Writers Workshop: Writer Resources

ESL Resources

Purdue OWL
The Online Writing Lab (OWL) at Purdue University that houses writing resources and instructional materials for a variety of writing purposes.
Handouts for English as a Second Language (ESL)
Link to ESL handouts on OWL.
OWL Exercises
It contains some specific, grammar-oriented links and exercises.
The Dartmouth Writing Program The Dartmouth Writing Center site with information on writing academically, writing in specific disciplines and ESL writing.
www.onelook.com
Dictionary search that shows entries for a word in different dictionaries and also organizes results by discipline.
Wildcard Search (www.manythings.org)
The site demonstrates some searching techniques students and teachers can use to enhance ESL writing.
The Ultimate Writer's Guide
The page contains a collection of links that are useful for writing.
Idiom Dictionary from Answers.com
MacMilillan Dictionary
The thesaurus is very helpful: it lists meanings with each synonym if you are not sure which word is closest to your meaning, and it lists common phrases and phrasal verbs containing the word.
Research and Documentation Online
Documentation instructions and sample papers for MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles.

UIUC ESL Service Courses: www.uiucesl.com
This site provides all the information you need to know about ESL Service Courses at UIUC
Private tutors from the Linguistic Department
The Linguistic Department's keeps a list of private approved tutors who are with degrees and/or extensive experience working with ESL learners.
International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS)

Dave's ESL Cafe on the Web
This site provides online help (including a daily Q & A) for both ESL students and teachers, a jobs forum, lunacy, graffiti, and so on.
Linguistic Funland TESL Page
This comprehensive site includes activities, discussion groups, job opportunity listings, student projects, and more.
The Compleat Lexical Tutor
This is a site for English (and French) vocabulary learning developed by Tom Cobb at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
Diana Hacker Handbooks
This is a useful site for both students and instructors, and provides free grammar and writing exercises. The site contains the following books:
The Bedford Handbook; Rules for Writers; A Writer's Reference; A Pocket Style Manual; Research and Documentation in the Electronic Age.
http://www.rong-chang.com/
A well-maintained site, periodically updated by Rong Chang Li. You must have a sound card and some kind of sound engine on your machine to get the best use out of this page.
The Academic Word List
The most common words in U.S. academic writing. This list is great for building vocabulary.
Grammar Exercises
A set of advanced English grammar exercises.

Bilingual Research Journal
The journal "has a strong interest in matters related to the education of language minority children and youth in the United States, grades K-12, but articles focusing on other countries are often included" (BRJ website). It is a very useful resource for researchers of bilingual and ESL education.
TESL-EJ journal
This is an electronic ESL journal, with access to back issues.
TESOL Quarterly
"A refereed professional journal, fosters inquiry into English language teaching and learning by providing a forum for TESOL professionals to share their research findings and explore ideas and relationships in the field" (TESOL Quarterly website).

Intensive English Institute at the University of Illinois This site provides several resources for those who are studying English. There are also several links to websites with activities and information to practice reading or listening to texts. The full IEI calendar of events can also be found on this site.
Intensive English Language Center at University of Nevada at Reno
This site provides a variety of ESL resources and links. There's nothing intrinsically new here, but the site is very well maintained, and most of the newest resources on the web are documented. There's also a pen pal service and a few help manuals.
ESL Department of Washington State University
This site provides links to many other free Internet services and is designed for both learners and teachers. It also connects the user with the home pages of other academic institutions dealing with ESL.
University of Oregon's Yamada Language Learning Center
This site has a broad spectrum of ESL resources.