Forum: General Discussion

Fellow classmates, here is a great site that I think will help all of us learn how to write better. http://www.refdesk.com/factgram.html

Within the website, there are 79 links plus a few more that contain information on the various aspects of writing. One of the nicest things about the website, is that the topics are alphabetical, which makes searching for a specific topic a lot quicker. The first link on the website is the 11 rules of writing, which includes the most commonly violated rules. This site particularly helps students with grammar errors such as, comma misuse, improper punctuation, etc. Another good link on this website is 100 words that all high school graduates- and their parents- should know. As the link states, “The quality of a person's vocabulary has a direct effect on his or her success in college and in the workplace.� There are basic guides to essay writing, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and cliches. There are links for how to write different papers such as, letters of recommendation, citation pages, and a simplified version of MLA format. There is a link for help with Latin, as well as other foreign languages. This website is more than just informational; it is tutorial, and it makes learning fun by incorporating games, puzzles, test preps, and reviews. This website is one of the best out there because you can find anything you need help with. It even has a link to one of the books we need- The Elements of Style. Have a question on something and can not find the answer on this website? No problem. There is a link for free help from Oxford University Press, where one of Oxford’s language experts will help you with any question you have. A website can not get much more helpful than this one.

I believe http://www.quintcareers.com/writing/writeref.html to be the best source I found simply because of the variation of resources this site offers. Consider the types of conventions and citation techniques that can be used in writing; with this source, those errors and techniques can be reviewed and learned efficiently. Upon connecting to this website, users are brought to a selection screen with links to citation pages, documentation references, a list of dictionaries, workshops, and more.

Some pages in particular I found to be interesting is the MLA and APA reference pages. Here not only are instructions offered, but examples of the application is also elaborated. Considering this topic to be a common issue amongst writers, this site will show viewers how to use the MLA and APA correctly.

Another problem writers face deals with annoted bibliographies. Most students have not heard of such a bibliography. With http://www.quintcareers.com/writing/writeref.html writers can use the step by step procedure to fulfill this task.

The most interesting, and I believe the most useful, section of this website is its reference to libraries, dictionaries, and other references on the web. This site proposes many good research sites for any user. Public online libraries such as Berkely and New York libraries are listed. Along wth Encyberpedia and Britannica Online. With resources to reference such as the ones listed, future projects such as the one on Globilization, will be easy and less time consuming. Not only that, but the sources you will receive will be those of high credibility, comming from encyclopedias and proffesional journal articles.

Hence, if there is any confusion or questions pertaining to convention, citiations, or information on reference sites, log on to http://www.quintcareers.com/writing/writeref.html.

http://www.businessballs.com/referencesletterssamples.htm

This website tells, shows, and illustrates how to write a good reference, resume, and recommandation letters. This is good for the people who are going into the business profession. The website has mulitple subtopics to click on. All including tips on how to write better resumes etc. Some others are frequently asked questions with anwsers, tips and techniques and finally multiple topics on examples of bad resumes, recommandation, and reference letters. These sites go into depth about what is wrong with them and how to fix some of the problems that they have.

Each sub page has blus words of phrases or words you may not understand. It will either take you to the defintion or it has another paage expliaing the phrase.

Ex. X-Theory? is a word that pops up on the page of how to write a resignation letter to your company or boss. If you click on the word it then brings you to another whole cite of explantion on that phrase.

I just found this cite today, it took a while to find this one, cause i had to put in several differnent words to find something unique to this forum. I didnt want to find something that all other people will find so easily. So i took it to a different level and typed in Enhance my recommandation letter. Alot poped up, but i was lucky to find one that had several ways to improve your writing. This as a matter of fact helped more than one way.

This cite is not to colorful it is dull to the point that it just shows examples and gives explainations to what was wrong and tells you how to fix it. That is my cite. By the way when i copied and pasted it, the cite showed up in black tpye. There was a dark black click lick like the others had.

I have already used the website, http://webster.commnet.edu/grammar/ numerous times to help me figure out my grammar mistakes. Of course this site is also great for any other writing issues you may encounter, it’s very simple to use. Just figure out what you are having a problem with and then click on the appropriate sub-menu of the section that best fits your problem. At this site you can find solutions and explanations to just about anything relating to writing, for example how does one deal with writers block? Just find the section labeled “Essay & Research Paper Level�, then click on the sub-menu and locate the words “writers block�. Once you click on it you will come to a page called “Over Coming Writers Block�. This passage will give you some tips and suggestions on how to go about solving this dreaded writers’ disease. If for some reason you can’t seem to locate what you are looking for via the sub-menus than just click on the button in the center of the page labeled “Index�. Once you click on it you will be transferred to an index of all the topics that can be found throughout the entire site. The list is quite vast and offers many different categories of solving writing woes. This site was referred to me by a friend and like I said earlier, I have taken advantage of its useful information many times for all sorts of issues. I don’t think I was every left without an answer after visiting this site. I have it bookmarked for easy access.

The website that I found that I thought would be helpful to the class is http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw. The homepage is titles the eleven rules of wriiting. This goes over some of the most commonly made mistakes that writers. Another page on the site goes over fifeteen questions that so many average writers have probably asked themselves one thousand times. One of the questions is How do I get started on improving my grammar? If you click on the question, the site gives answers or suggestions. They author suggested that to get started on improving your writing one should read Strunk's Elements of Style. So Mr. Barton must be onto something there. Another helpful feature of this site is that is has a glossary with words like active and passive voice, and independent and subordinate clause. You can't learn how to write good grammar without knowing what the certain parts of a sentence are first. They also reference you back to the particular rule that the definition pertains to. The site offers other references that are available for students to look at which also explains the rules of writing in other ways. There are eleven other sites that you can visit that will help you improve your writing including 10 Steps to Writing an Essay which it says is good for college students. I know that sometimes I can sit at my desk for hours and never get anything typed or written so maybe if I had a list of steps to take it might help me. If you do not think that this site alone will help you be sure to look at all of the links because they seem to be really informative. I only looked at a couple links but they all seemed to be credited. Check it out at least.

Writing is something that everybody does on almost a daily basis, and it is important to write the best you can in order for it to make sense especially when you are trying to communicate to someone else. In our composition 1102 class we are all on different levels of writing for one reason or another, whether it be for more grammer knowledge, more practice, or just more talented at it. Peer reviews as a part of our class can be helpful due to everyone's different style and knowledge of writing, grammer, and overall composition. What if someone on a higher level of writing writes your peer review, and you just have no idea what they are talking about because of the subject's vocabulary that you have not heard of yet? This could be a big problem and defeat the whole purpose of you recieving a peer review from someone to benefit your paper which could consequently cost a whole letter grade or more. Well I have found a website that as all of the proper terms defined so that you know what they mean when someone mentions them in a peer review or at another time in your life. This website also tells you in detail about the word such as how it can or can't be used or in what situation it might be used in. It doesn't really tell you how to write better, but it is definately helpful if you are having any grammer problems or if you just want the correct terminology. The website is [http://englishplus.com/grammer/stylcont.htm

One of the most common problems among writing students is citing sources. Very little students actually know how to put together a bibliography or works cited page. A student can write an amazing paper, but if their works cited page is incorrect that can ruin their entire paper. The correct works cited page is extremely important, as emphasized by Mr. Barton. Like he said, if our works cited page is incorrect he won’t even grade the paper and we will get a grade letter lower. That is why the website easybib is so useful. How the website is so useful is that the user gets their source and important information about their source. There is a drop menu with a list of all different types of sources such as electronic, in print, and other. The site allows you to site sources from different media sources as well. The writer just simply types in the known information about their source and the website automatically puts the citation in correct MLA format.

Personally, I find this site to be extremely useful and easy to use. The use of this site eliminates the worries about correctly formatting a works cited page. Another great advantage about the easybib website is that it is completely free of charge. There are other services offered by easybib as well. There is mybibpro, which is for students as well but also offers automatic citations in APA format as well as footnotes and other services. Along with mybibpro is bib4school which is for schools. Bib4school is mostly for teachers and librarians. Both mybibpro and bib4school are not free, but is very cheap. Mybibpro is only$6 a year. The price for bib4school depends on the amount of students who will be accessing the service. The cost of bib4school ranges from $30 a year for up to 20 students to a negotiable amount for a license for more than 5000 students.

Forum #7

A Guide For Writing Research Papers

I found this website using the Google search engine. I was looking for a website that would have the correct format for APA style writing, because the rules for APA seem to change every year. The website is useful because it has examples and information on how to cite all kinds of sources. I find it difficult to decide whether or not I am citing my sources correctly, especially Internet sources. This website also offers a link to another site that helps with MLA style papers and offers techniques about how to start a research paper. There is a tutorial available that illustrates how to reference information online. This may be helpful to students who are not finding reliable sources using google or yahoo. This website should be taken advantage of by students because not only does it offer tips on how to write a good paper, it also shows you the tips in the format of a correct APA style paper. The bottom of the website is the most useful portion. It contains links, which are labeled according to what type of source you are trying to reference. All you have to do is click on the type of source you have and follow the instructions and examples. This website is useful to keep your paper from losing points from format and referencing, it allows the reader to focus on what you’ve written, not how you’ve documented it. I’m finding this website useful for my citations and for a research paper in one of my other classes. Take advantage of the information and user- friendly setup.

LEO: Literacy Education Online


This website is from the St Cloud Univerisy website and provides a large amound of information about research and writing. The site contains numerous help files ranging from research to comma placement. The reasearch section clearly defines how to cite and document in both APA and MLA format. This site also gives tips on writing for jobs, for school, or for professional reasons. The section about comma use was really a good read to warm back up to comma use.

There are even sections in development and organization (which is very important in this class) that could prove quite useful. People originally from another country that does not use english as a native language could also lean from this site as it provides information on our use of the language.

In particular, the section on getting started writing was quite interesting. Ideas on brain storming are quite helpful and neccessary for a good organization. And asking the write questions of yourself about a paper are important.

The site layout is pretty good. At the top of the page is an outline of all the topics covered in the writing help section. You can click on the section you wish to learn about and it will lead further down the page to a section with more information about that subject. You can then chose a more specific topic from that area and click to learn more about that.

I looked over a few websites. I chose one and started writing about it. I got ready to post and realized someone else had just posted it. Oh well, I found another one. It’s http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ OWL. This is a website set up in1993 by Purdue University. It has a lot to offer.
It has materials and resources for students and teachers on the website. Of these are printer friendly handouts on general writing concerns, English as a second language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, professional writing and practice exercises. Longer and more interactive presentations and workshops, including PowerPoint? presentations on writing skills, documentation styles, grammar and mechanics, and business/ professional writing are also available along with hypertext workshops on resumes, cover letters, APA style, research papers and conducting research online.
In addition to the aforementioned material e-mail tutoring sessions about writing are available. Frequently asked questions are posted and when anyone on the mailing list will receive a free weekly e-mail newsletter about writing. Other available resources include a tutorial on searching the internet, a collection of search engines, a collection of online writing resources, and information about other online writing labs.
Like I said, the sites got a lot to offer. Go take a virtual tour.

After looking through a few websites online, I ended up choosing the first one I looked at. The website http://library.ust.hk/serv/skills/libskill.html was very simple and easy to read. The homepage was broken up into sections that were clear for the viewer to understand. It wasn't cluttered with unnecessary or just too much information like some of the other websites I had looked at. The website had what they called the Ten Steps to Writing A Research Paper. On the first page it has each step with a link to it. In order, the steps are: Define a Topic, Gather Background Information, Find Books and Other Material, Search for Journal and Magazine Articles, Retrieve Newspaper Articles, Locate Information in the UST Library, Explore Web Resources, Evaluate Materials, Write the Paper, Cite Your Sources.

With each link, it gives a brief description of how to do what you are looking for. For example, when I clicked on the Cite Your Sources link, it showed me the different types of styles and how to do it within each type of resource one would have. It also has links to online guides and other references incase you need more information. This keeps the pages simple and less cluttered, so it is easier for the person to understand.

I liked this website primarily because of its simplicity. It is designed for undergrads who need help with basic research paper writing skills. While checking out the website, I never felt confused or overwhelmed by the information. It was organized nicely and had great supporting links for more information. This website seemed very helpful to the average undergrad writer.

Coming from a college student in an English Composition class, I can say I am not the only one who has trouble with grammar from time to time. I accessed Yahoo for a search on some help in grammar and this excellent website came up: http://www.ruthvilmi.net/hut/help/grammar_help/. When you enter the homepage, it has a list of just about every aspect of grammar that you could ever ask for. From adjectives and adverbs to verb tenses and verb patterns, everything is there. There is assistance in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and even a question forum where students are able to ask and answer questions that they are faced with. I know that when I write a paper, many times my sentences do not flow or sound right. There is a link for correct sentence structure that actually shows the student how to correctly fix the sentence. Also, the website provides exercises for students to test themselves to see if they know the material. This website would come in handy to just about every college student. This website offers free activities and lessons that are both fun and informative to students who are in need of assistance. It even has a few songs titled "Fun Songs About Basic Parts of Speech." Included in this website is 22 pages that provide help in all areas of English. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs are all covered in this site. The next time I am writing a paper, this is the website that I am going to come to. I know that this is a one-stop site for every bit of help in the English world.

The website I found was http://members.tripod.com/~lklivingston/essay/. I looked through many websites before I came upon this one. I thought that it seemed very useful for writing any essay. It gives the reader information about all aspects of writing essays including making an outline and properly writing each paragraph. There are many different areas to look at on the website. I was able to click on a link which showed me how to make any topic (assigned or not) work. It informs the reader of many different ways to think about and focus on a certain topic. The website also provides ways to outline your paper. I think that this is a very good idea because it gives two different ways to outline a paper which can be very beneficial. I always seem to lose my train of thought while I am writing and this shows me how to organize my ideas before writing. The website also provides a guideline for writing a thesis statement. This is effective because I am not very good at constructing a thesis statement. It also provides guidelines for writing each paragraph including the introduction and conclusion.
I think that this website is very beneficial. It provides basic guidelines for all writers. It is easy to read and easy to follow. There are many different links that connect the reader to different aspects of writing a proper essay. It provides a sample essay that is very short but shows the basic idea of writing. I think that it can be very advantageous when students forget the basic ideas of writing which seem to slip my mind frequently.

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/index.html

I have found this extremely useful website on Yahoo. It has several links, which include grammar, writing, speech, citation and fundamental of research etc. Each link has several sub-sections which explain in a very simple way. From basic to all the complex concepts. For example, if you click on the writing link, it has number of sub-sections starting from the basics of writing to the details of persuasive and expository writing. I think it’s a good website, where you can find everything in one place and depends on your level of English language knowledge, this website has something to offer to everyone.

http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/EngPaper/index.html | Getting an A on an English Paper

“Getting an A on an English Paper� is a website by Dr. Jack Lynch an Associate Professor at Rutgers University English Department. Dr. Lynch designed the site to be used primarily by undergraduate students and is very easy to navigate. There is a lot of useful information to help undergraduate students create well written papers. However, writing takes effort or as Dr. Lynch states on the web site “Writing good papers takes work, and that means reading, researching, writing, revising.�

The website is divided into the five main areas of: Thesis, Research, Close Reading, Style, and Mechanics. The steps take you logically and naturally through developing a thesis for a paper, conducting research to support the thesis, close reading issues such as diction and point of view, style and mechanical issues of grammar and word usage. Dr. Lynch clearly explains terms and uses clear examples of what to do right and wrong. The section on Thesis stresses the importance of developing a thesis and strong arguments to prove it. The research section really focuses on proving your thesis, and what types of sources make good references. The last sections stress the various mechanical and style issues in writing that are very important. A reviewer reading a paper should be lead on a logical journey to the conclusion you are trying to prove and not be distracted by basic mechanical errors. I found very helpful hints from this site and have not yet explored it to its fullest depths. This site will provide anyone with good tips whether they are just beginning to write or have been writing at a college level for a while.

http://essayinfo.com/


This site has a collection of helpful reads that have been collected from professional essay writers and college professors. From the basics of writing to business writing, it is all located on this website. You can learn how to make a helpful outline for your college essay and how to make a thesis. There are also links to writing tips and a style guide. There are 19 types of essays on this website, with instructions on how to write them and what is needed for each type of essay. There are also links for how to write MLA, APA, Turabian, and Chicago citing. Some other helpful information on this website are instructions on how to make a presentation. There are links for ways to organize your presentation, the mechanics, the text, visual aids, and seven important things to remember when making a presentation. Also, there are links for how to make a resume and cover letters.

This website can be used not only by beginning writers, but also by college students and post-grad students. There are also 21 articles on the site that have to do with different education issues in the United States, from plagiarism to how high school diplomas are losing educational value.

The writing tips are especially useful. It explains to you how to write in a concise manner and how to convey your thoughts clearly to any type of audience.

This site is very useful and has a lot of information. I'm glad I stumbled across this website because I know it will be useful when I am trying to write a paper for college. Hopefully my peers will find it useful also.

This site can help you correctly post a bibliographic entry on your works cited page whether the entry is from books, encyclopedias, magazine articles, newspaper articles, pamphlets, CD-ROMs, videos, internet, e-mail, and interviews. It also shows you how to add textual references (or citations) within your paper, showing where and from whom each quote in your paper originated.

This site also provides information on how a writer should insert a quote in English essays. The site offers helpful comments on quotations, reminding us that too many quotes can interrupt the flow of a paper and that a good quote should support a statement rather than repeat it.

This site also contains a step-by-step instruction on how a writer should approach an essay. Seven steps are given starting from first thinking about the question, then to summing up the argument in a concluding paragraph, and finally to revising the paper. The site also includes easy instructions to follow when starting the revision process.

I found this site to be a great help in writing a research paper. This site covers all aspects of writing an English paper. It also presents tips a person can use before he/she begins reading a book or paper to decide whether or not he/she feels the book or paper is worth reading. The site also has note-taking guidelines which can help to organize our thought before we begin writing our paper. I highly suggest each student take a quick look at the site for some good tips and comments.

http://www.dicksonc.act.edu.au/Library/library.html

ClearWriter

One website that seemed to be a good tool for writers was Clear Writer. The only negative thing about it is that a one year subscription to it is $399. Still though, there are alot of helpful hints that you can view without subscribing to it. Clear Writer covers a variety of things such as editing, writing sentences, writing paragraphs, and writing reports. There are online courses, and short excercises on the website that help improve writing skills. There is also a demo that you can do to preview what the program is like. I know that the subscription is a little expensive, and I won't be buying it, but there are the helpful hints that you can take advantageof. For example, there is a section on editing that could be very beneficial to writers, and this is what I understood from it. Some of the things mentioned I already know, but it might help someone else. It covers wordiness, and it says that if you can use a shorter word over a longer word, then use the shorter word. Of course it says not to use jargon, and cliches. Some phrases are over used and it is better to not use them. Concrete nouns are better to use than abstract nouns, and it is better to use singular nouns over plural ones. Be very specific with the words that you use, and use real words instead of abbreviations.
There was also alot of helpful hints on writing paragraphs. Every paragraph should begin with a main point, and the sentences thereafter should describe that main point. Subordination is very important, and transitions are also. This website seems as if it can be very helpful to someone who wants to pay the price, but for those who don't, there is the demo and the helpful hints.

Webster

Webster’s website provides the ultimate utopia for learning grammar. There is an abundance of helpful features of this site. This site can answer every question, from what an adjective is to providing you with a grammar quiz to help you progress in your writing skills. This site has a very in-depth explanation of every type of word, defining what each word is, how it’s used, and examples of where you would use them. There is also a section to help you learn abbreviations, capitalization, and every skill that is essential in becoming a good writer. For those who already obtain a basic knowledge of grammar and wish to learn more, there are power point presentations, an online English bookshelf, and forums are available to the users of the site. A grammar section for teachers is also available. A key feature of the site is the section on writing essays. Every question someone could ever ask while writing an essay is answered on the site, including writing patterns, structural considerations, and patterns of organizations. If you are having trouble finding the answer to a question, the site provides a search engine, frequently asked questions section, and an ask grammar section. There is also a great section on paragraphs. This site is perfect for everyone, from students to teachers; it offers everything that anyone could ever ask for. Everyone should take advantage of this site, no matter if you feel you’re a good writer or not, because this site will undoubtedly make them a better writer.

The University of Florida provides an excellent resource for helping students from any school improve their writing skills. The program is titled Center for Written and Oral Communication and is located on the World Wide Web at http://web.cwoc.ufl.edu/owl/. This web site offers a few services to help students become better writers, particularly in creating scholastic or professional papers. Students are permitted to submit excerpts from papers, or entire papers, as long as it does not exceed 500 words. Submissions must be accompanied by a specific question about the paper. All submissions are then sent to the CWOC database and are put on a forum. Within 1-5 days a critic will read and respond to the paper based on the question that was asked.
The thing that I really liked about this program is that you can actually get some background information on the people that are critiquing the paper. By clicking on “Meet Our Tutors� you can see a photo of each of the tutors as well a read a brief biography of each that gives their credentials. This feature helps provide a bit of comfort to those submitting papers. It sets one’s mind at ease knowing that it is not some 5th grader correcting one’s paper.
If a person needs further help in improving his or her writing skills there is a list of links that take the user to web sites that provide academic assistance. A few of the links include: The Elements of Style, Guide to Grammar and Writing, and Webster’s Dictionary.

Center for Written and Oral Communication