Step-by-Step Revising

Tip of the day: Concrete steps for revising from the Writing Center at U of N. Carolina - Chapel Hill

What steps should I use when I begin to revise?

Here are several things to do. But don’t try them all at one time. Instead, focus on two or three main areas during each revision session.

Wait awhile after you’ve finished a draft before looking at it again. The Roman poet Horace thought one should wait nine years, but that’s a bit much. A day—a few hours even—will work. 

When you do return to the draft, be honest with yourself, and don’t be lazy. Ask yourself what you really think about the paper.

As The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers puts it, “THINK BIG, don’t tinker” (61). At this stage, you should be concerned with the large issues in the paper, not the commas.

Check the focus of the paper: Is it appropriate to the assignment? Is the topic too big or too narrow? Do you stay on track through the entire paper?

Think honestly about your thesis: Do you still agree with it? Should it be modified in light of something you discovered as you wrote the paper? Does it make a sophisticated, provocative point, or does it just say what anyone could say if given the same topic? Does your thesis generalize instead of taking a specific position? Should it be changed altogether? ...

Think about your purpose in writing: Does your introduction state clearly what you intend to do? Will your aims be clear to your readers?

If you want help putting those steps into action, just reply here or book an appointment with us by clicking this link!

-Sara

"Schooling Grammar Checkers": Making Smart Use of Machine Response to Writing

Sometimes writers and scholars ask me about grammar and spelling checkers, or tell me about a new one they discovered online. Sometimes they pay for these services, and sometimes not.

My response is always to listen carefully with interest because what they are really telling me is about what they know about writing and writing tools. My first general reply is that I pay attention to spellcheck and grammar check suggestions, but I always evaluate them critically. They are not always correct. However, they can provide some insight into writing if used thoughtfully. My second general reply is that I never pay for these services because there is not an automated spelling and grammar tool for purchase that is any better than free ones like MS Word’s or Google Docs’.

Today, I read a brief but well researched and practical blog entry by Composition scholar/professor Nick Carbone that addresses this topic very well, and I thought it’d be of interest to everyone who writes or teaches writing. 

-Sara

Farewell and Happy Trails

Dear RSU writers,

I have learned so much from you all and appreciate all that you've shared with me. (Yes, this is a note where I give you some sad-ish news.)

I would like to announce very publicly--though many people already know and it is not a secret--that I will be leaving Rogers State University June 30th because I have accepted the position of Writing Program Director and Applied Assistant Professor of English at the University of Tulsa, just down the road from Claremore, to begin July 1.

I have served as Writing Center Coordinator and Writing Instructor here at RSU since August of 2012. Over the last four years, I taught several sections of Composition I and II, as well as one of Topics in Advanced Composition. I worked alongside Writing Center Consultants Meggie, Brook, Holly, Laurie, Jessica, Kali, Wes, McKinze, Abby, Aubrey, Devon, Erika, Jalexa, Madison, Hayden, Mary, Kayla, Michael, Tessa, Mary S., Burgundi, and Amanda.

I sat down and met with writers in person, over email, over the phone, or via Skype 1,088 times.

Each and every time, the discussions were different. All writers come from different places-- physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. They talk about their academic ideas and worries, as well as those about their families and friends. At some point, we look at each other in the eye and make a connection, whether its deep or shallow, lengthy or brief. Sometimes I never saw that writer again, others we met regularly from there on out.

Each and every time, I learned something new about the world and about the person writing right next to me. I learned about botany, nursing, personnel, incarceration in the U.S., accounting and financing, art theory, legal history, the value of a college education, service learning, how to apply for medical or law school, literature, philosophy, comparative religion, theater, painting, sports management, social psychology, sociological theory, education, assessment and accountability, and so much more.

Thank you for opening up to me and for letting me walk around with you in the garden of your mind. The seasons will always change, but we can always choose to experience the moment and to grow as thinkers, readers, writers, and people who take care of our families and communities.

Be well,
Sara Beam
You can find me at my Facebook Teacher Page

P.S. My next post will be about the incoming Writing Center Coordinator. I know they will cultivate this place of learning well!

African American Poetry Workshop: Souls Who Speak and Listen

W. E. B. Du Bois' 1903 The Souls of Black Folk is a foundational text in the African American literary and cultural tradition. The opening to the book is a chapter called "Of Our Spiritual Strivings." You can find the entire chapter at this link; below is an excerpt of the text for reading and analysis. Notice that this is a first-person account of Du Bois' personal experiences. In it, he reflects on his interior life and his identity as a Black person in a society that privileges whiteness. 

BETWEEN me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.
 
And yet, being a problem is a strange experience,—peculiar even for one who has never been anything else, save perhaps in babyhood and in Europe. It is in the early days of rollicking boyhood that the revelation first bursts upon one, all in a day, as it were. I remember well when the shadow swept across me. I was a little thing, away up in the hills of New England, where the dark Housatonic winds between Hoosac and Taghkanic to the sea. In a wee wooden schoolhouse, something put it into the boys’ and girls’ heads to buy gorgeous visiting-cards—ten cents a package—and exchange. The exchange was merry, till one girl, a tall newcomer, refused my card,—refused it peremptorily, with a glance. Then it dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like, mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows. That sky was bluest when I could beat my mates at examination-time, or beat them at a foot-race, or even beat their stringy heads. Alas, with the years all this fine contempt began to fade; for the worlds I longed for, and all their dazzling opportunities, were theirs, not mine. But they should not keep these prizes, I said; some, all, I would wrest from them. Just how I would do it I could never decide: by reading law, by healing the sick, by telling the wonderful tales that swam in my head,—some way. With other black boys the strife was not so fiercely sunny: their youth shrunk into tasteless sycophancy, or into silent hatred of the pale world about them and mocking distrust of everything white; or wasted itself in a bitter cry, Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house? The shades of the prison-house closed round about us all: walls strait and stubborn to the whitest, but relentlessly narrow, tall, and unscalable to sons of night who must plod darkly on in resignation, or beat unavailing palms against the stone, or steadily, half hopelessly, watch the streak of blue above.

After the Egyptian and Indian, the Greek and Roman, the Teuton and Mongolian, the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world,—a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.   

The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife,—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face.

--

One issue I have not yet addressed in blog series is my own whiteness and the issue of race at RSU, where, according to the 2014 Fact Book, around 60% of students identify as white, 5% as Hispanic, 13% as "American Indian or Alaska Native," 1% as Asian, 17% as multiracial, and 2.4% as Black (page 22). How can a white writer (or a non-Black reader) best share a literary tradition that they are not a part of? How can I build awareness in myself about the privileges that come with my race? Furthermore, as a teacher playing a role of authority in the institution of education, how can I best model and instruct others about why race and allyship matter and how to be an ally in a useful, genuine manner? 

These questions have followed me throughout the course of this series. My answers and strategies evolve every day, but my main strategy is LISTENING to voices that have traditionally been giving less attention or afforded less authority and AMPLIFYING those voices by sharing some of them here. Even the act of selecting whose voice is shared is a political act! Blogger/Vlogger Chescaleigh helps people think about and do allyship (and all sorts of other topics on race) in her video series Decoded. Below is her video "5 Tips for Being an Ally" that I highly recommend you check out:

So, please, return to the top of the page and re-read Du Bois' words. Re-read Angelou and Chisholm; re-read Adichie and Walker; re-read Baldwin and Cullen; re-read hooks, Beyonce, and Lorde.

Questions for Du Bois' excerpt:

1. In what ways do these paragraphs function as a lead-in to a larger book? How do they set up a certain tone using word choice, and how to they attempt to "hook" or draw readers into a larger conversation?

2. Again, why does this author use the rhetorical strategy of relating personal details? What is the effect of sharing his subjective experience?

3. What kind of figurative language does Du Bois use to describe his experiences? Identify and explain metaphors, similes, descriptive language, alliteration (repeated consonant and/or vowel sounds), repeated wording or phrases, and allusions (or references to other works of literature or texts) in the text.

African American Poetry Workshop: James Baldwin and Countee Cullen

I'd like to introduce readers to James Baldwin, if they are unfamiliar with him. First, here is a trailer to his biography so you can become briefly acquainted with him:

My first encounter with him was as an undergraduate when I read Go Tell It on the Mountain in a Religion and Literature independent study. His essays, novels, and poetry provide perspective from the intersections of African American identity, masculine, homosexual identity, and secular identity. 

In "James Baldwin Reappeared Just When We Needed Him Most," Saeed Jones describes Baldwin's posthumously released 2014 collection of poems:

Though Baldwin is perhaps best known as an essayist and novelist, he wrote poetry as well. Jimmy's Blues and Other Poems was published last month by Beacon Press. It has an introduction by Nikky Finney. 

"Staggerlee Wonders," the first poem in the book, which is written in the voice of a blunt, African-American character, is especially striking in light of this week's news cycle: "My days are not their days. / My ways are not their ways. / I would not think of them, / one way or the other, / did not they so grotesquely / block the view / between me and my brother."

One might choose to the excerpted lines above from the perspective of the current news cycle and the Black Lives Matter movement. According to their "About" page,

#BlackLivesMatter was created in 2012 after Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted for his crime, and dead 17-year old Trayvon was post-humously placed on trial for his own murder. Rooted in the experiences of Black people in this country who actively resist our de-humanization, #BlackLivesMatter is a call to action and a response to the virulent anti-Black racism that permeates our society.Black Lives Matter is a unique contribution that goes beyond extrajudicial killings of Black people by police and vigilantes.

...

#BlackLivesMatter is working for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.  We affirm our contributions to this society, our humanity, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.  We have put our sweat equity and love for Black people into creating a political project–taking the hashtag off of social media and into the streets. The call for Black lives to matter is a rallying cry for ALL Black lives striving for liberation.

Using BLM's description of their organization as a lens, read Baldwin's lines again.

My days are not their days.
My ways are not their ways.
I would not think of them,
one way or the other,
did not they so grotesquely
block the view
between me and my brother.

Consider how the speaker, an individual (my, I, me), contrasts with the other people (their, them, they) who "so grotesquely / block the view / between me and my brother." A third person is present, too: "my brother," or the family member of the speaker. With the Black Lives Matter movement and recent events in mind, brainstorm answers to these questions:

1. What does the speaker mean by "days" and "ways"?

2.. According to Dictionary.com, "grotesque" is defined as the following:

adjective
1. odd or unnatural in shape, appearance, or character; fantastically ugly or absurd; bizarre.
2. fantastic in the shaping and combination of forms, as in decorative work combining incongruous human and animal figures with scrolls, foliage, etc.

Why does the speaker use this adverb to describe the way that "they" exist between the speaker and his sibling?

3. Examine the diction (choice of words) and syntax (arrangement of words, sentence/phrase structure) of the lines. Is the diction more or less formal? Is the syntax more or less complex? How do they contrast with the sort of diction and syntax used by Baldwin's mentor Countee Cullen in these lines from his poem "Karenge Ya Marenge":

Wherein are words sublime or noble? What
Invests one speech with haloed eminence,
Makes it the sesame for all doors shut,
Yet in its like sees but impertinence?
Is it the hue? Is it the cast of eye,
The curve of lip or Asiatic breath,
Which mark a lesser place for Gandhi’s cry
Than “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Is Indian speech so quaint, so weak, so rude,
So like its land enslaved, denied, and crude,
That men who claim they fight for liberty
Can hear this battle-shout impassively,
Yet to their arms with high resolve have sprung
At those same words cried in the English tongue? 

TIPS: What historical events does this poem refer to? Choose 3-6 of the lines in the poem, translate them into simpler and more concise wording, and then contrast the diction and syntax with Baldwin's lines.  

African American Poetry Workshop: "The Danger of a Single Story" Paired with "When You See Water"

First, I'd like to return to Angelou's "Still I Rise" for just a moment and examine the diction (choice of words) in the first four lines a bit deeper:

You may write me down in history  (first word is "you," addresses someone overseeing speaker)
With your bitter, twisted lies,   (the authority figure's lying voice/writing has speaker captured)
You may trod me in the very dirt   (even though dominator may step on speaker in the bare ground)
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.  (notice shift word "but" and change in verb tense--may write, may trod--> will rise; also, notice the rhyme at the end of lines 2 and 4)

There's a lot more we could say about "Still I Rise," but I wanted to start by showing you how paraphrasing poems line-by-line can help you notice subtle shifts in pronouns, verb tense, and sounds. These are the small details that make a poem work.

Week 2's workshop features another pairing: writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Alice Walker.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

First, learn who Adichie is at the link in her name and then watch her TED Talk (or read the transcript) "The Danger of a Single Story" at this link.

Next, free write for ten minutes about a story you bought into about a group of people different than you. What exactly made that group different than people you identify with? What did you believe about that group? How were those assumptions challenged later when you learned more?

Alice Walker

Third, read Alice Walker's short poem, "When You See Water":

When you see water in a stream
you say: oh, this is stream
water;
When you see water in the river
you say: oh, this is water
of the river;
When you see ocean
water
you say: This is the ocean's
water!
But actually water is always
only itself
and does not belong
to any of these containers
though it creates them.
And so it is with you.

Click here to learn who Alice Walker is. Here are three questions to consider about Walker's poem:

1. What are its formal features? Buy this, I mean how many lines does the poem have, does it rhyme, if so what is the rhyming pattern, are there any related words, and how many stressed syllables are there per line? (There are more formal features to list, but those are some good basics to begin with.)

To identify stressed syllables, you can look up each multisyllabic word in the dictionary and see which syllable is marked as stressed, you can read the poem aloud holding your hand a half-inch under your chin and marking syllables you say as your chin drops to your hand, OR you can pay attention to the vowel sounds in the words (stressed syllables usually have fully pronounced vowel sounds, not just the schwa or "uh" sound). For example, my first name is Sara. The stressed syllable is the first syllable "Sa." The second syllable is unstressed. You can confirm this yourself by trying the three tests above.

2. What parallels do you see evident between Adichie's ideas and the speaker's in the poem? Use evidence (quotes) from the speech and poem to support your claim.

3. In Walker's poem, why did she compare the listener's identity to liquid rather than, say, solid or gas?

Happy Reading and Writing!
Sara

11 days of class left. Need writing help? Contact the Writing Center NOW!

Hi, RSU students,

The RSU Writing Center is a free resource and a place where you can find engaged readers who are ready to support you as a writer.

Remember, to make an appointment! You can have 2 appointments per paper assignment, and we don't offer appointments on the assignment due date (though we will answer a few specific questions if we have time)--so plan ahead.

Here are 3 optimal times to ask for feedback on an assignment:

1. When you receive the assignment sheet: we can help you make a plan for writing and help you make sure you're on the right track from the start.

2. When you have an outline or partial draft: we can help you make sure you are on-track to meet assignment requirements and help you make sure your outline/draft is shaping up to be focused and unified.

3. 2-3 days BEFORE the due date, when you have a full or mostly-complete draft: we can help you check to make sure your citations are correct and help you check to make sure the writing is clear and concise.

Our schedule is filling up, so call, drop by, or visit rsuwc.setmore.com to reserve an on-ground, over the phone, or online appointment in advance.

Happy writing,
Sara

Book your Writing Center appointment online! <--UPDATED POST

Welcome back, RSU students!

The RSU Writing Center is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and provides assistance with writing from any major in 1000-level or higher courses.

We also help with resumes, cover letters, personal statements, etc.

We are now doing all of our scheduling online at this link: http://rsuwc.setmore.com/

You can log on with your RSU student webmail address (sdfirstnamelastname@student.rsu.edu) and password! Your student webmail is a Gmail account.

Whether you want assistance in person, over the phone, via email, or over Skype, you'll need to visit http://rsuwc.setmore.com/

Happy writing,

Sara

APA in the Wild

Image Credit

New to APA Style? Confused? Observe APA in action... Review this annotated example article from a database at the Prezi linked here.

Happy Writing,
Sara

Writing Center Tip: How To Use Evidence in Body Paragraphs (Prezi Slideshow)

Students often ask me how much evidence they should use in a paper in each paragraph. I've created a visual explanation using the free online presentation tool, Prezi, to share my answer with all of you. Have a look at the "How To Use Evidence in Body Paragraphs" Prezi by clicking here. Just click the right and left arrows underneath the slides to move backward or forward through the presentation.

If you're interested in creating your own Prezi, let me know. I'd be glad to walk you through the process of creating your own student account and composing your own presentation with this tool. Their slideshows are more dynamic, in terms of transitions and slide design, than those you can create in Microsoft PowerPoint, I think.

Happy writing,

Sara

P.S. Don't forget about the free writing resources available through our website. You can find help with MLA, APA, Chicago Style, and other citation styles, as well as with grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues.

RSU Writing Center Tip: Overview of Essay Writing

I've created a visual Essay Writing Primer or Refresher using the free online presentation tool, Prezi, to share with all of you. Have a look at the "Writing Assignment Primer: A Refresher for Writing in the Disciplines" Prezi by clicking here. Just click the right and left arrows underneath the slides to move backward or forward through the presentation.

If you're interested in creating your own Prezi, let me know. I'd be glad to walk you through the process of creating your own student account and composing your own presentation with this tool. Their slideshows are more dynamic, in terms of transitions and slide design, than those you can create in Microsoft PowerPoint, I think.

Happy writing,

Sara

P.S. Don't forget about the free writing resources available through our website. You can find help with MLA, APA, Chicago Style, and other citation styles, as well as with grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues.

Writing Center tip: Time Management--Make Your Writing Center Appt. before the Due Date

Hi, RSU students,

The Writing Center is a place where you can find engaged readers who are ready to support you as a writer.

All writers--from students to scholars to professional writers--benefit from feedback on their ideas and their wording. Faculty, myself included, ask peers, editors, and sometimes even novices to read our drafts because feedback from thoughtful readers is valuable. I know other people can see things in my writing that I can't and their feedback can help me make my writing better. (I've even asked 2 of the Writing Center staff members to read over this very email to help me make it as effective as possible!)

Here are 3 optimal times to ask for feedback on an assignment:

1. When you receive the assignment sheet: we can help you make a plan for writing and help you make sure you're on the right track from the start.

2. When you have an outline or partial draft: we can help you make sure you are on-track to meet assignment requirements and help you make sure your outline/draft is shaping up to be focused and unified.

3. 2-3 days before the due date, when you have a full or mostly-complete draft: we can help you check to make sure your citations are correct and help you check to make sure the writing is clear and concise.

Remember, you can have 2 appointments per paper assignment and we don't offer appointments on the assignment due date (though we will answer 2-3 specific questions if we have time), so plan ahead. These policies apply on all 3 RSU campuses.

Our schedule is filling up, so call, drop by, or email writingcenter@rsu.edu now to reserve an on-ground, over the phone, or online appointment in advance.

Happy writing,
Sara

Fall 2014 begins...

Welcome to the Fall 2014 semester, RSU students!

 The Writing Center is here to support ALL college-level writers at RSU on all 3 campuses on-ground, online, or over the phone. We also have a website where we describe and explain our services and policies.

There are a few things to remember when you're ready to come talk to us about your writing. For example, we prefer that students make appointments but take walk-ins when we can. Also, it's good to know in advance that we will not provide a full session on the paper due date--though you can ask a few, quick questions, and we'll do our best to answer them. The good news is that you don't have to have a paper draft before coming to see us! We'll work with you at any point during the writing process--from brainstorming and outlining to revising a full draft.

If you can't make it to the Center during our regular 8-5 Monday-Friday hours, consider an over the phone, email, video chat, or instant message (Gchat) appointment. For more information about scheduling writing help over the phone or online, click this link.

Last, I wanted to tell you about our free online writing resources available at this link. We've got information about all kinds of citation styles (including MLA, APA, Chicago/Turabian, and more) and college writing guidelines.

Need writing help? Just ask!

Happy writing,
Sara Beam, Writing Center Coordinator

Writing Center Video -- Made with Animoto

Rogers State University Writing Center

Interested in learning how to use Animoto? Just ask!

RSU Writing Center Tip: How To Use Evidence in Body Paragraphs (bonus: learn about Prezi)

Students often ask me how much evidence they should use in a paper in each paragraph. I've created a visual explanation using the free online presentation tool, Prezi, to share my answer with all of you. Have a look at the "How To Use Evidence in Body Paragraphs" Prezi by clicking here. Just click the right and left arrows underneath the slides to move backward or forward through the presentation.

If you're interested in creating your own Prezi, let me know. I'd be glad to walk you through the process of creating your own student account and composing your own presentation with this tool. Their slideshows are more dynamic, in terms of transitions and slide design, than those you can create in Microsoft PowerPoint, I think.

Happy writing,

Sara

P.S. Don't forget about the free writing resources available through our website. You can find help with MLA, APA, Chicago Style, and other citation styles, as well as with grammar, spelling, and punctuation issues. 

RSU Writing Center Tip: Help with Resumes and Cover Letters

Technical Communications

Writing for the Professions

Tech Writing

Business Writing

These are the sort of terms we give to writing that is composed for an audience of business-minded folks, people looking to become employed, to hire employees, to manage employees, etc. I'm working on incorporating some of this kind of writing into my Composition courses for two main reasons:

1. It's writing! Those same concepts of writing process, purpose, and audience are just as important to this sort of writing. They translate across boundaries and are valuable in all majors.

2. A great writing exercise to employ (see what I did there?) is the job application materials assignment. It encourages students to think about their future, research potential employers, practice writing for a specific audience, familiarize themselves with the job hunting and hiring processes, generate templates for use during future job searches, and learn about how design can complement document function.

RSU Career Services can help you with your job search and has posted some resources to help you generate documents like resumes and cover letters.

Here's one more resource you could use as you work: the Resumes and Job Application page of the Bedford/St. Martin's Writing that Works textbook, 11th edition. Oh! And, if you have a copy of The Everyday Writer, check out chapter 64 (starts on page 552), "Writing for Business," for more models and advice.

Did you know you can bring job application documents to the Writing Center for help? We can help with any and all college-level writing tasks--including resumes, cover letters, and any other writing required during a job search. Just email writingcenter@rsu.edu for more information!

~Sara

RSU Writing Center Tip: Evaluating Web Sources

Source

Sources of information that you find through the University's Library catalog and databases are a bit easier to judge than sources that you find out there on the web at large. This is because the sources students and faculty can access through the catalog and databases are presented in a standardized manner, and you can find information about the author, article title, journal title, date of publication, etc. in pretty much the same place in every record.

So, what are the best practices for evaluating those sources of information you find out there on the web? Click here to view tips and read a quick demonstration web site evaluation from The Bedford Research Room.

After evaluating a source and finding it fit to use, you may need help citing it in your paper. Click here for help with MLA citation, and click here for help with APA citation.

Good luck on your search,

Sara

Introduction to APA Style: The Basics

Recently, a student told me she was new to APA Style and felt completely lost. For anyone else who's just starting out with APA Style or who never received a formal introduction to APA Style, I HIGHLY recommend this tutorial from APA itself: just click here to access it! The tutorial is 21 minutes long and very thorough. You can pause it at any time to take notes or page through your APA Style Guide to mark the pages it references.

A second useful feature of the tutorial is that it's searchable. Just choose the Search tab on the right side of the screen once you've started the tutorial. Then, enter the term or phrase you want to find information about.

A final useful feature I'll mention here are the sample papers and reference examples that are included with the tutorial. They are mentioned during certain points of the tutorial, but you can access them at any time you have the tutorial open by clicking the tiny paperclip icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the slides.

Got more questions about APA in-text citations, the reference page, or formatting? Just email us at writingcenter@rsu.edu!

~Sara

Ray Bradbury's Short Story "The Veldt"

If you are reading or have read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, you should also check out his (very) short story, "The Veldt," from 1950. The story is along the same lines as Fahrenheit but focuses on a mother and father, their automated house, and their very creepy children. Click here to read the story.

Deadmau5 composed a song, "The Veldt," based on the story, and there's an animated video that goes along with it. Great complement to the story and a great example of a story transformed from written text to different media. I've posted it below for easy access:

~Sara

RSU Writing Center Tip: Different Citation Styles -- MLA, APA, and Chicago

Looking for a quick way to shift from one citation style to another? The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) has a handy chart to help. Click this link to have a look.

For more explanation and models, see The Everyday Writer's "MLA Documentation" and "APA, Chicago, and CSE" in the back of the text in sections 48-54. You can also find that very same information in The Everyday Writer online supplement at this link.

Got questions about writing? Reply to this email, drop by the Writing Center in BH 206 during weekday walk-in hours (9 a.m. to noon), or reply to this email and request an appointment outside of walk-in hours. See our scheduling policies posted to our website at this link. Don't forget, we can help you online or over the phone, too!

Happy writing,

Sara