Bibliography of Writing Center Resources

Many of these titles are available for browsing in the Writing Center at the DoJo; you may not remove them from the room. If you cannot find a title, contact Julie Maxfield and we can get a replacement copy.

Anthologies (essays, stories, etc.)
ESL Resources
General Resources
Special Writing Projects
Writing and Technology
Writing in Particular Disciplines
Writing Pedagogy
Writing Skills (all disciplines)

Anthologies (essays, stories, etc.)

Stern, Richard. Honey and Wax: Pleasure and Powers of Narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1966.: Collection of stories and essays by famous modern writers. Commentaries on the art of narration. May spark the imagination of some student writers.

ESL Resources

Allen, Harold B. and Russell N. Campbell. Teaching English as a Second Language. NY: McGraw-Hill. 1965.: Pedagogical guide to ESL language issues. A series of essays on approaches, exercises, evaluating language materials, teaching literature, crossing cultural and linguistic barriers, and more. More useful as a guide for teachers who can fit the curriculum to their students' needs. More theoretically provocative than actually useful for Writing Center tutors.
Boyne, Martin and Don LePan. Common Errors in English: ESL Edition. NY: Broadview Press. 1993.: A comprehensive catalogue of common grammatical errors made by ESL students. The authors indicate which errors are associated with which nationalities. Helpful for students and tutors. Discusses problems with verb agreement, gender, pronouns, negation, word order, homonyms, spelling, punctuation, and irregular verbs. Exercises in the back.
Ellin-Elmakiss, Esther. Catching on to American Idioms. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1993.: A traditional guide to learning common phrases in American speech. Organized by subject, and accompanied by sample dialogues and exercises. Audio tape included.
Folse, Keith S. Clear Grammar 2: Activities for Spoken and Written Communication. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.: A grammar workbook that deals with sophisticated grammatical issues through a series of simple exercises. Articles, gerunds, irregular tenses, interrogatory mode, adverbs, object pronouns, possessives, and more. Explanations of grammatical rules are not very nuanced, but are extremely clear and concise.
Peitzman, Faye and George Gadda. With Different Eyes: Insights into Teaching Language Minority Students Across the Disciplines. Los Angeles: UCLA Publishing. 1991.: Best for professional instructors or tutors with long-term commitments. ESL instruction, language socialization, cross-cultural rhetoric. Statistical evaluations of classroom successes and failures.
Wahlen, Gloria. Prepositions Illustrated. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.: A case-by-case guide to learning prepositions. Sample dialogues and many exercises. Explanations are designed to answer the particular problems of ESL students.

General Resources

Achtert, Walter S. and Joseph Gibaldi. The MLA Style Manual. NY: The Modern Languages Association of America. 1985.

Gibaldi, Joseph. The MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing. NY: The Modern Languages Association of America, 1998.: A complete guide for novice or veteran writers. Covers the mechanics of writing, documentation, and how to prepare theses and dissertations. These volumes should solve any grammatical and most stylistic problems encountered by student writers.

Grossman, John, Ed. The Chicago Manual of Style. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.

Nichols, Wendalyn R. Ed. Webster's College Dictionary. NY: Random House, 2000.: Dictionary of the English language. Especially useful for evaluating word choice and thereby writing more specific and concise prose. Also useful as a non-electronic speller and quick reference for technical abbreviations.

Special Writing Projects

Locke, Lawrence F., Waneen Wyrick Spirduso, and Stephen J. Silverman. Proposals that Work: A Guide for Planning Dissertations and Grant Proposals. London: Sage Publications, 1993.: Surveys the function of research proposals, the ethics of research, formulating thesis and dissertation topics, oral presentations, and grant proposals. Academic, without a lot of the fluff many guides to writing proposals include as encouragement for the reader. A good resource for students tackling big projects who want to be organized from the start.
Pequegnat, Willo and Ellen Stover, Eds. How to Write a Successful Research Grant Application: A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists. NY: Plenum Press, 1995.: Reveals how reviewers respond to different strategies in grant proposals. How to develop a résumé, data analytic plan, and budget. Discusses grant proposals in terms of some very specific branches of the social sciences.
Stelzer, Richard J. How to Write a Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School. Princeton: Peterson's, 1997.: Includes a nice summary of the objective of a personal statement. Although it claims to be a guide to writing personal statement for graduate and professional school, the latter is overwhelmingly privileged. Example essays vary in quality and even those which the writer claims are superb should be regarded critically.

Writing and Technology

Hacker, Diana. Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998.: A thorough, but economical, introduction to conducting research on the Internet. On-line resources for particular disciplines. How to document electronic and hard resources according to MLA, Chicago, APA, and CBE guidelines. A wonderful guide to academic and non-academic research.
Miller, Susan and Kyle Knowles. New Ways of Writing: A Handbook for Writing with Computers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1997.: A comprehensive introduction to the pitfalls of writing with computers. Discussions of how to incorporate library research, handwritten notes, and other hard materials into an electronic text. Explores the most effective ways of using the computer's formatting capabilities for various writing tasks. An introduction to the Internet, news groups, and other hypertext resources. How to take timed essay exams on the computer.

Writing in Particular Disciplines

Alley, Michael. The Craft of Scientific Writing. NY: Springer. 1996.: A good analysis of scientific writing for experienced or novice scientists. Discusses scientific writing in terms of conventional writing categories (organization, transition, diction, clarity, etc.). Also provides some information on how to accomplish particular writing tasks such as proposals and presentations. How to format a scientific document. Revising the scientific paper and curing writer's block.
Barnet, Sylvan. A Short Guide to Writing About Art. NY: Longman, 1999.: A helpful look at how to look at and to write about art, accessible to students of beginning and advanced levels of skill alike. Deals with critical analysis of artwork, vocabulary for the discipline, and approaches to a painting that yield discussion. Also discusses style in art study, including helpful examples of terminology, paper structure, and revision - both of thesis and of finished work.
Barnet, Sylvan and William E. Cain. A Short Guide to Writing About Literature. NY: Longman, 1999.: An introductory look at writing for fiction, poetry, drama and film. Treats issues of critical reading and formulation of ideas into an academic argument. Emphasizes reader response and application of key concepts of criticism to work. Offers examples beside instructions for how to go about analyzing and explicating the literary arts.
Becker, Howard S. Writing for Social Scientists: How to Start and Finish Your Thesis, Book, or Article. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1986.: An accessible writing guide for advanced students in one of the social sciences. How to organize arguments, establish authority, cope with editorial responses, revise, and so forth. Major drawback is the lack of extended examples.
Day, Robert A. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper. Phoenix: Oryx Press. 1994.: A comprehensive summary of the processes involved in developing a scientific paper. Detailed discussions of the paper's title, abstract, introduction, materials and methods section, acknowledgments, and more. Experienced advice on the effectiveness of visual aids, revisions, and coping with the publication process. Goes into further detail about specific writing tasks in the sciences (e.g., conference reports, review papers, theses, oral presentations, etc.). How to abide by the ethics of composition in the scientific community. Concludes with glossaries of abbreviations, common writing errors, prefixes, symbols, and so forth. A wonderful and thorough reference guide.
Kelley, Thomas Forrest. First Nights: Writing About Music. Harvard University Writing Project, Literature and Arts B-51.: A handout of Harvard's Writing Project (dated approximately 2001) (www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~wam)
Jarratt, Susan C. and Lynn Worsham, Ed. Feminism and Composition Studies: In Other Words. NY: Modern Language Association of America, 1998.: A collection of essays discussing writing style, rhetoric, and education in terms of modern feminism. Some selections may be useful for writers interested in speaking about sexual difference with an eye to political sensitivities. Women in the collaborative classroom. Probably best for teachers or tutors to read in advance to develop their own ideas about how gender and writing interact, rather than to use as a quick reference.
Martinich, A.P. Philosophical Writing. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.: Explains in exhaustive detail how to construct and evaluate argument in philosophical writing. The problem of audience. Cogency, consistency, contradictions, organization, research, rhetoric, and introductions. Exercises that may directly contribute to a student's formulation of philosophical theses. Extended, comprehensive examples.
Moriarty, Marilyn F. Writing Science Through Critical Thinking. Sudbury, MASS: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 1997.: Analyzes the appropriate organizational schemes, formatting, citations form, classifications, etc. of scientific papers in terms of scientific objectives and rhetoric. Covers how to write abstracts, use graphics, develop a sense of audience, establish definitions, and describe scientific procedures. Concludes with a series of essays that a student may read and evaluate within the critical context Moriarty provides.
Neugeboren, Robert and Mireille Jacobson. Writing Economics: A Guide for Harvard's Sophomore Economics Concentrators. Harvard University, Department of Economics. 2001.: Good general guide to "writing economically" with excellent web resources and up-to-date field-specific references. Recommended by Assoc. Prof. Noelwah Netusil.
Pechenik, Jan A. A Short Guide to Writing About Biology. New York: Longman. 1997.: For advanced or novice students of biology. Thorough explanations of the problems specific to writers in this discipline, accompanied by extended examples. Working with computers, reading data, plagiarism, research, taking notes, abstracts, acknowledgments, etc. Discusses how to address the problems encountered at each stage of writing lab reports.

Writing Pedagogy

Clark, Beverly Lyon. Talking About Writing: A Guide for Tutor and Teacher Conferences. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 1985.: A discussion of the emotional and pedagogical strategies with which tutors ought to approach a tutoring session. Details how a tutor can cope with students who are emotionally fragile or insecure about their writing. Explains how writers can reduce stress and increase the quality of their writing through simple emotional exercises. Lots of accounts given by college-level tutors that contain good advice on how to address personality conflicts and other tutoring scenarios.
Collins, James L. and Elizabeth A. Sommers. Writing On-Line: Using Computers in the Teaching of Writing. Upper Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook Publishers. 1985.: A series of essays addressing the feasibility of introducing computers into the writing classroom. A bit outdated as far as technical information is concerned. Provides some interesting insights into the rhetorical effect of electronic text, but is more a sociological study than a guide to writing pedagogy. Directed toward writing teachers who design their students' coursework.
Fassler Walvoord, Barbara E. Helping Students Write Well: A Guide for Teachers in all Disciplines. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1985.: More directed toward teachers who are able to shape their curriculum to suit students' individual needs. Tutors will find suggested writing exercises useful for stimulating a student's thoughts about paper topics and organizational schemes. Includes "student guides" at the end of each chapter that offer clear and concise explanations of how to go about performing particular writing tasks (e.g., résumés, lab reports, diagnostics).
Laque, Carol Feiser and Phyllis A. Sherwood. A Laboratory Approach to Writing. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English. 1977.: Directed toward professors of undergraduate institutions who, in light of stiff competition in the job market, need to expand their ability to teach composition in a variety of formats. Deals particularly well with how to experiment with and evaluate new writing techniques in a student population that is no longer culturally homogeneous.
Murphy, Christina and Steve Sherwood. The St. Martin's Sourcebook for Writing Tutors. NY: St. Martin's Press. 1995.: A series of essays discussing different approaches (psychological, humorous, etc.) to tutoring sessions. Essays on ESL tutoring, instructing students through the revision process, the ethics of tutoring, and addressing the needs of unconventional students.
White, Edward M., William D. Lutz, and Sandra Kamuskiri. Assessment of Writing: Politics, Policies, Practices. NY: Modern Language Association of America, 1996.: Discusses different models for evaluating student writing, and is probably most useful for professional teachers and educational administrators. Takes into consideration the relationship between writing assessment and the diversity of gender/cultural background in the classroom. Computer-assisted writing assessment.

Writing Skills (all disciplines)

Bazerman, Charles. The Informed Writer: Using Sources in the Disciplines. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1980.: Aimed primarily at professional instructors or tutors with long-term commitments. Excellent discussions of paraphrasing, documentation, and reading methods. Includes a series of essays addressing writing issues in the various disciplines. Tacitly concerned with the ethics of writing with extensive documentation.
Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Columb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1995.: Accessible, but intelligent. Great for advanced writers who want to brush up on stylistic or grammatical strategies. Discusses problems with audience and approach in terms of rhetorical composition. How to narrow down the focus of the thesis statement. Making arguments, revision, how to use visual aids.
Cook, Claire Kehrwald. Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 1985.: A guide to improving the clarity and concision of written assignments. Discusses word economy, punctuation, basic sentence structure, and other common writing mistakes. Contains a glossary of grammatical usage that catalogues frequently confused words and phrases. A mature and concise explanation of basic grammatical issues.
Dawe, Charles W. and Edward A. Dornan. One to One: Resources for Conference-Centered Writing. NY: Longman. 1997: Emphasizes how to get the most out of peer revision. Excellent explanations of paragraph formation, brainstorming, how to use examples effectively, and the structures of various arguments. Extended examples with marginal notations. Transitions. Concludes with a glossary of grammatical usage.
Elbow, Peter. Writing Without Teachers. NY: Oxford University Press. 1973.: A theoretical discourse on the value of creative writing. This may be of more use to fiction writers than students who are writing critical or analytical papers. Suggests exercises that will help the writer to explore new ways of expressing himself. How to cure writer's block.
Gordon, Karen E. The New Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Handbook for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (rev.) Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.: A lively, whimsically designed, yet clear book of rules of punctuation. With entertaining sentences such as, "a comma is a delicate kink in time, a pause within a sentence, a chance to catch your breath (p.21)," the reader will find that learning punctuation is not boring. Includes many vivacious examples of correct usage.
______________. The Deluxe Transitive Vampire: The Ultimate Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed (rev.) New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.: In her unique, entertaining, and eccentric style, Gordon presents illustrations and examples of "confusing appositives, the many uses of gerunds, [and] the complicated matter of agreements (coverleaf)." A delightful disentangling of the rules of grammar.
Hacker, Diane. A Writer's Reference. Boston: Bedford Books. 1995.: Better as a desk reference for quick answers than as a source of in-depth explanations of grammatical issues. Covers sentence structure, writing with a computer, document design, ESL trouble spots, punctuation, and documentation. Frequent, comprehensive examples. Includes a glossary of word usagethat is great for improving word economy.
Horton, Susan R. Thinking Through Writing. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press. 1982.: For the most part, a guide to formulating essay topics through writing exercises. Discusses basic principles of critical thinking and supplements them with creative strategies for expressing one's ideas. Includes exercises at the end of each section that ask writing students to critique a sample essay using the skills just discussed.
Hughes, William. Critical Thinking: An Introduction to the Basic Skills. NY: Broadview Press. 1996: An introduction to the art of logical persuasion. How to establish definitions. The structure of argument. Logical fallacies. The style and structure of argumentative essays. Contains numerous exercises in logic and sample essays. A thorough survey of rhetorical pitfalls and ammunition.
Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1996.: A sentence level analysis of grammatical choices and rhetorical effects. How to conceive of powerful and persuasive language while writing. Deals also with structure in sentences, balance and emphasis. Offers examples and exercises for honing writing skills.
LePan, Don. Common Errors in English. NY: Broadview Press. 1992.: Extensive glossary of grammar with clear examples. Covers problems with verb tenses, pronouns, word order, word economy, punctuation, jargon, and figurative language. Concludes with a series of grammar exercises that may prove useful as refreshers. Comprehensive and thorough: an excellent resource.
Lunsford, Andrea. The Everyday Writer (2nd ed.) Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.: Up-to-date and easy to access writing reference. Three tabbed sections: 1) FAQs about errors, composing and revising, research, and online writing and design; 2) sentence style, sentence grammar, language/glossary, and punctuation/mechanics; 3) MLA documentation, APA/CBE and Chicago documentation, special kinds of writing, and a section for multilingual writers. Also see Runciman and Weinberg's Exercises for the Everyday Writer.
Marius, Richard. A Writer's Companion. NY: McGraw Hill. 1995.: Proceeds from the basic principles of writing and finding a topic to the revision process. Excellent coverage of structural issues (esp. word economy). Some discussion of writing with politically correct language. Clichés. Can be read for quick explanations for quick explanations of stylistic issues, or from cover to cover for a more thorough grasp of structural/rhetorical principles.
Runciman, Lex and Francine Weinberg. Exercises for the Everyday Writer: A Brief Reference. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1997.: An exercise resource for teachers and students consisting of sentences and paragraphs needing revision; answers provided. A cross-referenced companion to Lunsford's The Everyday Writer.
Trimble, John R. Writing With Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 1975.: Chapters on word choice are extremely helpful in improving the readability of arguments. Revision, introductions, conclusions, and quotation format. Great explanations of the reasons behind grammatical rules.
Turabian, Kate C. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1996.: A complete glossary of grammatical/stylistic problems frequently encountered in academic writing. Spelling, using illustrations, citations, formatting, and revision. Clear examples provided for each brief discussion. Useful for student writers in all disciplines.
Williams, Joseph M. Style: Ten Lessons In Clarity and Grace. NY: Longman, 1999.: Discusses literary standards and writing pitfalls in a manner beneficial to writers of any skill. Looks at both grammatical and stylistic "correctness" as means of successfully and critically communicating an argument. Treats some fundamental issues of sentence structure as well as flow between paragraphs. Helpful as both a writing companion and as a tool for revising.
Zinsser, William. On Writing Well. NY: Harper Perennial. 1994.: Clear explanations of abstract terms frequently encountered in writing pedagogy ("audience," "style," etc.). Anecdotal and motivational. Does not provide any systematic or constructive way of addressing writing problems as a student or as a tutor.

Doyle Online Writing Lab