The Essential Guide for Writing a Paper offers information regarding a variety of writing concerns students commonly have.
Within the links below you will find help on focus (thesis) statements, outlining, plagiarism, citing, writing concise sentences, the writing process, and much, much more!
Please view the links below for a full look at the many resources offered in the Writer's Guidebook.
Getting Started
Parts of a Paper
Using Sources
Proofreading and Editing
Plagiarism
A highly important aspect of academic writing involves avoiding plagiarism, the intentional or unintentional theft of another's intellectual ideas. For detailed information on paraphrasing and summarizing information that will help writers avoid issues of plagiarism, please visit: A Statement on Plagiarism.
In addition, whenever any information is borrowed from another source and properly paraphrased, the writer still needs to include an in-text citation and a reference page, indicating the origins of the information to the reader.
Many students are concerned about the grammar aspect of writing. To help with this, the links below elaborate on multiple grammar components.
https://writersworkshop.illinois.edu/
In addition, students can download the following information, courtesy of Professor Susan Gaffney, that reviews the basic rules of grammar. Please download the file using one of the following two links. If your computer is running Microsoft WORD 2007 or a later edition, please use the first link. If your computer is running Microsoft WORD 2003 or an earlier addition, please use the second link.
Basic Rules of Grammar WORD 2007
Basic Rules of Grammar WORD 2003
The following is a document from P.A.C.E. that provides a breakdown of the appropriate verbs for educational learning objectives. While this resource is valuable for students studying education, it is also useful for any academic work that requires more formal wording.
Outcome Verbs
If you are an ESL student seeking assistance you can contact GovState's ESL/ELL Program Coordinator.
Phone: 708.534.3143
Email: nhill3@govst.edu
In addition, there are many resources for ESL students available on the web that can be used to enhance personal and professional writing.
The links below are some of the ESL resources available online. These links contain additional links within them to more ESL resources.
For help with writing scholarship essays, thank you letters, personal statements, and formal letters, please view the links below.
Scholarship Resources
Personal Statement Essays
Formal Letters
The following link provides information on formal business correspondence. In this guide, there is detailed information on how to address a variety of formal letter types.
The writing occasion for a scholarship or admissions application may differ, but the basic concepts presented in the Job Search Guide compiled by the GovState Career Services office are essential to a good understanding of what formal correspondence should do.