Free Writing Center

One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is by taking free writing classes that help with many of the fundamentals of writing. It isn’t absolutely necessary to have every grammatical rule memorized, but in order to write well you do need to understand the basic rules of well-structured writing.

Not long ago, I provided a list of the best free online writing courses. One of those websites, The Owl at Purdue, is my absolute favorite. So, I wanted to take a moment to provide a tour of this wonderful free resource, and recommend that if you like what you see, take some time to work through these free writing classes. You’ll discover that your writing will improve significantly.

Free Writing Classes from Purdue University

The first thing that you’ll notice when you visit The Owl at Purdue is the long list of available free classes that run down the right menu bar. The areas of writing that you can learn about with this site make it the premier website for learning how to write well. In fact, I would say that if you could only pick a single site to use that could teach you everything you need to know about good writing, this site would be it.

Some of the available subjects that you’ll find include Grammar and Mechanics, Research and Citation, and even The Writing Process - an excellent first stop for beginning writers. When you drop down any one of the menu items, you’ll discover a treasure trove of subjects that you can study.

When you choose a class that you want, you’ll notice that each subject is laid out using the same template, with an introduction and then a menu bar as shown here.

Menu options include getting help, downloading all materials in a multi-page printable format, obtaining permission to make copies of the coursework, an option to let Purdue know that you’re linking to the site (I’ve just done that!), the option to report an error with the courseware, and finally a button where you can provide feedback about the lesson.

As you work through each lesson, you’ll notice that the concepts are described and laid out in a manner that’s very simple to understand, and with graphical representations of each idea provided whenever it’s appropriate. There’s nothing dry or boring about these lessons - they’re well designed, well written, and well presented. You’ll also notice that at the bottom of every lesson page, there’s a complete listing of all pages that make up the lesson.

This navigational menu makes it very easy to go back to any concepts that you either forgot or you simply want to review one more time. You can jump back and forth through the lesson pages and work through it at your leisure, at your pace and whenever it’s convenient for you.

I’d like to offer kudos to the fantastic tutoring group over at Purdue for building this valuable online resource for all writers who are looking to improve their writing abilities. If you like this free tool, don’t forget to check out the Purdue “Grammar Gang” - a fun blog run by the tutoring team.

Whatever your reason for seeking out free writing classes - The Owl at Purdue is an excellent free resource and a great site to bookmark and return to whenever you need a refresher on grammar, correct writing structure and other writing guidelines.

Do you have any other free writing tools or resources that you use often to improve your writing? Share your own resources in the comments section below.