Writing Resources for Students

Writing Resources for Students

Listed below are links to authoritative websites on the mechanics and process of writing at a graduate school level. Please scroll below to explore these resources, which include APA style guides, help centers for students learning English as a second language, and tips on thesis development.

from https://ischool.sjsu.edu/writing-resources-students

Comprehensive Sites

• Excelsior’s Online Writing Lab - resources on writing, style, grammar, a variety of style manual formats, and a writing game!
• San Jose State’s Writing Center - Handouts and video tutorials on a variety of topics.
• Yale University’s Center for Teaching and Learning – A wide range of excellent tutorials.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center – Another set of excellent of tutorials.

Writing Skills

• Caroline and Pearson Brown’s English Grammar Lessons – Clear and concise explanations of English grammar. Each lesson ends with interactive quizzes.
• English Page Grammar Tutorials and Lessons – Tutorials and quizzes.

APA

• King Library’s “Citing and Writing” Guide
• Purdue’s OWL APA pages
• San José State University’s School of Information APA page

Essay Writing

Process

• Yale’s What Good Writers Know
• Harvard’s Strategies for Essay Writing

What is an academic essay?

• Yale’s Components of a Successful Essay – Adapted from “Elements of the Academic Essay,” by Gordon Harvey.
• Harvard’s A Brief Guide to the Elements of the Academic Essay by Gordon Harvey
• Harvard’s Overview of the Academic Essay – By Kathy Duffin.
• Dartmouth College’s Writing the Academic Paper

Understanding the assignment

• Texas A&M University’s Understanding Your Writing Assignment – Includes definitions of vocabulary commonly found in writing assignments.
• UNC’s Understanding Assignments

Planning and organization

• Purdue Global University’s 7 Ways to Overcome Writer’s Block
• UC Berkeley’s Before You Start Writing That Paper… A Guide to Prewriting Techniques
• Duke University’s Revising and Organizing

Thesis development

• Texas A&M’s Thesis Development
• UNC’s Thesis Statements

Research

• Dartmouth’s Researching Your Topic – The first section specifically addresses the Dartmouth library, but the rest of the page is relevant for all students.
• Duke’s Working with Sources
• King Library’s Library Subject Guide

Proofreading

• Chandra Clark’s The Benefits of Having Others Edit Your Work
• University of California, Santa Barbara’s Common Mistakes in Graduate Writing
• UNC’s Editing and Proofreading

Analysis and Critical Thinking

• SJSU’s Critical Thinking Tutorial

Other Academic Writing

Literature reviews

• UNC’s Writing a Literature Review – Covers how a literature review is different from an annotated bibliography.

Annotated bibliographies

• Cornell University’s How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
• Texas A&M’s Annotated Bibliographies

ESL

• Dave’s ESL Cafe – Student Help Center created by Dave Sperling. A help forum where students can ask grammar questions or post specific sentences to be corrected. It is moderated by composition teachers and other ESL students. The site is very active and the responses seem accurate.
• Help Forum – English Page’s site is another very active help forum.
• Lauri Fried’s ESL Links – A wide range of annotated links to quizzes and grammar lessons for ESL students.
• Activities for ESL Students – Advanced grammar quizzes.
• Purdue’s OWL ESL Resources

Online Tutors

• iSchool Online Tutoring
• SmartThinking – A fee-based, registration-required online source for one-on-one tutoring.

Publishing Opportunities

LIS Publications Wiki (Library and Information Science) – Want to publish your writing? This wiki gathers information about publications you might want to write for — whether you want to reach your colleagues or your communities.

The Student Research Journal (SRJ) – The SRJ welcomes submissions of original research (primary and secondary), critical essays, academic book reviews, and evidence summaries covering theory, policy, application, or practice which advance intellectual inquiry in the field. The SRJ recommends these resources:

• Target Your Audience: The Art of the Abstract (29:22) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmvAW-llj7M
• Publish a Great Book Review (48:13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooRwO3V0EB4&t=201s
• Joining the Conversation: Tips for Strengthening Your Academic Voice (1:01:11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q3DNTCrO5E&t=1s
• Altering Your Course Paper for SRJ Publication: Writing for a broader audience (2:57) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUoE1KyEU9Q
• From Assignment to Article: Questions and Guidance for Successful Sub