Homegrown Handouts
Homegrown Handouts address the most common questions tutees ask in the Writing Center. These handouts were created by our Writing Center staff. If you have a particular topic you would like addressed, please contact us.
For additional external writing resources, visit our Online Resources section.
Grammar
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Appositives
- Articles
- Capitalization
- Commonly Misused Words
- Commonly Misused Words, Part II
- Comparative and Superlative Adjectives
- Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS)
- Count and Noncount Nouns
- Dangling Modifiers
- Fewer or Less
- Fragments
- Glossary of Usage
- Independent and Dependent Clauses
- Independent Clauses in Compound Sentences
- Infinitives
- Lay vs. Lie
- Nouns: The Basics
- Nouns: Advanced
- Nouns: Expert
- "Onto" versus "On To"
- Phrasal Verbs
- Prepositions: "Of," "At," and "For"
- Prepositions of Direction
- Prepositions of Time
- Prepositions of Time and Place
- Pronouns
- Raise vs. Rise
- Relative Clauses
- Subject-Verb Agreement
- Subordinating Conjunctions and Subordinate Clauses
- Time Frames
- Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
- Verbs
- Verb Tenses: Telling Time
- Who, Whom, Whoever, and Whomever
Punctuation
- Colons
- Commas
- Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
- Contractions
- Dashes
- Ellipses
- End Punctuation
- Parentheses and Brackets
- Possessive Apostrophes
- Quotation Marks
- Semicolons
Style
- Academic Language
- Cleft Sentences
- Concise Writing
- Concrete Language
- Direct and Indirect Dialogue
- Easy-to-Read Coherent Paragraphs
- Easy-to-Read Sentences
- Eliminating Wordiness
- Embedding Quotations
- Embellishing vs. Supporting
- Expletives
- Nominalization
- Old Information before New Information
- Parallelism
- Paraphrasing
- Participle Phrases
- Passive Voice
- Precise Words
- Redundancy
- Reporting Verbs
- Revising for Clarity: Characters and their Actions
- Sentence Openers
- Sentence Types and Functions
- Synonyms for "Said"
- Transition Words
The Writing Process
- Argumentation: Premises and Conclusions
- Body Paragraphs
- Comparing/Contrasting: Essay Planning
- Comparing/Contrasting: Methods of Organization
- Conclusions
- Editing: Meaningful Word and Punctuation Choices
- Essay Planning: How to Develop a Working Thesis Statement
- Essay Planning: How to Read a Prompt
- Essay Planning: Outlining with a Purpose
- Essay Planning: Visual Mapping
- Introductions
- Proofreading
Other Writing Assignments and Concerns
- Abstracts
- Annotated Bibliographies
- AP Style
- APA Formatting Guidelines (7th Edition)
- APA Formatting Essay Template (6th Edition)
- APA Style (6th Edition)
- Avoiding Plagiarism: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Citing
- Chicago Style Guidelines
- Cover Letters
- Email Etiquette
- Essay Exam Preparation
- Figuring out Fallacies and Fake News
- Literary Analysis
- Literature Reviews
- Memos
- MLA Formatting Guidelines
- MLA Formatting Essay Template
- Online Posts (Do's and Don'ts)
- Personal Narrative Essays
- Personal Statements
- Research Papers in the Sciences
- Resignation Letters
- Resumes from Start to Finish
- Rhetorical Analyses
- Summary and Analysis of Scientific Research Articles
Diversity, Inclusion, and Antiracism
- Approaching Writing with an Antiracist Perspective
- Avoiding Biased Language
- LGBTQ+ Terminology: Gender and Gender Identity
- LGBTQ+ Terminology: Sexual Orientation
Citation Guides
- APA Citation Guide (7th Edition)
- ASA Citation Guide
- Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) Citation Guide
- IEEE Citation Guide
- MLA Citation Guide
- APA Formatting Guide for Google Docs (video)
- APA Formatting Guide for Word (video)
- MLA Formatting Guide for Google Docs (video)
These handouts are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may reproduce them for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout (printed
out for classroom use, for example) and attribute the source: The San José State University
Writing Center.