Hands-On Advice for Writers
1 Ten Top Tips for College Writers
2 Ten Troublesome Mistakes Writers Make
Sentence fragments
Comma splices and run-ons
Subject-verb disagreement
Pronoun-antecedent disagreement
Unclear pronoun reference
Sentence shifts
Misplaced modifiers
Comma errors
Apostrophe errors
3 Thinking Critically
a Critical thinking
b Rhetoric and the appeals
c Inductive and deductive reasoning
d Logical fallacies
4 Reading Texts and Visuals Critically
a Critical reading
b Steps for critical reading
c Close reading techniques
d Reading-writing connection
e Critical reading of visuals
Writing Processes
5 Planning Your Writing
a Writing processes
b Thinking like a writer
c Planning a writing portfolio
d Purposes for writing
e Audience
f Developing ideas
g Thesis statement
h Outlining
6 Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Proofreading
a First draft
b Overcoming writer’s block
c Revising
d Revising with thesis statements and titles
e Revising for style and tone
f Editing
g Editing software
h Proofreading
7 Composing Paragraphs
a Understanding paragraphs
b Introductory paragraphs
c Topic sentences
d Supporting details
e Coherent paragraphs
f Strategies for body paragraphs
g Concluding paragraphs
8 Designing Documents
a Understanding document design
b Principles of design
c Text
d Headings
e Photographs
f Other visuals
g Page layout
Frames for College Writing
9 Personal Essays
a Understanding personal essays
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frame for a personal essay
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
10 Informative Essays
a Understanding informative essays
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frame for an informative essay
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
11 Essays Analyzing a Text
a Understanding rhetorical and content analysis
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frame for a textual analysis
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
12 Argument
a Understanding argument
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frames for argument
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
13 Proposal or Solution Essays
a Understanding proposal/solution essays
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frame for a proposal/solution essay
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
14 Evaluations
a Understanding evaluations
b Generating ideas and revising
c Frame for an evaluation
d Sentence and paragraph guides
e Student essay example
Source-based Writing
15 Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing
a Integrating sources
b Quoting sources
c Paraphrasing sources
d Summarizing sources
e Verbs for integrating sources
16 Avoiding Plagiarism
a Understanding plagiarism
b Avoiding plagiarism
c Avoiding plagiarism of Internet sources
d What not to document
e Documenting ideas
17 Writing about Readings
a Typical assignments
b Summary essays
c Response essays
d Synthesis essays
Research Writing
18 Starting a Research Project
a Understanding research
b Choosing a topic
c Developing a research question
d Types of research papers
19 Developing a Search Strategy
a Understanding search strategies
b Understanding sources
c Doing field research
d Choosing a documentation style
e Using a research log
f Creating a working bibliography
g Using documentation software
h Creating an annotated bibliography
I Taking content notes
j Planning a research project
20 Finding Published Sources
a Understanding published sources
b Using libraries
c Search engines v. databases
d Using search engines and databases
e Using subject directories
f Finding books
g Finding periodicals
h Using reference works
i Finding images
j Finding government documents
21 Evaluating Sources
a Location of a source
b Credibility of the publisher
c Credibility of the author
d Sufficiency/accuracy of evidence
e Other critical thinking tests
f Combining evaluation strategies
22 Synthesizing Sources in Research Papers
a Understanding the synthesis of sources
b Relationships between sources
c Sources about different subtopics?
d Sources that agree
e Sources that partly agree
f Sources that disagree
g One source more specific than the other
23 Drafting and Revising a Research Paper
a Writing process for research papers
b Drafting a research paper?
c Frames for research papers
d Argumentative research paper frame
e Revising a research paper
f Editing and formating a research paper
MLA Documentation
24 MLA In-Text Citations
a MLA documentation style
b MLA in-text parenthetical documentation
c Additional MLA guidelines for parenthetical citations
25 MLA Works-Cited List
a MLA guidelines for a Works Cited list
b MLA guidelines for sources in a Works Cited list
c MLA guidelines for content or bibliographic notes
26 A Student’s MLA Research Paper
a MLA format guidelines for research papers
b A student’s MLA research paper
APA, CM, and CSE Documentation
27 APA In-Text Citations
a APA documentation style
b APA in-text parenthetical citations
c APA guidelines for in-text citations
d APA guidelines for writing an abstract
e APA guidelines for content notes
28 APA References List
a APA guidelines for a references list
b APA guidelines for sources in a references list
29 A Student’s APA Research Paper
a APA format guidelines for research papers
b A student’s APA research paper
30 CMS Documentation
a CMS documentation
b CMS guidelines for bibliographic notes
31 CSE Documentation
a CSE documentation
b CSE guidelines for sources in a list of references
Grammar Basics
32 Parts of Speech and Parts of Sentences
PARTS OF SPEECH
a Nouns
b Pronouns
c Verbs
d Verbals
e Adjectives
f Adverbs
g Prepositions
h Conjunctions
i Interjections
PARTS OF SENTENCES
j Subjects and predicates
k Direct and indirect objects
l Complements, modifiers, and appositives
m Phrases
n Clauses
o Sentence types
33 Verbs
a How verbs function
b Forms of main verbs
c Auxiliary verbs
d Using lie or lay
e Verb tenses
f Indicative, imperative, and subjunctive moods
g “Voice” in verbs
34 Subject-Verb Agreement
a What subject-verb agreement is
b Ignoring words between a subject and its verb
c Verbs when subjects are connected by and
d Verbs when subjects are connected by or
e Verbs with indefinite pronouns
f Verbs with who, which, and that
g Verbs with one of the . . . who
h Other complicated cases
35 Pronouns: Agreement, Reference, and Case
PRONOUN ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT
a What pronoun-antecedent agreement is
b Pronouns when and connects antecedents
c Pronouns when or connects antecedents
d Pronouns when antecedents are indefinite pronouns
e Pronouns when antecedents are collective nouns
PRONOUN REFERENCE
f Avoiding unclear pronoun reference
g Pronouns with it, that, this, and which
h Using you for direct address
i Using who, which, and that
PRONOUN CASE
j What pronoun case is
k Personal pronouns
l Selecting the correct case
m Case when and connects pronouns
n Matching case in appositives
o Subjective case after linking verbs
p Using who, whoever, whom, and whomever
q Case after than and as
r Case with infinitives and -ing words
s Case for -self pronouns
36 Adjectives and Adverbs
a Differences between adjectives and adverbs
b Double negatives
c Adjectives or adverbs after linking verbs
d Comparative and superlative forms
e Nouns as modifiers
Sentences and Words
37 Sentence Fragments
a Recognizing fragments
b Correcting fragments that start with a subordinating word
c Correcting fragments that lack a verb
d Correcting fragments that lack a subject
e Correcting fragments in a compound predicate
f Intentional fragments
38 Comma Splices and Run-On Sentences
a What comma splices and run-on sentences are
b Correcting comma splices and run-on sentences
39 Problems with Sentence Shifts
a Consistent person and number
b Consistent subject and voice
c Consistent mood
d Consistent verb tense
e Consistent direct and indirect discourse
f Sentences with mixed parts
g Ellipticals and comparisons
40 Misplaced Modifiers
a Misplaced modifiers
b Squinting modifiers
c Split infinitives
d Modifiers that disrupt a sentence
e Dangling modifiers
41 Conciseness
a Writing concisely
b Avoiding redundancies
c Avoiding wordy sentence structures
d Combining sentence elements
e Verbs and conciseness
42 Coordination and Subordination
a Coordination: Expressing equivalent ideas
b Coordination: Avoiding problems
c Subordination: Expressing nonequivalent ideas
d Subordination: Avoiding problems
43 Sentence Style
a Understanding parallelism
b Avoiding faulty parallelism
c Parallelism with conjunctions
d Strengthening a message with parallelism
e Understanding sentence variety
f How subjects affect emphasis
g Adding modifiers
h Inverting standard word order
44 Word Meanings and Word Impact
a Words and their meanings
b Exact words
c Increasing my vocabulary
d Suitable language
e Figurative language
f Clichés
g Effect of tone in writing
45 Using Inclusive Language
a Gender in English
b Gender-neutral language
46 Spelling
a Plurals
b Suffixes
c The ie, ei rule
d Homonyms and other frequently confused words
e Other spelling errors
Punctuation and Mechanics
47 Commas
a When to use commas
b With introductory words
c Before coordinating conjunctions
d With a series
e Between adjectives
f With nonrestrictive and restrictive elements
g With quoted words
h Other word groups to set off
i In dates, names, places, addresses, letter format, and numbers
j Preventing misreadings
k Avoiding other comma errors
48 Semicolons
a Instead of periods
b Instead of commas
49 Colons
a Lists, appositives, or quotations
b Between sentences
c Conventional formats
50 Apostrophes
a Possessive nouns
b Possessive indefinite pronouns
c Possessive pronouns: hers, his, its, ours, yours, and theirs
d Verbs that end in -s
e Contractions
f Letters, numerals, symbols, and terms
51 Quotation Marks
a Short direct quotations
b Long direct quotations
c Spoken words
d Titles
e Terms, translations, and irony
f When quotation marks are wrong
g With other punctuation
52 Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Points
a Periods
b Question marks
c Exclamation points
53 Other Punctuation Marks
a Dashes
b Parentheses
c Brackets
d Ellipsis points
e Slashes
54 Hyphens
a End of a line
b Prefixes and suffixes
c Compound words
d Spelled-out numbers
55 Capitals
a “First” words
b Quotations
c Nouns and adjectives
56 Italics (Underlining)
a Italics versus quotation marks
b For emphasis
57 Abbreviations
a Times and amounts
b People’s names
c Jr., Sr., II, III, 2nd, 3rd
d Names of countries, organizations, and government agencies
e Addresses
f Using etc. and other Latin abbreviations
58 Numbers
a Spelled-out numbers
b Dates, addresses, times, and other numbers
TIPS FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS
A Message from Lynn Troyka and Doug Hesse to Multilingual Writers
59 Singulars and Plurals
a Count and noncount nouns
b Determiners with singular and plural nouns
c Nouns used as adjectives
60 Articles
a Singular count nouns
b Count and noncount nouns
c Using the with proper nouns
61 Word Order
a Standard and inverted word orders
b Placing adjectives
c Placing adverbs
62 Prepositions
a Using in, at, and on to show time and place
b Phrasal verbs
c Passive voice
d Expressions
63 Gerunds and Infinitives
a Gerund objects
b Infinitive objects
c Using stop, remember, or forget
d Sense verbs
e Choosing between -ing and -ed adjectives
64 Modal Auxiliary Verbs
a How modals differ from be, do, and have
b Expressing ability, necessity, advisability, or probability
c Expressing preference, plan, or past habit
SPECIFIC WRITING SITUATIONS
65 An Overview of Writing Across the Curriculum
a Writing across the curriculum
b Audience and Purpose
66 Writing About the Humanities
a What the humanities are
b Types of papers
c Documentation styles
67 Writing About Literature
a What literature is
b Types of papers
c Rules for writing about literature
d Documentation styles
e A student’s literature essay
68 Writing in the Social Sciences
a What the social sciences are
b Types of papers
c Documentation styles
69 Writing in the Natural Sciences
a What the natural sciences are
b Types of papers
c Documentation style
70 Making Presentations
a What oral presentations are
b Focusing the presentation
c Adapting for the listening audience
d Organizing a presentation
e Incorporating multimedia
f Presentation styles
g Collaborative presentations
71 Writing for Digital Environments
a What digital environments are
b Blogs
c Wikis
d Video and sound
72 Writing for Work
a Workplace writing purposes
b Features of workplace correspondence
c Work-related e-mail
d Memos
e Business letters
f Resumés
g Job application letters
Usage Glossary
Terms Glossary
Index