Thursday, June 29, 2006

How to Write an A+ Research Paper

How to Write an A+ Research Paper Overall this site is probably a B, there are a few things I really liked such as the suggestions it gives for places students can do their research, it lists alot. Also, it shows how to create an outline by using an example and then at the end, which I really liked was a checklist. This checklist will help students once they have created a draft to know if they are going in the right direction.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

MLA Citation Game

MLA Citation Game This is a fun website for citations from the U of Washington, most are boring but this one is a game! It gives four examples of APA and then four of MLA, you have to place the info in the right spot, try it!

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is a solid online dictionary based on the Merriam-Webster print edtion, complete with audible pronunciation.

Don't Beat Dead Horses

I was thinking, as well, that we don't have to be 100% serious on our links page as well. For example, on the old page we have a link to "Satan on Grammar." While we probably have to be careful that we are not confusing folks with humorous sites (perhaps we can have a completely independent section in the page for such links), I think it is important to let folks know that this writing stuff can be a bit goofy at times--particularly the arcana of grammar and mechanics.

We can aslo have links to interesting sites that may not seem to be important. For example, we could link up to podcasts like "A Way with Words" or Penguin Books' podcast.

I don't want this, however, to throw us off track--we do need traditional reliable resources. We don't have to be, however, completely grim-minded about it all.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Basic Guide to Essay Writing

Basic Guide to Essay Writing is an easy to navigate, easy to read site that outlines and explains the basic steps for writing an essay. Both beginning and advanced college writers will benefit from the simplified suggestions and format that are perfect for quick reference.

Dangling Modifiers

Here is the Purdue OWL page on Dangling Modifiers. We have many Purdue links on the current pages (q.v.). I am simply posting this as an example to show Brandon and Christine how to post using the spifforific google thingamderk. It is a good idea to comment on why you think it is a useful page so we can argue about it.

Purpose & Project 1

The purpose of the SLCC Writing Advisor Collabatron 3000 is to allow the Writing Advisors to collaborate on mutual projects. While I have no idea what future projects might be, I do know one that will be very useful for me: finding links on the Net for our online writing and research resources pages. Right now we have two pages available for students: Writing Resources and Research Resources. If you took the time to go through the links, you would find that many of them are broken. The state of the page is simply because it has not been actively updated in several (perhaps 5) years. This is a woeful state of affairs, and I would like to rectify it by working with you guys to find better resources on the net that our student writers would find useful.
I wish to make use of this blog to post the links that you find on the web. (A blog is ideal for this since it not only lets you post the link, but also offer commentary on it.)

In general we need resources on the following topics:
  1. Comprehensive (big general resources concerning writing)
  2. Starting Out
  3. Responding to Writing
  4. English as a Second Language
  5. English Rererence (like dictionaries etc.)
  6. Style
  7. Citation
  8. Grammar
  9. Punctuation
  10. Genre
(I don't want to limit the topics just to these 10, however, so perhaps we can discuss via the comments feature, what other possible topics we want to include.)

At this point your task is to pick a possible topic to research and go hog-wild googling about the web to find possible resources on the subject. You can then "blog" the sites you find to this blog. I am going to install the "blog this" button on all our browsers so you can post the pages easily.

Aside from Google or whatever particular search engine you prefer, I would also suggest that you make liberal use of Google Scholar, the search engine that is limited to academic work. (It may or may not include anything, but it is worth a try.)

Does that make sense? Post any questions in the comments.

Good luck and thanks for all your hard work.