I.THE PROCESS OF WRITING.
1.Preparing to Write: Prewriting. Finding a Topic.
Generating Content.
Determining the Purpose.
Identifying an Audience.
Considering the Writer's Role.
2.Planning and Drafting. Focusing the Topic: A Working Thesis.
Planning the Paper.
Writing the First Draft.
Sample First Draft.
3.Improving the First Draft: Revision. Revising from the Top Down.
Revising for Style.
Getting Feedback: Peer Review.
Editing and Proofreading.
Sample Final Draft.
4.Building Coherent Paragraphs. Unity.
Organizational Strategies.
Patterns of Development.
Transition.
Transitional Paragraphs.
Paragraphs of Introduction.
Concluding Paragraphs.
II.READING CRITICALLY AND WRITING LOGICALLY.
5.Being a Critical Reader. Active Reading.
Making Inferences.
Evaluating Texts.
6.Writing Arguments. Building an Effective Argument.
Sample Argument.
Using Deductive and Inductive Reasoning.
Avoiding Logical Fallacies.
III.GRAMMAR.
7.Basic Sentence Grammar. Sentence Patterns.
Subjects.
Predicates.
Complements.
8.Word Classes: The Parts of Speech. Form-Class Words.
Structure-Class Words.
9.Phrases, Clauses, and Sentences. Phrases.
Clauses.
Types of Sentences.
IV.SENTENCE FORM.
10.Fragments. Fragments Lacking a Subject.
Fragments Lacking a Predicate.
Phrase Fragments.
Dependent Clause Fragments.
Intentional Fragments.
11.Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. Comma Splices.
Fused Sentences.
12.Verb Forms. Principal Parts for Regular and Irregular Verbs.
Verb Forms for Tense, Voice, and Mood.
Appropriate Forms of Troublesome Verbs.
13.Subject-Verb Agreement. Compound Subjects.
Intervening Phrases or Clauses.
Collective Nouns.
Nouns Plural in Form but Singular in Meaning.
Indefinite and Relative Pronoun Subjects.
Titles.
Units of Measurement, Time, and Money.
Inverted Sentence Order.
Agreement with Subject, Not Subject Complement.
14.Pronouns: Agreement, Reference, and Usage. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement.
Pronoun Reference.
Pronoun Usage.
15.Pronoun Case. Subjective, Possessive, and Objective.
16.Adjectives and Adverbs. Misused Adjective Forms.
Misused Adverb Forms.
Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives and Adverbs.
Double Negatives.
17.Shifts and Mixed Constructions. Shifts.
Mixed Constructions.
18.Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers. Dangling Modifiers.
Misplaced Modifiers.
Squinting Modifiers.
19.Sentence Completeness. Faulty Predication.
False Comparisons.
Incomplete Comparisons.
Ambiguous Comparisons.
Omitted Comparative Words.
20.English as a Second Language. Nouns, Articles, and Other Determiners.
Adjectives, Adverbs, and Qualifiers.
Verb Forms.
Verbs in Sentences.
V.CLEAR SENTENCES.
21.Coordination, Subordination, and Parallelism. Coordination.
Subordination.
Parallelism.
22.Conciseness. Wordiness and Repetition.
Flowery Language.
Directness of Assertion.
23.Variety and Emphasis. Variety of Sentence Structure.
Emphasizing Important Elements.
VI.DICTION AND STYLE.
24.Appropriate Word Choice. Slang.
Colloquialisms.
Jargon.
Gobbledygook.
25.Sexist and Biased Language. Sexist Language.
Biased Language.
26.Exact Word Choice. Specific and General Words.
Concrete and Abstract Words.
Denotation and Connotation.
VII.PUNCTUATION, MECHANICS, AND SPELLING.
27.End Punctuation. The Period.
The Question Mark.
The Exclamation Point.
28.The Comma. Between Coordinate Elements.
After Introductory Words, Phrases, and Clauses.
Before Certain Terminal Elements.
Around Interrupting Elements.
Unnecessary Commas.
29.The Semicolon. Between Independent Clauses.
Between Items in a Series.
Misused Semicolons.
30.The Colon. Before Elements Introduced Formally.
Before Formal Appositives.
Between Two Independent Clauses.
In Salutations and Bibliographical Entries.
Misused Colons.
31.The Dash. With an Introductory Series.
With Parenthetical Elements.
With Terminal Elements.
32.Parentheses. With Incidental Comments and Additional Information.
With Items in a Series.
With Other Punctuation Marks.
33.Brackets. With Inserted Information.
With Parentheses.
34.Quotation Marks. For Direct Quotations.
Block Quotations.
For Quotations within Quotations.
For Titles of Short Works.
With Other Punctuation Marks.
Misused Quotation Marks.
35.Ellipsis Points and the Slash. Ellipsis Points.
The Slash.
36.Italics or Underlining. For Titles.
For Words.
37.The Apostrophe. In Possessive Forms.
In Plural Forms.
For Omissions.
In Contractions.
38.The Hyphen. In Compound Nouns.
In Compound Adjectives.
In Compound Numbers and Fractions.
With Prefixes and Suffixes.
For Word Division at the End of a Line.
39.Abbreviations. For Titles or Designations.
For Acronyms and Organizational Abbreviations.
In Dates and Numbers.
Avoiding Unconventional Abbreviations.
40.Numbers. Numbers versus Words in Sentences.
For Conventional Identifications.
41.Capitalization. First Words of Sentences or Verses.
Titles, Names, and Words Based on Names.
Conventional Capitalization.
42.Spelling. Doubling the Final Consonant.
Dropping or Keeping the Silent
e. Changing or Keeping a Final
y. Choosing between
ei and
ie. Forming Noun Plurals.
Distinguishing among Homophones.
VIII. THE RESEARCH PAPER.
43.Selecting and Limiting a Topic. Limiting Your Topic.
Exploring Resources.
Exploring Purpose.
Exploring Scope.
44.Doing Research. Scheduling Your Research Paper.
Finding Information.
Primary and Secondary Sources of Information.
Compiling a Working Bibliography.
45.Writing the Research Paper. Taking Notes.
Prewriting.
Formulating a Preliminary Thesis and Constructing a Working Outline.
Constructing a Formal Outline.
Writing and Revising the Paper.
Avoiding Plagiarism.
46.Documenting Sources - MLA Style. Preparing the List of Works Cited.
Sample MLA Works Cited Entries.
Sample In-Text Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style.
Content Notes.
47.Documenting Sources - APA and Other Styles. Preparing the List of References.
Sample APA References.
Sample In-Text Parenthetical Citations - APA Style.
Other Documentation Styles.
48.Sample Research Papers. Sample MLA Paper.
Sample APA Paper.
IX.ACADEMIC AND BUSINESS WRITING.
49.Writing in the Humanities and about Literature. Writing about Literature.
Sample Literary Analysis.
50.Writing in the Social, Natural, and Applied Sciences. Writing in the Social Sciences.
Writing in the Natural Sciences.
Writing in the Applied Sciences.
51.Writing Essay Examinations. Preparing for the Examination.
Evaluating the Question and Timing Yourself.
Deciding on a Response Strategy.
Planning and Prewriting.
Drafting Your Response.
Revising.
Sample Essay Examination Response.
52.Writing for Business. The Memo.
The Business Letter.
Facsimile Transaction.
The Resume.
Glossary of Usage. Glossary of Grammatical Terms. The User's Self-Help Section. Index. 