Writing CommonsSite Map

Site Map

Writing Commons publishes original articles on matters of interest to students and writing teachers. The site map below reflects the current iteration of the site. If you think we've sorted an article incorrectly or you have a suggestion, please use the commenting form below to get in touch with us.

About

Citation

  1. Attribution
  2. Citation Tools
  3. How to Cite Sources in Academic and Professional Writing
    1. Connect Evidence to Your Claims
    2. Distinguish Your Ideas from Your Sources
    3. Provide Background Information about the Researcher’s Methods
    4. Relate Sources to Thesis/Research Question
    5. Why is it important to conclude a paragraph with the writer’s voice rather than a quote or paraphrase?
  4. MLA Handbook, 9th Edition
  5. Publication Manual of the APA: 7th Edition
    1. APA Abstracts
    2. APA Body
    3. APA Citations
    4. APA Footnotes
    5. APA Format – General Formatting Guidelines
    6. APA Headings and Subheadings
    7. APA References
    8. APA Sections
    9. APA Title Page

Collaboration

  1. Conquer The Chaos: Powerful Conflict Resolution Strategies For A Harmonious Workplace And Classroom
  2. How to Excel at Coauthorship: Effective Strategies for Team Collaboration
  3. How to Lead Successful School and Workplace Projects
  4. Revolutionizing Writing in 2023: The Best Collaboration Tools You Need to Know
  5. The DNA Of Teamwork: What Does Research Tell Us About The Essential Elements Of Successful Teams
  6. The Power of Critique in Academic and Workplace Writing
  7. Unlocking the Secrets of Peer Review: Your Path to Improved Writing & Grade

Drafting

Courses

  1. First-Year Composition
  2. Workplace Writing
    • Professional Writing: Collaborative Problem Solving Schedule

Design Matters: The Visual Language That Shapes Our World

  1. Navigating Design Principles: A New Approach to Enhance Writing
  2. Strategic Page Design: How to Shape Information for Maximum Impact
  3. Understanding the Elements of Art for Better Visual Composition
  4. Universal Design Principles for Writers
  5. Usability – How to Research & Improve Usability

Discourse

  1. Causes & Effects
  2. Classification
  3. Comparison & Contrast
  4. Definition
  5. Description
  6. Exemplification
  7. Exposition
  8. Narration
  9. Paraphrase
  10. Quotation
  11. Summary

Editing

  1. Edit for Assignment Requirements
  2. Edit for Diction
  3. Edit for Sentence Structure
  4. Edit for Strings of Prepositional Phrases
  5. Edit Paragraphs
  6. Proofreading

Genre

  1. Academic Writing
  2. Annotated Bibliography
  3. Argument, Argumentation
  4. Autobiography
  5. Cover Letter, Letter of Transmittal
  6. Creative Writing
  7. Dialogue: The Difficulty of Speaking
  8. Executive Summary
  9. Formal Reports
  10. Hierarchical Maps
  11. Illustrations
  12. Infographics
  13. Instructions & Processes
  14. Introductions
  15. Paraphrase
  16. Photography
  17. Pitch
  18. Presentations
  19. Problem Definition
  20. Professional Writing
  21. Progress Reports
  22. Proposals
  23. Qualifiers
  24. Quotation
  25. Research Proposal
  26. Research Protocol
  27. Reviews and Recommendations
  28. Subjects & Concepts
  29. Summary
  30. Syllabus
  31. Team Charter
  32. Timelines & Flow Charts

Grammar

  1. Mechanics
    1. Capitalization
    2. Punctuation
      1. Apostrophes
      2. Capitalization
      3. Colons
      4. Commas
        1. Phrases, Essential and Non-Essential Phrases
      5. Dashes
      6. Ellipses
      7. End Punctuation
      8. Hyphens
      9. Italics
      10. Parentheses
      11. Periods, Question Marks, Exclamation Points (End-Punctuation)
      12. Quotation Marks
      13. Semicolons
    3. Spelling
  2. Modifiers, Modification
  3. Parallelism, Parallel Structure, Parallel Construction
  4. Sentences
    1. Parts of a Sentence
      1. Independent Clauses, Dependent Clauses & Phrases
      2. Subjects, Verbs, & Objects
    2. Sentence Errors
      1. Comma Splice
      2. Run-on Sentences
      3. Sentence Fragment
      4. Subject-Verb Agreement
    3. Sentence Patterns
    4. Sentence Structure
      1. Coordination & Subordination
    5. Sentence Types
  5. The 9 Parts of Speech
    1. Articles
    2. Adjectives
    3. Adverbs
    4. Conjunctions
    5. Interjections
    6. Nouns
    7. Prepositions
    8. Pronouns
    9. Verbs

Help

Information Literacy

  1. ACRL Information Literacy Perspectives & Practices
    1. Authority is Constructed & Contextual
    2. Information Creation as a Process
    3. Information Has Value
      1. Guide to Using Online Images
      2. Intellectual Property
      3. What is Plagiarism?
      4. What is Academic Dishonesty?
    1. Research as Inquiry
      1. Divide and Conquer: Rethinking Your Approach to Research
    2. Scholarship as a Conversation
      1. Articles
        1. Conversation between Sources
        2. Sticking Your Nose In: Positioning Yourself in Academic Writing
        3. Understanding How Conversations Change Over Time
    3. Searching as Strategic Exploration
      1. Annotated List of Open Access Resources
      2. Finding and Examining the Sources in Your Sources
      3. Preliminary Research
      4. Search Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
      5. Seek Help from Librarians
      6. Smart Searching
      7. Best Search Tools for Images
    4. Understanding Library Resources
      1. Understanding URLs
      2. Understanding URLS (Exercise Answers)
      3. Using Databases: Periodical Indexes and Abstracts
  2. Archive
  3. Authority (in Speech & Writing)
  4. Copyright
  5. Empathetic Information Literacy
  6. Epistemology – Ways of Knowing
    1. Declarative Knowledge
    2. Dialectic
    3. Empiricism
    4. Knowledge
    5. Personal Knowledge
    6. Positivism
    7. Postmodernism
    8. Postpositivism
    9. Procedural Knowledge
    10. Rhetorical Knowledge
    11. Tacit Knowledge
  7. Evidence
    1. Anecdotal Evidence
    2. Circumstantial Evidence
    3. Empirical Evidence
    4. Hypothetical Evidence
    5. Opinion
    6. Types of Evidence
    7. Visual Representation
      1. Charts, Figures, Graphs, Tables
      2. Data Visualization
      3. Hierarchical maps
      4. Icons, Ideograms, Pictographs
      5. Illustration
      6. Timelines & Flow Charts
  8. Information Architecture
  9. Information, Data
  10. Information Design
  11. Interpretation – Interpretative Frameworks
  12. The CRAAP Test

Invention

  1. Canon
  2. Commonplaces (Topoi)
  3. Cluster Diagrams & Spider Maps
  4. Conversations with Others
  5. Felt Sense
  6. Freewriting
  7. Heuristics
  8. Journaling: Writer’s Journal
  9. Preliminary Research
  10. Visual Brainstorming

Literacy

  1. Communication
  2. 21st Century Literacies & Writing Studies
  3. Cognitive, Intrapersonal, and Interpersonal Competencies
  4. Critical Literacy
  5. Digital Literacy
  6. Quantitative Literacy
  7. Semiotics: Sign, Signifier, Signified
  8. Visual Literacy
    1. Animation
    2. Breaking Down an Image

Mindset

  1. Growth Mindset
    1. Adopt Effective Writing Habits
    2. Faith in the Writing Process
    3. Play the Believing Game
    4. Tips for Realizing Your Creative Potential
    5. Why Write?
  2. Intellectual Openness
    1. Demystify Writing Misconceptions
  3. Self-Regulation & Metacognition
    1. Establish a Comfortable Place to Write
    2. Reading and Disruptive Emotions
    3. Overcome Discouragement
    4. Planning Professional and Technical Documents
    5. Reflect on Your Writing Processes
    6. Scheduling Writing
  4. Professionalism & Work Ethic
    1. Why Should I Keep a Writer’s Log?
  5. Resilience

Organization

  1. Organizational Schema
    1. Announcements, Signposting, Organizational Thesis
    2. Causal Order
    3. Chronological Order
    4. Deductive Order, Deductive Reasoning, Deductive Writing
    5. Given-to-New Order
    6. Global Perspective
    7. Inductive Order, Inductive Reasoning, Inductive Writing
    8. Local Perspective
    9. Metalanguage
    10. Seque
    11. Spatial Order
      1. Conducting a Spatial Analysis Through the Lens of Universal Design
    12. Transitional Language
  2. Paragraphs
    1. Flow, Transitions, Coherence @ Paragraph Level
    2. Paragraph Transitions
    3. Relate Paragraphs Logically to the Previous Paragraph(s)
    4. Sentence Order within Paragraphs
    5. Topic Sentences & Paragraph Development
    6. Unity @ Paragraph Level

Planning

Prewriting

Rereading

Research

  1. Applied Research, Basic Research
  2. Guide – How to Cite Sources
  3. Research Ethics
    1. Human Subjects Research
    2. Informed Consent
    3. IRB (Institutional Review Board)
  4. Research Methodology
  5. Research Methods
    1. Empirical Research Methods
      1. Qualitative Research Methods
        1. Case Study
        2. Ethnography
        3. Participant Observation
      2. Quantitative Research Methods
        1. Corpus Linguistics Analysis, A Bird’s Eye View of Writing
        2. Survey Research
      3. Mixed Methods
        1. Content Analysis
        2. Customer Discovery Interviews
          1. Problem Space
          2. Problem Scenarios
        3. Venture Design
      4. Usability & User Experience Research
    2. Informal Research Methods
    3. Textual Research Methods
      1. Content Analysis
      2. Hermeneutics
      3. Linguistic Analysis
      4. Literary Criticism
      5. Rhetorical Analysis
        1. A Guide to Textual Analysis
        2. Rhetorical Analysis in the Real World: A Useful Thinking Tool
        3. Rhetorical Analysis of Film
        4. Rhetorical Analysis of Images
      6. Textuality, Intertextuality

Revision

Rhetoric

  1. Rhetorical Reasoning
    1. Rhetorical Appeals
      1. Articles
        1. Beware of “Oh, that makes sense”: Ethos in Context
        2. Diplomacy, Tone, and Emphasis in Business Writing
        3. Ethos
          1. Fallacious Ethos
        4. Intrinsic Authority
        5. Logos
          1. Fallacious Logos
        6. Netiquette (Digital Ethics)
        7. Pathos
          1. Fallacious Pathos
        8. Rhetorical Appeals: A Checklist for Writers
        9. Rhetorical Appeals: An Overview
        10. Using Pathos in Persuasive Writing
    2. Rhetorical Devices
    3. Rhetorical Modes
  2. Rhetorical Situation
    1. Audience
      1. Discourse Communities – Communities of Practice
      2. Methodological Communities
      3. Articles
        1. Audience Analysis: Primary, Secondary, and Hidden Audiences
        2. Classification
        3. Conducting a Spatial Analysis through the Lens of Universal Design
        4. Discourse Community, Community of Practice
        5. Digital Footprints: Public Writing and Social Identities
        6. Researching Your Audience
        7. Rhetorical Analysis in the Real World: A Useful Thinking Tool
        8. Think Rhetorically
        9. What to Think about When Writing for a Particular Audience
        10. You-Centered Business Style
    2. Medium, Media
      1. Team Work Space
    3. Occasion, Exigency & Kairos
      1. Problem Space, Solution Space
    4. Purpose
      1. Thesis
        1. When is a Thesis Considered Weak?
      2. Research Question
    5. Subject, Topic
    6. Text, Composition
    7. Writer, Speaker, Knowledge Worker . . .
  3. Rhetorical Stance
  4. When the Active Voice is Preferable to the Passive Voice
    1. Articles
      1. Active Voice

Sharing – Publishing

  1. Student Voices

Style

  1. Code Switching
  2. Diction
  3. The Elements of Style
    1. Brevity
      1. Articles
        1. Writing Concisely and Avoiding Redundancy
    2. Clarity
    3. Flow
      1. Avoid Unnecessary Shifts in Point of View
      2. Avoid Unnecessary Shifts in Verb Tense
      3. Choppy Writing
      4. Creating Flow via Repetition
      5. Read Your Paper Aloud to Check Cohesiveness
    4. Simplicity
  4. Register
  5. Styles of Writing
    1. Academic Writing – Style Guide
    2. Professional Writing – Style Guide
    3. Reader-Based Prose
    4. Substantive Prose
    5. You-Centered Business Style
    6. Writer-Based Prose
  6. Tone

Writing

Writing Process

  1. Cognitive Problem-Solving Strategies: Reimagining the Writing Process
  2. Intuition, Felt Sense & the Writing Process
  3. Writing Process Steps

Writing Studies

  1. Assessment, Grading, and Response to Writing
    1. So Your Instructor is Using Contract Grading…
  2. Communication Studies
  3. Composition Studies
    1. Declarative Knowledge
    2. Dialectic
    3. Empiricism
    4. Knowledge
    5. Personal Knowledge
    6. Positivism
    7. Postmodernism
    8. Postpositivism
    9. Procedural Knowledge
    10. Rhetorical Knowledge
  4. Professional and Technical Communication
    1. What is Workplace Writing or the Discipline of Professional and Technical Communication?
    2. An Overview of Professional and Technical Communication
    3. Cognitive, Intrapersonal, and Interpersonal Competencies
  5. Psychology & Writing Studies
  6. Rhetoric & Technology
    1. Why Study Rhetoric? or, What Freestyle Rap Teaches Us about Writing
    2. Research on Mindset & Intrapersonal Competencies
  7. Writers @ Work
    1. An Interview with Trent Hergenrader
    1. Interviews with Writers: Maureen Seaton
    2. An Interview with Stephanie Vanderslice