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Purdue OWL News
August 17, 2001

Welcome to the Purdue OWL News!

This is a weekly newsletter written by the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) staff that offers writing help and advice, and updates on what's new at Purdue's OWL and in the Purdue Writing Lab. We've relocated from Listbot to Topica, and we'd like to welcome all of our new and returning members.

We would like to begin this week's news by apologizing for the mail trouble we've been having. We were unable to receive any mail sent to OWL. If you emailed us and we did not respond, please try again.

Writing Question of the Week

Here's our writing question of the week, brought to you by the Online Writing Lab Tutors here at Purdue.

Question

Does biannual mean twice a year or once every two years? What about biweekly? All of these terms confuse me.

Answer

This is another case in which English proves itself to be difficult. All of these terms can easily be confused. Here is what each term means:

Biweekly - Once every two weeks. Some dictionaries, though, say that "biweekly" can also mean twice a week.
Semiweekly - Twice a week.

Bimonthly - Once every two months. Some dictionaries, though, say that "bimonthly" can also mean twice a month.
Semimonthly - Twice a month.

Biannual - Twice a year.
Semiannual - Twice a year.

Biennial - Once every two years.

Since there is little logic to how these words are used, it might be a good idea to replace these terms with phrases like "once every two months" to avoid confusion.

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.

Since we were unable to receive any responses last week, we're going to run last week's Help Nest question another week. It's from one of our readers in Brazil. Can any of our OWL readers in the United Kingdom (or who have written recommendation letters for university applicants in the United Kingdom) help her out?

"A student of mine, who is about to apply to a university in the UK, asked me to write a letter presenting him to this institution. This is a very special 'task' which demands a formal style. I would be very much pleased if I could receive some examples of those kind of letters or to hear about any other way of finding any examples.

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... OWL Email

We're attempting to correct some serious problems with our mail server. Right now, mail service works, including mail to the online tutoring address. However, if further problems arise, we may have to shut our mail server off again in order to ensure network security. If mail to any address @owl.english.purdue.edu should start bouncing, you can contact the webmaster at ekarper@purdue.edu or the coordinator at gstacks@purdue.edu.

We thank you for your patience as we work to resolve these problems and to catch up with the accumulated mail.

New on OWL

We have just added a brand new handout on how to write an annotated bibliography. The handout covers the definition, format, and purpose of annotated bibliographies. We have even included a sample. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_annotatedbib.html

What's Happening In the Writing Lab

OWL Eye on ... Tours

Attention teachers! You can bring your class to the Writing Lab for a tour. A Writing Lab tutor will show your students around and explain what we have to offer them. This is ideal for all types of classes - not just writing or English courses. You can also schedule a tutor to come to your class if you prefer. Just call the Writing Lab at 494-3723 and schedule a tour for your class.

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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