University Writing Program

More Writing Mechanics Ideas

From the UWS Exercise Book (docx / gdoc)

  1. Lesson Plan: Diction and Punctuation with Integrating Sources (Kevin Doyle) 213
  2. Reviewing an MLA Paper: Use of Sources 214
  3. Academic Resources Center: Signal Phrases 214
  4. Verbs for Signal Phrases 215
  5. Student Writing with Sources 216
  6. Exercise #1 – Active Verbs for Your Course (Ryan Wepler) 219
  7. Active Verbs for Discussing Ideas 221
  8. Exercise #2 – Postcard Exercise on Diction (Daniela Kukrechtova) 221
  9. Exercise #3 – Working on Tone and Style (Jessie Stickgold-Sarah) 222
  10. Exercise #4 – Correcting Students’ Own “Loser Sentences” 223
  11. How to Spot a Loser Sentence . . . 225
  12. Loser Sentences from Student Essays 225
  13. Exercise #5 – Identifying Lackluster Sentences (Tina Van Kley) 227
  14. Exercise #6 – Balderdash (The Ohio State Writing Program) 227
  15. Exercise #7 – Sentence Structure Activity (The Ohio State Writing Program) 228
  16. Exercise #8 – Correcting Slang, Clichés, and Informal Language (The Ohio State Writing Program) 229
  17. Exercise #9 – The All Purpose Writing Activity (The Ohio State Writing Program) 230
  18. Exercise #10 – Expelling Clichés from Student Writing (Kyle Wiggins) 231
  19. Exercise #11 – Comma Exercise (Jeremy Spindler) 232
  20. Comma Usage Guidelines 234
  21. Supply the commas 234
  22. Exercise #12 – Putting Punctuation into Practice (Steve Plunkett) 236
  23. Punctuation, Style, and Meaning 237
  24. Commas, Colons, Semicolons, and Dashes: A User’s Guide 239
  25. Exercise #13 – Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location 242
  26. Exercise #14 – Passive Voice & Weak Verbs (Cory Nelson) 242
  27. Exercise #15 – Integrated Lecture and Punctuation Exercise (Sarah Caissie) 243
  28. Exercise #16: Semicolons 245
  29. Exercise #17: Identifying Common Grammatical Errors 245
  30. Exercise #18: Comma Workshop 248
  31. Place commas wherever they are needed in the following sentences. 249
  32. Style Scavenger Hunt for Rough Drafts 250
  33. Some sentence elements to beware of using too often 251
  34. Making Passive Sentences Active 253
  35. Short Writing Exercise 254
  36. Punctuation & Grammar Exercises 255
  37. Why Do Word Choices Matter? 257
  38. 7 Principles of Highly Effective Writing 258
  39. Working Out Problem “To Be” Sentences 261
  40. Subject-Verb Agreement 264
  41. Lesson Plan: Exercises for Voice and Audience (Lauren Holm) 268
  42. Lesson Plan: Crafting Style for Great Writing 269