Resources

Here are some good online resources to help you tune up your grammar skills:

The Emergency Grammar System:
This University of Oregon site lets you test yourself, and does a good job of explaining the basic rules of grammar behind the answers. Plus, it’s kinda fun.

The Power of Words:
The Power of Words has been publishing writing tips by the staff of The Providence Journal almost every week since August 1997. You can find tips on just about any type of journalism assignment here. You’ll find good tips, examples and lots more.

Newsroom 101:
This web site offers online exercises in grammar, usage and AP style. A great way to review and test your skills. Best part: once you select the right answer for each exercise, you get an explanation that tells why it’s right (and you can keep trying until you get it right).

OWL (Online Writing Lab at Purdue):
This big website covers many aspects of grammar and writing. To focus on grammar, scroll down to the Handouts & Materials section, or simply click on the site map (under “quick links” at right) to get to a well-organized listing of all pages in this site. Then pick the grammar exercises that would be most helpful to you. For example, you’ll find a good explanation of sentence fragments and dangling modifiers.

Garbl’s Writing Center:
An excellent list of web sites that offer grammar guidance, including those I’ve listed here. Be sure to check out some of the links to writing resources in the left panel. For more options and information, go to Gary B. Larson’s home page, Garbl’s Writing Center.

News Values:
What is news? Where does it come from? How do you apply news values in order to find the lead? This website explains the basics.

 Start a Blog:
This gives you the step-by-step of starting your own blog.