by DebGallardo » Thu Apr 16, 2009 1:04 pm
Melody,
Make sure you are not just writing in generalities. For each point, you should have concrete examples that illustrate your points.
Offer opinions, yours or someone else's. Show both sides, especially if there is disagreement on a subject.
Use relevant quotations, but make them brief enough to comply with the copyright law's "fair use" clause. (The longer the work, the longer the quote can be. For a full-length book, you could quote a couple of good-sized paragraphs. For an article, a sentence or two, maybe three.) Be sure to cite all bibliographical details for this quote, including page number.
List other resources on each topic. These could be links, book titles, magazine articles, etc.
Note that each of these ideas adds genuine content and not fluff.
My last suggestion is a way to expand the number of pages without adding content, assuming the page count is not based on a certain number of words per page. I'm curious about how a page is defined in the requirements you're writing to. If it's so many words per line and so many lines per page, or a total word count per page, then this method won't help you much.
This is a formatting method, more than anything. I'm not suggesting using big margins or large fonts (your requirements probably specify these anyway). But here's a way to make your report look organized and professional while adding extra lines.
Put subheadings, in bold, for each point, and sub-sub-headings in bold italics, with a blank line separating it from the text below.
Here's an example:
TOPIC TITLE
Xxxxxxxxxxx(These are your introductory paragraphs)xxxxxxxx
xx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Sub Topic
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Sub-sub Topic
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
1.
2.
3.
Sub-sub Topic
"Quotation One"
"Quotation Two"
Sub Topic
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Xxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.
I think you get the idea. Let me know if any of this helps. You might already have done all these things.
Deb Gallardo