The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing presents essential material from the full Broadview Guide to Writing. Included are key grammatical points, a glossary of usage, advice on various forms of academic writing, coverage of punctuation and writing mechanics, and helpful advice on how to research academic papers. MLA, APA, and Chicago styles of citation and documentation are covered, and each has been revised to include the latest updates. A companion website provides a wealth of interactive exercises, information on the CSE style of citation and documentation, and much more.
Features
Features of The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
- • Extensive treatment of research methods and argument
- • Wide-ranging treatment of writing styles in different academic disciplines
- • Printed in two colours and coil-bound for ease of use, yet reasonably priced, with fewer bells and whistles than any leading competitor—and more of what students need to know
- • Companion student website featuring a wide range of interactive exercises
Features New to the Fifth Edition
- • Fully updated coverage of MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles
- • Expanded treatment of bias-free language—issues of gender, race, class, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc.
- • All-new material on personal and informal writing
- • Revised and expanded section on email etiquette and related topics
- • New instructor’s website providing sample syllabi and lesson plans, as well as additional grammar exercises
This edition is intended primarily for Canadian readers. Please see this page for our American edition.
A full version of the Guide to Writing is also available.
Comments
“The Broadview Guide remains the most readable writing guide available—at any price. It’s the only usage guide I’ve ever actually read for fun. Moreover, it’s sensible, and it’s complete. The authors assume nothing, but they don’t condescend.… The new chapter on visual literacy is also good—an interesting group of paintings and photographs along with a set of clear, concrete ways to ‘read’ them.” — Jacky Bolding, University of the Fraser Valley
“… an excellent choice.… The expanded coverage of the sixth edition [makes] this not only a comprehensive writing guide, but also a valuable introduction to communication and critical thinking in today’s academic world. I will be recommending this text to students at all levels.” — Maria DiCenzo, Wilfrid Laurier University
“[The] reference sections on grammar and usage … cover everything I would ever point out in student writing.… The section on MLA style covers pretty much everything anyone needs to know about how to deploy this system of documentation.… The sections on academic writing are [also] very good.” — Bruce Greenfield, Dalhousie University
“In a market replete with writing guides, this practical book stands out.… The [Broadview] Guide … re-energizes this pedagogical field by providing clear and concise explanations supported by examples.” — Anne Quéma, Acadia University
“[The new] section on how language both reflects and shapes reality … is thought-provoking and sensitive.… Overall, the book is comprehensive, balanced, and engaging. I enjoyed reading it, and I rarely say that about handbooks and guides to writing. I'm sure students will find this book helpful and inspiring.” — Candace Fertile, Camosun College
STYLES OF WRITING: AN OVERVIEW
- Choosing the Best Words
- Be as Clear and Specific as Possible
- Watch for Redundancy
- Avoid Wordiness
- Watch for Missing Parts
- Choose the Best Verb
- Connect Your Ideas Clearly
- Paragraphing
- Joining Words
- Order and Weight Your Ideas According to Their Importance
- Watch for Ambiguity
- Illogical or Confused Connections
- Making Your Writing Consistent
- Agreement among the Grammatical Parts of Your Writing
- Watch for Mixed Metaphors
- Rhythm, Variety, Balance, and Parallelism
CONTEXTS OF WRITING
- Academic Writing: Essays and Arguments
- From Topic to Thesis Statement
- The Nature of Argument
- Argument Structure and Paragraphing
- Your Arguments, Others’ Arguments
- Styles and Disciplines
- The Language of Academic Writing
- Writing about Literature / Writing about Texts
- Writing about Science
- Writing in the Workplace
- Slang and Informal English
- The Social Context: Bias-Free Language
- Gender
- Race and Ethnicity, Class, Religion, Sexual Orientation, Disability, etc.
- Bias-free Vocabulary: A Short List
GRAMMAR
- Basic Grammar: An Outline
- Parts of Speech
- Nouns
- Pronouns
- Articles
- Adjectives
- Verbs
- Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Conjunctions and Conjunctive Adverbs
- Parts of Sentences
- Subject
- Object
- Predicate
- Clauses and Phrases
- Parts of Speech and Parts of the Sentence
- Verbs and Verb Tense Difficulties
- The Infinitive
- The Simple Present Tense
- Subject-Verb Agreement
- Historical Present
- Survey of Verb Tenses
- Voice
- Mood
- Combining Verb Tenses: Some Challenges
- The Past Perfect Tense
- Combining Tenses—Quoted Material
- Irregular Verbs
- Dangling Constructions
- Noun and Pronoun Difficulties
- Singular and Plural Nouns
- Singular Pronouns
- Unreferenced or Wrongly Referenced Pronouns
- Subject and Object Pronouns
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Comparatives and Superlatives
- Incomplete Sentences (Sentence Fragments)
- Run-on Sentences
- EAL: For Those Whose Native Language Is Not English
- Articles (and Other Determiners)
- Frequently Used Non-count Nouns
- Continuous Verb Tenses
- Omission or Repetition of the Subject
- The Conditional
- Word Order
PUNCTUATION
- The Period
- The Comma
- Commas and Non-restrictive Elements
- That and Which
- Extra Comma
- Commas and Lists
- The Question Mark
- The Exclamation Mark
- The Semi-Colon
- The Colon
- The Hyphen
- The Dash
- Parentheses
- Square Brackets
- The Apostrophe
- Quotation Marks
- Other Uses of Quotation Marks
- Misuse of Quotation Marks to Indicate Emphasis
- Single Quotation Marks
- Direct and Indirect Speech
- Ellipses
FORMAT AND SPELLING
- Capitalization
- Abbreviations
- Titles
- Academic and Business Terms
- Latin Abbreviations
- Numbers
- Italics
- Spelling
- Spell-Check
- Spelling and Sound
- American Spelling, British Spelling, Canadian Spelling
- Other Spelling Mistakes
RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION
- Approaches to Research
- Avoiding Plagiarism
- Citation and Documentation
- Incorporating Sources
- Summarizing
- Paraphrasing
- Quoting Directly
- Formatting Quotations
- Adding to or Deleting from a Quotation
- Signal Phrases
- MLA Style
- About In-Text Citations
- About Works Cited: MLA Core Elements
- Examples
- MLA Style Sample Essay Page
- APA Style
- Incorporating Sources in APA Style
- Summarizing
- Paraphrasing
- Quoting Directly
- Formatting Quotations
- Adding to or Deleting from a Quotation
- Signal Phrases
- About In-text Citations
- About References
- APA Style Sample Essay Pages
- Chicago Style
- About Chicago Style
- Chicago Style Sample
- CSE Style
GLOSSARY OF USAGE
CORRECTION KEY
INDEX
Doug Babington, an Emeritus Professor in the English Department at Queen’s University, was for many years Director of the Writing Centre there. Corey Frost, formerly Coordinator of the Writing Across the Curriculum Program at Brooklyn College, is now a professor in the English Department at New Jersey City University. Don LePan’s other books include The Broadview Pocket Glossary of Literary Terms, How to Be Good With Words, and two novels, Animals and Rising Stories. Maureen Okun is a professor in both the English and the Liberal Studies Departments at Vancouver Island University; her books include Sir Thomas Malory: Le Morte Darthur: Selections and The Broadview Pocket Guide to Citation and Documentation. Nora Ruddock is a Developmental Editor at Broadview Press and co-author of The Broadview Pocket Guide to Citation and Documentation 2e. Karen Weingarten is a professor in the Department of English at Queens College, City University of New York; a former co-Coordinator of the Introductory English program, she is also the author of Abortion in the American Imagination.
Features of The Broadview Pocket Guide to Writing
- • Extensive treatment of research methods and argument
- • Wide-ranging treatment of writing styles in different academic disciplines
- • Printed in two colours and coil-bound for ease of use, yet reasonably priced, with fewer bells and whistles than any leading competitor—and more of what students need to know
- • Companion student website featuring a wide range of interactive exercises
Features New to the Fifth Edition
- • Fully updated coverage of MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles
- • Expanded treatment of bias-free language—issues of gender, race, class, religion, sexual orientation, disability, etc.
- • All-new material on personal and informal writing
- • Revised and expanded section on email etiquette and related topics
- • New instructor’s website providing sample syllabi and lesson plans, as well as additional grammar exercises
Student Site
Included in the purchase price of this book is free access to a passcode-protected website. Here you will find a wide range of exercises on English grammar and usage—many of them interactive, so that you can see immediately if you have answered correctly (and, if you haven’t, discover where you have gone wrong). The site also makes available a variety of essays (including sample essays in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE formats).
The instructor site provides sample syllabi and lesson plans, as well as additional exercises and materials.
