Writing Guides

Guides By and For Cadets

     The following brief guides were developed through coursework for the Academy's Writing Fellows Program.

• Fighting Procrastination
• Overcoming Writer's Block
• Writing & Play

     Especially useful for enhancing substance and organization.

• College Essays
• Conclusions
• Generating Arguments
• Outlining Arguments
• Research Questions
• Reverse Outlines
• Signposting 101
• Thesis Windtunneling

     For more effective style, mechanics, and documentation.

• Elevating Your Style
• Chicago Citations
• Opening Sentences
• Passive Voice
• Effective Repetition

     For writing in the humanities and social sciences. 

• History (Approaches)
• History (Initial Research)
• History (Research Questions)
• Philosophy (Short Papers)
• Social Sciences (Using Sources)
• Literature (Analyzing Prompts)

     For STEM communication.

• Lab Report Basics
• Scientific Storytelling
• Technical Abstracts
• Technical Report Basics
• Tone in Lab Reports

     For professional communication.

• Goal-Oriented Communication     

     For Writing Center consultants and teaching professionals.

• The Teaching Tree
• Counseling in the Writing Center

General Resources: 

• How to Read an Assignment (Harvard)
• Elements of the Academic Essay (Harvard)

Argument & Pre-Writing

• Brainstorming (UNC)
• Outlining (Harvard)
• Argument (UNC)
• Developing a Thesis (Harvard)
• Audience (UNC)
• Evidence (UNC)

Organization & Structure

• Essay Structure (Harvard)
• Paragraph Development (UNC)
• Reverse Outlining (UNC; video)
• Topic Sentences and Signposting (Harvard)
• Transitioning (Harvard)
• How to Write a Comparative Analysis (Harvard)
• Conclusions (Harvard)
• Conclusions (UNC)
• Introductions (UNC)

Style

• Passive Voice (UNC)
• Passive Voice Demo (UNC; video)
• Flow (UNC; video)
• Style (UNC)

Mechanics & Documentation

• Verb Tenses (UNC)
• Commas (UNC)
• Conciseness (UNC)
• Fragments and Run-ons (UNC)
• Quotations (UNC)
• Semi-Colons, Colons, and Dashes (UNC)

Citation

• How We Cite (UNC; video)
• Purdue OWL (Purdue)
• Documentation and Acknowledgement of Academic Works (DAAW) USMA RESOURCE

Revision

• Editing and Proofreading (UNC)

Genres & Writing-in-the-Disciplines (WiD)

• Science Laboratory Analysis Manual (SLAM) USMA RESOURCE
• Technical Communications Guide USMA RESOURCE
• History Style Guide USMA RESOURCE
• History (UNC)
• Fiction (UNC)
• Poetry (UNC)
• Political Science (UNC)
• Philosophy (UNC)
• Writing in the Disciplines Guide (Harvard)
• Intelligence Writing WPWP RESOURCE

Looking for more? A wide range of writing guides on almost any subject or genre, concerning every stage of the writing process, are available at:

• the University of Michigan’s Sweetland Center for Writing
• the George Mason University Writing Center
• the Writing Studio at Vanderbilt University
• the Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• the Writing Center at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill)
• the University Writing Center at the University of Texas at Austin
• Examples of model student papers from Yale and the University of Michigan
• Sites we recommend to faculty
• Baruch College Writing Center's “Writers Teaching Writers” blog