English 353

Athabasca University does not accept responsibility for the content of, or the links listed on this page or in the Student Manual for English 353. Students are advised to exercise their own discretion and judgment when using these electronic resources. The URLs (uniform resource locators) for many sites are unstable. Please let your course professor know if some links are dead or moved. Here are a few sites which may be useful for the essay assignments in English 353.

Unit 1: The Writing Process

Darling, Charles. Guide to Grammar and Writing. Capital Community College Foundation, Hartford, Conn.

• This website offers information on all aspects of writing, but is particularly strong for grammar and style. Most notably, it has online quizzes (with answers).

Essay Writing. Centre for Language and Literature, Athabasca University.

• This contains a brief list of the key Internet sources on writing. Note in particular the link “Writing Essays at Athabasca University,” which lists even more sources.

Murray, Mary. “The Writing Process.” The Writing Center, Cleveland State University.

• This series of web pages goes through the writing process step by step.

OWL: Online Writing Lab. Purdue University.

• Almost every website about writing has a link to OWL at Purdue University. If you look around OWL you will find information pages, PowerPoint presentations, handouts and external links to help students with their writing.

Unit 2: The Expository Essay

Bridges, Tom. “Guidelines: Expository Essays.” Writing Guidelines. Religion and Philosophy Department, Montclair State University.

• Though intended for philosophy students and the needs of philosophical writing, this website makes a good point about the difference between exposition and summary.

Unit 3: The Contemplative Essay

Donne, John. “Meditation XVII.” 1624. Luminarium. Ed. Anniina Jokinen.

• This is the complete essay (The Broadview Anthology uses an excerpt).

Guilford, Chuck. “Writing Exploratory Essays.” Paradigm Online Writing Assistant.

• The exploratory essay described here resembles closely the contemplative essay; Guilford’s advice may therefore be very useful.

Montaigne, Michel de. “Of the Education of Children.” The Broadview Anthology of Expository Prose Ancillary Site.

• This is the complete essay (The Broadview Anthology uses a short excerpt).

Unit 4: The Comparison and Contrast Essay

“Comparison/Contrast Essays.” LEO: Literacy Education Online. The Write Place, St. Cloud State University.

• This website discusses how to do a comparison essay alone and a contrast essay alone, as well as the combined comparison-contrast method.

“Comparison and Contrast Essays.” Effective Writing Resources. Student Development Centre, University of Western Ontario.

• This handout gives a clear-cut example of the difference between block organization and point-by-point organization through the example of a comparison and contrast between cats and dogs.

Unit 5: The Persuasive Essay

“Argumentation/Persuasion: Logic in Argumentative Writing.” OWL: Online Writing Lab. Purdue University.

• This website focuses on issues pertaining specifically to logic. It includes some exercises for self-testing.

Guilford, Chuck. “Writing Argumentative Essays.” Paradigm Online Writing Assistant.

• This website uses the term argument to embrace writing that appeals to reason, ethics and emotion. It gives concrete examples to explain its advice.

Johnston, Ian. “Essays and Arguments: A Handbook on Writing Argumentative and Interpretative Essays.” Johnstonia.

• In this large set of web pages, Johnston gives detailed information on how to write arguments and “interpretative” (literary) essays. It includes suggested outlines for organization.

Jones, Gareth. “Problems in Writing Persuasive Essays: No Opinions.”

• This website addresses a specific roadblock for some writers: the problem of having to write a persuasive or argumentative essay on a subject the writer has no opinion on.

Unit 6: The Research Essay

Hammermeister, Shannon. “How To Write an Abstract/Prospectus.” UNLV Writing Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

• The section on proposal writing on this website is most relevant.

Help Centre. Athabasca University Library.

• This portion of Athabasca University Library’s website is organized specifically around the needs of students who are doing research.

Jamieson, Sandra. “Analytical Writing.” Drew University On-Line Resources for Writers.

• This website discusses the role of analysis in the writing process.

Jamieson, Sandra. “Synthesis Writing.” Drew University On-Line Resources for Writers.

• Related to the “Analysis Writing” website, this page describes in detail the process of synthesis as reflected in writing.

“Intellectual Ownership and Honesty.” Athabasca University.

• This link gives advice on how to avoid plagiarism. It also outlines Athabasca University’s policies on student conduct.

“Research and Documenting Sources.” OWL: Online Writing Lab. Purdue University.

• This is another segment of Purdue University’s OWL project.

“The Research Essay.” The UVic’s Writer’s Guide. Department of English, University of Victoria.

• On this website devoted to the research essay, links point to information on related areas such as plagiarism and the Works Cited page.