Writing Resources You Need This Semester
Among the top skills online students need to be successful are strong written communication skills.
Regardless of what your schedule looks like this semester, anticipate a fair amount of writing. If you need help, there are several places to look before you even begin your assignments.
Spelling and grammar
Spell check won’t help if you write “weary” instead of “wary,” but understanding the individual meanings will. Check spelling, usage, or find synonyms to vary (not very) your writing at Merriam-Webster Online.
Mechanics and citation
From that other Lafayette, Purdue University's Online Writing Lab offers general writing help (mechanics, grammar, punctuation, process, academic writing, etc.), research and citation guides (MLA, APA, and AMA styles among others), and even subject-specific writing information.
The Excelsior Online Writing Lab has a mission to support students as they embrace college-level writing with dozens of content areas to practice and improve different areas of writing, research, grammar and more. There’s even a section dedicated to Online Writing and Presentations.
Avoiding Plagiarism
Once again, Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab is a great place to start if you’re struggling to navigate what is or is not plagiarism, including examples and exercises.
Grammerly also offers some insight into how to avoid this costly pitfall. How costly? Review the UL Lafayette Academic Honesty policy.
One-on-one support
If you're enrolled in one of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette online degree programs or UL Lafayette online courses, you can also submit your papers to the Writing Center for review. The UL Online Writing Center is accessible through Moodle by self enrolling in the UL OWC (Online Writing Center) course.
Citation deep dive
If you want to take your citation knowledge to the next level, you can keep up with APA Style by following the APA Style Blog on Instagram. But you’ll have to refer back to the blog to find how to cite Instagram.
If you want to know more than you ever needed about MLA, visit MLA Online for MLA documentation style quick guides, practice templates, and more. There’s even a newsletter.
For more student resources, including online tutoring and paper help, review our Student Support section or Take Advantage of These Resources.
