Full Description
The journey to better grades starts here.Since writing and research is part of almost every college course, you need an accessible, easy-to-understand reference guide that can provide answers to the many grammar, writing, researching and documentation questions you'll have. The Longman Pocket Writer's Companion is an inexpensive, pocket-sized guide that answers all your writing questions and more. Offering a distinctive focus on writing for different audiences - academic, public, and workplace - this handbook enables you to communicate more effectively, while its superior support for writing across the curriculum and up-to-date documentation coverage will help you get better grades in all of your courses.Why You Need this New EditionA new Ten Serious Errors section helps you recognize and correct major errors that make it hard for readers to understand your writing, including fragments, run-ons, unnecessary commas, and more.A new chapter on Assessing Writing (Ch. 10) offers you strategies for seeing your own writing objectively as well as tips for anticipating how others might evaluate your work. A new chapter on Writing for General Education Courses (Ch. 8) helps you analyze your college assignments. You'll also find tips to help you with the most common writing tasks across the General Education curriculum (such as writing summaries, annotated bibliographies, and essay exams) helping you to write more effectively in all your courses. A new chapter on Writing in the Disciplines (Ch. 9) will help you write papers common in the majors (such as interpretations, textual and visual analyses, abstracts, lab reports, and researched reports) to set you up for success as your college career progresses.New documentation entries illustrate how to cite sources such as blogs and podcasts, genres so new that they aren't covered in many texts. New student sample pages in the CMS and CSE Style chapters (Chs 19, 20) ensure that you see sample student research writing in all four of the major academic documentation styles.New Source Samples in the MLA and APA Style chapters (Chs 17, 18) show you where in the original source you can find all the information you need for citation.
Contents
Handbook MenuGuide for Using This HandbookPart 1: Writing and Reading1. Writing and Reading in Communities1a. Understanding your writing situation1b. Moving from reading to writing1c. Paying attention to the writing process2. Developing a Thesis2a. Creating a thesis statement2b. Designing an appropriate thesis 3. Providing Support and Reasoning Clearly3a. Reasoning critically3b. Providing support3c. Evaluating support4. Paragraphing for Readers4a. Focusing paragraphs4b. Making paragraphs coherent4c. Developing paragraphs5. Matching Style and Strategy to a Community of Readers5a. Recognizing a community's style5b. Adjusting to a community's style5c. Recognizing a community's expectations6. Designing Documents for Readers6a. Planning your document6b. Laying out your document6c. Using type features6d. Using visuals6e. Sample documents7. Constructing an Argument7a. Identifying an issue7b. Developing an argumentative thesis7c. Developing reasons and supporting evidence7d. Presenting counterarguments7e. Reasoning logically8. Writing for General Education Courses8a. General academic writing assignments8b. Writing goals and plans8c. Common types of general academic writing9. Writing in the Disciplines9a. Writing in the arts and humanities9b. Common types of writing in the arts and humanities9c. Writing in the natural and social sciences9d. Common types of writing in the natural and social sciences10. Assessing Writing10a. Assessing your own writing10b. Assessing someone else's writing10c. Understanding how others assess your writing10d. Assessing your portfolioPart 2: Conducting Research 11. Planning and Conducting Research 11a. Recognizing research topics11b. Identifying keywords11c. Developing research questions11d. Developing critical search strategies11e. Maintaining a working bibliography11f. Keeping track of sources and notes11g. Assembling your research materials12. Finding Library and Database Resources12a. Finding library resources12b. Locating books and documents12c. Locating periodicals and other documents12d. Finding research databases12e. Locating databases for articles and documents13. Finding Web Resources13a. Finding Web and Internet resources13b. Searching efficiently13c. Locating appropriate Web resources14. Reading and Synthesizing Sources14a. Summarizing14b. Paraphrasing14c. Synthesizing14d. Questioning15. Evaluating Sources Critically15a. Evaluating appropriateness15b. Evaluating accuracy and reliability15c. Evaluating search engine results.15d. Evaluating point of view or bias15e. Evaluating Web sources critically15f. Turning inquiry into writing16. Avoiding Plagiarism and Integrating Sources16a. Avoiding plagiarism16b. Deciding what to document16c. Documenting sources for different audiences16d. Integrating quotations16e. Integrating sources into your text16f. Integrating visual and webbed sourcesPart 3: Documenting Sources17. MLA StyleGuide to MLA Formats17a. MLA in-text (parenthetical) citations17b. MLA list of works cited17c. MLA sample pages18. APA StyleGuide to APA Formats18a. APA in-text (parenthetical) citations18b. APA reference list 18c. APA sample pages19. CMS StyleGuide to CMS Formats19a. CMS notes19b. CMS bibliography19c. CMS sample pages20. CSE StyleGuide to CSE Formats20a. CSE in-text citations20b. CSE reference list20c. CSE sample pagesPart 4: Writing Correctly 21. Fragments21a. Recognizing sentence fragments21b. Editing sentence fragments21c. Using partial sentences22. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences22a. Recognizing comma splices22b. Recognizing fused sentences22c. Editing comma splices and fused sentences23. Pronoun Reference23a. Recognizing unclear pronoun reference23b. Editing pronoun reference24. Agreement24a. Recognizing agreement24b. Editing subject-verb agreement24c. Editing pronoun-antecedent agreement25. Correct Forms25a. Recognizing and editing verb forms25b. Editing for clear tense sequence25c. Recognizing pronoun forms25d. Editing pronoun forms25e. Recognizing adjectives and adverbs25f. Editing adjectives and adverbs25g. Recognizing and editing comparisonsPart 5: Writing Clearly26. Clear Sentences26a. Recognizing unclear sentences26b. Editing for clear sentences27. Mixed Structures27a. Recognizing mixed and incomplete sentences27b. Editing mixed and incomplete sentences28. Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers28a. Recognizing misplaced modifiers28b. Editing misplaced modifiers29. Unnecessary Shifts29a. Recognizing shifts in person and number29b. Editing shifts in person and number29c. Recognizing shifts in tense29d. Editing shifts in tense30. Parallelism30a. Recognizing faulty parallelism30b. Editing for parallelism31. Coordination and Subordination31a. Recognizing coordination31b. Recognizing subordination31c. Editing for coordination and subordination32. Conciseness32a. Recognizing wordiness32b. Editing for conciseness33. Language Choices33a. Recognizing and editing language varieties33b. Recognizing and editing disrespectful languagePart 6: Writing with Conventions34. Commas34a. Recognizing commas that join sentences34b. Editing commas that join sentences34c. Recognizing commas that set off sentence elements34d. Editing commas that set off sentence elements34e. Editing disruptive commas34f. Editing commas with words in a series35. Semicolons and Colons35a. Recognizing semicolons that join sentences35b. Editing semicolons that join sentences35c. Editing semicolons in a complex series35d. Recognizing and editing colons36. Apostrophes36a. Recognizing apostrophes that mark possession36b. Editing apostrophes that mark possession36c. Recognizing apostrophes that mark contractions36d. Editing apostrophes that mark contractions37. Quotation Marks37a. Recognizing marks that set off quotations37b. Editing marks that set off quotations37c. Editing quotation marks with titles38. Italics and Underlining38a. Recognizing conventions for italics (underlining)38b. Editing for conventions for emphasis39. Capitals39a. Recognizing capitals that begin sentences39b. Editing capitals that begin sentences39c. Editing capitals that begin words40. Abbreviations40a. Recognizing and editing abbreviations40b. Editing to use abbreviations sparingly41. Numbers41a. Recognizing when to spell or use numbers41b. Editing numbers in general text42. Hyphens42a. Recognizing hyphens that join words42b. Editing hyphens that join words42c. Editing hyphens that divide words43. Spelling43a. Using the computer to proofread for spelling43b. Recognizing and editing spelling errors44. Other Marks and Conventions44a. Recognizing and editing parentheses44b. Recognizing and editing dashes44c. Recognizing and editing brackets44d. Recognizing and editing ellipses44e. Recognizing and editing slashes44f. Recognizing and editing end marks44g. Recognizing and editing electronic addresses44h. Combining marksTen Serious Errors1. Fragment2. Fused sentence3. Unclear pronoun reference4. Lack of subject-verb agreement5. Dangling modifier6. Shift7. Misused or missing apostrophe8. Unnecessary commas9. Misused or missing quotation marks10. Double negativeGlossary of Usage and TermsIndex Guide to ESL AdviceDetailed ContentsSymbols for Revising and Editing
