• Use "you," "the reader," or "one" because you are assuming that any possible reader will have the same opinion that you are presenting
  
  
• Use "I" or "me" unless you are using personal experience to back up your argument(s)
  
  
• Use "I believe" or "I think" because those phrases allow you to hedge your arguments instead of just saying "this is so"
  
  
• Use contractions because they are informal language structures
  
  
• Use questions because you, as the writer, should be answering questions not asking them
  
  
• Use the phrase "the fact that" because it is just extra wordage
  
  
• Use the words "thing," "some," or "many" when you should name the object particularly
  
  
• Use "there is/are" or "it is/are" because in using this sentence structure you are avoiding clearly signaling to your reader who/ what is the subject of your sentence

What you ought ALWAYS to do in your essays for this class:

• Use commas after introductory clauses, connecting two independent clauses, and with items in a series
  
  
• Look up any questions you may have about parenthetical documentation or grammar in The Writer's Reference
  
  
• Talk to me regarding things you are unsure about