CONTENTS
I
PART
PREPARING To WRITE 1
1
FINDING IDEAS: A1
I TROD CTIO
Encouraging Your Brain
Caging an Idea 5
to
Give You an Idea
Keep a Diary 5
Start a Journal 5
Maintain a System of Notecards
Write Letters 6
Ask Questions 6
Look Around You 6
Surprise Yourself
5
7
Hooking an Idea 8
Martin and the Nerd: A Case History
Practice
2
11
THE WRITER S STAl CE
15
Applying the Principles of Stance
The Role 17
The Thesis 18
The Reader 19
A Completed Stance
19
The Writer's Stance and You
Your Role and Your Reader
Your Thesis 21
Practice
2
20
22
x
19
15
9
2
XI
3
MAKl G A PO
T: YOU
THESIS
The Assignment and the Thesis
A Thesi Notebook
Improving Your Thesis
4
2
33
34
The Thesis as Answer to a Question
Practices
31
36
37
32, 39
How TO MAKE A HELP tTL 0
TLI E
Types of Outlines 42
The Form of Outlines 43
Four Typical Questions About Outlines
How a Thesis Suggests an Oudine 47
41
44
The Hook and the Outline 48
How to Check an Outline 48
Some F ina! Comments on Outlining
Practice 50
PART
50
II
DEVELOPING PAPERS: TEN STRATEGIES 55
5
DESCRIPTIO
EXPERIE TCE
ARRATION, PERSON L
62
Introduction: Strategies of Development
Mixed Strategies 58
Practice 61
Strategy 1: Description
Point of View
Sensory Images
63
65
62
56
xu
Strategy 2: Narration
66
Dialogue in Narration
68
Strategy 3: Personal Experience
Practices
6
71
65, 69, 72
PROCESS, CAUSE
ND EFFECT
Strategy 4: Process
76
76
Suggestions for Writing Process Papers
Strategy 5: Cause and Effect
78
83
Recognizing the Signs of Causation 83
Suggestions for Writing Causation Papers
Practices
7
7~
86
79, 84, 89
CLASSIFICATIO
DEFINITIO
93
ILLUS
Strategy 6: Classification
ATIO
93
The "Ruling Principle" in Classification 93
Suggestions for Writing a Classification Paper
Strategy 7: Illustration
102
Using Specific Examples and Details
103
The Representative Example 107
Suggestions for Using Illustration 108
Strategy 8: Definition
109
Techniques of Defining 110
Avoiding Errors in Defining 112
Some Final Suggestions for Defining
Practices
95, 97, 105, 108, 115
113
96
xiii
8
COMPARISO -CONTRAST, ANALOGY
Strategy 9: Comparison-Contrast
119
119
Planning the Comparison-Contrast Paper 119
Organizing the Comparison-Contrast Paper 121
Strategy 10: Analogy
128
Literal and Figurative Analogies 128
Suggestions for Writing Analogies 129
Practices
120, 125, 132
III
PART
WRITING BETTER PAPERS
9
ORGA lZING CLEAR PARAGRAPHS
A. 0 PAPER
13
The Promise Pattern
138
Writing Successful Paragraphs
Non-Promise Paragraphs
Suspense Paragraphs
Transitional Paragraphs
144
149
149
150
How to Arrange Your Ideas
151
Start with a Simple or Familiar Idea
Use a Graded Order of Ideas
153
Introductions and Conclusions
Transitions
152
154
157
Organizing by "Creative Repetition"
Practices
141, 148, 151, 154, 160
159
137
XIV
10 SUCCEEDI fG WITH WORDS
163
Accurate Words 163
Suitable Words 165
Effective Words
Be Specific
166
166
Watch Your Connotations
169
Use Figures of Speech Carefully
Use Standard English
Be Idiomatic 177
Ineffective Words
175
179
Types of Ineffective Wording
179
Avoid Jargon and Shoptalk
Practices
171
182
165, 168, 171, 174, 176, 178, 181, 183
11 SHAPING BEITER SENTENCES (I):
EFFECTIVE STRUCT iRE 185
Units in the Typical Sentence 186
Sentence Bases 187
Free Units in the Sentence 188
Sentence Signals
191
The Sentence Base Rule
Parallelism
191
195
Using Parallelism
195
Avoid Faulty Parallelism
Subordination
197
199
Variations on the Typical Sentence
Try Different Beginnings
Employ Inversion 203
Try a Periodic Sentence
20 I
202
203
Use Qual'fying and Balancing Devices
204
Let Meaning Determine Your Structure
Practices
190, 193, 197, 198, 200, 205
204
xv
12 SHAP G BETTER SENTE CES (II):
RE ISING
D EDITING 208
Suggestions for Revising and Editing
A Final Tote on Editing 215
Practice 216
208
IV
PART
HANDLING SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS
13
WRITING A PERS ASlVE ARGUM
Use a Human Approach
Ethical Proof
220
221
222
The "You-Attitude"
223
Give Solid Evidence
Factual Evidence
225
225
General and Particular Facts
Authoritative Evidence 231
Use Good Logic
226
234
Avoid Loose Generalizations
234
How to Qualify a Generalization
235
Induction and Deduction: A Definition
Using Induction and Deduction
Avoid Fallacies
~!T
237
239
241
Recognizing and Correcting Fallacies
242
Use a Clear Argumentative Organization
Theses of Fact and of Action
248
248
Organization of Fa<..1 Argumeots
Organization of Action Arguments
249
25 1
Organization of Refutation Arguments
254
Practices 224, 229, 232, 236, 240, 246, 252, 255
219
xvi
14 THE RESEARCH PAPER
260
Step 1: Choose Your Subject
261
Reference Books 262
The Card Catalogue 262
Periodical Indexes 262
Librarians 265
Step 2: Make Your Working Bibliography
266
Step 3: Read, Take Notes, Evaluate the Evidence,
Create a Stance, and Look for a Thesis 267
The Form of Notes
267
Taking Notes 268
Accurate Paraphrasing
268
Proper Techniques for Quoting
Plagiarism 271
Thesis and Stance
270
274
Step 4: Make an Outline 275
Step 5: Write the Paper
276
Endnote, Footnote, and Bibliography Forms
Note Forms 277
Endnotes as They Might Appear in a Paper
F oomotes 280
The Bibliography 280
Checklist for the First Draft 284
Sample Research Paper 285
A List of Reference Works
300
General Reference Works 300
Specialized Reference Works 302
Practices
262, 265, 271, 275, 283, 298
280
276
XVll
15
THE LITERARY PAPER
307
What Is a Literary Paper?
307
Reading and Understanding the Literary Work
Brief Glossary of Literary Terms
The Narrative Work
66
nee,
[0
315
Ask About a Work
Writing the Literary Paper
The Assignment
311
313
The Non- arrative Work
Questions
316
319
320
Knowing the Work
320
The Writer's Stance
321
What to Avoid in Writing the Literary Paper
Practices
321
307, 322
16 WRITING FOR THE BUSI TESS WORLD
Business Writing: Five Emphases
The Letter
276
340
Form of the Lener 340
Psychology of the Letter 340
Two Sample Letters
342
The Job Application Letter
The Data Sheet
The Memo
346
346
The Application Letter
346
350
Form of the l'viemo
Two Sample Memos
Negative .Messages
Practices
311
350
351
353
338, 345, 349, 352, 355
335
335
xviii
P RT
V
HANDBOOK 357
A Point of View on Grammar and Usage
Premises
358
358
Alternative Solutions
Two Examples
359
360
The Villainous Whom
360
He as Generic Pronoun
360
Our Solution to the Problems of U711011l and He
Epilogue
GA
361
363
GRAMlv1ATICAL ANALYSIS
364
GA I
Learn the Parts of Speech
364
GA 2
Learn to Identify Clauses
368
GA 3
Learn to Identify Phrases
371
Practices 367, 370, 371, 373
G
FORiYiS OF GRAlVLvtAR
375
G I
Possessive with Gerund
(' ?
Vague or Ambiguous Pronoun
Reference 376
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
Wrong Form of Pronoun
J
_
G9
Appropriate Verb Tense
375
377
378
Faulty Principal Part of the Verb
Proper Use of the Subjunctive
Piling Up Verbs
380
381
381
Confusion of Adjectives and Adverbs
382
Degrees of Comparison for Adjectives and
Adverbs 382
XIX
G 10
G 11
Misuse of Noun As Adjective
Faulty Verb Agreement 384
G 12
Faulty Pronoun Agreement
383
386
Practices 376, 378, 379, 380, 381, 383, 386, 387
58
S
361
SE TE. CE STR CTURE
388
S 1
Unnecessary Shifts
388
S 2
Omissions and Incomplete
Constructions 390
S 3
Faulty Comparison
S4
Split or "Separated" Constructions
S 5
S 6
Misplaced Modifiers 394
Squinting Modifiers 395
S 7
Dangling Modifiers
S 8
Faulty Parallelism
S9
Proper Subordination
398
SIO
Faulty Subordination
399
S 11
Faul ty Coordination
S 12
Faulty Complements
S13
Sentence Fragments
S
S 15
Comma Splices 405
Fused Sentences 406
S 16
Run-on Sentences
14
392
393
395
397
401
402
403
407
Practices 390, 391, 392, 394, 395, 396, 398, 399,
400, 401, 403, 404, 406, 407, 408
p
PUNCTUATIO
409
Punctuation and Sentence Units
'ves and
409
P 1
Use a Period When. ..
P2
Use a Question Mark When. ..
P 3
Use an Exclamation Mark When ...
411
411
411
xx
1
DY
P 4
Use a Comma When. ..
P 5
Use a Semicolon When . ..
P 6
Use a Colon When. "
P 7
Use Parentheses When. ..
P 8
Use a Dash When. ..
P 9
Use an Apostrophe When. ..
P 10
Use a Hyphen When. ..
P 11
Use Quotation l\1arks When. ..
P 12
Use Italics When. ..
P 13
Rhetoric of Punctuation
Practices
413, 419> 423
MECH
IeS
411
413
415
415
416
416
417
418
421
24
lvi 1
Abbreviations
424
lvt 2
Capitalization
424
M 3
l\1anuscript Form
M 4
Numbers
j\1. 5
Syllabication
425
426
427
I G TIlE DICTIO ARY 42
Practice
431
PP
POLISH
GL
GLOS ARY
I TDEX
GAD PROOFREAD
464
436
G
433
417