I. WRITING PROCESS
1. The Writing Situation
a. Assessment
b. Subject
c. Audience
d. Purpose
2. Invention
a. Journal keeping
b. Observing
c. Freewriting
d. Brainstorming
e. Clustering
f. Asking questions
3. Thesis and Organization
a. Thesis statement
b. Organization
4. Drafting
a. Starting to draft
b. Maintaining momentum
c. Sample first draft
5. Revising and Editing
a. Revising the whole essay
b. Sample revision
c. Editing the revised draft
d. Formatting and proofreading
e. Sample final draft
f. Collaborating
g. Preparing a writing portfolio
6. Paragraphs
a. Unity
b. Coherence
c. Development
d. Introductions and conclusions
7. Document Design
a. Academic papers
b. Principles of design
c. Elements of design
d. Illustrations
e. Readers with disabilities
II. WRITING IN AND OUT OF COLLEGE
8. Academic Writing
a. Becoming an academic writer
b. Audience
c. Purpose
d. Structure and format
e. Language
9. Study Skills
a. Time management
b. Listening and note taking in class
c. Reading
d. Exams
10. Critical Thinking and Reading
a. Reading texts
b. Viewing images
11. Argument
a. Elements of argument
b. Reasonableness
c. Organization
d. Visual arguments
e. Sample argument
12. Online Writing
a. Electronic mail
b. Online collaboration
c. Web compositions
13. Oral Presentations
a. Organization
b. Delivery
14. Public Writing
a. Business letters and resumes
Sample letter and resume
b. Memos, reports, and proposals
Sample memo, report, and proposal
c. Community work: flyers, newsletters, brochures
Sample flyer, newsletter, and brochure
III. CLARITY AND STYLE
15. Emphasis
a. Effective subjects and verbs
b. Sentence beginnings and endings
c. Coordination
d. Subordination
16. Parallelism
a. With and, but, or, nor, yet
b. With both...and, not...but, etc.
c. In comparisons
d. With lists, headings, and outlines
17. Variety and Details
a. Sentence length
b. Sentence structure
c. Details
18. Appropriate and Exact Language
a. Appropriate language
b. Exact language
19. Completeness
a. Compounds
b. Needed words
20. Conciseness
a. Focusing on subject and verb
b. Cutting empty words
c. Cutting repetition
d. Reducing clauses and phrases
e. Cutting there is or it is
f. Combining sentences
g. Rewriting jargon
IV. SENTENCE PARTS AND PATTERNS
BASIC GRAMMAR
21. Parts of Speech
a. Nouns
b. Pronouns
c. Verbs
d. Adjectives and adverbs
e. Prepositions and conjunctions
f. Interjections
22. The Sentence
a. Subject and predicate
b. Predicate patterns
23. Phrases and Subordinate Clauses
a. Phrases
b. Subordinate clauses
24. Sentence Types
a. Simple sentences
b. Compound sentences
c. Complex sentences
d. Compound-complex sentences
VERBS
25. Forms
a. Sing/sang/sung and other irregular verbs
b. Sit/set; lie/lay; rise/raise
c. -s and -ed forms
d. Be, have, and other helping verbs
e. Verb + gerund or infinitive: stop eating vs. stop to eat
f. Verb+particle: look up, look over, etc.
26. Tenses
a. Present tense: sing
b. Perfect tenses: have/had/will have sung
c. Progressive tenses: is/was/will be singing
d. Consistency
e. Sequence
27. Mood
a. Subjunctive: I wish I were
b. Consistency
28. Voice
a. She wrote it (active) vs. It was written (passive)
b. Consistency
29. Subject-Verb Agreement
a. -s and -es endings
b. Intervening words
c. Subjects with and
d. Subjects with or or nor
e. Everyone and other indefinite pronouns
f. Team and other collective nouns
g. Who, which, that
h. News and other singular nouns ending in -s
i. Inverted word order
j. Is, are, and other linking verbs
k. Titles and words being defined
PRONOUNS
30. Case
a. She and I vs. her and me
b. It was she vs. It was her
c. Who vs. whom
d. Other constructions
31. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
a. Antecedents with and
b. Antecedents with or or nor
c. Everyone, person, and other indefinite words
d. Team and other collective nouns
32. Pronoun Reference
a. Clear reference
b. Close reference
c. Specific reference
d. Definite it and they
e. Appropriate you
f. Consistency
MODIFIERS
33. Adjectives and Adverbs
a. Adjective vs. adverb
b. Adjective with linking verb: felt bad
c. Bigger, most talented, and other comparisons
d. Double negatives
e. Present and past participles: boring vs. bored
f. A, an, the, and other determiners
34. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
a. Misplaced modifiers
b. Dangling modifiers
SENTENCE FAULTS
35. Fragments
a. Tests
b. Revision
c. Acceptable fragments
36. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
a. Main clauses without and, but, etc.
b. Main clauses with however, for example, etc.
37. Mixed Sentences
a. Reason is because and other mixed meanings
b. Tangled grammar
c. Repeated subjects and other parts
V. PUNCTUATION
38. End Punctuation
a. Period
b. Question mark
c. Exclamation point
39. Comma
a. Main clauses with and, but, etc.
b. Introductory elements
c. Nonessential elements
d. Items in a series
e. Two or more adjectives
f. Dates, addresses, place names, numbers
g. With quotations
h. Misuses
40. Semicolon
a. Main clauses without and, but, etc.
b. Main clauses with however, for example, etc.
c. Main clauses or series items with commas
d. Misuses
41. Colon
a. Concluding explanation, series, etc.
b. Salutation; title and subtitle; time
c. Misuses
42. Apostrophe
a. Possession
b. Misuses
c. Contractions
d. Plural abbreviations, etc.
43. Quotation Marks
a. Direct quotations
b. Within quotations
c. Dialog
d. Titles of works
e. Words used in a special sense
f. Misuses
g. With other punctuation
44. Other Marks
a. Dash or dashes
b. Parentheses
c. Ellipsis mark
d. Brackets
e. Slash
VI. SPELLING AND MECHANICS
45. Spelling and the Hyphen
a. Typical spelling problems
b. Spelling rules
c. The hyphen
46. Capital Letters
a. First word of sentence
b. Proper nouns and adjectives
c. Titles of works
d. Online communication
47. Underlining or Italics
a. Underlining vs. italics
b. Titles of works
c. Names of vehicles
d. Foreign words
e. Words or characters named as words
f. Emphasis
g. Online communication
48. Abbreviations
a. Titles with proper names
b. Familiar abbreviations
c. BC, BCE, AD,CE, AM, PM, no., $
d. Latin abbreviations
e. Inc., Bros., Co., &
f. Units of measurement, names, etc.
49. Numbers
a. Numerals vs. words
b. Dates, addresses, etc.
c. Beginning sentences
VII. RESEARCH WRITING
50. Research Strategy
a. Planning
b. Research journal
c. Researchable subject and question
d. Goals for sources
e. Working, annotated bibliography
51. Finding Sources
a. Searching electronically
b. Reference works
c. Books
d. Periodicals
e. The Web
f. Other online sources
g. Government publications
h. Images
i. Your own sources
52. Working with Sources
a. Evaluating sources
b. Synthesizing sources
c. Gathering information
d. Using summary, paraphrase, quotation
e. Integrating sources
53. Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources
a. Plagiarism and the Internet
b. What not to acknowledge
c. What must be acknowledged
d. Online sources
e. Documenting sources
54. Writing the Paper
a. Focusing and organizing
b. Drafting, revising, and formatting
VIII. WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES
55. Goals and Requirements of the Disciplines
a. Methods and evidence
b. Writing assignments
c. Tools and language
d. Documentation and format
56. Reading and Writing About Literature
a. Methods and evidence
b. Writing assignments
c. Tools and language
d. Documentation and format
e. Sample analysis of a poem
57. Writing in Other Disciplines
a. Other humanities
b. Social sciences
c. Natural and applied sciences
58. MLA Documentation and Format
Indexes to models
a. Parenthetical text citations
b. List of works cited
c. Format of paper
d. Sample MLA paper
59. APA Documentation and Format
Indexes to models
a. Parenthetical text citations
b. List of references
c. Format of paper
d. Sample APA paper
60. Chicago Documentation and Format
Index to models
a. Notes and works-cited entries
b. Models
61. CSE Documentation and Format
Index to models
a. Name-year citations
b. Numbered text citations
c. List of references
Glossary of Usage
Index
