Writing Centre Online Resource Guide

Active and passive voice are different ways of constructing clauses. In active voice, the subject of the clause performs the action. In passive voice, the subject of the clause receives the action. This document contains information on when/where it is appropriate to use active and passive voice in your writing.

This handout defines and explains four types of sentence (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) and presents examples of each.

A run-on sentence is a sentence that contains two independent clauses that are not separated by appropriate punctuation. This document contains advice on identifying, avoiding, and correcting this kind of error.

A comma splice is a kind of run-on sentence in which two independent clauses are incorrectly joined together by a comma. This document provides more information on how to spot and fix comma splices in your writing.

A handout describing how to deal with wordy, confusing, or convoluted phrases in your writing

Articles are words that come before a noun and indicate whether the noun is specific/non-specific, as well as singular/plural. This document provides information about using articles in your writing along with specific examples.

A verb's tense indicates the point in time when the action takes place. This chart provides examples of English verb tenses and describes the situations in which they are most appropriately used.

A table of verb tenses with examples of each

Nouns can be either singular or plural. A verb must always agree with the subject noun (i.e. a plural form of a noun requires the plural form of the verb).This document contains more information on how to distinguish between singular and plural subjects.

Modal verbs, including words such as “can”, “could”, “will”, and “would", express likelihood, ability, permission, and obligation. This handout features a guide to using modal verbs in your writing, as well as many examples.

Gerunds and participles are words derived from verbs which express action but do not function as verbs in a sentence. A gerund is a verb that functions as a noun in the context of a sentence. A participle is a verb which functions as an adjective or adverb. This handout gives an overview of how to use these kinds of words in your writing, as well as examples of common errors.

A preposition is a word that modifies nouns, pronouns, adjectives, or verbs to provide information about time, space, or direction. This document provides more information and specific examples.

This document, by Kala Hirtle of the Dalhousie Writing Centre, provides a guide on how to use an apostrophe correctly, including many examples.

A short guide, with many examples, to the different ways commas are used in academic writing.

This document from the Dalhousie Writing Centre provides details about colon and semicolon use, along with many examples.

Transition words and phrases show the connection between two similar or different ideas and help to create flow. This guide from Sharon Vogel of the Dalhousie Writing Centre discusses different kinds of transition phrase and the circumstances in which they are used. Updated November 8, 2024

Learn about the conventions for incorporating numbers into your writing.

Parentheticals (also known as “interrupters”) are words or phrases that expand on something in a sentence or supply additional, non-essential information. This handout discusses how to use punctuation such as commas, parentheses and dashes to set off parenthetical material from the rest of a sentence.

This handout gives a general overview of strategies for writing a successful academic paper at Dalhousie.

A handout summarizing the different steps of the writing process

Before you can begin to write a report, essay, thesis, etc., an important first step is to gather information, primarily by reading. Throughout your university career you will do a lot of reading, and you will interact with many different types of documents (textbooks, articles, policies, novels, lab reports etc.) in order to inform your writing. Yet, often times we find ourselves at the bottom of a page not really understanding or even remembering what we just read. In order to get more out of your reading, it is important to be actively engaged in the reading process. To make the most of your reading, check out this handout contributed by Allison Nicolle.

A guide to organizing and ordering paragraphs so that they clearly express your ideas and develop your thesis

A handout developed by Kala Hirtle, Dalhousie Writing Centre

A handout describing how to deal with wordy, confusing, or convoluted phrases in your writing