Full Description
Written collaboratively by writing instructors at the Queen's University Writing Centre, A Writer's Handbook is a compact yet thorough guide to academic writing for a North American audience. This clear and concise handbook outlines strategies both for thinking assignments through and for writing them well.
Contents
Chapter one: Understanding the Assignment
Looking for Action
Different Verbs, Different Essays
Chapter two: Planning and Outlining
Gathering Material
What/How/Why
Organizing Material—Developing Your Thesis and Outline
Chapter three: Paragraphs
The Long and the Short of It
What/How/Why ... Again
Focus and Coherence
Transitions
Beginnings and Endings
Know Your Project
Chapter four: Stylistic Decisions
Editing with Your Ears
Content vs. Grammar
To Be or Not ...
Prepositional Phrases
Tone
Beware Your Thesaurus
Figurative Language
Be Precise and Be Realistic
Chapter five: Essential Grammar
Clauses
Voice: Passive or Active?
Making Contact: Working with Connectors
She or Her, Who or Whom? It All Depends on the Case
He, She, or They?: Pronoun Agreement and Gender Neutrality
Chapter six: Punctuation
That's All I Have to Say. Period.
Connecting Ideas: Commas and Dashes
Connecting More Ideas: Colons and Semicolons
Exclamation Points!
Ellipses and Brackets: Clarifying Quoted Material
Contraction and Possession: The Apostrophe
Apostrophes and Plurals
When Not to Use an Apostrophe: Possessive Pronouns
Chapter seven: Documentation
The P Word: Plagiarism
When to Cite a Source
When Not to Cite a Source
Documentation Systems
Modern Language Association (MLA) Format
American Psychological Association (APA) Format
Chicago Manual of Style (Chicago Style) Format
Chapter eight: Business Writing
Reader-Centred Writing: It's All about You
Always Look on the Bright Side: Making Negatives Positive
Creating Information Snapshots: Parallel Structure
Creating More Information Snapshots: Bullets and Headings
Memos, Letters, and Reports: Conventional Formats
Some Notes on Email
Chapter nine: Writing in the Sciences
IMRAD: Formatting Your Lab Report
Abstracts: Making the Essentials Concrete
Passive Voice: It's Not All about You
Giving Credit: Documentation Formats
Tone: Be Direct and Be Objective
Appendix: Confusable Words: Usage and Misusage
