English Editing Researcher Services

Resource Roundup: Language Resources

It's time for another of our Resource Roundups. As an editing company, obviously our main area of expertise is in language and grammar. But this expertise can’t all be shared with you in a simple blog post, and there are many extremely thorough resources out there that already cover more than might ever think you want to know about language and grammar. The range of online options, including style guides, grammar tutorials, common problem analysis, document styles and interactive courses, offer you a well-rounded selection of choices to help you brush up on whatever specific aspects of language you want to learn about.  Here are some of our favorites:

 

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is an extremely thorough and very helpful site for all of your tricky grammar issues. You can work through examples and look up specific grammar points, and they even have sub-sections within the site for ESL learners.

 

Online Style Guides

In the old days before the Internet (does anyone remember those?), style guides used to be huge reference books that people could refer to for guidance on all the specifics of writing within a particular style. Popular examples include the Chicago Manual of Style, the AMA Manual of Style, and the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook. Thankfully, these resources are now all available online so there’s no more need to lug heavy books around just in case you might need them, but do know that they do require payment for full access. You can also find free summarized information for the key points in each of these guides on the OWL website listed above.

 

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl is an internet sensation. What started as a grammar podcast has now evolved into an active web and social media presence. With a light tone and a practical sensibility, Grammar Girl provides short, quick-and-dirty tips for sorting out those little issues that often trip up people’s writing.

 

Springer Exemplar

A helpful resource from Springer, their Exemplar website is a great go-to resource for all of your terminology questions. If you’re unsure how a term should be used in scientific writing, pop it into Exemplar and it will bring up examples from published studies that used that term so you can check to see if you are using it correctly.

 

Online Writing Courses

Of course, if you want more comprehensive help with your writing and grammar, taking a full course can always be helpful. If you don’t have a lot of time or money to commit to one locally, free online courses from edX and Coursera will let you work at your own pace with content created by some of the world’s top universities, and you’ll even get a certificate at the end if you complete it with a high-enough grade. Courses taken through these platforms are often built with interactivity and engagement in mind, so you can finally say goodbye to those dry grammar lessons you remember from school.

 

Are there any other online grammar and language resources you find indispensable? Let us know!