Writing & Speaking Guides

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Our guides take you from brainstorming to revision. Besides handouts, you'll see we've listed podcasts and videos as well as interactive lessons that allow you to self-assess your learning. You can also see the guides organized alphabetically.

Academic Writing

Abstracts
Academic Book Reviews
Academic Phrasebank
Analysis

Annotated Bibliography
Arguments

Critical Reflection: Journals, Opinions, & Reactions
The Perfect Proposal (Video)
Essay Exams
History Papers
Hypotheses
Lab Reports
LabWrite
Literature Reviews
Literature Reviews (Get Lit) (Video)
Précis
Reflection (Interactive)
Research Papers
Research Posters
Research Writing Process (Interactive)
Scholarly Journal Articles (Interactive)
Scientific Writing
Scientific Writing: Practice Makes It (Almost) Perfect (Video)
Writing Accessibly About Science (Video)
Writing for Publication (Video)

Professional Writing

Business Letters
Business Plans
Cover Letters
Cover Letters (Audio)
Curricula Vitae (CVs)
Emails
Engineering Writing

Executive Summaries
Journalism Interviews with Dale Rice

Memos
Op Eds
Personal Statements
Progress Reports
Proposals
Resumes
Resume Writing (Audio)
Resume References (Audio)

Presentations

Delivering a Presentation
Delivering Effective Presentations (Video)
Effective Conference Presentations (Video)
Dissertation Defense
The Perfect Defense (Video)
Organizing a Presentation
Overcoming Stage Fright
Presentation Checklist
Presentation Practice Apps
Presentation Slides
Presenting with Slides Workshop (Video)
Quotations in Presentations
Research Posters

Brainstorming & Planning

Audience Awareness
Brainstorming
Brainstorming (Video)
Decimal Outlines
Organization (Interactive)
Organizing a Presentation
Prewriting (Interactive)
Reverse Outlining (Video)
Selecting a Topic
Thesis Statements
Thesis Statements (Interactive)
Thesis Statements (Video)
Understanding Writing Assignments

Researching

Academic Integrity, Writing With (Video) (also, Plagiarism)
EasyBib
End Note
Evaluating Scholarly Sources
Information Literacy
Plagiarism (also, Academic Integrity (Video) )
Library Resources (Undergraduate)
Library Resources (Graduate)
RefWorks

Drafting

Active & Passive Voice
Active & Passive Voice (Video)
Active & Passive Voice (Interactive)
Affect vs. Effect (Video)
Avoid Boring Writing (Audio)
Clear and Concise Writing
Commonly Confused Words (Video)
Conclusions (Audio)
Conclusions (Interactive)
Inclusive Language (Interactive)
Introductions (Audio)
Introductions (Interactive)
Managing Group Writing Projects
Organization (Interactive)
Paragraph Construction
Paragraph Organization (Video)
Paragraph Organization (Interactive)
Sentence Variation, How to Create (Video)
Sentence Variety (Interactive)
Start a Writing Group
Topic Sentences (Video)
Transitions (Interactive)
Transition Words & Phrases
Writing Concisely (Interactive)

Citing & Documenting

Academic Integrity, Writing With (Video) (also, Plagiarism)
Citing Sources
Citing Sources (Interactive)
Direct Quoting
Documentation Styles
EasyBib
End Note
MLA Format: A Quick Guide
MLA Style Center Template for Works Cited (Interactive)
Paraphrasing
Plagiarism (also, Academic Integrity (Video)
RefWorks
Summarizing

Grammar & Mechanics

Agreement (Interactive)
Articles: A, An, & The
Articles: Part I (Video)
Articles: Part II (Video)
The Article Scale (Video)
Capitalization (Video)
Common Grammar Errors
Comparatives: -er & est
Comparisons (Degrees of, for Adjectives) (Video)
Conditional Statements (Video)
Demonstratives: This & That
Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers (Video)
Participles: -ing & -ed
Prepositions
Prepositions (Video)
Prepositions of Location (Video)
Pronouns (Video)
Relative Clauses Who, Which, & That
Subject-Verb Agreement: Special Cases (Video)
Tense Shift (Video)
Verb Tenses

Punctuation

Apostrophes (Video)
Commas
Comma Rules in Spanish
Comma Splice (Video)
Comma Usage in Restrictive & Non-Restrictive Clauses (Video)
Contractions & Homonyms (Video)
Hyphens & Dashes (Video)
Punctuating Coordinating & Subordinating Sentences (Video)
Punctuation (Except Commas)
Punctuation (Interactive)
Semicolons & Colons (Video)
Sentence Boundaries (Interactive)
Sentence Types: Clauses
Sentence Types: Phrases

Revising & Editing

Affect vs. Effect (Video)
Clear and Concise Writing
Peer Response
Peer Response Demonstration (Video)
Peer Review (Interactive)
Presentation Checklist
Revising and Proofreading
Transitions (Interactive)
Transition Words & Phrases
Writing Concisely (Interactive)