resources for writers
(anything you could find in an English textbook, but free online)
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. — originally published in 1918, this succinct writing handbook provides simple, clear advice for effectively communicating your thoughts in writing.
the owl
The Online Writing Lab from Purdue University is one of the first and best online writing resources. The OWL is where most of your professors go when they have questions about writing. The OWL has sections for everything from sentence mechanics to structure/organization to documentation.
General Writing Resources -- a menu of pages that cover the "rules" of writing
mechanics (sentence-level organization and style)
grammar (word-level usage, such as subject/verb agreement, tenses, pronouns)
punctuation (stop guessing about comma placement!)
Academic Writing -- global-level concerns, like paragraph focus/organization
rules for writers
Rules for Writers, by Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers, has been one of the most popular and widely-used college level writing handbooks for many years. The CSULB edition is required for all English composition classes at CSULB. If you purchased the book, you will receive an access code that allows you to access the online practice exercises. If you do not purchase the book, much of the content (in the "OTHER RESOURCES" column, to the right) can still be accessed for free.
Multilingual/ESL guides -- many helpful guides and exercises specifically designed to help writers for whom English is not their first language.
Language Debates -- some brief and useful guides to common writing errors, like comma splices, avoiding passive voice, and who versus which or that.
CSULB library website
The CSULB Library hosts an excellent website full of many helpful resources, guides, and useful links. Some of the fancier services - like premium databases - will require a current/valid student ID, but most of what is here is freely available to all.
Documentation (the link to this page is called "Citation Help" on the homepage) -- general advice for using and documenting sources, with multiple links for each style:
Database Research -- collection of links to different research databases. I usually start on the database by topic page and narrow my search from there. Note: some of the better full-text databases are businesses and require fees/subscriptions. Current CSULB students have full access to every database linked by the library, but some may require a password if you are not on the campus network. Bring your current/valid student ID to any campus library to obtain the password.
Citation Generators -- there are various programs/websites that will create your citations for you. These are perfectly legitimate to use, but user beware. I have seen students use these tools successfully and unsuccessfully. Nobody cares what tools you use; what matters is whether or not you get it right. If you use such a service and it comes out wrong, "But that's what the citation generator said!" will never be an acceptable excuse. If you want something done right...
Dr. Alexis Pavenick’s guides — One of our librarians, Dr. Pavenick, has created several new and useful guides related to research and documentation of sources.
Research Strategies for Everyone — general research advice for writing in any discipline, with an emphasis on utilizing the CSULB library’s resources.
MLA style, 8th edition — an up-to-date guide for correctly following MLA documentation style.
Lahc library website
The LAHC Library hosts an excellent website full of many helpful resources, guides, and useful links. Some of the fancier services - like premium databases - will require a current/valid student ID, but most of what is here is freely available to all.
Writing and Research Guides -- collection of links for research and documentation. Multiple links for APA, Chicago, and MLA styles. The two "Citation Tools" links at the very bottom of this page are perfectly legitimate to use, but user beware. I have seen students use these tools successfully and unsuccessfully. Nobody cares what tools you use; what matters is whether or not you get it right. If you use such a service and it comes out wrong, "But that's what the citation generator said!" will never be an acceptable excuse. If you want something done right...
Database Research -- Note: some of the better full-text databases are businesses and require fees/subscriptions. Current LAHC students have full access to every database linked by the library, but some may require a password if you are not on the campus network. Bring your current/valid student ID to the campus library to obtain the password.
google search tools
20 Tips To Use Google Search Effectively - Lifehack
Google Scholar -- a specialized browser that only searches academic and professional publications, so you can be generally confident that anything you find within would be considered a credible source. [note: The full text of many articles will be behind some sort of pay wall, which means they can't be used as sources (unless you pay to access the full text, which I do NOT recommend unless you are doing professional research at a very advanced level).]
Google Books -- another specialized browser that only searches through published books. Unlike google scholar, books does not control its searches for credibility, so you must yourself determine whether a potential source is credible when using google books. Google books has an amazing feature: since the text is digitized, it is searchable, and google books will highlight your search terms throughout the text, making it much easier to find the proverbial needle in the haystack.