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 online writing resources, visit our External Resources section.

• Adjectives [pdf]
• Adverbs [pdf]
• Appositives [pdf]
• Articles [pdf]
• Capitalization [pdf]
• Commonly Misused Words [pdf]
• Commonly Misused Words, Part II [pdf]
• Comparative and Superlative Adjectives [pdf]
• Conjunctive Adverbs [pdf]
• Coordinating Conjunctions (FANBOYS) [pdf]
• Count and Noncount Nouns [pdf]
• Dangling Modifiers [pdf]
• Fewer or Less [pdf]
• Fragments [pdf]
• Gerunds [pdf]
• Glossary of Usage [pdf]
• Independent and Dependent Clauses [pdf]
• Independent Clauses in Compound Sentences [pdf]
• Infinitives [pdf]
• Lay vs. Lie [pdf]
• Modal Verbs [pdf]
• Nouns: The Basics [pdf]
• Nouns: Advanced [pdf]
• Nouns: Expert [pdf]
• "Onto" versus "On To" [pdf]
• Phrasal Verbs [pdf]
• Prepositions: "Of," "At," and "For" [pdf]
• Prepositions of Direction [pdf]
• Prepositions of Time [pdf]
• Prepositions of Time and Place [pdf]
• Pronouns [pdf]
• Raise vs. Rise [pdf]
• Relative Clauses [pdf]
• Subject-Verb Agreement [pdf]
• Subordinating Conjunctions and Subordinate Clauses [pdf]
• Time Frames [pdf]
• Transitive and Intransitive Verbs [pdf]
• Verbs [pdf]
• Verb Tenses: Telling Time [pdf]
• Who, Whom, Whoever, and Whomever [pdf]

• Colons [pdf]
• Commas [pdf]
• Comma Splices and Fused Sentences [pdf]
• Contractions [pdf]
• Dashes [pdf]
• Ellipses [pdf]
• End Punctuation [pdf]
• Parentheses and Brackets [pdf]
• Possessive Apostrophes [pdf]
• Quotation Marks [pdf]
• Semicolons [pdf]

• Academic Language [pdf]
• Cleft Sentences [pdf]
• Concise Writing [pdf]
• Concrete Language [pdf]
• Direct and Indirect Dialogue [pdf]
• Easy-to-Read Academic Papers and Essays [pdf]
• Easy-to-Read Coherent Paragraphs [pdf]
• Easy-to-Read Sentences [pdf]
• Eliminating Wordiness [pdf]
• Embedding Quotations [pdf]
• Embellishing vs. Supporting [pdf]
• Expletives [pdf]
• First-Person Usage in Academic Writing [pdf]
• Hedging, Softening, and Writer's Distance [pdf]
• Nominalization [pdf]
• Old Information before New Information [pdf]
• Parallelism [pdf]
• Paraphrasing [pdf]
• Participle Phrases [pdf]
• Passive Voice [pdf]
• Precise Words [pdf]
• Redundancy [pdf]
• Reporting Verbs [pdf]
• Revising for Clarity: Characters and their Actions [pdf]
• Sentence Openers [pdf]
• Sentence Types and Functions [pdf]
• Sentence Variety and Rhythm [pdf]
• Succinct Writing: Sentence-Level Concision [pdf]
• Synonyms for "Said" [pdf]
• Transition Words [pdf]

• Argumentation: Premises and Conclusions [pdf]
• Body Paragraphs [pdf]
• Brainstorming [pdf]
• Comparing/Contrasting: Essay Planning [pdf]
• Comparing/Contrasting: Methods of Organization [pdf]
• Conclusions [pdf]
• Editing: Meaningful Word and Punctuation Choices [pdf]
• Essay Planning: How to Develop a Working Thesis Statement [pdf]
• Essay Planning: How to Read a Prompt [pdf]
• Essay Planning: Outlining with a Purpose [pdf]
• Essay Planning: Visual Mapping [pdf]
• Introductions [pdf]
• Outline Template [pdf]
• Proofreading [pdf]
• Reverse Outlining [pdf]
• Revising Your Paper [pdf]

• Abstracts [pdf]
• Academic Book Reviews [pdf]
• Annotated Bibliographies [pdf]
• AP Style [pdf]
• APA Formatting Guidelines [pdf] (7th Edition)
• APA Formatting Essay Template [pdf] (6th Edition)
• APA Style [pdf] (6th Edition)
• Avoiding Plagiarism: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Citing [pdf]
• Business English [pdf]
• Chicago Style Guidelines [pdf]
• Conclusion Section for Research Papers [pdf]
• Cover Letters [pdf]
• Discussion Section for Research Papers [pdf]
• Email Etiquette [pdf]
• Essay Exam Preparation [pdf]
• Figuring out Fallacies and Fake News [pdf]
• How to Read a Research Paper [pdf]
• Literary Analysis [pdf]
• Literature Reviews [pdf]
• Memos [pdf]
• Methodology Section for Research Papers [pdf]
• MLA Formatting Guidelines [pdf]
• MLA Formatting Essay Template [pdf]
• Online Posts (Do's and Don'ts) [pdf]
• Personal Narrative Essays [pdf]
• Personal Statements [pdf]
• Poetry: The Structural Elements [pdf]
• Reading Comprehension [pdf]
• Research Papers in the Sciences [pdf]
• Resignation Letters [pdf]
• Resumes from Start to Finish [pdf]
• Rhetorical Analyses [pdf]
• Short Stories [pdf]
• Social Media in Research [pdf]
• Speech Preparation [pdf]
• Summary and Analysis of Scientific Research Articles [pdf]

• Approaching Writing with an Antiracist Perspective [pdf]
• Avoiding Biased Language [pdf]
• LGBTQ+ Terminology: Gender and Gender Identity [pdf]
• LGBTQ+ Terminology: Sexual Orientation [pdf]
• Offensive Language about Mental Illness [pdf]
• Offensive Stereotypes in Creative Writing [pdf]
• Writing with Everyone in Mind [pdf]
• Writing with More Inclusivity [pdf]

• APA Citation Guide [pdf] (7th Edition)
• ASA Citation Guide [pdf]
• Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS) Citation Guide [pdf]
• IEEE Citation Guide [pdf]
• MLA Citation Guide [pdf] (8th Edition)
• 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.