By choosing words carefully and using fresh language you will automatically put an individual stamp on your prose. A little levity can also give your writing a human touch. Just go lightly and don't overrate your wit. These verbal equivalents of winks and elbow-jabs merely betray your lack of confidence. If the joke won't stand on its own, cut it.
Good writing has rhythm.
To see this point, let's look first at a familiar piece of good writing, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address . To be sure, few if any of your professors will ask you to write speeches, and the odds against a funeral oration are even longer. We'll follow Lincoln's example with a humbler piece of writing, a single sentence from The New York Times. Lincoln's sentences vary widely in length, from 10 words to 81 words. When the sentences in a stretch of prose are nearly uniform in length, the resulting rhythm is monotonous.