Ms. Smith's Writing Resources

1.) Do you want to become a better writer?
2.) When the teacher announces a writing assignment and everyone else in class groans, do you secretly smile with glee?
3.) Are you looking for a good idea for that essay, story, or poem which is due tomorrow?
4.) Have you been assigned the dreaded research paper?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then these sites are for you ! ! !

Ms. Smith's Writing Guides

  • Writing a Critique of a Novel
  • Writing a Comparison-[Movie vs. Novel]

    Other Helpful Sites for Writers

    How To Write an Essay: 10 Easy StepsThis essay writing site provides students with an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to writing an essay, and has many interactive practice exercises and other resources students can use to learn how to write an essay.

  • Essay Writing: an Interactive Online Essay Writing Tutorial They also offer tutorials on how to write a paragraph and a business letter.

    Oswego High School Online Writing Guide This school site provides guides to creating an outline, writing a simple paragraph, writing a thesis statement, writing a traditional essay, citing one's sources, etc. . .

  • A Time for Rhyme Grandpa Tucker's FUN and easy guide to writing poems.

  • Creative Writing for Kids Read the featured articles and be sure to check out the additional links in the column on the right. There are links to writing about characters, composing help, publishing, and lots more.

  • Young Writers' Clubhouse

  • A Guide to Grammar and Writing Here's a terrific grammar and writing reference site with nifty Interactive Grammar Quizzes. You can even "Ask Grammar" any questions you might have about punctuation, word usage, writing, etc., by clicking on her rocker. That's right! Click on her rocker and a special form appears where you can submit your question.

  • Paragraph Building from the Writing DEN This site explores the parts of a paragraph, the writing process, and how to write various types of paragraphs.The Writing DEN also has a set of instructions for Essay Building

    Quotations It's a powerful writing strategy to use an appropriate quotation in either the introductory statement or in the concluding statement of an essay . You'll find over 18,000 to choose from at this wonderful site.

  • The Paradigm Online Writing AssistantYou'll find information about how to write various types of essays, how to organize ideas, and how to edit and revise your work. Don't let the fact that this site was designed for college students scare you away. The material is presented in a very clear and easily understood manner.

    Writing Papers of Literary Analysis: Some Advice for Student Writers If you're serious about wanting to improve your writing, visit this site. It's intended for high school and college students, but eighth graders can understand and benefit from the material presented.

  • Purdue University On-line Writing Lab Do you ever get confused about when to use a colon or semi-colon? Do apostrophes and quotation marks drive you to distraction? This site contains helpful grammar and writing style handouts for Purdue University students and conscientious eighth graders who don't want to lose points for careless errors in their essays.

  • Outta Ray's Head A terrific compilation of writing, literature, and library lessons and ideas complete with handout sheets. . .

  • A Guide for Writing RESEARCH Papers This site prepared by the Humanities Department of Capital Community-Technical College in Hartford, Connecticut, will make the process a bit easier.

  • Internet Public Library's A+ Research and Writing for High School and College Students

  • The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest Home Page -"Where "WWW" means Wretched Writers Welcome" - Yes, it's a contest designed to see who can come up with the worst possible opening sentence for a novel. Certainly, none of my eighth graders would ever write poor opening lines, but it's fun to read some of these. ;-)

  • Elements of Style This is classic writing reference text. Every English teacher has a copy of this book on his or her bookshelf. It contains composition pointers, punctuation rules with examples, and a section on words which are commonly confused.


    Last updated: October 22, 2004 MAIL

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