Writing Tutorials
How the Gator Success Center Supports Student Writers
The Gator Success Center offers tutorials and recommends resources to help students progress toward mastery of college-level and academic writing. Our staff strives to assist students in all phases of the writing process, including thesis generation, revision/editing, essay/research paper formatting, etc.
When students visit the Gator Success Center, they should bring a copy of the assignment instructions, required readings and resources, and any pre-writing or drafts they have completed. We are committed to helping students discover and express their ideas effectively. However, we do not assume responsibility for correcting all errors for students, nor do we dictate the content or style of students' writing.
Our goal reaches beyond simply helping students pass a particular assignment. We aim to guide students in benefiting from class instruction, so they may build writing skills for success in future course work and their careers.
We are happy to serve students on a walk-in basis, but we encourage them to schedule a one-on-one writing consultation with a tutor best qualified for their needs.
The Gator Success Center staff regularly evaluate and curate online resources to support student writers.
- site provides a comprehensive basic grammar tutorial, including explanations of grammar topics, self-teaching units, and interactive exercises.
- is a well-organized, searchable site offering information and exercises for writing at all levels and for various purposes. Resources are organized for the needs of specific types of writers: middle and high school students, college students, instructors, adult learners (ESL, GED, Business), and professional writers. Browse the to discover a wide range of writing topics and resources.
- , created by of Washington State University, includes an alphabetical index of common errors, along with lists of non-errors and spelling errors. A of this site is available.
- is a free, peer-reviewed resource for students and faculty in college-level courses that require writing and research.
- , from the University of Wisconsin Writing Center, offers instructional materials for academic and professional writing--including research papers, literary analysis, cover letters, and resumes--as well as writing process and structure, grammar and punctuation, and citing references using various styles.
- and are free, online companion textbooks for college writing students and their instructors; l
- , from Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation, is a free, online textbook for first-year college writers.
- , created by Valencia College English , includes grammar terminology and rules, printable handouts, Power Point presentations and videos, and interactive exercises.
- is a comprehensive reference for American style punctuation.
- is a free, online writing analysis tool designed to help students improve the quality of their writing. Features include spelling and grammar check, style and word choice analysis, plagiarism detection, readability statistics, and a . Paper Rater may be accessed anywhere an internet connection is available.
- includes videos and other resources for educators and students to help identify and avoid plagiarism.
- , and offer automated help for creating citations and bibliographies. Use with caution! When in doubt, consult the appropriate citation manual () for the style you are using and/or check with your instructor or a librarian.
- Purdue Online Writing lab offers guidance and best practices for .
- -- a presentation from Purdue OWL; the PowerPoint file is available to download.
- -- a handout from Bucks County Community College.
- -- a e-book chapter that includes a sample literary essay.
- from University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center -- includes examples and an interactive video tutorial explaining the differences between summary and analysis as well as how and when to use each in a piece of writing.
- features several resources on literary analysis, including , , using , and writing .
- -- student literary analysis papers with instructor comments in HTML and PDF format; from .
- from Fountainhead Press (PDF) -- includes annotations explaining effective essay elements, integration of quotations, and MLA formatting.
- , from at Colorado State Univ., provide information about writing in , , , and the , as well as (resumes, curriculum vitae, and publication).
- provides multimedia presentations and printable text handouts for all phases of the writing process, including tips for academic writing as well as writing for specific types of assignments and fields of study.
- , from Purdue OWL, discusses writing as a means of learning (writing-to-learn) and writing conventions across disciplines (e.g. writing in and ).
- Information about citation style guides used in various disciplines is available at and the at Purdue OWL.
- Lansing Community College Library's "" page links to resources for using MLA, APA, and several other citation styles
- MLA & APA Citation Styles links from the Ron E. Lewis Library. LSCO instructors generally require students
to use one of these two styles to document sources in research assignments.
- See this for more information about , , and .
- Style Manual Websites:
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- offers downloadable style guides and other citation resources.
- is a quick guide for how to cite a few uncommon source types in MLA and APA format.
- offers tips for citations and writing research papers.
- Sample Research Papers:
- , from .
- and (PDF) at .
- (student and professional) from Purdue OWL.
- and (PDF) at .
- and (MLA, APA, and Chicago Styles) from Purdue Owl.
- Guidelines and Examples for Citing Electronic/Online Resources:
- - explains special considerations for using and citing online sources in academic writing; includes citation examples for MLA (7th edition), APA, and Chicago styles, along with guidelines for avoiding plagiarism.
- offers the DOI Resolver, which locates articles and other materials by their unique doi, or digital object identifier. *Note: The doi system is primarily associated with materials cited in APA format.
- , offered by the , is a resource used primarily by writers in the discipline of history.
- The American Political Science Association has published a style guide for students that is available online: .