Short Guide to College Writing, A (Penguin Academics Series)

by Barnet, Sylvan; Bellanca, Pat; Stubbs, Marcia

• ISBN13: 9780321457424
• ISBN10: 0321457420
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

One of the high-quality, low-priced entries in Longman's Penguin Academics Series,A Short Guide to College Writingis a clear and authoritative brief rhetoric that emphasizes analysis, argument, and research in academic writing. Brief, high-quality rhetoric with lower price. Drafting, revising, research, documentation. General Interest.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xix
The Writing Process	p. 1
Developing Ideas	p. 3
Starting	p. 3
How to Write: Writing as a Physical Act	p. 3
Some Ideas About Ideas: Strategies for Invention	p. 3
Asking Questions and Answering Them	p. 4
Listing	p. 6
Clustering	p. 8
Freewriting	p. 10
Focusing	p. 10
Critical Thinking: Subject, Topic, Thesis	p. 10
Finding a Topic	p. 11
Developing a Thesis	p. 13
Developing Ideas	p. 15
Thinking About Audience and Purpose: The Reader as Collaborator	p. 15
Writing the Draft	p. 16
Drafting and Revising	p. 18
Reading Drafts	p. 18
Imagining Your Audience and Asking Questions	p. 18
Peer Review: The Benefits of Having a Real Audience	p. 21
From Assignment to Essay: A Case History	p. 22
First Draft	p. 26
Summary of Peer Group Discussion	p. 27
Final Version	p. 29
Two Sides of a Story (Student Essay)	p. 30
Checklist for Drafting and Revising	p. 32
Shaping Paragraphs	p. 33
Paragraph Form and Substance	p. 33
The Shape of a Paragraph	p. 35
Paragraph Unity: Topic Sentences, Topic Ideas	p. 36
Examples of Topic Sentences at Beginning and at End, and of Topic Ideas	p. 36
Unity in Paragraphs	p. 38
Organization in Paragraphs	p. 41
Coherence in Paragraphs	p. 42
Transitions	p. 43
Repetition	p. 44
Linking Paragraphs Together	p. 45
The Story Behind the Gestures (Student Essay)	p. 45
Paragraph Length	p. 49
The Use and Abuse of Short Paragraphs	p. 50
Introductory Paragraphs	p. 52
Concluding Paragraphs	p. 59
Checklist for Revising Paragraphs	p. 60
Revising for Conciseness	p. 62
Instant Prose	p. 63
How to Avoid Instant Prose	p. 64
Extra Words and Empty Words	p. 65
Weak Intensifiers	p. 66
Circumlocutions	p. 66
Wordy Beginnings	p. 67
Empty Conclusions	p. 68
Wordy Uses of the Verbs To Be, To Have, and To Make	p. 69
Redundancy	p. 70
Negative Constructions	p. 71
Extra Sentences, Extra Clauses: Subordination	p. 72
Who, Which, That	p. 73
It Is, This Is, There Are	p. 73
Some Concluding Remarks About Conciseness	p. 74
Checklist for Revising for Conciseness	p. 75
Revising for Clarity	p. 76
Clarity	p. 76
Clarity and Exactness: Using the Right Word	p. 78
Denotation	p. 78
Connotation	p. 80
Avoiding Sexist Language	p. 81
Quotation Marks as Apologies	p. 83
Being Specific	p. 83
Using Examples	p. 84
Jargon and Technical Language	p. 86
Cliches	p. 89
Metaphors and Mixed Metaphors	p. 90
Euphemisms	p. 92
Passive or Active Voice?	p. 92
The Writer's "I"	p. 95
Clarity and Coherence	p. 96
Cats Are Dogs	p. 96
Items in a Series	p. 97
Modifiers	p. 98
Misplaced Modifiers	p. 98
Squinting Modifiers	p. 99
Dangling Modifiers	p. 99
Reference of Pronouns	p. 100
Vague Reference of Pronouns	p. 101
Shift in Pronouns	p. 101
Ambiguous Reference of Pronouns	p. 101
Agreement	p. 102
Noun and Pronoun	p. 102
Subject and Verb	p. 102
Three Additional Points	p. 103
Repetition and Variation	p. 104
Clarity and Sentence Structure: Parallelism	p. 106
Checklist for Revising for Clarity	p. 107
Writing with Style	p. 108
Academic Styles, Academic Audiences	p. 108
Defining Style	p. 111
Style and Tone	p. 112
Acquiring Style	p. 115
Clarity and Texture	p. 115
Originality and Imitation	p. 115
College Writing	p. 117
Analyzing Texts	p. 119
Analyzing an Image	p. 119
Analyzing Advertisements (Visual Rhetoric)	p. 120
Checklist for Analyzing Advertisements	p. 122
Analyzing Texts	p. 122
Analysis Versus Summary and Paraphrase	p. 123
The Gettysburg Address: Summary, Paraphrase, Analysis	p. 123
Summarizing	p. 123
The Gettysburg Address	p. 124
Paraphrasing	p. 127
Analyzing	p. 127
Paraphrasing and Summarizing Literary Texts	p. 128
Classifying and Thinking	p. 129
Examples of Classifying	p. 129
Cause and Effect	p. 130
Advertisements, Pornography, and Public Space	p. 131
Analysis and Description	p. 135
Description at Work in the Analytic Essay	p. 136
Comparing	p. 137
Organizing Short Comparisons	p. 138
Longer Comparisons	p. 141
Ways of Organizing an Essay Devoted to a Comparison	p. 143
Checklist for Revising Comparisons	p. 145
Process Analysis	p. 145
It's the Portly Penguin That Gets the Girl, French Biologist Claims	p. 146
Explaining an Analysis	p. 149
Persuading Readers	p. 150
Emotional Appeals	p. 150
Making Reasonable Arguments	p. 151
Claims and Evidence	p. 153
Three Kinds of Claims: Claims of Fact, Value, and Policy	p. 153
Claims of Fact	p. 153
Claims of Value	p. 154
Claims of Policy	p. 155
Three Kinds of Evidence: Examples, Testimony, Statistics	p. 156
Examples	p. 156
Testimony	p. 158
Statistics	p. 159
A Note on Definition in the Persuasive Essay	p. 159
Definition at Work	p. 160
The Plight of the Politically Correct (Student Essay)	p. 160
How Much Evidence Is Enough?	p. 161
Two Kinds of Reasoning: Induction and Deduction	p. 162
Avoiding Fallacies	p. 163
Wit	p. 167
Avoiding Sarcasm	p. 168
Tone and Ethical Appeal	p. 168
A Note on Critical Thinking	p. 169
Organizing an Argument	p. 171
Checklist for Revising Drafts of Persuasive Essays	p. 172
Persuasion at Work: Two Writers Consider Torture	p. 173
Torture Should Not Be Authorized	p. 173
An Analysis of Heymann's Argument	p. 175
Yes, It Should Be "On the Books"	p. 176
An Analysis of Dershowitz's Argument	p. 178
Using Sources	p. 180
Why Use Sources?	p. 180
What Is a Source? Primary and Secondary Materials	p. 182
Developing a Research Topic	p. 183
Finding Sources	p. 183
The Library's Central Information System	p. 184
Using the Internet	p. 185
Checklist for Evaluating Web Sites	p. 187
Reading and Taking Notes on Secondary Sources	p. 187
A Guide to Note-Taking	p. 188
Acknowledging Sources	p. 191
Using Sources Without Plagiarizing	p. 191
Acknowledging a Direct Quotation	p. 193
Acknowledging a Paraphrase or Summary	p. 193
Acknowledging an Idea	p. 196
Fair Use of Common Knowledge	p. 197
"But How Else Can I Put It?"	p. 197
Checklist for Avoiding Plagiarism	p. 198
Writing the Research Essay	p. 199
Writing the Essay	p. 200
Checklist for Revising Drafts of Research Essays	p. 201
A Sample Research Essay (MLA Format)	p. 202
Politics and Psychology in The Awakening (Student Essay)	p. 203
A Brief Analysis of Cody's Use of Sources	p. 217
A Sample Research Essay (APA Format)	p. 218
Nitrite: Preservative or Carcinogen? (Student Essay)	p. 219
A Brief Analysis of Alexander's Use of Sources	p. 234
Writing Essay Examinations	p. 236
Why Write Examinations? Examinations as Critical Thinking	p. 236
Writing Essay Answers	p. 237
Questions on Literature and the Social Sciences	p. 237
Questions on the Physical Sciences and Mathematics	p. 239
A Writer's Handbook	p. 241
Punctuating Sentences	p. 243
A Word on Computer Grammar and Punctuation Checks	p. 245
Three Common Errors: Fragments, Comma Splices, and Run-on Sentences	p. 245
Fragments and How to Correct Them	p. 245
How to Correct Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences	p. 247
The Period	p. 249
The Question Mark	p. 250
The Colon	p. 250
The Semicolon	p. 251
The Comma	p. 253
The Dash	p. 259
Parentheses	p. 260
Italics	p. 261
Capital Letters	p. 262
The Hyphen	p. 264
The Apostrophe	p. 265
Abbreviations	p. 267
Numbers	p. 268
Using the Right Word	p. 270
A Note on Idioms	p. 270
A Writer's Glossary	p. 272
Documenting Sources	p. 296
Documentation	p. 296
MLA Format	p. 297
Citations Within the Text	p. 297
Author and Page Number in Parenthetic Citation	p. 300
Title and Page Number in Parentheses	p. 300
Author, Title, and Page Number in Parentheses	p. 301
A Government Document or a Work of Corporate Authorship	p. 301
A Work by Two or Three Authors	p. 301
Parenthetic Citation of an Indirect Source (Citation of Material That Itself Was Quoted or Summarized in Your Source)	p. 302
Parenthetic Citation of Two or More Words	p. 302
A Work in More Than One Volume	p. 302
An Anonymous Work	p. 303
A literary Work	p. 303
A Personal Interview	p. 305
Lectures	p. 306
Electronic Sources	p. 306
A Note on Footnotes in an Essay Using Parenthetic Citations	p. 306
The List of Works Cited	p. 307
Alphabetic Order	p. 308
Form on the Page	p. 308
Author's Name	p. 308
Title of Book	p. 309
Place of Publication, Publisher, and Date	p. 310
A Book by More Than One Author	p. 311
Government Documents	p. 311
Works of Corporate Authorship	p. 311
Republished Work	p. 312
A Book in Several Volumes	p. 312
One Book with a Separate Title in a Set of Volumes	p. 313
A Book with an Author and an Editor	p. 313
A Revised Edition of a Book	p. 313
A Translated Book	p. 313
An Introduction, Foreword, or Afterword	p. 314
A Book with an Editor but No Author	p. 314
A Work in a Volume of Works by One Author	p. 314
A Work in a Collection of Works by Several Authors	p. 314
A Book Review	p. 315
An Article or Essay-Not a Reprint-in a Collection	p. 316
An Article or Essay Reprinted in a Collection	p. 316
An Encyclopedia or Other Alphabetically Arranged Reference Work	p. 317
A Film	p. 317
A Television or Radio Program	p. 318
An Article in a Scholarly Journal	p. 318
An Article in a Weekly, Biweekly, or Monthly Publication	p. 318
An Article in a Newspaper	p. 319
An Interview	p. 319
A Lecture	p. 319
Portable Database Sources	p. 319
Online Sources	p. 320
APA Format	p. 323
Citations Within the Text	p. 324
A Summary of an Entire Work	p. 324
A Reference to a Page or Pages	p. 325
A Reference to an Author Represented by More Than One Work Published in a Given Year in the References	p. 325
The List of References	p. 325
Form on the Page	p. 325
Alphabetic Order	p. 325
Form of Title	p. 327
Sample References	p. 327
A Book by One Author	p. 327
A Book by More Than One Author	p. 327
A Collection of Essays	p. 327
A Work in a Collection of Essays	p. 328
Government Documents	p. 328
An Article in a Journal That Paginates Each Issue Separately	p. 328
An Article in a Journal with Continuous Pagination	p. 328
An Article from a Monthly or Weekly Magazine	p. 328
An Article in a Newspaper	p. 329
A Book Review	p. 329
Electronic Sources	p. 329
A Note on Other Systems of Documentation	p. 331
Preparing the Manuscript	p. 333
Basic Manuscript Form	p. 333
Using Quotations (and Punctuating Them Correctly)	p. 338
Corrections in the Final Copy	p. 343
Last Words	p. 345
Credits	p. 346
Index	p. 347
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.