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

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

  • 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

  • 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.

  • 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. ;-)


    Last updated: April20, 2009 MAIL

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