Links for Writers

The World-Wide Web offers many wonderful resources for student writers.  Unfortunately, for every good writing website, there are probably two or three that give incomplete, misleading, or erroneous information.  Here is a list of writing websites recommended by some members of the SSU writing faculty.   (Note that while we try to keep this list updated, URLs can change without notice.  If you find any inactive links in this list, please report them to Dr. Debra Knutson.)
 

General Resources

• Guide to Grammar and Style (Jack Lynch)
• The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing (Michael Harvey)
• The OWL at Purdue

Agreement

• Subject and Verb Agreement, St. Cloud State OWL
• Subject-Verb Agreement, George Mason OWL
• Subject-Verb Agreement, Gallaudet OWL
• Watch Your S, CUNY OWL

Assignments

• How to Read an Assignment, Harvard OWL
• Understanding Assignments, UNC OWL
• Understanding Verbs in Writing Assignments, Bridgewater OWL

Audience

• Audience, UNC OWL

Capitalization

• Capitalization, The Blue Book

Clauses

• Independent and Dependent Clauses, George Mason OWL

College Writing

• College Writing, UNC OWL
• What Is An Academic Paper?, Dartmouth

Conclusions

• Writing Conclusions, University of Richmond OWL
• Conclusions, UNC OWL
• Ending the Essay: Conclusions, Harvard OWL
• Guide to Writing Introductions and Conclusions, Gallaudet OWL

Documentation

• APA documentation
  • APA Citation, UNC OWL
  • APA’s Style Page
  • Citing Sources in APA Style, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services
     
• Chicago documentation
  • CMS Citation, UNC OWL
     
• MLA documentation
  • Citing Sources in MLA Style, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services
  • MLA Citation, UNC OWL
  • MLA Homepage

Exercises and quizzes

• E-Exercises, Houghton Mifflin
• Exercise Central, Bedford St. Martins’ Exercise Central--free registration required
• Grammar Exercises, Gallaudet OWL 

Feedback on Student Writing

• Getting Feedback, UNC OWL

Fragments

• Fragments, UNC OWL

Gender-Fair Language

• Gender Fair Language, Rensselaer OWL
• Guidelines for Gender-Fair Use of Language, NCTE
• Gender-Sensitive Language, UNC OWL

Grammar

• Attending to Grammar, Dartmouth 

Homonym Confusion

• Common Words That Sound Alike, Purdue OWL

Introductions

• Guide to Writing Introductions and Conclusions, Gallaudet OWL
• Introductions, UNC OWL
• Preparing to Write an Introduction, University of Richmond OWL

Invention and Prewriting Strategies

• Brainstorming, University of Richmond OWL
• Brainstorming, UNC OWL 
• Guide to Mapping, Gallaudet OWL
• Pre-Writing: Clustering, University of Richmond OWL
• Prewriting: Cubing, University of Richmond OWL

Outlines and Organization

• Developing an Outline, Purdue OWL
• An Essay Is Like a Journey, Cal State OWL
• Going Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay, Cal State OWL
• Outlining, Harvard OWL
• Reorganizing Your Draft, UNC OWL
• Using Outlines, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services

Paragraphing

• Paragraph Development, UNC OWL
• Writing Effective Paragraphs, University of Richmond OWL

Parallelism

• Focusing Sentences Through Parallelism, University of Richmond OWL

Parts of Speech

• Comprehensive Guides
  • Parts of Speech, Penn State OWL
  • Parts of Speech Review, Gallaudet OWL 
• Adjectives
  • How to use Adjectives and Adverbs, Purdue OWL
• Adverbs
  • How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs, Purdue OWL
• Articles
  • Articles, UNC OWL
  • How to Use Articles, Purdue OWL
• Conjunctions
  • Connectives, Rochester Institute of Technology
• Verbs
  • Active and Passive Voice, Purdue OWL
  • Irregular Verbs, Purdue OWL
  • Sequence of Tenses, Purdue OWL
  • Verb Tense Consistency, Purdue OWL
  • Verb Tenses, Purdue OWL
  • Verbs with Helpers, Purdue OWL 
• Prepositions
  • Prepositions of Direction, Purdue OWL
  • Prepositions of Location, Purdue OWL
  • Prepositions of Time, of Place, and to Introduce Objects, Purdue OWL
  • Spatial Relationships of Prepositions, Purdue OWL

Punctuation

• Comprehensive Guide
  • Punctuation Made Simple (Gary Olson)
• Apostrophes
  • Apostrophes, The Blue Book
  • The Apostrophe, Punctuation Made Simple 
• Colons
  • Colons, The Blue Book 
  • The Colon, Punctuation Made Simple (Gary Olson) 
• Commas
  • Commas, The Blue Book 
  • Commas, UNC OWL
  • The Commas, Punctuation Made Simple (Gary Olson) 
• Dashes
  • The Dash, Punctuation Made Simple (Gary Olson)
• Exclamation Points
  • Exclamation Points, The Blue Book
• Hyphens
  • Hyphens, The Blue Book 
• Parentheses
  • Parentheses, The Blue Book
• Periods
  • Periods, The Blue Book
• Question Marks
  • Question Marks, The Blue Book 
• Semicolons
  • The Semicolon, Punctuation Made Simple (Gary Olson)
  • Semicolons, The Blue Book

Quotation Conventions

• How To Use Evidence, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services
• Quoting Tips, Bridgewater OWL
• Quotations, UNC OWL

Revising, Editing, and Proofreading

• Comprehensive guide
  • Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs), Purdue OWL  
• Revising
  • Revising Drafts, UNC OWL 
  • Revising the Draft, Harvard OWL
  • Revision: Cultivating a Critical Eye, Dartmouth 
• Proofreading and Editing
  • Checklist for a Final Edit, University of Richmond OWL
  • Editing the Essay, Part One, Harvard OWL ; Part Two, Harvard OWL
  • Proofreading, UNC OWL 
  • Proofreading for Common Surface Errors: Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services 
  • Some Warning Signs of a Rushed Paper, University of Richmond OWL
  • Tips on Grammar, Punctuation and Style, Harvard OWL
  • Twelve Common Errors: An Editing Checklist, University of Wisconsin OWL

Sentence Variety

• Sentence Variety, Purdue OWL

Subordination

• Subordinating Ideas, University of Richmond OWL

Thesis Statements/Claims

• Creating a Thesis Statement, Purdue OWL
• Developing Your Thesis, Dartmouth 
• How to Write a Thesis Statement, Indiana U Writing Tutorial Services  
• The Thesis Statement, University of Richmond OWL
• Thesis Statements, UNC OWL

Track Changes

• Track Changes and Comments in Microsoft Word, UNC OWL

Transitions

• Transitional Words and Phrases, University of Richmond OWL 
• Transitioning: Beware of Velcro, Harvard OWL 
• Transitions, UNC OWL 
• Using Transitions, University of Richmond OWL

Usage and Style

• Attending to Style, Dartmouth
• Common Errors in English Usage, Washington State (Paul Brians)
• “I”: When To Use It, UNC OWL  
• Style, UNC OWL
• Word Choice, UNC OWL 

Voice

• Active and Passive Voice, Gallaudet OWL
• Passive Voice, UNC OWL

Writer’s Block

• Writing Anxiety, UNC OWL

Writing Process (See also: Invention/prewriting strategies and Revising, editing, and proofreading.)

• The Writing Process, Cleveland State’s OWL