LibGuides: Valencia Writer: Writer's Reference Center®

Writer's Reference Center®

Writer's Reference Center® (Valencia College) Writer’s Reference Center provides users with a convenient one-stop location for all of the tools necessary to write and research effectively. From the mechanics of writing and grammar to style and research, this indispensable online resource thoroughly covers the fundamentals of quality writing, provides a wealth of vocabulary-building dictionaries, and presents a step-by-step guide to writing a good essay. An in-depth grammar section defines grammatical terms and gives examples of use, while another section explores writing style. Writing resources teach users how best to revise their work, and the intuitive design allows users to find relevant information quickly through customizable searches and browsing. To access this resource, enter your Atlas email address and Atlas password. After you have entered this information, you will have access.

Writer's Reference Center® Resources

Writing Fundamentals The purpose of this section is to guide you through the process of producing a written document that will say what you want it to say and achieve the purpose that you want it to achieve.
Grammar & Punctuation This section discusses the nuts and bolts that hold the basic structure of a text together. These nuts and bolts—the principles and conventions that underpin all communication in the English language — include the rules of grammar as they have developed over the centuries; the actual words we use; and the special symbols universally adopted in English as a way of punctuating written texts.
Writing with Style Style is one of those words that resists easy definition. If you were asked to say, off the cuff and without consulting a dictionary, what style means, you might very well find yourself having to think fairly hard, even if you were not restricting yourself to the literary senses of the word.
Guide to Documents There are special techniques that can usefully be applied when you face a particular assignment such as writing a letter or report. This section deals with specific types of documents, the conventions associated with those documents, and the styles in which they are generally written.
Guide to Research Knowing whether your subject is researchable is the most important first step to developing your essay, term paper, or written project.
Reference Shelf Reference Shelf: Patrons can find many useful reference resources in Writer’s Reference Center’s Reference Shelf section, including: Dictionary: a comprehensive English dictionary, providing the correct meaning, pronunciation, spelling, and etymology of more than 90,000 words. Thesaurus: a concise guide to the synonyms and antonyms of thousands of common English words. Allusions: a guide to thousands of well-known events, places, people, and phenomena whose names convey a particular message to readers. American Regionalisms: definitions and origins of more than 20,000 terms and expressions unique to a particular American region. British English: more than 5,500 common British terms and their corresponding definitions in American English. Clichés: a list of thousands of clichés and common expressions, with meanings, sources, and usage history. Foreign Words and Phrases: a guide to thousands of foreign expressions often used in English, with definition, usage examples, pronunciation, and more. Literary and Thematic Terms: a dictionary of more than 1,000 terms important to the study of literature. Proverbs: definitions and additional information for thousands of proverbs, which are short sayings that express general truths. Rhyming Dictionary: an easily searchable rhyming dictionary. Enter any word and find all the words that rhyme with it. Word and Phrase Origins: definitions and origins of more than 15,000 words and expressions. Words Often Confused: a list of word pairs or groups that are often misused or misspelled, such as affect/effect.