Online Resources

Diana Hacker offers writing resources for students and writing instructors. The site provides links to several handbooks written or edited by Hacker, who taught writing for over thirty years. In addition to excellent information about a wide variety of writing-related topics, the handbooks also include exercises and tutorials.

NCSU’s Writing and Speaking Tutorial Services is best known for the one-on-one tutoring it offers to students working on writing assignments. But WSTS also provides online services for students who are off campus or taking Distance Education courses, including online handouts covering topics ranging from passive voice and plagiarism to revision strategies and rhetorical analysis.

Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a comprehensive site offering “Free Writing Help and Teaching Resources. Open 24/7.” It features extensive information for students and instructors on over 200 topics including writing process, rhetoric and argument, paragraphing, documentation (and plagiarism) and grammar.

Print Resources

If you would like a print resource for reference, many writing classes at NCSU use The Longman Concise Companion (2 nd ed.), by Chris Anson, Robert Schwegler, and Marcia Muth. It is a writer’s handbook, designed to provide basic information about writing and help writers negotiate the differences between academic, popular, and professional writing. The Concise Companion devotes sections to writing process, research (including documentation and plagiarism), and grammar and mechanics.

The Longman Pocket Writer’s Companion is an abridged version of the Concise Companion. It covers many of the same topics, with brief units on writing and reading, conducting research (including documentation and plagiarism), and grammar and mechanics.