Fletcher Library at the West Campus

Writing Guides and Assistance

This guide is designed to offer Web sites and Library sources that may help you with your writing assignments while at ASU West (and beyond!). For assistance specifically on conducting library research, see the Research by Subject section on the Library's Home Page for research guides.

Academic Web Writing Guides

There are many useful sites for writing assistance on the Web, but this is a selected list of some of the best.

Advice on Academic Writing

From the University of Toronto's Writing Centre, this site offers lots of practical advice and samples of different writing assignments. It also includes links to other Web sites about writing.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

An excellent site with detailed suggestions for any writing assignment. Its focus is on composition and literature related writing assignments, but it is useful for anyone in any class.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

The strength of this site is its emphasis on helping users think through writing assigments rather than a strictly a nuts and bolts approach to writing.

Writer's Handbook

From the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is a well-organized site for writing assistance. It has a good guide for writing research papers also.

Guide to Grammar and Writing

A very detailed and comprehensive guide to grammar and writing assistance from a professor at Capital Community College in Connecticut. Great source for grammar questions.

Dartmouth Writing Program: Materials for Students

A great site with guidelines on writing academic papers and sample papers from many different academic fields.

Avoiding Plaigiarism

Understanding Plaigiarism, From Indiana University Bloomington

This is a thorough guide to plaigiarism, what it is and how to avoid it. It includes many examples and even exercises for helping you undertand plaigiarism. Almost all of the Web sites in the previous section talk about plaigiarism also, but this is one of the best.

Online Citation Style Guides

These are all good sites and include all of the major citation styles used in college classes (APA, MLA, Chicago, CBE, and a few others). These should have most everything you need for assisting you with citations and bibliographies.

Citing References in Your Paper, University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center

Citation Guide, University of Arizona Library

Citation Style Guides, Fletcher Library Quick Reference Page

Quick Sources for Reference

Dictionaries, Directories, Encyclopedias ASU Libraries Subscription Sources

This link takes you to a sub-section of the Fletcher Library's "Indexes/Databases: Subject List" page. These are sources you cannot find freely available on the open Web. The ASU Libraries purchase access to these titles to provide students with reliable, scholarly information online. They are good for quick background information and facts.

Quick Reference Sources, Fletcher Library

This is a collection of free Web sites selected by the Reference Staff at the Fletcher Library for quick information and fact checking.

Finding Books on Writing in the ASU Online Catalog (ASU Libraries)

There are a number of books about writing in college that you can check out and study at home. The most efficient way to find books on writing is to conduct a "Subject (Library of Congress)" search in the ASU Online Catalog. Try some of these subject headings:

English language--Rhetoric--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
English language--Grammar--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Report writing--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Academic Writing
Art criticism--Authorship
Criticism--Authorship (for Literature)
Film criticism--Authorship
Psychology--Authorship
Biology--Authorship
Social sciences--Authorship
Philosophy--Authorship
History--Methodology
Proposal writing (and various subheadings)

Keep in mind that you can order online almost any book in another ASU library (at Main or East). Use the "Request" button from the catalog record.

Writing Consultations from the Student Success Center

http://www.west.asu.edu/lec/wasst.html

This is the most important source of assistance on this page. For personalized assistance with your writing assignments, contact the LEC for a writing consultation. The link above tells you what you need to do to make an appointment with the LEC for a writing consultation.

Modified: October 26, 2007,