English Composition

English Faculty Writing on Writing ...

• The English Critical Essay by Linda Hutcheon, Ph.D., and Nancy Kang A step-by-step set of instructions on how to write a University-level English essay. Includes sections on writing, organizing, proofreading, and documenting sources.
• Traditional Grammatical Terminology by A. G. Rigg, Ph.D. A comprehensive, authoritative grammatical reference document. This document offers a detailed, highly structured treatment of grammatical terminology.
• Papers: Expectations, Guidelines, Advice, and Grading by Jeannine DeLombard, Ph.D., and Dan White, Ph.D. Detailed guidelines for students, used at Toronto and in the United States and Australia.

Resources at the University of Toronto

• University of Toronto Writing Centre
  • Advice on Academic Writing A resource for University students, prepared by Dr. Margaret Procter. Includes on-line documents on reading and note-taking, how to write common academic assignments, and links to other writing resources.
  • How Not to Plagiarize An important practical document, which defines "plagiarism" and informs students how to avoid it.
• Other Campus Writing Centres
  • Advice on Writing in Philosophy contributed by Department of Philosophy faculty members.
  • The Engineering Writing Centre offers documents on writing technical documents such as lab reports and short reports, as well as an extensive treatment of accurate documentation of technical sources (with an on-line plagiarism self-test).
  • The International Student Centre offers conversation classes, and (for graduate students) writing tutorials. There is a modest charge for these services.

Resources outside the University of Toronto

• Dictionaries
  • WWWebster Dictionary does not know the words "internet" or "webmaster," but does know "compact disc." This is a quick, easy to use dictionary with an integrated thesaurus.
• Documenting Electronic Sources
  • MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources Janice Walker, at the University of Florida, proposed this citation style, based on the Modern Langauge Association style, for citing electronic sources.
  • Beyond the MLA Handbook: Documenting Electronic Sources on the Internet Andrew Harnack and Gene Kleppinger, at Eastern Kentucky University, expand upon the MLA's suggestions for on-line documentation, evaluate several competing styles, and offer their own synthesis.
• Writing Centres
  • Purdue On-Line Writing Lab (OWL) offers over 100 Purdue OWL Handouts and has a mirror site as well.
  • Online Resources for Writers at the University of Maine Writing Center offers links to four versions of Webster's Dictionary, two thesauri, and several foreign-language dictionaries.
• On-line Grammars
  • Elements of Style by William J. Strunk, Jr. is an enduring 1918 classic.
  • Grammar and Style Guide by Jack Lynch. This collection of writing tips has a witty, conversational style--consider what he has to say about Wasted Words: "...they often slither into your writing with the sinister purpose of tempting you into the sin of padding your sentences."
  • English: Grammar, Usage and Style hits from the Yahoo! search engine.
  • A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms with Examples at the University of Kentucky demonstrates the building blocks of classical rhetoric, from alliteration to zeugma.
• Collections of Writing Links
  • Indispensable Writing Resources compiled for Write Your Way to a Higher GPA. A flashy, well-designed web site designed to help a marketing professor at Stetson University sell a book.
  • Resources for Writers and Writing Instructors compiled by Jack Lynch, is a mind-boggling array of links (some broken), without annotation. Contains many diamonds in the rough.