A Pocket Style Manual

by Hacker, Diana; Sommers, Nancy

• ISBN13: 9780312542542
• ISBN10: 0312542542
• Additional ISBN(s): 9781319169541
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Spiral Bound
• Copyright: 2011-11-24
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's
• More Book Details

Summary

Used by nearly a quarter million students each year, A Pocket Style Manualis a straightforward, inexpensive quick reference, with content flexible enough to suit the needs of writers in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, health professions, business, fine arts, education, and beyond. Its slim format, brief length, and spiral binding make it easy for students to keep A Pocket Style Manualwith them for every writing assignment, in any class. With its signature Hacker handbook quick-reference featureshand-edited sentences, color-coded documentation coverage, user-friendly index entries, and a clean, uncluttered design A Pocket Style Manualhas always provided fast, effective answers to writing and research questions. In the Hacker tradition, new coauthor Nancy Sommers has crafted solutions for the challenges today's college students face. The new edition provides even more help with research writing and supports students in every discipline.

Author Biography

DIANA HACKER personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over 35 years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Other Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include Rules for Writers, Seventh Edition, A Writer’s Reference, Seventh Edition; and The Bedford Handbook, Eighth Edition.
 
NANCY SOMMERS, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches writing in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her recent work involves a longitudinal study of undergraduate writing. Nancy Sommers is coauthor of Fields of Reading, Ninth Edition and is lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's.

Table of Contents

Clarity

 

1 Tighten wordy sentences.

 

2 Prefer active verbs.

 

3 Balance parallel ideas.

 

4 Add needed words.

 

5 Eliminate confusing shifts.

 

6 Untangle mixed constructions.

 

7 Repair misplaced and dangling modifiers.

 

8 Provide sentence variety.

 

9 Find an appropriate voice.

Grammar

 

10 Make subjects and verbs agree.

 

11 Be alert to other problems with verbs.

 

12 Use pronouns with care.

 

13 Use adjectives and adverbs appropriately.
 
14 Repair sentence fragments.

 

15 Revise run-on sentences.

 

16 Review grammar concerns for multilingual writers.

 

Punctuation

 

17 The comma

 

18 The semicolon and the colon

 

19 The apostrophe

 

20 Quotation marks

 

21 Other marks

 

Mechanics

 

22 Capitalization

 

23 Abbreviations, numbers, and italics

 

24 Spelling and the hyphen

Research

 

25 Posing a research question

 

26 Finding appropriate sources

 

27 Evaluating sources
(*new feature on scholarly vs. popular sources)

 

28 Managing information; avoiding plagiarism
(*new chapter including sample annotated bibliography and chart on avoiding plagiarism)

MLA Papers

 

29 Supporting a thesis

 

30 Avoiding plagiarism

 

31 Integrating nonfiction sources
(*new coverage of synthesis)

 

32 Integrating literary quotations

 

33 MLA documentation style
(*new annotated documentation models)

 

34 MLA manuscript format; sample pages

APA Papers

 

35 Supporting a thesis

 

36 Avoiding plagiarism

 

37 Integrating sources

 

38 APA documentation style
(*new annotated documentation models)

 

39 APA manuscript format; sample pages

Chicago Papers

 

40 Supporting a thesis

 

41 Avoiding plagiarism

 

42 Integrating sources

 

43 Chicago documentation style

 

44 Chicago manuscript format; sample pages

CSE Papers
(*two new chapters)

45 CSE documentation style

 

46 CSE manuscript format

Glossaries

 

47 Glossary of usage

 

48 Glossary of grammatical terms

 

Index
Charts and lists for quick reference
Checklist for global revision
Visiting the writing center
Revision symbols