Quick Access Reference for Writers

Quick Access: Reference for Writers provides down-to-earth writing advice, cutting edge research information, and trusted, class-tested, grammar instruction to help students succeed in their composition courses, in other classes, and beyond.

Lynn Quitman Troyka, Adjunct Professor of English in the MA Program in Language and Literature at the City College (CCNY) of the City University of New York (CUNY), taught freshman English and basic writing for many years at Queensborough Community College. Dr. Troyka is a past chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC); the College Section of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE); and the Writing Division of the Modern Language Association (MLA). She has won many awards for teaching, scholarship, and service, and has conducted hundreds of faculty workshops about teaching writing and its relation to college-level reading.

Doug Hesse is Professor of English and Executive Director of Writing at the University of Denver, one of only thirty writing programs to receive the CCCC Certificate of Excellence. Dr. Hesse is a past chair of the CCCC, the nation’s largest association of college writing instructors. A past president, as well, of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), Dr. Hesse edited, WPA: Writing Program Administration. He has served on the NCTE executive committee, chaired the MLA Division on Teaching as a Profession, and served on the MLA Committee on Contingent Labor. Author of nearly sixty articles and book chapters, he has been named University Distinguished Scholar at the University of Denver.

Hands-On Advice for Writers

1 Ten Top Tips for College Writers

2 Ten Troublesome Mistakes Writers Make

Sentence fragments

Comma splices and run-ons

Subject-verb disagreement

Pronoun-antecedent disagreement

Unclear pronoun reference

Sentence shifts

Misplaced modifiers

Comma errors

Apostrophe errors

3 Thinking Critically

a Critical thinking

b Rhetoric and the appeals

c Inductive and deductive reasoning

d Logical fallacies

4 Reading Texts and Visuals Critically

a Critical reading

b Steps for critical reading

c Close reading techniques

d Reading-writing connection

e Critical reading of visuals

Writing Processes

5 Planning Your Writing

a Writing processes

b Thinking like a writer

c Planning a writing portfolio

d Purposes for writing

e Audience

f Developing ideas

g Thesis statement

h Outlining

6 Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Proofreading

a First draft

b Overcoming writer’s block

c Revising

d Revising with thesis statements and titles

e Revising for style and tone

f Editing

g Editing software

h Proofreading

7 Composing Paragraphs

a Understanding paragraphs

b Introductory paragraphs

c Topic sentences

d Supporting details

e Coherent paragraphs

f Strategies for body paragraphs

g Concluding paragraphs

8 Designing Documents

a Understanding document design

b Principles of design

c Text

d Headings

e Photographs

f Other visuals

g Page layout

Frames for College Writing

9 Personal Essays

a Understanding personal essays

b Generating ideas and revising

c Frame for a personal essay