Gardendale English 101: Research & Writing Skills Resources
Library Tools
Information Guidance
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Communication EssentialsThis four-part streaming video series from Films On Demand helps college students improve their communication skills in four critical areas: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Viewers are challenged to improve their habits and aim for several concrete goals—such as the ability to actively participate in discussions and meetings, to craft effective messages in speech or text, to process and understand workplace communication, and more.
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Understanding Media LiteracyTV and radio commercials, Web sites and banner ads, magazine ads, pop songs, photos, and even news articles and textbooks: all of them are sending messages to influence the reader/viewer/listener. How do they grab their attention? What are they selling—a product or service? a lifestyle? an ideology?—and why? Would a different media consumer interpret the message differently? This program raises more questions than it answers, which is the whole point: to prompt students to question, question, question the messages they are bombarded with daily. Savvy media consumers aren’t born—they’re made; and this program is an excellent tool for shaping the classroom dialogue. (35 minutes)
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Introduction to Information LiteracyInformation Literacy is a crucial skill in obtaining knowledge. In this episode, learn how to find credible sources on the internet, read and evaluate a topic critically, and notate your sources. Ethical issues are also addressed.
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Recognizing Online BiasFrom Films On Demand, this video explores ways to identify bias and propaganda on the Internet and sift through the various influences, such as political or corporate interests, that may be behind some Web content.
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How To Recognize Fake NewsThink of fake news as a disease. Without knowing how to identify and stop its spread, information literacy is at risk, especially among audiences whose critical thinking skills are vulnerable. This video series equips viewers with tools to spot the stories and images that are false, biased, altered or slanted, even those shared by trusted friends or family. Easy tips to detect and check fake news will encourage scrutinizing material for opinion, inaccuracy or misrepresentation. Target audiences learn how to avoid being duped by fake news and may be less quick to click until they know what’s real and what’s not.
Research & Writing Skills
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College Success Skills from PrepStepNavigate to the Information Literacy tab to learn and practice research and writing skills using interactive guides on each of the topics listed below.
Find and Cite Sources
One of the most time-consuming tasks when writing a paper or other assignment is digging through the vast number of sources to find what you need. Don’t get overwhelmed with all the information out there—use strategies to stay on top of it all. In this tutorial, learn how to find and evaluate different sources, and properly format your citations.
Introduction to Research Skills: Information Literacy
When you’re bombarded with information, how do you cut through it all and pick out the most important information? The key is information literacy: knowing how to effectively find, evaluate, integrate, and cite sources. When you think about all of the research you’ll do in school, it’s clear that information literacy is a skill you’ll use again and again. In this tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of information literacy as well as how to apply these skills toward your assignments.
Understand and Avoid Plagiarism
Whether you intentionally turn in an essay that you didn’t write yourself or simply forget to add the proper citation, it’s considered plagiarism. If you don’t give credit where it’s due, there can be significant and long-term consequences. In this tutorial, learn how—with planning and good study habits—you can avoid plagiarism. That’s all it takes!
Write Like a Scholar
Get the skills you need to write like a scholar! While you may have done a lot of writing in high school, you’ll need to go beyond just noting observations. In college, you’ll read and interpret various works and use them to support your own assignments. In this tutorial, you’ll learn about the main parts of scholarly writing, sources and citations, and where to turn to for help if you need it.
MLA Formatting from Purdue's Online Writing Lab
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MLA InteractiveClick through interactive guidance on MLA Style and Plagiarism. [Based on content created by Jamie King, English Instructor]
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MLA Formatting and Style GuideFrom the Purdue Online Writing Lab.
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The Basics VideoThis vidcast discusses how to format a paper using Microsoft Word according to MLA style. To learn more about MLA style, please visit the following resource on the Purdue OWL. [CC]
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In-Text Citations VideoThis vidcast explains how to create in-text citations using MLA 8th Edition, which was published in 2016. [CC]
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In-Text Citations on the OWLWeb content on in-text citations from the Purdue OWL.
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Formatting QuotationsWeb content from the Purdue OWL on formatting quotations.
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Works Cited Page VideoThis vidcast explains how to create a Works Cited list using MLA 8th Edition, which was published in 2016. [CC]
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2016.
Academic Writing
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Academic Writing by Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781443850544Publication Date: 2013-10-01How do I improve my essay writing skills? Where can I learn quickly how to improve my speech writing? Are there some categories of mistakes that people commonly make in attempting to write good prose? How can I be persuasive in my writing style? What is 'genre theory'? These and other curious and relevant questions are answered in Academic Writing.
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Communication EssentialsThis four-part streaming video series from Films On Demand helps college students improve their communication skills in four critical areas: listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Viewers are challenged to improve their habits and aim for several concrete goals—such as the ability to actively participate in discussions and meetings, to craft effective messages in speech or text, to process and understand workplace communication, and more.
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Dictionaries & ThesauriImprove your vocabulary with online dictionaries and thesauri from Credo Reference Online. Special topics from contemporary English usage and style to slang and rhyming.
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An Introduction to Rhetorical Terms by Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781847600240This study guide gives students a handy reference to the background knowledge of rhetorical terms demanded of them by critical and theoretical texts in the humanities. -
Rhetorical Aspects of Discourses in Present-Day Society by Call Number: EbookISBN: 9781847186591Publication Date: 2008-08-01In the beginning of the twentieth century, scholars regained an interest in the study of rhetoric in recognition of rhetorical skills being important for communication in modern society. Like speakers in public life, e.g. politicians, who had always acknowledged the role of rhetoric, all sorts of communicators, mediators and scholars became interested in rhetoric as a practical tool for building up texts meant for the public sphere as well as an analytical tool for the critique of public argumentation. This book gathers three sections of political, journalistic and organisational discourse and the articles discuss various discourse types and their rhetorical features, contributing to the understanding of rhetoric and discourse having significant influence on human action and interaction in society.
Process of Writing
Formatting & Citations
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Purdue Online Writing LabOver 200 free resources including writing, research, grammar and mechanics, style guides [MLA, APA, more], ESL (English as a Second Language), job search and professional writing.
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MLA InteractiveClick through interactive guidance on MLA Style and Plagiarism. [Based on content created by Jamie King, English Instructor]
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Video: Create APA Citations Using the OwlVideo tutorial on creating APA citations using the Purdue OWL.
Evaluating Sources
Avoid Plagiarism
Grammar & Mechanics