This web page provides a number of resources to help students improve their writing. I would recommend browsing through the different resources to see which web pages are the most helpful for you. Different resources may fit better with different learning styles. Finding which of these is the most helpful to you and then bookmarking the page may save you a good deal of time and stress when writing your next paper.
Web Writing Resources | Book Recommendations
Web Writing Resources:
| Writing Guides This is a resource put together by my brother, Dr. John Hoffman. It provides a mixture of excellent web resources in additional to some of his own thoughts and resources -- highly recommended!! |
Podcasts on Academic and Scholarly Writing Provides links to podcasts you can download and listen to that may help you improve your scholarly and academic writing. |
APA Style Essential, Writing Essentials, & AmoebaWeb Psych Resources A resource by Dr. Douglas Degelman of Vanguard University. This is one of the best resources I've seen! |
APA Style.org |
APA Reference citations and Reference Page Helps Provided by Dr. Hoffman. |
Provides some good resource information on APA writing style. |
Determining if a Resource is Scholarly Provided by Dr. Hoffman |
Using the Web in Academic Settings Provided by Dr. Hoffman |
| APA Style: The Little Things... Provided by Dr. Hoffman. Includes a guide on the common "little mistakes" along with many quick fix tips to save you time writing papers and making corrections to papers. |
Correctly Using the First Person in APA Style This is a brief article by Dr. Hoffman on the correct way to use the first person and the first person plural in APA style. |
Literature Search Essentials |
Amoeba Web: APA Style and Writing Provided by Dr. Degelman of Vanguard University. Contains many links to writing resources on the web. |
Citing Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism: Documentation Guidelines Resource provided by Duke University. This is a very important issue to be aware of!! |
Writing Academic Papers for Psychology |
Plagiarism, Quotations, and Paraphrasing |
Grammar Girl This resources gives regular short bites of information on grammar including short, regularly updates podcasts on grammar. This is my favorite links for grammar issues. |
| Common Grammar Errors in Psychological Writing by Dr. Hoffman |
Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University This is a very good general resource from the award winning writing lab at Purdue University. If you struggle with grammar and basic writing skills, this is a very good resource. It is referenced in other links for more specific problems. |
| A Guide to Grammar and English This is a nice resource for answer a number of questions. Please be aware that not all of this is consistent with APA style, but there is a good deal of very informative information about some writing basics that applies across all styles. |
Writing Resource Links from Marymount University Department of Forensic Psychology This web site with links to resources for writing and forensic psychology. |
| Common Errors in English This is a nice little resource for answering questions about some common errors. |
Subject/Verb Agreement at Purdue's OWL This is another common mistake. This is a nice little guide. |
| Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives by Purdue's OWL This is another good resource at Purdue's Online Writing Lab (OWL). It includes information on one of my mnemises, the dreaded split infinitive. |
Adjective or Adverb? by OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue This provides a nice little guide on the correct usage of adverbs and adjectives. It's easy to use and provides many good examples. |
| Plagiarism and Copyright Information This is a great resource for information on plagiarism and copyright issues. This is the most comprehensive list of resources on this issue that I've seen. It's well organized and easy to use. |
Plagiarism.org This provides many resources and information on plagiarism. Most of these are for instructors trying to catch and prevent plagiarism. However, many are also useful to students. This also demonstrates how seriously the issue of plagiarism is being taken today. Bottom line, don't do it! This may help you better understand this issue and how to avoid plagiarizing. |
| APA Copyright & Permissions This provides information about APA's policies on copyright and permission. Please note this is mostly aimed at APA materials, not general copyright issues. However, it does provides some useful information which can be a guide to making other decisions about appropriate use of materials. |
Why Emphasize Writing? Still not convinced writing is important? Try reading this brief article by Dr. John Hoffman which summarizing some important reasons why all students should want to learn to write. |
| Why Scholarly Writing is Important A brief article by Dr. Louis Hoffman which focuses on the importance of writing, particularly in the field of psychology. |
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. (Purchase here)
* This is your most important resource as a psychology student-writer. While it is not an exciting read, if you struggle with being able to write well it is highly recommended that you sit down and read through this manual.
Bellquist, J. E. (1993). A guide to grammar and usage for psychology and related fields. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaums. (Purchase here)
Lerner, M. (1994). Writing smart: Your guide to great writing. New York: Random House. (Purchase here)
The Princeton Review Staff (1994). Grammar smart: A guide to perfect usage. New York: Villard. (Purchase here)