Resources for Writers

Popular handouts from the Potsdam College Writing Center

General Writing Resources

Paradigm Online Wonderful short blurbs which show college students how to get their ideas out and how to write great sentences.

Bedford Exercise Central: Learn and practice grammar and conventions. A very well-designed set of tutorials and a diagnostic test.

Purdue University OWL Handouts Guides to editing, correcting errors, citing your sources and improving your writing. Excellent ESL section.

Research and Argument: Tools for Students and Teachers Concise and helpful information for student writers on the writing process, research writing, and argumentation. See "writer's handbook" for help avoiding the most common problems.

Research and Citation

Diana Hacker RESEARCH AND CITATION PAGE: Complete guide to finding and citing sources in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CBE styles. Look at the sample papers by real students.

Avoiding Plagiarism Tutorial and Quizzes from Bedford/St. Martin's. Students learn how to cite well and avoid plagiarism. Instructors can monitor students' progress in online quizzes.

Bedford Research Room: How to write a research paper, avoid plagiarism, and cite sources. Great tutorials that teach students how to avoid plagiarism. Handy checklists and how-to for the writer of research papers.

What is Plagiarism? by Georgetown University Honor Council. A student-friendly explanation of what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.

English as a Foreign Language

Dave's ESL Cafe This extensive and interesting site includes language exercises, chat rooms and links to other ESL resources.

Learning English on the Web This helpful site of practice in writing, speaking, and listening as well as links to other resources for persons wanting to learn English through the Internet.

TOEFL Online Official site of the Test of English Foreign Language from the Educational Testing Service. TOEFL information and practice exercises.

Grammar, Mechanics, Usage Handbooks

Purdue University OWL Handouts -- the best!

Bedford Exercise Central: Learn and practice grammar and conventions. A very well-designed set of tutorials and a diagnostic test.

Bartleby.com This site includes on-line text of many contemporary and classic reference works including Columbia Encyclopedia, American Heritage Dictionary, American Heritage Book of English Usage, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, and Elements of Style.

Strunk's Elements of Style. This online version of Strunk and White's well-known writer's style guide contains useful advice for writing that is clear and straightforward.

Common Errors in English developed by the Writing Center folks at Washington State University. Scroll down to see helpful discussions of dozens of words that are commonly misused. A great reference for all writers who care about using words well.

Guidelines for Nonsexist Language The University of New Hampshire's "Guidelines for Nonsexist Language" was prepared by the UNH President's Commission on the Status of Women. This handbook offers suggestions on ways to avoid sexist language in your writing.

Grammar Safari "The 'grammar safari' activities here are suggestions for 'hunting' and 'collecting' EXAMPLES of specific words as they are used in documents accessible to anyone on the Internet." This site shows you how to make your own collection of good examples to refer to.