Articles about Good Writing

  • Plain English Campaign 2003
    This article - one of many ones on the British website 'World Wise Words' - discusses how one man's gobbledegook is another's plain speaking.
  • Can one avoid sexist writing?
    This article is one of many intriquing articles on 'World Wide Words' a website dedicated to investigating questions of language.
  • The Elements of Style
    First written in 1918, this book - now available for FREE on bartleby.com - is a classic reference on English writing style that many English teachers and editors still use today.

Articles about Tone & Positive Language

  • Lessons in Lifemanship
    Although many of the chapters in this online book are quite interesting and useful, for this course chapters 22-27 are the more relevant.

General Tips & Sample letters

  • Gallaudet University Writing Center: Letters
    This university in Washington D.C. provides a writing website called 'English Works!'. This page focuses on letters and provides great examples such as types of letter formats and sample letters.

Grammar & Punctuation

  • Verb Tense Tutorial
    Try this page on the 'EnglishPage' website for an excellent review of all English verb tenses, with both lessons and practice quizzes.
  • Online Writing Lab
    An excellent resource from Purdue University. Scroll down on this 'site map' to see the many varied topics available for study and practice.

Parallelism - Explanations & Quizzes

  • Guide to Grammar & Writing
    This page from the Capital Community College's Guide to Grammar & Writing, provides a great explanation followed by two excellent electronic quizzes for practice.

Style: Being more concise

  • Misplaced modifiers [ Edit | Delete ] [Posted By: jnooyen]
    This article - one of many intriguing ones on 'World Wise Words' discusses sloppy writing that evokes odd images.

Unity & Coherence

  • Combining Sentences
    A lesson followed by three excellent quizzes for practicing sentence length & variety.
  • Connectors in Context
    A great practice exercise, which was created by instructor Julie Sevastopoulos in the ESL Department at the College of San Mateo. For more exercises to try, click on 'Grammar Check' (at the bottom of the page) to see links to a vast number of quizzes. The quizzes under the category 'connectors' are especially good.

UN Resources

  • Staff Development Websites - a list of useful Internet resources on General Career Development, Resumes and Cover Letters, Interview Skills, Mentoring and Vacancies in the UN system compiled by the UNHQ Career Resource Centre, room S-2560A.
  • United Nations Correspondence Manual (link to the UNHQ Intranet). Last updated in 2000, this manual provides style guidelines and examples for writing letters, memos, note verbale, faxes, and more.
  • United Nations Editorial Manual Online (link to the UNHQ Intranet). This is a very useful document which is frequently updated. Look here for the most recent United Nations spelling list, style and format guidelines for reports, and more.

Vocabulary Resources

  • One Look
    This amazing 'meta-dictionary' allows you to search over 890 dictionaries in one click. A special feature is the 'reverse dictionary'.
  • Thesaurus.com
    A great place to find a synonym with a link to 'dictionary.com'.