Student Resources | Writing Lab

The Tools to Tune Up your Writing

We offer a variety of resources for you to utilize throughout your FGCU career. Through personal tutoring or group workshops, you can master the skills that will make you a more confident writer. Let us know how we can help.

Handouts

Our handouts can help guide you as you work on a wide variety of writing assignments. If you would like more information on any of the topics below, let us know. If you would like to schedule an appointment to review any of these topics in more detail, you can do so here.

Citation and Formatting Guides
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American Psychological Association (APA) 7th Edition

APA Formatting and Citation Guide

This handout reviews formatting and citation basics for APA 7th Edition

APA Style

This is the official website for the APA 7th Edition

Modern Language Association (MLA) 8th Edition

MLA Formatting and Citation Guide
This handout reviews formatting and citation basics for MLA 8th Edition

MLA Style

This is the official website for the MLA 8th Edition

Chicago 17th Edition

Chicago Citation and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of Chicago formatting, and includes sample citations for some of the most common sources in both Notes and Bib and Author/Date formatting.

Chicago Manual of Style Online

This is the official website for the Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition

Turabian 9th Edition

Turabian Citation and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of Turabian formatting, and includes sample citations for some of the most common sources.

Turabian Manual of Style Online

This is the official website for the Chicago Manual of Style 17th Edition

American Medical Association (AMA)

AMA Citation and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of AMA formatting, and includes sample citations for some of the most common sources.

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Editorial Style

IEEE Citation and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of IEEE formatting, and includes sample citations for some of the most common sources.

IEEE Editorial Style Manual

This is the official Author Center website for the IEEE Editorial Style Manual

Bluebook Legal Citations

Pinpoint Citations and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of Pinpoint citations, including a breakdown of what a pinpoint citation is and what information they contain.

The Bluebook Quick Style Guide

This is the official website for the Bluebook Quick Style Guide

Associated Press (AP) Stylebook

Associated Press Style Guide
This handout reviews the basics of AP style, with a focus on the most common style questions. It also includes a link to the online AP Stylebook.

Associated Press Stylebook

This is the official online AP Stylebook, which is accessible through the Wilson G. Bradshaw Library Databases.

Ecology Style

Ecology Style Citation and Formatting Guide
This handout reviews the basics of AMA formatting, and includes sample citations for some of the most common sources.

Journal of Ecology Citations and Formatting

This is the official website for the Journal of Ecology formatting and citation style.
Writing an Essay: Step-by-Step
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Essay Basics

Brainstorming
This handout offers some suggestions to help you start coming up with ideas for that next paper. It offers an overview of a couple of common brainstorming strategies, as well as worksheets to help you generate ideas.

Choosing a Topic
This handout can help guide you as you turn your brainstorming into a paper topic, including how to use research to your advantage in narrowing your topic down.

Organizing an Essay
This handout offers a simple outline that you can use as a guideline as you decide how to organize your essay.

Introductions
This handout details the different types of "hooks" you can use in an essay, as well as offering suggestions of how to move from your hook to your thesis statement.

Thesis Statements
This handout offers examples of both strong and weak thesis statements, and offers suggestions of how to make a thesis statement more specific.

Body Paragraphs
This handout guides you through the structure of a typical body paragraph, with examples of topic sentences, evidence, and transitions.

Conclusions
This handout compares weak and strong conclusions, and offers suggestions of how to use synthesis to make a conclusion more complex.

Additional Essay Guides

Academic Writing Checklist
This handout is a checklist containing some of the more common "academic writing" mistakes, which can be used as a guide to help you as you revise.

Summarizing and Paraphrasing
This handout reviews the differences between summarizing and paraphrasing, and shows how they can be utilized within your paper.

Avoiding Plagiarism

This handout offers a quick overview of plagiarism, along with some tips and tricks regarding how to avoid it.
Grammar and Mechanics
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Punctuation

Commas
This handout breaks down the different types of phrases and clauses that can make up a sentence and looks at how commas can be inserted between them.

Punctuation Patterns
This handout expands on the comma handout by looking at the difference between sentences that need commas, semicolons, or neither.

Apostrophes
This handout looks at how to use apostrophes to make nouns possessive.

Quotation Marks with Punctuation

This handout looks at how to format quotation marks around punctuation points like periods and commas, including how to incorporate quoted material into your sentences.

Sentence Structure

Conjunctions

This handout looks at conjunctions, including the common types, examples of each, and how you can use them in your sentences.

Active Voice and Passive Voice
This handout looks at the difference between active and passive voice, offers examples of when each is preferable, and explains how to shift from passive voice to active voice.

Verb Tense and Verb Tense Consistency

This handout looks at the common verb tenses you might use in your writing, including examples of each, and looks at what causes verb tense shift errors in your writing.
Course-Specific and Assignment-Specific Topics
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Academic Assignment-Related Guidelines

Professional Writing Color Strategies
This handout lists the four color strategies used in Professional Writing Assignments, along with the techniques used with each color.

Professional Writing: Red Level Strategies

This handout reviews each Red Level Strategy technique in more detail.

Professional Writing: Orange Level Strategies

This handout reviews each Orange Level Strategy technique in more detail.

Professional Writing: Yellow Level Strategies

This handout reviews each Yellow Level Strategy technique in more detail.

Professional Writing: Green Level Strategies

This handout reviews each Green Level Strategy technique in more detail.

Annotated Bibliography
This handout details two main types of annotated bibliographies and has a worksheet that you can use to help you take notes on your resources and plan a rough draft.

Using Ethos, Pathos, and Logos
This handout explains the difference between ethos, pathos, and logos, and offers examples of each.

Creative Writing

Writing Dialogue
This handout offers suggestions and tips for writing dialogue, along with a few examples of strong and weak dialogue.

Resumes

Personal Statement/Statement of Purpose Guide
This handout breaks down the organization of personal statements and statements of purpose and offers suggestions of what kind of information can be included in each one.

Sample Curriculum Vitae (C.V.)
This handout is a sample C.V., which offers a suggestion of how to format a C.V. and what information can be included in it.

Cover Letter Writing Guide (from FGCU's Career Development Services)
This guide from Career Development Services offers a detailed explanation of cover letters, along with sample formatting and suggested words to use.

Resume Writing Guide (from FGCU's Career Development Services)
This guide from Career Development Services offers a detailed explanation of resumes, along with sample formatting and suggested words to use.

Sample Resume for Freshmen and Sophomores (from FGCU's Career Development Services)
This sample resume offers an example of how Freshmen and Sophomores can format their resumes.

Sample Resume for Juniors and Seniors without Relevant Job Experience (from FGCU's Career Development Services)
This sample resume offers an example of how Juniors and Seniors who do not have much experience in the field they are applying for can format their resumes.

Sample Resume for Seniors and Graduate Students with Relevant Job Experience (from FGCU's Career Development Services)
This sample resume offers an example of how Seniors and Graduate Students who have experience in the field they are applying for can format their resumes.
Computer Shortcut Guides
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Online Workshops

American Psychological Association GRAMMAR PLAGIARISM

What to Expect

Before the Session
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Before your session with the Writing Lab, take some time to review your writing and decide what you would like to focus on in your session (See “At the Writing Lab” for a list of possible focuses). This is important because sessions are only 30 minutes, so you and the consultant will not be able to touch on everything. If you are earlier in the drafting process and do not have any actual writing yet, think about what you need to work on before writing your first draft. What are you uncomfortable or unsure about? What is confusing, difficult, or an obstacle?

After reviewing your assignment and writing, decide whether you want to drop by for a virtual drop-in or make an online appointment:

Drop-in sessions are 30 minutes. For a drop-in, you simply need to sign up online. You will be placed with the first available consultant.

If you would like to secure time with a consultant in advance, or request a specific consultant, you can make an appointment ahead of time.

You will be registered on your first visit to the Writing Lab. If you would like to register ahead of time, you can do so online.

We recommend that you bring or have access to any relevant assignment guidelines and rubrics that may help you and the consultant better understand your assignment.
At the Writing Lab
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Upon entering the Writing Lab, you will be asked to sign in. If you stop by for a drop-in and have not visited the Writing Lab during the semester, you will be registered in our system. You will also be asked to select one of the following areas of writing on which to focus during your 30-minute session:
- Prewriting/Invention: generating ideas, understanding your prompt, or developing a draft
- Writing/Refining a Thesis: developing your stance, point of view, or the main “point” of your writing
- Organization: the order of and transitions between your ideas and paragraphs
- Development: developing evidence and elaborating on main ideas
- Documentation: formatting and citation styles (such as APA, MLA, and Chicago)
- Mechanics: grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, and word choice
If you are unsure which of these areas to choose, you can skip this step and decide on a focus together with your consultant at the start of your session.

After signing in, you will often be immediately introduced to your consultant. The average wait time is under 10 minutes, and you can always call ahead to check the wait (or check our Twitter page, which is regularly updated with our current wait time). You can also request to make an appointment for a future time.

You may wish to work with a specific writing consultant for a session. To request a specific consultant, it is recommended that you make an appointment by visiting us online, calling, or stopping by.
During the Session
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At the beginning of your session, you and your consultant will set goals. Here, your consultant will likely ask for any relevant assignment guidelines, rubrics, or other documents to gain a better understanding of your project.

After setting goals, the two of you will begin to work. What work you do will depend on your goals, but, to give just a few examples, you might freewrite to generate ideas, find a stance to craft a tentative thesis, reverse outline a draft to test its organization, learn about plagiarism and citation styles, or read a draft aloud with an ear and eye for patterns of errors and undeveloped thoughts.

During this time, your consultant will make suggestions and give you their impressions. Any feedback from your consultant is considered a suggestion, and any final editorial decisions are left up to you. See Writing Lab policies for more information.

A few minutes before the end of your session, you and your consultant will review your discussion. Here, we will document your plan of action for further writing and revision. If you would like a copy of the session notes, simply notify your consultant or the Executive Secretary.

Under no circumstances will consultants predict, explain or assess the validity of a grade on an assignment. If you do not understand a grade, you should talk to your instructor.
After the Session
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Our ultimate goal is to help you improve as a writer. This means that even if you and your consultant do not get through the entire document in a single session, you will have feedback that can be applied to the rest of the document during your next revisions.

After making revisions, we encourage you to return to the Writing Lab at any time if you feel that you have more questions or would like additional feedback.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I miss an appointment and forget to cancel?
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Missing appointments and forgetting to cancel is taking away time other students could have used to improve their writing. If you miss an appointment and forget to cancel, you will need to wait one month before utilizing our appointment service (although you will still be able to visit the Writing Lab for drop-ins).
Can I access my tutor's feedback?
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How can a writing consultant help me improve my writing skills?
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Writing Lab sessions are designed to assist you in improving your ability to write and revise independently. Consultants can help you develop your writing skills through assistance with prewriting, writing, and revising strategies. Consultants help with brainstorming, formulating a clear thesis, developing and organizing your ideas, and revising. Writing consultants can also work with you to facilitate improvement in documentation format and mechanics.
Do I need to have a completed draft of the assignment before visiting the Writing Lab?
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Will you proofread or edit my paper?
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Our primary goals are to help you improve your abilities to think independently, write critically, and learn and implement writing strategies that will assist you in producing successful college-level essays. This means that although we would be happy to help you identify issues of style and mechanics, we do not edit or proofread. Writing Lab sessions focus on fostering skills rather than on correcting errors. You cannot simply drop off your paper. You are an essential part of the tutoring session.
How long are the sessions?
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Writing Lab sessions are approximately thirty minutes for drop-ins and appointments. We have found it is most helpful to focus on one major issue (such as the thesis statement, development, adding source information, documentation, or grammar/mechanics) per session as opposed to trying to cover all aspects of the essay at once.
How many sessions can I have in a day?
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Can I have two sessions back-to-back?
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No--but we do make exceptions for special circumstances. We find that sessions are most effective when students have the time to revise, and not allowing back-to-back sessions gives you the opportunity to revise. Please revise your work after the first session and then come back for a second session. If you have a lengthier assignment and would like to request extra time, contact the Writing Lab at writing@fgcu.edu.
Can I bring in more than one paper?
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You will only have approximately thirty minutes with a writing consultant, so it is best to bring in one paper at a time. If you would like to complete another session and there are students waiting to see a consultant, you will have to wait until another consultant is available (or make an appointment). Two sessions in a single day are permitted.
Can I email my paper for a consultant to review?
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We have found that one-on-one sessions are much more effective in person. Though it may seem easier to just email your paper to us, sometimes it is a much lengthier process because you do not have the benefit of instant feedback, the quick exchange of ideas, or prompt answers to questions that may arise; however, we do offer online sessions through email for students enrolled in virtual courses who are unable to visit the Writing Lab during our hours of operation. See our Online Sessions section for more information.
Will my instructor know that I came into the Writing Lab?
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Do you help graduate students?
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Does the Writing Lab help with dissertations or thesis projects?
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Do you help with group projects?
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We do help with group projects, and we encourage the entire group to visit when working on these assignments. Though we understand if your whole group is not able to attend the same session, we are only able to help the person who has written the content, or section of the content since there may be questions regarding clarity that can only be addressed by the writer.

Writing Lab

Library West 202

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