Resources for Writing
Skills Tutor Program
Grammar
Punctuation
Sentence writing
Paragraph writing
Essay writing
Online Writing Labs - OWLs
Purdue
Salt Lake Community College
Typing Programs
The Resources for Writing Index includes Web sites that provide help from grammar to whole essays. We also include links to selected Online Writing Labs (OWLs) at other colleges. If you need help with research papers, try our Research Page. Our online SkillsTutor software is available only to registered College of the Desert students.
SkillsTutor is a fully interactive software package available to registered COD students. It offers instruction in reading, writing, and math. If you are enrolled in English 50 or 51, your instructor may have given you specific assignments for this software. However any COD student is welcome to use this software to brush up on grammar, punctuation, and writing skills. Click on the link below and follow the log-in instructions on the next page.
SkillsTutor Log-In
Web Guide to SkillsTutor
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Hundreds of Web sites deal with grammar and punctuation. Most are just boring lists of definitions and examples. Clear and accurate information is essential, of course, but we have tried to find sites that use interactive games and exercises, PowerPoint modules, and other helpful tools. We suggest that you quickly explore all of them to find the one you like best and then focus on that one.
Ted’s Punctuation Guide: Ted Montgomery.
No exercises here, but Ted does a good job of laying out the basic rules, and it is easy to navigate around this site.
Punctuation Marks: Sponsored by the Capitol Community College Foundation.
Scroll down and click on the type of punctuation you want to work on. Read the explanations given and then click on the Quizz icons at the bottom of the Web page. This will take you to a list of punctuation quizzes, choose the one you are interested in. In most cases the quizzes show you a sentence that you can edit or correct, then you click on a button to see their solution to the problem. Keep in mind that in many cases with punctuation there are more than one way to fix the problem. Have fun!
Guide to Grammar & Writing--Prof. Charles Darling, Capitol Community College.
Easy to use and very comprehensive, this site is a guide to all aspects of college writing. There is plenty of reading here, but it is all very clear and excellent examples are provided. All lessons include exercises and/or tests and some include PowerPoint presentations to illustrate complex ideas. The opening page provides several very long drop-down menus with lists of terms like "adjectives" "Prepositional Phrases" or "Subordinate Clauses." You can simply browse till you find something interesting, but it helps if you know exactly what you are looking for before exploring this site.
Sentence Sense, A Writer's Guide--Charles Darling and Evelyn Farbman, Capitol Community College.
This is an on-line composition textbook. Like a regular textbook, Sentence Sense is broken into chapters, and the chapters are broken into sections and sub-sections. Being electronic, however, the book is full of hyper-links that allow you to quickly get assistance with terms and ideas as you go along. There are excellent interactive exercises throughout. If you want to systematically improve your grammar, punctuation, sentences, paragraphs, and essays, this is the place to go. Just start with chapter one and continue. If you want to quickly track down help with a specific problem, try the Guide to Writing and Grammar above, or HyperGrammar below. Professor Darling has provided a faculty guide to his book. It runs to more than 70 pages, so we ask that you do not print this guide in any lab at COD. Please help us conserve our network bandwidth and printers!
HyperGrammar--David Megginson (Ed.), University of Ottawa.
This is a complete on-line English Handbook. Instead of teaching writing systematically, like Sentence Sense (above), HyperGrammar is like an encyclopedia of writing issues. There are no interactive elements and only few examples, but the definitions provided are very clear and the interface is easy to use. The site covers grammar, punctuation, usage, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs.
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I won't promise that these Web sites make writing easy--they don't because good writing requires a great deal of practice. Even professional writers rarely say that writing is easy, but they do get better at it, and so can you. The sites listed below provide you with processes and structures that you can practice, maps to the territory, guides to the bewildered. If you are unsure of how to even start, or if you are stuck, or if you just want to polish your skills, these places can help.
Create a Paper--Rio Salado College
This interactive template takes you step-by step through the process of planning an essay. You need to have an idea about what you want to write before you start, so write out some basic ideas before you start. Plan to spend about half an hour working the template, but if you put in the effort, the result is quite useful.
Sentence Sense, A Writer's Guide--Charles Darling and Evelyn Farbman, Capitol Community College.
This is an on-line composition textbook. Like a regular textbook, Sentence Sense is broken into chapters, and the chapters are broken into sections and sub-sections. Being electronic, however, the book is full of hyper-links that allow you to quickly get assistance with terms and ideas as you go along. Most of the site is devoted to grammar and sentence structure, but chapters 16 and 17 provide an excellent and systematic introduction to writing paragraphs and essays. Professor Darling has provided a faculty guide to his book. It runs to more than 70 pages, and we ask that you do not print this guide in any lab at COD. Please help us conserve our network bandwidth and printers!
Paragraph Punch--Merit Software
Paragraph Punch teaches the paragraph by walking you step-by-step through the whole writing process, from an initial idea through final revisions. You have to use their topic idea (they offer a new one every week) which is given on the right side of the window. Completing a paragraph in this software takes about forty-five minutes, but you get a clear idea of how to think about writing and what is required for a well developed paragraph. The site requires you to log on with an e-mail address. No fee is involved, but if you do not have an e-mail address, you will not be able to use the software. Be sure to read their "How To Use This Program" instructions on using the software before you begin. Without the instructions, the process can be confusing.
Essay Punch--Merit Software
This software takes you step-by-step through the process of writing a whole essay. If you take it seriously, that process takes several hours, and you have to use the topic they have chosen, not your own (they have a new topic each week), but their approach to the process of writing an essay is quite effective. Like Paragraph Punch (Above), the site requires you to log on with an e-mail address. No fee is involved, but if you do not have an e-mail address, you will not be able to use the software. Be sure to read their instructions on using the software before you begin. Without the instructions, the process can be confusing.
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Many colleges and universities provide on-line assistance to students in their writing courses. These On-line Writing Labs or OWLS provide everything from help with grammar to on-line tutoring in essay writing. Here are two of the best.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)
This is one of the largest and best OWLS. Their list of printable handouts is famous. This site serves as a guide to the physical Writing Lab at Purdue as well as to the OWL, so don't confuse the two. If you have never used this site, print off our VASC Web Guide above, or go to the site and start with their "Tour of OWL" and then the "What's New on OWL" (both on the right side of the opening window). Then scroll down a bit and explore the "Student/Teacher handouts" and "Online Writing Resources" drop down menus on the left side of the window.
SLCC Online Writing Center--Salt Lake Community College
The SLCC offers many excellent online services, including online tutoring (send them a copy of your essay for comments), a live chat room with writing tutors, and an extensive bulletin board where you can leave questions on writing, grammar, punctuation etc. and get responses. For the online tutoring (where you send in an essay) you must provide a return email account. They promise a response in 48 hours; however, they also warn that their own students, understandably, get first attention. Also, check out their extensive collection of links and online resources. To find all of this, just scroll down the options on the left side of the opening window.
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typingweb.com - Free online typing tutor. Simple, good instruction - ideal for beginners.
Learn2Type.com - FREE Web site that helps you master the skills of touch typing. This is one of the few programs I found that separate the text from the typing, just like "real" typing tests!
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