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Development Credits (2022 Version)
Daniel Gallagher, Director of the Effective Writing Center, University of Maryland Global Campus, provided curriculum review of the revised guide.
The following writing experts from the Effective Writing Center wrote and revised this guide:
Michelle Bowman, Learning Content Creation Specialist, wrote chapter two, provided curriculum review of the revised guide.
Allison Dorsey, writing expert, wrote chapter eight and the appendices and provided curriculum review of chapter five.
Douglas Kasischke, writing expert, wrote chapters three and seven and provided curriculum review of chapters two, four, and six.
Theresa Stevens-Johnson, writing expert, wrote chapter one, the references page, and other links, and provided curriculum review of chapter two.
Megan Lopez, writing expert, wrote chapters four and six and provided curriculum review of chapters three and seven.
Jessica Shawver, writing expert, wrote chapter five and provided curriculum review of the appendices and chapter eight.
Dawn Schwartz, Senior Production Specialist in Digital Marketing, built the guide shells and provided training.
Vicky Robinson, Senior Director, design and UX, aided in image production and guidance.
Development Credits (2010 Version)
Cynthia Whitesel, Professor of Practice at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), wrote the original print version of this guide and significant additions to the first iteration of the online guide. She has a background in comparative literature and teaches writing and technical editing.
Daniel Gallagher, Director of Research and Writing Services, provided curriculum review of the revised guide.
Scott Vanek, Instructional Designer in the Course Development unit of UMGC, provided instructional design review and served as project manager for the revised guide.
Lynn Walter, Senior Editor, Course Development, edited the revised guide.
José Olivieri, Programmer and Web specialist, Course Development, designed the new interface for the revised guide.
Sherri Clark and Bernita Davis, Web Production Specialists, Course Development, provided HTML coding support and prepared these modules for web publication.
About University of Maryland Global Campus
University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) is unique among institutions of higher education. From its founding in 1947, UMGC was designed to meet the educational needs of adult students—students who must balance study with the demands of work and family life. Today UMGC has grown to be the largest public university in the nation, serving students throughout the state, the country, and the world. Yet its focus on providing open access to high-quality educational programs and services—eliminating the barriers that can keep students from achieving their educational goals—remains unchanged.
UMGC offers degree programs from the associate’s level to the doctorate. Undergraduate and graduate programs are available online. For their core studies, students may choose one of 33 majors from a wide variety of academic fields, including business, cybersecurity, humanities, communications, biotechnology, social sciences, legal studies, environmental management, gerontology, and fire science. Academic minors are available in 38 different areas. The majors and minors provide focused courses of study that are developed and kept current through consultation with faculty, employers, professional and educational organizations, and other experts in the field. These academic programs prepare students for the modern workplace and also help working students put their current knowledge into a broader context. Recognizing the importance of lifelong learning, UMGC also offers 31 undergraduate certificates covering specific content areas in business and management, communications, computing and technology, gerontology, paralegal studies, and science and security. Certificates are especially valuable for students who wish to refresh their skills and knowledge, advance to a higher level or different specialty in the workplace, or earn a credential for career advancement while progressing toward a bachelor’s degree. Courses toward these certificates may also be applied to the bachelor’s degree.
Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing
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How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing? -
What Is College Writing? -
Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?
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Doing Exploratory Research -
Getting from Notes to Your Draft -
Introduction -
Prewriting -
Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition -
Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience -
Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started -
Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment -
Rewriting -
Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic -
Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy -
Rewriting: Getting Feedback -
Rewriting: The Final Draft -
Techniques to Get Started - Outlining -
Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques -
Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea -
Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting -
Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas -
Writing: Outlining What You Will Write
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A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone -
A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction -
Critical Strategies and Writing -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion -
Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis -
Developing a Paper Using Strategies -
Introduction -
Kinds of Assignments You Will Write -
Patterns for Presenting Information -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data -
Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern -
Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts -
Supporting with Research and Examples -
Writing Essay Examinations -
Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete -
Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing -
Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question
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Introduction -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature -
Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources -
Research Resources: What Are Research Resources? -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources -
Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources -
Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure -
Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure -
The Nature of Research -
The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated? -
The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed? -
The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?
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Academic Integrity -
Giving Credit to Sources -
Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws -
Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation -
Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides -
Integrating Sources -
Practicing Academic Integrity -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source -
Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources -
Types of Documentation -
Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists -
Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style -
Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style -
Types of Documentation: Note Citations
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Introduction -
Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews -
Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers -
Writing Arguments -
Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure -
Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument -
Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition -
Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion -
Writing Arguments: Types of Argument
Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing
Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing
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Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project -
Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report -
Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve -
Collaborative Writing: Methodology -
Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation -
Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members -
Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan -
Conclusion -
General Introduction -
Peer Reviewing