GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
AND RESOURCES FOR
WRITING & CITING
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Clear writing is important for all professionals. Below are general directions for written assiignments, specific directions for individual assignments, links to citation guides, and links on writing tips.

The Colleg-wide standard for written communication is The Everyday Writer, by A.A. Lunsford. This is an excellent resource, and one that will likely be useful for all types of college writing assignments and for citation . Copies are available at Folletts Bookstore, or you can purchase an electronic copies.

Also, remember the Writing Support Center in Moon Library, which is an excellent resource for help, or for sharpening your writing skills.

General directions and guidelines for written assignments

  • Put your name and the date and the course on your title page.
  • Use one-inch margins and 12-point font.
  • Use double-line spacing for essays.
  • Use page numbers
  • Use headings if you feel they help block your ideas into clear groupings.
  • Always start a paper with an introduction and close with a summary/conclusion.
  • Always state your thesis and purpose at the end of the introduction.
  • Avoid using second person in professional writing. The syllabus is largely written in second person (“you” and ‘”your”) because it is designed as a personal letter from the teaching team to the student. However, because class papers are a more formal and professional form of written communication, second person is not appropriate.
  • Attribute quotations and information to sources using in-text footnotes or parenthetical citations and following an accepted citation format (i.e., MLA or Chicago Manual of Style, see links below).
  • Use proper formatting for a bibliography (or works cited): single space entries and use hanging indentation, and leave one line between entries. see example (in Chicago Style)
  • Last but certainly not least: se the spell check and the grammar check, but do not substitute these for proofreading. PLEASE PROOFREAD! Read your work aloud to yourself or to a classmate. Have a friend or roommate profofread to catch things you missed.

    Tips for Researching Peer-Reviewed Journals

    Here are some research tips for finding journal articles from JoAnne Ellis, Moon Library

    • Here is the link to Ulriches to check whether a journal is peer reviewed. Note: Just because is journal is peer-reviewed does not mean that a particular article is peer reviewed: opinion essays and book reviews are also included in journals, but may not be used for this assignment.


    Links to Online Citation Guides

    Indiana University Bloomington Writing Tutorial Services ~ MLA Style

    University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center ~ Chicago Style

    A Research Guide for Students, by I. Lee

    Purdue Online Writing Lab

    Although it is best if you learn how to write citations by practicing, this site may help you if you a a complex citation rto format: citation machince.net

    Links to Writing Centers for Writing Tips

    University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center ~Planning and Writing a Research Paper

    Indiana University Bloomington Writing Tutorial Services ~ How to Write aThesis Statement

    University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center ~Developing a Thesis Statement

    University of Wisconsin Madison Writing Center ~Thesis and Purpose Statements