A Pocket Style Manual with 2009 MLA and 2010 APA Updates » (5th Edition)

DIANA HACKER personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over 35 years at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Other Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, include The Bedford Handbook, Seventh Edition (2006); A Writer’s Reference, Sixth Edition (2007); and A Pocket Style Manual, Fifth Edition (2008).

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

NANCY SOMMERS, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches writing in the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well-known for her research and publications on student writing. Her recent work involves a longitudinal study of undergraduate writing. Nancy Sommers is co-author of Fields of Reading, Ninth Edition (2010) for Bedford/St. Martin’s.

TOM JEHN teaches composition and directs the Writing Across the Disciplines program at Harvard University. A recipient of numerous teaching awards both at Harvard and at the University of Virginia, he also leads professional development seminars on writing instruction for public high school teachers.

JANE ROSENZWEIG teaches composition and directs the writing center at Harvard University. She has also taught writing at Yale University and the University of Iowa.

MARCY CARBAJAL VAN HORN, Assistant Professor of English and ESL at Santa Fe Community College (FL), teaches composition to native and nonnative speakers of English and teaches the Advanced ESL Writing course.

Click here to find out more about the 2009 MLA Updates and the 2010 APA Updates.

The first of its kind, A Pocket Style Manual continues to help student writers get answers to their writing and research questions. Its concise and straightforward content is flexible enough to suit the needs of writers in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, health professions, business courses, fine arts, teacher training courses, and beyond. Its slim format, brief length, and spiral binding make it a portable and practical tool. With its signature Diana Hacker quick-reference features, A Pocket Style Manual has always provided quick solutions to writing problems. Supplemented by the best free and open Web resources, A Pocket Style Manual offers the best value for students.

In the Hacker tradition, the new contributing authors — Nancy Sommers, Tom Jehn, Jane Rosenzweig, and Marcy Carbajal Van Horn — have crafted solutions for the challenges today’s college students face. Together they give us a new edition that provides more help with research writing and one that works better for a wider range of students.

CLARITY

1. Tighten wordy sentences.

2. Prefer active verbs.

3. Balance parallel ideas.

4. Add needed words.

5. Eliminate confusing shifts.

6. Untangle mixed constructions.

7. Repair misplaced and dangling modifiers.

8. Provide some variety.

9. Find an appropriate voice.

GRAMMAR

10. Make subjects and verbs agree.

11. Be alert to other problems with verbs.

12. Use pronouns with care.

13. Choose adjectives and adverbs with care.

14. Repair sentence fragments.

15. Revise run-on sentences.

16. If English is not your native language, check for common ESL problems.

PUNCTUATION

17. The comma

18. The semicolon and the colon

19. The apostrophe

20. Quotation marks

21. Other marks

MECHANICS

22. Capitalization

23. Abbreviations, numbers, and italics (underlining)

24. Spelling and the hyphen

RESEARCH RESOURCES

25. Finding print and online sources

26. Evaluating sources

MLA PAPERS

27. Supporting a thesis

28. Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism

29. Integrating nonfiction sources

30. Integrating literary quotations

31. MLA documentation style

32. MLA manuscript format; sample MLA pages

APA PAPERS

33. Supporting a thesis

34. Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism

35. Integrating sources

36. APA documentation style

37. APA manuscript format; sample APA pages

CHICAGO-STYLE PAPERS

38. Supporting a thesis

39. Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism

40. Integrating sources

41. Chicago documentation style

42. Chicago manuscript format; sample Chicago pages

GLOSSARIES

43. Glossary of usage

44. Glossary of grammatical terms

A List of Style Manuals

Index

Checklist for Global Revisions

Revision Symbols