WR 3011: Peer Tutoring in Writing

General Information

Off campus access to resources with
Share with students you tutor: Library Resources and Research Techniques (PDF)
Search examples: concept maps and study aids for visual learners
Still need help or want to refer students who need to expand their research? We offer research consultations!

Background Information & Idea Generation

Browse textbook topics and bibliography. Beyond this and general web searching, check out topics in the following sources, or browse table of contents of journals listed below.

The free web: try Polycola search engine or even Kartoo Visual Meta Search
Gather data, keywords/key phrases, theories, and authors related to your topic
Oxford English Dictionary.
Oxford Companion to the English Language . Reference Collection PE31 O94 1992
Citation Resources - the library owns many writing handbooks, style guides

Searching for Books in the library catalog, subject headings:

English language Rhetoric

English philology Authorship

Humanities Authorship

Criticism Authorship

Academic writing

Report writing

Writing Centers

Collaborative Writing

Written communication

Plagiarism or Intellectual property

Nonverbal communication or Expression or Body language

Creative writing

Oral communication or Speech

Meetings Audio-visual aids or Visual aids or Communication in management or Business presentations or Visual communication

Information Choices: Choosing Scholarly Sources

See page 3 of Library Resources and Research Techniques (PDF) for a chart on types of periodicals.

Writer vs. College Composition and Communication

Find Scholarly Research Articles

All databases are WPI subscriptions except ERIC, Google Scholar, CCC Bibliography, and ComPile.

Filtering Tips

Define and focus your research problem to find relevant results

Make a list of keywords and key phrases to search and add to this list as you progress

Scan results: look at Subject headings/descriptors and use them to expand search

Scrutinize article titles, number of pages, and journal title

Browse promising abstract and conclusion sections of long studies

Bibliographies can clue you in on the value of the article as well

Find an interesting author? Search for more articles by him/her or web search for his/her web site

ERIC: U.S. Department of Education sponsored database abstracting education articles, chapters, books, dissertations and reports in the education arena.
JSTOR: Full text of scholarly journals such as College Composition and Communication and English Journal. Most current issues are not available (JSTOR = "journal storage").
ArticleFirst: FirstSearch database indexing broad range of topics and key journals such as: Journal of College Reading and Learning and other key academic writing journals.
WilsonSelect: FirstSearch database indexing and abstracting a broad range of topic areas.
Humanities International Complete: indexing and abstracting a broad range of topic areas in the Humanities, including Written Communication Journal and Communication Quarterly.
Gale PowerSearch: abstracting a broad range of topic areas with some full text content.
Google Scholar: A focused search on scholarly literature, use but be aware of the pitfalls of searching the free web. Also, you may link from Google to WPI subscribed resources as well, it's not all free web!
CCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric: Free web database, covers 1984-1999. Created by members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication.
ComPile: composition, rhetoric, ESL, technical writing in post-secondary education: Another free web database, indexing books and journal articles. Created by Rich Haswell at Texas A & M.
MLA International Bibliography: Indexes books, essay collections and bibliographies on literature, languages, linguistics and folklore.

Trace History of the Idea, Theories, Research Behind Your Inquiry

Social Sciences Citation Index via Web of Science: References to the literature of the social sciences. 1990 to the present.
Find books by scholars: Gordon Library Catalog | Beyond WPI: WorldCat

Only Finding a Citation? Getting the Full Text

Is the journal online or here in the library? Search our Journals, Magazines, & Newspapers
Visit another library: Search WorldCat to find one
Request delivery from another library: Interlibrary Loan.

Writing and Rhetoric - A Few Core Journals

Assessing Writing via ScienceDirect: 1995 to present
College Composition and Communication via JSTOR: 1950 to present (Embargo: 3 years)
English Journal via JSTOR: 1912 to present (Embargo: 3 years)
Written Communication 1999 to present. Access to 1997 - 1998, for older issues visit Holy Cross for 1984-1996 or request via Interlibrary Loan
Research in the Teaching of English no full text access at WPI, visit Clark University (1980+) or Worcester State College (current 10 years) or request via Interlibrary Loan
Journal of College Reading and Learning online 1997- present, for earlier articles request via Interlibrary Loan
Journal of Teaching Writing for access to articles visit Holy Cross for v.8-v.21(1989-2004) or Fitchburg State v.6, or 1987 to present, or request via Interlibrary Loan
Journal of Second Language Writing via ScienceDirect: 1995 to present
Reading and Writing via SpringerLink: 1997 to present.
Writing Center Journal via Publisher's Site: selected full text 1980 to present. Indexed in MLA International Bibliography database.

Questions?

Stop by the reference desk or set up a research consultation.

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Last modified: Feb 15, 2008, 10:13 EST