Overview
Numerous writing, style
and grammar books and web sites exist. This
booklet fills a particular niche (simple, free, accessible), and
complements other resources that are available. It's a useful resource
for university and college instructors who want to provide
straightforward instructions to students, and for students who want to
improve the quality of their writing.
The booklet outlines a mainstream approach to preparing essays
and reports
that should be acceptable in most social and natural/engineering
science courses. Conventions in the humanities are different.
Thus, while much of the general advice in the booklet will be pertinent
to students in the humanities, instructions regarding citation and the
organization of essays and reports will be less relevant.
The booklet is organized into five main
sections and an appendix.
- Section 1 provides an overview
of the booklet and makes a case for the importance of effective
writing.
- Section 2
outlines a straightforward system for organizing essays and reports,
and presents some basic, well-accepted conventions for improving
clarity.
- Section 3
explains why and how to cite sources, and outlines basic rules for
quoting text written by other authors. The author-date system that is
common in the social and natural/engineering sciences is used.
- Section 4
explains how to organize a reference list according to a mainstream
style that should be acceptable in most social and natural/engineering
sciences courses.
- Section 5
provides a checklist that you can use to ensure that you’ve
addressed the various concerns covered in this booklet.
- The Appendix
addresses three additional topics. Section 6.1 offers tips and
suggestions for finding literature and evaluating the relative quality
of different kinds of sources. Section 6.2 provides a list of selected
word usage and grammar problems that are common in student writing.
Section 6.3 suggests a few writing, style and grammar books and web
sites that you can consult for more information.
Special topics addressed in the booklet include the following:
- Plagiarism -- what
is it and how do you avoid committing this serious form of academic
misconduct?
- Refereed journals
-- what are they and why are they high quality sources?
- Automating citations
-- what kinds of tools are available to simplify citation and the
creation of reference lists?
- Search strategies
-- what tools and resources exist, and how can they be used most
effectively?
Getting the Booklet
The booklet is distributed in the Adobe Acrobat(tm) format. It
can be printed in two forms:
- The
guide is most effective as a booklet that students can keep handy
as they work on assignments. Click here to download the cover file
and click here to download the
body. A print shop can use these files to create a 5.5" x 8.5"
booklet with a cardstock cover and staples in
the spine.
- A copy of the guide in the form
of a "two-up" printout on standard 8.5 x 11" paper can
be created. This is a simpler format for individuals who wish to
create a copy of the guide on their own printers. Click here to download the file.
Both versions are suitable for on-line viewing, although the two-page
format may be hard to read on a small screen.
Conditions for Use
This booklet is copyright Rob
de Loë. It may
be freely
used and duplicated for non-commercial educational purposes only. The
costs of duplicating the booklet may be recouped. However, it must not
be sold for profit.
If you use this booklet in
your course(s), then I would like you to send me a note indicating your
organization, the course in which you used the booklet, and the number
of students in your course. I would
appreciate receiving
any feedback that I can use to improve the booklet.
Contact the Author
Rob de
Loë
Department
of Environment and Resource Studies
University
of Waterloo
Waterloo,
Ontario
Canada
N2L 3G1
rdeloe (at) uwaterloo.ca
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