What Resources Does the Purdue OWL Offer for Citation and Writing Help?

The Purdue OWL (owl.purdue.edu) is Purdue University's online writing lab, and it offers free reference materials for citation, academic writing, plagiarism avoidance, résumés, and business letters. It is most useful if you need a citable style guide (APA or MLA), a template for a professional document, or general writing advice—whether you are a student, teacher, professional, or organization. The site also provides on-campus tutoring and workshops for the Purdue community, but the online guides are the main entry point for everyone else.

Citation and Style Guides

The two most widely used citation resources on the site are:

• APA Formatting and Style Guide — for social sciences, education, and other disciplines using APA style.
• MLA Formatting and Style Guide — for humanities fields such as literature and language studies.

Both guides are listed under "Popular Resources" on the homepage and are designed to help you format in-text citations, reference lists, and paper structure. If your assignment or publisher specifies APA or MLA, start with the matching guide rather than a general writing page.

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

The Avoiding Plagiarism guide is another core resource. It explains what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, which is relevant whether you are paraphrasing, quoting, or summarizing sources. This page is useful before you submit any paper that draws on outside material, since it connects directly to the citation guides above.

Résumé and Business Writing

For professional writing, the OWL provides:

• Developing a Résumé — guidance on building a résumé.
• Writing the Basic Business Letter — a guide to standard business letter format.

These are practical starting points if you need a document template or want to check conventions for job applications and professional correspondence.

Other Ways to Use the OWL

Beyond the guides, the homepage organizes resources by audience, including:

• Grades 7–12 instructors and students
• English as a Second Language (ESL) writers
• Non-Purdue instructors and students
• Purdue instructors and students
• Professional writers
• Parents

There are also Purdue OWL® Vidcasts for those who prefer video instruction. If you are part of the Purdue campus community, you can schedule an in-person, online, or e-tutoring session, or attend a writing workshop.

How to Choose the Right Resource

Start with the guide that matches your citation style or document type, then use the audience-specific sections if you need broader writing support.