Using contractions when writing a college essay

[emmdoubleew]

What do you guys think of using contractions when writing a college essay? Most people will recommend against them, but I think that's ridiculous - the basic rules of good writing should still apply regardless of audience, especially when it comes to writing about myself.

What do you guys think?

PS: Contractions are "is not" -> "isn't"

[pianistimo]

you should know by now, mr.  it ain't right to write like that.  it makes you look homey.  and, don't - i mean DO NOT write about yourself - what you think - or what you want to say.  ok.  i learned this the hard way.  eliminate the word 'i.'  replace it with something very anonymous. 

here are some tips (i don't follow them in regular writing - as you can see):

never use:

contractions (such as don't)
abbreviations (such as etc.)
titles (such as dr.)
italicizing or underlining for intensification
exclamation points
first person (i, me, my, mine, we, our, us)

use a dictionary to spell words correctly - and do not guess at meanings.

in indicating centuries, use a hyphen when employed as an adjective, but not as a noun:  'in the eighteenth century,'  but 'eighteenth-century music.' 

avoid personification of objects or compositions; do not write 'the Brahms symphony' or 'the stravinsky letter.'

try not to break long words at the end of the line, but if this is not possible, make certain that you break the word at a syllable.

use the active rather than passive voice whenever possible.

try to avoid the overuse of weak verbs (to be or to have) in favor of stronger and more precise verbs - even if this means rewording the sentence.

never adopt a tone that is chitty-chatty.

be careful that you always are identifying to what or to whom you are referring.  thus, when using pronouns like 'he,' or 'she,' or works like 'this,' or that' make certain that what you are referring to is clear to your reader.

you seldom need to use intensifiers such as 'very' or 'much.'  after you have finished writing, go through and eliminate those that are not needed.

keep adverbs close to your verbs, but do not split a verb form with an adverb.  thus, do not write 'he has frequently said,'  rather 'frequently he has said' or 'he has said frequently.'

be especially careful when copying a foreign language passage that you include all the diacritical markings (umlats, accents, etc.); these markings are part of foreign terms and cannot be ommitted.  if they do not exist on your keyboard, write them in by hand.

upon first reference in the text always include the full name of a person.  however, when referring to this person later in the narriative, only the last name should be used.  never use a title, such as dr. or prof.  it is also wise to include life dates upon first reference, although this varies according to the significance of that individual within your paper.

sometimes too much information is packed into a single sentence; be on guard for this, and when you find this situation in your own writing be willing to separate long and complex thoughts amoung different sentences.

always leave two spaces after a period or colon and one space after comma or semi-colon (my husband disagrees).

do not waste time telling the reader what you are going to do ('this paper will...'); if your paper is well written it will be clear what you are doing.

do not overuse a single word in a single paragraph. 

many times mistakes are made with words that are similar to one another, but have distinct meanings.

here are some common problems with incorrect word useage:
making nouns into verbs (crescendoing)
unique (means one of a kind); something cannot be almost or somewhat unique.
reoccur (no such word; the word is recur)
'feel' to mean 'believe' (to feel means to physically touch something)
confusing 'which and 'that' (the former does not limit its antecedent and the latter does)
analyzation to mean analysis
irregardless (no such word; the word is regardless)
'in such cases' to mean 'in such instances' (case is a handbag)

common abbreviations:
ante - before
post - after
infra - below
supra - above
q.v. - quad vide = which are
et. al. = et alii = and others
f. or ff. = and the following pages
v vide = see
p. or pp. = page (s)
viz. = namely
passim = here and there
cf. = compare
i.e. = id est - that is
e.g. = exempli gratia = for example
N.B. = nota bene = please note
sic. = thus (to show an obvious error in the exact reproduction of the original)
id. = idem = the same as before

if you want more - i have some special style problems in writing about music.  how to write specific things like Beethoven's Sonata in C-sharp minor for piano  (titles consisting only of generic terms, such as sonata or symphony, are capitalized, but not underlined or put in quotation marks).  individual movements from larger works identified by tempo should be capitalized and placed in quotation marks:  'Andante' from Mozart's Symphony in G-minor

anyways - this is a terribly long response i guess.  hope someone can use it.

[pianistimo]

ok.  i love to write - but had a terribly hard time writing essays correctly.  i had to write them at least three times to have them sound good (scholarly).  don't feel badly if you are told the first copy 'sucks.'  well, maybe not in those words.  continuing:

individual movements from larger works identified by generic terms should be capitalized, but not underlined or placed in quotation marks:

Scherzo from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony

pieces with specific titles should be capitalized and put in italics (underlined):
Schumann's Scenes from Childhood

individual movements from larger compositions when such movements are referred to by title, are placed in quotation marks:

'Contradanse' from Schumann's Scenes from Childhood

in textual discussions of musical form, do not capitalize 'sonata form,' 'exposition,' ' development,' rondo,' 'couplet,' etc.

in referring to keys, please write out sharp and flat and use a capital for the key letter, but a small-case letter for major or minor, which should be written out in full with a lower-case 'm':  C-sharp minor, G major, B-flat minor.  not not use capital letters for major keys and lower case letters for minor keys.

when referring to a specific pitch, use lower-case letters:  the G major scale has only one f-sharp.

[pianistimo]

when referring to chord spellings, use lower case letters, in italics (underlined) and single-spaced; accidentals may be written in with ink (do not use b and # on the keyboard of the typewriter)

example:  the supertonic chord is d f a

meter signatures are indicated as 4/4, 6/8, etc.  in the terminology expressing rhythmic values, a hyphen is used, as in a sixteenth-note and thirty-second-note rest.

to refer to a specific octave use the 'helmholtz system':

two octaves below middle C (Contra C) = C1
one octave below middle C (Great C) = C
middle C = c
one-line C= c1
two-line C = c2

[emmdoubleew]

you should know by now, mr.  it ain't right to write like that.  it makes you look homey.  and, don't - i mean DO NOT write about yourself - what you think - or what you want to say.  ok.  i learned this the hard way.  eliminate the word 'i.'  replace it with something very anonymous. 

William Zinsser, english teacher at Yale univesrity, writes in his book "On Writing Well" that those are two things you should always try to do. For one, contractions increase sentence fluency without decreasing comprehension, and for two, anonimosity is boring.

The rest of your post seems pulled from Strunk and White, so I agree with it.

[gorbee natcase]

I suppose (it's  ) regarded as lazy.

[pianistimo]

i think there is scholarly writing - which should be easily read.  and personal writing - which is casual and 'chitty chatty.' 

one precludes the other.

[emmdoubleew]

You're not listening to me though. I thought long and hard before using contractions in my essays. I decided to use them because I don't think formality should compromise the basic rules of good writing, especially not when it comes these college essays. I would think that almost 70 years after Orwell wrote "Politics and the English Language," archaic conventions like avoiding contractions in formal writing would slowly disappear. Contractions are a no brainer - they increase fluency without compromising understanding. This has nothing to do with casual style, it's just common sense.

[pianistimo]

you have the english to thank.  if your university wants to compete with oxford - they have to be ABLE to write formally.  if i were you - i wouldn't push it.  after all, the english have preserved a lot of things.  for posterities sake.  you  know.  the king's english.  wait!  king's.  that has an apostrophe.  you're right.  never mind.

[ada]

You're not listening to me though. I thought long and hard before using contractions in my essays. I decided to use them because I don't think formality should compromise the basic rules of good writing, especially not when it comes these college essays. I would think that almost 70 years after Orwell wrote "Politics and the English Language," archaic conventions like avoiding contractions in formal writing would slowly disappear. Contractions are a no brainer - they increase fluency without compromising understanding. This has nothing to do with casual style, it's just common sense.

Agreed. Forget the quoting from outdated textbooks crap. Stuffiness and forced formality is so over.

Language changes and that's the beauty of it. Whenever you're writing you should use what works in a given context with creativity and flair. Don't be afraid to break rules and embrace new innovations in words and language.

And above all find your own voice.

[jakev2.0]

havn't teachr's gott'n ain't nuthing's better'd blahhhaha

[Mozartian]

havn't teachr's gott'n ain't nuthing's better'd blahhhaha

Somebody is BORED. 

[jakev2.0]

No kidding. 

[Mozartian]

No kidding. 

No worries. My life since winter break started has been as follows

practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
study music theory
practice
watch hamelin vids
practice
watch gould documentaries
shop
sleep
practice
watch gould documentaries
watch shakespeare films
sight read the goldberg variations, the complete partitas, and most of the french suites
sightread mozart
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries

I don't know what I'm going to do when I've run out of Gould documentaries...

[jakev2.0]

Me:

Practice
Go for a walk
Check my marks online
Practice
Check my marks online, and check email
Practice
Visit friends
Check my marks online, see if anyone has posted new Gould videos on Youtube
Practice
Check my marks online, check discussion forums
Visit the library

Sleep

Go back to square 1.

I love winter break.

[Mozartian]

Oh yeah, walks. I've been doing that, too. Properly fitted out with gloves and coat and with a frisky dog, of course.

[debussy symbolism]

No worries. My life since winter break started has been as follows

practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries
practice
study music theory
practice
watch hamelin vids
practice
watch gould documentaries
shop
sleep
practice
watch gould documentaries
watch shakespeare films
sight read the goldberg variations, the complete partitas, and most of the french suites
sightread mozart
watch gould documentaries
practice
watch gould documentaries

I don't know what I'm going to do when I've run out of Gould documentaries...

Greetings.

Concerning the Gould documentaries, have you watched a certain few, namely the "Shadow Genius," and the one about the Russian Journey?

[jakev2.0]

The Russian Journey one is really good (among the best I've seen). It's on YouTube, check 'er out. 

[debussy symbolism]

I have watched them many times and love them too. The Russian Journey especially because it points out the musical barriers in Russia at that time. I am really fascinated at how Gould courageously performed the music of dodecaphonic style composers and wasn't afraid of ruining his reputation. As you know, that music at that time wasn't very popular in Russia. What is more amazing is his introduction of Bach to Russia. I believe that one person that was interviewed in the documentary claimed that Bach's music was generally considered Church music and thus rarely played. Gould was an innovator, unafraid to challenge the culture. His Bach concerts were a sellout to extent of my knowledge.

[alwaystheangel]

don't use contractions. It's no good.


Lol

[Mozartian]

The Russian Journey one is really good (among the best I've seen). It's on YouTube, check 'er out. 

Haha yeah I started that one yesterday. It IS good. But I think that's the last of the youtube docs that I havent seen.. blah.

[minor9th]

I discourage contractions with my high school students. Not only are contractions stylistically inappropriate in a formal paper, but they can lead to usage errors, such as "it's/its." If they mean "it is" and have to write out the words, then they are less likely to confuse the two words...unless they simply do not know the difference. ("Its" is the possessive form--just in case you were wondering!) 

[Bob]

Not contractions.

It's for college.  It's formal. 

The professor probably won't be too understanding.  They'll think you're untrained.

I like the style idea.  It's just basic "formal" wirting.  Not like you speak, not like you would write online.  It's like wearing a tuxedo to a formal event -- Not what you wear everyday, not necessarily comfortable, but it's what's expected and standard.

Although... it depends on the class and the professor.  If you're in an English class writing an argument, then formal all the way.  If it's in a class where the focus isn't perfect grammar and you're supposed to write less formally, like for a journal or an informal essay, than contractions might be ok. 

And it depends how much you care about the class, the grade, the impression you make on the professor.  If you don't care, and it doesn't impact the grade, write how you want -- It won't make a difference in the big picture probably.

[emmdoubleew]

Hey just as a follow up,

I talked to and English professor recently at one of the schools to which I am applying, and he says that 90% of the time he encourages contractions in papers. The exceptions are:

- I'd (because I should and I would can be confused)
- Weird made up contractions (i'se gonna eat some cake)
- The professor specifically requests contractions not be used
- Formal letters of complaint, etc...