The OWL Purdue

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The OWL _at_ Purdue

• owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

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Areas in Which Help is Offered

• The Writing Process
• Professional, Technical, and Scientific writing
• Job Search Writing
• General Academic Writing
• Research and Citation

• Grammar and Mechanics
• English as a Second Language
• Literary Analysis and Criticism
• Writing in the Social Sciences

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The Writing Process

• Creating a Thesis Statement This resource
  provides tips for creating a thesis statement and
  examples of different kinds of thesis statements.
  It explains how to write a thesis for different
  categories of papers and what makes up a good
  thesis.
• Developing an Outline This resource describes
  why outlines are useful, what types of outlines
  exist, suggestions for developing effective
  outlines, and how outlines can be used as in
  invention strategy for writing. It shows the
  four main components of a successful outline, why
  and how to create one, and then gives a detailed
  example of it.
• Proofreading. Use this resource to help you find
  and fix common errors. Shows where to start
  proofreading, some common errors you might spot,
  and gives a few suggestions to help you along
  your way
• Writers Block Assists in helping writers
  overcome writers block with a series of short
  exercises to get you writing.

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Professional, Technical, and Scientific Writing

• Resumes The resume portion covers subjects such
  as what is a resume and what should it include.
  It also goes over the different sections that are
  included in a resume such as contact info,
  education and work experience
• Cover Letters This section explains how to
  write a cover letter, what it should look like,
  and what should be on it.
• This part of the website also covers action verbs
  to use on a resume to describe your skills,
  various jobs youve had, and any accomplishments
  you have
• It also explains how to write what is referred to
  as a White Paper

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Job Search Writing

• This Part of the website shows users how to
  describe their skills and experience in an
  employment document.
• It helps users make their writing attractive
  towards employers.
• The site shows you how to write cover letters and
  resumes.

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General Academic Writing

• Using this portion of the website, you can
  develop the skills necessary to do well in
  academic writing.
• It shows users how to properly construct a
  thesis.
• It demonstrates how to develop an appropriate
  outline.
• It also gives users really good advice for
  dealing with writers block/ writers anxiety.

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Research and Citation

• Helps with conducting Primary Research
• Shows how to evaluate sources of information
• Helps with Research/ Overview

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Grammar and Mechanics

• Provides Help with
• How to Use Adjectives and Adverbs
• How to Use articles
• Hyphens
• Transitions and Transitional Devices

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What About ESL Students???

• The website teaches ESL students by showing them
  how to Adjectives and Adverbs Correctly
• Also shows the proper method for using Articles.

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Other Help

• The website also helps students learn their
  literary terms.
• There is also a link that gives pointers on
  conducting primary research!

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http//lilt.ilstu.edu/golson/punc
tuation/
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The Colon

• Shows Users How to properly use the colon.
• This
• The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors
  especially in the key area of reliability.
• Turns Into This
• The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors
  especially in one key area reliability.

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The Semicolon

• The Website goes over how to use a semicolon in
  the appropriate manner
• They stress that the semicolon is usually used to
  connect two sentences.
• SentenceSentence

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The Comma,

• According to this website, there are four
  instances where it is o.k to insert a comma.
• Between Items in a Series
• Between Two Sentences
• To Attach Words to the Front or Back of Your
  Sentence
• On Both Sides of a Nonessential Component

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The Dash-

• You can use a dash to
• Separating Words in the Middle of the Sentence
• Adding Words to the End of a Sentence

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The Apostrophe

• An apostrophe is a signal telling the reader that
  a word is either a possessive or a contraction
• You use an apostrophe to
• Form Contractions
• Form Possessives