Topical Links Library for the Handbook of Technical Writing

Technical Writing Forms and Elements
Finding a Job
Workplace Technology
Planning and Research
Organization, Writing, and Revision
Design and Visuals
ESL Trouble Spots
Style and Language
Sentences and Paragraphs
Parts of Speech and Grammar
Punctuation and Mechanics

Technical Writing Forms and Elements

abstracts
How to Write an Abstract
Phil Koopman, Carnegie Mellon University
This site offers a brief point-by-point description of how to write an abstract suitable for a conference paper or journal article and offers suggestions for further reading.
Writing Abstracts
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of the abstract, including an abstract sample, written by Judith Kilborn.
The Writing Center Guide to Writing an Abstract
University Writing Center, George Mason University
This site offers a brief guide to understanding and writing an abstract.
Writing Up Research: The Abstract
Asian Institute of Technology, AIT Extension
This site presents a guide to writing abstracts, including common problems, the differences between abstracts and introductions, and two sample abstracts.
acknowledgement letters
Correspondence
Career Center, Pennsylvania State University
This site offers the correspondence section of Career Recruitment Media, Inc.'s Placement Manual with tips on how to write cover letters, thank-you letters, and other types of job search correspondence.
Sample Business Letters
4hb.com
This Entrepreneur's "For Home Business" Information Web site, sponsored by Capella Systems Group, Inc., has an alphabetical listing of over 550 sample business letters covering a wide range of needs and situations.
adjustment letters
Business Letter Writing: Claim Adjustment Letters
About.com
Part of the Homework Help Web site, this page, presented by Kenneth Beare, is designed to help the student of English as a second language understand typical business correspondence in English by offering sample letters.
appendixes
Appendices
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
Part of a site featuring writing guidelines for science and engineering students, this Web page covers laboratory reports in general and includes an explanation of appendices and a sample appendix link.
Appendices
Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, University of the West of England, Bristol
This Web page offers a guide to the form, content, and style of student project reports and includes a section on appendices.
Appendixes
The Technical Report
On this site, author B. Barclay presents notes on how to handle an appendix.
brochures
Eight Sure-Fire Steps to Better Brochures
RMR & Associates, Inc.
Part of the RMR Marketing Advisor Web site, this Web page offers eight techniques designed to make brochures more successful.
How to Make a Super Brochure or Mailing Piece
PrintingForLess.com
This site offers eleven tips for making brochures and mailers more effective.
Sample Brochures
Debra Jason, The Write Direction
This Web site supporting a small freelance marketing consultant's business offers samples of her marketing products including brochures, mailers, catalogs, and newsletters.
Ten Tips for Better Brochures
The Write Concept, Inc.
This site presents ten tips for creating more effective brochures.
complaint letters
Business Correspondence: Complaint and Adjustment Letters
Online Technical Writing, David A. McMurrey, Author
The business correspondence section of an online textbook for technical writing by author David A. McMurrey, this site offers tips for writing complaint and adjustment letters including links to annotated example letters.
correspondence
Business Writing
Language Centre, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
A self-help-style online leaflet directed at ESL students, this site offers guidance and tips related to business writing.
Correspondence: Letters and Memos
Professor Jeffrey Lockledge, Wayne State College of Engineering
This site offers a succinct guide to all aspects of writing business letters, memos, and e-mail messages
Writing Business Letters That Get the Job Done
Writing Help Central
Shawn Fawcett offers advice on writing business letters on this site.
 
cover letters
Cover Letters and Business Correspondence
Weston Career Resources Center, Washington University
Sponsored by the Olin School of Business, this career resources site is geared toward the job seeker, offering advice about and samples of cover letters and thank-you letters.
description
Methods of Development—Description
English Department, San Antonio College
This Web site offers a review of the description method of development taken from Aristotle's writings.
Writing Descriptions
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a discussion of principles, conventions, and strategies for writing descriptions.
executive summaries
Executive Summaries
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This site offers a comprehensive overview of executive summaries, including examples and links to additional resources.
Executive Summaries Complete the Report
C. Jay Christensen, California State University, Northridge
This site presents online class materials covering all aspects of writing an executive summary.
feasibility reports
Comparative Feasibility Report Outline
Northern Illinois University English Department
This site features an outline for a comparative feasibility report.
formal reports
Formal Reports
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
Part of the online Writing Guidelines for Engineering and Science Students workbook, this site features a discussion of different types of formal reports and links to samples.
Writing Formal Reports
Technical Writing Center, Washington University in St. Louis
James C. Ballard's helpful article, which is a lighthearted but serious guide to all aspect of writing formal reports, is available on this Web site.
Writing Formal Reports
School of Business, Clayton College and State University
This site features an outline for a formal business report.
global communication
Intercultural Communication
Pellissippi State Technical Community College
This site offers insights on the difficulties of translating connotative versus denotative meanings across languages. The material is summarized from Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others by Steven A. Beebe, Susan J. Beebe, and Mark V. Redmond.
Intercultural Press, Inc.
Intercultural Press is a source of publications aimed at specific cultures and covering a wide variety of subjects, from cross-cultural theory to international business.
Country Studies
The Library of Congress
This site presents information on the economic, social, and political institutions of over 100 countries and regions.
Universal Usability in Practice: Users from Other Cultures than the U.S.
Eiman M. Elnahrawy, Author, University of Maryland
This site features an article on recommendations and guidelines for Web-site developers about accommodating diverse users, in particular, users from cultures other than the U.S.
International Affairs Resources
The WWW Virtual Library
This well-organized portal provides access to over 2,000 selected and annotated links.
headers and footers
Sections, Section Breaks, Headers and Footers
The Social Law Library, Boston, MA
This legal resources site sponsors a link to the Microsoft Word® "Legal User's Guide." This section of the guide explains how to use the sections, section breaks, and headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
Word Tips and Tricks: Headers and Footers
Department of Technical Communication, University of Washington
This site offers tips and tricks for using the headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
Word Tips Online Answers: Headers and Footers
Discovery Computing, Inc.
This site features links to various articles about using the headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
indexing
Creating an Index
Klariti
This site offers technical documentation, online help, and business writing services including this guide to creating an index.
Creating an Index in Word 97
Academic Computing and Communications Center, University of Illinois at Chicago
This online handout describes how to create an index in Microsoft Word 97.
 
inquiries and responses
Business Correspondence—Inquiry Letters
Online Technical Writing, David A. McMurrey, Author
The business correspondence section of an online textbook for technical writing by author David A. McMurrey, this site offers tips for writing inquiry letters and includes samples.
instructions
How to Write Instructions
Dr. Mary Ellen Guffy, Author
This site offers student-oriented step-by-step guidelines for writing an effective set of instructions.
Online Technical Writing: Instructions
Elizabeth City State University
This site features tips for writing and formatting a set of step-by-step instructions.
international correspondence
Communication Across Cultures: Lecture Handouts and Related Links
Dr. Daradirek "Gee" Ekachai, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
This site provides links to lecture handouts on the topic of intercultural communication.
Google International Business and Trade Directory
This is an excellent starting point for searching the Web for information related to customs, communication, and international standards.
International Netiquette
Leith O'Malley, Netiquette Guide
A simple and friendly guide to etiquette on the Internet, this site discusses some issues that cross cultures such as contact information, humor, and ethnocentrism.
investigative reports
Investigative Report Tips for Private Investigators
Council of International Investigators (CII)
On this site, Robert Hyman offers three steps plus additional tips for writing a professional, easy-to-understand investigative report.
Investigative Report Writing
The Private Investigator's Mall
Leilani F. Canella presents 12 tips on how to write a clear, professional investigative report.
job descriptions
Guide to Writing Job Descriptions
Personnel Department, UCLA
This site offers guidelines and resources for analyzing jobs and writing job descriptions.
Guidelines for Writing Job Descriptions
Human Resources, Rice University
This Web page offers succinct guidelines for defining the essential elements of a job and writing a job description.
Writing Job Descriptions for Small Businesses
Ohio State University
This university fact sheet written by James R. Lindner explains job analysis and offers a sample job description.
laboratory reports
Instructions for Writing Laboratory Reports
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, University of Georgia
This site offers a brief and clear outline for writing a lab report.
Lab Reports
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Jennie Skerl presents this online handout describing a generally applicable format for lab reports.
Laboratory Reports
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
Part of an online writing guide for engineering and science students, this Web page presents a commonly used organization for laboratory reports including written samples of each report section discussed.
Writing Lab Reports and Scientific Papers
Joe Landsberger, University of St. Thomas
This online guide to writing lab reports reviews the basic format with an explanation of the essentials within each report section.
literature reviews
How to Write a Literature Review
SportScience
This site features an article by Will G. Hopkins outlining how to write a literature review for scientific journals. The article itself is in the form of a literature review so that it can also be used as an example.
Writing a Psychology Literature Review
Psychology Writing Center, University of Washington
This site features concise and comprehensive step-by-step information on how to write a literature review in the field of psychology.
Writing Literature Reviews
University Libraries, The Pennsylvania State University
The online course materials on this site provide links to guidelines for writing literature reviews and links to sample models.
manuals
How to Write Usable User Documentation
Department of Computer Science, California Polytechnic State University
John L. Massa presents this online tutorial designed to teach students how to create a module of usable user documentation.
LiveManuals.com
e-SIM, Ltd.
This site offers thousands of user manuals for consumer products.
Successful Instruction Manuals
Right Words, New Zealand Limited
The Web site for Right Words, a communications consulting company, features an outline of what makes an instruction manual successful.
mathematical equations
Equations in Text
Dr. Ronald B. Standler, Attorney
This site includes a review of several simple and often overlooked rules on how to gracefully include equations in text.
meetings
Conducting Business Meetings Online
Robin Nobles, Author
This online article reviews software and Web sites that facilitate online business meetings.
memos
How to Write Memos!
English Works!, Gallaudet University
This site offers an online handout with tips on writing memos excerpted from Quick, Take This Memo by Neil Chesanow.
Memos
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Dan Murphy presents this online handout describing the format, content, and style of the memo.
When Should You Write Memos?
Department of Agricultural Information Science and Education, Mississippi State University
This site features a short list of situations delineating when a memo is and is not appropriate.
minutes of meetings
Keeping Board Minutes
About.com
Stan Hutton offers tips on the essentials of taking minutes at board meetings.
Minute Writing—A Guide for Clerks
The Official Cardiff Council Web site
This site features a detailed guide to the principles and concepts of writing minutes at meetings.
Taking Meeting Minutes
MeetingWizard.com
This site features tips and advice for taking thorough and professional meeting minutes.
newsletter articles
Writing Newsletter Articles
A Promotion Guide
Part of a Web site that offers a free step-by-step promotional tutorial, this page features a discussion of how to write articles designed for publication in newsletters that can help promote a business or Web site.
newsletters
Checklist Will Make for More Effective Newsletter
Stephen Wilbers, Author
Columnist Stephen Wilbers offers this checklist outlining essential points to include when writing a newsletter.
How to Write Newsletters That Get Results: Email Newsletter Essentials
Stephen Brown, Author
This downloadable e-book written by Stephen Brown offers techniques for writing newsletters that work.
Newsletter Design Tips
About.com
On this site, Judy Litt offers links to resources for designing newsletters.
Tips on Email Newsletters
Digital-Women.com
This Web site offers a "how to" article by Debbie Buxton on how to write e-mail newsletters.
presentations
Effective Presentations
The University of Kansas Medical Center
Jeff Radel offers links to resources for developing a good oral or poster presentation as well as links to resources for putting together effective presentations, both oral and written.
Presentation Tips and Suggestions
Los Alamos National Laboratory and the University of California
This site offers a brief list of ideas for what to include in classroom presentations to make them more interesting and links to Web pages with guidelines for implementing some of those ideas.
Presentations
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This online handout written by Molly Brown offers guidelines for a systematic approach to preparing presentations.
press releases
Dr. Randall Hansen's Guide to Writing Successful Press Releases
Department of Marketing, Stetson University
This site features links to resources designed to help users write better press releases for the promotion of new Web sites or to make any kind of promotional campaign more effective.
Press Release Pointers: Writing and Sending Press Releases
InfoScavenger Communications, Inc.
This site offers tips for writing and sending press releases.
Press-Release-Writing.com
A service of Accurate Online Solutions, this Web site includes tips, samples, and resources for writing press releases.
Writing Press Releases
The Write Market
This Web site features links to various online articles on how to create effective press releases.
Writing Releases
IT Journalist.com
On this site, journalist and copywriter Danny Bradbury offers a simple but effective outline for writing press releases.
process explanation
The Process Essay
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a discussion of the so-called process essay, the writing project often assigned in college classes that asks students to describe how to do something or tell how something happens. A sample essay is included on the site.
Writing a Process Essay
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of the process essay, including an essay sample, written by Heidi Everett and revised for LEO by Judith Kilborn.
progress and activity reports
Guidelines for Writing a Progress Report
English Department, Northern Illinois University
This site features an outline of a pattern to follow for a progress report as well as a link to a sample report.
Progress Reports
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech
Part of an online writing guide for engineering and science students, this Web page presents a description of the segments usually included in a progress report.
Progress/Activity Reports
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Wilkes University
This Web site lists the elements that make up the purpose and content of progress or activity reports.
proposals
Engineering Proposals
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This page of an online writing guide offers links to helpful resources for understanding and writing different types of engineering proposals.
National Science Foundation Grant Proposal Guide
This Web site's online brochure provides guidance for the preparation of unsolicited proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF), a resource that would be helpful for anyone preparing a grant proposal.
A Practical Guide for Writing Proposals
This site features English and educational technology instructor Alice Reid's article on composing a proposal.
Proposals
Engineering Communication Centre, the University of Toronto
This online document presents the basics of proposals.
SalesProposals.com
SalesProposals.com specializes in designing sales proposals and providing consulting services. Their aim is to offer the most authoritative Web site on the subject of sales proposals.
questionnaires
A Brief Guide to Questionnaire Development
Office of Measurement and Research Service, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
This site features the online version of a booklet, written by Robert B. Frary, that identifies some of the more prevalent problems in questionnaire development and suggests ways of avoiding them.
Guide to Questionnaires and Surveys
Sociologist Frédéric D'Astous's personal Web site offers information related to the creation of surveys and questionnaires.
How to Put Questionnaires on the Internet
Department of Psychology, University of Plymouth
Dr. Paul Kenyon offers this step-by-step guide to posting questionnaires on the Internet.
KnowThis.com's Marketing Virtual Library
From Professor Paul Christ of West Chester University of Pennsylvania, this is a subject directory of sites related to marketing, market research, and much more.
Marketing Power.com
American Marketing Association
This Web site offers resources for marketing professionals including a career center, newsletter, marketer's toolkit, and articles on marketing practices.
Research Methods Resources on the WWW: Questionnaires
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia
This Web site offers links to a wide range of resources related to developing and using questionnaires.
reference letters
A Few Tips on How to Write a Letter of Recommendation
Monster.com
The Monster.com online career center offers tips on what to include in a recommendation letter as well as links to a few sample letters.
Letters of Recommendation: Requesting References
About.com
This Web page, presented by Alison Doyle, offers advice on whom to ask for letters of recommendation and how to ask for them.
Letters of Recommendation: Writing Reference Letters
About.com
This Web page, presented by Alison Doyle, offers advice on writing reference letters.
refusal letters
Letters Concerning Employment
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site features advice on writing the various letters a job applicant may need to write. The ideas are adapted from Business Writing Strategies and Samples by Jeanne W. Halpern, Judith M. Kilborn, and Agnes Lokke.
Preparing Your Résumé and Cover Letter
Career Services, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
This career resource Web site offers guidelines for writing a résumé, cover letter, and other documents required in a job search.
Rejection of Job Offer
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers advice on when and how to write a letter rejecting a job offer.
reports
Organizing Information in Written Reports
The Management Assistance Program for Non-Profits
This site features advice by consultant Deane Gradous on how to use headings and organize information in various types of reports.
OWL at Purdue University: Writing a Report
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a comprehensive overview of how to write a research report.
Writing Business Reports
On-Line Business Learning Centre
This Web site offers a brief discussion of the components of a formal report.
Writing Formal Reports
Bill Moon, School of Business, Clayton College & State University
This online handout is an outline for a formal report.
Writing Informal Reports
Dr. Janice Tovey, Department of English, East Carolina University
This Web site features tips for writing an informal report.
specifications
Business and Contracting Opportunities
U.S. Government Printing Office
The Business and Contracting Opportunities portion of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) Web site provides detailed military and nonmilitary specifications.
tables of contents
How to Create a Table of Contents in Word
Microsoft.com
This online application note describes how to create a table of contents in a
Microsoft Word® document.
How to Design a Table of Contents
New Architect, CMP Media, LLC
This online article by Web-site designer Steve Toub offers insight into effective table of contents design for Web sites.
Explore Tables of Contents in Word 2002
Microsoft.com
This page of the Microsoft Office Assistance Center Web site offers tips and support information for creating tables of contents using Microsoft Word 2002 software.
test reports
Notes on Writing Technical Reports
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Queensland
This Web site features an overview of what to include in each section of a technical report.
trade journal articles
Articles for Journals and Trade Magazines
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
This Web site, designed for Pacific Northwest Laboratory personnel, outlines steps for preparing an article for publication in journals and trade magazines. Much of the information is universally applicable and helpful.
Popular Magazines vs. Trade Magazines vs. Scholarly Journals
Colorado State University Libraries
This site, designed for student researchers, features a list of general criteria that can be used to distinguish between popular magazines, trade magazines, and scholarly journals.
Writing Journal Articles
Writing Skills for the Tax Professional, Georgia State University
This site features guidelines for preparing a tax-related manuscript for journal publication. The steps can apply to anyone preparing an article for publication.
trip reports
Conference Trip Reports by Jakob Nielsen
Dr. Jakob Nielsen, also known as the "king of usability" because of his knowledge and experience regarding what makes a good Web site, features his own conference trip reports on this Web site.
Trip Report: Nader's Conference on Microsoft
This site features a listserve entry of a conference trip report.
trouble reports
Consumer Product Safety Commission Reports on Amusement Park Rides
This Web site offers links to technical reports published by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
OSHA: Fatal Facts Accident Reports
Occupational Safety & Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
This Web site offers links to OSHA accident reports.
 
usability testing
Resources for Web Design and Usability Testing
Roger Williams University
Information Resources librarian Susan McMullen has compiled this Web site of resources and links for Web design and usability testing.
Tips for International Usability Testing
Ansgar Kupper, senior consultant with Systems Concepts, offers tips for carrying out successful usability testing.
Usability.gov
National Cancer Institute
This Web site provides current information on how to make health-related information Web sites and other user interfaces more usable, accessible, and useful.
Usability Testing in Practice
Web Developer's Virtual Library
This site features a report by Andrew Starling on how Web usability is tested in practice.
Usability Testing: What Is It?
Online Reading Room, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
This online technical writing handout, written by Dennis G. Jerz, covers strategies for testing usability.
What Is Usability Testing?
Information & Design, Melbourne, Australia
This site features a succinct overview of usability testing.
 
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Finding a Job

acceptance/refusal letters (for employment)
Acceptance/Refusal Letters
Trustee Center for Professional Development, Hartwick College
This site offers tips on writing cover letters for job seekers, including acceptance and refusal letters, with outlines of each.
Deciding on a Job Offer
PE Technicon, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
With self-help advice for job seekers, this site presents an overview of how to evaluate a job offer and decide whether to accept or decline it. The site includes sample acceptance and refusal letters.
application letters
About Cover Letters
JobStar
Part of a job resource Web site, this page offers tips on writing cover letters and includes links to sample cover letters and cover letter resources on the Web.
Dynamic Cover Letters Tutorial
QuintCareers.com
An interactive tutorial on how to write cover letters, including lots of samples, is available on this Web site.
Cover Letters
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This Web site offers an electronic handout with guidelines for writing cover letters.
Cover Letters
CareerCity.com
Cover letter tips and samples are available on this job resource Web site.
Cover Letters: How to Sell Yourself
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips on how to write a successful cover letter and includes a sample letter.
interviewing for a job
Guide to Job Interviewing Resources
QuintCareers.com
Quintessential Careers lists their top picks for helpful Internet sites related to making the best of a job interview.
Interview
CareerCity
This Web site for job seekers offers advice on everything from what to wear to a job interview to what to do once the interview is over.
The Job Interview
Mapping-Your-Future
This site lists five steps the job seeker can follow to prepare for an interview.
Job-Interview.net
This site offers a wide range of tips and resources to help the job seeker prepare for a job interview.
Job Interviewing
About.com
Dawn Rosenberg McKay "gets down to the basics" in this article outlining how to prepare for and succeed in a job interview.
job search
America's Job Bank
This site features a job bank and career tools for job seekers.
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder.com is an online job bank and recruitment service site.
CareerWeb
Partnered with the nationwide print publication The Employment Guide, CareerWeb is an online recruiting site, bringing job seekers and employers together.
College Grad Job Hunter
CollegeGrad.com is an Internet job search service for college students and recent graduates.
Finding a Job and Evaluating a Job Offer
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
Part of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, this site offers tips for job seekers.
Graduating Engineer & Computer Careers Online
Career Recruitment Media, Inc.
Graduating Engineer Online is a career and information center for young engineering and computer science majors starting their careers.
HotJobs
HotJobs.com, a subsidiary of Yahoo, offers this job search site as well as recruiting solutions and software for employers.
Monster
Monster.com is a global online network with resources for linking job seekers with careers.
resignation letters or memos
The Complete Guide to Resigning
Portland Intelligence, Ltd.
This Web site specializes in everything one needs to know in order to resign from a job, from letter writing to arranging financial matters.
Sample Thank You and Resignation Letters
International Executive Search
This site features a sample resignation letter and other job letter tips.
Writing a Resignation Letter
Rocky Mountain Jobs
This site features J. Steven Niznik's advice on what to include in a resignation letter as well as links to sample letters.
résumés
Five Tips for Better Résumé Writing
Dummies.com, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Sponsored by the Dummies book series publishers, this Web site offers tips on writing and designing a résumé.
How to Write a Résumé
Work Source Walla Walla Partners
This job resource Web site offers guidelines on putting a resume together, including tips on what to include, what to avoid, and how to package everything together.
Rebecca Smith's eRésumés & Resources
Online résumé guru Rebecca Smith offers this Web site featuring links to résumés of all kinds posted on the Web.
Soulis' Career/Job/Résumé Pages
Soulis.com, An Internet Directory
This job-search resource site offers dozens of links to Web-based job banks and résumé-writing tips.
salary negotiations
Average Entry Level Salaries for Graduates with Engineering and Computer Degrees
This site's list of average entry-level salaries for recent college graduates with engineering and computer degrees is presented by Career Recruitment Media, Inc.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal fact-finding agency for the federal government in the field of labor economics and statistics. This Web site offers myriad resources related to the work of the bureau including statistical data on wages, earnings, and benefits nationwide.
Negotiations, Collegegrad.com
This Web site is one of the top Internet job-search resource sites specifically designed for college students and recent college graduates. This page offers information on how to negotiate job terms such as salary and benefits.
Salary.com
This Web site was created to inform and educate people with the latest information on compensation and benefits. It includes a searchable salary database arranged by job type and calculation wizards for salary and financial planning.
Salary Center, Monster.com
Monster.com's Web site on salaries offers tips for job seekers on how to negotiate salary terms.
Wageweb.com
Human Resources Programs Development and Improvement, Richmond, VA
This Web site offers online salary information on over 170 benchmark positions and is designed to keep employers informed of salary rates.
 
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Workplace Technology

e-mail
Attachments
Information Technology Services, Yale University
This site offers answers to questions about sending e-mail attachments. Some information is specific to the Yale University community, but most is generally applicable.
Email Attachments
Department of Information Technology, Amherst College
This "help" site offers a friendly, step-by-step guide to handling e-mail attachments.
Email: How to Write Effectively
Kaitlin Duck Sherwood, Author
This site offers a guide to writing effective e-mail including how to approach such issues as page layout, gestures, and intonation.
Netiquette
Virginia Shea, Author
This site offers the online version of Netiquette, a book devoted to providing guidelines for proper conduct in cyberspace.
fax
Creating and Sending a Fax with Microsoft Word 2002
Microsoft Corporation
This page from the Microsoft Office Assistance Center offers information on using Word® to help you create and send a fax.
FAQ: How Can I Send a Fax from the Internet?
Savetz.com
Freelance computer and technology journalist Kevin Savetz authored this online document answering frequently asked questions about how to send faxes over the Internet.
Junkfaxes.org
Robert H. Braver, Sponsor
This Web site offers information on various junk fax senders as an aid to the recipients, including a searchable database, as well as links to news and resources related to junk fax laws.
Internet
Measuring the Net
T & D Limitless Web, Ltd.
This Web page features links to sites containing statistics and demographics about the Internet including the estimated size of the net, usage, and information about its users.
Internet research
Bartleby.com
This site provides users with access to electronic versions of the Columbia Encyclopedia; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language; Roget's II: The New Thesaurus; Bartlett's Familiar Quotations; and a number of standard reference works.
Evaluating Web Resources, Widener University
Wolfgram Memorial Library
Jan Alexander and Marsha Tate created this Web module that provides links to materials to assist in teaching students how to evaluate the informational content of Web resources. The site also provides a bibliography of materials on applying critical thinking techniques to Web resources.
Evaluating Web Site Content
Study Guides and Strategies, University of St. Thomas
This site provides a good overview of information about how to evaluate Web sites along with links to Web sites related to Web evaluation.
Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask and Strategies for Getting Answers
UC Berkeley
This site provides a breakdown of the information available on Web sites that can help a user evaluate whether the source is legitimate, timely, reliable, or biased.
Lookoff.com
Lookoff.com is an entire site devoted to helping users navigate the Internet using the advanced tools and techniques that experts use. This section of the site has links to thousands of search engines organized by topic.
Research Tools
iTools
This site allows users to search various reference sites of general information such as encyclopedias, biographies, telephone area codes, trademarks, and quotations—all from one search screen.
Search Engine Watch
This site provides up-to-date information about search engines—classifying, evaluating, and summarizing the current features of each.
Why We Need to Evaluate What We Find on the Internet, Purdue University
D. Scott Brandt, Associate Professor, Purdue University
This site features an overview of criteria for evaluating Web site content presented in an outline format.
Web design
DRM Web Watcher
Disability Resources, Inc.
This site offers links to resources that will help users make their Web pages more accessible to those with disabilities.
Mike Markel's Web Design Tutorial
Bedford/St. Martin's
This tutorial provides a concise overview of the process of creating a Web site, introduces important design principles to consider during site design, and presents sample Web pages for analysis.
Multimedia Design for the World Wide Web
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
This site offers tips for visual layout and media usage in Web-site design.
NetLingo Web Page Color Select
NetLingo, Inc.
This Web design coloring book site allows users to try out text and background colors before choosing them for their own Web site.
word processing and writing
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe's Web site offers free Acrobat Reader software downloads as well as product resources and support.
Microsoft Word Legal User's Guide
Microsoft Corporation
The Microsoft Word® "Legal User's Guide" contains step-by-step instructions to help legal users accomplish the tasks necessary to build robust legal documents in Microsoft Word 97 or Microsoft Word 2000.
Word Processing Tips
Way to Write!, The University of Calgary
This page of an interactive guide to writing offers tips for using word-processing functions when revising.
Writing with Computers
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site discusses the specific ways word-processing software can aid writers' efforts in all aspects of the writing process.
writing for the Web
The Internet Writing Guide
Written by Timothy Campbell, this online guide provides basic information about writing online.
W3schools.com
At this site you will find a large number of free Web-building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML tutorials, to advanced XML, XSL, and WAP tutorials.
Web Style Guide
Information Technology Services-Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine
This site features an online version of the Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton.
Writing Effective Web Pages
Study Guides and Strategies, University of St. Thomas
This site suggests what to avoid and what rules to follow when writing a Web page.
 
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Planning and Research


audience
Audience and Purpose
Writing Center, California State University, Los Angeles
This site offers brief tips on how to think about audience and focus in different types of writing situations.
Audience and Purpose
The Guide, SUNY Geneseo
Part of an online writing guide offering advice and information about the process and product of writing, this site covers audience and purpose in academic essays.
How Audience and Purpose Affect Focus
Writing Center, Colorado State University
The Writing@CSU site offers writing help and guidance in an online textbook format. This Web page directs the user to various discussions on the roles of audience and purpose in essay writing.
bibliographies
How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
Cornell University
Part of a hypertext guide to library research, this site presents a succinct guide to writing an annotated bibliography.
brainstorming
Brainstorming
Creativity Web, Charles Cave, Author
This site offers a brief discussion of brainstorming, including rules.
The Step by Step Guide to Brainstorming
Jeffrey Baumgartner, Author, JPB Creative Co., Ltd.
This site offers practical steps to follow in a brainstorming session.
copyright
Ten Big Myths About Copyright Explained
Brad Templeton, Author
This site presents an essay on copyright myths written by the man who introduced the "dot" in "dot.com" addresses.
Title 17—Copyrights
Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
Users can access the full text of Title 17 on this U.S. Code Collection site.
Understanding Business Communication and Copyright Laws
GigaLaw.com
This site offers an article, written by attorney Doug Isenberg, on copyright law as it pertains to business correspondence.
US Copyright Office
The Library of Congress
This official Web site of the U.S. copyright office offers a variety of resources and links related to copyright law, licensing, and policy.
documenting sources
American Chemical Society
Chemistry.org
This Web site offers a multitude of resources to chemistry educators and students including links to databases such as ChemResourceNews, which features searchable research articles on the sciences.
American Geological Institute
AGIWEB
This site is an information resource for geologists, geophysicists, and other earth scientists. The site includes links to searchable databases of articles and resources of interest to geological science students and teachers.
American Institute of Physics
Aip.org
The AIP Web site is a comprehensive information resource for scientists, educators, and students working in the fields of physics, astronomy, and related sciences. The site includes links to the organization's member societies and a wide variety of online research sources.
American Mathematical Society
Ams.org
This Web site provides wide-ranging information resources for mathematicians, math teachers and students, including links to research databases, journals and reference tools.
American Medical Association
Ama~assn.org
This Web site offers links to timely information, research databases, medical education and ethics, journals, and much more relating to issues of health in America.
American Psychological Association
APA Online
Part of APA Online, the APAStyle.org site offers APA style tips on current issues such as how to cite electronic references and removing bias in language.
Council of Science Editors
This web site serves members in the scientific, scientific publishing, and information science communities by providing links to reference information useful to editors, other professional societies, a member directory, and job bank.
Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online
Bedford/St. Martin's
This user-friendly, comprehensive web site offers links to electronic research databases, organized by discipline, coupled with links to Diana Hacker's handbook so that the user can both find research sources and get guidance on how to document those sources.
Modern Languages Association
Mla.org
The professional organization supporting the study and teaching of language and literature, the MLA also publishes the MLA Style Manual and the MLA Bibliography. Information about both resources is available on this Web site.
National Information Standards Organization
Niso.org
NISO identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information and it is the only standards organization to make its standards freely available on the Web.
United States Government Printing Office
The United States GPO produces and distributes federal government information products. The Web site offers information and resources for obtaining these products.
United States Government Printing Office Style Manual
This Web page accesses an online version of the style manual used by the United States Government Printing Office.
University of Chicago Press
The Chicago Manual of Style
This site offers a question-and-answer style online version of The Chicago Manual of Style indexed alphabetically for user-friendly browsing.
Internet research
Bartleby.com
This site provides users with access to electronic versions of the Columbia Encyclopedia; The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language; Roget's II: The New Thesaurus; Bartlett's Familiar Quotations; and a number of standard reference works.
Evaluating Web Resources, Widener University
Wolfgram Memorial Library
Jan Alexander and Marsha Tate created this Web module that provides links to materials to assist in teaching students how to evaluate the informational content of Web resources. The site also provides a bibliography of materials on applying critical thinking techniques to Web resources.
Evaluating Web Site Content
Study Guides and Strategies, University of St. Thomas
This site provides a good overview of information about how to evaluate Web sites along with links to Web sites related to Web evaluation.
Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Ask and Strategies for Getting Answers
UC Berkeley
This site provides a breakdown of the information available on Web sites that can help a user evaluate whether the source is legitimate, timely, reliable, or biased.
Lookoff.com
Lookoff.com is an entire site devoted to helping users navigate the Internet using the advanced tools and techniques that experts use. This section of the site has links to thousands of search engines organized by topic.
Research Tools
iTools
This site allows users to search various reference sites of general information such as encyclopedias, biographies, telephone area codes, trademarks, and quotations—all from one search screen.
Search Engine Watch
This site provides up-to-date information about search engines—classifying, evaluating, and summarizing the current features of each.
Why We Need to Evaluate What We Find on the Internet, Purdue University
D. Scott Brandt, Associate Professor, Purdue University
This site features an overview of criteria for evaluating Web site content presented in an outline format.
interviewing for information
Informational Interviewing
DANEnet, Madison, WI
This site lists steps to take and possible questions to ask in preparing for and conducting an informational interview.
Qualitative Interviewing
Professor Monika Ardelt, University of Florida
This site features course materials outlining how to conduct qualitative interviewing including how to establish rapport, guide the interview, make field observations, and ask questions that are especially suited to life-history interviews.
Research Interviewing
Office of the Director of Research, Deakin University
This downloadable online training module offers a comprehensive discussion of effective research-interviewing practices.
Research Methods Resources on the WWW: Quantitative & Qualitative Interviewing
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia
This Web site offers links to various resources and articles related to quantitative and qualitative interviewing.
library research
Glossary of Common Library Terms
Marriott Library, University of Utah
The alphabetized glossary on this site gives accessible definitions for selected library and computing terms that tend to be used frequently in library settings.
Google Directory of Libraries
This directory provides access to online archives, college and university libraries, and government documents.
LibDex Library Index
LibDex is a worldwide directory of library home pages and Web-based Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs).
Library of Congress
This site offers access to the online catalog holdings and special collections of the Library of Congress.
Library Terms
Auraria Library, Denver, CO
This Web site offers an alphabetical listing of some common library terms, as well as terms from related disciplines, with definitions designed to help demystify libraries and the research process.
listening
Active Listening Techniques
Poynter.org
The Poynter.org site provides journalists with reliable information, useful tools, and provocative suggestions. This page briefly outlines four types of active listening techniques.
Listening Skills
Canadian Association on Student Activity Advisors (CASAA)
This site offers a brief discussion of how facial expression and eye contact are vital to effective, active listening.
note-taking
Lecture Note Taking
Office of Academic Advising, College of Saint Benedict, Saint John's University
This site offers guidelines and tips for students taking notes in lecture classes.
Listening and Note-Taking
Study Skills Package, University of Waterloo
This site features tips on what is required to develop good listening and note-taking skills.
Note-Taking and In-Class Skills
The Division of Student Affairs and Cook Counseling Center, Virginia Tech University
This site offers advice for students who want to improve their note-taking skills.
Taking Meeting Notes on Your Pocket PC
Microsoft.com
This site features Brad Adrian's article on how to use a pocket PC to keep track of meeting details.
paraphrasing
Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers tips on how to borrow from a source without plagiarizing.
Paraphrasing: Restating Ideas in Your Own Words
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout offers tips on when and how to paraphrase.

Quoting and Paraphrasing
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online writer's handbook offers resources for learning how to correctly and legitimately quote and paraphrase from outside sources in academic writing.
Using Paraphrases
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this brief guide to using paraphrases including examples and hints.
plagiarism
Avoiding Plagiarism
Student Judicial Affairs, University of California, Davis
This Web site offers guidelines and advice for students on how to avoid plagiarism and master ethical scholarship.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Writing Center, Hamilton College
This site offers general advice, written by Sharon Williams, for citing sources correctly and includes examples.
Plagiarism
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a discussion of plagiarism and includes links to other helpful resources for those learning to cite sources correctly.
Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington
This site's guide to plagiarism offers good examples of how to recognize acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases.
A Statement on Plagiarism
Library, Capital Community College
This student-oriented Web site features a definition of plagiarism and some examples of legitimate and inappropriate use of source text in excerpted writing.
preparation
Essay Writing—Preparation
Counseling Services, Wilfrid Laurier University
This online study-skills handout offers a step-by-step approach for preparing to write an academic essay.
Planning (Invention)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers questions and strategies to help writers generate ideas and context when planning an essay. The site includes links to other helpful resources.
purpose
Academic Writing: Thesis and Purpose Statements
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online writer's handbook offers examples of thesis and purpose statements.
Audience and Purpose
University Writing Center, California State University, Los Angeles
This online handout suggests ways to think about the issues of audience and purpose in academic writing.
Audience and Purpose
The Guide, State University of New York, Geneseo
This online writer's guide offers tips for addressing audience and purpose in essay assignments.
How Audience and Purpose Affect Focus
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This page of an online writing guide offers perspectives on the relationship of audience and purpose to focus in essay writing.
Writing with a Sense of Purpose
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers sample essays and commentary to help users address the problem of establishing a purpose when writing essays.
questionnaires
A Brief Guide to Questionnaire Development
Office of Measurement and Research Service, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
This site features the online version of a booklet, written by Robert B. Frary, that identifies some of the more prevalent problems in questionnaire development and suggests ways of avoiding them.
Guide to Questionnaires and Surveys
Sociologist Frédéric D'Astous's personal Web site offers information related to the creation of surveys and questionnaires.
How to Put Questionnaires on the Internet
Department of Psychology, University of Plymouth
Dr. Paul Kenyon offers this step-by-step guide to posting questionnaires on the Internet.
KnowThis.com's Marketing Virtual Library
From Professor Paul Christ of West Chester University of Pennsylvania, this is a subject directory of sites related to marketing, market research, and much more.
Marketing Power.com
American Marketing Association
This Web site offers resources for marketing professionals including a career center, newsletter, marketer's toolkit, and articles on marketing practices.
Research Methods Resources on the WWW: Questionnaires
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia
This Web site offers links to a wide range of resources related to developing and using questionnaires.
quotations
Effectively Using Direct Quotations
Writing Center, University of Richmond
This Web site features brief guidelines for the correct use of long, short, partial, or altered quotations in essays.
Indirect Quotations
Presented by Lucy Silver, this grammar reference Web site designed for students and teachers of English or ESL features examples of indirect quotations.
Making Quotes
Presented by Lucy Silver, this grammar reference Web site designed for students and teachers of English or ESL features examples of direct quotations.
MLA Quotations
Community College of Southern Nevada
This online handout offers a review of MLA style rules for using and citing quotations.
Using Literary Quotations: Clarity and Readability: Some Guidelines
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online writer's handbook offers tips for weaving quotations smoothly and correctly into essays.
readers
Analyze Readers
Department of Computer Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This Web site offers techniques for writing with a clear, strategic sense of your readers.
Analyzing the Writing Situation
Department of English, University of Idaho
Phil Druker presents this online handout with a list of questions about audience and purpose that writers should consider before beginning an essay.
Readers Versus Audience
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This site features a brief perspective written by Steve Reid on how to write in a manner that makes the reader's experience more meaningful.
research
Diana Hacker's Research and Documentation Online
Bedford/St. Martin's
This research resource Web site based on Diana Hacker's handbook offers excellent links to research databases and documentation guidelines.
Primary Research
Information Skills Tutorial, University of Toronto
This Web site features a brief definition and discussion of primary research.
Repositories of Primary Sources
University of Idaho Library
This Web site offers a listing of over 4,900 Web sites describing holdings of manuscripts, archives, rare books, historical photographs, and other primary sources for the research scholar.
Research Strategies: Finding Your Way Through the Information Fog, A Textbook by William Badke
The online version of Badke's research textbook, this site offers lots of hands-on examples and visual aids to help the user through the research process.
Secondary Market Research
Lycos, Inc.
This site features a brief article on market research used by small businesses.
Suggested Internet Research Strategies
Ronald W. Kriesel offers this online tutorial on successful Internet research strategies, including tips and techniques.
scope
Focus
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This section of an online writing guide covers ways to achieve focus in writing.
Writing a Research Paper: Scope
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a discussion of how to do preliminary research and refine an essay topic.
selecting the medium
What Is Your Medium of Advertising?
Saint Roch Tree Technologies
This site features an article by Cheryline Lawson on the importance of finding the right targeted advertising medium for any particular business.
topics
Developing Research Topics
Library Services, Austin Community College
This Web site offers a step-by-step guide to selecting topics for papers and speeches and beginning research.
Working with Topics
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This section of an online writing guide covers how to arrive at, work with, and narrow topics for essay projects.
 
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Organization, Writing, and Revision

biased language
Avoiding Gender Bias in Pronouns
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of biased versus gender-free language, written by Sharon Cogdill and Judith Kilborn.
Eliminating Gender-Biased Language
Georgia Learning Connections, Georgia Department of Education
This site lists guidelines for eliminating gender-biased language using illustrative examples.
cause-and-effect method of development
Cause and Effect
Learning Lab, Parkland College
Ruth Ann Vokac offers this brief overview of causal analysis in writing.
Global Warming: A Cause and Effect Writing Lesson
The Internet TESL Journal
Amy Ogasawara of Miyazaki International College offers this writing assignment designed to practice cause-and-effect skills.
Methods of Development—Cause and Effect
English Department, San Antonio College
This Web site offers a brief definition and description of cause and effect.
University Writing Skills: Cause and Effect; Reason/Result
Janet Sutherland, University of Bremen
This site offers a brief discussion of cause and effect and outlines a related writing assignment.
chronological method of development
Organizing Material According to Purpose: The Chronological Method
Harvard ManageMentor
Using an e-course interactive format, this site defines the chronological method, part of a course guide to a reader-centered approach to writing.
clarity
Clarity in Writing: Use of Articles
University of Sussex Language Institute
This site offers a brief description of points relevant to article usage and clarity in writing.
Clear Writing: Ten Principles of Clear Statement
University Extension, University of Missouri
Adapted from The Technique of Clear Writing by the Gunning-Mueller Clear Writing Institute, Inc., this site outlines ten principles that lead to clear writing.
Strategies for Improving Sentence Clarity
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips and strategies for writing effective, clear sentences.
coherence
Coherence
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips for coherent writing.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site
offers tips on making coherent transitions in writing and includes an interactive quiz.
collaborative writing
Collaborative Writing
New Century College
This online writing guide offers strategies for successful collaborative writing.
Group Work and Collaborative Writing
University of California, Davis
Brian A. Connery and John L. Vohs's online guidebook is a thoughtful and comprehensive discussion of how to use group work and collaboration to complete complex assignments such as field research, term papers, and group presentations.
Strategies for Document Sharing and Collaboration
Jon G. Houseman, Teaching Technologies
This site presents guidelines for collaborative group work including how to use technology to share, route, and collate individual input in group work situations.
conciseness/wordiness
Conciseness: Methods of Eliminating Wordiness
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers ten methods of eliminating wordiness.
conclusions
Conclusions
The Ohio State University Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing
This site presents a brief discussion of different ways to write a conclusion to an essay.
Ending the Essay: Conclusions
Writing Center, Harvard University
This site offers advice on how to conclude—and how not to conclude—an essay.
Strategies for Writing a Conclusion
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, offers suggestions and strategies for writing essay conclusions.
defining terms
Definitional Techniques
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This site presents Professor Merrill Whitburn's overview of techniques used by academic and professional writers for defining terms.
definition method of development
Developing a Definition
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides a discussion of how to develop a definition in essay writing and includes a sample student essay.
Methods of Development—Definition
English Department, San Antonio College
This Web site offers a review of the definition method of development taken from Aristotle's writings.
description
Methods of Development—Description
English Department, San Antonio College
This Web site offers a review of the description method of development taken from Aristotle's writings.
Writing Descriptions
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a discussion of principles, conventions, and strategies for writing descriptions.
division-and-classification method of development
Methods of Development—Classification (and Division)
English Department, San Antonio College
This Web site offers a brief description of the classification method of development taken from Aristotle's discussion of writing.
ethics in writing
Ethical Problems with Writing a Paper
Michael D. Mann, Ph.D., University of Nebraska Medical Center
This site offers a discussion of ethical problems associated with writing papers.
Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science
Case Western Reserve University
This comprehensive site offers engineers, scientists, and science and engineering students resources for understanding ethical problems that arise in their work.
exposition
Information About Expository Writing
Expository Writing Program, University of Michigan
This site presents a definition of expository writing, samples of organizational patterns found in exposition, and a brief rationale for why teaching expository writing is important.
forms of discourse
Seven Types of Paragraph Development
Professor Gerald Grow, Author, Florida A & M University
This site offers annotated examples of seven types of paragraph development.
general and specific method of development
Developing an Outline
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise guide to writing an outline.
Organizing Ideas
Plain Train
This Web page offers tips and advice for organizing ideas and is part of an online training course designed to improve communication skills with the use of plain language.
introductions
Getting Started
Word-Space
This site presents two possible strategies for beginning a business memo or in-house report.
Introductions
The Ohio State University Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing
This brief article discusses what is essential to an essay's introduction and ways to cope with feeling "blocked" at the beginning of a paper.
Introductions
Writing Center Online Guide, Lynchburg College
Robert Ward prepared this brief discussion of what a thesis for a paper entails and what paper introductions should do.
Introductory Paragraphs
The Writing Center, Harvard University
This Web site's outline of what should be included in an essay's introductory paragraph was adapted from The HarperCollins Guide to Writing by Sommers and Simon.
Writing Introductions
The University Writing Center, Texas Tech University
This Web site's discussion of how to write an introduction to an essay includes sample introductions following different modes of development as well as suggestions for effective introductions taken from "Writing Introductions" in Contexts: Writing and Reading by Jeanette Harris and Ann Moseley.
logic errors
Argumentation/Persuasion: Logic in Argumentative Writing
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers links to a set of online handouts that discuss common terms and concepts used in formal logical reasoning.
Common Errors of Logic in Argumentative Writing (Logical Fallacies)
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville Campus
Steve Moiles has designed this online handout that reviews and gives examples of common errors of logic in argumentative writing such as false analogy and circular reasoning.
Identifying the Argument of an Essay
Dr. Frank Edler, Metropolitan Community College
This site offers a tutorial in recognizing the logical components of an argument and thinking critically.
Stephen's Guide to Logical Fallacies
DataNation
Stephen Downes's Web site features this guide to logical fallacies, organized by category, including definitions, examples, proofs, and references for each fallacy listed.
methods of development
Audience Awareness: Methods of Development
Dr. Jan Strever, Spokane Community College
This online essay briefly describes various methods of paragraph development.
Methods of Development
English Department, San Antonio College
This site provides answers to questions about exemplification, a method of development found in Aristotle's discussion of writing.
Organizing Material According to Purpose
Deborah Dumaine, Author
From the founder of the firm Better Communications, this site about business writing includes a list of organizational methods and when to use them.
Patterns of Development
Southeastern Louisiana University
Elisabetta LeJeune's site of online course materials offers simple and accessible descriptions of various methods of development for writing.
narration
Narration
The Parkland Learning Lab, Parkland College, Champaign, IL
This site features Ruth Ann Vokac's brief overview of the elements of a narrative essay.
Methods of Development—Narration
English Department, San Antonio College
This site provides answers to questions about narration, a method of development found in Aristotle's discussion of writing.
Writing Modes
The Washington Virtual Classroom
This page of a Web-based learning module site offers brief explanations of the narrative, expository, descriptive, and persuasive modes of writing.
order-of-importance method of development
Organize Provisions in Order of Descending Importance: Exercises
The University of Chicago Press
This site features exercises on organizing points in written work taken from Legal Writing in Plain English by Bryan A. Garner.
organization
How to Effectively Organize a Paper
Writing Lab Online, Bowling Green State University
This site offers seven ideas for organizing a paper.
Organization
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This online handout offers an overview of paper organization, including strategies to help organize a paper and some common pitfalls to watch out for when organizing a paper.
Organizing Information
The Internet Public Library
Designed for high school and college students, this site offers links for resources on taking notes, outlining, and organizing information for written research projects.
Organizing Your Writing
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
Paradigm is an interactive, menu-driven, online writer's guide and handbook. This page guides the user through discussion and exercises that can help produce form and organization in writing.
Overview: Organization
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This overview site offers links to various topics on the subject of organization in writing, including what organization means, different types of organization patterns, and some expert perspectives on organization.
outlining
Basic Outlining
Lloyd Sealy Library, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
This site features a synopsis of a basic outline form, a sample outline, and links to further reading on using and writing outlines.
Getting Started: Outlining
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers advice on how to use outlines to help organize ideas for a paper.
Online Technical Writing: Planning Reports—Outlining
Online Technical Writing, David A. McMurrey, Author
The page-design section of an online textbook for technical writing by author David A. McMurrey, this site offers a detailed step-by-step guide for developing an outline for a report project and includes helpful examples and practice exercises.
Outlining
The Writing Center, Harvard University
This site features David Kornhaber's discussion of how to create detailed outlines to help devise a structure for an essay.
persuasion
The Fundamentals of Persuasive Writing
Robert W. Bly, Author
This site features an essay covering eight points essential to successful persuasive writing written by copywriter, consultant, and seminar leader Bob Bly.
Persuasive
Diane Baerwald, North Shore School District, WA
This site, geared toward primary and secondary students, features a brief outline listing the key features of persuasive essays.
Persuasive and Logical Writing
On-line Writing Lab, Utah Valley State College
This Web site offers Sandy Vogel's succinct overview of persuasive and logical writing.
Persuasive Writing
Science Academy of South Texas
Science magnet high-school teacher R.J. Riggins offers this Web site featuring a PowerPoint® presentation of simple points essential to persuasive writing.
Writing Persuasion
Darin Archer has organized the writing guidelines on this Web site including this brief outline of a strategy for approaching persuasive writing.
point of view
Consistency: Making Pronoun Point of View Consistent
Sentence Sense
This online textbook written by Evelyn Farbman and prepared for the Internet by Charles Darling offers a brief review of pronoun usage for consistent point of view.
Maintaining Objectivity
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a helpful discussion of subjective versus objective tone and point of view in writing and when to use one or the other.
proofreading
Grammar and Style: Proofreading
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online grammar and style manual features tips on proofreading.
Proofreading
The Department of English, University of Victoria
This page of an online writer's guide reviews proofreading.
Proofreading & Editing Tips
LR Communication Systems, Inc.
This Web site features a compilation of advice from experienced proofreaders and editors.
Proofreading Strategies
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers detailed strategies for proofreading geared toward student writers.
revision
Editing and Proofreading Strategies for Revision
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers strategies for proofreading for major issues and for sentence-level word issues in essays.
Revising Prose
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This online handout reviews various points that need attention when proofreading.
Revision Checklist and Editing Guidelines
University Writing Center, George Mason University
This online handout features a list of questions to ask when proofreading and a list of specific points to consider when editing essays.
sequential method of development
Organization Practice—Sequential Diagram
Learning Skills Program, University of Victoria
This online handout features an exercise in organizing material using a map or flowchart format.
spatial method of development
Organizing Material According to Purpose: The Spatial Arrangement Method
Deborah Dumaine, Author
From the founder of the firm Better Communications, this site about business writing describes the spatial arrangement method of organizing material.
Principles of Organization
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this Web page, written by John Friedlander, discusses the role of organization in effective writing.
titles
How to Write Titles
Trellix Corporation
Tips for writing titles are featured on this page of a Web site that discusses how to create good business documents in the linked, onscreen environment of intranets and the Internet.
Writing Titles
Minnesota State University
This Web site features course materials presented by Carrie Williams including this handout of 17 tasks designed to help writing students come up with strong titles for essays.
transitions
Adding Transitions
Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine
Professor Michael T. Goodrich offers a list of transitions and other tips for coherent writing gleaned from his late teacher, Dr. Tiemersma.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews four basic mechanical considerations in providing transitions between ideas and offers an interactive quiz on the material presented.
Transitions
Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center, Hamilton College
This online handout written by Philip DiGennaro offers advice on creating effective transitions.
Transitions: Signals for Your Reader
Student Learning Services, Concordia Counseling and Development, Concordia University
This Web page lists transitions and the meanings they tend to signal.
unity
Coherence and Unity
Technology Studies in Education Research Portal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This site features an online lesson handout covering coherence in writing written by F. Scott Walters.
Unity
The Writing Program, Hamilton College
This online handout offers a perspective on unity in writing as it relates to paragraph construction.
Writing Resources: Unity, Coherence, Development
Writing Center, Wheaton College
This page of an online writing guide describes how unity, coherence, and development are essential elements of an effectively written paragraph.
writing a draft
Writing First Drafts
English Works!, Gallaudet University
This Web site offers links to sites that will help users in every aspect of the process of writing a first draft.
Writing the First Draft
Writing and Tutorial Center, Pratt Institute
This online handout offers suggestions for writing first drafts of easy as well as more complicated essays.
Writing the First Draft of Your Manual
TechCom Plus
This site offers a helpful discussion of how to write the first draft of a manual.
 
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Design and Visuals

drawings
Online Technical Writing: Graphics and Visuals
Online Technical Writing, David A. McMurrey, Author
The graphics and visuals section of an online textbook for technical writing by author David A. McMurrey, this site offers tips on the use and manipulation of graphics—charts, tables, photographs, and other visuals—in written documents.
flowcharts
About Flowcharting
Flowchart.com
This Web site provides links for information on flowcharting and its use.
Effective Process Diagrams and Flow Charts
English Department, University of Maine, Orono
This Web site features support resources for students interested in technical and business writing and focuses on what it takes to create strong visuals to support that writing. The site includes links to various sample visuals.
Examples and Applications
Flowchart.com
This Web page provides links to samples of different types of flowcharts.
global graphics
Color in Graphics
ACM Siggraph
SIGGRAPH offers resources and information on the theory, design, implementation, and application of computer graphics and interactive techniques. This site offers information on using color in Web-page graphics.
Marketing to Diverse Cultures
Michael Lee, Seminars Unlimited
Michael Lee offers helpful tips on what to consider when using numbers, colors, images, and graphics when developing marketing materials for specific cultures.
Using Graphics and Pictures
Bonnie Skaalid, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan
This site offers research findings on how graphics are used and when they are useful or distracting in Web design.
graphs
Bar Graphs
LabWrite Project 2000, North Carolina State University
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the LabWrite Project is designed to help improve students' lab-report writing by offering the "how to" guidelines and related resources available on this site.
Tables and Graphs
This Web site has information on various types of tables and graphs as well as graphics and quizzes.
headers and footers
Sections, Section Breaks, Headers and Footers
The Social Law Library, Boston, MA
This legal resources site sponsors a link to the Microsoft Word® "Legal User's Guide." This section of the guide explains how to use the sections, section breaks, and headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
Word Tips and Tricks: Headers and Footers
Department of Technical Communication, University of Washington
This site offers tips and tricks for using the headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
Word Tips Online Answers: Headers and Footers
Discovery Computing, Inc.
This site features links to various articles about using the headers and footers functions in Microsoft Word.
headings
APA Documentation: Headings
Writing Center, University of Wisconsin—Madison
Part of an online writer's handbook, this site simplifies some of the complexities of using headers in APA style documentation.
Guide to Using Bullets, Numbering, Tab Stops, Headings, and Paragraph Styles in Microsoft Word®
Rick Lewis, Sandhills Community College
This site offers a step-by-step guide to using selected functions in Microsoft Word.
maps
Cartographic Information on the Web
The University of Iowa Libraries
This useful site offers links to online maps and other types of mapping/cartographic resources.
TerraServer
Microsoft Corporation
TerraServer is one of the world's largest online databases providing free public access to a vast data store of maps and aerial photographs of the United States.
U.S. Census Bureau's Mapping and Cartographic Resources
This site offers links to various U.S. cartographic resources related to the work of the Census Bureau such as census maps, geographic services, and state and county quick facts.
mathematical equations
Equations in Text
Dr. Ronald B. Standler, Attorney
This site includes a review of several simple and often overlooked rules on how to gracefully include equations in text.
organizational charts
Organizational Chart
This site features the organizational chart for Santa Clarita Manufacturing Company in Valencia, California.
photographs
Working with Photos
School of Communications, Elon University
Professor Gerald M. Gibson offers lecture notes on how to work with photos in business publications, part of a course he teaches on corporate publishing.
schematic diagrams (see drawings)

tables
How to Use Tables in Word
Advisory Services, The University of Wales, Aberystwyth
This online "how to" document describes steps to follow in order to create and edit tables in Microsoft Word®.
When and How to Use a Table in a Research Report
Laboratory Course Web Pages, Biosciences, Rice University
David R. Caprette offers this brief discussion of when and how to use tables in research reports.
visuals
Choosing Types of Visuals
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This section of an online writing guide covers how to choose charts, tables, figures, and other visuals for effective presentations.
Online Technical Writing: Graphics and Visuals
Online Technical Writing, David A. McMurrey, Author
The graphics and visuals section of an online textbook for technical writing by author David A. McMurrey, this site offers detailed tips for including graphics in technical documents.
Overview of Visuals
KCI Business Communications Skills Programs
This site offers a brief discussion of how and why visuals are important.
Technical Visuals
English Department, The University of Maine
This online handout for business, technical, and professional writing courses provides an overview of the use of visuals in technical writing.
Using Visuals
The Office of English Language and Writing Support, University of Toronto
This site, written by Rebecca A. Pinkus, features tips on creating and placing effective visuals.
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ESL Trouble Spots
adjectives
Adjectives
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers usage guidelines for adjectives as well as interactive quizzes incorporating the material presented.
What Is an Adjective?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of adjective usage including links to key terms.
agreement
Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a review of pronouns and pronoun-antecedent agreement and includes several interactive quizzes.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of pronoun-antecedent agreement, written by Maggie Escalas.
Subject-Verb Agreement
The Writing Center, City College of New York
This Web handout presents an overview of subject-verb agreement.
articles
Articles, Determiners and Quantifiers
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides succinct guidelines for understanding and using articles, determiners, and quantifiers, including an interactive quiz on the material.
Clarity in Writing: Use of Articles
University of Sussex Language Institute
This site offers a brief description of points relevant to article usage.
Online Grammar Lessons—Adjectives and Adverbs
ESLhome.org
This site provides links to online quizzes, lessons, and exercises covering adjective and adverb usage. Some links require software downloads.
The Use and Non-Use of Articles
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of article usage and includes interactive exercises.
biased language
Avoiding Gender Bias in Pronouns
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of biased versus gender-free language, written by Sharon Cogdill and Judith Kilborn.
Eliminating Gender-Biased Language
Georgia Learning Connections, Georgia Department of Education
This site lists guidelines for eliminating gender-biased language using illustrative examples.
clauses
Adverb Clauses
English Language Centre, University of Victoria
This site presents an online introduction to adverbs with links to further study and exercises.
Building Clauses
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a definition of clauses with links to more detailed information and practice exercises.
Independent and Dependent Clauses (Definitions)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers definitions of clauses and examples of usage.
comma splice
The Grammar Outlaw: The Comma Splice
English Department, Acadia University
This site offers a brief and lighthearted explanation of the comma splice.
The Infamous Comma Splice (and How to Avoid It)
The Writing Centre, University College of the Fraser Valley
This online handout reviews the comma splice and gives examples of ways to correct it.
Rules for Fixing Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
Grammar Bytes
This site reviews rules for correcting the comma splice and fused sentences, including a link to a variety of interactive grammar exercises.
Run-On Sentences, Comma Splices
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides a brief review of comma splices and run-on sentences, including several interactive quizzes.
commas
Commas, Commas, and More Commas
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This site features an online handout reviewing seven points about comma usage.
Proofreading for Commas
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips for spotting and correcting comma errors while proofreading.
Rules for Comma Usage
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides a review of comma usage and includes links to several interactive quizzes.
Using Commas
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of comma use and abuse.
double negatives
Double Negatives
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this brief overview of double negatives, including a practice exercise, written by Judith Kilborn.
Double Negatives
Professor Paul Brians, Washington State University
This site offers a brief discussion of double negatives.
English as a second language
Dave's ESL Café
Dave Sperling, Author
A virtual café for students and teachers of English as a second language, Dave Sperling's site offers comprehensive resources for the ESL community.
English as 2nd Language
About.com
This site offers a wide range of Internet resources for ESL students and teachers, including links to learning sites, games, teacher resources, chat rooms, and ESL job banks.
EnglishLearner.com
Elek Mathe, Author
This site offers interactive tests and lessons for the student of English as well as links to other ESL resources.
ESL Blue(s)
Eifion Pritchard, Author
This site offers a wide variety of interactive tests and activities designed for the intermediate-level student of English as a second language.
ESL Resources Online
Nanana.com
This site offers Internet links to ESL resources, games, songs, chat, and books. Some links, such as the interactive games, are presented in English and Japanese.
Exercise Central
Bedford/St. Martin's
The largest collection of editing exercises available online that provide practice for mastering the skills of editing grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics.
gender
Gender, Adjectives
UltraLingua.net
This site offers a brief guide to adjective usage along with links to other grammar topics.
Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ
Aether Lumina
This site, written by John Williams, features a discussion of gender-neutral alternatives to gendered pronouns.
Gender, Nouns
UltraLingua.net
This site offers a brief guide to noun usage along with links to other grammar topics.
The Gender of Nouns
The Internet Grammar of English
This site features the entry on the gender of nouns taken from The Survey of English Usage.
idioms
English Idioms: Sayings and Slang
Wayne Magnuson, Author
This site offers a searchable database of English idioms and their definitions.
Prepositional Idioms (Phrasal Verbs)
Patricia Goldstein, Author
This document is a selected list of prepositional idioms developed for The Business Writer's Handbook and the Handbook of Technical Writing by Patricia Goldstein, ESL composition instructor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
Prepositions to Use with Common Words
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout features a list of prepositions to use with common verbs, adjectives, and idiomatic expressions.
Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of verbal idioms and includes lists of separable, inseparable, and intransitive phrasal verbs.
mood (conditional)
ESL Grammar Hotline: Verb Mood
English Language Institute, University of Delaware
This site offers advice, in question-and-answer format, on the correct usage of verb forms that tend to be difficult, especially for English language students.
The Indicative and Imperative Moods
Xenos Evangelical Church, Columbus, OH
This site features a brief discussion of verb mood in relation to scripture and excerpted examples of the imperative and indicative mood in biblical writing.
Verbs: Conditional Mood
Word One, The Word Association, Inc.
Part of a computerized writing and language-skills instructional program, this site features a low-key and accessible explanation of when to use the conditional mood.
nouns (forming plurals)
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of rules for irregular plural formation of nouns, a list of irregular nouns showing singular and plural forms, and a list of rules for irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Nouns
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features a definition of nouns and explanations of categories and forms of nouns.
Nouns
WritingDen
The Writing Den Web site is designed for middle- and high-school students seeking to improve their English reading, comprehension, and writing skills. This Web page offers a definition of nouns and explains their function.
What Is a Noun?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of noun usage and function including links to key terms.
 
number (grammar)
Apostrophe's... Apostroph'es... Uses of the Apostrophe
Writing Center, Emory University
This site features a brief review of apostrophe usage.
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of rules for irregular plural formation of nouns, a list of irregular nouns showing singular and plural forms, and a list of rules for irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Spelling: Noun Plurals
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of the rules for making nouns plural.
numbers
Using Numbers, Writing Lists
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers advice on how to write numbers in standard academic prose.
Writing Numbers
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers concise directions on how to deal with numbers in written language.
periods
The Period
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers usage guidelines for the period.
Periods and Ellipses
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the periods and ellipses section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, providing definitions and examples.
phrases
The Garden of Phrases
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers an overview of the construction and function of phrases as well as an interactive quiz incorporating the material presented.
Phrases
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
"The Tongue Untied" is an online guide to grammar, style, and punctuation for journalists that provides instruction in basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation according to the Associated Press style. This page defines phrases and introduces several types of phrases.
Prepositional Phrases
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing prepositional phrases and includes a table of commonly used prepositions.
Verb Phrases
ICAL
ICAL is an online ESL teacher-training Web site featuring brief grammar review pages such as this one on verb phrases.
plagiarism
Avoiding Plagiarism
Student Judicial Affairs, University of California, Davis
This Web site offers guidelines and advice for students on how to avoid plagiarism and master ethical scholarship.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Writing Center, Hamilton College
This site, written by Sharon Williams, offers general advice on citing sources correctly and includes examples.
Plagiarism
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a discussion of plagiarism and includes links to other helpful resources for those learning to cite sources correctly.
Plagiarism: What It Is and How to Recognize and Avoid It
Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington
This site's guide to plagiarism offers good examples of how to recognize acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases.
A Statement on Plagiarism
Library, Capital Community College
This student-oriented Web site features a definition of plagiarism and some examples of legitimate and inappropriate uses of source text in excerpted writing.
point of view
Consistency: Making Pronoun Point of View Consistent
Sentence Sense
This online textbook written by Evelyn Farbman and prepared for the Internet by Charles Darling offers a brief review of pronoun usage for consistent point of view.
Maintaining Objectivity
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a helpful discussion of subjective versus objective tone and point of view in writing and when to use one or the other.
possessive case
Possessive Case
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
"The Tongue Untied" is an online guide to grammar, style, and punctuation for journalists that provides instruction in basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation according to the Associated Press style. This page reviews possessive case and possessive pronoun usage.
Possessive Case
English Plus+
This Web page offers a brief explanation of possessive case.
Possessive Forms of Nouns
Writing Lab Online, Bowling Green State University
This Web page, prepared by Gregory M. Campbell, reviews a strategy for forming possessive nouns correctly.
Pronoun Case
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing proper pronoun case usage.
Using an Apostrophe to Show Possession
The Department of English, University of Victoria
This page of an online writer's guide reviews the proper use of apostrophes to show possession.
prepositions
Common Prepositions
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features a table of common prepositions and prepositional phrases.
Prepositions
Writing Den
This site offers a list of common prepositions. Each preposition is linked to an example of its use in a sentence.
Prepositions: Locators in Time and Space
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features tips on preposition usage as well as several interactive quizzes.
What Is a Preposition?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of prepositions and prepositional phrases.
pronouns
Pronouns
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a concise review of the various categories of pronouns with examples of correct usage.
Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews pronoun usage and the rules for pronoun-antecedent agreement. The site also offers links to several interactive quizzes related to pronoun rules.
What Is a Pronoun?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of the various types of pronouns.
 
quotation marks
Quotation Marks
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers a review of the use of quotation marks including a discussion of direct and indirect quotations, titles, dialogue, and other topics.
Quotation Marks
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a review of quotation mark usage.
Quotation Marks
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Frances Peck, this site offers a review of quotation mark usage.
Quotation Marks
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features a review of rules for quotation mark usage taken from Jane Straus's online grammar reference guide and handbook.
run-on sentences
Run-On Sentence Comma Splices
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a review of run-on sentences and includes links to several interactive quizzes.
Run-On Sentences
Academic Center, University of Houston, Victoria
This Web site reviews the problems with run-on sentences and the revisions that correct them. It also provides some practice exercises.
sentence construction
Building Sentences
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a detailed overview of sentence construction.
Sentence Construction
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This link takes the user to the sentence construction section of the index page to OWL's online handouts.
Writing Complete, Grammatically Correct Sentences
Business Administration Program, University of Washington, Tacoma
This Web site features Evelyn Zent's online course handout explaining how to write complete and effective sentences.
sentence fragments
Common Causes of Sentence Fragments
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this review of sentence fragments and how to avoid them, written by Becky Marchant.
Sentence Fragments
Writing Center Online Guide, Lynchburg College in Virginia
Created by Dana Jones and Dr. Elza Tiner, this page of an online writing guide reviews how to recognize and fix sentence fragments.
Sentence Fragments
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of sentence fragments and how to correct them.
Sentence Fragments
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a definition of sentence fragments and includes an interactive quiz.
spelling
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of spelling rules for irregular nouns, irregular plural formation of nouns, and irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Some Rules and Suggestions About Spelling
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers tips on correcting spelling mistakes as well as several interactive quizzes on spelling.
Spelling
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This link takes the user to the spelling section of the index page to OWL's online handouts.
style
Improving Your Style
Writing Services, The Learning Commons, University of Guelph
This online handout offers sixteen steps to a clearer writing style.
Style in Business Writing
University of Oregon
Professor Dave Dusseau's course Web site offers a comparison of academic and business writing to delineate points of business writing style.
syntax
Dr. Syntax: Improving Your Writing of Arguments
Elizabeth A. Dobbs, Department of English, Grinnell College
This Web site offers explanations and exercises designed to help the user develop a deeper understanding of how the English language works and how arguments work.
You Have to Pay Your Syntax
Robert Beard, Bucknell University
This Web site features a brief discussion of the relation of syntax to meaning.
tense
Consistency of Tense and Pronoun Reference
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site uses examples to review the rules for consistency of tense and pronoun reference.
Verb Tense
Writing Den
This site features a review of different verb tenses.
Verb Tense Consistency
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers a detailed review of the rules for verb tense consistency.
Verb Tense Introduction
EnglishPage.com
This online tutorial offers a review of verb tense rules as well as interactive tests and exercises geared toward the student of English as a second language.
transition
Adding Transitions
Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine
Professor Michael T. Goodrich offers a list of transitions and other tips for coherent writing gleaned from his late teacher, Dr. Tiemersma.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews four basic mechanical considerations in providing transitions between ideas and offers an interactive quiz on the material presented.
Transitions
Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center, Hamilton College
This online handout written by Philip DiGennaro offers advice on creating effective transitions.
Transitions: Signals for Your Reader
Student Learning Services, Concordia Counseling and Development, Concordia University
This Web page lists transitions and the meanings they tend to signal.
verbals
Verbals
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a review of usage rules for the participle, the gerund, and the infinitive.
Verbals
This site offers Allen Hadworth's online handout reviewing verbal usage rules.
Verbals
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing verbals.
Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a detailed review of the usage rules for verbals.
Verbs and Verbals
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews rules for verbs and verbals and offers several interactive quizzes on the material presented.
verbs
Irregular Verb Page
EnglishPage.com, Language Dynamics
This site features a list of irregular verbs and their forms along with some printable verb drills for practice.
Phrasal Verb Page
Dave's ESL Café
This site features a list of phrasal verbs along with meanings and examples.
Verbs and Verbals
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews rules for verbs and verbals and offers several interactive quizzes on the material presented.
What Is a Verb?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers a definition of the verb.
voice
Active and Passive Voice
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a detailed review of usage guidelines for active and passive voice.
Recognizing the Passive Voice
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout offers suggestions for recognizing and using the passive voice.
Writing in the Active Voice
Effective Writing Program, University of Western Ontario
This online handout offers guidelines for using the active voice and practice exercises.
 
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Style and Language

absolute words
Absolute Terms
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com presents great books online, including many reference works. This site provides the definition and description of absolute terms from The American Heritage Book of English Usage.
abstract/concrete words
Abstract, Concrete, General, and Specific Terms
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Written by Associate Professor John Friedlander of Southwest Tennessee Community College, this site provides an overview of abstract versus concrete language and general versus specific terms. The site is linked to the Guide to Grammar and Writing Web site hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College.
Abstract/Concrete Language
The Center for Teaching and Learning at Idaho State University
This online handout offers brief definitions of abstract versus concrete language and general versus specific words.
Words
Clayton E. Samels, The University of Akron, Wayne College
This basic writing course document offers definitions for abstract, concrete, general, and specific language.
affectation
Affectation
Xrefer
This site offers a definition of the term affectation, taken from The Oxford Companion to the English Language.
Avoiding Affectation
The Howe Writing Initiative, Miami University
This site offers a brief tip on how to avoid affectation, written by Lisa Mahle-Grisez.
 
allusions
Inference: Association and Reference
www.criticalreading.com
Dan Kurland authored this brief article on inference and allusions. The site includes links to related topics.
ambiguity
Ambiguity
Department of English, Emory University
This site offers a brief discussion of the literary meaning of ambiguity written by Harry Rusche.
antonyms
Finding Antonyms on Thesaurus.com
Lexico LLC
The online version of Roget's Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
awkwardness
Strategies for Improving Sentence Clarity
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of strategies for writing clear sentences including lots of helpful examples.
buzz words
Buzz Words
Investopedia.com
This list of popular buzz words used in the world of investment offers definitions and links to related cultural sites.
BuzzWhack
John Walston
This lighthearted site put together by a former newspaper editor is dedicated to the meaningful use of buzz words.
clarity
Clarity in Writing: Use of Articles
University of Sussex Language Institute
This site offers a brief description of points relevant to article usage and clarity in writing.
Clear Writing: Ten Principles of Clear Statement
University Extension, University of Missouri
Adapted from The Technique of Clear Writing by the Gunning-Mueller Clear Writing Institute, Inc., this site outlines ten principles that lead to clear writing.
Strategies for Improving Sentence Clarity
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips and strategies for writing effective, clear sentences.
clichés
Cliché Site
ClichéSite.com
An alphabetical listing of clichés in English, this site offers definitions and notes the country of origin of each cliché.
clipped words
Clipped Words
The Teacher's Desk
This Web site offers resources to teachers of grades five and six, including an assignment on shortened forms of longer words in English.
 
coherence
Coherence
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips for coherent writing.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site
offers tips on making coherent transitions in writing and includes an interactive quiz.
comparison
Making Comparisons
Professor G. Labanick, University of South Carolina, Spartanburg
This site presents an example of comparison by turning a list of descriptive information on two items into effective sentences that compare the two.
Resources for Writers: Comparison Writing
C. Sandra Jamieson, Drew University
This site presents guidelines for using comparison in academic papers including a list of questions for peer review of drafts.
compound words
Compound Words
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides a definition and overview of compound nouns including an interactive quiz.
Spelling Compound Words With or Without Hyphens
Stephen Wilbers, Author
Part of an online guide to writing, this site lists compound words according to how they are spelled with regard to hyphens, spaces, and usage.
conciseness/wordiness
Conciseness: Methods of Eliminating Wordiness
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers ten methods of eliminating wordiness.
contractions
Contractions
EnglishCLUB.com
This Web site offers links to lists of commonly used contractions.
Using Contractions
About.com
Part of the Homework Help Web site, this page, presented by Kenneth Beare, offers a chart of common English contractions.
 
defining terms

Definitional Techniques
The Writing Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This site presents Professor Merrill Whitburn's overview of techniques used by academic and professional writers for defining terms.
diction
Diction
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a brief definition of the term diction.
dictionaries
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Bartleby.com
This site provides a searchable online version of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
Merriam-Webster Online
Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Online versions of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus are available on this site, along with lots of resource links.
direct address

Commas in Direct Address
RHL School
A brief review of comma usage in direct address as well as exercises are available on this Web site devoted to free teacher resources.
double negatives
Double Negatives
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this brief overview of double negatives, including a practice exercise, written by Judith Kilborn.
Double Negatives
Professor Paul Brians, Washington State University
This site offers a brief discussion of double negatives.
emphasis
Visual Devices for Achieving Emphasis
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of visual approaches to achieving emphasis in writing using such strategies as font styles, punctuation marks, and word position.
English, varieties of
The American Dialect Home page
Claudio Salvucci, Evolution Publishing
This site offers links to national and international resources for those interested in American and English dialects.
Varieties of English
Language Samples Project, Anthropology Department, University of Arizona
This Web site contains information on general topics such as phonetics, phonology, and IPA transcription, as well as information on different varieties of English, such as Southern States English, African American English, and British English.
euphemisms
Euphemisms
Paul Shoebottom, Frankfurt International School
This site presents a brief overview of euphemisms geared toward students of English as a second language.
figures of speech
Figures of Speech
Department of Computer Science, University of York
Professor Susan Stepney sponsors this site listing definitions of figures of speech taken from various sources.
Figures of Speech
About.com
Part of the Homework Help Web site, this page, presented by Cathy Spalding, is designed to help students understand how figures of speech can add flair to writing.
foreign words in English
Foreign Words and Phrases
The Learning Network, Inc.
This Web site features an alphabetical listing and definitions of foreign terms that are commonly used in English.
functional shift
Functional Shift
Bartleby.com
This site features the entry on the grammatical process of functional shift from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, written by Kenneth G. Wilson.
The Functional Shift
The Writer's Workshop, University of Illinois
This site features the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on functional shift.
Methods of Word Formation
Wilton's Word & Phrase Origins
David Wilton offers explanations of the four major categories of word formation on this site.
glossaries
Glossaries
Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN)
OPLIN offers links to glossaries organized by subject matter on this web site.
Glossary of International Technology
Microsoft.com
This site features an alphabetical glossary of terms related to international technology compiled from Developing International Software, published by Microsoft Press.
gobbledygook
Gobbledygook
Susan Hagedorn, Department of English, Virginia Tech
This site offers a definition of gobbledygook as a term for overly wordy and, therefore, weak writing.
Gobbledygook
World Wide Words
Gobbledygook, or unintelligible language, is explained in the "Weird Words" section of this Web site.
Jargon, Weasel Words, and Gobbledygook
California State University, Northridge
This site offers a helpful selection of guidelines relating problematic use of language to problems in writing style.
idioms
English Idioms: Sayings and Slang
Wayne Magnuson, Author
This site offers a searchable database of English idioms and their definitions.

Prepositional Idioms (Phrasal Verbs)
Patricia Goldstein, Author
This document is a selected list of prepositional idioms developed for The Business Writer's Handbook and the Handbook of Technical Writing by Patricia Goldstein, ESL composition instructor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
Prepositions to Use with Common Words
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout features a list of prepositions to use with common verbs, adjectives, and idiomatic expressions.
Two-Part (Phrasal) Verbs (Idioms)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of verbal idioms and includes lists of separable, inseparable, and intransitive phrasal verbs.
intensifiers
Deadwood: Empty or Pretentious Expressions Including Weak Intensifiers, Redundancies, Euphemisms, Jargon, and Clichés
Collin County Community College District
This site lists phrases and words to avoid in good writing.
Intensifiers
English Rules
Lucy Silver has created this Web site geared to teachers and students, offering a simple review of intensifier usage.
Qualifiers/Intensifiers
Online Writing Support, Towson University
This site features a brief definition and examples of qualifiers/intensifiers.
jargon
Avoiding Artificial Language
The Writing Center, State University of West Georgia
This site presents some examples of artificial language in the form of pretensions, jargon, euphemisms, and doublespeak.
Avoiding Slang, Jargon, and Cliché
Online Writing and Learning, LeTourneau University
This Web site offers a tutorial designed to help the user recognize and revise slang, jargon, and cliché.
Dictionary of Management Jargon: What Your Boss Meant to Say
William Wieker, Author
This site offers a compilation of jargon used in business along with explanations and definitions in plain language.
The Jargon Dictionary
Astrian Corp.
The Jargon File Web site features a comprehensive compendium of computer-hacker slang and related information, including a dictionary of hacker jargon.
Jargon Files
The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation
This site offer resources related to the use of jargon, including a jargon-finder database and an article by Tony Proscio on how to avoid tomorrow's jargon.
malapropisms
Malapropisms
This Web page, designed by Dan Gookin, features a definition and list of malapropisms originally collected and compiled by John Ehrman.
new words
Neologisms—A Dictionary of Findable Words and Phrases
Richard Leveridge, Editor
This Web site features comprehensive information on new and evolving words and phrases in the English language, with special reference to U.K. English usage. Many of the words are not listed on the Internet or findable by searches.
Neologisms in Journalistic Text
Research and Development Unit for English Studies, The University of Liverpool
This Web site features a series of lists of neologisms chosen arbitrarily from a newspaper source and presented in context for the benefit of teachers of English language who want to stay abreast of new word usage.
New Words in English
This Web site's list of new words and novel uses of words in English was compiled by Suzanne Kemmer's students at Rice University.
The Word Spy
Logophilia
This Web site has a database of recently coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that are being used in new ways.
nominalizations
Nominalization
Department of Physics, The Ohio State University
This online handout for John Wilkins's course entitled Writing and Speaking About Physics and Astronomy defines and gives examples of nominalizations including some legitimate uses of them.
Nominalizations
Center for Teaching and Learning, Lawrence University
This online version of a writing pamphlet by Jocelyn Sykora covers nominalizations and offers tips for effective usage.
Nominalizations and Adjectivizations
Legal Research and Writing Program, Chicago-Kent College of Law
This site offers some brief examples of correct and incorrect usage of nominalizations (verbs that have been turned into nouns) and adjectivizations (verbs that have been turned into adjectives).
pace

Writer's Encyclopedia: Pace
WritersMarket.com
This online resource that supports the Writer's Market publishing guidebook series offers a brief encyclopedia entry on the tempo of written work.
parallel structure
Columns on Parallel Structure
Stephen Wilbers, Author
Columnist Stephen Wilbers offers this brief guide to establishing and maintaining parallel structure in writing.
Parallel Structure
Writing Center, Emory University
This online handout features examples of parallel structure in sentences.
Parallel Structure
Writing Lab, Bellevue Community College
This online writing lab handout features examples of parallel and nonparallel structure in writing.
Parallel Structure in Professional Writing
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout features examples that demonstrate how to implement parallelism in preparing employment documents.
paraphrasing
Paraphrase: Write It in Your Own Words
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers tips on how to borrow from a source without plagiarizing.
Paraphrasing: Restating Ideas in Your Own Words
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout offers tips on when and how to paraphrase.
Quoting and Paraphrasing
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online writer's handbook offers resources for learning how to correctly and legitimately quote and paraphrase from outside sources in academic writing.
Using Paraphrases
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this brief guide to using paraphrases including examples and hints.
point of view
Consistency: Making Pronoun Point of View Consistent
Sentence Sense
This online textbook written by Evelyn Farbman and prepared for the Internet by Charles Darling offers a brief review of pronoun usage for consistent point of view.
Maintaining Objectivity
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a helpful discussion of subjective versus objective tone and point of view in writing and when to use one or the other.
positive writing
Writing Positive and Routine Messages
Business Information Systems Department, Western Michigan University
This site features a comprehensive discussion of the value and function of positive messages in day-to-day business operations as well as helpful examples of positive phrasing and sentence structure.
prefixes
Prefixes
Professor Patricia Green Harris, Texas A & M University
ESL instructor Patricia Green Harris provides this list of prefixes.
repetition
Cohesion: Using Repetition and Reference Words to Emphasize Key Ideas in Your Writing
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this guide to using keywords and reference words to create cohesion in a piece of writing, written by Judith Kilborn and Nathan Kriei.
Repetition vs. Elegant Variation
Thinkage, Ltd.
Novelist James Alan Gardner offers this online guide to avoiding the distracting use of repetition in prose writing.
rhetorical question
Rhetorical Questions
Department of English, University of Central Florida
This Web page features a definition of rhetorical questions.
style
Improving Your Style
Writing Services, The Learning Commons, University of Guelph
This online handout offers sixteen steps to a clearer writing style.
Style in Business Writing
University of Oregon
Professor Dave Dusseau's course Web site offers a comparison of academic and business writing to delineate points of business writing style.
subordination
Clauses: The Essential Building Blocks
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews clause function and offers several interactive quizzes.
Coordination/Subordination
Department of Instructional Technologies, San Francisco State University
This online handout features examples and exercises related to combining ideas into single sentences.
suffixes
Spelling: -ible vs. -able
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers word lists and exercises related to word roots that use ible versus able suffixes.
synonyms
Thesauri
LibrarySpot.com
The LibrarySpot.com Web site is a free virtual library resource center for educators, students, librarians, families, and businesses. This page has links to online thesauri.
telegraphic style
Avoiding Telegraphic Abstracts
Writing Center, Colorado State University
This section of an online writing guide explains why to avoid a highly condensed when writing abstracts.
thesaurus
Merriam-Webster Online
Merriam-Webster, Inc.
This Web site offers searchable online versions of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus as well as other resources related to Merriam-Webster's reference books.
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com presents great books online, including many reference works. This site provides a searchable online version of Roget's II: The New Thesaurus published by Houghton Mifflin.
tone
It Ain't What You Say, It's the Way You Say It…
Thought You Should Know
This online article written by Jennifer Stewart discusses the importance and effect of tone in writing.
Tone
Writing Tutorial Services, Old Dominion University
This page of an online writing guidebook discusses the significance of tone in writing.
Tone: A Matter of Attitude
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a discussion of how tone reveals attitude in a piece of writing.
Tone in Business Writing
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers an in-depth discussion of how to go about creating the proper tone when writing business documents.
trite language
The Trite Trophy: The Worst Sports Clichés of 2001
Post-Gazette.com
This lighthearted article written by sports columnist Gene Collier proposes some clichés for the 2001 "trite trophy" award.
Word Choice
Online Writing Center, Black Hills State University
This online handout offers some specific examples of how to revise sentences for effective word choice.
unity
Coherence and Unity
Technology Studies in Education Research Portal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This site features an online lesson handout covering coherence in writing written by F. Scott Walters.
Unity
The Writing Program, Hamilton College
This online handout offers a perspective on unity in writing as it relates to paragraph construction.
Writing Resources: Unity, Coherence, Development
Writing Center, Wheaton College
This page of an online writing guide describes how unity, coherence, and development are essential elements of an effectively written paragraph.
usage
American Heritage Book of English Usage
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com presents great books online, including many reference works. This site provides a searchable online version of The American Heritage Book of English Usage published by Houghton Mifflin.
English Usage, Style and Composition
Bartleby.com
Bartleby.com presents great books online, including many reference works. This site provides links to their online resources for English usage, style, and composition.
Grumpy Martha's Guide to Grammar and Usage
Encarta
This site features Martha Brockenbrough's online column offering low-key tips to common grammar problems.
Language Debates by Diana Hacker
Bedford/St. Martin's
This site features expert viewpoints on controversial issues of grammar and usage, part of an online supplement to Diana Hacker's The Bedford Handbook, sixth edition.
Language Pet Peeves
National Public Radio
This site features links to audio archives from Weekend All Things Considered segments presented by language expert Richard Lederer.
vague words
Commonly Misused Words
Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow
This online handout gives examples of the common misusage of particular words.
word choice
Choose Your Words Carefully
Hunter's Green Marketing
This site features Bill Buell's article on how to choose the right words when writing marketing materials.
Exercise Central
Bedford/St. Martin's
The largest collection of editing exercises available online, Exercise Central provides practice for mastering the skills of editing grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics.
Style: Sentence Combination and Word Choice
Center for the Study of Teaching and Writing, Ohio State University
This online handout offers tips for revising sentences for clarity and word choice.
Word Choice
Way to Write!, The University of Calgary
This page of an interactive guide to writing offers tips for editing diction.
"you" viewpoint
Psychological Detail and Dramatization
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a brief discussion of two types of "you viewpoint" especially important in sales writing.
Writing with Attitude—The "You" Attitude
Content Exchange
This site features an article by author and writing teacher Crawford Kilian on how to write in a way that engages the reader in terms of equality and shared interests.
"You-Attitude" Guidelines
On-Line Writing Lab, Utah Valley State College
This online handout offers guidelines on effective ways to demonstrate the "you attitude" in business writing by considering the reader's feelings and adopting a tone of respect and courtesy.
 
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Sentences and Paragraphs
 
clauses
Adverb Clauses
English Language Centre, University of Victoria
This site presents an online introduction to adverbs with links to further study and exercises.
Building Clauses
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a definition of clauses with links to more detailed information and practice exercises.
Independent and Dependent Clauses (Definitions)
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers definitions of clauses and examples of usage.
coherence
Coherence
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips for coherent writing.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site
offers tips on making coherent transitions in writing and includes an interactive quiz.
complements (grammar)
Complements
Writers' Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Part of an online grammar handbook, this site explains and illustrates the basic concepts of complements.
The Adverbial and Adverbial Complement
The HyperText Books, Daniel Kies, Author, Papyr.com
Cited as a model online composition course, the HyperText Books is a highly usable Web site that provides a collection of handouts, exercises, notes, and other resources to writing students. This page is a review of the adverbial and adverbial complement.
The Object Complement
The HyperText Books, Daniel Kies, Author, Papyr.com
This page of the HyperText Books Web site is a review of the object complement.
The Subject Complement
The HyperText Books, Daniel Kies, Author, Papyr.com
This page of the HyperText Books Web site is a review of the subject complement.
dangling modifiers
Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout reviews modifiers and offers examples of proper modifier usage.
Dangling Modifiers
Academic Center, University of Houston, Victoria
This site offers a review of modifier usage with practice exercises.
Dangling Modifiers
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of dangling modifiers.
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Frances Peck, this site offers definitions and examples of misplaced and dangling modifiers.
Modifier Placement
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides succinct guidelines for proper modifier placement and includes interactive quizzes.
expletives
Expletives
Online Writing Support, Towson University
This site offers a brief definition of expletives and includes examples of usage.
Expletives: Use Them Sparingly
Writing Center, Franklin & Marshall College
This downloadable online document outlines some of the problems of using expletives when writing.
garbled sentences
Strategies for Improving Sentence Clarity
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of strategies for effective sentence construction.


misplaced modifiers (see dangling modifiers)


mixed constructions

Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers advice on finding and revising sources of confusion in writing such as mixed constructions, pronoun problems, and mixed metaphors.
Mixed Constructions
English Department, University of Calgary
This page of an interactive guide to grammar offers guidelines for avoiding mixed constructions.
modifiers
Dangling Modifiers
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers definitions and examples of dangling modifiers along with examples of suggested revisions.
Modifiers
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Frances Peck, this site is the chapter overview of modifiers and includes links to six different categories of modifier usage and function.
objects
The Direct Object
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
"The Tongue Untied" is an online guide to grammar, style, and punctuation for journalists that provides instruction in basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation according to the Associated Press style. This page defines the direct object and gives examples.
The Indirect Object
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
This page of "The Tongue Untied" defines the indirect object and gives examples.
The Object of the Preposition
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
This page of "The Tongue Untied" defines the object of the preposition and gives examples.
The Object of the Verbal
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
This page of "The Tongue Untied" defines the object of the verbal and gives examples.
Predicates, Objects, and Complements
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a concise review of predicates, objects, and complements including examples of the different types of each.
paragraphs
The Paragraph
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers basic instruction and advice on creating understandable and coherent paragraphs.
Paragraph Development and Topic Sentences
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers example paragraphs that illuminate the effective use of topic sentences and paragraph development.
Paragraphs
Writing Den
This site provides links to tips on paragraphs including the parts of paragraphs, kinds of paragraphs, and how to write a paragraph.
phrases
The Garden of Phrases
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers an overview of the construction and function of phrases as well as an interactive quiz incorporating the material presented.
Phrases
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
"The Tongue Untied" is an online guide to grammar, style, and punctuation for journalists that provides instruction in basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation according to the Associated Press style. This page defines phrases and introduces several types of phrases.
Prepositional Phrases
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing prepositional phrases and includes a table of commonly used prepositions.
Verb Phrases
ICAL
ICAL is an online ESL teacher-training Web site featuring brief grammar review pages such as this one on verb phrases.
restrictive and nonrestrictive elements
Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements
Society for Technical Communication, Atlanta Chapter
Jewel Kennington explains the difference between that and which on this Web site.
Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Elements
Writing Center, Emory University
This Web site offers a review of restrictive and nonrestrictive elements.
 
sentence construction
Building Sentences
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a detailed overview of sentence construction.
Sentence Construction
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This link takes the user to the sentence construction section of the index page to OWL's online handouts.
Writing Complete, Grammatically Correct Sentences
Business Administration Program, University of Washington, Tacoma
This Web site features Evelyn Zent's online course handout explaining how to write complete and effective sentences.
sentence faults
Basic Sentence Faults
Faculty of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary
This site features Associate Professor Robert M. Seiler's review of eleven different sentence faults with examples.
Sentence Faults
Collin County Community College District
This online handout reviews common sentence faults.
 
sentence fragments
Common Causes of Sentence Fragments
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this review of sentence fragments and how to avoid them written by Becky Marchant.
Sentence Fragments
Writing Center Online Guide, Lynchburg College in Virginia
Created by Dana Jones and Dr. Elza Tiner, this page of an online writing guide reviews how to recognize and fix sentence fragments.
Sentence Fragments
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of sentence fragments and how to correct them.
Sentence Fragments
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a definition of sentence fragments and includes an interactive quiz.
transition
Adding Transitions
Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California, Irvine
Professor Michael T. Goodrich offers a list of transitions and other tips for coherent writing gleaned from his late teacher, Dr. Tiemersma.
Coherence: Transitions Between Ideas
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews four basic mechanical considerations in providing transitions between ideas and offers an interactive quiz on the material presented.
Transitions
Nesbitt-Johnston Writing Center, Hamilton College
This online handout written by Philip DiGennaro offers advice on creating effective transitions.
Transitions: Signals for Your Reader
Student Learning Services, Concordia Counseling and Development, Concordia University
This Web page lists transitions and the meanings they tend to signal.
unity
Coherence and Unity
Technology Studies in Education Research Portal, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This site features an online lesson handout covering coherence in writing written by F. Scott Walters.
Unity
The Writing Program, Hamilton College
This online handout offers a perspective on unity in writing as it relates to paragraph construction.
Writing Resources: Unity, Coherence, Development
Writing Center, Wheaton College
This page of an online writing guide describes how unity, coherence, and development are essential elements of an effectively written paragraph.
 
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Parts of Speech and Grammar

adjectives
Adjectives
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers usage guidelines for the adjective as well as interactive quizzes incorporating the material presented.
What is an Adjective?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of adjective usage including links to key terms.
adverbs
Adverbs
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a succinct review of adverb usage and includes an interactive quiz.
Using Adverbs
About.com
Part of the Homework Help Web site, this page, presented by Kenneth Beare, offers brief rules of adverb usage and includes links to other grammar topics.
What Is an Adverb?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of adverb usage including links to key terms.
agreement
Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a review of pronouns and pronoun-antecedent agreement and includes several interactive quizzes.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of pronoun-antecedent agreement, written by Maggie Escalas.
Subject-Verb Agreement
The Writing Center, City College of New York
This Web handout presents an overview of subject-verb agreement.
appositives
Appositives
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of appositives and includes an interactive exercise.
Appositives
Writer's Workshop, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign
This site offers a brief definition of appositives with examples.
Appositives
The Writing Center, Ball State University
Definitions and examples of appositives are offered on this site.
Daily Grammar Lessons 126-130: Parts of the Sentence—Appositives
Word Place
This site offers brief lessons on appositives, supported by exercises with answer keys.
case
Noun and Pronoun Case
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers definitions and examples of noun and pronoun characteristics.
What Is Case?
SIL International
An extract from the LinguaLinks Library, this page explains the grammatical term case and offers definitions of various kinds of cases.
conjunctions
Conjunctions
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site covers rules for conjunction usage, including coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions.
Grammar and Style: Conjunctions and Adverbs
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center
This site offers a brief review of rules for punctuating conjunctions and adverbs.
What Is a Conjunction?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of conjunction usage including links to key terms.
functional shift
Functional Shift
Bartleby.com
This site features the entry on the grammatical process of functional shift from The Columbia Guide to Standard American English, written by Kenneth G. Wilson.
The Functional Shift
The Writer's Workshop, University of Illinois
This site features the Encyclopedia Britannica entry on functional shift.
Methods of Word Formation
Wilton's Word and Phrase Origins
David Wilton offers explanations of the four major categories of word formation on this site.
gender
Gender, Adjectives
UltraLingua.net
This site offers a brief guide to adjective usage along with links to other grammar topics.
Gender-Neutral Pronoun FAQ
Aether Lumina
This site, written by John Williams, features a discussion of gender-neutral alternatives to gendered pronouns.
Gender, Nouns
UltraLingua.net
This site offers a brief guide to noun usage along with links to other grammar topics.
The Gender of Nouns
The Internet Grammar of English
This site features the entry on the gender of nouns from The Survey of English Usage.
grammar
Grammar Slammer
English Plus+
This site presents an easy-to-use online grammar reference handbook which is also available as software.
Grumpy Martha's Guide to Grammar and Usage
Encarta
This site features Martha Brockenbrough's online column offering low-key tips on common grammar problems.
HyperGrammar
The Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa
This site offers an alphabetical listing of key grammatical terms with links to definitions and examples.
Glossary of Grammatical Terms
Mark H Nodine, Department of Computer Science, Brown University
An alphabetical glossary of grammatical terms is featured on this site.
interjection
Interjections
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a brief definition of interjections.
Interjections
Dr. Ed Vavra, Pennsylvania College of Technology
This site offers a review of interjections including a definition and a discussion of interjections as subordinate clauses.
What Is an Interjection?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers a definition of interjections.
mood
ESL Grammar Hotline: Verb Mood
English Language Institute, University of Delaware
This site offers advice, in question-and-answer format, on the correct usage of verb forms that tend to be difficult, especially for English language students.
The Indicative and Imperative Moods
Xenos Evangelical Church, Columbus, OH
This site features a brief discussion of verb mood in relation to scripture and excerpted examples of the imperative and indicative mood in biblical writing.
Verbs: Conditional Mood
Word One, The Word Association, Inc.
Part of a computerized writing and language-skills instructional program, this site features a low-key and accessible explanation of when to use the conditional mood.
nouns
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of rules for irregular plural formation of nouns, a list of irregular nouns showing singular and plural forms, and a list of rules for irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Nouns
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features a definition of nouns and explanations of categories and forms of nouns.
Nouns
WritingDen
The Writing Den Web site is designed for middle- and high-school students seeking to improve their English reading, comprehension, and writing skills. This Web page offers a definition of nouns and explains their function.
What Is a Noun?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of noun usage and function including links to key terms.
number
Apostrophe's... Apostroph'es... Uses of the Apostrophe
Writing Center, Emory University
This site features a brief review of apostrophe usage.
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of rules for irregular plural formation of nouns, a list of irregular nouns showing singular and plural forms, and a list of rules for irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Spelling: Noun Plurals
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of rules for making nouns plural.
parts of speech
Identification of Parts of Speech
Interlink Language Centers
Mark Feder has created a review of the parts of speech and a related interactive quiz designed for English as a second language students.
Parts of Speech
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site contains links to the various OWL online handouts related to parts of speech.
Parts of Speech
Exploring English, Shared Visions Unlimited
This section of the Exploring English Web site describes the parts of speech that define the English language.
The Parts of Speech
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of eight parts of speech.
person
Consistency: Making Pronoun Point of View Consistent
Sentence Sense Online
Written by Evelyn Farbman and prepared for the Internet by Charles Darling of Capital Community College, this page of an online writer's guide covers pronoun point of view.
possessive case
Possessive Case
School of Journalism and Communication, University of Oregon
"The Tongue Untied" is an online guide to grammar, style, and punctuation for journalists that provides instruction in basic grammar, spelling, and punctuation according to the Associated Press style. This page reviews possessive case and possessive pronoun usage.
Possessive Case
English Plus+
This Web page offers a brief explanation of possessive case.
Possessive Forms of Nouns
Writing Lab Online, Bowling Green State University
This Web page, created by Gregory M. Campbell, reviews a strategy for forming possessive nouns correctly.
Pronoun Case
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing proper pronoun case usage.
Using an Apostrophe to Show Possession
The Department of English, University of Victoria
This page of an online writer's guide reviews the proper use of apostrophes to show possession.
prepositions
Common Prepositions
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features a table of common prepositions and prepositional phrases.
Prepositions
Writing Den
This site offers a list of common prepositions. Each preposition is linked to an example of its use in a sentence.
Prepositions: Locators in Time and Space
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features tips on preposition usage as well as several interactive quizzes.
What Is a Preposition?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of prepositions and prepositional phrases.
pronoun reference
Consistency of Tense and Pronoun Reference
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers examples of revisions that correct for consistency of tense and pronoun reference as well as an interactive quiz incorporating the material presented.
The Grammar Outlaw: Unclear Pronoun Reference
English Department, Acadia University
The Special Grammar Unit Web site is an online grammar guide. This Web page reviews unclear pronoun reference and includes a link to quizzes.
Pronoun Reference
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Dorothy Turner, this site reviews the correct relation of pronouns to their antecedents.
Pronoun Reference: Clear Pronouns
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout reviewing clear pronoun usage.
Using Pronouns Clearly
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a brief review of using pronouns clearly.
pronouns
Pronouns
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers a concise review of the various categories of pronouns with examples of correct pronoun usage.
Pronouns and Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews pronoun usage and the rules for pronoun-antecedent agreement. The site also offers links to several interactive quizzes related to pronoun rules.
What Is a Pronoun?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers definitions and examples of the various types of pronouns.
substantives
Substantives
Linguistics Program, Florida International University
Professor Greg Bowe's course materials Web site features this online handout reviewing substantives, or words that manifest the functions of gender, person, number, countability, or case.
tense
Consistency of Tense and Pronoun Reference
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site uses examples to review the rules for consistency of tense and pronoun reference.
Verb Tense
Writing Den
This site features a review of different verb tenses.
Verb Tense Consistency
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This online handout offers a detailed review of the rules for verb tense consistency.
Verb Tense Introduction
EnglishPage.com
This online tutorial offers a review of verb tense rules as well as interactive tests and exercises geared toward the student of English as a second language.
verbals
Verbals
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by David Megginson, this site offers a review of usage rules for the participle, the gerund, and the infinitive.
Verbals
This site offers Allen Hadworth's online handout reviewing verbal usage rules.
Verbals
Writing Center, Tidewater Community College
This site features an online handout introducing verbals.
Verbals: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a detailed review of the usage rules for verbals.
Verbs and Verbals
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews rules for verbs and verbals and offers several interactive quizzes on the material presented.
verbs
Irregular Verb Page
EnglishPage.com, Language Dynamics
This site features a list of irregular verbs and their forms along with some printable verb drills for practice.
Phrasal Verb Page
Dave's ESL Café
This site features a list of phrasal verbs along with meanings and examples.
Verbs and Verbals
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews rules for verbs and verbals and offers several interactive quizzes on the material presented.
What Is a Verb?
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Heather MacFadyen, this site offers a definition of the verb.
voice
Active and Passive Voice
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a detailed review of usage guidelines for the active and passive voice.
Recognizing the Passive Voice
The Writing Center, Arizona State University
This online handout offers suggestions for recognizing and using the passive voice.
Writing in the Active Voice
Effective Writing Program, University of Western Ontario
This online handout offers guidelines for using the active voice and practice exercises.
 
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Punctuation and Mechanics

abbreviations
Abbreviations
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides succinct guidelines for common abbreviations including titles, numerals, foreign and geographical terms, acronyms, and how to use spacing and periods.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
The Michigan Electronic Library
Sponsored by the Michigan Library, this site provides links to electronic resources for acronyms and abbreviations, including searchable databases and specialized listings of acronyms used in professional fields such as astronomy, health care, and the military.
Acronym Finder
Mountain Data Systems
A searchable database of more than 235,000 abbreviations and acronyms, this site covers the areas of computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.
Official USPS Abbreviations
U.S. Postal Service
This site specifies abbreviations for states and protectorates as well as streets and other geographical names.
acronyms and initialisms
Acronyms and Abbreviations
The Michigan Electronic Library
Sponsored by the Michigan Library, this site provides links to electronic resources for acronyms and abbreviations, including searchable databases and specialized listings of acronyms used in professional fields such as astronomy, health care, and the military.
Acronym Finder
Mountain Data Systems
A searchable database of more than 235,000 abbreviations and acronyms, this site covers the areas of computers, technology, telecommunications, and the military.
The Opaui Guide to Lists of Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Initialisms on the World Wide Web
Opaui Translators
An alphabetized list of links to Internet Web sites for acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms, this site includes a wide range of international and professionally specific resources.
Punctuation and Writing: Acronyms and Initialisms
Scribe Consulting
This site offers a tip describing acronyms and initialisms extracted from Scribe's book Better Writing Skills. Included on the site is a link to a downloadable chapter of the book.
ampersands
Punctuation and Writing: All About Ampersands
Scribe Consulting
This site offers a tip describing ampersands extracted from Scribe's book Better Writing Skills.
apostrophes
Apostrophes
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the apostrophe section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, including a practice exercise and test.
Apostrophes
Writing Lab, Bellevue Community College
This site presents a brief overview of apostrophe usage, including examples.
The Apostrophe
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of apostrophe usage and includes an interactive exercise.
brackets
The Bracket
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides succinct guidelines for the use of brackets.
capitalization
Capitalization
Professor Steve Tripp, University of Aizu
This site offers a list of capitalization rules and some exercises.
colons
The Colon
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers tips on colon usage and includes an animated exercise and interactive quizzes.
Colons
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the colon section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, including a practice exercise and test.
Colon Rules
The Write Place, St. Cloud University
Learning Education Online (LEO), the home page for the writing center at St. Cloud University, presents this overview of rules for colon usage.
commas
Commas, Commas, and More Commas
The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This site features an online handout reviewing seven points about comma usage.
Proofreading for Commas
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers tips for spotting and correcting comma errors while proofreading.
Rules for Comma Usage
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site provides a review of comma usage and includes links to several interactive quizzes.
Using Commas
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a review of comma use and abuse.
contractions
Contractions
EnglishCLUB.com
This Web site offers links to lists of commonly used contractions.
Using Contractions
About.com
Part of the Homework Help Web site, this page, presented by Kenneth Beare, offers a chart of common English contractions.
dashes
The Dash
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews rules for proper use of the dash.
Dashes
Department of English, University of Victoria
Part of an online writer's guide, this site presents a brief review of dash usage.
Dashes and Hyphens
IT and Communication, Jukka Korpela
This site presents a useful overview of how computer text processing has impinged on the use of dashes and hyphens.
Grammar and Style: Dashes
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center
This site offers examples of effective use of the dash.
dates
The Right Way to Write Dates
ETimes
This site reviews the correct way to write dates according to the international standard.
Writing of Calendar Dates in All-Numeric Form
Cataloger's Reference Shelf, The Library Corporation
This site offers the text of the international standard for the writing of calendar dates.
diacritical marks
Keystrokes—Diacritical Marks on the Standard Keyboard
Rice UNIX Facility, Rice University
This site lists Macintosh and Windows keystrokes for diacritical marks on the standard keyboard.
Those Foreign Diacritical Marks (Accents)
Computer Support Services, University of Florida
This Web page cites examples illustrating how important proper diacritical marks can be to meaning.
ellipses
Ellipses
Professor Paul Brians, Washington State University
This site offers a brief guide to using ellipses and includes tips on how to handle ellipses when transferring electronic documents or using HTML script.
Periods and Ellipses
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features rules on the use of periods and ellipses taken from Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook.
exclamation marks
The Exclamation Mark
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site presents a succinct guide to exclamation mark usage.
hyphens
Hyphens
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the hyphens section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, including a practice exercise and test.
Using Hyphens
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers a concise review of hyphen usage.
indentation
HTML Reference Guide: How Do I Indent Text?
Webspawner.com
This page of an HTML reference guide describes how to indent text.
Indents
Academic Computing and Communications Center, University of Illinois at Chicago
This online handout covers how to use the indent function in Microsoft Word® 2000.
Microsoft Word 2000—Indenting Text
Beginners.co.uk
This site features an online tutorial giving instructions and tips for using the indent function in Microsoft Word 2000.
WordPerfect 7: Changing the Margins, Alignment and Spacing of Text Using Shortcut Keys
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This site features step-by-step directions for using selected functions in WordPerfect® 7.
italics
Italics
The Department of Communication, York University
This site, part of the York University online style guide, offers a review of italics usage.
Italics/Underlining and Quotation Marks
On-Line Writing Lab, Utah Valley State College
This Web page offers two brief exercises testing the user's knowledge of the proper use of italics and quotation marks.
Using Italics and Underlining
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers usage guidelines for italics and underlining, with examples.
numbers
Using Numbers, Writing Lists
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers advice on how to write numbers in standard academic prose.
Writing Numbers
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This site offers concise direction on how to handle numbers in written language.
parentheses
Parentheses
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers brief usage guidelines for parentheses.
Parentheses
The School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences, The University of Sussex
This Web page, compiled by Larry Trask, offers a review of rules for parentheses usage including examples.
Parentheses
English Plus+
This Web page offers a brief explanation of parentheses usage.
periods
The Period
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers usage guidelines for the period.
Periods and Ellipses
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the periods and ellipses section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, providing definitions and examples.
proofreaders' marks
Common Proofreading Symbols
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site features a table showing common proofreading marks.
Proofreading
University Publications, University of Oregon
This online grammar and style guide features examples of proofreaders' marks and their explanations.
Proofreading
American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA), Soil Science Society of America (SSSA)
This downloadable chapter from the ASA-CSSA-SSSA's Publications Handbook and Style Manual covers proofreading.
proofreading
Grammar and Style: Proofreading
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online grammar and style manual features tips on proofreading.
Proofreading

The Department of English, University of Victoria

This page of an online writer's guide reviews proofreading.

Proofreading and Editing Tips

LR Communication Systems, Inc.

This Web site features a compilation of advice from experienced proofreaders and editors.

Proofreading Strategies

Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)

This site offers detailed strategies for proofreading geared toward student writers.
punctuation
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This easy-to-navigate Web site is the online version of Jane Straus's guide to grammar and punctuation.
Exercise Central
Bedford/St. Martin's
The largest collection of editing exercises available online, Exercise Central provides practice with mastering the skills of editing grammar, style, punctuation, and mechanics.
Punctuation
HyperGrammar
Produced by the Writing Centre at the University of Ottawa and written by Frances Peck, this site offers links to sections on various punctuation marks and their usage.
Punctuation Made Simple
College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Florida
This site features professor Gary Olson's discussion of various punctuation marks, designed to encourage readers to develop a feel for correct usage rather than a reliance on rules.
Punctuation Marks
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site is the lead-in page to the guide's coverage of punctuation.
question marks
The Question Mark
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews question mark usage.
Question Marks
English Plus+
This Web page offers examples of correct question mark usage.
Question Marks
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features a review of two rules for question mark usage taken from Jane Straus's online grammar reference guide and handbook.
semicolons
Colons/Semicolons
Department of English, Washington State University
Professor Paul Brians's online guide Common Errors in English includes this page on colon and semicolon usage.
Grammar and Style: Semicolons
Writing Center, The University of Wisconsin-Madison
This page of an online writer's handbook offers a review of semicolon usage.
The Semicolon
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers guidelines on using semicolons.
Semicolons
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
This site features the semicolon section of Jane Straus's grammar reference guide and handbook, including a practice exercise and test.
Using Semicolons
VirtualSalt.com
This site features writer and educator Robert Harris's article on the finer points of semicolon usage.
slashes
The Slash or Virgule
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site reviews the slash, or virgule, and how to use it.
 
spelling
Complete List of Spelling Rules for Nouns and Verbs
Department of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University
This site features a list of spelling rules for irregular nouns, irregular plural formation of nouns, and irregular spelling of verb inflections, all compiled by Susan Jones.
Some Rules and Suggestions About Spelling
Guide to Grammar and Writing
Hosted by Professor Charles Darling and Capital Community College, this site offers tips on correcting spelling mistakes as well as several interactive quizzes on spelling.
Spelling
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This link takes the user to the spelling section of the index page to OWL's online handouts.
symbols
Symbols.com
HME Media
This Web site contains more than 2,500 Western signs, arranged into groups according to their graphic characteristics, as well as articles on their histories, uses, and meanings.
 
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