How to Write
The OWL Writing Lab is one of the most complete writing sites on the web. Offering everything from step-by-step outlining to developing a thesis, you’re sure to find something to improve your writing here.Cyber Essays offers a collection of sample papers submitted by actual students.
This Guide to Writing a Basic Essay walks readers through a step-by-step process of creating and perfecting an essay.
Michael Harvey’s Nuts and Bolts of College Writing provides extensive information for those writing at the college level. From research and documentation to structure and style, there are hundreds of interesting, informative pages.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center offers a writing handbook that guides writers through all steps of the writing process.
Essayinfo.com provides extensive information about different types of writing (critical essay, narrative essay, persuasive essay, etc.)
This Study Skills Online page uses graphics to guide students step-by-step from questioning to editing.
What to Write
Old Dominion University Library provides lists of hundreds of possible subjects organized by category.Queen’s University Library not only offers lists of topics, but provides many research guides for individual topics, complete with lists of related books, multimedia, and other resources.
This Argumentative Essay Topics page offers suggestions for persuasive papers with possible thesis statements and links to reference material.
Where to Find Information
Reference.com offers hundreds of links to sources of information such as almanacs, dictionaries, and literature.Refdesk.com provides organized links to useful sites on tons of topics.
The Library of Congress provides an Ask a Librarian service that allows researches to ask previously unanswered questions and receive an email response in five days. This service is not to be used for simple assignments.
Many states have fantastic Ask a Librarian programs that allow users to chat with a librarian live (and for free) from their home computers. California’s program Asknow.org gives access to live librarians 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all residents. To find out if your state hosts such a program enter your state’s name and “ask a librarian” in any search engine.
LibrarySpot offers thousands of links to reference material on a variety of subjects.
From biographies to news facts, InfoPlease.com provides tons of useful information for writers.
Encyclopedia.com provides brief factual information on many subjects.
The Internet Public Library offers links to full text books, articles, and reference material for free.
Google Scholar allows users to do a web search with only academic results. If you’re looking for sources that are taken seriously, this search will save you the hassle of sifting through unprofessional material.
How to Format Your Paper
The Online Writing Lab offers a wealth of information for using MLA style.The Online Writing Lab also offers information about using APA style.
The Citation Machine is a helpful web-based program that automatically creates proper citations in MLA and APA styles based on simple information that you provide.
The Writing Center offers detailed information about using Chicago or Turabian Style.
The UVic Writer’s Guide provides essential information about citing sources and avoiding plagiarism.
