Writer's Resources

Composing Strategies

STARTING:
New! Analyzing Assignments - Not sure what your professor wants? Use these strategies to figure it out!
Assignment Planner - Find steps to take you through selecting a topic, researching, using the Library, drafting, and proofreading.
Essay Exams - Use strategies for writing effective essay exams
Getting Started Strategies - Choose and focus your topic
Personal Statements - Brainstorm content for your personal statement
New! Résumé Starter Kit - Content and format ideas for your r ésumé
Twenty Questions - Use these questions to get started writing
Reading Strategies - Practice strategies for understanding dense texts

REVISING:
Descriptive Outline - Outline draft to discover points and connections
Conclusions - Emphasize main ideas for effective conclusions
Revising for Style - Find and eliminate the "lard" in your prose
Thesis Statements - Write strong and effective thesis statements

PROOFREADING:
Editing Strategies - Proofread your own work
Top Ten Conventions - See which errors are most serious

Grammar

Conjunctions - Make compound sentences using subordinating conjunctions
Pronouns - Review pronoun case; distinguish singular/plural pronouns and make them agree
Relative Clauses - Identify and punctuate relative clauses
Sentence Boundaries - Recognize and correct fragments, comma splices, and run-on sentences
Subjects and Verbs - Distinguish singular/plural verbs and subjects and make them agree

Punctuation

Apostrophes - Form possessives and contractions
Capitals - Capitalize nouns appropriately
Colons - Signal lists or explanatory information
Commas - Separate clauses and parallel elements
Dashes - Emphasize specific text
End Marks - Use periods, quotation marks and exclamation points correctly
Hyphens - Break words and join terms appropriately
Numbers - Express numbers as words or numerals
Parentheses - Indicate and punctuate supplemental ideas
Quotation Marks - Punctuate titles and special language
Semicolons - Join independent clauses and coordinating elements
Spelling - Avoid common prejudicial misspellings
Titles - Format titles

Documentation

APA Style - Format documentation using the American Psychological Association style, most common in the social sciences
Chicago Style - Format documentation using the Chicago style, most common in history
MLA Style - Format documentation using the Modern Language Association style, most common in the humanities
Plagiarism - Avoid plagiarising by knowing when and how to attribute sources