Folks-

In general, your papers are very well done and interesting. The class average is a 9.2/10, which is very impressive. I have finished grading most of them, so I thought I would mention a few of the problems I have seen with them:

  • Do not make statements like “in my opinion,” “I believe,” etc. This is very redundant: your readers will assume that you are already expressing a viewpoint. Also, this sort of phrasing makes a writer sound apologetic for having a viewpoint. Avoid.
  • Refresh yourself on your usage of commas. I am seeing a decent amount of misplaced commas.
  • Numbers: Numbers below ten should be typed out. Above then use the number (11, 453, etc).
  • Transitions: Make sure when using words like “also” you are adding a comma to them.
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