| Other online Writing
Centers (OWLs) |
Michigan Tech’s Writing Center is one of the more artfully
designed and friendly OWLs. Its home page is engaging and
attractive, and it offers a highly detailed description and
philosophy of its Writing Center and composition program.
Its local information provides a friendly atmosphere by including
a list of the variety of writing issues they help with, thoughtful
and glowing reviews from students who have visited the local
Writing Center, and a list of types of people who use the
local services.
The strength of Purdue University’s On-Line Writing
Lab is its massive number of handouts and research links.
Because of these qualities, it is, by far, the most referenced
OWL on the web. Purdue’s handouts can be searched in
three different formats: by a summary of the category, by
an outline of the category, and by a list of the document
titles. Purdue also has extensive lists of research links,
including indexes and references for writers, guides to style
and editing, business and technical writing links, children
and writing links, and links in such fields as arts and literature,
science, engineering and technology, government information,
and social science.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Writing Center contains
original handouts, some of which are on technical subjects
that other OWLs do not address. These handouts, on electrical,
computer, and systems engineering, are lengthy and detailed
and often include a list of references at the end. RPI’s
Writing Center also contains Internet resources for technical
communicators, guidelines for creating webpages, and a unique
guide for graduate students working on dissertations.
Trinity College’s Writing Center is exceptional in its
links to sites where the full texts of books, newspapers,
magazines, and radio programs can be found. The links to magazines
and newspapers include a self-created newspaper service called
CRAYON, where the user can select areas of interest about
which s/he would like information. Trinity’s online resources
provide links to Internet sites for teachers and for writers.
Trinity’s local information is highly detailed, including
information on their writing program curriculum, information
on tutoring and workshops for students, and information on
workshops, training, and consulting for faculty and staff.
The University of Missouri’s Online Writery is highly
technologically oriented and is best known for its combination
of email and real time on-line instruction, which, unfortunately,
is restricted to Missouri students, faculty, and staff (and
to researchers upon petition). The Writery’s home page
is engaging and artfully designed, with a clear menu of choices.
The Online Writery leads to the “Writery Cafe,” described as "an open discussion list where informal, open-ended conversation is welcome about anything concerning writing, writers, life, those sorts of things."
The University of Kansas Writing Center, previously called the Writer’s Roost, has recently redesigned its website. The site features handouts
from OWLs across the country, introducing you to other resources
that may offer more specialized instruction. The offerings
are diverse, from writing undergraduate college essays in
various disciplines to resumes to dissertations.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing
Center provides straightforward handouts on important writing
issues such as reading assignments, creating arguments, writing
transitions, and writing in different disciplines, accented
with clever examples. They supplement their handouts with
extensive links to handouts from other Online Writing Centers,
organized by topic, making this site a great place to look
for a handout on a specific topic.
Claremont Graduate University’s Writing Center focuses
specifically on graduate student writers, offering handouts
on ESL issues, writing and presenting conference papers, taking
summary notes, writing literature reviews and grant proposals,
and writing dissertations. Claremont’s Writing Center
also includes an annotated list of web resources for graduate-level
writers, organized by subjects such as “Teaching Literature,”
“English as a Second Language,” and “American
Studies.”
This site’s “E-mail Etiquette Guidelines” are
a helpful resource for electronic writers of every type. The
RSCC site has some good materials oriented specifically toward nursing
students, and also has an interesting series of Writing Center
articles.
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