Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, The

PART 1 WRITING FOR READERS

1 Writers, Readers, and Communities

Academic, public, and work communities

1 Communities in action

2 Choices and limits

Identifying electronic communities

2 Discovering and Planning

Getting started

1 Try informal writing

2 Use listing

3 Ask strategic questions

Keeping a writing/reading journal

1 How to keep a reading and writing journal

2 Thinking, writing, and discovering

Structuring ideas and information

1 Draw a cluster

2 Create a tree diagram

3 Build a time sequence

4 Create a problem-solution grid

5 Outline

Planning: Paper in progress

3 Purpose, Thesis, and Audience

Recognizing your purpose

1 Identify the focus

2 Define the purpose

Using purpose to guide your writing

1 Rough out a purpose structure

Defining a thesis or main idea

1 Turn topics into theses

2 Complicate or extend your rough thesis

3 Expand your thesis with specifics

4 Modify your thesis

Different kinds of thesis statements

Recognizing your audience

Specific readers and communities of readers

Adapting to readers and communities of readers

4 Drafting

From planning to drafting

1 Draft in manageable parts

2 Develop a general structure

3 Assess your purpose and redraft

Drafting strategies

1 Write about your writing

2 Draft quickly

3 Semidraft

4 Talk it out or take a break

Collaborative drafting

1 Do parallel drafting

2 Do team drafting

3 Do intensive drafting

5 Revising, Editing, and Proofreading

Major revisions

1 Redraft unworkable material

2 Reorganize poorly arranged paragraphs or sections

3 Add new material

4 Delete unnecessary or redundant material

Minor revisions

1 Revise for sense

2 Revise for style

3 Revise for economy

Collaborative revising

1 Respond helpfully

2 Make the most of response

3 Workplace collaboration

Revising: Paper in progress

Editing your own writing

1 Final editing for economy and style

2 Editing for grammatical problems

Collaborative editing

Editing on the computer

1 What computer editors can do

2 What computer editor can't do

Proofreading

6 Paragraphs

Focused paragraphs

Creating paragraph focus

1 Topic sentence at the beginning

2 Topic sentence plus a limiting or clarifying sentence

3 Topic sentence at the end

4 Topic sentence implied rather than stated

Paragraph coherence

Creating paragraph coherence

1 Repeating words and phrases

2 Supplying transitions

3 Using parallel structure

Developed paragraphs

1 Developing paragraphs with details

2 Creating paragraph structures

Introductory and concluding paragraphs

1 Creating introductory paragraphs

2 Creating concluding paragraphs

7 Sentences

Clear sentences

1 Use significant subjects

2 Avoid unnecessary nominalizations

3 Use I, we, and you as subjects

4 Be careful with strings of nouns

5 Use clear and specific verbs

6 Keep subjects and verbs clearly related

Direct sentences

Emphatic sentences

1 Use sentence beginnings and endings

2 Create emphatic sentence patterns

3 Use the passive voice with care

Revising for variety

1 Vary sentence length

2 Vary sentence types

3 Vary sentence structure and patterns

4 Create surprise

8 Assessing Writing

Assessing your own writing

1 Saying what you want to say

2 Sharing what you want to share

3 Being honest about things th