Writing centers are offices in your school or university that qualified writing experts staff, offering you guidance through all levels of your writing assignments. Take the writing work you have completed with you, along with your research, outline and your writing assignment when you visit your local writing center. Explain your writing process and listen to their expertise as they advise you on methods to improve your writing, better organize your papers and qualify your points. Remember, your writing center is not an editor's office. It is a tutorial center, offering you guidance and expertise to improve your style and technique.
The Purdue OWL, or Purdue Online Writing Lab, is an online composition resource. It provides quick access to all levels of the writing process from simple definitions for adjectives to complex formatting information for complicated works-sited pages. The Purdue OWL is a free resource, available to any user with Internet access. Additionally, the Purdue OWL offers simple explanations for numerous paper formats, such as argumentative essays, expository essays and critical approach essays. The Purdue OWL is a peer-reviewed format with regular updates as styles and style requirements change.
The library is a significant research resource, offering Internet access, books, periodicals and microfiche materials. Libraries can access specialized research databases, such as JSTOR, providing peer reviewed research by experts in the English field. These databases cover research topics as well as extensive information on literature and past authors. Interlibrary systems are a group of libraries that borrow books from each other at the request of students. Interlibrary loans allow students to access book lists from multiple libraries.
Your student peers are a resource that many students never consider. You can request that your student peers read your finished writing, while reading theirs, and provide each other with a critical analysis of each other's work. By initiating your own peer review system with your friends, you can ensure that you have multiple individuals reading your work before you turn it in. Your peers also provide you with a discussion group to discuss and review your reading assignments, offering each other your original perspectives and working together to understand the material. Additionally, you can work with your peers to ensure that you stay up to date on classroom notes and study together when you prepare for tests.