Research Papers For Dummies
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After countless hours of research and writing, you don’t want to turn in a final draft with grammatical errors. Use this handy grammar checklist to inspect your research paper for mistakes:

  • Be sure that the subject of the sentence agrees with the verb — singular subject with singular verb, plural subject with plural verb.

  • Write about literature in present tense.

  • Write about history in past tense. Use the had form of the verb to show an action occurring before another action.

  • Don’t change tenses unnecessarily.

  • Be sure that every pronoun replaces one (and only one) noun. Be especially careful with that, which, and this. Never use these pronouns to refer to a loose collection of ideas.

  • Be sure that the meaning of each pronoun is clear. Don’t place a pronoun where it may refer to more than one noun.

  • Place all descriptions near the word they describe.

  • End every sentence with an endmark (period, question mark, exclamation point).

About This Article

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Geraldine Woods is the author of more than 40 books, including the popular English Grammar For Dummies. She has taught high school and middle school English for over 25 years.

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