Helpful Handouts
Listed below are our writing center's helpful handouts on general writing issues, concerns, or strategies. We dedicate a lot of time and energy into keeping these updated, relevant, and helpful as often as we can - therefore, there may be changes or additions to your favorite handouts! Check them out, and enjoy. Feel free to:
- Use them at home
- Use them in class
- Save them for yourself
- Share them with a friend
If you see one with an * next to its title, that means the handout is available as a multi-modal handout (it could have a comic, be an illustrated form, or be graphically communicative in another way).
The Resource Market
The Resource Market is part of Virtual Knowledge Market services and brings together resources from the Research Center, Speech Lab, Digital Creator Lab, and Writing Center to provide a wide range of self-guided support. The search bar auto populates with ideas based on your search terms and resources are designed to be easy to find and use. Get started: https://www.gvsu.edu/library/km/resource-market-35.htm
Process: What To Know
These handouts can help you at any stage of the writing process, but they focus mainly on how you can prepare for writing (pre-writing support).
The Communication Triangle (Comes with Video)
A Guide to Writing Terminology
Avoiding Ambiguity in Your Writing
Avoiding Logical Fallacies in Your Writing
Descriptive Writing: Showing vs. Telling
Managing Your Life / Time Management
Organization Within Paragraphs
Reading Effectively for the Sciences
Showing v. Telling* (Comic story connected to The Narrative: Writing About Yourself comic)
Tips for Giving Useful Peer Responses
Form: Genre & Parts of Papers
These handouts will address questions regarding the content expected in certain genres (resumes, narratives, etc.) and what components must/should be included (titles, headings, etc.).
Argumentative Papers: Persuading Your Reader *
Narratives-General *
Speech Language Pathology - Personal Statement
Clarity: Grammar & Punctuation
These handouts will address questions regarding the editing & revising process.
Commas *
Style: Citations & Formatting
These links and handouts will help you compose/convert your paper into a designated style (APA, MLA, & Chicago).
A Quick Guide to MLA Style - 9th Edition
A Quick Guide to Chicago Style - 17th Edition
A Guide for APA Citations - 7th Edition
Formatting guides:
A Guide to APA Formatting - 7th Edition
Chicago 17th Edition Formatting Help - Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
Guide to creating different page numbers within a single document (Word)
Formatting Different Page Numbers by Section in Word
Older citation styles:
A Quick Guide to MLA Style - 8th Edition
A Guide to APA Formatting - 6th Edition
A Quick Guide to APA Citations - 6th Edition
Samples: Shapes of Common Papers
These documents can give you an idea for the shape and form of common papers, assignments, and projects.
APA Basic Paper - Cover Page & Abstract
Professional: Applications, Careers, and Scholarship
Speech & Language Pathology Graduate School Personal Statement
Genre Guides: Writing in Your Major
In the summer of 2009, faculty across the university collaborated with the writing center on a project funded by a Presidential Teaching Initiatives Grant from the Pew Faculty Teaching and Learning Center. The project involved creating a number of writing resources for use by students and writing consultants. The following guides give writing advice as well as information about content, form, and style conventions of various kinds of writing in disciplines across the university.
Interested in learning more about why we created these guides, our collaborative process with faculty, or how we're assessing the use of these guides in the writing center? Or are you a faculty member interested in working with the center to create genre guides for use by your students during writing consultations? Read an overview of the project.
Biology
Business
Creative Writing
- Reflective Writing
- Sample Reflective Writing Pieces, annotated by faculty
- Revision Strategies
- Workshop Critiques
- Sample Workshop Pieces, annotated by faculty
Engineering
- Full Technical Report
- Short Reports
- Sample Memo, annotated by faculty
History
- Document-Based Essay
- Sample Document-Based Essay, annotated by faculty
- Research Paper
- Sample Research Paper, annotated by faculty
Nursing
- Analysis, Synthesis, and Response Paper
- Sample Analysis, Synthesis & Response Paper, annotated by faculty
- Sample Analysis, Synthesis & Response Paper, annotated by faculty
- Application Paper
Psychology
Public, Non-Profit, and Health Administration
This work by https://www.gvsu.edu/wc is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Have other questions? Stop in and visit! Or call us at 331-2922.