Synopses & Reviews
Drawing on its authors more than twenty years of research into writing in college, this economy handbook offers extensive technological support and an indispensable resource for learning, writing, researching, and editing. The Brief McGraw-Hill Handbook features practice exercises throughout, a focus on visual rhetoric, content tied to outcomes, grammar diagnostic quizzes, strong coverage of research and plagiarism, extensive support for multilingual writers, a fully integrated online component, and much more.
About the Author
Elaine P. Maimon is President of Governors State University in the south suburbs of Chicago, where she is also Professor of English. Previously she was Chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, Provost (Chief Campus Officer) at Arizona State University West, and Vice President of Arizona State University as a whole. In the 1970s, she initiated and then directed the Beaver College writing-across-the-curriculum program, one of the first WAC programs in the nation. A founding Executive Board member of the National Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), she has directed national institutes to improve the teaching of writing and to disseminate the principles of writing across the curriculum. With a PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania, where she later helped to create the Writing Across the University (WATU) program, she has also taught and served as an academic administrator at Haverford College, Brown University, and Queens College.Janice Haney Peritz is an Associate Professor of English who has taught college writing for more than thirty years, first at Stanford University, where she received her PhD in 1978, and then at the University of Texas at Austin; Beaver College; and Queens College, City University of New York. From 1989 to 2002, she directed the Composition Program at Queens College, where in 1996, she also initiated the colleges writing-across-the-curriculum program and the English Departments involvement with the Epiphany Project and cyber-composition. She also worked with a group of CUNY colleagues to develop The Write Site, an online learning center, and more recently directed the CUNY Honors College at Queens College for three years. Currently, she is back in the English Department doing what she loves most: research, writing, and full-time classroom teaching of writing, literature, and culture.Kathleen Blake Yancey is the Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English and Director of the Graduate Program in Rhetoric and Composition at Florida State University. Past President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) and Past Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), she is President of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). In addition, she co-directs the Inter/National Coalition on Electronic Portfolio Research. She has directed several institutes focused on electronic portfolios and on service learning and reflection, and with her colleagues in English Education, she is working on developing a program in new literacies. Previously, she has taught at UNC Charlotte and at Clemson University, where she directed the Pearce Center for Professional Communication and created the Class of 1941 Studio for Student Communication, both of which are dedicated to supporting communication across the curriculum.
Contact Information:
Kathleen Blake Yancey
The Florida State University
Department of English
224 Williams Building
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1580
Phone: 850 645 6896
[email protected]
Table of Contents
The Brief McGraw-Hill Handbook
Preface for Students and TutorialsPreface for InstructorsIntroduction: Writing to Learn
a. Studying a range of academic disciplines
b. Using writing as a tool for learning
c. Taking responsibility for reading, writing, and research
d. Recognizing that writing improves with practice
1. Writing and Designing Papers
1. Reading, Thinking, Writing: The Critical Connection
a. Reading critically
b. Thinking critically
c. Writing critically
2. Planning and Shaping
a. Learning how to approach assignments
b. Exploring your ideas
c. Developing a working thesis
d. Planning structure
e. Considering visuals
3. Drafting
a. Using online tools for drafting
b. Developing ideas and using visuals
c. Writing focused, clearly organized paragraphs
*d. Integrating visuals effectively
4. Revising and Editing
a. Getting comments from readers
b. Using online tools for revising
c. Focusing on the purpose of your writing
d. Testing your thesis
e. Reviewing structure
f. Revising paragraphs
g. Revising visuals
h. Editing sentences
i. Proofreading carefully
j. Using campus, Internet, and community resources
k. Learning from one students revisions
5. Designing Academic Papers and Portfolios
a. Considering audience and purpose
b. Using computer toolbars
c. Thinking intentionally about design
d. Compiling a portfolio
2. Writing in College and beyond College
6. Informative Reports
a. Understanding the assignment
b. Approaching writing an informative report as a process
c. Student paper: Informative report
7. Interpretive Analyses and Writing about Literature
a. Understanding the assignment
b. Approaching writing an interpretive analysis as a process
c. Student paper: Interpretive analysis
8. Arguments
a. Understanding the assignment
b. Approaching writing an argument as a process
c. Student paper: Argument
9. Other Kinds of Writing Assignments
a. Personal essays
b. Essay exams
10. Oral Presentations
a. Planning
b. Drafting
c. Preparing
11. Multimedia Writing
a. Tools for creating multimedia texts
b. Interpreting images
c. Hypertext essays
d. Multimedia presentations
e. Web sites
f. Blogs
12. Writing beyond College
a. Addressing the community
b. Designing brochures, posters, and newsletters
c. Internships
d. Résumés
e. Job application letters and interviews
f. Writing on the job
3. Researching
13. Understanding Research
a. Primary and secondary research
b. Research and college writing
c. Choosing a research question
d. Understanding the research assignment
e. Creating a research plan
14. Finding and Managing Print and Online Sources
a. Using the library in person and online
b. Kinds of sources
c. Keyword searches
d. Printed and online reference works
e. Print indexes and online databases
f. Search engines and subject directories
g. Using the librarys online or card catalog
h. Government documents
i. Online communication
15. Finding and Creating Effective Visuals
a. Finding and displaying quantitative data
b. Online and print sources
16. Evaluating Sources
a. Print sources
b. Internet sources
c. Evaluating a sources arguments
17. Doing Research in the Archive, Field, and Lab
a. Ethics
b. Archival research
c. Field research
d. Lab research
18. Plagiarism, Copyright Infringement, and Intellectual Property
a. Definitions
b. Avoiding plagiarism
c. Fair use
19. Working with Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
a. Maintaining a working bibliography
b. Creating an annotated bibliography
c. Taking notes
d. Taking stock
e. Integrating quotations, paraphrases, and summaries
20. Writing the Paper
a. Planning and drafting
b. Revising
c. Documenting
4. MLA Documentation Style
21. MLA Style: In-Text Citations
22. MLA Style: List of Works Cited
23. MLA Style: Explanatory Notes
24. MLA Style: Paper Format
25. Student Paper in MLA Style
5. APA Documentation Style
26. APA Style: In-Text Citations
27. APA Style: References
28. APA Style: Paper Format
29. Student Paper in APA Style
6. Editing for Clarity
30. Avoiding Wordiness
a. Redundancies and unnecessary modifiers
b. Wordy phrases
c. Roundabout sentences
31. Adding Missing Words
a. Compound structures
b. The word that
c. Words in comparisons
d. The articles a, an, the
32. Unscrambling Mixed Constructions
a. Mixed-up sentences
b. Illogical predicates
33. Fixing Confusing Shifts
a. In point of view
b. In tense
c. In mood and voice
d. Between direct and indirect quotations and questions
34. Using Parallel Constructions a. Items in a series
b. Paired ideas
c. Function words
35. Fixing Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
a. Misplaced modifiers
b. Ambiguous modifiers
c. Disruptive modifiers
d. Split infinitives
e. Dangling modifiers
36. Using Coordination and Subordination Effectively
a. Coordination for equal ideas
b. Major ideas in subordinate clauses
c. Excessive subordination
37. Varying Your Sentences
a. Sentence openings
b. Length and structure
c. Cumulative and periodic sentences
d. Inversions, rhetorical questions, and exclamations
38. Choosing Active Verbs
a. Alternatives to "be" verbs
b. Active voice
39. Using Appropriate Language
a. Slang, regional expressions, and nonstandard English
b. Levels of formality
c. Jargon
d. Euphemisms and doublespeak
e. Biased or sexist language
40. Using Exact Language
a. Connotations
b. Specific and concrete words
c. Standard idioms
d. Clichés
e. Figures of speech
f. Misusing words
g. Using the dictionary
41. Glossary of Usage
7. Editing for Grammar Conventions
42. Fixing Sentence Fragments
a. Dependent-clause fragments
b. Phrase fragments
c. Other types of fragments
43. Repairing Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences
a. Adding a coordinating conjunction
b. Using a semicolon
c. Separating into two sentences
d. Making one clause dependent
e. Transforming two clauses into one independent clause
44. Maintaining Subject-Verb Agreement
a. Subject separated by a word group from the verb
b. Compound subjects
c. Collective subjects
d. Indefinite subjects
e. When the subject comes after the verb
f. Subject complement
g. Relative pronouns
h. –ing phrases
i. Titles, company names, or words representing themselves
45. Recognizing Problems with Verbs
a. Regular and irregular verbs
b. "Lay" and "lie," "sit" and "set," "rise" and "raise"
c. "–s" or "–es" endings
d. "–d" or "–ed" endings
e. Tenses
f. Past perfect tense
g. Present tense
h. Complete verbs
i. Mood
46. Fixing Problems with Pronouns
a. Pronoun agreement
b. Pronoun reference
c. Pronoun case
d. Who and whom
47. Recognizing Problems with Adjectives and Adverbs
a. Adverbs
b. Adjectives
c. Positives, comparatives ("-er"), and superlatives ("-est")
d. Double negatives
48. Special Editing Topics for Multilingual Writers
a. Learning in English as a Second Language
b. Articles ("a," "an," "the")
c. Helping verbs
d. Verbs followed by gerunds or infinitives
e. Complete subjects and verbs
f. Using only one subject or object
g. Adjectives
h. Adverb placement
i. Prepositions
j. Direct objects with two-word verbs
k. Coordination and subordination
l. Word order
m. "If" clauses
8. Editing for Correctness: Punctuation, Mechanics, and Spelling
49. Commas
a. After an introductory word group
b. Between items in a series
c. Before coordinating conjunctions
d. Between coordinate adjectives
e. To set off nonessential elements
f. With transitional and parenthetical expressions, contrasting comments, and absolute phrases
g. To set off words of direct address, "yes" and "no," mild interjections, and tag questions
h. With direct quotations
i. With dates, addresses, titles, and numbers
j. In place of an omitted word or phrase
k. Common errors
50. Semicolons
a. To join independent clauses
b. With transitional expressions
c. In a series with commas
d. Common errors
51. Colons
a. With lists, appositives, or quotations
b. With independent clauses
c. Other conventional uses
d. Common errors
52. Apostrophes
a. To indicate possession
b. With indefinite pronouns
c. To mark contractions
d. Forming plural letters, words used as words and numbers, and abbreviations
e. Common errors
53. Quotation Marks
a. To indicate direct quotations
b. To enclose titles of short works
c. With words used in special ways
d. With other punctuation
e. To integrate quotations
f. Common errors
54. Other Punctuation Marks
a. The period
b. The question mark
c. The exclamation point
d. Dashes
e. Parentheses
f. Brackets
g. Ellipses
h. Slashes
55. Capitalization
a. Proper nouns
b. Personal titles
c. Titles of creative works
d. Names of areas or regions
e. Names of races, ethnic groups, and sacred things
f. First word of a sentence
g. First word after a colon
56. Abbreviations and Symbols
a. Titles like "Dr." or "M.D."
b. familiar abbreviations
c. Latin abbreviations
d. Inappropriate abbreviations and symbols
57. Numbers
a. Numerals versus words
b. Numbers that begin sentences
c. Conventional uses
58. Italics (Underlining)
a. Titles of works or separate publications
b. Names of vehicles
c. Foreign terms
d. Scientific names
e. Words, letters, and numbers as themselves
f. For emphasis
59. Hyphens
a. Compound words
b. Compound adjectives or nouns
c. Fractions and compound numbers
d. To attach some prefixes and suffixes
e. To divide words at the ends of lines
60. Spelling
a. Basic spelling rules
b. Words pronounced alike but spelled differently
COMMONLY MISSPELLED WORDS
9. Basic Grammar
61. Parts of Speech
a. Verbs
b. Nouns
c. Pronouns
d. Adjectives
e. Adverbs
f. Prepositions
g. Conjunctions
h. Interjections
62. Parts of Sentences
a. Subjects
b. Verbs and their objects or complements
63. Phrases and Dependent Clauses
a. Noun phrases
b. Verb phrases and verbals
c. Appositive phrases
d. Absolute phrases
e. Dependent clauses
64. Types of Sentences
a. Sentence structures
b. Sentence purposes
Timeline
Quick Reference for Multilingual Writers
World Map
Answers to Tutorials and Selected Exercises
Index
Index for Multilingual Writers
Abbreviations and Symbols for Editing and Proofreading