Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers

Acknowledgements The Meaning of Rule of How to Use Rules of Thumb PART 1: THE BASICS: SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, AND GRAMMAR A about Correctness Commonly Confused Words One or Two? Spelling Capitalization Abbreviations and Numbers Apostrophes Consistent Pronouns I vs. Me, She vs. Her, He vs. Him, Who vs. Whom Vague Pronouns Recognizing Complete Sentences Period or Comma? Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments Feature: Using but, however, although Commas Semicolons Colons Dashes and Parentheses Quotation Marks Titles: Underlines, Italics, or Quotation Marks Shifting Verb Tenses Verb Agreement Endings: -s and -ed Parallel Structure Dangling COnstructions Mixed Sentence Patterns PART 2: PUTTING A PAPER TOGETHER What to Do When You're Stuck Addressing Your Audience Writing with a Thesis Finding an Organization for Your Essay Introductions Paragraphs--Long and Short Transitions Incorporating Quotations Conclusions How to Make a Paper Longer (and When to Make It Shorter) How to Work on a Second Draft Shortcuts for Word Proofreading Tips Format of College Papers Special Case: Writing an Essay in Class Special Case: Writing about Literature PART 3: THE RESEARCH PAPER Seven Steps to a Research Paper How to Conduct Research Feature: Sizing Up a Website Getting Information Online and at the Library Feature: When You Find Too Few or Too Many Sources Writing the Research Paper Feature: PowerPoint Presentations Plagiarism (Cheating) What Is Documentation? Feature: Where to Find Specific Entries for Works Cited, References, and Bibliography Documentation: The MLA Style Documentation: The APA Style Documentation: Endnotes and Bibliography PART 4: STYLE Finding Your Voice Adding Details Repetition: Bad, Not-So-Bad, and Good Recognizing Cliches Eliminating Offensive Language Trimming Wordiness Using Strong Verbs Varying Your Sentences Keeping a Journal Postscript A List of Valuable Sources About the Authors Index Troubleshooting Guide, inside back cover