A Show and Tell...of Sorts

Sometimes it is just easier to show someone the very thing you are trying to teach them.

I am this someone.

I admit it. I really need to see lessons put into practice - and then... CLICK! BOOM! I get it!

So, I was very excited to see that the Purdue Owl has an enormous array of online tutorials that provide people like me with mini training sessions, which allow for that "CLICK! BOOM! I get it!" moment.

For example:

Let's pretend that you are having a hard time formatting MLA citations. You feel like you need to see it done in order to really understand how to do it. Well, then you are in luck! The Purdue OWL has just the Vidcast for you found here.

Excited! I know I was.

The OWL offers a good amount of YouTube vidcasts. Listed below is just a small list of the clips that are available for anyone to access in order to gain assistance with their writing.

APA Formatting and Style
MLA Formatting and Style
Job Search and Application Writing
Professional and Technical Writing
Writing in Engineering
Grammar and Mechanics
General Writing
Cover Letter Writing
Memo Writing
The Semicolon
Visual Rhetoric

The information found in these clips can also be found on the OWL's website (located in the appropriate sections). Information such as this usually explains why a citation is formatted the way it is and then gives an example of a citation. The beauty of the YouTube clips is that they are visual tutorials. They show you how to properly format a page (by clicking on the correct options in Word), and in several of the tutorials it is possible to watch someone in the process formatting a Works Cited page, using semicolons, and writing a memo.

Perhaps you are the type of learner that does not need to see a new concept in action before you apply it (and boy do I envy you), but you still like the idea of a visual (because who doesn't?). Then you can access these helpful YouTube vidcasts by clicking here.