20 3 Mechanics of Writing
have oddities questioned. However, although the spell-check is good at picking up
typographical errors, it can’t make decisions for you. Typical problems are proper
names (people’s names or place names), and words for which there are alterna-
tive spellings. In the case of proper names, the temptation is to tell the program to
ignore its questionings, and go instead to the next area of doubt. This is a mistake:
you should check any proper name the first time the spell-check comes to it and,
when you are satisfied that you have got it right, add it to the dictionary. The second
problem is words for which alternative spellings are permissible ( -or or -our and
-ize or -ise are the most common). The most important constraint here is that you
be consistent. Before you start, determine your preferred spellings for these words,
and keep to them.
On a related note, don’t rely on the spell-check to proofread for you; although it
will pick up misspelt words, it won’t distinguish between, for example, there and
their, or affect and effect. Similarly, it won’t tell you if you have left a word out.
Grammar-checkers look at every sentence, and make checks such as: Does it
contain a verb?; Is it missing connecting words?; Does the subject agree with the
verb (plural subjects must not have singular verbs)?; Is the verb in the passive voice
(permissible, but should be used sparingly)?; Are stock phrases being used (exam-
ples: ‘over and above’; ‘in order to’, ‘part and parcel’)?; and so on. You may think
that your English is better than that of the grammar checker—and some of the time
you will be right—but my experience is that they are often useful, and it is essential
to use a grammar-checker at least once before finalizing your thesis.
References
The name and year (or Harvard) system is the most popular reference style for
theses. It works well for readers, because it names references in an understandable
way, and also works grammatically. We can write for example ‘Rami and Tuntara
(2002) found little evidence of ...’ or ‘... there was little evidence (Rami and Tunta-
ra 2002)’. There are many alternatives, but the Harvard style is simple and effective.
Another form of referencing is the numbered note, or footnote, system, which is
used in many books. Such notes are usually collected at the end of each page. When
the page is printed out you will see the superscript number in the main text and the
footnote text at the bottom of the page, separated from the main text by a dividing
line. If you have more than one reference number on the page, the footnotes are all
collected automatically on that page, or instead the notes can be collected at the end
of a chapter or in a consolidated listing at the end of your thesis. Note that tools
for maintenance of references provide mechanisms for changing from one style to
behaviour is meaningless—for some people it is an essential tool, while for others it is little more
than a distraction. However, spell-checkers are at best a partial solution, and do not allow an author
to avoid the task of a thorough proofread.