General Writing Resources

The Writing Process

These OWL resources will help you with the writing process: pre-writing (invention), developing research questions and outlines, composing thesis statements, and proofreading. While the writing process may be different for each person and for each particular assignment, the resources contained in this section follow the general work flow of pre-writing, organizing, and revising. For resources and examples on specific types of writing assignments, please go to our Common Writing Assignments area.

Academic Writing

These OWL resources will help you with the types of writing you may encounter while in college. The OWL resources range from rhetorical approaches for writing, to document organization, to sentence level work, such as clarity. For specific examples of writing assignments, please see our Common Writing Assignments area.

Common Writing Assignments

These OWL resources will help you understand and complete specific types of writing assignments, such as annotated bibliographies, book reports, and research papers. This section also includes resources on writing academic proposals for conference presentations, journal articles, and books.

Mechanics

These OWL resources will help you with sentence level organization and style. This area includes resources on writing issues, such as active and passive voice, parallel sentence structure, parts of speech, and transitions.

Grammar

These OWL resources will help you use correct grammar in your writing. This area includes resources on grammar topics, such as count and noncount nouns, articles (a versus an), subject-verb agreement, and prepositions.

Punctuation

These OWL resources will help you with punctuation, such as using commas, quotation marks, apostrophes, and hyphens.

Visual Rhetoric

These OWL resources will help you understand and work with rhetorical theories regarding visual and graphical displays of information. This area includes resources on analyzing and producing visual rhetoric, working with colors, and designing effective slide presentations.

Undergraduate Applications

The undergraduate application section contains resources to help you through the process of applying to undergraduate institutions. This section contains an overview of applying to undergraduate institutions, words of advice from undergraduate admissions officials from all over the US, and information on writing effective application essays. 

Graduate School Applications

The graduate school application section contains resources to help you through the process of applying to graduate school. This section contains an overview of applying to graduate school, words of advice on writing graduate school profiles to help with your decision making, drafting a graduate school personal statement, and the etiquette of requesting references. 

Please note, that these resources focus on applying to graduate studies programs in the United States. The information contained in these resources may or may not be appropriate to other contexts. 

Media File Index

The resources in this section contain links to all the media files found on the Purdue OWL. In this section, you can click on links that will take you to a resource where you can view or download a PowerPoint presentation or workshop, sample paper, sample employment document, vidcast, podcast, or Flash movie.

OWL Mail General Writing FAQs

The following FAQs address various general issues concerning writing. The entries in this section are based on frequently asked questions about writing that have been sent to Purdue OWL Mail Tutors. We encourage you to scan through these before you send your general writing questions to OWL Mail. You should also scan the General Writing section of the Purdue OWL for answers to your questions.