Science & Technology

The Web: Purdue Owl Has Answers 24/7

Are you having trouble writing an essay or do you need help quoting your research and properly citing it in an APA or MLA format?  Purdue University of Indiana has been around since the late 1800s but not until 1994 did they create the Purdue OWL, which has just recently hit its 20th anniversary.  

The OWL is an Online Writing Lab that was made by professors for the students of Purdue to be able to have access anytime to information they might need help with.  Instead of trying to contact the professors for help, students can turn to this website, which has a vast variety of information that covers almost any kind of questions you may have about any kind of writing assignment you would have to do for any class. 

This website is used worldwide and is available for free to anybody, even if you don’t attend Purdue University.  It doesn’t matter if you’re an everyday writer or just someone who only writes when you get assignments.  There is something here for everyone. 

There is also a search engine that uses Google, but limits the search to strictly information found on the OWL.  If you have questions about writing poetry, you can just click on over to the website and type what kind of poetry information you need into the search bar, and with the quickness of Google, that information will be at your fingertips.

There is also a large section of the site that is dedicated to people who speak English as a second language.  The information provided for students or just people in general who choose to use the OWL ranges from a cultural introduction that will give the basics to living at an American college or university to writing for a Chinese business audience, which includes sample texts with memos and letters to study for yourself. 

The Purdue OWL is something that will hopefully help you in your writing exploration.  Remember, if you ever have a question about writing, this is the place to go.  The OWL will have an answer for almost anything that you might think of.