Two resources about writing personal statement

Students get feedback on a variety of genres.

This time of year students often come into the Student Writing Center with questions about personal statements for scholarship applications.  Duke University Writing Studio provides a useful genre analysis of personal statements and how writers can best prepare to write one:  "Professional School/Scholarship Personal Statements" (PDF).  Jo Doran and Allen Brizee of the inimitable Purdue OWL provide a solid overview of personal statements with examples at "Writing Personal Statements."

APA Self-paced tutorials

Walden University Writing Center has posted some self-paced tutorials on a variety of hyper-technical issues in APA style & citation. They are good for helping to learn some of the nit-picky areas of APA.

English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions - UsingEnglish.com

English Idioms and Idiomatic Expressions - UsingEnglish.com is a fine list of idiomatic phrases used in English. Basically, idioms are expressions which are hard to decipher based upon a dictionary definition. Non-native speakers often struggle with idioms.

Citing Sources- The OWL at Purdue

Hey everyone; I had a student ask about citing sources yesterday and I wasn't able to find a great book right off hand, and I wasn't on my home computer to show them the site I use EVERY TIME I write a paper! So, here's the site, The OWL at Purdue...the greatest site I've found to tell exactly how, in ANY situation, to cite sources it-text and on works-cited pages. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/02/

Citation Practice: Crediting your sources

Citation Practice: Crediting your sources A quiz related specifically to crediting sources properly.

Assignment Planner

Here is a very cool Assignment Planner from the University of Kansas Writing Center that spits out a process schedule for student writers.

Bedford Bibliographer

Bedford Bibliographer is another citation builder. It requires a login, however.

Son of Citation Machine

Son of Citation Machine this one is a commercial site that creats citations as well. (It seems to be supported by advertising, however.) It doesn't give assurance of accuracy, but that is no doubt true of most programs like this.

Citation Builder: NCSU Libraries

Citation Builder: NCSU Libraries is an interesting tool to build citations in various formats.

OWL at Purdue University: Annotated Bibliographies

OWL at Purdue University: Annotated Bibliographies

And this AB resources is from Purdue OWL.

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography

How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography
A somewhat comprehensive quite to writing an annotated bibliography. I wonder, however, if "critical appraisal" will be misunderstood as a simple value judgment of the text rather than an exploration of the complexity of ideas.

Happy October Everyone!

Best Halloween Costume EVER!

ESL links

Here are some ESL Links:

BBC World Service
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

A grammar page
http://english-zone.com/index.php

Voice of America (excellent)
http://www.voanews.com/english/

Listening Lounge (unreviewed)
http://www.englishlistening.com/

My personal favorite CNN Literacynet.org
http://literacynet.org/cnnsf/archives.html

This I Believe

One thing that often stops students from owning writing is the sense that they are not a "writer." Though the invention of blogs and other easily-published forms of communication have compelled more people than ever to risk writing for the public, they haven't necessarily provided a careful model of good writing. While I am pleased that the world is taking on literacy with vigor and most people have a new personal interest in expressing themselves with the written word, the expanded quantity of expression hasn't necessarily given us expanded quality of expression. Some students are still of the mind that anything found in print is a model worth emulating, which can have disastrous results.

Maybe as one small antedote to the extensive personal flotsam students see online, we can offer links to sites like the "This I Believe" series on NPR. "This I Believe" is a series modeled after an identically-named radio series in the 1950's. Each essay is written by a listener who has written a careful, thoughtful, but amateur essay. The upside of modern times is that the radio broadcast has an accompanying website which also publishes the essay texts.

I would like to see these available as models for our student writers. Not only can they begin to see models of expression worth reading, but also they can see that careful amateurs can produce worthwhile writing without having to "be a writer." The website is located at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138.

RLC - The Writing Process - What Is My Point?

RLC - The Writing Process - What Is My Point?

Having trouble writing a thesis statement? Try this sight. Fill in the blanks, answer clarifying questions, and create a thesis that will help you focus your thoughts and get started on your paper.

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.

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.

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.