The Bedford Handbook

Part 1 | A Process for Writing.- 1 Exploring, planning, and drafting.- 2 Building effective paragraphs.- 3 Revising, editing, and proofreading.- Part 2 | Academic Reading and Writing.- 4 Reading critically; writing analytically.- 5 Reading arguments.- 6 Writing arguments.- 7 Writing in the disciplines.- Part 3 | Clear Sentences.- 8 Active verbs.- 9 Parallelism.- 10 Needed words.- 11 Mixed constructions.- 12 Misplaced and dangling modifiers.- 13 Shifts.- 14 Emphasis.- 15 Variety.- Part 4 | Word Choice.- 16 Wordy sentences.- 17 Appropriate language.- 18 Exact words.- 19 Glossary of usage.- Part 5 | Grammatical Sentences.- 20 Sentence fragments.- 21 Run-on sentences.- 22 Subject-verb agreement.- 23 Pronoun-antecedent agreement.- 24 Pronoun reference.- 25 Pronoun case (I vs. me).- 26 who vs. whom.- 27 Adjectives and adverbs.- 28 Standard English verb forms.- 29 Multilingual topics.- Part 6 | Punctuation.- 30 The comma.- 31 Unnecessary commas.- 32 The semicolon and the colon.- 33 The apostrophe.- 34 Quotation marks.- 35 End punctuation.- 36 Other punctuation marks.- Part 7 | Mechanics.- 37 Abbreviations, numbers, and italics.- 38 Spelling and the hyphen.- 39 Capitalization.- Part 8 | Grammar Basics.- 40 Parts of speech.- 41 Sentence patterns.- 42 Subordinate word groups.- 43 Sentence types.- Part 9 | Researched Writing.- 44 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources.- 45 Managing information; taking notes responsibly.- 46 Evaluating sources.- 47 Writing a research paper.- 48 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism.- 49 Integrating sources.- 50 Documenting sources in MLA style.- 51 MLA format; sample research paper.- 52 Documenting sources in APA style.- 53 APA format; sample research paper.- Answers to Exercises.- Index.- List of Grammatical Terms.

Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over thirty-five years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty.
Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing.