Contents: Christine's Materials | Outside Resources | Business Communication | Report Writing | The Essay | The Research Paper | Reaction/Response Paper

Christine's Links to Useful TESL/CALL Resources (including dictionaries, concordances)

Genres of Academic Writing
 

My Materials
 

Grading: Rubrics

Academic Writing Scoring Rubric (weighted)

Response Performance Inventory

Writing Help/Grammar

Techniques of Sentence Combination
(Discourse Markers)

Correction Symbols
(Revision Strategies, & Words to Avoid in Academic Writing)

Run-on sentences and fragments
       Quizzes/practice on repairing

• comma splices

• run-on sentences

• fragments and run-ons

Articles -- Decision Tree
Articles - Exercise
Articles - Exercise (answers) 

Rules for using "the" with proper nouns 
Notes on Article Usage
Exercise: The Traveler & My Mistake

 

Essay Questions -- Types, cues, strategies for answering

Checklist for Paragraphs
The Structure of a Paragraph

Checklist for Essays

Checking for Coherence--Self-Assessment or Peer Review

Paraphrasing/Summarizing/Answering Essay Questions

Writing a Paraphrase
Guidelines for writing a summary

Outline for a Summary & Response/Reaction
Essay Questions -- Types, cues, strategies for answering
Performance Inventory for Summary/Essay Question

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Writing Help

Paragraphs

• assertion/evidence, assertion/development, assertion/example, it, this, these, repeat pronouns, modified repetition

The Basics: The Elements of Style

1. Elementary Principles of Composition (William Strunk, Jr.)

2. Elementary Rules of Usage (William Strunk, Jr.) -- possessives, commas, dangling participles, word division

3. A Few Matters of Form (William Strunk, Jr.) -- headings, numerals, parentheses, quotations, references, titles

Adam Turner's Types of Documents (resources for all types of writing, including essays, letters, and email, applying for jobs, job writing, general academic writing, applications to colleges, graduate-
level writing, and more)

Purdue OWL's General Technical Writing Guidelines: (sentence clarity, Subject-Verb Agreement, Active/Passive Voice, Sentence Fragments, Transitional Devices, Independent and Dependent Clauses, Using Pronouns Clearly, Non-Sexist Language, Proofreading for Commas; also see Jargon, Defining Terms, and Writing Numbers)

Michael Harvey's Nuts and Bolts of College Writing:

Plagiarism

Avoiding plagiarism -- instruction, examples, exercises

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity -- Interactive video/lesson about the not-so-obvious as well as the obvious ways students may commit academic integrity offenses.

Intro Tutorial to Plagiarism -- An interactive tutorial with multiple-choice questions and answers about examples of paraphrases and plagiarized passages

Avoiding Plagiarism (Purdue OWL)

Student Plagiarism Guide

Please consult the Purdue OWL Web site for Writing a Report, including

• What are research reports and why should I write one?
• Writing a Report: Where should I begin?
• Audience Analysis
• The Sections of the Report: Title Page, Abstract, Table of Contents, Introduction, Body, Recommendations, References, Appendices

See also Reports in English

Reports

• Report writing template: useful phrases and expressions to use in your report.
• Types of Report - the names of different types of report and what they mean.
• Report Stages and Content - what goes in each section of a report.
• Stages and Language of a Report - useful phrases for the sections of a report
• Report Headings - understand the type of information each section of a report should contain.
• Subject Headings - how to write correct subject headings.
• Report Introductions - a text-reconstruction exercise to help you remember the language of the introduction to a report.
• The Procedure / Method section of a report - a text-reconstruction exercise to help you remember the language of this section of a report.
• Matching Nouns and Verbs for Reports - an exercise in choosing the right vocabulary for reports.
• Formality - an exercise to help you to write reports using formal language.
• Describing Numbers - an explanation, a program to write and speak a number, and an exercise
• Trends - this exercise introduces the vocabulary and grammar needed to describe trends. Includes an exercise.
• Trends Headings - this exercise shows how to use headings when describing trends. Includes an exercise.
• The Language of Approximation - an exercise in describing numbers in an easy-to-understand way
• Approximation Correction exercise - to check that you can use the language of approximation correctly
• Approximating Dissatisfaction - an exercise to help you describe dissatisfaction
• Describing Satisfaction in the Findings and Conclusion sections of a report - choosing between 'satisfy', 'satisfied', 'satisfying' and 'satisfactory', etc.
• Important or Importance? Explanation and exercise on which word to use when describing Findings and Conclusions.
• Report Correction Exercise - correct these common errors made by students in report writing, so that you can avoid making the same mistakes.
• Common Errors in Report Writing - revision exercise.
• Report Recommendations Correction Exercise - correct the common errors.
• Report Writing Scenario Site - practice the whole process of report writing
• List of Materials in CILL for Business reports

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Outline Form for a 5-Paragraph Essay (or piece of writing)

Checklist for Essays

Checking for Coherence--Self-Assessment or Peer Review

Rubric for evaluating academic writing

Grammar Help

Sentence Parts and Parts of Speech

Articles -- Decision Tree
Articles - Exercise
Articles - Exercise (answers)
See also this Cloze Exercise on Do We Really Need to Sleep--A, An, The, or No Article

Grammar Resources on the Web

• Subject-verb agreement - an explanation and an exercise.
• The Error Detector  - copy and paste your essay into the box and the Error Detector finds some common problems in academic essay writing and gives you tips how to solve them.

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Vocabulary Help

Vocabulary Development Graphic Organizers
Dictionaries: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/online_dictionaries.htm#Dictionaries (suggestion: Use Merriam-Webster for English-English and yourDictionary.com for your language>English; there is also an online English learners’ dictionary on the page; it’s the one by Newbury House).
Advanced Dictionary Skills - this site will teach you how to find
the meaning of words faster, and teach you how to improve your vocabulary and pronunciation
Thesauri: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/online_dictionaries.htm#Thesauri (suggestion: Use Merriam-Webster and/or Newbury House)
Encyclopedias: http://academics.smcvt.edu/cbauer-ramazani/Links/online_dictionaries.htm#Encyclopedias (suggestion: use InfoPlease)

Business Communication

Writing a Business Letter -- steps, content, sample

Writing a Business Memo--Guidelines

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E-Mail

• How to write e-mail -- includes E-mail Guidelines | Activity
• Language to Show Status - shows the right language to use to show a boss-to-worker or worker-to-boss relationship
• Adam Turner's Writing Tips, including Guidelines for writing E-Mail and Sample E-Mail format
• See also E-Mail Etiquette.

Business Letters

The Basic Business Letter
(Purdue Online Writing Lab)
Parts of a Business Letter
Writing Business Letters--Core Vocabulary Sheet 1
Writing Business Letters--Core Vocabulary Sheet 2
Writing Business Letters--Core Vocabulary Sheet 3

Guide to Basic Business Letters -- includes conventional phrases and several types of letters
Online Technical Writing: Business Correspondence: Overview (components, formats, style--correct/incorrect)

Memos

How to write memos -- includes

• Organisation of Memos - how to use headings to make the organisation of a memo clearer. This exercise also looks at ways to persuade your reader to do the action you want.
• Formality in Memos - shows the right language to use for a formal memo of resignation
• Memo Headings - making the organisation of your memos more reader-friendly
• Memo writing scenario and practice task - read the interactive office scenario, then write a memo and submit it. The computer will give you feedback on your memo.

The Research Paper

Outline for a Research Paper

Citing Electronic Resources

Sample Cover Page

Checklist for Effective Introduction and Conclusion

Rubric: Effective Introduction and Conclusion

Purdue OWL's Writing a Research Paper (includes genre--types of research papers, audience, plagiarism--topic, scope, thesis or question, research, outline, first draft, revisions, proofreads, and additional resources

Research and Writing Tips

Research Paper Checklist and Evaluation Criteria (weighted rubric)

Evaluating Internet Sources

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Citing Internet and Electronic Sources (Steve Burks, 2005)

Citing Sources -- extensive examples of integrating paraphrases and quotations

• Organisation Tool - helps you to re-organise lists; e.g. lists of topics to put in essays.
• Pros and Cons Calculator - helps you decide which side of an argument is stronger.
• Scanner - a program that highlights the words in a text that are easy for a reader to find. Use it to improve the organisation and reader-friendliness of your writing.
• Advanced Dictionary Skills - this site will teach you how to find the meaning of words faster, and teach you how to improve your vocabulary and pronunciation.

• The Purdue University On-line Writing Lab handouts list. Writing Lab

• How to Use Words and Phrases Correctly (Use the Concordancer in the middle of the page)

Reaction/Response Paper

Performance Inventory for Response

Outline for Summary & Response

Performance Inventory for Summary & Response

From the Writing Studio at Duke University: Response/Reaction Paper

• Definition of Genre

• Questions to Ask

• Actions to Take

• Actions Not to Take

• Helpful Links