WooHoo:The Purdue OWL and You

Just in case you've been living off the grid lately, we'd like to remind you that the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) is a free, fantastic resource for all academic writers. It's not just that the site is packed with state-of-art tip sheets, exercises, sample papers, grammar lessons, and inspirational pep talks that are designed with the student writer in mind. The beauty of the Purdue OWL is in its concise organization; you can easily search for and find help on your specific topic without being overwhelmed by the search itself. That and the fact that it is always "on", regardless of the time of day. If you are in the field a lot and aren't able to get to the PC Learning Commons for one-on-one coaching, many of your questions about research documentation (there are comprehensive files on MLA, APA, and CMS editorial conventions) and how to get started on a paper are answered there.

True, you cannot get direct feeback on a draft of your paper as you can by working with a PC writing center coach. To do that, email your draft and your concerns about it to the Writing Center coaches any time. But the information on the OWL site is always current and on target. Come out of the woods and bookmark the Purdue OWL for help with that inevitable research paper. You'll find links to it on the homepage of this blog, as well as on the Library and Learning Commons pages of the PC website.