Rules of Thumb
by Silverman, Jay; Hughes, Elaine; Roberts, Diana WienbroerEdition: 8th
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-06-01
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages
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Summary
Rules of Thumbis a concise, user-friendly, and affordable handbook developed around students' real writing needs. An invaluable companion for writers at all levels, it gives students the advice they need on writing, research, grammar, and style in a clear and engaging voice. Reflecting the most current APA documentation styles, the eighth edition remains the ideal handbook for improving grammar without overwhelming student writers with specialized terminology.
Table of Contents
| Acknowledgments | p. xiii |
| The Meaning of "Rule of Thumb" | p. xvi |
| How to Use Rules of Thumb | p. xvii |
| The Basics: Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar | |
| A Word about Correctness | p. 2 |
| Commonly Confused Words | p. 3 |
| One Word or Two? | p. 11 |
| Spelling | p. 13 |
| Capitalization | p. 16 |
| Abbreviations and Numbers | p. 18 |
| Apostrophes | p. 20 |
| Consistent Pronouns | p. 21 |
| I vs. Me, She vs. Her, He vs. Him, Who vs. Whom | p. 24 |
| Vague Pronouns | p. 26 |
| Recognizing Complete Sentences | p. 28 |
| Period or Comma? Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments | p. 31 |
| Feature: Using But, However, Although | p. 37 |
| Commas | p. 38 |
| Semicolons | p. 40 |
| Colons | p. 41 |
| Dashes and Parentheses | p. 42 |
| Quotation Marks | p. 44 |
| Titles: Italics, Underlines, or Quotation Marks | p. 48 |
| Shifting Verb Tenses | p. 49 |
| Verb Agreement | p. 54 |
| Word Endings: -s and -ed | p. 56 |
| Parallel Structure | p. 58 |
| Dangling Constructions | p. 59 |
| Mixed Sentence Patterns | p. 60 |
| Putting a Paper Together | |
| What to Do When You're Stuck | p. 63 |
| Addressing Your Audience | p. 67 |
| Writing with a Thesis | p. 69 |
| Finding an Organization for Your Essay | p. 72 |
| Introductions | p. 75 |
| Paragraphs-Long and Short | p. 77 |
| Transitions | p. 80 |
| Incorporating Quotations | p. 82 |
| Conclusions | p. 84 |
| How to Make a Paper Longer (and When to Make It Shorter) | p. 85 |
| How to Work on a Second Draft | p. 87 |
| Shortcuts for "Word" | p. 90 |
| Proofreading Tips | p. 93 |
| Format of College Papers | p. 95 |
| Special Case: Writing an Essay in Class | p. 98 |
| Special Case: Writing about Literature | p. 101 |
| The Research Paper | |
| Seven Steps to a Research Paper | p. 111 |
| How to Conduct Research | p. 112 |
| Feature: Sizing Up a Website | p. 117 |
| Getting Information Online and at the Library | p. 121 |
| Feature: When You Find Too Few or Too Many Sources | p. 125 |
| Writing the Research Paper | p. 126 |
| Feature: PowerPoint Presentations | p. 130 |
| Plagiarism (Cheating) | p. 132 |
| What Is Documentation? | p. 133 |
| Feature: Where to Find Specific Entries for Works Cited, References, and Bibliography | p. 135 |
| Documentation: The MLA Style | p. 136 |
| Documentation: The APA Style | p. 150 |
| Documentation: Footnotes, Endnotes, and Bibliography | p. 159 |
| Style | |
| Finding Your Voice | p. 165 |
| Adding Details | p. 166 |
| Repetition: Bad, Not-So-Bad, and Good | p. 168 |
| Eliminating Inappropriate Language | p. 170 |
| Trimming Wordiness | p. 172 |
| Using Strong Verbs | p. 174 |
| Varying Your Sentences | p. 176 |
| Recognizing Cliches | p. 181 |
| Keeping a Journal | p. 182 |
| Postscript | p. 185 |
| A List of Valuable Sources | p. 187 |
| About the Authors | p. 191 |
| Index | p. 193 |
| Troubleshooting Guide | p. 204 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |
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