WRIT 465 Supplemental Resources

Course Resources

This page is a hodge-podge of resources I've stumbled on (or found, when I look deliberately) that help with business and professional writing projects. If you find a particularly good website in the course of your work, please forward me the URL so that I can add it to this list. It may help a fellow struggling student!

PLEASE NOTE: I do not control the content of any of these sites and am therefore not responsible for how you may react to them; I hope none contain offensive material. I am also unable to magically fix any broken links on remote sites, but if you find any of those, please report them to me so that I can see about getting them fixed. --Dr. K

Winthrop Resources	The Writing Center: www.winthrop.edu/wcenter Dacus Library's guide for finding business information on the Web: http://www.winthrop.edu/dacus/About/Infoguides/busweb.htm Career Services and its schedule of events for Spring 2005
Writing Resources	Purdue University's Online Guide to Professional Writing (a cornucopia of handouts on business writing issues: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/index.html#sub6 Rensselaer's Gender-Fair Language tips: http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/genderfair.html Want to see a good example of revising a business letter? Look at this example from the professional business writing company Effectivewriter.com. University of Wisconsin Library's collection of grant writing resources: http://www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/memorial/grants/proposal.htm The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's classic The Levels of Edit, a guide to revising from a corporate, function-based perspective. An oldie but still goodie.
MS Word Tutorials	MS Word Tutorial Learning Microsoft Word 7.0 Word 2000 Word Tutorial Microsoft Word Tutorial
Presentations	Jeff Radel's wonderful tutorial on Giving an Oral Presention (Kansas State University) A.B. Longman Publishers' Oral Presentation Resources (companion site to Lannon's book) (See especially the "web destinations" link) Florida Gulf Coast University's PowerPoint tutorial: http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/ppt/index.html Nicole Grant's "Giving Presentations with your Computer": http://www.sputnick.com/newsday/col53.html Texas A&M's Engineering Presentation hints: http://ee.tamu.edu/~tex/research.html Microsoft Assistance Center: PowerPoint tips: http://search.office.microsoft.com/assistance/producttask.aspx?p=PowerPoint Gorin & Cook's Self-Assessment Quiz on Presentation Skills: http://www.gorin.com/quiz.html
Web Writing	Learningspace.org's FrontPage Tutorial: http://www.learningspace.org/tech/FrontPage/ Florida Gulf Coast University's FrontPage Tutorials--both basic and advanced: http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/frontpage/ For ideas about how to create surveys on the Web, see GVU's WWW User Surveys and Survey Net Results Central. The Hermes Project surveys the commercial use of the Internet. Free clip art: visit Barry's Clip Art or Boogie Jack's or Pam's Bytes (this last one has great backgrounds)
Job Searches	Wall Street Journal's "Career Journal": http://www.careerjournal.com/Default.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1 Monster.com: www.monster.com LookSmart's Career Center: http://www.looksmart.com/r?page=/dls/ca/ca.html Homestore.com's calculators for comparing earnings, cost of living, etc.: www.homefair.com TopJobs.com (European jobs): http://www.topjobs.com/ Kim Isaac's "Ten Classic Résumé Bloopers" (contributed by Alexis Miller): http://editorial.careers.msn.com/articles/resumebloopers/ Help with finding internships: www.internships.org
Interviewing	William & Mary's great interviewing site: http://fsweb.wm.edu/career/04/Interview/InterviewIndex.cfm?SectionName=Basics and their fabulous interviewing handout http://fsweb.wm.edu/career/02/Student/Interview/handout2.cfm CollegeGrad.com's Interviewing Portal: http://www.collegegrad.com/intv/ The 25 Worst Interview Mistakes from Venturi Staffing (formerly Thomas Staffing): http://www.thomas-staffing.com/jobtip1.htm Washington State University's great interactive "Dress to Impress" site: http://amdt.wsu.edu/research/dti/index.htm Preparing for behavioral interviews (from Quintessential Careers.com) Guide to case interviews (from campusaccess.com) Bain & Co's guide to acing case-based interviews What informal note stationery looks like and how to write thank-you notes. *Dr. K's caveat: Do not send thank-you notes by e-mail or type them, no matter what some sites say. They should always* be handwritten! (That's an insider/outsider tip.)**
General Business References	Dilbert.com: www.dilbert.com CEO Express: Everything for the busy businessperson: http://www.ceoexpress.com/default.asp Several tools exist for specialized searches. To get information about starting and running your own business, check SBAonline. The VALS segmentation system divides US consumers into eight groups. (Take the quiz to see which group you're in!) To learn more about topics in business and economics and about specific companies and industries, check All Business Network EDGAR Database of Corporate Information FINWeb Home Page Fortune 500 Guide to Advertising and Marketing Sources Home Mortgage Rates Nationwide Nijenrode Business Webserver Penn World Tables Resources for Economists on the Internet Sysmgmt.com Thomas Register of American Manufacturers The US government provides a wealth of information. Useful sources include THOMAS: Legislative Information on the Internet Online Women's Business Center The Internal Revenue Service The US Census Library of Congress World Wide Web Home Page Government Printing Office Access The Small Business Administration's Guide to Writing a Business Plan
Etc.	The following general navigational tools can help you find information on the Web. Alta Vista. Currently the most comprehensive search engine. Ask Jeeves. Ask questions in plain English. Directory of Search Engines. Everything listed on this page and more. Google Librarian-Built Subject Guides. Built by people who make a living finding information. ProFusion. Searches many engines at once. Savvy Search Scour.net. Multimedia portal searches for audio, video and images. To find people's e-mail addresses, check the Internet White Pages or E-mail Addresses. Phone numbers are listed in Switchboard: Find a Person. To find a business address or phone number, check BigBook (US Yellow Pages with maps) Four-1-1 Internet @ddress.Finder Switchboard: Find a Business WorldWide Yellow Pages To find postage and zip codes, check USPS. Check Guide to Listserv Lists to find discussion lists on specific topics. Join a list, and you can query experts.