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BCWC Writing Manual


Need some help when the Writing Center is closed? The Online Writing Manual will take you to writing resources on the Web that can help you with a wide variety of questions about writing. Browse through these topics to identify the kind of writing help you need:

Genre (Kind of Writing)

Writing in the Disciplines: Selected Resources
links to resources for writing lab reports, psychology or sociology papers, art history papers, and other discipline-specific kinds of writing
Paradigm Writing Assistant
defines informal essays, thesis/support essays, exploratory essays, and argumentative essays
Purdue OWL
offers handouts on argumentative writing, writing about literature, writing definitions, and writing descriptions
Professional Writing
another great resource from Purdue's OWL
Writing Abstracts
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
How to Write an Abstract
from George Mason University
Definitional Techniques
another good handout from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Taking Essay Exams
from George Mason University

Application Essays
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Writing a Personal Statement
Business Letters
both of the above from George Mason


Planning, Drafting, & Organizing

Understanding Verbs in Writing Assignments
definitions to help you identify the task that an assignment asks you to perform in your writing

Prewriting and Planning Pointers
suggestions for getting started or restarting when you're blocked
Considering Audience
suggestions for determining what to include in your paper based on an estimation of your intended reader's knowledge
Assessing Your Writing Purpose
identifying the purpose for which you are writing in order to consider the content you should include
Writing Conclusions
alternatives to the summary


Using Sources


Revising & Proofreading

Combining Sentences to Avoid Sentence Boundary Errors
from writing101.net by msmcguire.com
Run-ons, Comma Splices, Fused Sentences
a Purdue OWL handout
Sentence Fragments
a Purdue OWL handout
Focusing Sentences Through Parallelism
a University of Richmond Writing Center handout
Correcting Faulty Parallelism
an explanation from Towson University
Verb Tense Chart
from Purdue's OWL
Verb Tense Consistency
also from Purdue
Pronoun Reference, Agreement, and Point of View
a UCLA handout
Active and Passive Voice
a great introduction from Purdue's OWL