New Student Orientation - 2010
Portland State University Graduate School of Business
The Do’s and Don’ts of Scholarly Writing
What is Scholarly writing?– Intended for a critical and informed audience- Based on closely-investigated knowledge
- Posits ideas or arguments • What is allowed and not allowed?
– Cite your sources! Use APA Format or another allowed by the instructor.
– Plagiarism is NOT allowed!• Literary theft. Plagiarism occurs when a
writer duplicates another writer's language or ideas and then calls the work his or her own.
Writing Center
What?• collaborative learning environment• free and available to all students• great place to bring any and all writing projects for any
class• staffed by friendly, experienced writing instructors and
English graduate assistantsWhere?• open Monday through Friday during the academic term and
Monday through Wednesday during Finals• located in Cramer Hall, on the first floor, in room 188F• also available on the 2nd floor of the library, Monday
through Friday from 9am to 1pm for walk-in appointments – we’re right behind the reference desk in the middle of the room – just ask if you don’t see us
Do not wait until the last minute!!!
Writing Center
This means that you can bring your writing in whenever you are…
• …stuck in the middle of an idea
• …having trouble organizing your paper• …having some difficulty understanding an
assignment or coming up with an appropriate topic• …in need of an extra pair of eyes to just make sure
you haven’t veered off course• …unsure how to correct your grammar or
mechanical problems• …looking for someone to bounce ideas off of• …working on any piece of writing – a paper, memo,
literature review, report, poem, story, thesis, letter, etc.
– www.writingcenter.pdx.edu; 503.725.3570.
Tools for grammar correction
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/ (All you ever needed to know to figure out APA format)
http://flash1r.apa.org/apastyle/basics/index.htm (A great on-line tutorial of how to use APA format).
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/index.htm (This is the index. If you browse through it, you will find that there are exercises, quizzes, and explanations for the most common problem areas - especially with comma usage).
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html (Great web page for help with verb tenses. Includes
explanations and exercises.)http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2527/
presentperfect.html (For help with the present perfect - a very commonly used verb tense in academic writing.)
Tools for grammar correction
http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/eng/ • You can copy and paste your essay into this website • Breaks the words into vocabulary groups - most used, academic
word list, and repeated words • See how often you use the same words again and again and
again... expand your vocabulary
http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/errordetector.htm • You can copy and paste your essays into this website • Analyzes them and gives you feedback on common vocabulary
and sentence structure mistakes. • It will definitely not find all of your mistakes though so beware!
