RENT TEXTBOOKS

Part 1 Common Assignments across the Curriculum

1. Writing in College

a. Learning about college assignments

b. Learning how to understand assignments

c. The Writing Situation

2. Informative Reports

a. Understanding the assignment

b. Approaching writing an informative report as a process

3. Interpretive Analyses and Writing about Literature

a. Understanding the assignment

b. Approaching writing an interpretive analysis as a process

4. Arguments

a. Understanding the a... MOREssignment

b. Approaching writing an argument as a process

5. Other Kinds of Assignments

a. Personal essays

b. Lab reports in the experimental sciences

c. Case studies in the social sciences

d. Essay exams

e. Oral presentations

f. Coauthored projects

g. Portfolios

6. Designing Documents for Page and Screen

a. Considering audience and purpose

b. Using the tools available in your word-processing program

c. Thinking intentionally about design

d. Using and integrating visuals, audio, and video

e. Designing pages for the Web

Part 2 Researching

7. Understanding the Purpose of Research Projects

a. Understanding primary and secondary research

b. Recognizing the connection between research and college writing

c. Choosing an interesting research question

d. Creating a research plan

8. Finding Print and Online Sources

a. Consulting various kinds of sources

b. Keyword searches

c. Using the internet

d. Searching the Internet

9. Evaluating Your Sources

a. Print sources

b. Internet sources

c. Evaluating a source’s arguments

10. Finding and Creating Effective Visuals

a. Finding quantitative data and displaying it visually

b. Searching for appropriate images in online and print sources

11. Conducting Research in the Archive, Field, and Lab

a. Adhering to ethical principles

b. Preparing for archival research

c. Planning your field research

d. Keeping a notebook when doing lab research

12. Working with Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

a. Maintaining a working bibliography

b. Creating an annotated bibliography

c. Taking notes, paraphrasing, and summarizing

d. Taking stock and synthesizing as you paraphrase, summarize, and quote your sources

e. Avoiding plagiarism and copyright infringement

13. Writing the Paper

a. Planning and drafting

b. Integrating quotations, paraphrases and summaries

c. Documenting your sources

Part 3 MLA Documentation Style

14. MLA Style: In-Text Citations

MLA In-Text Citations: Directory to Sample Types

15. MLA Style: List of Works Cited

MLA Works-Cited Entries: Directory to Sample Types

16. MLA Style: Explanatory Notes

17. MLA Style: Paper Format

18. Pages from a Rearch Project in MLA Style

Part 4 APA Documentation Style

19. APA Style: In-Text Citations

APA In-Text Citations: Directory to Sample Types

20. APA Style: References

APA In-Text Citations: Directory to Sample Types

21. APA Style: Format

22. Pages from a Research Project in APA Style

Part 5 Other Documentation Styles

23. Chicago Documentation Style

Chicago Style: Directory to Sample Note and Bibliography Entries

24. CSE Documentation Style

CSE Name-Year Style: Directory to Sample Reference-List Entries

CSE Number Style: Directory to Sample Reference-List Entries

Part 6 Editing for Clarity

25. Avoid Wordiness

a. Redundancies and unnecessary modifiers

b. Wordy phrases

c. Roundabout sentences

26. Add Missing Words

a. Compound structures

b. The word that

c. Words in comparisons

d. The articles a, an, the

27. Unscramble Mixed Constructions

a. Mixed-up grammar

b. Illogical predicates

28. Fix Confusing Shifts

a. Shifts in point of view

b. Shifts in tense

c. Shifts in mood and voice

29. Use Parallel Construction

a. Items in a series

b. Paired ideas

30. Fix Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

a. Misplaced modifiers

b. Ambiguous modifiers

c. Disruptive modifiers

d. Split infinitives

e. Dangling modifiers

31. Use Coordination and Subordination Effectively

a. Coordination used for ideas of unequal importance

b. Major ideas in subordinate clauses

c. Excessive subordination

32. Vary Your Sentences

a. Sentence openings

b. Sentence length and structure

c. Cumulative and periodic sentences

d. An occasional inversion, a rhetorical question, or an exclamation

33. Choose Active Verbs

a. Alternatives to be verbs

b. The active voice

34. Use Appropriate Language

a. Slang, regional expressions, and nonstandard English

b. Levels of formality

c. Jargon

d. Euphemisms and doublespeak

e. Biased or sexist language

35. Use Exact Language

a. Connotations

b. Specific and concrete words

c. Standard idioms

d. Clichés

e. Figures of speech

f. Misusing words

36. Glossary of Usage

Part 7 Editing for Grammar Conventions

37. Fix Sentence Fragments

a. Dependent-clause fragments

b. Phrase fragments

c. Other types of fragments

38. Repair Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences

a. Joining two clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction such as and or but

b. Joining two clauses with a semicolon

c. Separating clauses into two sentences

d. Turning one of the independent clauses into a dependent clause

e. Transforming two clauses into one independent clause

39. Maintain Subject-Verb Agreement

a. When a word group separates the subject from the verb

b. Compound subjects

c. Collective subjects

d. Indefinite subjects

e. When the subject comes after the verb

f. Subject complement

g. Relative pronouns

h. Phrases beginning with –ing verbs

i. Titles of works, names of companies, or words representing themselves

40. Master Problems with Verbs

a. Regular and irregular verbs

b. Lay and lie, sit and set, rise and raise

c. Adding an –s or –es ending

d. Adding a –d or an –ed endinge. Tenses

f. Use of the past perfect tense

g. Uses of the present tense

h. Complete verbs

i. Mood

41. Master Problems with Pronouns

a. Pronoun agreement

b. Pronoun reference

c. Pronoun case

d. Who and whom

42. Master Problems with Adjectives and Adverbs

a. Adverbs

b. Adjectives

c. Positive, comparative, and superlative adjectives and adverbs

d. Double negatives

43. Watch for Problems with English Grammar of Special Concern to Multilingual Writers

a. Using articles (a, an, the) appropriately

b. Using helping verbs with main verbs

c. Using complete subjects and verbs

d. Using only one subject or object

Part 8 Editing for Correctness: Punctuation, Mechanics, and Spelling

44. Commas

a. After an introductory word group

b. Between items in a series

c. In front of a coordinating conjunction joining independent clauses

d. Between coordinate adjectives

e. To set off nonessential elements

f. With transitional and parenthetical expressions, contrasting comments, and absolute phrases

g. To set off words of direct address, yes and no, mild interjections, and tag questions

h. To separate a direct quotation from the rest of the sentence

i. With dates, addresses, titles, and numbers

j. To take the place of an omitted word or phrase or to prevent misreading

k. Common errors

45. Semicolons

a. To join independent clauses

b. With transitional expressions that separate independent clauses

c. To separate items in a series when the items contain commas

d. Common errors

46. Colons

a. To introduce lists, appositives, or quotations

b. When a second independent clause elaborates on the first one

c. Other conventional uses

d. Common errors

47. Apostrophes

a. To indicate possession

b. With indefinite pronouns

c. To mark contractions

d. To form plural numbers, letters, abbreviations, and words used as words

e. Common errors

48. Quotation Marks

a. To indicate direct quotations

b. To enclose titles of short works

c. To indicate that a word or phrase is being used in a special way

d. Other punctuation with quotation marks

e. To integrate quotations

f. Common errors

49. Other Punctuation Marks

a. The period

b. The question mark

c. The exclamation point

d. Dashes

e. Parentheses

f. Brackets

g. Ellipses

h. Slashes

50. Capitalization

a. Proper nouns

b. Personal titles

c. Titles of creative works

d. Names of areas or regions

e. Names of races, ethnic groups, and sacred things

f. First word of a sentence or quoted sentence

g. First word after a colon

51. Abbreviations and Symbols

a. Titles that always precede or follow a person’s name

c. Latin abbreviations

d. Inappropriate abbreviations and symbols

52. Numbers

a. Numerals versus words

b. Numbers that begin sentences

c. Conventional uses of numerals

53. Italics (Underlining)

a. Titles of works or separate publications

b. Names of ships, trains, aircraft, and spaceships

c. Foreign terms

d. Scientific names

e. Words, letters, and numbers referred to as themselves

f. For emphasis

54. Hyphens

a. To form a compound word

b. To create a compound adjective or noun forms

c. To spell out fractions and compound numbers

d. To attach some prefixes and suffixes

e. To divide words at the ends of lines

55. Spelling

a. Basic spelling rules

b. Words pronounced alike but spelled differently

Glossary of Terms

Index

Abbreviations and Symbols for Editing and Proofreading