Research Guides: ENG 111 OER Repository: Formatting Handbook

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Documentation

MLA Format LibGuide--Reynolds CC Library
MLA Formatting--MLA Style Center
If your instructor has specific requirements for the format of your research paper, check them before preparing your final draft. The most common formatting is presented here. When you submit your paper, be sure to keep a secure copy.
MLA Formatting--Purdue OWL
MLA has turned to a style of documentation that is based on a general method that may be applied to every possible source, to many different types of writing. But since texts have become increasingly mobile, and the same document may be found in several different sources, following a set of fixed rules is no longer sufficient.
MLA Teaching Resources--MLA Style Center
Contains visual aids for teaching MLA formatting, a less on plagiarism, and more practice template worksheets.
Sample Papers in MLA Style--MLA Style Center
The following three sample research papers are typical of the papers that might be submitted in different kinds of courses. Reading these papers will help you learn about organizing an argument and working with sources. The papers also demonstrate the use of MLA style to document sources and the formatting of the margins, line spacing, and other physical attributes of a printed paper. The MLA’s guidelines on formatting papers appear elsewhere on this site.
Works Cited--MLA Style Center
Page contains a number of "Practice Templates" students can use for reference and (yep, you guessed it) practicing the structure of their citations.

EasyBib @ Reynolds CC
This is our Libguide page for using EasyBib though the college server (so students can gain access to the full version).
APA Format--APA Style Center
APA Format LibGuide--Reynolds CC Library
APA Formatting--Purdue OWL

"Beyond Black on White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom" by Michael J. Klein and Kristi L. Shackelford
Formatting can be a challenge to teach and learn. This chapter provides you with an overview of how the Modern Language Association (MLA) format choices in typography, spacing, and image placement adhere to the standards of basic design. By understanding the theory the MLA rules are based upon, you can help students learn to apply good design principles to any document. Students often don’t understand why they should format their papers according to the design specified by style guides such as the one published by the MLA. Rather than being arbitrary, formatting rules specified by MLA are grounded in good design principles that allow the reader to focus on the meaning of the text rather than the design of the document.
Document Design
Using design options, you can vary the look of your written work. You can make design choices based on your personal preferences, requirements, purpose, and audience. You have many options regarding both text formatting and use of visuals.

Grammar & Usage

Brief Handbook of Writing for Non-Native Speakers of English
If you learned English as a second language and you regularly speak a language other than English, this handbook is for you.
The Norton Handbook
A handbook that provides guidelines for editing what you write.
Strunk & White: Elements of Style
Asserting that one must first know the rules to break them, this classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

Conciseness--UNC Writing Center
This handout helps you identify wordiness in your sentences, paragraphs, and essays and offers strategies for writing concisely.
Editing and Proofreading--UNC Writing Center
This handout provides some tips and strategies for revising your writing. To give you a chance to practice proofreading, we have left seven errors (three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors) in the text of this handout. See if you can spot them!
Guide to Grammar and Writing--Capital Community College
Comprehensive index which answers hundreds of grammar questions on topics ranging from A ("A, An, The') to Z ("Zero Articles'). Test your grammar knowledge with the links to interactive quizzes.
Passive Voice-UNC Writing Center
This Writing Studio handout helps you make conscious decisions about choosing active or passive voice in your writing.
Sentence Patterns--UNC Writing Center
This handout gives an overview of English sentence patterns. It will help you identify subjects, verbs, and clause connectors so you can analyze your writing style and improve it by using a variety of sentence patterns.
Style--UNC Writing Center
This handout will help you recognize potential problems in your writing style and learn to correct them.
Transitions--UNC Writing Center
Logical connectors are often listed in categories like “contrast” with no further explanation; however, there are important, though subtle differences in how they signal relationships between ideas. This handout will help you choose the appropriate connector by explaining how some of the more common expressions function to connect ideas.
Word Choice--UNC Writing Center
This handout can help you revise your papers for word-level clarity, eliminate wordiness and avoid clichés, find the words that best express your ideas, and choose words that suit an academic audience.

Writing Processes

"Collaborating Online: Digital Strategies for Group Work" by Anthony T. Atkins
This chapter focuses on how to work collaboratively on group projects and on how technology can facilitate productive cooperation among group members. Users will learn how to assess a project, choose technologies conducive to review and document sharing, and prepare group projects for presentation. Group members should assess the requirements of a project, determine the best communication technologies to use for the project, assign roles to each group member, and organize the project and technology for easy access, completion, and presentation.
Editing and Proofreading - UNC Writing Center
This handout provides some tips and strategies for revising your writing. To give you a chance to practice proofreading, we have left seven errors (three spelling errors, two punctuation errors, and two grammatical errors) in the text of this handout. See if you can spot them!
"Finding Your Way In: Invention as Inquiry Based Learning in First Year Writing" by Steven Lessner and Collin Craig
Conventional literacy pedagogy in secondary education uses the five-paragraph essay to train students to be succinct writers capable of performing in pressured situations, such as state mandated tests. We aim to show students of first-year writing practical steps in transitioning into college writing by providing strategies for breaking out of habits that limit intellectual inquiry. Through learning critical reading, freewriting, and outlining techniques, student writers can compose in multiple genres in the first-year writing course and across the disciplines. These invention strategies can prompt valuable dialogue between teachers and first-year writers making the transition into college level writing.
"From Topic to Presentation: Making Choices to Develop Your Writing" by Beth Hewitt
Students need to learn how to revise their writing based on readers' feedback, but they rarely know how to make such decisions. This chapter teaches students how to make decisions about essay development and revision by modeling and explaining a writing teacher's decision-making process. Every semester, I ask my students for topic ideas and then write an essay for them. They provide feedback on the draft, and I revise it based on their comments. This chapter draws on one of the writing experiences. Students will see various stages of an in-progress essay that demonstrate and explain how student writers can employ these strategies in their own preliminary writing to presentation-quality writing.
Paragraph Development - UNC Writing Center
This handout will help you understand how paragraphs are formed, how to develop stronger paragraphs, and how to completely and clearly express your ideas.
"Taking Flight: Connecting Inner and Outer Realities during Invention" by Susan Antlitz
One of the toughest challenges students face is figuring out what to write about. Connecting personal identity and purpose to more public contexts and subjects can play a significant role in helping students to write confidently. “Taking Flight” acknowledges the anxiety writers can feel when faced with the task of inventing, while offering strategies for overcoming those challenges. The strategies discussed include journaling, conversation (including through digital means such as email and instant messenger), reflective methods such as prayer and meditation, and kinesthetic strategies such as role play, drumming, movement, and switching between handwritten and electronic writing technologies.
Revising Drafts - UNC Writing Center
This a series of links on the revising process from the Duke Writing Prtogram.
Thesis Statements - UNC Writing Center
This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.
Transitions - UNC Writing Center
In this crazy, mixed-up world of ours, transitions glue our ideas and our essays together. This handout will introduce you to some useful transitional expressions and help you employ them effectively.
Writing Conclusions - UNC Writing Center
This handout will explain the functions of conclusions, offer strategies for writing effective ones, help you evaluate your drafted conclusions, and suggest conclusion strategies to avoid.
Writing Introductions - UNC Writing Center
This handout will explain the functions of introductions, offer strategies for writing and revising effective introductions, and provide some examples of less effective introductions to avoid