Resources
Welcome to the Writing Center Resources Page. Here you will find regularly updated links related to the writing process.
Do you have a specific question about your paper? Check out our听Common Writing Questions below. If you have a question that isn鈥檛 answered here, take a look at the reference materials from (OWL)鈥攊t鈥檚 an excellent resource for student writers.
天美视频 Writing Center Guides
The Writing Center at 天美视频 authors short, two-page guides offering advice on topics relevant to 天美视频 students. View and download them below:
Other Writing Process Guides
File Types
鈥摈谤颈苍迟贵谤颈别苍诲濒测 [].
A brief article that explains common file types you may encounter as well as some tips for how best to use them and convert between them.
Research
鈥擴niversity of Waterloo.
Prewriting
鈥擶alden University Writing Center听[]
This collection of resources is your prewriting one-stop shop. It shares strategies for each step of the prewriting process, including critical reading, taking notes, paper planning, generating ideas, and outlining.
鈥擝aylor University 听[]
This online calculator uses your start date and paper due date to create a basic schedule, with suggested deadlines for each step of the research and writing process.
鈥擴NC Chapel Hill Writing Center Blog 听[]
This 1-minute video demonstrates how you can start shaping your paper by printing out your notes, cutting them up into strips, and organizing them in different ways.
Essay Structure
鈥�Harvard Writing Center & Communications Lab.
This 4-page document provides concise explanations of how to construct the introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions for academic papers.
In this 6-minute video, Ariel Bissett gives a quick overview of how essay structure is commonly understood
鈥擴NC Chapel Hill Writing Center
This 2-minute video covers how to get started on an outline and describes different outlining strategies
鈥擣rederick Community College
This page hosts several worksheets you can use to visually organize your paper.
Thesis Statements
鈥擶alden University Writing Center 听[]
This resource offers thesis statement guidance in several forms, including a podcast, webinars, and even fill-in-the-blank 鈥淭hesis Mad Libs鈥� that can help you get started
Composition
鈥擴NC Chapel Hill Writing Center
This 2-minute video explains how thinking of writing as decision-making can help you effectively convey your ideas to your reader.
鈥擥rammar Girl Podcast
How do you turn a list of information into a paper that makes a clear, meaningful argument? In this podcast, Mignon Fogarty (a.k.a. Grammar Girl) talks with author Joel Schwartzberg about strategies for getting to the point. Schwartzberg draws his examples from public speaking, but the strategies he describes in the first 15 minutes apply to writing as well.
鈥擶alden University Writing Center 听[]
This resource explains how academic writing norms vary depending on language and culture. It includes videos and blog posts on academic writing expectations in the United States. Multilingual students are the primary audience, but this resource could be helpful for any writer looking for guidance on scholarly voice and argument.
Citations
鈥擯urdue OWL 听[]
Some students like to use citation tracking software and/or citation generators鈥攐nline tools that turn information into citations that a writer can use in a project. This article offers a simple guiding principle: Although citation generators can be helpful tools, they 鈥渃annot (and should not) do any of your thinking for you.鈥� It suggests several best practices for using citation generators.
Also, be sure to check out the reference materials for both APA and Chicago style collected right here on the Writing Center鈥檚 page.
Common Writing Questions
Have a specific question about the writing process? We guarantee you are not the only one! These are some of the conversations that come up frequently in our Writing Center consultations.
How do I make sure I answered the essay prompt effectively?Before you do a final round of edits on your essay, read through the essay prompt again. Did you answer all the questions it requires you to answer?
听[] 鈥� Article from University of Michigan Sweetland Center for Writing
鈥� This video (2 minutes) from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
demonstrates color-coding an essay prompt to break it into manageable chunks.
听[]鈥� This handout from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center contains a helpful list of hooks, as well as examples of less-effective introductions.
Admitting you don鈥檛 know everything is the mark of a strong academic writer. It can feel weird to make specific claims in response to the types of big questions 天美视频 essay prompts often pose, but remember: All you鈥檙e doing is saying what you think today based on what you know so far. You can name this in your paper, if that鈥檚 helpful.
You can also use techniques like hedging (using cautious or equivocal language) and engaging opposing arguments.
鈥� Video (7 minutes) from Griffith University on YouTube
[]鈥� Blog Post from Paradigm Writing Online Assistant by Chuck Guilford
Many writers were taught to follow a 鈥渘o first-person鈥� rule, which is that writers cannot use first-person pronouns such as 鈥淚鈥� in an academic paper. This rule implies that academic writers must instead refer to themselves in the third person (e.g., as 鈥渢he author鈥�).
While this may have been an academic writing norm in the past, use of the first person is common now, especially if it helps avoid ambiguity. In addition, some of your assignments may ask you to use your personal experience as evidence, which invites use of the first person.
APA style actually encourages the use of first person to avoid ambiguity in attribution. See this APA blog post on 鈥溾�� [] and Section 4.16 of the APA Publication Manual, seventh edition, for further guidance.
Chicago style permits use of first-person pronouns. Regarding the use of 鈥淚,鈥� CMOS 5.254 states, 鈥淲hen you need a first-person pronoun, use one. It鈥檚 not immodest to do so; it鈥檚 superstitious not to.鈥�
You might use the first person when delivering a thesis or claim (鈥淚 argue 鈥︹��). Or, you might use the first person when describing the design and/or results of original research (鈥淲e surveyed 50 people who use the local library 鈥︹��).
Some caveats:鈥�
Avoid the 鈥渞oyal we鈥�
You can use the pronoun 鈥渨e鈥� if you are writing a paper with others. Use 鈥淚鈥� to refer to yourself if you are the only author. Also, avoid using 鈥渨e鈥� to refer to people in general. This can create ambiguity. Instead, try using more specific nouns like 鈥減eople鈥� or 鈥渞esearchers.鈥�
Watch for overuse of the first person
It is possible to overuse first-person pronouns in a formal academic paper. For example, there will seldom be a need for you to use a first-person pronoun when summarizing or paraphrasing another author.
Follow your instructor鈥檚 assignment guidelines
Some instructors may prefer that you avoid use of first-person pronouns. If your instructor asks you to avoid the first person in a particular assignment, you should do that. If you are unsure about your instructor’s preference, check with them or your AI.
More resources on use of the first person:
听 [] 鈥� Handout from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
鈥� Video (6 minutes) from The Nature of Writing
听[] 鈥� Article from Purdue Online Writing Center (OWL)
鈥� Video (15 minutes) from Genesee Community College Library on YouTube. Highly recommended if you like Star Wars 鈥� the examples are drawn from the opening titles!
[]
鈥� Handout from The University of Washington Odegaard Center
Chicago: See CMOS 14.217 (鈥淟ectures and papers or posters presented at meetings鈥�) and (OWL) [].
APA: See Section 8.9 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition, and the [].
See Sections 9.8 through 9.11 in the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition, and from Purdue Online Writing Center (OWL) 听[].
鈥� Handout from Highline College Writing Center
鈥� Grammar Girl Podcast on YouTube. The discussion on how to revise run-ons starts at 7:49. (But the discussion of the word 鈥渕yriad鈥� that comes before is also interesting!)
[] 鈥� A collection of articles, sentence diagrams, and videos from Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
APA: Section 4.13 of the APA Publication Manual, seventh edition, states, 鈥淏oth the active and passive voices are permitted in APA Style, but many writers overuse the passive voice. Use the active voice as much as possible to create direct, clear, and concise sentences.鈥� See also APA Table 4.1 on Recommended Verb Tenses.
Chicago: See CMOS Section 5.118. Chicago permits both the active and passive voice, and notes that passive voice is typically, though not always, inferior to active voice.听
鈥� Video (2 minutes) from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
鈥� Video (2 minutes) from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center. Once you have a draft, Reverse Outlining can be an effective way to make sure your paper doesn鈥檛 contain excess material.
Here are three simple editing techniques that may help you cut excess material:
- Print your essay out and edit it on paper. Sometimes typing can make it too easy to add more words.
- Put some distance between you and the page. Let your essay rest for at least 24 hours, then come back and evaluate where you might cut.
- Read your essay out loud, preferably from a printed hard copy. You might be surprised at the things you notice!
When we鈥檙e crunched for time on a project, it can be appealing to automate a somewhat rote part of the process鈥揷itations. However, relying on a citation generator can backfire. While citations are formulaic and, theoretically, should be easily automated, there are some obstacles to this.
First, citation styles periodically change, and the maintainers of citation generator programs may not have kept them up-to-date. As such, an outdated citation generator might generate an incorrect citation. This is particularly a problem with Chicago Turabian, which has multiple possible versions.
Second, the information required for citations鈥搒uch as edition or volume numbers, or cities of publication鈥搈ay not be readily available to your generator, meaning that required information will be left out of your citation.
The Writing Center advises that students practice doing citations manually, at least at first, so that you can become familiar with the style you are using. Furthermore, citations can serve as an easy, formulaic task during the writing process that gives you a break from the more stimulating and tiring aspects of writing.
Once a student is familiar with a citation style, they can choose to use a generator to quicken the process, but it is important that you be able to correct the citations yourself when the generator makes mistakes.