Writing Topic |
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| The Writing Process | This site from Cleveland State University provides a colorful, three-dimensional illustration of the writing process. | A systematic explanation of the writing process "The Writing Process" according to Donald Murray's The Craft of Revision |
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it; Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | |
| Approaching the Assignment | "How to Read an Assignment" from The Writing Center at UNC | "Reading Strategies" | "If written directions alone would suffice, libraries wouldn't need to have the rest of the universities attached." -- Judith Martin | |
| Choosing a Topic | Helpful Ithaca College handout on Subjects, Themes and Topics | The AIM Principle | A U. of Arizona site that offers Research Instruction Online |
As is your sort
of mind, so is your sort of search: you'll find what you desire. -- Robert Browning |
| Brainstorming | "Planning/ |
Several Brainstorming Strategies | "Brainstorming" by UC Davis Soil Ecology Professor Bruce Jaffee |
"Ideas are
the cheapest part of the writing. They are free. The hard part is what you
do with ideas you've gathered." --Jane Yolen |
| Writing a Thesis | "Developing a Thesis Statement" from the UIUC Writers' Workshop "Thesis Writing" ("Statements about statements") |
Discussion of the Thesis from "Getting an A on an English Paper" | "How to Write a Thesis Statement" |
A well-crafted thesis statement reflects well-crafted ideas. It signals a writer who has intelligence, commitment, and enthusiasm. |
| Writing an Outline | "Developing an Outline" from the Purdue OWL | "The Art of the Outline" | "Measure twice. Cut once." -- Construction worker's saying. "An outline reflects logical thinking and clear classification." |
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| Doing Research | "Researching Your Topic" (Dartmouth) | "Steps to Writing a Research Paper" (includes a helpful checklist for students) | "Tips for Writing Research Papers" | "The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book." --Samuel Johnson |
| Writing a First Draft | "Writing the First Draft" | "Warning Signs of a Rushed Paper" | "Writing the First Draft" | Writing is "easily as complex and demanding as high-level mathematics or theoretical physics." |
| Revising | "Revising Prose" | "Revising Your Paper" | "Higher Order Concerns and Lower Order Concerns" "Cultivating a Critical Eye" (Dartmouth) "The Twenty Most Common Errors in Student Writing" (Andrea Lunsford) |
"I
believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil." --Truman Capote
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| Proofreading | "How to Proofread and Edit Your Writing" | "Revising and Proofreading Checklists" | "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." - Mark Twain | |
| Using Sources | "Writing with Sources" | "Using Source Materials: An Introduction" | "Acknowledging Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" | "The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." - Mark Twain |
Definitions |
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| The Essay | "What is an Academic Paper?" (Dartmouth) | "Beginning the Academic Essay" | "Have something
to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret." -- Matthew Arnold |
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| The Research Paper | Academic Writing: Research Papers | "The Research Paper" | "Planning and Writing a Research Paper" (see also the other tips) "Steps to Writing a Research Paper" (from UCLA) |
"The work never matches the dream of perfection the artist has to start with." -- William Faulkner |
| Evidence | "Balancing Evidence and Interpretation" | "Evidence or Proof" | "Don't say the old lady
screamed. Bring her on and let her scream." -- Mark Twain |
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| Critical Thinking | "Defining Critical Thinking" | "Critical Reading Toward Critical Thinking " | "What is written without effort is read without pleasure." -Samuel Johnson | |
| Style | "Improving Your Writing Style" | "Attending to Style" | "Interactive Style Exercises" | "Good writing is clear thinking made visible." --Bill Wheeler |
| Introductions | "Introductions" | "Preparing to Write an Introduction" | "Strategies for Writing Introductions" | "If you start with a bang, you won't end with a whimper." --T.S. Eliot |
| Conclusions | "Conclusions" | "Writing Conclusions" | "A hard beginning maketh a good ending." -- John Heywood | |
| The Paragraph | "Writing Paragraphs" | "Writing Paragraphs" | "Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short." -- Henry David Thoreau | |
| Transitions | "Writing Effective Transitions" | "Transitions" | "The strokes of the pen need deliberation as much as the sword needs swiftness." --Julia Ward Howe | |
| Common Errors | "Common Errors in English" | "An Editing Checklist" | "Common Errors" | "Easy writing makes hard reading." -- Ernest Hemingway |
| Grammar | "Guide to Grammar and Style" | "Grammar Handbook" | "The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. -- Thomas Jefferson | |
| Essay Exams | "Timed Essays: Planning and Organizing in a Crunch" | The REDOER Strategy for Essay Exams | "I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it. --William Faulkner | |
| Audience | "Audience Analysis" | "Audience: Some General Advice" | "Audience and Purpose" | "I wrote a few children's books... not on purpose." --Stephen Wright |
| The Personal Statement | "Writing Application Essays" | "How to Write an Effective Admission Letter" | "Writing the Personal Statement" "Writing the Graduate school Application" (Dartmouth) |
"Personal examples carry more weight than preaching." --Chinese Proverb |
ESL Issues |
"English as a Second Language" (Dartmouth) | "Article Usage" | "The english language is no one's special property. It is the property of imagination." --Derek Walcott. | |
Citing Sources |
"Style Sheets for Citing Resources (Print and Electronic)" | "Internet Citation Guides" | "Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism" | "The human plagiarism which is most difficult to avoid for individuals is the plagiarism of ourself." --Marcel Proust |
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"MLA Citation Style" | "MLA Style Guide" | "MLA Formatting" | "The intelligible forms of ancient poets, The fair humanities of old religion . . ." -- S. T. Coleridge |
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"Karla's Guide to Citation Style Guides" | "Citing Sources APA Style" | "Using APA Format" | "The
only 'ism' Hollywood believes in is plagiarism." --Dorothy Parker |
| Electronic Sources | "Citation Styles Online" | "Ten C's for Evaluating Internet Sources" | "Columbia Guide to Online Style" | "Not even computers will replace committees, because committees buy computers." --Wall Street Journal |
| Avoiding Plagiarism | "How Not to Plagiarize" |
Student Judicial Affairs at UCD |
"The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way." -- Richard Harding Davis | |
UCD Resources |
"Writing in the Disciplines" | "An adjective habit, or a wordy, diffuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, is as hard to get rid of as any other vice." --Mark Twain" | ||
Writing the MCAT Essay |
MCAT Writing Sample Prompts | Scoring and Tips for the MCAT Essay | "The Writing Section of the MCAT" "Strategies for the MCAT Writing Sample" |
"A doctor, like anyone else who has to deal with human beings, each of them unique, cannot be a scientist; he is either, like the surgeon, a craftsman, or, like the physician and the psychologist, an artist." --W.H. Auden |
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