Useful Links for Writers

CITATION

• How to recognize & avoid plagiarism (from Indiana University at Bloomington)
• Oops, I plagiarized (from UCLA: follow Eddie and Carlos as they learn when and how to cite, and to avoid accidental plagiarism)
• The Big Three--MLA, APA, Turabian (from Duke University)
• Research and Documentation Online, using MLA, APA, Turabian, CBE, and others (online version of Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age, Fourth Edition, by Diana Hacker)

MLA (used in humanities)

• Purdue's OWL's (Online Writing Lab) excellent guide to using MLA
• Capital Community College's excellent guide to using MLA 

APA (used in psychology, communication, and many social sciences)

• Purdue University's excellent guide to using APA
• APA's own guide to electronic resources

Chicago (Turabian) (used in history and elsewhere)

• Purdue's excellent guide to Chicago (Turabian) style: from Purdue's OWL

HELP IN THE WRITING PROCESS

Invention stage (brainstorming)

• Understanding assignments (from UNC at Chapel Hill) 

Early stage (ideas)

• Thesis statement: definition and examples (from St. Cloud State University)
• Thesis: questions to ask as you build one (from Dartmouth College)
• Gathering evidence on the Internet: tips on how to find diamonds in all the dirt (from Michael Harvey's The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing)

• Organization head to toe (from Dartmouth College)
• False logic: what to avoid (from St. Cloud State University)
• Transitions (from UNC at Chapel Hill)

Late (polishing style)

• Paramedic Method: adapted from Richard Lanham's 1992 Revising Prose, from Purdue's OWL
• Elements of Style: an interactive entryway into this classic primer
• Word choice (from UNC at Chapel Hill)

• Merriam-Webster dictionary & thesaurus

SPECIFIC TYPES OF WRITING

• Personal statements for grad school (from UNC at Chapel Hill)
• Application essays: a commercial site that offers free samples and some free advice
• Lab reports (from Rensselaer Polytech)

ROLLINS WRITING CENTER HANDOUTS (under construction)

• comma splices--how to avoid them
• funnel introduction--how to write one
• personal statement brochure
• punctuation brochure

ADVICE FOR TEACHERS

• from Peter Elbow, UMass professor emeritus and composition god (from a workshop he gave at Marist College)

WRITING CENTER BIZ

• IWCA (International Writing Centers Association)
• SWCA (Southeastern Writing Center Association)
• Purdue University's online writing lab (OWL) (the mecca)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (good handouts)

SITES FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS 

• Grammar lists for ESL students
• Articles (from UNC at Chapel Hill)
• Idiom and slang quizzes (from the Internet TESL Journal)
• Quizzes galore (from the Internet TESL Journal)
• Quizzes on verb tense, prepositions, adjectives, conditional, etc.

GRAMMAR & MECHANICS MANIA 

• Active/Passive Voice (from St. Cloud University)
• Avoiding fragments and run-ons (from UNC at Chapel Hill)
• Commas (from UNC at Chapel Hill)