medical Dictionary
http://www.medical-dictionary.com/

General English Resource Links
http://uaf.rtx1.com/engl_sp02/
(This is a great list of resources for almost anything a writer could need, from dictionaries to encyclopedias and beyond.)

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (a fabulous resource for writing, with information on grammar, spelling, style, and creating a variety of business documents)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

8-4-B: Revising Your Writing

Following are some suggestions and ideas to help you as you revise your writing:

Distance Yourself

• Before revising your own writing, it is important to distance yourself from it for a while, to allow you to read it with a more objective eye. If possible, set the document aside for at least 12 hours.

• Otherwise, try to at least take a lunch break or work on something completely different for an hour or so, to allow your brain to refocus. This allows you to assume to role of the reader, rather than that of the writer.

Include the Right Details

• Understand what your reader wants or needs to know. This will help you design your message to accomplish your goal.

• Be sure to answer all questions your readers may have as they read the document and afterwards.

• Be specific about your purpose for writing this document, and let the purpose be known to the reader.

• Check your document to make sure it includes all the information necessary to accomplish your purpose. At the same time, include only the information essential to your readers’ purpose and understanding. Do not overload readers with unnecessary or obvious information, which could distract them from your primary goal.

• Identify what you want your readers to do when they finish reading the document, and be sure to include all the information they will need to easily take this action or make this decision.

Use Concise Language

• Employ only the essential words to get your message across to readers.

Example:
Incorrect: Distribution of all brochures is one of the Association’s primary goals.
Correct: The Association must distribute all brochures.

• Do not use "wordy" language to describe simple, easily understood concepts.

Example:
Incorrect: I have enclosed a pamphlet, which describes the impact of this program on page five.
Correct: Page five of the enclosed pamphlet shows the impact of this program.

• Avoid "pouring out" ideas and facts rapidly, in a dense sentence or paragraph, because readers may have difficulty understanding or assimilating the information.

Example of too much information at one time:
Our deluxe models have chromium, rubber-insulated fixtures for durability, economy, and easy maintenance, and convenient controls to cut down on installation costs and necessary adjustments. They operate on AC or DC current, and incorporate the latest principles of electronic controls, which means flexibility in their use, better adjustment of the thermal units, less chance of error, and reduced labor costs per unit of production.
(Example from Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab)

• Use vivid and convincing words that are specific and descriptive. Avoid using vague terms, such as contact (use call, write, visit) or soon (tomorrow, April 15, one hour from now).

• Key your language to your readers’ level of understanding. Do not write for a general readership in the same way you would address a professional audience.

Tailor Your Tone to the Audience

• Express your ideas in a way that makes readers feel you are courteous, helpful, and human. Avoid overly casual language, but do not be afraid to include your own voice in business writing.

• Identify readers’ needs, problems, circumstances, and reactions to your message.

Example:
Original: This program will benefit clients across all spectrums of practice.
Better: Because practitioners from a variety of practice specialties designed the program, it is likely to benefit clients from virtually all walks of life.

• Emphasize the reader as "you," rather than offering a "we" statement. Placing the emphasis on "you," versus "I" or "we" makes it more likely readers will feel you understand their needs and know they are important.

Example:
Original: We hope to have this report on your desk first thing in the morning.
Better: You will have this report first thing in the morning.

• Express ideas and suggestions in a manner that reflects good public relations for the Association and good human relations with colleagues. Composing documents that reflect a positive attitude, rather than incorporating negative statements, is essential in all business writing.

• Avoid phrases that imply your reader may be dishonest, careless, or mentally deficient.

Examples:
Original: Obviously, if you were paying attention at the meeting, you would be aware that the office is closing early tomorrow.
Better: Remember, the office is closing early tomorrow.

Original: In order to make changes to your document, all you have to do is…
Better: To change your document…

Organize Your Writing

• It is essential to organize your writing according to the response your readers are likely to have to it:

1. If your readers’ response is likely to be favorable or neutral, use a direct approach.
2. If your readers’ response is likely to be unfavorable or if they need to be persuaded, use an indirect approach, incorporating an explanation and necessary details before stating the decision or action required.

• Be sure transitions clarify relationships between your sentences and paragraphs. Avoid throwing information together in a choppy fashion.

• Compose your document so that paragraphs flow naturally into one another. Outlining beforehand is a good idea to help aid organization.

Use Conventional Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation

• Read through your final draft carefully, to be sure there are no errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. It is often a good idea to read through the document once for each of the above, and once for organization and content.

• Have someone else read your final draft, checking the document for any errors/omissions in spelling, grammar, punctuation, content, and organization.

8-4-C: Self-Editing Checklist

Prior to editing your document, it is important to ensure that it is as professional and accurate as possible. Look up items you are unsure about, rather than assuming that an editor will "fix it" for you, or that readers will not care about "little" mistakes.

Errors in written letters, reports, articles, and other documents may make readers question your reliability; distract them from your intended goal; and detract from your own, and the Association’s, professional image.

Use the following checklist when revising your writing:

Run a spelling and grammar check. Do not automatically accept every spelling or grammar suggestion, however. Many times spell check misses errors or suggests incorrect words, and, depending on your writing style, the grammar check is not always accurate.

	Single space after sentence punctuation, including periods. It is not necessary to double space between sentences.
	Use bold font for headings and italics to emphasize words in a sentence. Never type in ALL CAPS.
	Write out "percent" instead of using the % symbol.
	Indent paragraphs ½ inch on the first line.
	Reference lists should be double spaced, with a ½-inch "hanging indent" (the first line of each entry aligned with the left margin and lines below it indented ½ inch).
	Be sure to check the style guide for appropriate APA style for your reference lists. When in doubt, it is better to include more information than not enough.
	Use positive phrasing, rather than negative:

Incorrect: Social workers are not receiving adequate pay.
Correct: Social workers receive inadequate pay.

Eliminate "there is" and "there are" whenever possible:

Incorrect: There are a lot of useful tips in this book.
Correct: This book contains many useful tips.

Use a noun after "this," "these," or "those":

Incorrect: Susan put those on the top shelf.
Correct: Susan put those binders on the top shelf.

Avoid asking questions. State answers instead:

Incorrect: Why, then, do people continue to prefer dogs to cats?
Correct: People tend to prefer dogs to cats, experts say, because…

Whenever you can say something in fewer words, do so:

Incorrect: The newsletter had two more articles in it this month.
Correct: The newsletter contained two more articles this month.

Delete "the" and "their" whenever possible:

Incorrect: He graduated from the University of Michigan.
Correct: He graduated from University of Michigan.

Incorrect: Sunbathers must remember to put on their sunscreen.
Correct: Sunbathers must remember to put on sunscreen.

Eliminate unnecessary words like "very" and "extremely," using better words if you want to convey more feeling:

Incorrect: My mother was very happy to see me at her party.
Correct: My mother was happy to see me at her party.
Correct: My mother was overjoyed to see me at her party.

When speaking of a specific number, always use "more than" instead of "over":

Incorrect: Over 50 people attended the picnic.
Correct: More than 50 people attended the picnic.

Do not overuse "is," "are," "has," "have," and other variations of "to have" and "to be":

Incorrect: The department store has a variety of merchandise.
Correct: The department store stocks a variety of merchandise.

Make sure your nouns (names of people and things) and pronouns (him, her, them, they) agree. Singular nouns require singular pronouns. Plural nouns (groups) require plural pronouns:

Incorrect: To be sure you contact the correct person, you should look them up on the Web site.
Correct: To be sure you contact the correct person, you should look him or her up on the Web site.
Correct: To be sure you contact the correct people, you should look them up on the Web site.

	Include credentials whenever appropriate. Be sure to specify PhD or MD in a first reference. After the first reference, it is all right to use "Dr." According to APA style, do not use periods between the letters in credentials.
	Whenever possible (and appropriate) include a person’s MSW among his or her credentials, which highlights social work as a profession based on high educational standards.
	When in doubt: consult the NASW Press Style Guide, Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA Style Manual), The Chicago Manual of Style, or Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.
	Use Times New Roman, 12 point font, whenever possible, when sending a document for editing.

Double space all documents sent for editing. You may always return the document to single space when you get it back.