Grammar & Mechanics - the most common problems & how to fix them The importance of teaching grammar in context + common assumptions about grammar  Humorous Perspectives on Grammar (and teaching) Materials for Teaching Grammar, Mechanics etc.    Fun & Popular Sites for Students to Learn about Grammar, Style and Language Grammar Quizzes and exercises Citation/Quoting Sources & Style Guides - MLA, APA, Chicago, etc. Citing Online Sources ESL Resources Research links - how to find texts Go to the library and talk to the research librarian Talk to your professor SDSU Online Library Resources Internet Research Tools Reference Dictionaries, Word Usage & Thesauruses Encyclopedias

Grammar & Mechanics - the most common problems & how to fix them

The importance of teaching grammar in context + common assumptions about grammar 

• National Council of Teachers of English Guidlines for Teaching Grammar: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/qandaaboutgrammar
• "Grammar: Irrefutable, Irreconcilable Premises," Rebecca Howard. http://wrt.syr.edu/pub/reflections/23/howard.html
• "50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice," By GEOFFREY K. PULLUM, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 17.
• Myths about Grammar and Teaching Writing Beth Rapp Young, UCF.
• "Four Comments on "Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of Grammar." A classic debate on the merits of teaching grammar. Joe Williams; Richard D. Cureton; Carole Moses; Edward A. Vavra. College English, Vol. 47, No. 6. (Oct., 1985), pp. 641-649. LINK VIA JSTOR
• Patrick Hartwell's (1985) "Grammar, Grammar, and the Teaching of Grammar, one of the most influential articles written about grammar. http://www.ou.edu/hartwell/Hartwell.pdf
• Dawkins, John. "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool." CCC 46 (1995): 533-48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/358327
• "Revitalizing Grammar," Dunn and Lindblom, English Journal January 2003. Excellent discussion of grammar and teaching writing.
• Bedford's A Commonsense Approach to Teaching Grammar and Usage Useful info on approaches to teaching grammar

Humorous Perspectives on Grammar (and teaching)

• "The The Impotence of Proofreading," by TAYLOR MALI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_rwB5_3PQc
• "What Teachers Make," Taylor Mali http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xuFnP5N2uA&feature=related

Materials for Teaching Grammar, Mechanics etc.   

• National Council of Teachers of English - Grammar Resource Page http://www.ncte.org/lessons/grammar 

• Purdue's Online Writing Lab - easily one of the best collections of resources for teaching writing. See the main site, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/, materials for non-Purdue instructors http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/679/01/, and their big list of handouts: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/

• Bedford St Martins Writing Guide & Exercises - huge collection of useful resources http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/exercisecentral/

• The Writer's Handbook, Univ Wisconsin, http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/

• A compilation of Jim Garret's notes, exercises and glosses on Williams' Style, Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. There's a lot of generally useful advice you can use in class without having to refer to the Williams text. You can find the full collection (CSU LA), along with other style and grammar-related  materials at http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/english/cresources.php

• Raimes & Eduspace (comes with RWS 100 Raimes handbook) http://www.cengage.com/eduspace/

• Writing@CSU - invaluable collection of writing resources http://writing.colostate.edu/index.cfm
• 11 Rules of Writing http://www.junketstudies.com/rulesofw/
• University of Toronto help with academic writing http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/advise.html 
• Laurier Writing Resources

• Rutgers Gude to teaching grammar http://wp.rutgers.edu/teachers/101/media/ttw_grammar.pdf 

• Punctuation, Grammar, Style, & Usage: Twelve Guidelines http://writingcenter.tamu.edu/content/view/54/66/

• Writing@CSU Grammar help http://writing.colostate.edu/links/index.cfm?subcategory=13
• The Grammar Handbook, University of Illinois http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/
• Grammatical Terms Defined. An alphabetical list of key grammatical terms from The American Heritage® Book of English. http://www.bartleby.com/64/10.html
• The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Covers grammar, style, diction, word choice, word formation, etc. http://www.bartleby.com/64/
• The Elements of Style by William Strunk http://www.bartleby.com/141/
• Worksheet of quick tips (handout by Ceclia Polkinhorn) 

Fun & Popular Sites for Students to Learn about Grammar, Style and Language

• Free Rice - vocabulary game that also donates food to the needy when you play. http://www.freerice.com/ For each word you get right, this group donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations World Food Program. "WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance, etc. The rice is paid for by the advertisers whose names you see on the bottom of your vocabulary screen."
• ASK BETTY Univ. of Washington. Great Mechanics advice and info. http://depts.washington.edu/engl/askbetty/10main.php

• The NYT has a section called "After Deadline" that examines questions of grammar, usage and style. Example - this piece on overstuffed sentences http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/overstuffed-sentences/

• The Grammar Gang Blog - a blog about grammar http://thegrammargang.blogspot.com/. By Purdue University and the University of South Australia.
• Grammar Girl Blog http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ "Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing."
• Urban dictionary (slang) http://www.urbandictionary.com/
• Hot for words (warning - risque) http://www.hotforwords.com/
• Basic Grammar, from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/ 

Grammar Quizzes and exercises

• Guide to Grammar and Writing with quizzes and exercises http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
• Grammar Quizzes (easy)   http://eslus.com/LESSONS/GRAMMAR/POS/pos.htm (from the Interlink Language Center site) 
• Grammar Quizzes (Hard) Chicago Manual of Style questions and answers on more difficult aspects of grammar and style: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/CMS_FAQ/qatopics.html

Citation/Quoting Sources & Style Guides - MLA, APA, Chicago, etc.

• MLA Documentation Guide by Glen McClish (from a fall 2013 session at the department conference on pedagogy) 
• Sample student papers formatted according to MLA conventions (from the official MLA site) 
• Sample student research paper with annotations explaining each major element of MLA formatting requirements (from Purdue OWL). 
• Dennis Jerz (http://jerz.setonhill.edu/writing/academic1/mla-style-papers/) provides a useful guide for students to MLA, complete with examples and images and detailed instructions about margins, page layout, etc.
• The Writer's Handbook, (University of Wisconsin-Madison Writing Center) provides a wonderful resource explaining how and when to use the various documentation styles for citation, footnotes, bibliography, etc.  
• How to quote sources: http://www.writingcenter.emory.edu/writing/quoting.html
• OWL resources http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/557/01/ 

Citing Online Sources

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/584/03/ 

ESL Resources

• ESL Teaching Resources - from CSU 
• Purdue's OWL has some good material: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/678/01/ 
• ESL Resources from University of Illinois http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/esl/

Research links - how to find texts

Go to the library and talk to the research librarian

That's right, use your feet and talk to a human being. Watch what they do - ask them what they are doing - take notes, and try later on to do it yourself. Have them guide you through a key word search – show you some slick librarian tricks.

Talk to your professor

Another good place to start? Talk to your professor. Ask her what some of the key journals or databases are in your discipline. Ask her if she knows any journals or academic publications that are particularly good for undergraduates 

SDSU Online Library Resources

• Library Homepage http://infodome.sdsu.edu/
• Article Databases & Electronic Resources http://infoguides.sdsu.edu/
• Research Resources http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/research.shtml
• How to Find Journals http://infodome.sdsu.edu/howto/findperiodicals.shtml
• Search for Journals by Name http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/ejournals/ssolutions/ssolutionsmain.shtml

Internet Research Tools

• Google Scholar http://scholar.google.com/
• Amazon Search Inside the Book http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0385721862/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
• Google book search http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp Lets you read the entire text of books in the public domain or see excerpts from copyright books. 

Reference

Dictionaries, Word Usage & Thesauruses

• SDSU dictionaries page http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/vrd.shtml#dictionaries
• Merriam Webster's dictionary http://www.merriam-webster.com/
• Infoplease http://dictionary.infoplease.com/
• Thesaurus http://www.bartleby.com/62/

Encyclopedias

• Columbia Encyclopedia http://www.bartleby.com/65/
• Wikipedia http://www.wikipedia.org/
• Microsoft Encarta http://encarta.msn.com/
• SDSU encyclopedias page http://infodome.sdsu.edu/research/guides/vrd.shtml#encyclopedias