Welcome to Mr. Oxford, Online!
A Resource for High School Writers and Readers

I am Mr. Oxford, and here you will find resources gathered and created to help writers in my English Language Arts classes in High School. It has been designed to be used as an in-class teaching resource, and a reference for students when outside the classroom. However, this material goes well beyond the High School classroom, and I encourage all writers to bookmark this site and use it often in their academic careers!

Use the navigation bar or use the search feature (command+f on Apple devices, control+f on Windows devices) to search for a specific topic you are looking for.

Writing Nonfiction

  • P.E.E.L. Paragraph: On this page you can learn about how to organize your ideas in a paragraph.

  • The Five Paragraph Essay: On this page you will learn all about the standard five paragraph essay

  • Research: On this page you can learn about what research is and some general tips to help with researching

  • Thesis statements: On this page you learn about claims and writing thesis statements

  • Paraphrasing: On this page you can learn how to paraphrase to learn and to explain information

Citation

  • MLA Citation Basics: On this page you will learn about in-text and full citation, types of evidence, and author-page style citation in MLA format

  • Citing Sources: On this page you will find how to create a full-text citation if four of the most common types of cited works in MLA format

  • Works Cited Page: On this page you will learn about how to create a works cited page following MLA citation standards

  • MLA Page Formatting: On this page you will learn about how to format a page following MLA guidelines

  • Plagiarism: On this page you will learn what plagiarism is and some tips to avoid plagiarizing

Understanding Literature

  • Figurative Language: On this page you will learn how to identify and define figurative language

  • Analyzing Literature: Here you will learn a framework for analyzing and evaluating literature and an introduction to Literary Theory

  • Elements of Fiction: Here you will learn about the building blocks of storytelling, the elements of fiction

Grammar

  • The Comma: On this page you will learn all about the so very tricky to use correctly comma

  • Capitalization Rules: On this page you will learn when to capitalize letters when writing in English

  • Punctuation Marks: On this page you can learn about how punctuation marks function in the English language

  • Parts of Speech: On this page you can refresh yourself on the parts of speech in the English language