Writing Help: Style, Argument, and Organization

A handout that explains what arguments are, why they are needed, and how to create one.

Avoid common logical fallacies. From OWL Purdue.

How to "hedge," or soften your claims to avoid seeming "radical or overconfident." Note that in some writing contexts, hedging is not preferred.

Is it time to write a longer essay? This guide from Trent University gives an example of how a 5-paragraph essay might be developed into a longer essay.

This resource provides several examples of common ways to organize a paper.

An excellent tutorial from RMIT University's Learning Lab, detailing the TEEL method.

A clear explanation of two types of outlining: linear and graphic.

A process for checking the structure of your paper after writing a draft. IMPORTANT: Using generative AI (GenAI) such as ChatGPT can help you with creating a reverse outline, but you must remember that 1) you need to ask permission from your instructor, 2) you are responsible for checking the AI did an accurate job, and 2) given AI companies' lack of transparency around how data is used, users should be very cautious about the nature of information that they share with these systems, understand that their work may be used to train the AI, and should not share any sensitive data (for example, personal, propriety or copyrighted information, health information).

Improve clarity and flow. Provides lists of transitional words and phrases, categorized by function.

This compendium of common phrases "aims to provide [its users] with examples of some of the phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing organized according to the main sections of a research paper or dissertation. . . Other phrases are listed under the more general communicative functions of academic writing."

A guide from the University of Wisconsin.

A guide from the Harvard University Writing Center, with steps and examples.

This online tool from Ashford University can help you to get "unstuck."

The website consists of a bank of common “skeletal” phrases used in academic writing.

"'They Say / I Say' identifies the key rhetorical moves in academic writing, showing students how to frame their arguments in the larger context of what others have said and providing templates to help them make those moves"

Make complex writing more intelligible with the known-new contract technique.

Ten ways to reduce wordiness in your writing.

This workshop provides examples and techniques for writing clearly and concisely. Presented to graduate students, but appropriate for undergraduate student writers, too.