Writing Center Handouts and Resources

Writing Center staff have developed the following handouts to introduce essential skills and habits for successful  writing, reading, and public speaking throughout college. For more guidance on these and other topics, book an appointment for a consultation.

These handouts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License and may be downloaded and printed for personal use. .

Writing

• Developing as a Writer: Activities for Reflection and Planning
• Reverse Outlining
• Revising an Academic Essay
• Writing While Researching

Public Speaking

• Speak up: Preparing an Engaging Presentation

Productivity and Accountability

• Time Management Strategies
• Creating the Conditions for Productive Writing
• Effective Accountability Groups
• Quick Guide to the Pomodoro Method
• Writer's Log for 3-hour work session

The following web sites present relevant advice, examples, and guidance on a broad range of writing and communication topics, from process to genre to mechanics. 

• Harvard College Writing Center Strategies for Essay Writing includes guides to various aspects of writing academic essays. It is process-oriented, meaning that it leads student writers through the steps of reading the assignment prompt, generating ideas, outlining, and so on.
• The Purdue University OWL (Online Writing Lab) includes detailed guides to citation styles, writing process strategies, academic genres, ESL resources, and job-search writing.
• The University of North Carolina's Writing Center Tips and Tools includes handouts and instructional videos on parts of the writing process, on writing in specific disciplines and genres, and on sentence-level and stylistic topics. 
• The UW-Madison Writer's Handbook hosts a broad range of guides to aspects of the writing process, argumentation, and genres.