Writing Advice

1. In endnotes, unlike bibliographies, the author's first name always comes first.



2. Use a shortened form for second and subsquent citations of a work.



3. Superscripts follow punctuation marks (except a dash) in text and appear outside a closing parenthesis.



4. Always introduce your quotations by identifying the speaker or writer in your text. Do not force your readers to go to the endnotes to figure out the origin of the passage that you quote.





3. Should you refer to the Democracy in America guy as Tocqueville, deTocqueville or De Tocqueville? The BBC provides an answer that applies to French names in general:

The rule is this -- a "de" attached to a single-syllable name stays no matter
what. Anything longer, and removal of the honorific means removal of the "de."
So you read de Gaulle's books, but you peruse Tocqueville's works -- and
Villepin's, as the minister is also an author. And "de,"by the way, is NEVER
capitalized. [Editorial note: I have used American spelling and punctuation.]

The CMC Writing Center, in Bauer 32, offers writing advice – in half-hour sessions – to all CMC students in need of help. Click here for hours of operation.