Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy

Including manuscript preparation,appropriate documentation of sources,

and a basic overview of Englishgrammar and usage.

Tata-Dhan Academy, MaduraiFirst edition, 2008

STYLE MANUAL OF THE TATA-DHAN ACADEMY

Guidelines for Proper Formattingof Typed Assignments


Guidelines for Proper Formattingof Typed Assignments

Tata-Dhan Academy, MaduraiFirst edition, 2008

Copyright 2008 by

the Tata-Dhan Academy

First edition published August 2008

Tata-Dhan Academy

Boys Town Campus

Pulloothu, Madurai 625 016

Tamil Nadu, India

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy iii

Table of Contents

1 Page Elements................................................................11.1 Standard assignments.............................................................1

1.1.1 Main body..............................................................................11.1.2 Inside cover page...................................................................21.1.3 Header....................................................................................21.1.4 Footer.....................................................................................3

1.2 Bound assignments.................................................................31.2.1 Main body..............................................................................31.2.2 Inside cover page...................................................................31.2.3 Header....................................................................................41.2.4 Footer.....................................................................................4

2 Text Elements.................................................................52.1 Text body.................................................................................52.2 Titles and headings..................................................................5

2.2.1 Title........................................................................................62.2.2 Subtitle...................................................................................62.2.3 Level 1 heading......................................................................72.2.4 Level 2 heading......................................................................72.2.5 Level 3 heading......................................................................72.2.6 Level 4 heading......................................................................82.2.7 Level 5 heading......................................................................82.2.8 Level 6 heading......................................................................8

3 Preliminary Matter.........................................................93.1 Table of contents and other indexes........................................93.2 List of abbreviations..............................................................103.3 Executive summary...............................................................10

4 Main Text Body.............................................................114.1 Tables....................................................................................114.2 Charts or graphs....................................................................134.3 Maps.....................................................................................144.4 Photographs..........................................................................144.5 Text boxes..............................................................................144.6 Footnotes and endnotes.......................................................15

iv Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy

4.7 Bulleted lists and numbered lists...........................................154.7.1 Bulleted lists.........................................................................164.7.2 Numbered lists.....................................................................16

4.7.2.1 In-line lists...................................................................164.7.2.2 Vertical lists.................................................................174.7.2.3 Multi-level lists............................................................18

4.7.3 Punctuation with lists..........................................................194.8 Numbers................................................................................22

4.8.1 Beginning of sentences........................................................234.8.2 Numbers grouped for comparison.......................................234.8.3 Numbers with units of measurement..................................244.8.4 Numbers representing mathematical or statistical functions........................................................................................................244.8.5 Numbers as part of a series or parts of books.....................244.8.6 Decimals...............................................................................254.8.7 Numbers as words...............................................................254.8.8 Numbers for date and time.................................................254.8.9 Commas with numbers........................................................26

5 End Matter....................................................................275.1 References.............................................................................27

5.1.1 When and why to cite information......................................285.1.2 How to cite information.......................................................29

5.1.2.1 Book: one author........................................................295.1.2.2 Book: more than one author.......................................305.1.2.3 Book: institution as an author.....................................315.1.2.4 Book: editor or editors as author................................315.1.2.5 Book: chapter in an edited book.................................325.1.2.6 Journal article..............................................................335.1.2.7 Magazine or newspaper article...................................345.1.2.8 Magazine or newspaper article: author unknown......365.1.2.9 Website: author known...............................................365.1.2.10 Website: no author...................................................375.1.2.11 Personal communication...........................................385.1.2.12 Unpublished paper or presentation presented at a meeting, seminar, or workshop................................................38

5.2 Appendices, annexures, and exhibits....................................39

6 Page Numbering...........................................................416.1 Preliminary matter................................................................41

Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy v

6.2 Main text...............................................................................416.3 End matter............................................................................41

7 Grammar, Punctuation, and Usage................................437.1 Grammar: Use your speech to guide your writing, but do not write like you speak......................................................................43

7.1.1 Avoid redundancy................................................................447.1.2 Avoid clichés.........................................................................457.1.3 Avoid jargon.........................................................................45

7.2 Grammar: Consider your readers when checking for comprehension.............................................................................46

7.2.1 Fragmented sentences.........................................................477.2.2 Run-on sentences................................................................487.2.3 Non-parallel construction....................................................497.2.4 Etc.........................................................................................51

7.3 Punctuation...........................................................................537.3.1 Period or “full-stop”.............................................................537.3.2 Comma.................................................................................54

7.3.2.1 Commas for introductory elements............................557.3.2.2 Commas for enclosing information.............................567.3.2.3 The serial comma........................................................56

7.3.3 Question mark.....................................................................577.3.4 Exclamation marks...............................................................577.3.5 Semicolon.............................................................................587.3.6 Colon....................................................................................597.3.7 Dashes..................................................................................59

7.3.7.1 Em dash.......................................................................607.3.7.2 En dash........................................................................617.3.7.3 Hyphens.......................................................................61

7.3.8 Ellipsis...................................................................................627.3.9 Parentheses (brackets).........................................................627.3.10 Oblique (slash)...................................................................63

7.4 Usage....................................................................................64

8 Other Useful Resources.................................................718.1 Bibliography and references..................................................728.2 Websites................................................................................74

9 Postface........................................................................77

Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy 1


Guidelines for Proper Formatting of Typed Assignments

The following style manual has been prepared to help students correctly

format their typed assignments. Note that the manual does not include

instructions relating to the content of your paper, but rather, to the

presentation of your paper. It should be considered as a “manuscript

preparation” user guide for Tata-Dhan Academy assignments and for

documents being sent for editing or layout.

1 Page Elements

1.1 Standard assignments

1.1.1 Main body

1. Page size: A4

2. Margins: 1” all around

3. Page numbering: “Page 1” starts on the first page of the main text, bottom right. For more information about page numbering, see chapter 6 starting on page 43.

4. Printing: Single-sided

2 Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy

1.1.2 Inside cover page1

The inside cover page is the cover page you will include for all your typed

assignments, unless otherwise instructed. All information on the page

should be centred both horizontally and vertically. This is an unnumbered

page.

1. Page size: A4


3. Border: On

4. Include the following information in the following order:

a. Document title: Tahoma, 25 pt, bold

b. Course title: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

c. Assignment title (from course materials, for example, WAC Assignment 1: Literature Review): Tahoma, 17 pt, bold, underlined

d. In partial fulfilment of PGDDM: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

e. Your name: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold.

f. PDM Batch (year) [for example, PDM 8 (2007—2009)]: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

5. Header and footer: Off for cover page only

1.1.3 Header

1. Font: Tahoma, 10.5 pt, right aligned

2. Space between body text and header: 0.20”

3. Contents: Your name, five spaces, PDM batch number (for example, Ananda Mahto PDM 9).

4. Borders: None

1 Please note this “inside cover page” section is specific to the assignment requirements of the students at the Tata-Dhan Academy. For general manuscripts being prepared for proofreading or layout for publication, you do not need to include this information.


1.1.4 Footer

1. Font: Tahoma, 10.5 pt, right aligned


3. Contents: Document title, five spaces, page number (for example, TDA Stylesheet 1). See chapter 6 starting on page 43 for more information about page numbering.

4. Borders: None

1.2 Bound assignments

1.2.1 Main body

1. Page size: A4

2. Margins: Inside (binding edge) = 1.3”; Outside = 0.7”; Top/Bottom = 1.0”

3. Page numbering: “Page 1” starts on the first page of the main text, which is a right page. Numbers appear “outside” aligned (opposite binding edge). For more information about page numbering, see chapter 6 starting on page 43.

4. Printing: Double-sided

1.2.2 Inside cover page

The inside cover page is the cover page you will include for all your typed

assignments, unless otherwise instructed. All information on the page

should be centred both horizontally and vertically. This is an unnumbered

page. In bound double-sided reports, the back of this page should be blank.

1. Page size: A4


3. Border: On

4. Include the following information in the following order:

a. Document title: Tahoma, 25 pt, bold


b. Course title: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

c. Assignment title (from course materials, for example, WAC Assignment 1: Literature Review): Tahoma, 17 pt, bold, underlined

d. In partial fulfilment of PGDDM: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

e. Your name: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

f. PDM Batch (year) [for example, PDM 8 (2007—2009)]: Tahoma, 17 pt, bold

1.2.3 Header

1. Font: Tahoma, 10.5 pt, aligned outside (opposite binding edge)


3. Contents: Your name, five spaces, PDM batch number(for example, Ananda Mahto PDM 9).

4. Borders: None

1.2.4 Footer

1. Font: Tahoma, 10.5 pt, aligned outside (opposite binding edge)


3. Contents: Document title (without subtitle and shortened if necessary), five spaces, page number (for example, TDA Stylesheet 1). See chapter 6 starting on page 43 for more information about page numbering.

4. Borders: None


2 Text Elements

2.1 Text body

The “text body” of your assignment can include preliminary matter (such as

prefaces, acknowledgements, lists of abbreviations, and other relevant

front-matter—see chapter 3, page 9), your main text (see chapter 5,

page 29), and end matter (such as appendices, endnotes, or glossaries—see

chapter 5, page 29). The following stylistic guides apply to most of the

standard textual elements. This does not apply to text which will need

special formatting, such as text which should be italicized or made bold for

emphasis.

1. Font: Tahoma2, 10.5 pt, left-aligned

2. Line spacing: 1.5 lines

3. Paragraph spacing: 10.5 pt (0.15”)

4. First-line: Flush with left margin (no indent)

2.2 Titles and headings

Titles and headings should be treated as separate textual elements. You

should not manually format any of your text using the suggestions below.

Instead, you should use the “Styles and Formatting” feature available in

most modern word-processors and modify the styles to match the

suggestions made in the sub-sections below. Using these features will also

make it much easier to create table of contents and other similar listings in

your document’s preliminary matter.

In the following section, “Title” and “Subtitle” refer to your document

overall. “Level 1 heading” to “Level 6 heading” refer to chapter or section

2 Tahoma is recommended as it has been the standard font used at the Academy for some time. Other acceptable fonts include Arial, Calibri, Trebuchet MS, and Verdana. This document has been set in Calibri.


divisions which are useful when writing longer reports. Although there are

guidelines for six levels, in most cases, three should suffice—too many

subheadings may impede the flow of your paper.

If a heading is followed by only one or two lines of text before a page break,

or if the text following a heading starts on the following page, move the

heading to the following page even if that creates extra white-space at the

bottom of the page.

2.2.1 Title

1. Font: Georgia3, 16 pt, bold, small-caps, centred

2. Line spacing: single

3. Space above: 0.15”

4. Space below: 0.15”

5. Capitalization: All main words in the title

Ensure a unique and descriptive title for your assignments. A shorter title is

preferred.

2.2.2 Subtitle

1. Font: Georgia, 14 pt, italics, centred




5. Capitalization: All main words in the title

Subtitles should add some information to the document which may make it

easier to, for example, retrieve or identify the document from a database of

many similar articles.

3 In the past, all text elements have been set in Tahoma; however, this left little in the room for visual distinction of textual elements. For manuscript preparation, we recommend using Georgia for all titles and headings. Other acceptable fonts include Times New Roman, Cambria, and Garamond.


2.2.3 Level 1 heading

1. Font: Georgia, 16 pt, bold, centred




5. Numbering: On (for example: 1. Introduction) if your document includes more than one “Chapter”. For shorter assignments (less than five pages) do not use numbering.

6. Capitalization: All main words in the heading

Level one headings are often referred to as “Chapters” for many

assignments at the Tata-Dhan Academy. For longer documents, start each

“Chapter” on a new page. If your report is being printed double-sided,

make sure that each new chapter starts on the right page, even if that

means your report will have blank pages. In single-sided reports, there

should be no unnecessary blank pages. The word “Chapter” is not required

as part of the section title.


1. Font: Georgia, 14 pt, bold and italic, left-aligned




5. Numbering: On (for example: 1.1 Objectives) unless numbering is turned off for first level headings also.

6. Capitalization: Only the first word and all proper nouns


1. Font: Georgia, 12 pt, bold, left-aligned





5. Numbering: On (for example: 1.1.1 Methodology) unless numbering is turned off for first level headings also.



1. Font: Georgia, 12 pt, bold and italic, left-aligned




5. Numbering: On (for example: 1.1.1.1 Sampling) unless numbering is turned off for first level headings also.



1. Font: Georgia, 12 pt, normal, underlined, left-aligned




5. Numbering: Off



1. Font: Georgia, 12 pt, italic, underlined, left-aligned




5. Numbering: Off



3 Preliminary MatterThe preliminary matter for your text can include things such as your

acknowledgements, preface, executive summary, or list of abbreviations.

The exact content of the preliminary matter depends on the nature of your

assignment. For longer documents your preliminary matter should start

with a table of contents. If your document includes many tables,

illustrations, maps, text-boxes, or other similar elements, include separate

indexes for these as well, with indexes titled “Index of Tables”,

“Index of Illustrations”, and so on. Note that for longer assignments (such

as your fieldwork or development practice segment reports) you should also

include a declaration page (after your inside cover page, but before your

table of contents) signed by you and your faculty guide. Below are some

guidelines for your table of contents, list of abbreviations, and executive

summary.

3.1 Table of contents and other indexes

For documents which require a table of contents, the table of contents

should be the first part of the preliminary matter, starting on page “i”.

Include a separate index for all unique elements in your paper (such as

illustrations, tables, text-boxes, or illustrations). These can immediately

follow the table of contents and do not need to start on a new page.

Remember the following when preparing your table of contents:

• Your table of contents should include at most, six levels of headings. Three levels is usually sufficient.

• Indent each subsequent heading level 0.25” more than the preceding level.

• Page numbers should be right aligned.

• A trail of full-stops should fill the space between the entry and the page number.


The table of contents includes everything which follows it, including, if

present, other preliminary matter. These should be formatted differently to

visually distinguish between the preliminary matter and the main text.

Similarly, the entries for the end matter should be visually distinct from the

entries for the main text (but can be the same as the formatting used for

the preliminary matter).

3.2 List of abbreviations

If a list of abbreviations is necessary, it should immediately follow the table

of contents and any other indexes. Entries should be listed alphabetically.

For long thin lists, entries can be arranged in two or more columns to

improve the appearance of the page.

Note that including a list of abbreviations does not mean that the terms do

not need to be defined within the text itself the first time they are used.

3.3 Executive summary

Your executive summary can include information such as the purpose of

your study, your methodology, and your major findings. It is not the same

as your introduction. In general, an executive summary should be about

one-tenth of your final report and should be seen as a standalone

document. It is not necessary that your executive summary follows the

same organizational structure as your final paper since the intents are

different. Instead, your executive summary should be organized in an

“inverted pyramid” format where your findings or conclusions are brought

to the forefront, followed by a brief outline of what the reader can expect

to find in your full report.


4 Main Text BodyBecause different faculty members will have different requirements for

their assignments, it does not make sense to try to include different

required sections for different types of papers here. Instead, this section

will focus on some of the elements you may include in the main text body

of your reports.

4.1 Tables

It is very likely that you will need to include tables in many of your reports.

Tables are useful for organizing numerical or textual data in a way that

allows the reader to quickly compare or analyse information. Note that

tables are not always the best way to present such data. For example, if

precise numbers are not required, a chart or graph might be a better visual

to convey the same message which may be found in the table.

When designing your tables, here are a few things to consider:

• Table column headings should be descriptive but brief.

• Inspect your table headings to determine whether there are any opportunities to use column heading spans (see Illustration 1).

• The table stub (usually the leftmost column in the table) should also have a table column heading if applicable.

• Use as few rules (borders) as necessary. Usually, the table column headings are visually offset by a top and bottom rule, and the last row of the table is identified with a single rule. Occasionally, a rule separating the stub from the rest of the table is also helpful.

• Include a numbered table title (at the top of the table) even for tables which are being used to compare text in a matrix format. For short assignments, tables may simply be numbered consecutively; for longer assignments, tables should be numbered consecutively according to their chapter (for example, “Table 4.2”


would indicate the second table in chapter 4).

○ Refer to your tables by their numbers, not by their location in the text while you are writing. Expressions like “in the table below” will become problematic if the position of your tables change, for example, if they are moved onto a subsequent page because of the addition of new text.

• Notes and sources for data in your table should appear immediately below your table. If you have multiple notes for your table, be sure that they are clearly identified both in your table and in the table’s notes.

• Tables should not be split across two pages unless unavoidable. If a table does need to continue on more than one page, ensure that the table’s column headings are repeated on all subsequent pages.

• Tables should appear “in-line” with text (without text flowing around the tables). If a table does not require the full width of the page, it should be centred between the left and right margins.

• Tables are not substitutes for in-text explanations. Ensure that your tables are properly referenced and explained in your text.

• Tables should have no “empty cells”; however, you should also note that there is a difference between marking a “zero”, “n.d.” (no data), and “n.a.” (not applicable) in an empty cell. Dashes can be used in empty cells, but a note should be included explaining whether the dash means “no data available” or “not applicable”.


4.2 Charts or graphs

Like tables, charts and graphs are also quite useful when trying to present a

lot of data to your readers. Charts and graphs help your reader to use their

visual interpretation to quickly compare data or understand trends.

When using charts and graphs, remember to:

• Give your charts and graphs descriptive titles.

• Number your charts and graphs for easy reference. In short papers, they can be numbered consecutively; in longer papers, number consecutively according to the chapter number (for example, “Chart 3.8” refers to the eight chart in chapter 3).

○ Refer to your charts and graphs by their numbers, not by their location in the text while you are writing. Expressions like “in the table below” will become problematic if the position of your tables change, for example, if they are moved onto a subsequent or preceding page because of the addition or removal of text from your document.

• Notes and sources should follow immediately below your charts and graphs.

Illustration 1: Example of a table with several spansNote the age groupings and the gender groupings below. Note also the column heading “Caste” for the table stub. Having fewer rules makes this table more aesthetically pleasing, as does adding some white-space between each age grouping.


• Charts and graphs are best when they are in-line with text, that is, without text flowing around the chart or graph.

• Charts and graphs are not substitutes for in-text explanations. Ensure that they are properly referenced and explained within your text.

Depending on the overall number of charts, graphs, and other visuals in

your paper, you may want to change the label applied to your charts and

graphs. For example, if only a few charts, graphs, and other illustrations

appear within your text, all can be classified as “Illustrations”, thus requiring

only one additional content index at the front of your paper. If you have

several of each—enough to warrant a separate “Index of Charts”, “Index of

Graphs”, and “Index of Illustrations”, for example—you can label them as

such.

4.3 Maps

For some assignments, you may need to include one or more maps. If you

have only a few maps, you can simply label them as “Illustrations”. When

including maps, try to include maps which are as specific as possible to your

geographic region. Merely including a state map when you are only going to

be writing about a small district is not enough unless you can modify the

map in some way to indicate your district’s location.

4.4 Photographs

Photographs should be included for a reason. If you include photographs

within your text, be sure to include captions for all of them. Do not simply

include a photograph because you have one available and you thought it

would look nice. If you have additional photographs you would like to

share, organize them thematically and arrange them at the end of your

report with an appendix explaining your organizational system.

Few of you have any graphic design background, and your faculty members


are expecting you to focus on your content—not on your graphic design

skills. As such, when dealing with photographs, it is best to present them as

simply as possible.

4.5 Text boxes

Text boxes can serve different purposes. For example, they can be used for

information which you want to have stand out in some manner or they

might be useful when presenting a brief case study. In general, however,

most of the information included in text boxes is non-essential to your

report—omitting the text boxes should not leave the reader without

essential information.

Why, then, might we use text boxes? Often, the information which we

include in text boxes help to illustrate a point we are making in the main

text. As it is being used as an example, be sure to refer to your text boxes

within your text by including a statement such as “For a better

understanding of a typical day for a coastal fisherman in Orissa, see the

case study in Box 1”. Be sure, also to label your text boxes and include them

in your contents if you have several.

4.6 Footnotes and endnotes

Footnotes and endnotes serve similar purposes and differ only in their

placement within the text. Both can be used to either provide additional

information (often, this is “parenthetical” information—information which

the author feels might be interesting to the reader or which might help

explain something better. It is not often information which is crucial to the

understanding of the text.) or they can be used to provide references (see

section 5.1, page 29 for more information on referencing materials

properly).

Footnotes, as the name implies, are placed at the bottom of the page, in


between the main text area and the footer. It should be separated by a

short line above the first entry. Endnotes, by contrast, come at the very end

of your text, usually starting on a page of its own. Footnotes and endnotes

are each numbered consecutively and both can be used simultaneously in

the same text; however, if both are being used, the nature of their use is

often different. Whether or not both are being used, footnotes should

always be numbered using regular superscript Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3 ...)

while endnotes should use lower-case superscript Roman numerals

(i, ii, iii ...). Most modern word-processing programs will automatically

handle both footnotes and endnotes.

4.7 Bulleted lists and numbered lists

Bulleted lists and numbered lists are, at the same time, blessings and

curses. By design and intent, they are used to distinguish between a series

of items or to present some form of hierarchical organization; however,

with the widespread use of presentation tools, they have been making their

way into general reports quite often. This is problematic for two reasons:

too many lists result in lower—not higher—impact, and too many lists

hinder the flow of your writing.

That said, bulleted lists and numbered lists do have their place even in

academic writing, and this section presents some guidelines for using them.

4.7.1 Bulleted lists

Bulleted lists are used when the order of the list’s items are not important.

Bulleted lists can be arranged in more than one column if the list is

particularly long and “skinny”; such arrangements are more aesthetically

pleasing and make better use of white-space on the page. Bulleted lists

should always be arranged vertically and should use a hanging indent for

items which span more than one line of text.


4.7.2 Numbered lists

Numbered lists are necessary when the order of the list’s items are

important. Numbered lists can be both in-line with the text (see section

4.7.2.1) or separated vertically with each item on a line on its own (see

section 4.7.2.2). Numbered lists can also include multiple levels when each

item needs to be subdivided (see section 4.7.2.3).

4.7.2.1 In-line lists

For short lists, it is often best to simply include the list items in-line with the

text, with each item separated by either a numeral or letter set off by

parentheses, for example:

In cases where a faculty member has suggested an audio recording for the lab, it would be optimal if it were accompanied by (1) a transcript of the recording, (2) suggested teacher activities, (3) student worksheets, and (4) teacher answer sheets.

Note that both left and right parentheses must be used.

4.7.2.2 Vertical lists

Vertical lists are useful when each item is one or more longer clause or

phrase. List items can be separated using a variety of characters including

upper-case Roman numerals (I, II, III, IV ...); lower-case Roman numerals

(i, ii, iii, iv ...); upper-case alphabet (A, B, C, D ...); lower-case alphabet

(a, b, c, d ...); or Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4 ...).

In the following example, since the list items are longer, it would be more

cumbersome to present it in-line with the text. Putting the items in a

vertical list also takes advantage of visual space to assist the reader in

following the information presented.


There were three presentations on development perspectives:

1. “Reducing the Issue of Child Labour through Education Programs” looked at some of the challenges faced in providing universal education to children.

2. “Drinking Water Management in Rural Villages” looked at the benefits that may be gained by promoting community-based operation and maintenance of water supply facilities.

3. “Female Education: Potential, Limits, and the Real Agenda” considered the role education plays in empowering women.

In general, it is best to keep to one numbering style throughout an

individual document unless the different numbering styles are being used

to denote different types of items.

4.7.2.3 Multi-level lists

Occasionally, you will need to present information using multi-level lists.

For such lists, you should use a combination of number styles to denote

different levels. For example, in a two level list, you might denote first level

items by using Arabic numerals and second level items by using lower case

alphabet letters. The second level items should be further indented from

the first level items.

The following example shows a multi-level list with only two levels:

All WAC assignments are evaluated against the following:


1. Content and organization

a. The paper develops a central theme or idea directed towards the appropriate audience.

b. Major points are stated clearly, logically organized, and supported by specific details, examples, or analysis.

c. The introduction provides sufficient background on the topic and previews major points.

d. The conclusion is logical, flows from the body of the paper, and reviews the major points.

2. Readability and style

a. Paragraph transitions are present and logical and help maintain the flow throughout the paper.

b. The tone is appropriate to the content and to the assignment.

c. Sentence transitions are present and maintain the flow of thought.

For lists with more than two levels—for example, when creating long

outlines—the following structure is recommended:

I. First level item

A. Second level item

1. Third level item

a. Fourth level item

(1) Fifth level item

(a) Sixth level item


i. Seventh level item

B. Second level item

II. First level item

Notice that the combination of changing the numbering format and

increasing the indent helps the reader quickly identify which level an item

belongs to. In some cases, in particular if your outline is very long, extra

spaces can be added between major item levels to improve readability—for

example, between the Roman numeral “I” and the first second level item.

4.7.3 Punctuation with lists

Punctuation when using lists can be confusing, but here are some general

points to remember which should help you with most of your list

formatting needs:

• Text introducing a list should always end with a colon except in multi-level lists. See section 4.7.2.3 for an example of a multi-level list.

• For lists which are more like an inventory, no extra punctuation is necessary, and the first letter of each item does not need to be capitalized unless it is a proper noun. For example:

Students at the Academy play several sports:

• cricket

• badminton

• soccer

• volleyball

• For lists where each list item is a complete sentence in itself, punctuate the sentence as you would punctuate a regular sentence. For example:

Be sure to do the following before submitting your assignment:


• Make sure that all direct quotations have been attributed to the original author and that your reference list is complete.

• Double check for common spelling mistakes and for the use of informal language; this should include contractions and commonly confused words like “there”, “their”, and “they’re”.

• Ask a friend to read your assignment and give you feedback on the tone and sentence variety used.

• For lists where each item is linked directly to the introductory text, and where the introductory text and the list item combine to form a complete sentence, start each list item with an upper case letter and end each list item with a period. Do not use “and” or any other conjunction before the last item in the list. For example:

Before you submit your assignment, remember to:

• Ensure that all direct quotations have been attributed to the original author and added to your reference list.

• Check for common spelling mistakes and the use of informal language.

• Have a friend read your assignment and give you feedback on the tone and sentence variety used.

Note that the previous item can also be written as a single sentence. When doing so, however, remember to remove the colon from the introductory text, remove the upper case letters (unless the word is a proper noun), and add an “and” or other appropriate conjunction before the last item. In academic papers, unless the visual separation is essential, using the single sentence format is preferred. For example, the previous example can be


rewritten as follows:

Before you submit your assignment, remember to ensure that all direct quotations have been attributed to the original author and added to your reference list; check for common spelling mistakes and the use of informal language; and have a friend read your assignment and give you feedback on the tone and sentence variety used.

• List items should be written in parallel forms. The following list lacks parallelism because the verb forms—“to understand”, “to measure”, and “identifying”—are not parallel:

The objectives of this assignment were:

• To understand the typical day for a slum dweller in Chennai.

• To measure the monthly income and expenses for this slum dweller.

• Identifying employment opportunities for this slum dweller.

• The introductory text should include all common elements of the list items which follow. For example, in the previous example, if “identifying” were correctly rewritten as “to identify”, the introductory text would read “The objectives of this assignment were to:” and each list item would begin immediately with the verb. For example:

By completing this course, students will learn how to:

• Use a word-processor properly.

• Prepare a manuscript using the Tata-Dhan Academy’s stylesheet.

• Properly cite information from a variety of sources.


Notice here that the whole phrase “students will learn how to” (including “how to”) applies to all of the list items which follow.

4.8 Numbers4

The general rule for deciding whether something should be expressed in

numerals or in words is: spell out numbers from one through ten, but use

numerals for numbers above ten. However, as with many rules, this one

also has its exceptions. The following sections should help you determine

whether words or numerals are more appropriate in a given context as well

as present some other useful information to consider when using numbers

in your writing.

4.8.1 Beginning of sentences

Numbers should be written as words if they appear at the beginning of

sentences or the sentence should be rewritten so the number comes within

the sentence. Consider the following two sentences:

Nineteen seventy-eight was the first year the Academy offered the writing course.

The Academy first offered the writing course in 1978.

4.8.2 Numbers grouped for comparison

When numbers are grouped for comparison within a same line or

paragraph, use numerals even for numbers less than ten if one or more of

4 The following content has been condensed from:• American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the

American Psychological Association (5th ed). Washington, DC: Author.• Gibaldi, J. (2003). MLA handbook for writers of research papers (6th ed).

New Delhi: Affiliated East-West Press Pvt Ltd. • Sabin, William A. (2005). The Gregg reference manual (10th ed). Boston:

McGraw-Hill.


the numbers is greater than ten. If all numbers are less than ten, spell out

the words. Consider the following examples:

In this class, 4 of the 14 sessions will be conducted in the field.

Attendance was horrible: 10 students were absent for two of the classes.

We have a diverse group of students: four are from Tamil Nadu, three from Andhra Pradesh, one from West Bengal, and three from Orissa.

In the first example, “4” and “14” both refer to sessions and are grouped for

comparison (sessions which are offered in class compared to sessions

offered in the field). In the second example, “students” and “classes”

belong to different categories and are not being compared. In the third

example, since all the numbers are less than ten, words are used for all

numbers; if any one of the items had a number greater than ten, all items

would be represented with numerals.

4.8.3 Numbers with units of measurement

Always use a numeral when a number appears before a unit of

measurement (for example, 4 oz).

4.8.4 Numbers representing mathematical or statistical functions

Numbers representing mathematical or statistical functions are best

presented in numerals.

Although we expected only 15 people to attend the workshop, almost 3 times as many showed up.


According to the Census of India, Kerala has a female to male sex ratio of 1058:10005, making it the state with the highest female sex ratio.

4.8.5 Numbers as part of a series or parts of books

For numbers which represent parts of a series or parts of books (for

example, page numbers, table and figure numbers), use numerals. Consider

the following examples:

In Session 1, we will explore the range of writing that most development practitioners use. The reading for Session 1 starts on page 237 of your text. Be sure to review Table 7, which presents an overview of the audiences for these types of writing.

4.8.6 Decimals

When using decimals, use a zero before the decimal fraction (for example,

0.25 cm). Also, be sure that all items in your sentences are balanced in

terms of use of decimals (for example, use The dimensions of the box are 0.20 cm, 0.75 cm, and 1.00 cm not The dimensions of the box are 0.2 cm, 0.75 cm, and 1 cm.

4.8.7 Numbers as words

When numbers are written as words, remember that words for numbers

like “36” require a hyphen (in other words, “thirty-six”). When referring to

centuries and using the century as an adjective, use a hyphen (for example,

Sixteenth-century Indian art remains popular, even today).

5 See Section 4.8.9 for using commas with numbers.


4.8.8 Numbers for date and time

Dates and times can be represented in many different ways, each one

correct and each one with its own advantages and disadvantages. For

dates, in general it is best to avoid the ##/##/## format (for example

03/11/07) because the date can be misinterpreted by different people to

represent 11 March 2007, 3 November 2007, or even 11 July 2003.

One case when a purely numerical form is useful, however, is if you need to

sort dates ascending or descending, in which case the ISO standard

(YYYY-MM-DD) is the most useful. In this format, you must use a four digit

year, two digit month, and two digit day, each element separated with a

dash. For example, “3 February 2001” would be written as “2001-02-03”.

The zeros for the month and date are required when using the ISO

standard, but are optional in other cases.

The key to formatting your dates is that you should be consistent. If you

start your document formatting your date as “March 11, 2008”, your

remaining dates should be formatted the same way. If you started your

document formatting your date as “November 3rd, 2007”, be sure to retain

the same formatting throughout your document.

Representing time also varies. Should you, for example, write three o'clock

or 3:00 p.m.? Should it be “AM”, “A.M.”, “am”, or “a.m.”? Again, there is no

consensus on what format should be used, but you should be consistent.

That said, one area of consensus is that this is one rare case where there is

no space following your period if you use the “A.M.” or “a.m.” format.

For time, also remember that a colon (:) is used to separate the hours from

the minutes. Do not use a period (full-stop) or any other punctuation for

this purpose. Also, if you decide to use a 24-hour time format, do not use

“AM” or “PM” with the time, and include all digits (for example, “3:07 AM”

should be written as “03:07” in the 24-hour time format). Finally, to avoid

confusion, it is generally best to mention “12:00 AM” or “12:00 PM” as

“noon” and “midnight” since using numerals can be interpreted differently


by different people.

4.8.9 Commas with numbers

Use commas between groups of three digits (for example, 1,248 or

5,346,288) unless your primary audience will be Indian readers (which, in

most cases, it will be). If you expect your primary audience to be Indian,

feel free to use the Indian numbering system (along with terms like crore

and lakh) but understand that if you expect to have any non-Indian readers,

you may want to include a footnote clarifying these terms. Do not use

commas in ratios or years.


5 End Matter

5.1 References

References are an important part of research papers—or any of our

academic work, for that matter.

For many of us, the writing process begins with reading. After selecting a

topic, we head to the library or go online, search through newspapers and

magazines, maybe even watch a documentary or interview a colleague

before we actually begin solidifying our own ideas.

The problem is that many writers often “forget” to include these references

in their reports—an act akin to stealing. This act is called plagiarism and can

have serious consequences to your academic or professional career.

This portion of the Academy's style manual will first explain when and why

we cite information, then give examples of how to properly cite information

from a range of sources.6

You should note that including “references” is not the same as including a

bibliography. References listed at the end of your manuscript must appear

somewhere within your paper; similarly, all references in your paper must

appear on your “references” page at the end of your manuscript. Thus,

your “references” page will only include those documents you actually used

6 The style of formatting we will use for citations at the Academy is based on the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA format has been selected because (1) it is a well-documented format for manuscript preparation, and (2) many other academic institutes—particularly those in the social sciences—use the APA as the base for their style manuals. By selecting the APA format, we are not implying that it is the only format available or that it is the best; there are different formats commonly used by those in the science or engineering fields, for example. However, if, as an academic institute, the Academy adopts a common, well-documented format, it will make it easier for others to find the source materials later on, making documents published by the Academy even more useful.


in your paper. A bibliography, on the other hand, will include all documents

you think might be useful for your readers, even if you did not use any of

those documents in your own paper.

5.1.1 When and why to cite information

You should cite information every time that you include information that

came from somewhere else—even if you have written the information in

your own words. In other words, if you got an idea from a book you read,

and you have paraphrased that information and included it in your

assignment, it needs a citation. Do not be ashamed of including too many

references. More references will actually add credibility to your work since

it will demonstrate that you did thorough research and have done your best

to become familiar with the subject on which you are writing.

There are different approaches to dealing with cited information depending

on whether the information is being quoted directly or whether the

information is being paraphrased. Any information which is quoted directly

should include as much information as possible to direct the reader to the

exact location of the cited material (for example, by including a page

number or a paragraph number within your citation); additionally, directly

quoted materials must appear within quotation marks to indicate to your

reader that the words are not your own.

Failure to properly cite information will result in disciplinary action ranging

from failing an assignment, to failing a class, to expulsion from the

Academy.

You should cite not only textual information, but also information from any

other media, be it a television show, a radio programme, a photograph, or a

flowchart in a slideshow.


5.1.2 How to cite information

The amount and form of information available to us is increasing daily. This

makes it challenging to keep track of how to properly document the

information you use in your paper. When in doubt, the best recourse is to

do an online search; at the very least, you will be able to see how others

are documenting similar sources.

The examples below are only a small selection of the most common types

of documents you might use in your reports. In some cases, there are also

examples of how your sources should appear in the body of your text.

There are a few basic rules for citing information. First, only the surname

and first initial of the author is necessary—not the full name; second, all

entries in your reference list should appear in alphabetical order; third,

references should be formatted with a “hanging indent”—that is, the first

line should be offset a quarter-inch left of the rest of the entry; fourth, in

book titles, only the first word and all proper nouns are capitalized; and

fifth, in journal titles, capitalize all major words.

5.1.2.1 Book: one author

Provided information:

• Author: Tom Harris• Book title: Collaborative Research and Development Projects: A

Practical Guide• Year of publication: 2007• Publisher: Springer• Publisher location: New York

Reference page entry:

Harris, T. (2007). Collaborative research and development projects: A practical guide. New York: Springer.


Example in-text use7:

According to Harris (2007). . . .

The outcomes of research can result in an overall increase in knowledge; it might even reach people not directly involved or targeted by the research (Harris, 2007).

“Most grants, once awarded, are fixed and so if you forget to add something to the proposal, it won't be eligible during the project” (Harris, 2007, p. 18).

5.1.2.2 Book: more than one author


• Authors: William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White• Book title: The Elements of Style• Year of publication: 2000• Publisher: Pearson• Publisher location: Massachusetts


Strunk, W., Jr. & White, E. B. (2000). The elements of style. Massachusetts: Pearson.

Example in-text use:

Strunk and White (2000) assert that. . . .

7 Note that if a direct quotation is used (as in the third example) you must provide a page number. In the case of electronic materials where page numbers are not available, include the paragraph number (use the ¶ symbol or write the abbreviation “para.” before the paragraph number. For longer documents without page numbers, include the section title and paragraph number, for example (“References” section, ¶ 12). The goal is to guide your reader as closely as possible to the source material.


5.1.2.3 Book: institution as an author


• Author: not named• Institution: Tata-Dhan Academy• Book title: Transferring Grassroots Experiences into New

Development Theories and Concepts• Year of publication: 2007• Publisher: Tata-Dhan Academy• Publisher location: Madurai


Tata-Dhan Academy. (2007). Transferring grassroots experiences into new development theories and concepts. Madurai: Author.

Note that rather than repeating “Tata-Dhan Academy” as the publisher, you

simply include the word “Author” following the publisher location.


In a report on a recent workshop (Tata-Dhan Academy, 2007). . . .

5.1.2.4 Book: editor or editors as author

When you are using more than one chapter from an edited book, rather

than listing the author of each chapter individually, list the book by the

editor's name in the references section at the end of your document. In the

example below, the book has only one editor. In cases where there is more

than one editor, write the names in the same format that you would use for

multiple authors of a book followed by “(Eds.)” for editors.



• Authors: Numerous (one or more per chapter)• Editor: Jonathan Walter• Book title: World Disasters Report: Focus on Information in

Disasters• Year of publication: 2005• Publisher: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Societies• Publisher location: Geneva


Walter, J. (Ed.). (2005). World disasters report: Focus on information in disasters. Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

5.1.2.5 Book: chapter in an edited book

When you are using only one chapter from an edited book, list the source

by the author of the chapter in the references section at the end of your

document. Note that you also need the chapter title and page numbers for

your reference section.


• Chapter title: Data or Dialogue? The Role of Information in Disasters• Chapter author: Tony Vaux• Chapter page numbers: 10—37• Editor: Jonathan Walter• Book title: World Disasters Report: Focus on Information in

Disasters• Year of publication: 2005• Publisher: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent

Societies• Publisher location: Geneva



Vaux, T. (2005). Data or dialogue? The role of information in disasters. In J. Walter (Ed.) World disasters report: Focus on information in disasters (pp. 10—37). Geneva: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

This example should be looked at more closely. First, we have the chapter

author, surname first. Next we have the year of publication, followed by the

chapter title. After that, we have the editor's name (initials followed by the

surname—opposite from the author name), the book title (in italics), the

page numbers for the chapter, and the publisher information.

5.1.2.6 Journal article

For journal articles, it is important to note the authors, the article title, the

article pages, the journal title, the journal issue and volume number, and

the year of publication. If there are more than six authors, list only the first

six authors (similar to the example below) followed by “et al.” for the

remaining authors.


• Authors: Rajib Shaw, Koichi Shiwaku, Hirohide Kobayashi, Masami Kobayashi

• Article title: Linking experience, education, perception and earthquake preparedness

• Journal title: Disaster Prevention and Management• Year of publication: 2004• Volume number: 13• Issue number: 1• Article page numbers: 39—49



Shaw, R., Shiwaku, K., Kobayashi, H., & Kobayashi, M. (2004). Linking experience, education, perception and earthquake preparedness. Disaster Prevention and Management, 13(1), 39—49.

Example in-text use, first time the source is mentioned:

Shaw, Shiwaku, Kobayashi, and Kobayashi (2004) assert that. . . .

Some feel that the best way to prevent a disaster is to create a culture of preparedness (Shaw, Shiwaku, Kobayashi, & Kobayashi, 2004).

Example in-text use, each additional time the source is mentioned:

Shaw et al. (2004) assert that. . . .

Some feel that the best way to prevent a disaster is to create a culture of preparedness (Shaw et al., 2004).

Note in the above examples the difference in when the word “and” is used

and when the ampersand (&) is used. Note also that if there are six or more

authors, the second format is used, even the first time the source is

mentioned in your text.

5.1.2.7 Magazine or newspaper article

For magazine and newspaper articles, it is important to note the complete

date, the author(s), the article title, the article's pages, the magazine or

newspaper's title, and the magazine or newspaper's volume number.



• Author: V Venkatesan• Article title: Bartered Trust• Magazine title: Frontline• Year of publication: 2008• Date: August 2—15, 2008• Volume number: 25• Issue number: 16• Article page numbers: 19—20


Venkatesan, V. (2008, August 2). Bartered trust. Frontline, 25, 19—20.

Note that in this example, Frontline magazine uses both volume and issue

numbers, but the reference page only requires the volume number. Pages

from magazines are written without p. or pp. before the page numbers.

Pages from newspapers are written with p. (for single pages) or pp. (for

multiple pages) before the page numbers.

Things to remember:

• If pages appear on disconnected pages, list all pages. For example,

if your article could be found on pages 10 through 15, then

continued on pages 71 and 81, write the page numbers as “10—

15, 71, 81”.

• For newspapers, include the section with your page. For example,

if your article comes from pages 12, 13, and 21 of the “business”

section of the newspaper, and that section is labelled as “Section

D”, write the page number as “pp. D12, D13, D21”.


5.1.2.8 Magazine or newspaper article: author unknown


• Author: “Staff reporter”• Article title: Students should nurture thirst for knowledge: Kiran

Bedi• Newspaper title: The Hindu• Year of publication: 2008• Date: August 2, 2008• Volume number: 131• Issue number: 184• Article page numbers: 2


Students should nurture thirst for knowledge: Kiran Bedi. (2008, August 2). The Hindu, 131, p. 2.

5.1.2.9 Website: author known


• Author: Daryl Collins• Article title: Investigating the Financial Lives of the Poor: The

Financial Diaries Method• Year of publication: not provided• Page title8: Investigating the Financial Lives of the Poor

8 Determining the page title can be difficult if a website has not been designed properly. The title usually appears in your web-browser's header (at the very top of your screen). For this URL, this was “Microfinance Gateway: Investigating the Financial Lives of the Poor – Mozilla Firefox”. “Microfinance Gateway” is the portal where this article was hosted, so this is not part of the title. Similarly “Mozilla Firefox” is the web-browser, so it is also not a part of the title. The text “Investigating the Financial Lives of the Poor” matches the actual article title; this is the most appropriate text to list as the page title. In some cases, however, the page title is not very useful; in such cases, use whatever other information you can to direct your reader as closely as possible to the direct source.


• Publisher: Microfinance Gateway• Date accessed: August 1, 2008• URL:

http://www.microfinancegateway.org/content/article/detail/48523

Reference page entry:Collins, D. (n.d.). Investigating the financial lives of

the poor: The financial diaries method. Microfinance Gateway. Retrieved August 1, 2008 from http://www.microfinancegateway.org/content/article/detail/48523

In this case, there is no date provided for the date of publication, so we

simply write “n.d.”. It is important to put your retrieval date and the full URL

since articles on the web change frequently; providing seemingly “extra”

information is thus helpful for someone who might want to track down the

website using cached pages or using internet archiving sites.

5.1.2.10 Website: no author


• Author: not provided• Article title: The Beijing Olympics: China's dash for freedom• Date of publication: July 31, 2008• Page title: The Beijing Olympics | China's dash for freedom• Publisher: The Economist• Date accessed: August 1, 2008• URL: http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?

source=hptextfeature&story_id=11848192

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11848192

http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11848192






The Beijing Olympics: China's dash for freedom. (2008, July 31). The Economist. Retrieved August 1, 2008 from http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11848192

5.1.2.11 Personal communication

Personal communication should be cited within your text but does not

need to be listed in your references.


When asked what he plans to do in September, Ananda Mahto said that he is “planning to take that opportunity to develop a lot of online courses and visit students while they are in the field” (email, July 8, 2008).

Some faculty at the Tata-Dhan Academy will spend the month of September developing online courses (Ananda Mahto, email, July 8, 2008).

The first example refers to a direct quotation taken from an email; the

second has been paraphrased from the same email. Your personal

communication can also be listed as “personal communication” (in cases of

in-person communication), “telephone conversation”, “company memo”, or

any other descriptor that is most appropriate for the given form of

communication.

5.1.2.12 Unpublished paper or presentation presented at a meeting, seminar, or workshop

From time to time, you will attend workshops, seminars, trainings, and

other similar events and collect a lot of otherwise unpublished materials




which you want to cite in your document. Since many professionals now

have personal websites, you can first check whether the author has made

this material available online. If not, cite the information using the following

guide.


• Author: John David• Presentation title: Early Warning Systems for Disaster Risk

Reduction: Present Status and Future Challenges• Format: Slideshow presentation• Date of event: September 28, 2007• Event name: 2007 Madurai Symposium• Event host: DHAN Foundation• Event location: Madurai, Tamil Nadu


David, J. (2007, September). Early warning systems for disaster risk reduction: Present status and future challenges. Presentation delivered at the 2007 Madurai Symposium, Madurai, TN.

5.2 Appendices, annexures, and exhibits

Appendices, annexures, and exhibits are materials which generally appear

at the end of your text. The appendix should not be used to collect random

information that you could not fit into your main text. Instead, ensure that

your appendix includes “explanations and elaborations that are not

essential parts of the text but are helpful to a reader seeking further

clarification, texts of documents, long lists, survey questionnaires, or

sometimes even charts or tables”.9

9 University of Chicago Press. (2003). Chicago Manual of Style: 15th Edition. Chicago: Author.


Each appendix should begin on a new page and should be clearly labelled

across the top with the appendix designation (for example, Appendix 1,

Appendix 2... or Appendix A, Appendix B...).

Page numbering for your appendices continues from where the main text

left off.


6 Page Numbering

6.1 Preliminary matter

1. Number format: Lower Roman (for example, i, ii, iii, iv, v ...)

2. Blank pages (for example, when printing double-sided bound reports): Included in the count but numbering does not need to show. Pages can be entirely blank, without a header or footer

The numbering for the preliminary matter starts with “i” on the first “right”

page following the inner cover page.

6.2 Main text

1. Number format: Arabic (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ...)


The numbering of the main text starts with “1” on the first page of your

text.

6.3 End matter

1. Number format: Arabic (for example, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ...).


The numbering of the end matter continues from where the main text left

off.


7 Grammar, Punctuation, and UsageTrying to write a “cheat-sheet” for English grammar, punctuation, and

usage is a daunting task. In this section, I will not attempt to present a

comprehensive overview of grammar; instead, I will highlight some

common errors, give an overview of major punctuation marks, and present

some information on usage.

Part of what makes writing about grammar difficult is that grammar

changes with time, and English grammar differs slightly depending on

where you live—with the two most commonly referred to forms being

British English and US English. What makes using proper grammar easy is

that there are numerous books with exercises which will help you develop

your grammar, writing, and editing skills.

7.1 Grammar: Use your speech to guide your writing, but do not write like you speak

Spoken English and written English are quite different. While some people

may advise you to “write like you speak”, this advice can often lead to

inaccurate writing. For example, in India, it is common to say “Today

morning, I had idli for breakfast”; it should be “This morning, I had idli for

breakfast.” Similarly, the placement or use of the word “even” is often

incorrect in spoken Indian English as in the following example, “Even we

were watching, we did not say anything...”. The author should have written

“Even though we were watching...”.

Although you should not write like you speak, you can—and should—use

your speech to guide your writing. Doing this will ensure that you are

writing plain, easily understood English. In fact, to test your writing, you

should try reading your work aloud to see how well it flows and to see if the

sentences and paragraphs should be simplified.


The following sub-sections will present some areas which may be

acceptable in spoken English but which should be avoided or minimized in

written English.

7.1.1 Avoid redundancy

When writing, it is better to use plain and direct English. Note that the

following examples may be common in speech, and that they may be useful

for emphasis in speech, but they are redundant in written English.

Redundant: A large number of families

Refined: Many families

Redundant: Our proposed plan for 2020 is...

Refined: Our plan for 2020 is...

Redundant: The villagers were classified into groups according to their income level.

Refined: The villagers were classified according to their income level.

Redundant: The fruit is yellow in colour...

Refined: The fruit is yellow...

Redundant: I reached my location ahead of schedule.

Refined: I reached my location early.


7.1.2 Avoid clichés

For formal and professional writing, avoid using common or overused

expressions. In the following examples, the clichés have been underlined.

They should be restated in more descriptive, accurate, or common

language.

To add insult to injury...

Their kindness left me at a loss for words.

We need to take drastic actions against such social evils.

Through this work, we hope to help the poor escape from the clutches of the moneylenders .

It goes without saying that education is of paramount importance in bringing sweeping changes in the lives of the poor.

Improving the language skills of students at the Academy is a must.

More research on the impact of these policies is the need of the hour.

7.1.3 Avoid jargon

Understand that you cannot always predict or control who your audience is.

As such, you cannot be certain that your readers will understand all the

jargon you use. Many times we use jargon without even realizing we are

using it. In the development sector, for example, we often talk about

enabling or empowering but when we are asked to give a definition of

these terms, we might find ourselves stuttering.


It is also important to notice when you are actively (but often,

unknowingly) creating jargon and notice the potential counter effects of

creating jargon. One example is that of knowledge-building workshops.

While this may sound catchy or clever, there are at least two things to

consider. First, what distinguishes a knowledge-building workshop from

a regular workshop? Second, if you classify all of your workshops as

knowledge-building workshops, what is the value added by the

compound adjective knowledge-building?

Another caution against using jargon is that “catchwords” change with

time. Using accurate descriptive English will ensure that when the jargon

changes, your document does not become out of date or

incomprehensible.

In some cases jargon is unavoidable, but whatever the case, you should be

aware of when and how you use it, and you should be prepared to explain

it if necessary.

7.2 Grammar: Consider your readers when checking for comprehension

If you do not currently re-read what you have written, start doing so now!

Often, if we are writing an assignment, we look at it only from our

perspective of putting our ideas down on paper; we do not always take it to

the next step and check that what we have written is comprehensible.

When we neglect to re-read our work, we miss our chances to edit “sloppy”

writing. Four of the most common forms of “sloppy” writing include (1)

fragmented sentences, (2) run-on sentences, (3) non-parallel sentences or

clauses, and (4) the misuse of “etc.”


7.2.1 Fragmented sentences

I do not like. Fragments they make things. Hard to read and understand.

Fragments occur when a group of words is incorrectly treated as a

sentence. Often, they are formed from two clauses or phrases which should

have been combined as a complete sentence.

For example, the following is a sentence in some student work I was

correcting:

If government bodies working pattern and their policies are very transparent to the public and other organizations.

What? First, there are some obvious mistakes, but where is the rest? When

I see an "if", I usually expect a "then" or something similar to follow.

Well, here was the next sentence:

It creating a platform to revise and rethinking about their activities, also it giving the information like, how much money they spent for a specific activity, what it their objective by this program, level of these target achievement, feedback system but voluntary organizations activities are not too much transparent to others.

Wait. Do not pull your hair out yet. We can work this out with a bit of

patience, but we need to figure out what exactly we need to work out. At

the very minimum, we need to fix:

• The initial sentence fragment.

• The lack of parallelism.

• The run-on sentence that will help fix the sentence fragment.


I think that the author's message is still evident in the following edited

version:

Government activities should be transparent to the public and other organizations, enabling a platform for public review of government activities. This transparency should include policy decisions, budgetary information, objectives and achievements for different activities, and a forum for feedback. Similar standards should be adopted by voluntary organizations.

Not only is the sentence clearer, it is also more economical: we have

managed to cut 21 words out of the original 68 words. Do you see your

readers smiling now?

7.2.2 Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences are no fun. Not for the writer, and certainly not for the

reader. They are not fun for the writer because it means they have hit a

stumbling block with punctuation. They are not fun for the reader because

it takes them forever to figure out what the writer is trying to say. Let me

give you an example:

The farmers from the command area have a water users' association which has 150 members with them after performing some meetings they all come to the conclusion that each land holder at the time of enrolling as a member and would be considered as one family and each family would receive water to irrigate one hectare of land and it was also decided that 15% of the available water would be allocated to land less women in the village.


OK. So what is going on there? First, I think it is clear that the author simply

forgot a period after "150 members with them." Minor mistake, but it

should have been caught in a final reading before submission for a grade.

Second, "enrolling as a member and would be" simply has an extra and;

removing that "and" would make the sentence more readable, but still not

good. Third, there are no commas to help the reader with pauses. Fourth,

there are some obvious grammar mistakes which make the writing

awkward.

Let us try an edited version:

Farmers in the command area have formed a 150-member water users' association. This association has agreed that (1) each land holder enrolled as a member will be considered as one family, (2) each family will receive one hectare of land, and (3) 15% of the available water will be allocated to landless women in the village.

Still not beautiful and stylish, but at least now we do not have the problem

of miscommunication. Also, we have reduced the number of words the

reader has to wade through by about 30% (from 79 words in the original to

56 in the revised version)—trust me, your readers will thank you for that!

For the agreements, I decided to itemize the list to help assist the reader;

this is entirely optional.

7.2.3 Non-parallel construction

Parallelism in writing usually refers to the verb forms used. The error is

most common in list items, but also occurs in regular prose as in the

following example:

The Green Revolution, considered as the cornerstone of India's agricultural growth bypassed the rainfed areas, remaining confined


primarily to the irrigated tracts.

This sentence is mostly correct, but it misses an essential comma, and

“remaining” should be parallel with “bypassed”. Here is the revised

sentence:

The Green Revolution, considered as the cornerstone of India's agricultural growth, bypassed the rainfed areas and remained confined primarily to the irrigated tracts.

Here is an example of a lack of parallelism in a list:

Integration of ecological concerns:

• Preference for activities not affecting the ecology of the location

• Increasing the biodiversity by introducing new crops/varieties

• Not introducing chemicals unless very much essential

• Building on indigenous knowledge and practices

Notice that we have the following introductory elements: “Preference for”,

“Increasing”, “Not introducing”, and “Building on”. Not only are the verbs in

different forms, the third item is stated in the negative while everything

else is written in the positive.

It would be better to rewrite this as:


• Prefer activities which do not affect the location's ecology

• Increase the location's biodiversity by introducing new crops or crop varieties


• Use chemicals only if necessary

• Build on indigenous knowledge and practices

An even better solution would be to remove the third item and add it as a

reminder after the list:


• Prefer activities which do not affect the location's ecology

• Increase the location's biodiversity by introducing new crops or crop varieties

• Build on indigenous knowledge and practices

In all cases, chemicals should only be used if necessary.

7.2.4 Etc.

Etc. is usually redundant (and lazy).

If you are using introductory expressions for lists—for example, like,

including, not limited to, or such as—do not use "etc." at the end of your

sentence. Etc. already means "more of the same", so using both the terms

is redundant. Correct the problem by adding an "and" or an "or" before the

last term.

Here is an example (emphasis added):

Therefore, to decrease their dependency on soil, people should adopt other income generating activities like rearing domestic animals such as milch cows, goats, sheep, poultry, etc and also they should adopt different handicraft work like preparation of incense sticks, candles, etc.

This sentence suffers not only because of this "and etc." problem, but also


because there are lists within lists. The author is introducing two options

(rearing domestic animals and practising handicraft work) and for each of

these two options, a few examples.

Here is a revised version which tries to retain the author's original structure

(I am assuming that the author meant to select one of those two options—

not both of them as is implied in the original version—hence my use of "or"

in my revisions):

Therefore, to decrease their dependency on soil, people should adopt other income generating activities like rearing domestic animals such as milch cows, goats, sheep, and poultry or they should adopt different handicraft work like making incense sticks and candles.

Yet another alternative might be:

Rearing domestic animals (milch cows, goats, sheep, poultry) or making handicrafts (candles, incense sticks) are examples of income generating activities which can decrease dependency on soil.

Now, at least our items are more clearly defined. The second alternative

may or may not make sense depending on the context within the sentence.

Additionally, the omission of the "such as" or "like" from the sentence

might imply that these are the only alternatives; the use of "are examples"

addresses this to a certain extent.

This highlights another caution against "etc." Using "etc." can also appear a

little lazy to your readers—especially if you are talking about something

specialized in which you are an expert. Even if the "other things" may be

common for you, your readers may not be familiar with everything you are

writing about.


7.3 Punctuation

Proper punctuation helps guide your readers through your writing. You can

think of them as road signs which can serve purposes like telling your

reader to slow down, or to take a look at the scenery, or to stop and ponder

something.

Learning punctuation takes practice, but there are some basic rules that

can help getting started with using punctuation properly. Note that not all

punctuation is mentioned here! I wanted to create a manual that was

usable without being a burden to the reader.

7.3.1 Period or “full-stop”

Periods or “full-stops” are used:

• at the end of sentences.

• at the end of commands (for example, Stop. Turn left. Drive one mile.).

• with some abbreviations (like Mr., Dr., etc., p.m., M. P. Vasimalai) but not with abbreviations which are more like acronyms or initialisms (like NATO, USA, TDA, DHAN Foundation, PALM).

Note: When an abbreviation ends a sentence, use only one period. “Classes

start at 9:15 a.m.”

Spacing with periods: Generally, there is no space before a period, and one

space after it. However, as can be seen in the examples above, there are

some exceptions. When using “a.m.” and “p.m.” for time expressions, for

example, there is no space after the first period. When using additional

punctuation after a period—very rare, but it happens—there is no space

after the period.


7.3.2 Comma

The comma is one of the most common punctuation marks, and it is also

one of the most often misused punctuation marks. Commas are often used

to separate information (for example, when we are presenting a list of

some sort, or when we are presenting introductory information) or to

“enclose” information (similar in function to when we might use

parentheses (see Section 7.3.9) or em dashes (see Section 7.3.7.1).

Unfortunately, mastering the use of the comma can be difficult because

there are so many ways in which this punctuation is used; the McGraw-Hill

Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, for example, has almost 30

pages dedicated to the proper usage of this little punctuation mark.

This section is admittedly bare; for more information on the proper usage

of commas, it is suggested that you get a good reference book. (The

McGraw-Hill book mentioned above should be fine for most and is available

in many Indian book stores.) For information on using commas with

numbers, see Section 4.8.9.

Sometimes, even if you feel you have used your commas properly, you

might end up with confusing sentences like the following:

On Monday, there will be a meeting with Ms. Umarani, the director, the chairperson, and the accountant.

Are there three or four people attending this meeting? If there are four

people, the sentence is probably best rewritten as:

On Monday, there will be a meeting with Ms. Umarani as well as the director, the chairperson, and the accountant.


If there are only three people, and Ms. Umarani is the director, the

sentence is probably best rewritten as:

On Monday, there will be a meeting with Ms. Umarani (the director), the chairperson, and the accountant.

Note in the above examples, the use of a comma before the last item. This

is known as the serial comma (see 7.3.2.3).

7.3.2.1 Commas for introductory elements

Introductory elements can be single words, or they can be longer

statements. Consider the following sentences:

Yes, you can take Friday afternoon off.

In the morning, we need to attend a very important meeting.

Considering his experience with economics, I'm surprised he still does not understand basic ideas of supply and demand.

After we have completely read all the field reports, we will have a one-to-one interaction with each student to discuss their experiences in the field and the techniques they applied.

To best learn how to use a comma properly, purchase a high-quality grammar book that has a good section on punctuation.

Note that even in the above example, you will find disagreement over the

need for the comma in the second sentence.


7.3.2.2 Commas for enclosing information

When commas are used for enclosing information, they typically appear in

pairs unless the clause being enclosed in the comma comes at the end of

the sentence. The information being enclosed can be either “essential” or

“nonessential”. Consider the following:

Dr. Damodar Jena, who has an advanced economics degree, teaches courses in research methods and in economics at the Tata-Dhan Academy.

Send us your weekly reports by postal mail and, if possible, email.

The results of the study were confusing, as we predicted they would be.

The Gregg Reference Manual, which is, unfortunately, unavailable in India, includes an excellent 30-page section on when and how to use commas properly.

7.3.2.3 The serial comma

The serial comma—the last comma separating items in a list of three or

more items—is one of the many areas in which people disagree on comma

usage. We recommend retaining the serial comma, even before “and” and

“or”. If you feel strongly against using it—and if you can explain your

position convincingly—remember that in some cases the serial comma is

required for clarifying a statement.

At the Academy, the students study economics, microfinance, research methods, and ecology and the environment.

In the above example, omitting the final comma before “and ecology and


the environment” would lead to a confusing sentence.

In the majority of the cases, adding the serial comma would not change

your sentence, but that does not mean you should not be cautious when

using it. Review the following sentences. How many people are referred to

in each sentence?

I spoke to the boys, Rashid and Karthik. (Two

people: “The boys” are Rashid and Karthik.)

I spoke to the boys, Rashid, and Karthik. (More

than two people: We do not know how many people

are represented by the expression “the boys”, plus

Rashid and Karthik.)

7.3.3 Question mark

Question marks are used to indicate interrogative expressions.

Did you read my report yet?

Do not use a question mark with polite requests, indirect questions, or

reported speech.

He asked me why I came to class late.

Will you please turn the fan on. It is hot in here.

7.3.4 Exclamation marks

These are rarely used in formal or academic writing. Exclamation marks

should be reserved for statements which are truly exclamatory or which

need additional punctuation to express your opinion.


7.3.5 Semicolon

A semicolon falls somewhere between a comma and a full-stop.

Here is an example where the semicolon is being used where a full-stop

would also be acceptable:

Many students have to reset their biological clocks when they join the Academy; they find themselves quickly learning to survive on five hours of sleep or less each night.

In this example, the semicolon helps to emphasize the link between the

two clauses. Notice in this case that (1) both parts of this sentence are

complete sentences in themselves, and (2) both clauses are closely related.

Both of these requirements must be met if you want to use a semicolon in

place of a full stop.

Here is an example where a semicolon is being used instead of a comma:

The PDM attempts to broaden the students’ understanding of the inter-relationship between micro- and macro-realities; foster research capacities to identify development issues and interventions; equip students with appropriate managerial tools and techniques; and build people-focused skills and creative, conceptual, and critical abilities.

Notice here that the semicolon separates what is essentially a list of four

goals. Each item in the list is lengthy and often contains its own punctuation

or uses the word “and” at some point. As such, if you were to use a comma,

the sentence would be quite confusing; using a semicolon helps provide

stronger breaks and helps clarify the message.


7.3.6 Colon

The most common use of the colon probably to introduce lists.

I invited three people to my party: Jane, Sam, and Mike.

Colons can also be used to add impact to a sentence.

Our teacher had the following suggestion for improving our presentation skills: Practice! Practice! Practice!

Students were undecided about where to go for their term break: half wanted to go to Kanyakumari; half wanted to go home.

Notice that in the first sentence, the part following the colon is capitalized

because it is a command and can be seen as a complete sentence. In the

second sentence, the part following the colon is not capitalized since it

does not form a complete sentence.

Colons are also used in presenting time (for example, Meet me at 5:30 p.m. . . .).

7.3.7 Dashes

Many people are not aware that there are different kinds of dashes, or if

they are, they may not know when to use each dash. There are three

common dashes: the em dash, the en dash, and the hyphen. Each is

presented below.


7.3.7.1 Em dash

The em dash is often used to provide parenthetical information10 in a

sentence. In cases like these, parentheses (curved brackets) (see section

7.3.9) or commas (see section 7.3.2) may sometimes be used instead, but

the em dash adds more emphasis to the additional information.

The Academy is located in Madurai—the “Temple City”—in a quiet, remote setting.

The PDM 8 students—all 17 of them—have proven their commitment to working for the development of India.

Notice that the way these sentences are constructed, you can remove the

part within the dashes and still have a meaningful and accurate sentence.

You can also add other punctuation to the content within your dashes.

We were now crossing the border into Egypt—Oh! What a marvellous country!—where we would be staying for the last two weeks of our tour.

To create an em dash in most word processors, simply type two dashes

where the dash should appear and your word processor should

automatically convert them into a single longer dash. Do not add any

spaces before or after the dash. In Microsoft Word, you can also use the

shortcut key “ctrl + alt + [number-pad minus]” or access it under the

symbols menu.

10 Parenthetical information can be seen as information which is not entirely necessary but which you want to include.


7.3.7.2 En dash

En dashes are smaller than em dashes and are used for an entirely different

purpose.

The main use for an en dash is to show a range.

Children aged 9–11 years worked together to paint the mural on the school cafeteria's outside wall.

As with the em dash, do not add any spaces before or after the dash. In

Microsoft Word, you can also use the shortcut key “ctrl + [number-pad

minus]” or access it under the symbols menu.

7.3.7.3 Hyphens

Hyphens are used for creating compound words, for example creating

compound adjectives, or for adding certain prefixes to words. Many good

dictionaries will indicate whether hyphens are necessary or not, but here

are some things to note:

• Many prefixes in use today are not hyphenated. For example,

while macro-economics may have been the trend at one point,

today, the expected form is the single word, macroeconomics.

• Some prefixes, like “self” or “non” always need a hyphen. Thus,

self help group is incorrect; this expression should be written as

self-help group. When we speak about Gandhi, we might be

reminded of his non-violent approaches towards resistance.

• When a prefix is added to a proper noun, a hyphen is required. For

example, The trade agreement included many pro-Indian clauses.


• Use a hyphen when combining a number (numeral or word form)

and a noun. For example, The Academy offers a two-year programme in development management. At the end of this course, you will need to submit a 25-page report.

Sometimes, the absence or presence of a hyphen can alter the meaning of

a sentence entirely.

There are no smoking areas at the Academy.

There are no-smoking areas at the Academy.

The first sentence means that there are not any smoking areas. The second

means that smoking is allowed at the Academy, but there are some areas

that are designated as smoke-free.

7.3.8 Ellipsis

An ellipsis (. . .) is used to show omitted or missing material. It should

always be three dots unless it occurs at the end of a sentence, in which case

use four dots (one being the full-stop, the other three being the ellipsis).

7.3.9 Parentheses (brackets)

Parentheses are usually used to insert extra information into a sentence.

We may, for example, include an abbreviation in parentheses the first time

it is used. We may also use the parentheses to add some extra or clarifying

information (see, for example, page 54, where parentheses are used to add

a list of defining items).

The biggest problem with parentheses usually involves punctuation and

spacing. The opening parenthesis should have a space before it, but no

space after it. The closing parenthesis should have no space before it and

one space after it unless the following character is a punctuation mark in

which case no space is required. When adding punctuation to a sentence


which uses parentheses, the final punctuation goes inside or outside of the

parentheses depending on the circumstance. If the parentheses encloses a

complete sentence on its own, the punctuation should be within the

parentheses; otherwise, the punctuation should go outside the

parentheses. (When deciding, try to determine where the punctuation

makes most logical sense.)

7.3.10 Oblique (slash)

The oblique (or slash) is an overused (and often misused) punctuation

mark. The slash is best used to show options in something, but sometimes,

its use results in lazy writing from the author and confusing writing for the

reader.

Consider the following:

The third objective of this study is to identify the important factor/cause of…

Does the author mean factor and cause? Factor or cause? Are we sure the

writer even knows? If they know, why are they leaving the decision or

interpretation to us? Do your readers a favour and be as specific as

possible.

Another use of the oblique is to separate lines of verse (poetry, for

example) in running text. We may write the following, for example:

Where there is darkness, let me sow light. / Where there is injury, let me sow pardon.

Notice here that in the first example, there are no spaces before or after

the oblique. In the second example, there is one space before and one

space after. This is the proper spacing which should be followed in all cases.


7.4 Usage

This section includes some common mistakes, or some areas where English

is used inconsistently. In some cases, it refers to things which are either

right or wrong; in other cases, it comes down to a matter of style and

consistency.

A, anThis is an easy rule, but is often misstated. The rule is not use “a” for

consonants and “an” for vowels (a, e, i, o, u). Here’s a more accurate rule:

• Use “a” before words beginning with consonant sounds

• Use “an” before words beginning with vowel sounds

Why the emphasis on “sounds”? Consider the following:

A microfinance institution but An MFI

A self-help group but An SHG

A university

A one-rupee coin

Notice that in the expanded form of “MFI”, you clearly hear the “M” sound;

as an acronym, we say what sounds like “em-eff-aye”, meaning the first

sound we hear is a vowel. The word “university” sounds as if it starts with a

“y”, and the word “one” sounds like it starts with a “w”.

A lot“A lot” is two words, and should never be “A lot many”.

Alternate, alternative“Alternate” means every other time; “alternative” means another choice.

Ampersand (&)Avoid use of the ampersand (&) in your text. Exception: see 5.1.2.6.


And/orDecide whether it truly is an “and/or” situation, then decide if there is a

better way to express that there is a choice to be made. Do not create extra

work for your reader.

Besides, additionally, besides that (this)“Besides” at the start of a sentence usually emphasizes a previously made

negative statement. For example, I don't feel like going to the movies tonight. Besides, I have too much work to do. Compare this with

the following usage: Students will discover interrelated aspects of social life during their village stay. Besides, they will be able to understand societal organization. In this case, “Additionally” or

“Besides this” would be better alternatives.

Biannual, biennial“Biannual” means twice a year; “biennial” means every other year. If you

think that your readers will not know the difference, explain it in plain

English at least once in your document.

Bio-data, résumé, CVRésumés and CVs are interchangeable and are used when you are looking

for a job; bio-data includes other personal details (religion, age, and gender,

for example) that should not factor into a job-selection process (but that

might apply to a marriage-matching process).

Biweekly, bimonthlyThese expressions can be ambiguous (both can mean twice in the time

period or once every other time period). Thus, it is best to avoid these

expressions and favour their plain English counterparts.

BritishersUse “British”, not “Britishers”.


Can able to“Can” and “able to” are the same, so “I can able to speak Tamil” is wrong; “I

can speak Tamil” or “I am able to speak Tamil” is right.

Cannot, can not“Cannot” and “can not” are not the same. “Cannot” represents an inability

to do something (and is usually contracted as “can't”. On the other hand,

“can not” is generally an inclusive statement as in, “You can not only have

cake, you can have ice cream too.”

Care less, careless“Care less” is used as in “I could care less” (I don't care); “careless” means

not careful.

ChildrenChildren is already plural; do not use “childrens”.

ClothesWhen referring to what people wear, they wear clothes, not cloths.

Comprise, consists of, is composed ofSomething does not “comprise of” other things, it “comprises” those other

things. To “comprise” something is to “embrace” or enclose those things.

ContractionsIn general, you should avoid contractions in most of your academic or

professional writing. Prefer “do not” to “don't”; “is not” to “isn't”; “I am” to

“I'm”. There are times when, for stylistic purposes, such contractions would

be acceptable. Also, for informal correspondence or informal writing, it is

widely accepted.

CopeOne copes with something. They do not “cope up with”, or “cope up”.


DHAN FoundationDHAN Foundation should be written with upper-case “DHAN” and an

upper-case “F” for foundation. DHAN written on its own should always be

all upper-case. Exception: See “Tata-Dhan Academy”.

DHANiteThis is the preferred way for writing “DHANite”; do not write Dhanite.

Disinterested, uninterested“Disinterested” means impartial or neutral; “uninterested” means bored.

Economic, economical“Economic” relates to the economy of a country or other unit;

“economical” means being thrifty.

Every one, everyone, everybody“Everyone” and “everybody” are the same and usually emphasize a group

of people; “every one” is the same as each one and usually emphasizes

individual items (for example, we bought 10 CDs and every one was

defective).

ExpiredA person does not expire. They die. Avoid euphemisms in writing.

GrassrootsWrite as one word, not “grass roots”.

Imply, infer“Imply” is to hint at something; “infer” is to come to a conclusion.

In factAlways two words, never “infact”.


Level bestI'm not sure what exactly this expression means. “Best” is already a

superlative, so the value added by the word “level” is questionable. It may

be acceptable in spoken English, but it should be avoided in written English.

Like anythingA mostly meaningless expression in writing, especially when used like “Due

to their poverty, they were suffering like anything.” Be specific and

descriptive.

Loose motionThis is a euphemism for “diarrhoea”.

MementoA small gift that you give to someone as a reminder of something (plural

form: mementos). The word is not spelled “momento”.

MicrofinanceWrite microfinance as one word, no hyphens, no spaces.

Night-soilThis is a euphemism. Prefer “faeces” or “excrement”.

PainingThis is a meaningless expression. “Hurting” or “hurts” is perhaps more

appropriate (but it depends on what you are trying to say, of course!)

Partake, participate“Partake” is to share something; “participate” is to play a part in an activity.

PercentPrefer the one-word form (percent) to the two-word form (per cent).

Languages change with time, and although British English still prefers


percent written as two words, the European Union's English Style Manual11

recommends using the single word form; this may be an indicator of the

changing acceptance to the single word form. Additionally, variants of

“percent” (percentage, percentile) are never written as two words, making

the single-word form more consistent.

If you do decide to retain the two-word form, be consistent! Do not

randomly interchange “percent” with “per cent” or the percent symbol.

RainfedWrite as one word when referring to “rainfed agriculture”.

RupeeThe abbreviation for one rupee is Re. and for more than one rupee is Rs.

Thus, you would write, A phone-call costs Re. 1 per minute. A 15-minute call will cost you Rs. 15. Note that if something cost, say, one

rupee and 25 paisa, you would write “Rs. 1.50” not “Re. 1.50”. Use a full-

stop and an upper-case “R” with the Re. and Rs. abbreviations.

SMS languageDo not use SMS language in your writing! Never use “u” when you mean

“you”, “pls” when you mean “please”, or “b4” when you mean “before”. In

fact, unless you are sending an SMS, do not use this language at all—not

even in emails. You will appear much more professional to your colleagues.

SpellingPrefer standard British English spelling to US English spelling.

11 http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/ style_guide_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/style_guide_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/translation/writing/style_guides/english/


Summary, summery“Summary” is what you would write when you are, for example, writing

your Executive Summary; “summery” is like something related to the

summer season.

Tamil NaduWrite as two words with a space between each. Do not write it as

“Tamilnadu”, “Tamil-Nadu”, or “TamilNadu”.

Tata-Dhan AcademyThe word “DHAN” in Tata-Dhan Academy is always written in with an

upper-case “D” and lower-case letters for the rest of the word. Always use a

dash between Tata and Dhan except if you are using the acronym TDA, in

which case the dash is omitted. If you are referring to the Tata-Dhan

Academy simply as “the Academy”, ensure that the “A” in academy is

capitalized.

Today morning, today evening, today night, yesterday nightThese are irregular English expressions. The correct form is “this morning”,

“this evening”, “tonight”, and “last night”

Until, till“Till” is informal and should not be used in professional writing. Use “until”.

Up toAlways two words, never “upto”.

Very lessYou would never say “very more”, would you? Then why “very less”? Use

“much less” or “very little” depending on what exactly you want to say.


Video, movie, filmEach of these is used somewhat interchangeably today; however, avoid

using expressions like “video films” since that's redundant.

Village people, villagersThe “Village People” were a disco group; use “villagers” instead.

Waist, waste“Waist” is a body part; “waste” is garbage.

Weak, week“Weak” is without strength; “week” is a time period of seven days.

WelcomeAlways one word, never “wel come”.


8 Other Useful ResourcesOne of the refreshing things about English is that it is well-documented. As

such, if there are any questions about grammar or usage, there are many

sources—both print and electronic—which are easily accessible. In fact,

many good dictionaries will have a section on grammar, punctuation, and

other such information.

Selecting the right book, however, can be difficult. As I was browsing the

collection at the Tata-Dhan Academy library, I found a book titled “General

Error” and decided to browse through it to see how useful it would be. On

the first page of the preface, I found the following text:

English, due to being a foreign a language, it creates a number

of problems for the learners. The main objective of this book is

provide help and guidance for advanced learners or English as

foreign and second language. A lot of common errors occur in

speaking and writing in English. The whole concentration of this

book falls on the grammatical rules to avoid the common errors.

Use of Articles (a, an, the), part of speech (Noun, Pronoun, Verb,

Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction and interjection), Syntax,

Tense, Sentence, Idiom and phrases, clause are discussed in the

seperate chapters of this book. Further this book represents

some new words and phrases which are used in daily life, which

will help the learners in conversation.

Further there are some seperate chapters like Correct use of the

'Apostrophe', 'Some Important Prepositions', 'Adjectives that go

in Pairs', 'Nouns that go in Pairs', 'Adjectives that go in Pairs',

which provide some extra tips to avoid general errors. Examples

presented in this book covers the range of day to day life and

events. With the use simple language this book acquires

uniqueness in itself who wishes to speak and write English, it

would be helpful. In the concluding chapter entitled 'Check-up

pages'. Some sentences, under seperate sections have been

given for exercise and to checkup the improvement.


My advice? DO NOT use this book! It should be transferred to the

“humour” section at the library instead of the special reference section

(unless you want to refer to particularly bad English). The first sentence

alone has two mistakes. Ouch.

So, to make your search easier, here are a few recommended books and

websites. I have included a short description of each resource so you can

determine for yourself which one you want to check out in more detail.

8.1 Bibliography and references

The following is a list of sources I have found helpful both as a writer and as

a teacher of writing. I have included notes to give you a preview of what to

expect from these references. These books were also frequently referred to

while developing this style manual.

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the

American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

This is one of the more widely used manuals for academic writing,

especially for social science students. Many journals also accept

manuscripts prepared according to the American Psychological

Association's (APA) publication manual. Although this is most likely not a

book you will read from cover to cover, it is still indispensable for many

writers, if only for its extremely meticulously documented section on how

to cite materials from a wide range of sources. There are also many online

resources which can help you figure out the more common APA citation

formats in case you cannot obtain a copy of the book.

Clark, R. P. (2006). Writing tools: 50 essential strategies for every writer.

New York: Little, Brown and Company.

“Writing Tools” is just that: a collection of 50 short tools which can help

most writers add a little flair to their writing. The book is divided into four

sections. “Nuts and Bolts” is a casual approach to grammar and usage;

“Special Effects” focuses on adding colour and variety to your writing;


“Blueprints” highlights some writing techniques that improve the flow of

your writing; and “Useful Habits” shares tools to make the writing process

easier for the writer. Each tool is a mere couple of pages, and takes only a

few minutes to read. Trying to focus on one randomly selected tool each

week will definitely help improve your writing, or at least raise your

awareness of your current habits.

King, G. (2003). Collins good writing guide. Glasgow: HarperCollins

Publishers.

This book is good both for the casual reader and for the reader who

wants to be a better writer. At over 800 pages, it includes sections to help

improve your vocabulary, model letters, advice on “plain English”, and

many other useful topics.

Lester, M., & Beason, L. (2005). The McGraw-Hill handbook of English

grammar and usage. New Delhi: Tata-McGraw-Hill.

This book is easily found in most Indian book stores. It can help answer

most basic grammar questions and is useful both as desk reference and

as a tool to improve your English grammar.

Peters, P. (2004). The Cambridge guide to English usage. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Are you curious about the differences in English internationally—

particularly the difference between British and American English? If you

are, this book helps answer many of the questions you may have. It also

includes current trends in English, for example trends in hyphenation or

spelling.


Sabin, W. A. (2005). The Gregg reference manual: A manual of style,

grammar, usage, and formatting (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

More appropriate for business writers, this comprehensive and well-

indexed reference book will not only help you improve your writing, it will

also show you examples of business correspondence to help frame your

documents. It includes a special section on electronic correspondence.

Strunk, W., Jr., & White, E. B. (2005). The elements of style; Illustrated by

Maria Kalman. New York: Penguin Press.

This is the classic book on writing found on most writers' bookshelves.

This brief (~ 100 pages) book is targeted at more advanced writers and

helps refine their writing. The book includes numerous examples of

correct but “sloppy” writing along with suggestions for improving these

examples.

8.2 Websites

The American Heritage Book of English Usage.

http://www.bartleby.com/64/

The complete searchable text of the 1996 edition of this book. Includes grammar, style, gender-neutral language, and many other topics in an easy-to-browse online format. Common Errors In English.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

Not the best designed website, but it can be amusing and educational to

spend some time here and see what really are some of the most common

errors in English usage.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

http://www.bartleby.com/64/


Edufind: English Grammar and Writing.

http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/index.cfm

A good place to start exploring many different aspects of the English

language.

The Guide to Grammar and Writing.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

Extremely detailed and useful website. Most grammar points include

thorough descriptions of grammar topics and provide practice exercises

so you can check your understanding at any time.

The Purdue Online Writing Lab.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

This is a comprehensive website which includes not only printable

reference sheets for grammar and APA style formatting, but also exercises

to improve your grammar and writing skills.

The Slot: Sharp Points.

http://www.theslot.com/sharp.html

Bill Walsh, author of The Elephants of Style and Lapsing into a Comma,

maintains this website which is both very informative and amusing. This

site goes beyond language from a written perspective and also looks at

how language is presented (for example, visually, in advertisements,

online, and in different mediums).

http://www.theslot.com/sharp.html

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

http://www.edufind.com/english/grammar/index.cfm

About this Style ManualThis style manual has been prepared for students at the

Tata-Dhan Academy, Madurai, to assist them in properly

formatting their assignments, properly citing materials, and

improve their self-editing skills.

The citation guide presented in this manual is based on the

Publication Manual of the American Psychological

Association—a widely used style manual for students of

education, psychology, economics, and other social

sciences.

Tata-Dhan Academy

Boys Town Campus

Pulloothu, Madurai 625 016

Tamil Nadu, India

[email protected]


9 PostfaceThis style manual for manuscript preparation has been a long time in the

making. When I first started working at the Academy as a writing teacher,

most of my students had only been exposed to a single-page stylesheet

that was supposed to help them understand the formatting requirements

for their assignments.

But it was clear that much more was needed. None of my students, for

example, knew how to properly cite information. Many of them were

randomly applying different styles for headings. The tables in all their

papers were very rudimentary and unaesthetic in their design. Plus the

language used on some of the different notices posted around the

Academy would admittedly make most English teachers cringe. (Sorry!)

It was also clear that my students did not have the best access to reliable

reference materials either (see the example text from the book General

Error presented at the start of the bibliography section). So, I decided to

start from scratch and create this manual—admittedly still a work-in-

progress—to try to fill a gap, and to try to achieve some standards in

assignment and manuscript preparation.

Some of the examples used throughout this manual are made up. Others

come directly from student work and other materials available at the

Academy. Not all of the examples I have used are necessarily “bad” English

—but a lot of them are examples of English that can be made better.

I would be dreaming if I thought this little book could make a huge change

in perfecting the English of the students at the Academy, but I do hope that

it will raise their awareness of their use of English and encourage them to

be a little more detail-oriented in their work. Most of the changes and

improvements will come from self-practice and from developing a healthy

relationship with a few of the more trustworthy reference books mentioned

in the preceding bibliography.


With that, I would also like to extend an invitation for inputs. As mentioned,

this is a work-in-progress, and undoubtedly, there will be mistakes

throughout the document or major omissions which should be included in

future editions. Please email all comments, suggestions, corrections, and

additions to [email protected]. In time, this entire style manual will

also be available online at http://docteam.wiki.zoho.com/

Ananda Mahto

August 2008

http://docteam.wiki.zoho.com/

mailto:[email protected]

Style Manual of the Tata-Dhan Academy

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