Before you came to college, you probably spent much more time writing informally than writing formally. Think about all the time you’ve spent writing emails, Facebook posts, texts, and tweets. Now think about the time you’ve spent writing papers for school or work. The informal style that you use in writing an email, text, or post can become a problem when you try to write a formal research paper. Be sure that you know when you can use abbreviations and when you have to write out an entire word or phrase. When you write research papers in college, you should assume that your audience is composed of instructors and other serious students who will make judgments about your knowledge and abilities based on your writing. You should not be sloppy or casual when writing a formal paper.