Diana Hacker

DianaHacker.com

The Purdue University Online Writing Lab

The links below take you to specific resources maintained by the Purdue Online Writing Lab, also known as the Purdue OWL. Whether you're a beginning writer or an advanced expert, you'll find something useful here.

The OWL is enormous, so I've only provided a limited selection of links--otherwise, you might be overwhelmed!

I've chosen these links based on my understanding of the topics students most often need help with, and I've divided them into the following 6 sections:

If you need help using the OWL Resources, click here.

1.  

2. The Writing Process
   1. Understanding Writing Assignments
   2. Writer's Block / Writer's Anxiety
   3. Prewriting (Invention)
   4. Starting the Writing Process
   5. Developing an Outline
   6. Creating a Thesis Statement
   7. Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Argument Papers
   8. Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Exploratory Papers
   9. Reverse Outlining: An Exercise for Taking Notes and Revising Your Work
   10. Proofreading Your Writing
   11. Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) and Lower Order Concerns (LOCs)

    

3. General Academic Writing
   1. Essay Writing 
   2. Using Appropriate Language
   3. Conciseness
   4. Adding Emphasis in Writing
   5. Sentence Variety
   6. Paragraphs & Paragraphing
   7. Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Argument Papers
   8. Introductions, Body Paragraphs, and Conclusions for Exploratory Papers
   9. Transitions and Transitional Devices
   10. Establishing Arguments
   11. Logic in Argumentative Writing
   12. Visual Rhetoric 
   13. Visual Rhetoric: Analyzing Visual Documents 
   14. Designing an Effective PowerPoint Presentation

    

4. Research and Citation
   1. Research: Overview 
   2. Avoiding Plagiarism
   3. Searching the World Wide Web
   4. Conducting Primary Research
   5. Evaluating Sources of Information
   6. Annotated Bibliographies
   7. Writing a Research Paper
   8. Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
   9. Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words
   10. MLA Overview and Workshop
   11. MLA Formatting andocs.d Style Guide
   12. Documenting Electronic Sources
   13. Guidelines for Fair Use
   14. Resources for Documenting Sources in the Disciplines

    

5. Literary Analysis and Criticism
   1. Writing in Literature
      1. Overview
      2. Writing in Literature: Writing the Prompt Paper
      3. Writing in Literature: General Research Papers
      4. Researching Literature and Libraries
      5. Reading Criticism
      6. Arguments in an Essay on Literature
      7. Reading a Novel or Story
      8. Reading a Poem
      9. Reading a Play
   2. Writing About Literature
   3. Writing About Fiction
   4. Writing About Poetry
   5. Image in Poetry
   6. Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism
   7. Creative Writing
      1. Pattern and Variation in Poetry
      2. Pattern and Variation: Aural
      3. Pattern and Variation: Visual

    

6. Writing for the Workplace
   1. Correspondence: letters, email, memos
      1. Writing the Basic Business Letter
      2. Model Letters for Various Purposes
      3. Business Letters: Accentuating the Positives
      4. Letters Concerning Employment
      5. Cover Letters 1: Quick Tips
      6. Cover Letters 2: Preparing to Write a Cover Letter
      7. Cover Letters 3: Writing Your Cover Letter
      8. Academic Cover Letters
      9. Email Etiquette
      10. Memo Writing
   2. Representing yourself in writing
      1. Writing the Personal Statement
      2. Job Skills Checklist
      3. Writing the Resume
         1. Resume Workshop
         2. Resume Design
         3. Resumes 1: Introduction to Resumes
         4. Resumes 2: Resume Sections
         5. Resumes 3: When to Use Two Pages or More
         6. Resumes 4: Scannable Resumes
         7. Management Resumes
      4. Writing the Curriculum Vitae
      5. Action Verbs to Describe Skills, Jobs, and Accomplishments in Employment Documents
   3. Audience Analysis
   4. Tailoring Employment Documents For a Specific Audience

    

7. Grammar and Mechanics
   1. Active and Passive Voice
   2. Adjective or Adverb
   3. Adjectives and Adverbs, how to use
   4. Apostrophe
   5. Appositives
   6. Articles (a/an/the), how to use
   7. Articles: A versus An
   8. Capital Letters
   9. Commas
   10. Conquering the Comma
   11. Count and Noncount Nouns
   12. Dangling Modifiers
   13. Hyphens
   14. Independent and Dependent Clauses
   15. Irregular Verbs
   16. Numbers
   17. Parallel Structure
   18. Parts of Speech Overview
   19. Prepositions
   20. Pronouns
   21. Punctuation
   22. Quotation Marks
   23. Relative Pronouns
   24. Sentence Clarity
   25. Sentence Fragments
   26. Sentence Punctuation Patterns
   27. Spelling
   28. Subject/Verb Agreement
   29. Verb Tenses

   About the OWL at Purdue

   1. Fair Use Policy
   2. Fair Use Requests
   3. General Feedback for the OWL