Table of Contents
- Louisiana Tech’s Writing Center
- Online grammar, spelling, and usage checkers
- Online MLA citation resources and tools
- Common Knowledge
- Microsoft Word help
Louisiana Tech’s Writing Center
Tech’s Writing Center (Wyly Tower Room 325) is an excellent resource. Do not wait as appointment slots can quickly fill up. Call 257-4477 to schedule an appointment or to ask a quick grammar question during business hours. Online classes can communicate via Skype. For hours of operation, visit www.latech.edu/current-students/barc/writing-center/.
Frankfurt International School has practice grammar quizzes to help you hone your grammar skills. The Modern Language Association (MLA) also has grammar, punctuation, and spelling quizzes.
Merchant’s English Usage Guide for Technical Writers has instructions for using English in the context of technical writing: davidmmerchant.com/merchants-english-usage-guide-for-technical-writers/.
Grammar, Spelling, & Usage Checkers
The following are tools which identify some of the common sentence-level grammatical and spelling errors. Most can also help with conciseness. While quite helpful, keep in mind no online style checker is perfect and you will get some false positives, so do not take their advice blindly. All have free versions.
AutoCrit: www.autocrit.com/
They have a forever free service. Their other services are pricey and are more useful for book writers.
Cliché Finder: www.clichefinder.net/
“This free cliché finder finds and highlights clichés in your writing so you can remove them. “
Consistency Checker: www.proz.com/PerfectIt/Consistency_Checker
Free service from Proz.com. You can upload a PDF, DOCX, DOC or TXT file (maximum file size is 100 MB); for best results use DOCX.
GradeProof: gradeproof.com/
Has a free plan as well as a Pro plan. It is cross-platform, can help with conciseness, as well as the usual spelling and grammar checks.
Grammarly: www.grammarly.com/
Need to create a free account to use, though you can sign in using your Google account.
Hemingway Editor: www.hemingwayapp.com/
Click on the “Write” button (top left-hand corner of the page), then clear the sample by clicking in the sample text, press CTRL+a to highlight all the text, and hit the delete key. Next, type in or paste the text you want to check. Click on the “Edit” button when you are finished.
Nitpicker:nitpickertool.com/index.html
Click on “Enter your text” to input the text you want checked. When finished, press the Analyze button.
ProWritingAid: prowritingaid.com/
The online check is free; however, the Word, Google Docs, and other plugins are not.
The Writer’s Diet: writersdiet.com/test.php
Can check 100 to 1,000 words at a time. The Writer’s Diet “identifies some of the sentence-level grammatical features that most frequently weigh down academic prose. It is not designed to judge the overall quality of your writing — or anyone else’s.”
MLA Citation Resources & Tools
These resources and tools can help you create a correctly formatted citation. Be careful when copying and pasting as sometimes you can lose required formatting (for example, italicization vanishes, text color changes from black to gray, and citation no longer in hanging indent form).
Citing Articles in MLA Style: help.ebsco.com/interfaces/EBSCO_Guides/EBSCO_Interfaces_User_Guide/Citing_Articles_in_MLA_Style
A Guide to MLA Formatting, In-text Citation, and the Works Cited List (from the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater): libguides.uww.edu/mla/articles
How to Cite Anything in MLA 8: www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/mla-8/
MLA Formatting and Style Guide: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
The MLA Style Center: style.mla.org/
Son of Citation Machine: citationmachine.net/
What Are The Differences Among Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing?: owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/563/01/
What Is Common Knowledge?
Common knowledge is when a phrase or an idea–such as a historical event, a fact, or an equation–is well-known among your peers (same field or industry).
Here are a few rules to help you decide what does not need to be cited:
- Facts available and unattributed (not cited) in multiple major professional or academic sources (more than three).
- Found in a general reference book or dictionary.
- Findings from your own field research.
When in doubt: cite the source.
Here are a few rules to help you decide what does need to be cited:
- Quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.
- Facts that are not widely known. Remember: common knowledge in one field might not be common knowledge to another. Always keep in mind who is your audience.
- Claims that are arguable.
- Visuals from any source (not created by you based on your own field research).
- Help provided by others.
A Common Knowledge quiz from Amherst College:
- Quiz: <www.amherst.edu/offices/student-affairs/community-standards/intellectual-responsibility-and-plagiarism/quiz-yourself/quiz-questions—sections-2.-common-knowledge>.
- Answers to the quiz: <www.amherst.edu/offices/student-affairs/community-standards/intellectual-responsibility-and-plagiarism/quiz-yourself/answers>.
Microsoft Word Help Online
In addition to searching YouTube or the Word help section in your Course Manual, the following sites are useful. Remember, while the quality of ideas is important, professional writing also demands a high quality for how those ideas are communicated and that includes formatting documents correctly.
- Computer Hope at www.computerhope.com/software/msword.htm
- Microsoft’s Support pages for Word at support.office.com/en-US/Word
- Word for Dummies at www.dummies.com/software/microsoft-office/word/
Specific Word Help
Add Page Numbers to a Header or Footer
(see also: Format Page Numbers)
Change Spacing Between Paragraphs
Choosing [RGB] Colors in the Colors Dialog Box
Instructions for setting a specific, custom color in Word.
Creating/Inserting a Table of Contents (video)
A table of contents in Word is based on the headings in your document.
Section breaks let you change page layout and formatting options, for example, allowing different page headers and footers for different sections of a white paper.
Tables and Figures Lists and Captions (video)
Video for creating a list of tables and figures based on creating captions for your tables and figures.
Mr. David M Merchant 