Student Writing Resources

Students are welcome to come to the Center for a quiet place to write. When students visit the Writing Center, they will find not only tutors ready to work with them, but also a variety of resource materials to help them with their written work.

Below is a partial list of the books available for student use. Please note that books are for use in the Writing Center only.

Dictionaries - including foreign language dictionaries for French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Russian

• Thesauruses - books of quotations, famous speeches, proverbs, literary terms

• Reference Books

  • writing the college application essay

  • writing essay exams

  • writing about biology, history, sociology, and film

  • special formats and conventions of English in the business world

  • navigating the Internet

• Grammar Guides - grammar handbooks and exercise books, including the standard DCC grammar reference book

• Texts - textbooks used in campus composition and reading classes

• ESL - reference materials for ESL students

• Studies - studies in writing theory, writing across the curriculum, journal writing, portfolio assessments

• Anthologies - literature anthologies and guides to critical analysis

• Articles - articles on writing-related topics, e.g., collaborative learning, composition theory, writing centers, writing across the curriculum, English as a second language, linguistic studies

• Research - books and handouts on writing the research paper, including guides for documentation in the MLA and APA styles

• Sample Papers - a file of assignments and sample papers for selected classes. Instructors have placed on file model student papers that effectively respond to specific assignments.

The Writing Center also maintains a large file of handouts on many topics of grammar, mechanics, style, and essay writing, and citation. These paper handouts are free to take with you after your visit to the Center. Topics include:

• MLA and APA citation styles

• common essay types

• resume writing

• comma usage, comma splices

• semicolons, colons

• pronoun reference

• scientific words, commonly mistaken words

• outlines

• brainstorming, clustering

• conciseness in style

• logical fallacies

Check out these electronic copies of widely used handouts from the Writing Center:

• Writing Analytical Essays

• Writing Character Analyses

• Writing Critical Essays about Literature

• Writing Argumentative/Persuasive Essays

• MLA Citations & Works Cited, 2020 Update

• APA Citations & Works Cited, 2020 Update

Also visit the DCC Library's webpage for important information and tutorials about writing research papers, including MLA, APA, and other citation styles and formats for annotated bibliographies.