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Purdue OWL News
June 29, 2001

Welcome to the Purdue OWL News!

This is an online newsletter about happenings in the Purdue University Writing Lab and the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). We"re always glad to hear from you at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu!

Writing Question of the Week

Here"s our grammar question of the week, brought to you by the Online Writing Lab Tutors here at Purdue. You can send mail to the online tutors at this form.

I often have trouble telling the difference between it's and its. Can you give me some tips on how to tell the difference and some examples?

Here's the answer.

Many people get these two words confused, especially because they sound alike when pronounced. However, both words have different meanings.

"Its" is a possessive pronoun like "his," "her," and "their." If you're writing a sentence and you want to indicate that something belongs to or is possessed by something, use "its."

"The crab had an unusual growth on its shell" would be an example of a sentence using "its."

"It's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has" (in a verb phrase). Other examples of contractions include "you're" for "you are" and "they're" for "they are." If you're writing a sentence and you want to indicate that something is, use "it's."

"It's still raining; it's been raining for three days" would be an example of a sentence using "it's."

If you're confused about whether to use "its" or "it's" in a sentence, try to figure out what the word "it" is supposed to do in that sentence. If you want the "it" in your sentence to be used to show belonging or possession, use "its." If you want the "it" in your sentence to be used as a verb or as part of a verb phrase (to show that something is or has), use "it's."

We have a handout on common words that sound a like and their differences at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_spelhomo.html.

The OWL Help Nest

Many of our readers write to us with questions or requests for help with their writing. Readers also write to us with suggestions about how to help people learn more about writing. In this section of the newsletter, we"ll try to bring together both the people looking for help and the people who can help them.

Each week we"ll publish a request for advice or information. If you have information or advice about this topic, please write to us at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. Please let us know if you want us to include your name and/or your email address when we publish your information or advice. The following week, we"ll publish the best information and advice that we receive in the newsletter.

Last week's request was about tips for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Over the years, we have collected many sources for both ESL students and teachers. We have links to resources about online journals, developing syllabi and assignments, general reference, and help with specific teaching tasks. You can see all of these links here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslteacher.html

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with your suggestions! Here's our next request from some of our readers.

What are some of your favorite ways to get started when you sit down to write? Do you have any good ideas for how to start brainstorming or to get inspired when there don't seem to be any ideas left in your head?

Got some help for our readers? Send it to owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. Your advice and information about this will appear in next week's newsletter. If you have a general request for help and information, you can send it to us at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu and we'll try to include it in the newsletter as soon as possible.

What's Happening On OWL

OWL Eye On... Other OWLs

We're not the only Online Writing Lab out there! There are lots of other OWLs that contain helpful resources and information for learning more about writing. We maintain a list of many of them on our OWL. If you're looking for other helpful resources related to writing, you might want to visit some of their pages. If you're working on putting together your own OWL or you want to learn more about how OWLs work, we have some information about that as well.

Writing Labs & Writing Centers on the Web http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/owls/writing-labs.html

Other OWL Resources on the Internet http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/owls/owlothersource.html

The OWL Bibliography: A Collection of Scholarly Research on Online Writing Labs http://owl.english.purdue.edu/internet/owls/owl-bib.html

If you have an OWL that's not listed on our page, or if you have resources to contribute to our bibliography or our resources page, please send us an email and we'll make sure to add them!

Under Construction on OWL

This week we're on vacation, but work continues on converting our handouts to more printer friendly versions. Our business writing consultants are finishing up some new and revised handouts for our professional writing section. We've also received a copy of the new APA style manual, so we'll be revising our APA handout to conform with the latest guidelines for citing sources.

You can see what new content has been added in past weeks by visiting our What's New page at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/whatsnew.html.

What's Happening In the Writing Lab

OWL Eye on ... The Writing Lab Newsletter

The Purdue Writing Lab publishes the Writing Lab Newsletter from September to June. The newsletter is a forum for exchanging ideas and information about writing centers in colleges, universities, and high schools. Articles focus on challenges in directing a writing center, training tutors, adding computers, designing and expanding centers, and using tutorial theory and pedagogy. In addition to articles, issues contain conference announcements, book reviews, professional news, and a column by and for tutors. The newsletter is published monthly from September to June.

If you're interested in learning more about the Writing Lab Newsletter, including how to subscribe, visit the page about it at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/newsletter/index.html. You can even read an article about online tutoring there.

Ongoing in the Writing Lab

This summer, as always, we have tutorials, workshops for classes, reference materials and handouts, computers and printers for student use, ESL self-study materials, bookmarks, quiet places to study, and a helpful and friendly staff. Stop by and see us!

Final Thoughts

Thanks for reading our newsletter, and please email us any suggestions you might have! We really enjoy hearing from our readers. You can mail us at any time at owlnews@owl.english.purdue.edu. You can also email the OWL coordinator, Geoff Stacks, at coordinator@owl.english.purdue.edu and the webmaster, Erin Karper, at webmaster@owl.english.purdue.edu. (Erin and Geoff take turns writing the newsletter.)

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