Online Resources
Euphemism of the Week
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uncertain = economically depressed
the future is always uncertain. This is the jargon of economists who fear that to talk of recession will bring it about: ... the economic situation in the UK remains uncertain (M. Thomas, 1980). |
My Favourite Website
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presented by members of the Institute |
Kurt Ubelhoer about the Online Writing Lab (OWL)
A good website, English-related or any other, is one that can be a resource at multiple phases in a student’s or user’s life. The Online Writing Lab of Purdue University
(Indiana, USA) is precisely such a tool. Despite the fact that I’m a
graduate of the University of Notre Dame (also Indiana, USA), whose
Fighting Irish football team has a very passionate rivalry with the
Purdue Boilermakers, and so I can’t bring myself to praise Purdue any
more than absolutely necessary, I still have to admit that this website
is worth your time. Don’t tell the alumni association, but I used it
myself in college and continue to use it now when writing papers and
coaching students.
So what’s in this indispensable website?
For EBC 1 students,
you will find informational handouts and examples useful in your life
as a WU student, from grammar exercises to clear explanations covering
all the topics with which non-native English students of all levels
tend to have problems.
For EBC 2, EBC 3, and EBC 4 students,
there are handy writing guides to augment your journey toward producing
those ever-elusive perfect paragraphs. Is your EBC 2 instructor (e.g.
me) going on and on about thesis statements and developing outlines for
your paragraphs? This section will break down the whole writing process
for you, step by step, from brainstorming to proofreading.
For your Bachelor/Master theses, there are very handy style guides. Although for your stint at the WU, you will of course be using the Institute’s official style guide,
the OWL also provides you with easy-to-use overviews and detailed
examples of the three most commonly employed citation styles in the US
– MLA, Chicago, and APA.
For those of you interested in a study abroad program at an American university,
the US university student culture guide will definitely be of interest
as you navigate through a VVZ-less, Learn@WU-less, UZA-less world.
And finally, as you return from the US, realize that it is the country of your dreams, and begin to look for a job in the States,
the OWL is still there for you. Indeed, this website, which has
hitherto been your academic savior, comes complete with an excellent
overview of and a ton of suggestions for writing résumés and cover
letters to get that perfect job and live the American Dream.
And when you make your first billion, remember your favorite English teacher. I’ll be here.
OWL website links:
General OWL website
ESL Grammar
Writing Style Resources
US university life/culture
Research and Citation
Job search
Barbara Unterberger shows why the URL shortener bit.ly is not only for Twitter geeks and Facebook addicts but could revolutionise the daily life of academics.
We've
all been there: you read a journal article in print and the author
refers to an online source. You are quite excited about that online
document and can't wait to get your hands on it but a simple Google
search won't do the job. Most of the time you have to undergo a rather
painful procedure before you can finally hit the print button. You
start by copying the long URL with its weird combination of random
characters, i.e. letters, numbers, and symbols like "%_&+", into
the address bar of your browser and in 7 out of 10 cases you'll get a "We're sorry, but the page you are looking for is not found". Frustrating, right? So this is why it was timely that bit.ly
helps us shorten and customise URLs. In addition to references in
publications, shorter and customised URLs could also revolutionise
email communication.
Overlong URLs which create a blue
hyperlink mess in your email messages and force the recipient to cut
and paste the link back together could soon be a thing of the past.
Moreover, wouldn't it be great if you could create and share links that
include a keyword which immediately helps to identify the content of
the website it refers to?
So how does the URL shortener work and is it reliable? bit.ly
works with a redirect technique which makes a website available under
many URLs. In other words, your shortened link redirects the person
who's clicked on it to the destination URL. The people at bit.ly
say that this technique is "the most efficient and search-engine
friendly method" and as the original URL is never modified, the new
link is permanent.
By now you should be convinced that this
online tool is exactly what we've been waiting for, so let's move from
theory to practice. It is incredibly easy to create short links: just
paste the URL you want to shorten and bit.ly
immediately provides you with a substantially shorter version of it. If
you're signed in, you can customise your links by replacing the
randomly created characters with keywords of your choice and you also
have access to personalised stats for the links you've created. The
latter is especially interesting when you've included a link in a
publication and want to track how often it has been clicked.
I
hope I could convince you that this online tool, originally created to
solve the 140-characters-problem of the Twitter community, can help you
to include reliable and proper links to websites in your emails and
publications.
Gisela Tinkler about The Week (September 2010)
"The
Week" is a wonderful choice if you feel overwhelmed by the abundance of
newspapers, magazines, news channels, etc. and nonetheless want to keep
up with what is going on around the globe. The idea behind "The Week"
is that the major events of every week are covered by selecting
articles, comments and analyses from different – reliable! – sources.
The intention is to provide the reader with an unbiased view of events,
something which may often be hard to achieve when reading only one
particular newspaper, listening to one particular news channel or
simply having to depend on one particular country’s focus on what it
considers important and what not.
The categories dealt with by
"The Week" are roughly divided into the following: Current Topics, News
and Opinions, Business, Arts & Life, Cartoons, Photos, Videos, etc.
Within these categories, you will find commentaries and analyses,
interviews, book and film reviews, the presentation of the latest
technological and medical advances and other business ventures, as well
as witty snippets on issues such as suggestions about what is no longer
politically correct and how to act accordingly. One of "The Week’s"
major advantages is its concise, yet detailed coverage – a great
time-saver.
"The Week" started as a magazine, however, now has a US online edition which you can find at http://theweek.com/home, and which – contrary to its name – offers daily coverage of US and foreign affairs. Enjoy!
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