First of all, pay attention to your structure. Most essays (argumentative, anyway) follow an easy format: intro, arguments (however many you desire), retorts (for those who disagree with your viewpoint), and a conclusion. Be careful about rambling, as well; make every sentence necessary, and keep your wordage to something you would use, because nothing looks more unprofessional than a word used in a completely incorrect context. Keep your essay real, and don't try to pretend to be an expert.

Next, make a clear and easily understood thesis statement. For example, when writing an article on the depression of Abraham Lincoln, write something clear such as “Abraham Lincoln's depression affected him profoundly throughout his life and shaped the America we know today.” Conversely, don't oversimplify it (I.e. “Abraham Lincoln was a really sad guy.”) Make it clear, concise, and to the point, and you will find writing (and reading) your essay much easier.

You should also pick (if possible) a topic that will hold your interest. I'm aware that you can't always pick the topic you write on, but when you can, make sure you pick one you want to write about. You can always tell when an essay is forced, and it's never pleasant to read. The level of annoyance involved in boring articles varies from apathetic to down right antagonistic, and you need to be aware if your essay is drifting toward the drab. Keep it exciting, even if you aren't particularly excited to write it.

The next part may be one of the most important parts: citing. Not only will improper citations look sloppy, it could easily get you accused of plagiarism. There are two commonly used forms of citing works in mainstream use today: MLA (Modern Language Association) Style, and APA (American Psychological Association) Style. I, being the grand and helpful person I am, will provide you with an example of each. First, MLA Style:

Bainton, Roy 1917: Russia's Year of Revolution, New York: Carroll & Graf

Publishers, 2005

See? Not so difficult. Now, onto APA:

Bainton, Roy (2005) 1917: Russia's Year of Revolution , New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers

The two styles are similar, yet different. Now, there are many other ways of formatting, but these two are the most common in high school use, and favorites of myself. To cite in text, simply do this: (Bainton, p. 12). Commit this to memory, it may save your life…or at least your grade. There are many other things to know about citing, as well, but I will leave the more technical details to the more technical books. I recommend The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White. It will work wonders on your writing technique.

Finally, you need to check your facts, son. It's pretty darn embarrassing to state that Hitler died in 1956, when, in reality, he died in 1945. Not only do you look like an idiot to most people, you also inspire dozens of conspiracy theories, and nobody likes those. Except, perhaps, for Oliver Stone.

With the advent of the IBM Selectric and automatic correction tape, life seemed simplified. Since I no longer relied on carbon paper for my copies I used a photocopier instead and the correction tape was usually sufficient to make simple spelling and punctuation corrections. It seemed like heaven. As a freelancer, my biggest bother was keeping an adequate supply of envelopes and postage on hand to submit my queries and work to the appropriate editors. Word processors only continued to make my life easier.

By the time I began using a computer to write my articles and manuscripts, life seemed simple. So long as I remembered to hit “save” now and then and the power stayed on, it was incredibly easy to construct my thoughts in front of the keyboard. Revisions and editing took no effort and features like spell check and word count were bonuses. I did learn early on to proof my final copy - we've all heard stories where uncommonly spelled names were turned into embarrassing gaffs by inhuman spell checkers (such as Pincus=Penis, this was an actual name that slipped by me once.) Sometimes the editor requested that I submit my article on a floppy disc along with the hard copy, it wasn't a problem.

The first time an editor asked me to fax my story in instead of letting the mail delay it, I was stymied. I had to find a local store that had a fax available and then paid a fee per page. Eventually I got around that stumbling block by buying my own fax machine. Life was simple again, I typed, printed and faxed, all from the comfort of my own home. The only hang-ups were when photos had to be submitted; faxing just didn't cut it then. Then came uploading to FTP sites, fortunately most magazines' sites didn't require any special software on my part, just the patience of Job as I maneuvered all of the steps. Finally e-mail became the method of choice whether the article was enclosed as an attachment or pasted into the body - add to that digital images and life couldn't get any simpler.

By then I had come to realize that many of the hours I spent in my high school typing class had not only been wasted but has also become problematic. My natural inclination had been to use my computer keyboard as a typewriter with tabs and double-spaces and more. I was still composing everything with paragraph indents and hitting “enter” twice to double-space. When my soon-to-be book publisher said she wanted my 55+ thousand word manuscript submitted with paragraph settings and page-setup controls instead of indents and double spaces, I had to sit at my desk through the night to reformat it all. It paid off, but it was exhausting.

I am still learning new ways to make it in this technologically-savvy world. Many of my published articles are available online which makes it incredibly easy to include links in my online or emailed list of credits when I query a new magazine editor. Research is a snap and even thought I may need to follow it up with phone calls or visits, a lot of my preliminary work gets done right from my desk. And the promotion of my books is easy when I use the various resources the internet offers such as press release posting, blogging, company web-sites and more. In person author appearances have been supplemented with guest blogs, online interviews and the latest fad, Blog Talk Radio; the audience base has been expanded in both numbers and locale.

Technology in the field of writing has forced many of us into the 21st century; some of my writer friends are still kicking and screaming. I came across an old spiral notebook where I hand scribbled poetry as a teen-ager - I was thinking of typing in some of the better poems to save, but then I just thought I'll scan them in instead.

Standardize

There are four generally recognized references styles in use today: MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian. Each is used within specific industries or companies and has specific strength and weaknesses and are supported by different tools in order to make managing, creating, and sorting references and papers easier.

• MLA (Modern Language Association)

  This style of references is traditionally used by schools, academic departments, and instructors and has been in use for nearly half a century. MLA includes guidelines on punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources.

• APA (American Psychological Association)

  APA style is predominantly used within the social sciences. APA format includes guidelines on general formating, in-text citation, endnotes/footnotes, and reference page styling.

• Chicago

  The Chicago style format is based of the book Chicago Manual of Style (1). This style provides an Author-Date style of ordering that is usually easier to follow within the natural and social sciences.

• Turabian

  The Turabian style is based of the format suggested by Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (2) which in itself was based closely on the Chicago style and serves many of the same functions.

Know Your Audience

Playing a classical performance at a battle of the bands makes little sense. In the same way using references when not needed or failing to use them in the correct style when they are needed can strongly detract from an articles performance. The modern equivalent of the citation is the webpage link. The webpage link has a strongly suggested style, a standardized easily computer read format, and provides further information that others can use. In fact many of the newer citation formats have citation suggestions specifically for websites.

Writing an article on pool table design which will be used solely on a website makes webpage links a good idea. Though providing a collected link section at the end of the article is always a strong suggestion. While this same format of linking is a bad idea when writing an article for a science teacher because the ease of use of websites becomes a difficult chore to confirm references when you have to manually type in website links to access information.

Bending to the Yoke

The bow yoke according to wikipedia is..

“... a shaped wooden crosspiece bound to the necks of a pair of oxen, or occasionally horses. It is held on the animals' necks by an oxbow, usually U-shaped, that also transmits force from the animals' shoulders, hence the name bow yoke.”

The phrase “bending to ones yoke” generally means to burden ones self with a constraint that generally leads to positive group effort. It can also mean to be put under the authority of another person or organization. Both definitions apply when it comes time to apply a paper to an organization. Before spending hours organizing, sorting, and formating your citations or references be sure that the citation or reference format you have chosen will be accepted where you wish to publish your paper. Some groups such as the APA only accept papers in a specific format and following specific guidelines for content and practices.

The reason for this is both to maintain consistency of look as well as content but also to ease the use of automated tools that can cross link reference and provide evidence of worth of papers. A paper that is heavily referenced is more likely to be of use to an author or researcher then a paper that is rarely referenced.

Tools and Systems

Having references for an article or research paper is nice but creating these references can be a tiring practice, especially considering some of these references can be incorrectly formated if even a single comma is out of place! This being the case there are manuals and programs designed to make referencing papers and articles easier then what was available in the past.

• Son of Citation Machine

  A web based citation generating website which works in each of the four major styles and has clear instructions detailing how to generate a reference citation. Following the on screen instructions step by step can generate correctly typed (though not always correctly formated for copy and past) text that can then be easily incorporated into any research paper or article. Each citation also includes how the citation should appear with proper formating within your paper making correcting the copy and pasted portion a simple process.

• MLA Formatting and Style Guide

  Each of these formats include more then simply a standardized method of presenting citations but also ways to organize, format, and even which fonts to use. While something can be said for originality, standardization also provides strong benefits. Each of these formats provides a time tested and proven method of presenting a paper that will be, in most cases, easily printed and read. This site gives a great break down on MLA both citation and formating.

• APA Formatting and Style Guide

  APA formating guide presented by the same group that produced the above MLA formating and style guide.

• Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide

  This page describes mostly the citation format of Chicago style.

• Turabian Citation Style

  List of examples of the more commonly used Turabian citation style. This guide does not provide a step by step guide but is reasonably clear in how to create each citation.

References:

1. University of Chicago Press Staff, (2003). The Chicago manual of style. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press.
2. Turabian, K., Booth, W., Colomb, G., & Williams, J. A Manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations, 7th Ed: Chicago style for students and researchers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3. Yoke. (2008). In Wikipedia [Web]. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Retrieved January 2nd, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoke
4. Landmarks, Son of citation machine. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from Sone of Citation Machine Web site: http://citationmachine.net/
5. Kunka, J. (2008, January 22nd). MLA formatting and style guide. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from MLA formatting and style guide Web site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/
6. Neyhart, D. (2008, January 22nd). APA formatting and style guide. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from APA formatting and style guide Web site: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
7. Roecker, F. (2006, March 3rd). Chicago manual of style citation guide. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from Chicago Manual of Style Citation Guide Web site: http://library.osu.edu/sites/guides/chicagogd.php
8. (2005, May 8th). Turabian citation style. Retrieved January 22, 2008, from Turabian citation style Web site: http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/CWP/library/workshop/cittur.htm

Editor's Note:

This article was published with a Reference section as an example. Due to the style guidelines, articles published through Triond will not be published with a "bibliography" or "references" section left in tact. If you wish to refer to your sources, please do so within the article itself.