The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with Exercises

Preface for Students

Preface for Instructors           

PART 1   THE WRITING PROCESS

1          The Writing Situation  

            a          Assessment

            b          Subject

            c          Purpose

            d          Audience

            e          Genre

2          Invention  

            a          Journal keeping

            b          Observing

            c          Freewriting

            d          Brainstorming

            e          Drawing

            f           Asking questions

3          Thesis and Organization  

            a          Thesis statement

            b          Organization

4          Drafting 

            a          Starting to draft

            b          Maintaining momentum

            c          Sample first draft

5          Revising and Editing  

            a          Revising the whole essay

            b          Sample revision

            c          Editing the revised draft

            d          Formatting and proofreading

            e             SAMPLE FINAL DRAFT (RESPONSE ESSAY) 

            f           Collaborating

            g          Preparing a writing portfolio

6          Paragraphs  

            a          Relating paragraphs in the essay

b          Unity

            c          Coherence

            d          Development

            e          Introductions and conclusions

7          Presenting Writing  

            a          Academic writing

                        SAMPLE MARKETING REPORT

            b          Visuals and other media

            c          Web writing

                        SAMPLE WEB SITE

                                SAMPLE PAPER ON A BLOG

PART 2           WRITING IN AND OUT OF COLLEGE

8          Joining the Academic Community  

            a          Getting the most from college courses

            b          Becoming an academic writer

            c          Developing academic integrity

            d          Communicating in an academic setting

9          Critical Thinking and Reading  

            a          Techniques of critical reading

            b          Summarizing

c          Developing a critical response

            d          Viewing visuals critically

10        Academic Writing  

            a          Purpose, audience, and genre

b          Writing in response to texts

            c          Structure and content

            d          Language

            e          SAMPLE CRITICAL RESPONSE

11        Argument  

            a          Elements of argument

            b          Reasonableness

            c          Organization

            d          Visual arguments

            e          SAMPLE ARGUMENT 

12        Essay Exams  

            a          Preparing

            b          Planning

            c          Starting

            d          Developing

                        SAMPLE ESSAY EXAM

            e          Rereading

13        Oral Presentations  

            a          Organization

            b          Delivery

                            SAMPLE POWERPOINT SLIDES

14        Public Writing  

            a          Business letters and résumés

                        SAMPLE LETTER AND RÉSUMÉS

            b          Memos, reports, and proposals

                        SAMPLE MEMO AND REPORT  

            c          Community work

                        SAMPLE FLYER AND NEWSLETTER

PART 3           CLARITY AND STYLE

15        Emphasis  

            a          Effective subjects and verbs

            b          Sentence beginnings and endings

            c          Coordination

            d          Subordination

16        Parallelism  

            a          With and, but, or, nor, yet

            b          With both . . . and, not . . . but, etc.

            c          In comparisons

            d          With lists, headings, and outlines

17        Variety and Details  

            a          Sentence length

            b          Sentence structure

            c          Details

18        Appropriate and Exact Language  

            a          Appropriate language

            b          Exact language

19        Completeness  

            a          Compounds

            b          Needed words

20        Conciseness  

            a          Focusing on subject and verb

            b          Cutting empty words

            c          Cutting repetition

            d          Reducing modifiers

            e          Revising there is or it is

            f           Combining sentences

            g          Rewriting jargon

PART 4           SENTENCE PARTS AND PATTERNS

______________________________________

            BASIC GRAMMAR

21        Parts of Speech  

            a          Nouns

            b          Pronouns

            c          Verbs

            d          Adjectives and adverbs

            e          Prepositions and conjunctions

            f           Interjections

22        The Sentence  

            a          Subjects and predicates

            b          Predicate patterns

23        Phrases and Subordinate Clauses  

            a          Phrases

            b          Subordinate clauses

24        Sentence Types  

            a          Simple sentences

            b          Compound sentences

            c          Complex sentences

            d          Compound-complex sentences

_______________________________________________

            VERBS

25        Forms  

            a          Sing/sang/sung and other irregular verbs

            b          Sit/set, lie/lay, rise/raise

            c          -s and -ed forms

            d          Be, have, and other helping verbs

            e          Verb + gerund or infinitive: stop eating vs. stop to eat

            f           Verb + particle: look up, look over, etc.

26        Tenses  

            a          Present tense: sing

            b          Perfect tenses: have/had/will have sung

            c          Progressive tenses: is/was/will be singing

            d          Consistency

            e          Sequence

27        Mood  

            a          Subjunctive: I wish I were

            b          Consistency

28        Voice  

            a          She wrote it (active) vs. It was written (passive)

            b          Consistency

29        Subject-Verb Agreement  

            a          -s and -es endings

            b          Intervening words

            c          Subjects with and

            d          Subjects with or or nor

            e          Everyone and other indefinite pronouns

            f           Team and other collective nouns

            g          Who, which, that

            h          News and other singular nouns ending in -s

            i           Verb preceding subject

            j           Is, are, and other linking verbs

            k          Titles and words being defined

________________________________________________

            PRONOUNS

30        Case  

            a          She and I vs. her and me

            b          It was she

            c          Who vs. whom

            d          Other constructions

31        Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

            a          Antecedents with and

            b          Antecedent with or or nor

            c          Everyone, person, and other indefinite words

            d          Team and other collective nouns

32        Pronoun Reference  

            a          Clear reference

            b          Close reference

            c          Specific reference

            d          Appropriate you

            e          Consistency

__________________________________________________

            MODIFIERS

33        Adjectives and Adverbs  

            a          Adjective vs. adverb

            b          Adjective with linking verb: felt bad

            c          Comparatives (bigger) and superlatives (biggest)    

d          Double negatives

            e          Present and past participles: boring vs. bored

            f           A, an, the, and other determiners

34        Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers  

            a          Misplaced modifiers

            b          Dangling modifiers

_______________________________________

            SENTENCE FAULTS

35        Fragments  

            a          Tests

            b          Revision

            c          Acceptable fragments

36        Comma Splices and Fused Sentences  

            a          Main clauses without and, but, etc.

            b          Main clauses with however, for example, etc.

37        Mixed Sentences  

            a          Reason is because and other mixed meanings

            b          Tangled grammar

            c          Repeated subjects and other parts

PART 5           PUNCTUATION

38        End Punctuation  

            a          Period

            b          Question mark

            c          Exclamation point

39        Comma  

            a          Main clauses with and, but, etc.

            b          Introductory elements

            c          Nonessential elements

            d          Items in a series

            e          Two or more adjectives

            f           Dates, addresses, place names, long numbers

            g          With quotations

            h          Misuses 

40        Semicolon  

            a          Main clauses without and, but, etc.

            b          Main clauses with however, for example, etc.

            c          Main clauses or series items with commas

            d          Misuses  

41        Colon  

            a          Concluding explanation, series, etc.

            b          Salutation, title and subtitle, time

            c          Misuses

42        Apostrophe  

            a          Possession

            b          Misuses

            c          Contractions

            d          Plural abbreviations, etc.

43        Quotation Marks  

            a          Direct quotations

            b          Within a quotation

            c          Dialog

            d          Titles of works

            e          Words used in a special sense

            f           Misuses

            g          With other punctuation

44        Other Marks  

            a          Dash or dashes

            b          Parentheses

            c          Ellipsis mark

            d          Brackets

            e          Slash

PART 6           SPELLING AND MECHANICS

45        Spelling and the Hyphen  

            a          Typical spelling problems

            b          Spelling rules

            c          The hyphen

46        Capital Letters  

            a          First word of sentence 

            b          Proper nouns and adjectives

            c          Titles of works

            d          Online communication

47        Italics or Underlining

            a          Titles and subtitles of works

            b          Names of vehicles

            c          Foreign words

            d          Words or characters named as words

            e          Emphasis

            f           Online communication

48        Abbreviations  

            a          Titles with proper names

            b          Familiar abbreviations

            c          BC, BCE, AD, CE, AM, PM, no., $

            d          Latin abbreviations

            e          Inc., Bros., Co., & 

            f           Units of measurement, names, etc.

49        Numbers  

            a          Numerals vs. words

            b          Dates, addresses, etc.

            c          Beginning sentences

PART 7           RESEARCH WRITING

50        Research Strategy  

            a          Planning

            b          Research journal

            c          Researchable subject and question

            d          Goals for sources

            e          Working, annotated bibliography

51        Finding Sources  

            a          Your library’s Web site

            b          Searching electronically

            c          Reference works

            d          Books

            e          Periodicals

            f           The Web

            g          Social media

            h          Government publications

            i           Visuals, audio, video

            j           Your own sources

52        Working with Sources  

            a          Evaluating sources

            b          Synthesizing sources

            c          Gathering information

            d          Using summary, paraphrase, quotation

            e          Integrating sources

53        Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources  

            a          Deliberate and accidental plagiarism

            b          What not to acknowledge

            c          What must be acknowledged

            d          Obtaining permission

            e          Documenting sources

54        Writing the Paper  

            a          Focusing and organizing

            b          Drafting, revising, editing, and formatting

PART 8           WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES

55        Goals and Requirements of the Disciplines  

            a          Methods and evidence

            b          Writing assignments

            c          Tools and language

            d          Documentation and format

56        Reading and Writing about Literature  

            a          Methods and evidence

            b          Writing assignments

            c          Tools and language

            d          Documentation and format

            e          SAMPLE LITERARY ANALYSIS  

57        Writing in Other Disciplines  

            a          Humanities

            b          Social sciences

            c          Natural and applied sciences

58        MLA Documentation and Format  

Indexes to models  
            a          Parenthetical text citations

            b          List of works cited

            c          Format of paper

            d          SAMPLE MLA PAPER  

59        APA Documentation and Format  

            Indexes to models   

            a          Parenthetical text citations

            b          List of references

            c          Format of paper

            d          SAMPLE APA PAPER 

60        Chicago Documentation  

            Index to models  

            a          Notes and bibliography entries

            b          Models

61        CSE Documentation  

            Index to models   

            a          Name-year citations

            b          Numbered text citations

            c          List of references

GLOSSARY OF USAGE      

INDEX    

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