Planners' Writing Exchange

An ability to clearly express ideas is crucial to success in the planning profession. Here are some online resources to use to help you improve your academic and professional writing: 

• How to write an essay
• Memorandum Writing Tips
• Sentence Composition and Writing Style
• Writing with Confidence
• Creating a writing schedule that works
• Keys to Grad School Applications
• How to Give a Fabulous Academic Presentation
• Grammar 101: Adjectives, Adverbs, Article, Prepositions, oh my!
• Grammar 101: Exercises
• Grammar 102: Pronouns and Verb Tenses
• Grammar 102: Exercises
• Identifying Plagiarism
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Plagiarism Guide for Students
• The Writing Process: Outlining Tools
• The Writing Process: How to Brainstorm
• Using Logic to Argue
• Example Outlines: Purdue OWL
• Purdue University Global: 7 Ways to Overcome Writer's Block

Resources from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:

• The Center for Writing Studies, Writer's Workshop Resources
• International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS): This site provides a good list of community resources like tutoring and International Coffee Hours on campus to help students practice their English.
• Scholarly Commons: The Scholarly Commons connects the Illinois community to a wide variety of experts and curates a suite of services, space, and technology in support of digital, data-driven and interdisciplinary forms of scholarly inquiry.

Resources from other campuses:

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL): This site includes material on basic grammer, in addition to materials like "Tips for Writing in North American Colleges," "Professional Writing in North America," and more.

Other Sources:

• Online Writing Assistant: This site offers help on a wide range of writing style topics.
• Dave's ESL Cafe: This site provides an online forum for 24/7 writing assistance.