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Table of Contents
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Part 1 Writing in College 1
1. Organizing and managing college writing assignments 3
a. Understanding the assignment
b. Planning the essay
c. Formulating a working thesis
d. Organizing and drafting
e. Evaluating and revising the draft
f. Editing and proofreading
g. Writer at work: A final look
2. Brief guides to important types of college writing 29
Presenting personal experience
Explaining concepts
Arguing positions
Evaluating texts, phenomena, or ideas
Speculating about causes or effects
Interpreting literature
3. Strategies for readable, coherent writing 55
a. Thesis and forecasting statements
b. Topic sentences
c. Paragraph development strategies
- Narration
- Description
- Examples and illustrations
- Definitions
- Classification and division
- Comparison and contrast
- Causes and effects
- Support for a claim, counterarguing
d. Other paragraph cues
4. Taking essay exams 75
5. Oral presentations 79
6. Presenting a portfolio of your work 84
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Part 2 Researching in College 87
7. Finding sources 89
a. Understanding research assignments
b. Considering your assignment/choosing your topic
c. Determining subject headings and keywords
d. Finding library and Internet materials
- General reference works
- Books
- Periodicals and newspapers
- Computer databases
- Internet sources
- Email
- Online library catalogs
- MOOs and MUDs
- Diversity of sources
e. Evaluating library and Internet sources
8. Integrating sources 112
a. Taking notes
- Working bibliography
- Recording essential information
- Summarizing from sources
- Paraphrasing from sources
- Quoting selectively from sources
b. Avoiding plagiarism
c. Integrating quotations
9. Documenting sources using MLA style 122
a. In-text citation
b. Works-cited list
c. Optional content and bibliographic notes
d. Sample student essay in MLA style
10. Documenting sources using APA style 153
a. In-text citations
b. References list
c. Optional content footnotes
d. Sample research essay in APA style
11. Documenting sources using Chicago or alternative styles 177
a. Chicago Manual of Style (CMS)
b. List of other style manuals
12. Strategies for active, critical reading 183
a. Annotating
b. Outlining
c. Summarizing
d. Taking inventory
e. Reflecting on the writer's perspective
f. Evaluating the writer's logic
g. Keeping a journal
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Part 3 Designing Documents 199
13. Preparing a final document 201
a. First page (MLA heading)
b. Running heads
c. Title page
d. Text headings
14. Special design features 203
a. Conventions
b. Type styles and text attributes
c. Icons, symbols, and other features
d. Visuals
15. Different kinds of documents 209
a. Memo or email message
b. Business letter
c. Resumé
d. Job-application letter
e. Overhead transparency for an oral presentation
f. Lab report
g. World Wide Web page
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Part 4 Sentence Boundaries 225
16. Comma splices 227
a. Editing with a subordinating conjunction
b. Editing with a comma and a coordinating conjunction
c. Editing with a semicolon
d. Editing with a conjunctive adverb or transition
e. Turning clauses into separate sentences
f. Turning one clause into a modifying phrase
17. Fused sentences 231
a. Editing with a subordinating conjunction
b. Editing with a comma and a coordinating conjunction
c. Editing with a semicolon
d. Editing with a conjunctive adverb or transition
e. Turning clauses into separate sentences
f. Turning one clause into a modifying phrase
18. Sentence fragments 234
a. Connecting the fragment to a complete sentence
b. Adding a complete verb or subject
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Part 5 Grammatical Sentences 237
19. Pronoun reference 239
a. They, it, you
b. This, that, which
c. Implied references
20. Pronoun-antecedent agreement 242
a Singular or plural forms
b Indefinite pronouns and collective nouns
c Compound nouns joined by and
d Nouns joined by or or nor
e Masculine, feminine, or gender-free forms
21. Relative pronouns 246
a. Who to refer to a person
b. In nonrestrictive clauses
c. In restrictive clauses
d. Who/whom
22. Pronoun case 250
a. Subject with and
b. Object of a preposition or verb
c. Reflexive pronoun
d. Possessive modifying a gerund
e. Comparisons
f. We/us
g. Appositives
23. Verbs 253
a. Tense
b. Special uses of present tense
c. Past perfect for sequence of past events
d. Forms/endings
e. Mood
f. Voice
24. Subject-verb agreement 261
a. Words between subject and verb
b. Collective noun
c. Subject following a verb, such as with there is/there are
d. Subject with and
e. Subjects with or or nor
f. Who, which, that
g. Indefinite pronouns
h. Subject complement
i. Words that are plural in form, singular in meaning
j. Words referred to as words/titles
25. Adjectives and adverbs 267
a. Adverbs
b. Adjectives
c. Comparatives/superlatives
d. Double negatives
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Part 6 Effective Sentences 271
26. Missing words 273
a. Prepositions, conjunctions, other small words
b. That
c. In comparisons
d. Compound structures
27. Shifts 278
a. Tense
b. Person/number
c. Mood/voice
d. Direct or indirect quotation
28. Noun agreement 281
a. Related references to a noun
b. Nouns following kind, type, or sort
29. Modifiers 284
a. Misplaced words, phrases, clauses
b. Dangling modifiers
c. Split infinitives
30. Mixed constructions 287
a. Mixed grammar
b. Mismatched subjects and predicates
c. Is where/is when/the reason is because
31. Integrating quotations, questions, thoughts 290
a. Quotations
b. Questions
c. Thoughts
32. Parallelism 292
a. Items in a series
b. Paired items
33. Emphasis and clarity 294
a. Coordination and subordination
b. Combining sentences
c. Using cohesive devices
d. Making sentence topics visible
e. Introducing familiar information ahead of new information
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Part 7 Word Choice 305
34. Concise sentences 307
a. Redundancy and repetition
b. Empty expressions
c. Simplifying sentence structure
d. Unnecessary intensifiers or hedges
e. Unnecessary prepositions
35. Exact words 314
a. Denotations and connotations of words
b. Wrong meaning
c. Incorrect prepositions
d. Concrete words
e. Idioms
f. Clichés
g. Figures of speech
36. Appropriate words 318
a. Level of formality
b. Jargon
c. Slang
d. Nonsexist language
e. Pretentious language and euphemisms
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Part 8 Punctuation 323
37. Commas 325
a. Independent clauses joined by and, but, etc.
b. Introductory word, phrase, or clause
c. Nonrestrictive elements, including appositives and trailing participial phrases
d. Transitional phrases, parenthetical or contrasting expressions, absolutes
e. Items in a series
f. Direct quotations
g. Expressions used in dialogue
h. Coordinate adjectives
i. Dates, numbers, addresses, titles
j. Clarity
38. Unnecessary commas 337
a. Compound elements
b. Restrictive word group
c. Between subject and verb or verb and object
d. Before trailing adverb clause
e. Noncoordinate adjectives
f. Before/after a series
g. Other incorrect uses
39. Semicolons 344
a. Independent clauses
b. Series with internal commas
c. Independent clauses with internal punctuation
d. Independent clauses with conjunctive adverb or transitional expression
e. Incorrect use
40. Colons 347
a. Before a list, an appositive, a quotation, a question, a statement
b. Customary uses
c. Incorrect uses
41. Dashes 350
a. Typing, spacing, positioning
b. Uses
c. Incorrect uses
42. Quotation marks 353
a. Direct quotations
b. With other punctuation
c. Words being defined
d. Titles of short works
e. Quotation within quotation
f. Incorrect uses
43. Apostrophes 359
a. Possessive nouns
b. Contractions
c. Plurals of numbers/letters/abbreviations
d. Indefinite pronouns
e. Incorrect uses
44. Other punctuation marks 362
a. Ellipsis marks
b. Slashes
c. Parentheses
d. Brackets
45. End punctuation marks 367
a. Periods
b. Question marks
c. Exclamation points
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Part 9 Mechanics 369
46. Hyphens 371
a. Compound adjectives
b. Compound nouns
c. Compound numbers, fractions
d. Prefixes
e. To avoid ambiguity
f. Division at the end of a line
47. Capitalization 374
a. Proper names vs. common nouns
b. First word of a sentence
c. First word of a quoted sentence
d. Titles and subtitles of works
e. Title preceding a name
f. Certain abbreviations
g. Incorrect uses
48. Spacing 379
a. Missing space
b. Unnecessary space
49. Numbers 380
a. Spelling out
b. Using numerals
50. Italics (Underlining) 382
a. Titles of long or self-contained works
b. Words used as words, numbers used as themselves
c. Names of vehicles
d. Foreign words
e. Special emphasis
f. Incorrect uses
51. Abbreviations 385
a. Names of agencies, organizations, countries, common technical terms
b. a.m., p.m., No., $, B.C., A.D.
c. Titles, degrees, Latin terms
d. Incorrect uses
52. Spelling 388
a. Prefixes and suffixes
b. Spelling rules
c. Words that sound like other words
d. Frequently misspelled words
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Part 10 Brief Guide for ESL Writers 395
53. Articles 397
a. A or an with nonspecific singular count nouns
b. The with specific singular count nouns
c. No article with nonspecific plural count nouns
d. With noncount nouns
e. With proper nouns
54. Problems with verbs 401
a. Conditionals
b. Two- and three-word verbs
c. Helping verbs
d. Verbs followed by gerunds/infinitives
55. Prepositions 411
a. In, on, and at
b. Verb or adjective plus preposition combinations
c. Noun or gerund after to
56. Problems with omitted or repeated words and adjectives 413
a. Omitted subjects and verbs
b. Repeated subjects
c. Adjective order
d. Participles as adjectives
e. Problems with quantifiers
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Part 11 A Brief Review of Sentence Structure 417
57. Basic sentence elements 419
a. Parts of speech
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions
- Articles
- Interjections
b. Dependent clauses
c. Phrases
58. Basic sentence structure 435
a. Words, phrases, and clauses
b. Sentence units
c. Types of simple sentences
d. Combinations and transformations
Glossary of usage 439
Index Index-1
Index for ESL Writers Index-19
Correction symbols
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