Most Common Student Writing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Written communication skills are so important for students to learn. As a social work instructor for nearly 10 years, I often gave students feedback and guidance to improve their writing. The following list contains the most common writing mistakes I encountered and suggestions for how to fix them. This list is geared toward social science writing and use of APA Style.

Most Common APA Style Errors

• General APA advice
• APA In-Text Citations
• APA In-Text Citations: Author Format
• APA Reference Lists: Basic Rules
• APA Reference List: Articles in Periodical 
• How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in APA Style
• How to Cite Something You Found on a Website in APA Style: What to Do When Information Is Missing
• APA Tables, Appendices, Footnotes and Endnotes 
• APA Style Quick Answers—Formatting 

Properly Using the Work of Others

• How Not to Plagiarize
• Decide when to Quote, Paraphrase and Summarize
• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
• Floating Quotations 

Grammar

• Writing Tip: Use active, not passive sentences 
• Fused/Run-On Sentences
• Rules for Finding and Fixing Fragments
• 1st vs. 3rd person 
• Using “By Zombies” to Help You Identify Passive Voice

Writing Research and Other Scientific Papers

• Tips & Tricks: Try “Writer’s Math”, Dr. Greer’s More-or-Less Formula for Better First Drafts
• Using Topic Sentences to Write Stronger, Better-Organized Scientific Manuscripts 
• Writing the Empirical Social Science Research Paper: A Guide for the Perplexed 
• Common Errors in Student Research Papers 
• 10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals

What is missing? What would you add to this list?

For additional back to school tips for social workers, check out my eBook: Back to School Guide for Social Work Students.

Wishing all the new and returning students (myself included!) much success in the coming year!