The Broadview Guide to Writing - Fifth Edition

by Doug Babington, Don LePan, Maureen Okun, Victoria Anderson

Overview

The Broadview Guide to Writing is a concise yet uncommonly thorough text with a fresh approach to the craft of essay writing. The first part of the book discusses the style and structure of essay writing, and includes a useful discussion of the intangibles involved in the writing process—such as confidence, perseverance, and a willingness to deal with criticism constructively. The second part of the book provides thorough coverage of grammar and usage in a comprehensive reference guide, ranging from the simplest mechanical issues (such as subject verb agreement) to subtle distinctions between words that have similar meanings. A wide range of examples is included throughout the book.

The fifth edition incorporates the 2008 changes to MLA Style guidelines for documentation and includes a number of other changes that make it far better suited than previous editions to the needs of American writers in the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781554810000
Publisher:	Broadview Press
Publication date:	02/12/2010
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	608
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Victoria Anderson is Writing Programs Director and Assistant Writing Professor at Loyola University Chicago.

Doug Babington is Director of the Writing Centre at Queen's University, and the author of articles both on writing and on literature.

Don LePan is the author of The Cognitive Revolution in Western Culture (Macmillan, 1989) and of The Broadview Book of Common Errors in English (5th edition 2003).

Maureen Okun is a professor in both the Liberal Studies Department and the English Department at Vancouver Island University.

Table of Contents

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
INTRODUCTION

THE WRITING PROCESS

Voice Work

• Confidence
  Audience
  Purpose
  Thesis Statement: Some Examples

Essential Activities

• Reading and Note-taking
  Mapping
  Writer’s Block
  Dialogue

Double Fluency

• Logical Fluency
  Reasoning

Subordination and Paragraphing

• Connectives

Stylistic Fluency

• Diction
  Figures of Speech
  Syntax
  Rhythm
  Voice
  Tone
  Revision
  Examinations and In-class Essays

Collaboration and Research

• Using the Library
  Plagiarism
  Citation
  Proofreading
  Computers
  Criticism

Sample Essay (MLA Style)
What Limits to Freedom? Freedom of Expression and the Brooklyn Museum’s “Sensation” Exhibit

WRITING GRAMMATICALLY
Right and Wrong in Writing
Verbs

• Verbs and Verb Tense Difficulties
  Mood: Indicative, Imperative, and Subjunctive
  Active and Passive Voice
  Dangling Constructions
  Sequence of Tenses
  Irregular or Difficult Verbs
  Infinitives, Gerunds, Objects: “To Be or Not To Be?”

Preposition Problems:“Up With Which I Will Not Put”
Nouns and Pronouns: Singular Difficulties
Pronouns: Who Cares About Whom?
Part-of-speech Conversions: A Question of Principle?

WORDS

Word Order Problems
One Word or Two?
Word Meanings: Are Cars Ever Stationery?
Usage: Word Conventions

PUTTING IDEAS TOGETHER

Paragraphing Argument

• Fallacies

Joining Words

• Words to Connect Ideas Opposed to Each Other
  Words to Join Linked or Supporting Ideas
  Words Used to Introduce Causes or Reasons
  Words Used to Introduce Results or Conclusions
  Words Used to Express Purpose
  Words Used to Introduce Examples
  Words Used to Indicate Alternatives
  Words Used to Show Degree or Extent
  That and Which
  Words Used to Make Comparisons
  Other Joining Words and Expressions

Sentence Combining

• Combining
  Combining and Recombining
  Help with Some Grammatical Errors: Two More Examples
  Help with Reading Challenging Texts
  Gaining Awareness of Writing Style

STYLE

Slang and Informal English Wordiness Writing by Computer

• Spell-check and Grammar-check
  The Internet
  Research Using the Internet
  Observing Netiquette
  Point-form Netiquette
  Plagiarism, Copyright, and the Web

Business Writing Academic Writing: Tense Situations Academic Writing: Different Subjects, Different Styles

• Anthropology
  Art History
  Biology
  Business and Commerce
  Chemistry
  Economics
  English Studies
  History
  Philosophy
  Physics
  Politics
  Psychology
  Sociology

Bias-free Language

• Bias-free Vocabulary: A Short List

“ESL”: FOR THOSE WHOSE NATIVE LANGUAGE IS NOT ENGLISH

PUNCTUATION, FORMAT, AND SPELLING

Punctuation

• The Period
  The Ellipsis
  The Comma
  The Question Mark
  The Exclamation Mark
  The Semicolon
  The Colon
  The Hyphen
  The Dash
  Parentheses
  Square Brackets
  The Apostrophe
  Quotation Marks
  Single Quotation Marks

Direct and Indirect Speech

• Direct Speech
  Indirect Speech

Format and Spelling

• Capitalization
  Abbreviations

Spelling

• Spelling and Sound

DOCUMENTATION: MLA STYLE

MLA Style

• About Parenthetical Referencing
  About Works Cited
  MLA Style Sample

DOCUMENTATION: APA, CHICAGO, CSE

APA Style

• About In-text Citations
  About References
  APA Style Sample

Chicago Style

• Chicago Style Sample

CSE Style

• CSE Style Sample

Appendix 1: A Reference Guide to Basic Grammar

Parts of Speech

• Nouns
  Pronouns
  Articles
  Adjectives
  Verbs
  Adverbs
  Prepositions
  Conjunctions

Parts of Sentences

• Subject
  Object
  Predicate
  Clause
  Phrase
  Types of Clauses
  Types of Subordinate Clauses
  Type of Phrases
  Phrases and Clauses
  Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence

Appendix 2: Correction Key
Appendix 3: Essay Checklist
Index

Editorial Reviews

Comments on The Broadview Guide to Writing – Fifth Edition and on the previous edition:

“There’s so much to like here: the sense of proportion, the sensible layout, the precision of the usage notes, the sound stylistic advice, and the examples. … The text is clearly informed by the best traditions of composition and rhetoric, but comes across in a disarming fashion with a common sense approach. … Long after the course is over, students will want to keep this book as a manual of style and usage.” — Thomas L. Martin, Department of English, Florida Atlantic University

“While it is often difficult to distinguish one writing handbook from another, the 5th edition of The Broadview Guide to Writing proves exceptional in a number of ways. … [It is] an accessible and relevant guide for twenty-first century college students, with a keen eye toward process, style, and documentation.” — Karen Head, Special Advisor to the Writing & Communication Program, The Georgia Institute of Technology

“The Broadview Guide to Writing treats the rhetorical modes appropriately—not in any rigid or formulaic fashion as ends in themselves, but as means of fostering the development of ideas. It emphasizes stylistic fluency, something that writing pedagogy has too often neglected. … And the examples seem to me to be smart and engaging. All in all, this is a book that offers students the respect they deserve—and a book that deserves to be widely used.” — Beth Daniell, Director of Composition, Kennesaw State University

“Comprehensive, affordable, and student-friendly.” — Candice Rai, English Department, University of Washington—Seattle

“By far the most readable writing guide available—at any price.” — Jacky Bolding, University of the Fraser Valley

“I use The Broadview Guide to Writing with my students and I plan to continue using it; it's very good —clear without being condescending. I especially appreciate its comprehensive discussion of writing styles in multiple academic disciplines. And one more thing—my students can actually afford to buy it.” — Jonathan Sadow, State University of New York at Oneonta

From the Publisher

"Clear, concise, well laid out and affordable!"

Erika Rothwell University of Alberta

"Offers solid advice on matters of style and usage without being repetitive or overly elaborate."

Richard Collier Mount Royal College

"I am impressed by the simple readable style of The Broadview Guide to Writing."

Sandra Orser Saint Mary's University

"The Broadview Guide is an economical and impressive writing reference, especially when compared to more costly yet comparable texts. Its wide coverage of the writing process, writing style and conventions, and documentation format make it a very useful and sensible text for any writer in the academic community."

Anne Maxham Antioch University