Ah, September! The season of Back to School. Me, I’m always back to school, relying on books and web sites to teach me what I don’t know, whether it’s what I haven’t learned yet, what I didn’t learn the first time around, or what I forgot since last week.

In the spirit of life-long learning, let me share with you my two favorite web sites from halls of higher learning.

Purdue OWL

I turn to the OWL when I want to dig deep and learn more about some aspect of writing.

The acronym O W L (apart from being a metaphor for wisdom) stands for Online Writing Lab.

This site has exceptional depth. It covers all aspects of writing, including various types of writing (such as general, academic, research and “job search writing”).

The site is straightforward, clean, and professional. The navigation is easy to use but the track backs can get confusing. The search feature is useful (and necessary).

I get the impression that the university funded the site and takes diligent care of it.

This site is no doubt a valuable, and required, resource for all Purdue students throughout their years in school. Those of us who are out of college can use the information to refresh our skills and learn anew.

Wonderful World of Editing

I turn to Professor Gibson when I have a specific question about editing or word usage. I invariably find the answer here.

This site is part of the University of Kansas’s William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications and is officially called Professor Gibson’s Wonderful World of Editing (Making Words Work). Whew; you don’t want to say that even once, fast.

The focus here is on editing, understandably, as the site is associated with a journalism school.  It is therefore less comprehensive than the Purdue OWL. Nonetheless, it covers the basics, in sections including “Grammar and Other Goodies,”  “Oh, no, not numbers!” and “Spelling is EZ.”

Humor, thank goodness!  Professor Gibson uses humor throughout the site, in the writing and cartoons.

This site isn’t especially pretty (isn’t there an old saying about judging Web sites by their home pages?). It is nonetheless easy to navigate, informative and funny. After all, funny is a superb teaching technique.

I get the impression that the site is Prof Gibson’s hobby and he gets by without too much butting in by the University. In fact, the site’s copyright is in his name, not the Univ of Kansas’s. He knows his stuff.

Do you have a favorite school Web site as a resource for better writing and communication? Let me know!