Writing Skills

Develop Your Abilities

Need to brush up on the basics? Plan to go deeper and learn advanced techniques? Interested in refining your own style? The articles below have been written by our Coaches in the Writing Center and are designed to help you understand various aspects of writing, rhetoric, and composition. All good things take practice, and these articles will lay the foundation and provide you with resources to help you practice well. Click on the topics below to discover more.

The 3 C's of Writing 
Sydney Aguas
Every writer should know these three foundational concepts that make for good writing.

The Abstract
Will Emerson
Nearly all graduate-level writing, research articles, and books require an abstract, a short summary that tells the reader if they should read the whole text.

Annotated Bibliography
Elizabeth Perry
A favorite exercise in graduate writing, the annotated bibliography helps researchers think about the significance of their sources to build an academic conversation.

The Argumentative Essay
Kennedy Luevano
How to craft persuasive arguments through research and rhetoric that win over readers.

Arrangement
David Marshall
Organizing research and constructing an argument for a logical flow that will convince your audience rather than bore them.

Audience
Audrey Smith
Knowing your readers is one of the first steps to successful persuasion. Learn to analyze an audience and tailor your message to their needs.

Citation Guide, AMA
Joshua S. Fullman
A brief introduction to citing sources in the health professions using the American Medical Association Manual, 11th ed.

Citation Guide, APA
Elizabeth Perry
A how-to guide for writing papers in the social sciences with the American Psychological Association Manual, 7th ed.

Citation Guide, CMOS
Will Emerson
Creating citations using the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed.

Citation Guide, MLA
Elizabeth Perry
For students writing in the humanities, the guidelines for the Modern Language Association Handbook, 9th ed.

Conclusions
Abbey Maust
The writer wants the reader to feel like their paper has been worth the journey. Help them understand your argument and its implications before finishing strong.

Database Research
Joshua S. Fullman
Navigating library resources, especially databases, can make research not only easier but more rewarding.

Delivering a Conference Paper
Sydney Aguas
Transform your course essay into an oral presentation at a professional conference.

The Evaluation Essay
Sydney Aguas
Discern between the best of multiple options using clear criteria and make a compelling recommendation.

Explicit and Implicit Argumentation Styles
Noah Sigsbee
Writers need to learn the skill of communicating directly and below the surface.

In-Class Essays
Sydney Aguas
A quick guide for organizing your thoughts and writing quickly under pressure.

In-Text Citations
Sydney Aguas
A demonstration of how to insert in-text citations using a variety of style guides.

The Informative Essay
Audrey Smith
Writers are always providing information, but the trick is to know how much to share with your readers.

Introductions
Abbey Maust
The introduction is the first impression a writer will make; it is the writer's job to make sure the reader wants to keep reading.

Literary Analysis
Elizabeth Perry
Good writers are good writers, and good readers know how to analyze a work of literature.

Literature Review
Sydney Aguas
A literature review synthesizes the current research on a topic and makes an argument about what still needs to be studied in that field.

The Narrative Essay
Sydney Aguas
Writers learn to find their voice as they learn to tell their story in dynamic and inventive ways.

Quotations
Kennedy Luevano
How to incorporate quotes from your research into your paper.

Peer Editing
Aliya Beaupain
One of the best ways to improve your writing is to receive input from outside readers.

Plagiarism
Elizabeth Perry
How to avoid the cardinal sin of writing and to produce original content that really matters.

Revising Your Paper
Gabriela Gomez
Beyond just proofreading and editing, this article shows you how to question your own assumptions, re-envision your paper, and create a better paper than you first imagined.

Summary
Elizabeth Perry
To persuade well, you will need to condense the arguments of others and use them to build your own arguments.

Procrastination
Will Emerson
Most writers know that procrastination is not the key to success, even if they enjoy working under pressure. But how do I learn to focus and write long before the deadline?

The Prompt
Kennedy Luevano
Some students struggle to know where to start. The first place is to understand what the instructor is looking for from your writing.

The Research Paper
Will Emerson
An introduction to college-level writing that provides tips on how to develop reading for discovery into writing for persuasion.

The Thesis Statement
David Marshall
Condensing your argument into one sentence that will effectively persuade your readers.

Transitions
Elizabeth Perry
How to build transitions, segues, and signal words and phrases to transform your outline into a well-polished essay.

The Rhetorical Appeal
Karissa Moritz
Learn how to argue more persuasively using the rhetorical elements of ethos, pathos, and logos.

Writer's Block
Will Emerson
Perhaps nothing is more frustrating to the writer than being blocked. This article gives you some helpful tips to overcome the pain and press forward.