Get big writing help in a small package with POCKET KEYS FOR WRITERS. Based on the authors' research and experience in the college writing classroom, this book offers everything you need to improve your writing. The sixth edition features three new extended examples to help you build important critical thinking skills that will serve you well in your college writing and beyond. From navigating the research process to understanding the mechanics of writing and using punctuation to finding and documenting print and electronic source materials, POCKET KEYS FOR WRITERS assembles concise and practical information in one clear, easy-to-use handbook that you'll find yourself turning to again and again.
Part I: WRITING IN COLLEGE.
1. The Writing Process in Context.
Your purpose. Your audience. Your voice. Your use of media. Revising and editing.
2. A Framework for Critical Thinking.
3. Reading and Writing Arguments.
A debatable claim (thesis). Reasons and evidence. Areas of common ground. Visuals.
Model paper 1: A student's argument essay (MLA).
4. Presentation Matters.
How to present your work. Text (color, lists, headings). Photos and images. Data (tables, graphs, charts). Oral and multimedia presentations, PowerPoint, e-portfolios. Multimodal composition.
Part II: RESEARCH: FINDING AND EVALUATING SOURCES.
5. How to Search for Information.
Primary and secondary sources. Starting the search. Starting points. Keyword searching. Visual sources. Google. Digital tools. Online alerts.
6. How to Evaluate Sources.
Reading critically. Evaluating sources. Recognizing a scholarly article.
Part III: USING AND CITING SOURCES: WRITING WITHOUT PLAGIARIZING.
7. Citing Your Sources.
Why, how, and what to cite. Avoiding plagiarism. Keeping track of sources. Bibliographic software, databases.
8. How to Use and Integrate Source Material.
Organization with ideas, not sources. Summarizing and paraphrasing. Quoting. Integrating source citations. Showing the boundaries of a source citation.
Part IV: DOCUMENTING SOURCES.
9. MLA Style.
Index of MLA Style. Basic features. Citing sources. Setting up an MLA list of works cited. Citing sources in an MLA list of works cited. Source Shots. Print books. Print articles. Periodicals in online databases and on Web. Other Web sources. Visual, performance, multimedia, miscellaneous sources.
Model paper 2: A student's research paper, MLA style.
10. APA Style.
Index of APA Style. Basic features. Citing sources. List of references. Print books and parts of books. Print articles (Source Shot 4). Online sources (Source Shot 5). Visual, multimedia, miscellaneous sources.
Model paper 3: A student's research paper, APA style.
11. Chicago Style.
Index of Chicago Style. Basic features. Citing sources. Endnotes and footnotes. Print books. Print articles. Online sources. Audiovisual, multimedia, miscellaneous sources. A student's Chicago bibliography.
Model paper 4: Samples from a student's Chicago research paper.
Part V: THE FIVE C'S FOR CLEAR STYLE.
12. Cut.
Wordiness. Formulaic phrases. References to your intentions.
13. Check for Action ("Who's Doing What?")
"Who's doing what?". Sentences beginning with there or it. Unnecessary passive voice.
14. Connect.
Consistent subjects. Transitional words. Variety in connecting ideas.
15. Commit.
Confident stance. Consistent tone.
16. Choose Your Words Carefully.
Vivid and specific words. Slang, regionalisms, and jargon. Biased and exclusionary language.
17. Revising for Style.
Part VI: COMMON SENTENCE PROBLEMS.
18. FAQs about Sentences.
19. Fixing a Sentence Fragment.
What a sentence needs. Turning fragments into sentences. Beginning with and, but, or. Intentional fragments.
20. Fixing a Run-on or Comma Splice.
Identifying. Correcting.
21. Untangling Sentence Snarls.
Mixed constructions, faulty comparisons, convoluted syntax. Misplaced modifiers. Dangling modifiers. Shifts. Logical sequence after the subject. Parallel structures. Is when and the reason is because. Necessary and unnecessary words.
22. Using Verbs Correctly.
Verbs in Standard Academic English. Auxiliary verbs. Verbs commonly confused. Verb tenses. -ed forms (past tense, past participle). Conditional sentences, wishes, requests, demands, recommendations. Active and passive voices.
23. Making Subjects and Verbs Agree.
Basic principles. Words between subject and verb. Subject following the verb. Eight tricky subjects. Collective nouns (family, etc.). Compound subjects (and, or, nor). Indefinite pronouns (anyone, etc.). Expressing quantity (much, etc.). Relative clauses (who, which, that).
24. Using Pronouns.
Which to use (I/me, he/him, etc.). Specific antecedent. Agreeing with antecedents. Using you. Relative pronouns (who, whom, which, that).
25. Adjectives and Adverbs.
Forms. When to use. Hyphenated (compound) adjectives. Double negatives. Comparatives and superlatives.
Part VII: PUNCTUATION AND MECHANICS.
26. Punctuation Shows Intent.
27. Commas.
28. Apostrophes.
29. Quotation Marks.
30. Other Punctuation Marks.
31. Italics and Underlining.
32. Capitals, Abbreviations, and Numbers.
33. Hyphens.
Part VIII: WRITING ACROSS LANGUAGES AND CULTURES.
34. Standard Academic English.
Cultures and Englishes. Spoken varieties and Standard Academic English.
35. Nouns and Articles (A, An, The).
Types of nouns. Basic rules. The for specific reference. Four questions to ask about articles.
36. Infinitive, -ing, and -ed Forms.
Verb + infinitive. Verb + -ing. Preposition + -ing. Verb + infinitive or -ing. -ing or -ed adjectives.
37. Sentence Structure and Word Order.
Basic rules. Direct and indirect objects. Direct and indirect questions. Although and because clauses.
Part IX: WORDS TO WATCH FOR.
38. Glossary of Usage.
Index.
Editing Marks.
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Ann Raimes
Ann Raimes, a respected authority on writing, research, grammar, and ESL, created the KEYS FOR WRITERS family of handbooks (Cengage Learning) to be the most accessible, user-friendly handbooks available.
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Susan K. Miller-Cochran
Susan K. Miller-Cochran, now director of the Writing Program at The University of Arizona, helped shape the First-Year Writing Program at North Carolina State University while serving as director from 2007-2015. Prior to that, she was a faculty member at Mesa Community College in Arizona. Dr. Miller-Cochran serves as president of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (2015-2017). Her work focuses on the intersections of technology, second-language writing, and writing program administration. Widely published and a popular presenter, Dr. Miller-Cochran is also a co-author with Rochelle L. Rodrigo on the CENGAGE GUIDE TO RESEARCH (Cengage Learning). She received both her Master of Teaching English as a Second Language (MTESL) and her Ph.D. in English, with a concentration in Rhetoric/Composition and Linguistics, from Arizona State University.
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New Key Examples offer extended examples to help students with critical thinking. Building on the handbook's Critical Thinking Framework, the examples prompt students to consider rhetorical context. Topics include critical reading (with annotations demonstrating active reading), source evaluation (featuring two sources a student has critically evaluated), and revision (making use of a heuristic for working through the Five C's for stylistic revision).
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Chapter 4, "Presentation Matters," features an updated PowerPoint® slide for Office 2016 and a new bar chart example that help to illustrate the effective use of visuals in presentations.
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Chapter 9 reflects the 2016 MLA updates. Newly designed source shots in Chapters 9 through 11 clearly label each of the necessary citation elements as students encounter them in the source and then show how to organize the elements into an MLA, APA, or CMS citation.
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Throughout the book, Tech Notes have been made into Key Points boxes -- which provide quick-reference summaries of important information -- or incorporated into the main content of the chapter.
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POCKET KEYS FOR WRITERS' intuitive, color-coded organization, quick-reference features such as Key Points boxes, abundant examples and models, friendly writing style, and uncluttered design continue in this new edition, making information easy for student