Professor L's Compositon and Writing Lab/Essential Writing Skills (Standard Access Beta)

  • $14.99

Essential Writing Skills (Standard Access Beta)

  • 12 left
  • Course
  • 32 Lessons
  • 122-day access

Get early access to the Essential Writing Skills program for just $14.99 this semester (first 12 subscribers only). Includes key Tier 1 lessons, full Tiers 2–3, and select Tier 4 skills on grammar, sentence structure, and paragraph building. Lessons feature worksheets, quizzes, and answer keys. Beta members see updates in real time and keep access when the Standard Plan launches.

Contents

Standard Access Skill Set (Beta)- Welcome to the Lab - Orientation - Placement

SAB Banner

You’ve stepped beyond the basics—now we’ll build real confidence in your paragraphs, your essays, and your voice as a writer. This is the Beta release of Standard Access: all lessons are ready to use, and you may see small refinements as we improve flow. Your feedback helps shape the final version.


📘 What You’ll Find in This Course

This plan is designed to take you from essential foundations to higher-level academic writing, one skill at a time. Here’s what’s included:

🧭 Orientation Lessons

Start here to understand the real-world value of writing and your role in the process:

  • Why Writing Still Matters

  • Why You Shouldn’t Have AI Write for You

🧱 Foundations (Tier 1 Essentials)

Reinforce the grammar and structure you need to build from:

  • Parts of Speech

  • Basic Sentence Structure

  • Subject-Verb Agreement

✏️ Sentence-Level Skills (Tier 2 – Full Tier Included)

📋 Pre-Unit Diagnostic

Before diving in, take a short diagnostic to assess your current skills and help prioritize your learning. This quick checkup will guide you toward the lessons that matter most for your writing.

Master sentence clarity, structure, and variety:

  • Combining Simple Sentences

  • Avoiding Fragments and Run-Ons

  • Using Compound and Complex Sentences

  • Punctuation, Sentence Beginnings, Modifiers, Parallelism, and more

📚 Paragraph-Level Skills (Tier 3 – Full Tier Included)

📋 Pre-Unit Diagnostic

Before diving in, take a short diagnostic to assess your current skills and help prioritize your learning. This quick checkup will guide you toward the lessons that matter most for your writing.

Learn to build strong, unified, and well-developed paragraphs:

  • Topic Sentences

  • Supporting Details

  • Transitions

  • Unity, Coherence, Focus, and Paragraph Revision

🧠 Essay Structure Sampler (Tier 4 – Selected Lessons)

Start shaping full essays with a few key lessons:

  • Understanding Basic Essay Structure

  • Building Strong Body Paragraphs

  • Effective Conclusions (with more coming soon)

✨ Advanced Sample (Tier 5 Preview)

Explore one higher-level skill from advanced writing strategy:

  • (Coming Soon: A sample lesson on rhetorical strategy, pacing, or revision)


🔍 How to Use the Lessons

Each lesson follows a consistent structure to help you practice, reflect, and improve:

  • 🎧 Audio Overview – A quick welcome and orientation

  • 📖 Main Lesson Content – Readable, practical instruction

  • 📝 Practice Worksheet – Targeted skill drills

  • Answer Key – Self-check and review

  • Knowledge Quiz – Short self-check with key

  • 💬 Reflection Question – Optional, meaningful writing prompt

✅ Work through the full lesson when building new skills
✅ Return to specific lessons when targeting weak spots

Go in order—or don’t. This course is flexible by design.


Time & materials (so you can plan)

  • Lesson reading (Start-Here): Normal 10–12 min • Heavy-Read 12–18 min

  • Practice time (aka pacing): Each worksheet 20–30 min (includes check & reflect) • Quiz 3–5 min

  • Materials: This lesson page; notebook & pen/pencil (or notes app). (Audio overview available; transcript on request.)


Downloads & formatting

  • Worksheets and keys are fillable, watermarked PDFs (type directly or print “Fit to page”).

  • A few legacy pages may still use image-only worksheets—those will be updated.


🧭 Not Sure Where to Start?

Start with the skills that matter most to your writing goals.
Here are some starting points:

  • If you struggle with grammar and flow, begin in Tier 2

  • If you need help with paragraph organization, start with Tier 3

  • If you want an overview of your strengths and gaps, start with the Pre-Unit Diagnostic.

You can also visit the Skill Checklist to map your learning.

Trust your instincts—you know where the gaps are. This course is here to help you fill them.


What’s different from Free Access?

Standard Access includes full worksheets, answer keys, quizzes, and many Quick References. Free Access focuses on core lessons with limited downloads.

About the Beta label

“Beta” appears here and on the product card—not inside lesson bodies or PDFs. You may see layout tweaks during Beta; your progress and files remain yours.


🚀 Ready for More?

You’re making real progress—and this is just the beginning.
Every skill you sharpen brings you closer to confident, effective, and authentic writing.

Let’s get started.eal progress. When you’re ready to go beyond grammar and structure, the Full Access Plan unlocks all content from Tiers 1–5, including:

  • Complete essay-building strategies

  • Advanced rhetorical techniques

  • Style, pacing, and tone development

  • The full arc of academic composition

Explore more at:

🔗 [Compare Plans] | 🔗 [Upgrade to Full Access: Coming Soon]

📱 On mobile? This site works well on your phone—but for deeper writing work, we recommend switching to a larger screen when you can. More space = more focus = stronger writing.


Why Writing Still Matters
Why You Shouldn’t Have AI Write for You

Tier 1 - Foundational Skills

What are “foundation” skills?
These are the building blocks of clear writing. Before you try sentence variety or full essays, you’ll lock in the essentials: what each word is doing, how simple sentences work, and how to make subjects and verbs agree. Master these, and Tier 2 will feel much easier.

What you’ll learn (3 lessons):

  • Identifying Parts of Speech — Know the job each word is doing.

  • Basic Sentence Structure (Simple Subject + Predicate) — Spot the core of any sentence.

  • Subject–Verb Agreement — Make subjects and verbs match every time.

How to use this tier:

  1. Open each lesson and read the Introduction and essential background

  2. Carefully review the Concepts section, taking notes if you need them.

  3. Complete the Application section (worksheet + short quiz).

  4. When you finish all three, head to the Pre-Tier 2 Diagnostic to place your next step.

Worksheets are printable; use your device’s reader settings if you prefer larger text.

Identifying the Parts of Speech
Basic Sentence Structure: Simple Subject + Predicate
Mastering Subject-Verb Agreement in Formal Writing

Tier 2 Sentence Level Skills

Tier 2: Sentence-Level Skills

In this tier, you’ll learn how to write clear, correct, and engaging sentences. Whether you're fixing fragments, combining ideas, or refining your writing for clarity and flow, these lessons will help you build strong, effective sentences that support your ideas.

Before you begin, take the Pre-Tier 2 Diagnostic to check your current understanding of sentence-level writing. This short, self-scored tool will help you identify which areas you’ve already mastered and which ones deserve your focus.

What You’ll Learn in Tier 2:

  • Combining simple sentences using conjunctions (and, but, so)

  • Avoiding fragments and run-ons

  • Using compound and complex sentences

  • Varied sentence beginnings and lengths

  • Basic modifiers and adjective/adverb use

  • Parallel structure

  • Punctuation with compound/complex sentences

  • Using transitions in sentences

  • Avoiding misplaced and dangling modifiers

  • Clarity and conciseness

Once you’ve completed all ten lessons, try the Post-Tier 2 Test and Self-Assessment to check your progress and reflect on your growth as a sentence-level writer.

Pre-Tier 2 Diagnostic: Writing Skills Checkup
Combining Simple Sentences 
Avoiding Fragments and Run-ons
Using Compound and Complex Sentences
Varied Sentence Beginnings and Lengths
Basic Modifiers and Adjective/Adverb Use
Parallel Structure in Composition
Punctuation with Compound and Complex Sentences
Using Transitional Expressions Within Sentences
Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifers
Sentence-Level Clarity and Conciseness
Post Tier 2 Assessment: Sentence-Level Writing Skills

Tier 3 Paragraph Level Skills

In Tier 3, you'll learn how to build strong, focused paragraphs that support your ideas clearly and effectively. These lessons cover everything from topic sentences and transitions to supporting details, coherence, and concluding statements. Mastering these skills will help you organize your writing and guide your readers smoothly from one idea to the next.

Pre-Tier 3 Diagnostic
Topic Sentence Creation
Supporting Detail Development:
Use of Transitions
Maintaining Unity and Coherence in Paragraphs
Paragraph Focus and Length Control
Concluding Sentence Construction
🧾 Using Examples and Evidence in Paragraphs
Paragraph Revision for Clarity
🧠 Post-Tier 3 Self-Assessment Paragraph-Level Writing Skills

Tier 4 Skills Essay Structure

Tier 4 guides you through the process of writing complete, well-organized essays. You'll learn how to craft introductions, develop body paragraphs with evidence and analysis, and write strong conclusions. These lessons help you structure your ideas clearly so your arguments are effective and easy to follow.

📝 Understanding Basic Essay Structure
Crafting Clear Thesis Statements
🧠 Creating an Outline or Writing Plan
🧭 Maintaining Logical Order in Essay Writing
🧭 Mastering Paragraph Transitions: Connecting Ideas with Clarity and Purpose