Welcome to the course Writing Center! Some of the documents will be available in our Google Classroom Folder as well, but I've placed links below for your convenience. It's very important that you utilize the resources to improve your writing. Many of these will be demonstrated and practiced in class, but it is your responsibility to review and apply these principles and skills in all writing for this course, no matter what level of formality the assignment.
I will be asking the students to begin thinking about their research paper topics. I will have a list of possible topics available to them, but if your student is particularly interested in a subject - please encourage him or her to look into it! Some of the best papers I've ever read were in fields that sparked a passion in the author. The topics do not have to be English-related at all. I do, however, ask that it be something debatable.
As crazy as this sounds - I have often suggested that students go to Costco for ideas on their research paper! Yep - Costco. For those of you who are Costco members, you know that there is an "Informed Debate" in every issue of the magazine Costco Connection. A debatable topic is presented and experts weigh in on both sides. It even offers "Further Resources" on each topic. For example, the latest issue just posed the question "Is hands-off parenting a good thing?" This would make an interesting topic for a student to explore!
Click here for the link to back-issues of Costco Connection dating back to 2004!
Use ProCon.org to find a topic
Use Google News to find research to support topics
Click here for a sample of 13 different topic samples from Costco.
"Coming of Age" Theme — https://books.google.ca/books?id=2c_2H6XvSGAC&lpg=PA1&ots=ry2YzrIjAT&dq=coming+of+age+literary+&lr=&pg=PP1&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false
Active Voice v. Passive Voice: When Should I Use Them? — Simple guidelines on when to use the active and passive voice in English.
Anatomy of Criticisms — Frye on criticisms
Argument Essay: How to Write a Persuasive Paper — Techniques for writing the argument_persuasive essay.
Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers with Paraphrases & Quotations — Introduction to guest lecture on plagiarism, paraphrases, direct quotations and source citations for students at the UMUC (University of Maryland University College).
Basic English Essay Skills: Build a Strong Body Paragraph — Body paragraphs are the meat and muscle of your essays, so make them strong with this simple formula for organization and support.
Basic English Essay Skills: Paragraph Transitions & Connections — Sentences in a paragraph must connect to each other from beginning to end like beads on a string. Your sentences are the beads. Transitions are the string.
Basic Essay Skills: Conclusion Paragraph — Pick one of these seven strategies to write a strong closing paragraph that leaves a lasting impression of good writing.
Book Evaluation Form — Determine which sources will be most useful to your research
Choosing and Narrowing Research Topics for APA & MLA Essays — Tools and techniques for choosing, narrowing and filtering research topics for APA and MLA research papers, term papers, themes and essays. Also: how to design the open-ended research question.
Citation Basics — Tips for ensuring your works cited page and in-text citations are perfect for your research paper
Costco Connection-Argument Issues
Creating your own Reader Response
Developing a Good Thesis Statement — Instructions on how to develop a good thesis statement for your Research Paper
eBook Resources — Provided by MC! (Need Marian GAFE login)
Embedding Quotes — Video
Encyclopedia Brittanica — Sometimes it works online without a login, sometimes it does not, but when it works, it gives you the citation and everything. Handy!
English Essay Formula: Body Paragraphs — State-explain-support-conclude is the formula used for body paragraphs in most compositions.
English Essay Formula: Conclusion Paragraph — Formula for an essay's conclusion paragraph.
English Essay Formula: How to Outline the 5-Paragraph Essay/Composition — Your essay will write itself--if you know how to outline it with a thesis and three topic sentences following this formula.
English Essay Formula: Introduction Paragraph — Formula: 2-5 sentences about anything leading to the thesis statement.
English Essay Formula: Thesis Statement and Introduction — Formula to construct a thesis statement and where to place it in the introduction paragraph.
Evaluating Internet Sources — What considers a "strong" resource for you to use in your paper?
Formalism Theory — Draw my Literary Theory
Google News — Google source focused on finding resources for Argument/controversial topics
Google Scholar — Still not the deep web, but you are more likely to find reliable resources here than on the a regular google search. Some sources require an account - just ignore those and keep looking!
Graduate Research Project Outline: Guidelines and Model — Guidelines and model response for research project outline in Communications 600 at UMUC.
Grammar Check: Proper Use of Active & Passive Voice — Advantages and disadvantages--each has its place in your writing repertoire.
Grammarly-Writing Resource — Word/Web free add-on
How to develop a Good research Topic — Video
How to do a Close Reading — Harvard Resource
How to Integrate Quotations In Writing Essays-APA or MLA — Three simple tips for integrating quotations into your essay writing--APA and MLA research papers, theses, dissertations.
How to Write an Introduction Paragraph for Your Essay — Essay introduction formula for academic writing using the three-part funnel approach: grab attention, bridge to thesis, present thesis. Presented by Michelle Bowman of the Effective Writing Center, University of Maryland University College
Integrating Quotes in Plain English — Video
Integrating Quotes in Plain English
Intro to Lit Theory — Video
KnightCite Citations — Citation Service to help with MLA and APA citations
Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism — Purdue OWL
Lit Theory Encyclopedia — An informative list and explanation of many of the popular literary theories.
Lit Theory Encyclopedia — An informative list and explanation of many of the popular literary theories.
MLA & APA Paper Citation Formats with a Citation Machine - P1 — Perfect MLA & APA research paper citation formats with the citation machine--Bedford Bibliographer. Styles: APA, MLA, Chicago.
MLA & APA Paper Citation Formats with a Citation Machine - P2 — Perfect MLA & APA research paper citation formats with the citation machine--Bedford Bibliographer. Styles: APA, MLA, Chicago.
MLA Citation Format, Part 1--Put Your Papers & Essays in Perfect MLA Style — MLA manuscript settings for a research paper in Modern Language Association (MLA) style. Also covers in-text citation formatting style (when, where and how to cite) and the Works Cited page.
MLA Citation Format, Part 2: Put Your Papers & Essays in Perfect MLA Style — MLA manuscript settings for a research paper in Modern Language Association (MLA) style. Also covers in-text citation formatting style (when, where and how to cite) and the how to construct a Works Cited page for source documentation
MLA Formatting (Word Doc)-Video
MLA Style Essay Format - Word Tutorial — MLA style essay formatting: margins, font, line spacing, header, info block, title, indentation, block quote, Works Cited.
MLA Style Tutorial (Word Doc)-Video
Open-Ended Research Questions: Success Secret for Research Projects — How to frame an open-ended research question for your research project: who, what, when, where, why, how--and all the variations of them.
Open-Ended Research Questions: The Secret to Writing Research Papers & Essays — The importance of open-ended research questions. Introduction to Week 7 video lecture for students in Communications 600 at the University of Maryland University College.
Outline Template for Research Paper
Overview of Literary Criticism — Resource
OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab — MLA Resource
Peer Review: Introduction to Week 12 Peer Collaboration in Comm600 — Introduction to Week 12 Peer Collaboration and other assignments in Communications 600, "Academic Writing for Graduate Students," at the University of Maryland University College.
Preliminary Outline Graphic Organizer
Presentation on Source Evaluating — How to determine the most useful resources for your research
Pro/Con.org — Use this source to find topics and resources for Argument Research Essay
Psychoanalytic Theory — Video
Quote Incorporation — How to properly integrate quotes properly throughout your research essay (slideshow)
Research Paper: Choose a Topic & Filter It — How to choose a research paper topic and filter it for time, place and slant in order to generate a research question.
Research Paper Open-Ended Questions: The Secret to Writing Research Essays — The importance of open-ended research questions. Introduction to Effective Writing Center guest lecture for students writing research papers at the University of Maryland University College.
Sample MLA Paper — pdf
Scholarly Databses — Paid for by MC!!! Check out Edmodo for login information!!!
Searching for Digital Diamonds on the Web — Resource in evaluating various sources on the internet
The Five-Paragraph Essay — Video
The Power of Info Mapping Your Writing — For more on this technique, go to the U.S. and Canadian web sites of the company cleverly called "Information Mapping." The URLs are http://www.infomap.com and http://www.infomap.ca to familiarize yourself with the technique and practice using it.
The Research Process: Getting Answers in School and in Life — Five steps of the research process: (1) clarifying the question to be answered; (2) determining the information needed to answer it; (3) collecting reliable sources; (4) analyzing and synthesizing conclusions; (5) presenting the answer in an appropriate format. Virtual lecture for the Effective Writing
Thesis: How to Write a Thesis Statement for Your English Essay — Thesis Statement: A Simple Guide to Getting It Right for University of Maryland University College--brief introduction. Provides a simple formula for all thesis statements: A sentence that contains your topic + your position on it.
Thesis Generator — Use to practice for your essay
Thesis Statement: How to Write Strong Thesis Sentence for Your Essay — Thesis: A simple formula for thesis statements in your essays--a sentence that contains your topic + your position on the topic.
Thesis Statement Development — Video
Thesis Workshop — In-Class Resource
UNC Writing Center — Awesome Resource site for developing writing skills and examples of various steps over the writing process.
Using Quotations in your essay — Video
Verbs for Analysis — List of Analytical Verbs to use for your thesis statements
Website Evaluation Form — Determine which electronic sources will be most useful to your research
Why Peer Reviewed Academic Journal Articles Not Magazines? — Comparison of academic journal articles with other types of periodical sources on basis of: Authorship, Advertising, Editorial Review.