PART I Writing Processes
1 What Does Writing Involve?
a Why write?
b What does it take to write well?
c How does writing work?
d How do you define a writing situation?
e How do you define your purpose(s) for writing?
f How do you write for an audience?
g How do you present yourself to readers?
2 How Do You Find and Explore a Topic?
a How do you find a topic?
b How do you refine your topic?
c How do you explore and develop a topic?
d How do you write a topic proposal?
3 How Do You Focus and Organize a Writing Project?
a How do you craft a thesis statement?
b How do you avoid plagiarism?
c How do you organize a writing project?
d How do you outline a paper?
e How do you choose a title?
4 How Do You Write a Draft?
a How do you start a draft?
b How do you keep a draft on track?
c When should you take a break?
d How do you know when you have a solid draft?
e How do you work on a draft collaboratively?
5 How Do You Revise, Edit, and Proofread?
a What does revising involve?
b What does editing involve?
c What does proofreading involve?
d How do you help another writer revise, edit, and proofread?
PART II Writing for Academic and Public Forums
6 How Do You Write in College?
a How do you write a successful academic paper?
b How do you write on essay examinations?
7 How Do You Write for the Public?
a How do you write outside the classroom?
b How do you write in service-learning courses?
8 How Do You Read and Think Critically?
a How do you read to understand complex material?
b How do you think critically about your reading?
c How do you critically interpret charts, tables, and graphs?
d How do you write a response paper?
9 How Do Written and Visual Arguments Work?
a What is an argument?
b How do visual arguments work?
c How can you recognize and avoid fallacies?
10 How Do You Write Powerful Arguments?
a How do you construct a solid written argument?
b How do you write an argument that appeals to readers?
c How do you effectively address other viewpoints?
11 How Do You Write About Literature and Film?
a What elements should you look for when you read literature or view film?
b What approaches can you use to write about literature and film?
c What sources can you use in writing essays about literature and film?
d How do you develop a paper that analyzes literature or film?
PART III Style
12 What Makes Paragraphs Work?
a How do you construct unified paragraphs?
b How can you organize paragraphs?
c How long should a paragraph be?
13 How Do You Craft Opening and Closing Paragraphs?
a What makes an opening paragraph effective?
b What makes a closing paragraph effective?
14 How Do You Manage Transitions?
a How do you spot problems with transitions?
b How can you solve problems with transitions?
15 What Kinds of Language Can You Use?
a How formal should your writing be?
b What’s denotation and connotation?
c How do you improve readability?
d How do you keep language civil?
e Do you understand dialects?
16 How Do You Construct Effective Sentences?
a How are sentences structured?
b What do modifiers do?
c What are phrases?
d What do clauses do in sentences?
e What types of sentences can you write?
f How does coordination build sentences?
g How does subordination build sentences?
h How does parallelism work?
i How do you craft balanced sentences?
j How do you craft cumulative sentences?
17 How Do You Write Stylish Sentences?
a What are agent/action sentences?
b How can you achieve clarity?
c How can you reduce wordiness?
d How can you achieve sentence variety?
e How do you use figurative language?
PART IV Design and Shape of Writing
18 How Do You Design Documents?
a How do you design documents with a computer?
b How do you lay out pages?
c How do you choose type?
d How do you add charts and images?
e How do you work with color?
19 How Do You Write Professional and Business Documents?
a How do you write formal e-mails?
b How do you write formal letters?
c How do you write application letters?
d How do you write résumés?
e How do you write a personal statement?
f How do you prepare for interviews?
g How do you write official memos?
h How do you design newsletters?
i How do you design brochures?
20 How Do You Design and Deliver an Oral Presentation?
a How do you plan oral presentations?
b How do you script what you’ll say?
c How do you create audio-visual aids?
d How do you speak before an audience?
21 How Do You Write for the Web?
a When should you use social media at school?
b How do you participate on class Web sites?
c How do you write for wikis, blogs, and other Web 2.0 environments?
d How do you establish your ethos online?
PART V Grammar
22 Questions About Subject-Verb Agreement?
a Agreement: Is the subject singular or plural?
b Agreement: Is the subject an indefinite pronoun?
c Agreement: Is the subject a collective noun?
d Agreement: Is the subject separated from its verb?
e Agreement: Is the subject hard to identify?
23 Questions About Verb Tense, Voice, and Mood?
a How do you choose verb tenses?
b How do regular and irregular verbs differ?
c Problems with tense in parallel constructions?
d Questions about tense consistency in longer passages?
e Do you understand active and passive voice?
f What is the subjunctive mood and how do you use it?
24 Questions About Verbals?
a What are verbals?
b How do verbals cause sentence fragments?
c What is a split infinitive?
25 Questions About Plurals, Possessives, and Articles?
a How are nouns made plural?
b Questions about possessives?
c Should it be a or an?
26 Questions About Pronoun Reference?
a Do pronouns lack antecedents?
b Are pronoun references unclear?
c Questions about this, that, which, and it?
27 Questions About Pronoun Agreement?
a Do antecedents and pronouns agree in number?
b Questions about agreement with indefinite pronouns?
c Treat collective nouns as singular or plural?
d Questions about agreement with conjunctions?
28 Questions About Pronoun Case?
a Questions about pronouns in subjective and objective case?
b Difficulties with possessive pronouns?
c Confused by its/it’s and whose/who’s?
29 Questions About Pronoun Choices?
a When to use I, we, you, or one?
b Do your pronouns treat both sexes fairly?
c Questions about that, which, and who?
d Questions about reflexive and intensive pronouns?
30 Questions About Modifiers?
a What’s the problem with misplaced or dangling modifiers?
b Where should adjectives go?
c How do you get predicate adjectives right?
d Questions about absolute adjectives?
e Questions about adverb form?
f Where should adverbs go?
g What’s wrong with double negatives?
h How do comparatives and superlatives differ?
i Questions about nonessential and essential modifiers?
31 Is English a Second Language for You (ESOL)?
a Common problem areas for ESOL writers
b Finding other ESOL resources
32 Questions About Verbs (ESOL)?
a Which verb tense should you use?
b How do you use transitive and intransitive verbs?
c How do you use two-word and three-word verbs?
d Which modal should you use?
33 Questions About Gerunds, Infinitives, Articles, or Number (ESOL)?
a How do you use gerunds and infinitives?
b Questions about articles and number agreement?
PART VI Punctuation and Mechanics
34 How Do You Punctuate Sentence Endings?
a When do you use periods?
b When do you use question marks?
c When should you use exclamation marks?
35 Problems with Sentence Boundaries: Fragments, Comma Splices, and Run-ons?
a How do you identify and fix sentence fragments?
b When are fragments acceptable?
c How can you avoid comma splices?
d How can you fix run-on sentences?
36 How Do You Use Commas?
a When do commas separate items in a sentence?
b When should commas enclose words and phrases?
c When are commas connect parts of a sentence?
d Where are commas not necessary or wrong?
e What special uses do commas have?
37 Questions About Semicolons and Colons?
a When do you use semicolons?
b When do you use colons?
38 How Do You Use Quotation Marks and Ellipses?
a When do you use quotation marks?
b When do you use ellipses?
39 How Do Parentheses and Brackets Differ?
a When do you use parentheses?
b When do you use brackets?
40 Questions About Dashes, Hyphens, and Slashes?
a When do you use an em dash?
b When do you use an en dash?
c When do you use hyphens?
d When do you use slashes?
41 Questions About Italics and Capitalization?
a When do you use italics?
b When do you capitalize?
42 Questions About Abbreviations and Numbers?
a How do you handle abbreviations?
b How do you handle numbers?
PART VII Research and Writing
43 How Do You Plan a Research Project?
a How do you claim a topic?
b How do you develop a research project?
c How do you schedule a research project?
44 How Do You Find Information?
a How do you find information?
b How do you search with keywords?
45 How Do You Evaluate Sources?
a How do sources differ?
b How do you evaluate source materials?
46 How Do You Use Sources Responsibly?
a How do you annotate research materials?
b Should you summarize or paraphrase a source?
c How do you avoid plagiarism?
47 How Do You Manage Quotations Effectively?
a How do you choose quotations?
b How do you introduce quotations and source materials?
c How may you modify direct quotations?
d What conventions govern direct quotations?
48 How Do You Produce a Final Draft?
a Is the organization solid?
b Is the format correct?
PART VIII Documentation
49 How Do You Document a Research Paper?
a What are documentation styles?
b How do you document a research project?
c Where do you find information to document a source?
50 How Do You Use MLA Documentation?
a Insert in-text notes wherever you use sources in the body of your paper.
b List all cited sources on a separate “Works Cited” page.
c Sample research paper–MLA
51 How Do You Use APA Documentation?
a How do you create in-text citations?
b How do you create an APA References page?
c Sample Empirical Research Paper–APA
52 How Do You Use CMS Documentation?
a How CMS documentation work
b Using CMS footnotes and endnotes
c Formatting CMS footnotes and endnotes
d Formatting CMS bibliographies
e Sample literary analysis–CMS
Glossary of Terms and Usage
Credits
Index