The Longman Concise Companion

Part 1 Writing and Reading



1 Communities of Writers and Readers

a Academic, Public, and Work Communities

b Electronic Communities



2 Generating and Organizing Ideas

a Generating Ideas

b Organizing Ideas and Information



3 Purpose, Thesis, and Audience

a Identifying Your Focus and Purpose

b Creating a Thesis

c Understanding Your Readers



4 Drafting

a Moving from Planning to Drafting

b Drafting Collaboratively



5 Revising, Editing, and Proofreading

a Making Major Revisions

b Making Minor Revisions

c Revising Collaboratively

d Writing Correctly

e Editing

f Proofreading



6 Reading Critically

a Reading for Understanding

b Reading Analytically and Critically

c Using Journals to Turn Reading into Writing



7 Paragraphs

a Recognizing Unfocused Paragraphs

b Revising for Paragraph Focus

c Recognizing Incoherent Paragraphs

d Revising for Paragraph Coherence

e Recognizing Poorly Developed Paragraphs

f Revising for Paragraph Development

g Using Special-Purpose Paragraphs









Part 2 Reasoning and Presenting



8 Making Language Choices

a Choosing a Style

b Recognizing Home and Community Language Varieties

c Meeting Language Expectations



9 Reasoning Critically

a Recognizing Critical Reasoning

b Building a Chain of Reasoning

c Representing Your Reasoning



10 Writing in Online Communities

a Online Expectations

b Email Conventions

c Online Communities

d Writing for the World Wide Web

e Avoiding Plagiarism and Behaving Ethically Online



11 Designing Documents

a Goals of Document Design

b Planning a Design

c Laying Out Your Document

d Using Type

e Using Visuals

f Sample Documents



12 Speaking Effectively

a Types of Oral Presentations

b Transferring Skills from Writing to Speaking

c Preparing an Effective Oral Presentation

d Managing Speech Anxiety

e Fielding Questions



Part 3 Writing for Specific Audiences



13 Persuasive Arguments

a Recognizing Occasions for Argument

b Developing Your Stance

c Developing Reasons and Evidence

d Acknowledging Other Perspectives

e Arguing Logically

f Writing a Position Paper





14 Academic Writing

a Goals of Academic Writing

b Analyzing Academic Audiences

c Understanding Academic Writing Tasks

d Types of Academic Writing

e Short Documented Paper

f Lab Report

g Essay Exam

h Annotated Bibliography

i Literature Review

j Speaking in the Academic Community



15 Reading and Writing About Literature

a Reading Literary Texts

b Writing About Literary Texts

c Sample Literary Analysis



16 Public Writing

a Goals of Public Writing

b Analyzing Public Audiences

c Types of Public Writing

d Public Flyer

e Letter to the Editor

f Speaking in Public Settings



17 Workplace Writing

a Goals of Workplace Writing

b Analyzing Workplace Audiences

c Understanding Workplace Writing Tasks

d Types of Workplace Writing

e Business Letter

f Memo

g Resume and Application Letter

h Speaking in the Workplace



Part 4 Researching and Writing



18 Getting Started: Researching and Writing

a Beginning Your Research

b Types of Research Writing

c Developing a Research Question

d Developing a Preliminary Thesis

e Creating a Research File and a Timeline

f Reading and Note Taking

g Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Synthesizing



19 Library Resources and Research Databases

a Developing a Search Strategy and Working Bibliography

b Searching Library Resources and Databases

c General Resources

d Books and Online Catalogs

e Periodicals, Print or Electronic Indexes, and Government Documents

f Online Databases

g Evaluating Library Sources



20 Web and Internet Resources

a Developing a Web and Internet Search Strategy

b Search Engines

c Web Sites and Internet Resources

d Evaluating Web and Internet Sources



21 Fieldwork

a Interviewing

b Surveying, Polling, or Using Questionnaires

c Conducting an Ethnographic Study

d Obtaining Consent and Approval for Research on Human Subjects



22 Avoiding Plagiarism

a Recognizing Plagiarism

b The Problem of Intention

c Recognizing When to Document Sources

d Working with Common Knowledge

e Citing Sources Responsibly

f Citing Sources in Context



23 Integrating Sources

a Choosing Purposes for Your Sources

b Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Synthesizing



24 Writing, Revising, and Presenting Your Research

a Reviewing Your Research Questions

b Reviewing Your Purpose

c Building from a Thesis to a Draft

d Revising and Editing

e Presenting Your Research



Part 5 Documenting Sources: MLA Style



25 MLA Documentation Style

a MLA In-Text (Parenthetical) Citations

b MLA List of Works Cited

c Sample MLA Paper



Part 6 Documenting Sources: APA Style



26 APA Documentation Style

a APA In-Text Citations

b APA Reference List

c Sample APA Paper



Part 7 Documenting Sources: CMS and CSE Style



27 CMS Documentation Style

a Using CMS Endnotes or Footnotes

b Creating CMS Endnotes or Footnotes

c Creating a CMS Bibliography



28 CSE Documentation Style

a CSE In-Text Citations

b CSE Reference List





Part 8 Editing Grammar



29 Words Working in Sentences

a Nouns and Articles

b Pronouns

c Verbs

d Adjectives

e Adverbs

f Prepositions

g Conjunctions

h Interjections



30 Sentence Parts and Patterns

a Subjects and Predicates

b Phrases

c Subordinate Clauses

d Different Types of Sentences



31 Using Verbs

a Simple Present and Past Tense Verbs

b Editing Present Tense Verbs

c Editing Past Tense Verbs

d Complex Tenses and Helping Verbs

e Editing Progressive and Perfect Tenses

f Editing Troublesome Verbs (lie, lay, sit, set)

g Clear Tense Sequence

h Subjunctive Mood

i Active and Passive Voice



32 Using Pronouns

a Pronoun Forms

b Editing Common Pronoun Forms



33 Making Sentence Parts Agree

a Agreement

b Creating Simple Subject-Verb Agreement

c Creating Complex Subject-Verb Agreement

d Creating Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement



34 Using Adjectives and Adverbs

a What Adjectives and Adverbs Do

b Editing Adjectives and Adverbs



Part 9 Editing Sentence Problems



35 Sentence Fragments

a Sentence Fragments

b Editing Sentence Fragments

c Using Partial Sentences



36 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences

a Comma Splices

b Fused Sentences

c Editing Comma Splices and Fused Sentences



37 Pronoun Reference

a Unclear Pronoun Reference

b Editing for Clear Pronoun Reference



38 Misplaced, Dangling, and Disruptive Modifiers

a Misplaced, Dangling, and Disruptive Modifiers

b Editing Misplaced, Dangling, and Disruptive Modifiers



39 Making Shifts Consistent

a Shifts in Person and Number

b Shifts in Tense and Mood

c Shifts in Active or Passive Voice

d Shifts Between Direct and Indirect Quotations



40 Mixed and Incomplete Sentences

a Mixed Sentences

b Editing Mixed Sentences

c Incomplete Sentences



41 Parallelism

a Faulty Parallelism

b Editing for Parallelism



42 Coordination and Subordination

a Creating Coordination

b Creating Subordination

c Editing Coordination and Subordination



43 Clear and Emphatic Sentences

a Unclear Sentences

b Editing for Clear Sentences





Part 10 Editing Word Choice



44 Being Concise

a Common Types of Wordiness

b Editing for Conciseness



45 Choosing Appropriate Words

a Recognizing the Demands of Context and Purpose

b Editing for Precise Diction



46 Using Respectful Language

a Editing Gender Stereotypes

b Editing Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Stereotypes



47 Building Your Language Resources

a Recognizing Your Language Resources as a Writer

b Turning to the Dictionary and the Thesaurus



Part 11 Editing Punctuation



48 Commas

a Joining Sentences

b Setting Off Sentence Elements

c Setting Off Nonessential Modifiers

d Separating Items in a Series

e Separating Adjectives in a Sequence

f Dates, Numbers, Addresses, Place Names, People's Titles, and Letters

g Commas with Quotations

h Commas to Make Your Meaning Clear

i Eliminating Commas That Do Not Belong



49 Semicolons and Colons

a Semicolons

b Colons



50 Apostrophes

a Apostrophes That Mark Possession

b Apostrophes That Mark Contractions and Omissions



51 Marking Quotations

a Using Quotation Marks

b Titles of Short Works

c Highlighting Words, Special Terms, and Tone of Voice



52 Periods, Question Marks, and Exclamation Points

a Periods

b Question Marks

c Exclamation Points



53 Other Punctuation Marks

a Parentheses

b Brackets

c Dashes

d Ellipses

e Slashes

f Symbols in Electronic Addresses

g Combining Punctuation Marks



Part 12 Proofreading for Mechanics and Spelling



54 Capitalizing

a Capitalizing to Begin Sentences

b Capitalizing Proper Names and Titles



55 Italicizing (Underlining)

a Italics (Underlining) in Titles

b Italics for Specific Terms

c Underlining for Emphasis



56 Hyphenating

a Hyphenating to Join Words

b Hyphenating to Divide Words



57 Using Numbers

a Spelling Out Numbers

b Using Numerals



58 Abbreviating

a Familiar Abbreviations

b Proofreading for Appropriate Abbreviations



59 Spelling

a Starting with Your Spell Checker

b Watching for Common Patterns of Misspelling

c Proofreading for Commonly Misspelled Words





Glossary of Usage



Answers to Selected Exercises



Index



Credits



Guide to ESL Advice



Symbols for Revising and Editing