Explore topics by stages of the writing process

Getting Started

• Where to Start a Paper
  
• Writing for Professors: Get in the Driver's Seat by David Roberts
  
• Confronting Writing Anxiety by Lauren Cone
• Freewriting: A Way Around Writer's Block
  
• Brainstorming for Ideas
• Effective Reading Strategies by Amy Addison
  
• Keeping a Pre-writing Journal by Amy Addison
  
• Clustering Ideas by Melanie Dawson & Joe Essid
  
• Exploring Ideas Through "Cubing by Melanie Dawson
  
• Building Writing Confidence by G.M. Smith
   

Writing in the Disciplines

• Writing in Biology by Molly Cage and Jon Wakefield
  
• Writing in French by Alicia Surdyk
  
• Writing in History by Glen Henkle
  
• Writing in Political Science by David Roberts Political Science faculty
• Scientific Writing: Qs about a Journal Article by Dr. John Bishop
   

Writing First Drafts

• Writing a Book Review by U Houston Victoria's Academic Center
  
• Writing Summaries from the UVic Writer's Guide
  
• Thesis Statements
  
• Multiple-Subject Papers
  
• Analytic Research Papers
  
• Literary Terms: A list from the English 299 syllabus
  
• Writing Effective Conclusions
  
• Writing Effective Paragraphs
  
• Writing Exam Essays from UVic Writer's Guide
   

Focusing & Connecting Ideas

• Adding Action & Clarity to Writing
  
• Concise Writing: Using Lanham's Paramedic Method
  
• Glossing: A way to check the focus of paragraphs
  
• Transitional Phrases by Joanna Taraba
  
• Using Transitions
  
• Focusing Sentences Through Parallelism
  
• Focusing Sentences Through Subordination

Analysis, Argument

• What is Analysis?

• Reasoning & Its Errors by David Roberts
• Good Reasoning: Arguing Cogently
• General Inferential Errors
• Errors in Causation
• Errors in Generalization
• Other Reasoning Fallacies
• Supporting Arguments & Avoiding Fallacies
• Writing Critically: A Guide to Tasks & Questions
• Using Details to Support a Claim
• The Three Appeals: 3000 Years of Success!

Editing a Draft

• Editing Checklist
  
• Warning Signs of a Rushed Pape

Peer Editing Strategies

• Do's and Don'ts of Written Commentary by Adria Bader
  
• Peer Editing Guide
• Writing Critically: A Guide to Tasks & Questions
  
• Tips for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) conferences
  
• Addressing Grammar Problems in Conferences
  
• What to Expect from a Writing Center Conference by Ryan Jackson

Punctuation

• Commas
  
• Semicommas by Liz Atkins
  
• Quotation Marks
  
• Apostrophes, Possessives, and Contractions
  
• Other Punctuation--Colons, Parentheses, Ellipses, etc

Sentence Structure & Mechanics

• Misplaced Modifiers: The funniest errors in the world
  
• Agreement: Nouns & Pronouns
  
• Agreement: Subject & Verb
  
• Writing About Events in Books: Past Tense? Present?
  
• Complete Sentences vs. Fragments
  
• Run-on Sentences
  
• Abbreviations
  
• Capitalization
  
• Titles: Underline or Quotations?
  
• Using Numbers & Numerals by Amy Addison
  
• Using Articles: A, An, The

Editing for Clarity & Style

• Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage
  
• Commonly Confused Words
  
• Avoiding Cliches and Tired Phrases
  
• Confusing Pronouns
  
• Putting Voice into Writing by Krysti Sible

Documentation

• APA, Turabian, MLA: print & electronic sources (UR Libraries)
  
• APA Documentation: Print Sources--our page
  
• MLA Documentation: in-text citations--our page
  
• Guide to Turabian's Manual for Writers: our page
  
• Examples of Chicago/Turabian: from the Chicago Manual of Style's site
  
• Examples of each model of documentation
   

Using Sources Effectively

• Introduction to Using Source Materials
  
• Creative Use of Sources by Heather Logan
  
• Effective Direct Quotations
  
• Incorporating Quotations
  
• Using Paraphrases
  
• Sources: Past Tense? Present? by Melanie Dawson & Joe Essid
  
• Titles: Underline or Quotations?
  
• Quotation Mark

Writing On-Line

• Basics of Electronic Writing
• Evaluating Multimedia Projects: The Basics
• Effective Academic Blogging