Welcome to a listing of useful writing links for questions about grammar, punctuation, documentation and usage.
-
Documentation Links
Before writing a research paper, ask your instructor what style of documentation is required. For example, English majors may use the Modern Language Association (MLA); business, psychology, criminal justice and jurisprudence majors use the American Psychological Association (APA), Turabian, or Chicago Manual of Style; law students use the Blue Book. The manuals are available at the college bookstore, retail bookstores, Langsdale Library and public libraries. Most are also available in the Academic Resource Center.
- MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
- A Writer's Reference
- A Pocket Style Manual
- APA Style Guide
- Turabian Documentation Style Guide
- The Chicago Manual of Style
- Online! A Reference Guide—for information about documenting electronic sources. The manual also contains valuable information about requesting permission to use graphics, charts and text, netiquitte and evaluation of material on web sites.
-
Ethics and Plagiarism Links
Careful documentation of your sources is required by all universities, colleges and publications.
- Tips on Avoiding Plagiarism
- University of Baltimore Plagiarism Tutorial
- Copyright Resources on the Internet
- 10 Big Myths about Copyright Explained
- United States Copyright Office
- John Barrie's Plagiarism Check Site—Professor Barrie in Berkeley, California offers a service to universities that check students' papers for originality.
-
Grammar and Punctuation Links
- Webgrammar's Free Tips: Grammar, Editing, Spelling, Design & Typography
- Grammar Slammer!
- The Grammar Lady Home Page—Grammar Lady features email responses to specific questions, a Hit the Books message board, monthly grammar tips and Typo of the Weak (her title).
-
Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia Links
Spelling counts and sometimes spell checker doesn't recognize specialized terms for those research papers. If you don't have a good dictionary at your elbow try one of these links:
-
Online Writing Labs (OWLs)
OWLs have many links to all parts of the writing process. Some offer email feedback, tutorials and even games. Check them out!
- Purdue University's Online Writing Lab
- International Writing Centers Association—This site links to online writing centers.
- Writing Resources—This site contains many links to writing related resources and Web search engines.
-
Evaluating Web Site Information
- Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools—This site reviews and ranks web sites and has a link to a Webliography of publications evaluating research on the Internet.
-
Graphic Organizers
Graphic organizers allow for visual representations of your ideas. Some writers find it helpful to first express visually what they ultimately hope to express verbally. These tools can help you organize your thoughts so you can better organize your writing.
-
Grading Criteria Archive
This archive was created to help students and professors understand the kinds of writing skills that are required in a variety of undergraduate assignments at the University of Baltimore.
PROFESSORS should feel free to borrow the ideas or language herein if they find these ideas useful to the process of creating or refining their own criteria.
STUDENTS may peruse this archive to learn what sorts of writing skills they will be expected to display and refine while enrolled in courses at the University.
We are grateful to those faculty members who have voluntarily contributed the grading criteria archived here as a service to the UB community. To contribute your own grading criteria, email our writing coordinator.
200-level courses- WRIT 200 final exam criteria (for placement into WRIT 300)
300- and 400-level courses
- IDIS 302 Skilled Writing Rubric
- IDIS 304 writing assignment grading criteria
- CRJU term paper grading criteria
- HIST writing assignment grading criteria
Additional Resources
- Graduate Record Exam (GRE): Analytical Writing Score Descriptions and advice to writers
- Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT): Analytical Writing Assessment
- The New SAT: Essay Scoring Guide
- Rubric for Student Research Papers
- Rubric for Research Using ALERT Framework