Writing and Reading Resources

Reading tips

Reading in college can be tricky! This guide helps you navigate reading and provides specific tips.

Rhetorical situation analysis

This infographic is a great place to start to learn how to understand the rhetorical situation. It’ll introduce your to key terms that build your metalinguistic awareness of the writing you have to do. Great for your projects and great for instructors in any class or discipline. 

Intro to genre analysis

This infographic helps breaks down genre analysis to help you identify core conventions and negotiable conventions. Essentially, it helps writers “pick apart” writing to understand its different features and patterns. This, together with the rhetorical situation infographic, will help writers understand the connection micro-level elements of writing (e.g., grammatical structures) and macro-level elements of writing (e.g., audience, purpose)

ARMS method

CUPS method

The ARMS method is a great way to approach revisions by thinking about big picture elements, whereas the CUPS method is great to use when making final edits. 

Writing program key concepts

The Writing Program courses use central terms and concepts to talk about and to teach writing. These are also helpful for those who need to brush up on their writing and literacy knowledge. Overall, these terms build metalinguistic and metacognitive skills to support writing and literacy development.

This libguide will help you with fundamentals of writing and research. If you have questions about citations, how to start a research project, and finding relevant sources for your projects, check out this guide!

Have questions about professional genres like resumes and cover letters? You can find resources through the Career Ecology Lab’s (CEL) resource library. Draft your application and swing by the CEL or the Writing Center to get more feedback! If you’re applying to federal jobs, you can find info here.

The resource library has resources for professional writing, networking, the Watson Fellowship, internship information, fellowship resources and so much more! Swing by the Career Ecology Lab located next to the Writing Center if you need help from the peer coaches.

Library staff are available for research help, email library@coa.edu to schedule an appointment. The library can provide support in various ways, such as locating books, research articles, and so on.