- One-on-One Consultation/Tutoring
- Classes
- Editing & Proofreading
- Books
- Dictionaries and References
- Other Helpful Websites
- Grammar References for Instructors
One-on-One Consultation/Tutoring
ESL graduate students are welcome to meet with writing consultants to work on any current writing project. For ESL graduate students who wish to improve their English writing skills, we recommend purchasing Academic Writing for Graduate Students and browsing its contents (linked here). After identifying particular skills and topics in need of improvement, make an appointment to meet with a graduate writing consultant and come to the appointment prepared to go over exercises. When making an appointment through our online appointment system, please indicate the topics and pages you would like to cover during the appointment. (Click here to make an appointment.)
Classes
ESL/EFL graduate students are encouraged to take courses offered through the Center for World Languages. For a list of current courses, see the Center for World Language's website.
Workshops for ESL Graduate Students
Spring Quarter coming soon...
Editing & Proofreading
The Graduate Writing Center is frequently asked how to find editing and proofreading services. Our writing consultants do not provide this type of service. If you need to hire someone to do proofreading or copyediting, write up a job description and contact the English or Applied Linguistics departments. If you email a job description to the departmental student affairs officer, and s/he will forward it to graduate students who can then respond to your advertisement. For more information about copy-editing issues, see Wendy Belcher's website.
Books
A general book for ESL-related academic writing skills and strategies:
Academic Writing for Graduate Students (2004): John M. Swales and Christine B. Feak.
A useful book of ESL-related academic writing skills and strategies:
English in Today's Research World: A Writing Guide (2000): John M. Swales and Christine B. Feak
A comprehensive book including grammar explanations and exercises for writers:
Read, Write, Edit: Grammar for College Writers (2004): Patricia Porter and Deborah von Dommelen
A helpful guide for effectively using resources and avoiding plagiarism:
Using Sources Effectively (2004): Robert A. Harris
Dictionaries and References
Collins' Cobuild Dictionary
The Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture
Dictionaries and Thesauri – from our resources page.
Grammar and Usage References - from our writing resources page.
Other Helpful Websites
General Composition Help - Online Writing Lab from Purdue University
ESL-targeted Composition Help - from OWL Purdue University
Road to Research - A useful UCLA-based website with information regarding citations and avoiding plagiarism.
WordNet Vocabulary Helper - A helpful vocabulary-building website.
Just the Word - a website that uses a database of nearly one-hundred million words to (1) identify what words are typically used with a word you are interested in and (2) tell you whether or not a combination of words is acceptable in English.
Grammar References for Instructors
A useful resource book focusing on English for academic purposes:
English for Academic Purposes: A guide and resource book for teachers (1997): R.R. Jordan
A user-friendly book of grammar explanations and exercises:
Systems in English Grammar: An Introduction for Language Teachers (1995): Peter Master
A comprehensive text with grammar explanations, exercises, and teaching suggestions:
The Grammar Book (1998): Marianne Celce-Murcia and Diane Larsen-Freeman
A text with clear grammar explanations, exercises, and teaching suggestions:
Explaining English Grammar (1999): George Yule
