Rules of Thumb MLA 2016 UPDATE

A graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia, Jay Silverman has received fellowhsips from the Fulbright-Hayes Foundation, the Andrew Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He has taught at Vriginia Highlands Community College and at Nassau Community College where he received the Honors Program award for Excellence in Teaching. Elaine Hughes came to New York City from Mississippi in 1979 to attend a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar at Columbia Uniersity. She has taught writing for more than 25 years--primarily at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi, and at Nassau Community College--and has conducted writing workshops for many organizations. She is the author of WRITING FROM THE INNER SELF. As Chair of the English Department of Nassau Community College for six years, Diana Roberts Wienbroer coordinated a department of 150 faculty members and served on the Executive Council of the Association of Departments of English. Besides teaching writing for over thirty years, both in Texas and New York, she has studied and taught film criticism. She is also the author of THE McGRAW-HILL GUIDE TO ELECTRONIC RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION, 1997.

• Acknowledgements The Meaning of "Rule of Thumb" How to Use Rules of Thumb PART 1: THE BASICS: SPELLING, PUNCTUATION, AND GRAMMAR A Word about Correctness Commonly Confused Words One Word or Two? Spelling Capitalization Abbreviations and Numbers Apostrophes Consistent Pronouns I vs. Me, She vs. Her, He vs. Him, Who vs. Whom Vague Pronouns Recognizing Complete Sentences Run-on Sentences and Sentence Fragments Feature: Using but, however, although Commas Semicolons Colons Dashes and Parentheses Quotation Marks Titles: Underlines, Italics, or Quotation Marks Shifting Verb Tenses Verb Agreement Word Endings: -s and -ed Parallel StructureDangling COnstructionsMixed Sentence PatternsPART 2: PUTTING A PAPER TOGETHER What to Do When You're Stuck Addressing Your Audience Writing with a Thesis Arguing for Your Position Finding an Organization for Your Essay Introductions Paragraphs--Long and Short Transitions Incorporating Quotations Conclusions How to Make a Paper Longer (and When to Make It Shorter) How to Work on a Second Draft Shortcuts for "Word" Proofreading Tips Format of College Papers Special Case: Writing an Essay in Class Special Case: Writing about Literature PART 3: THE RESEARCH PAPER Seven Steps to a Research Paper How to Conduct Research Feature: Tips for Fact-Checking Going Beyond Google and WikipediaFeature: When You Find Too Few or Too Many Sources Writing the Research Paper Feature: PowerPoint Presentations Plagiarism (Cheating) What Is Documentation? Feature: Where to Find Specific Entries for Works Cited, References, and Bibliography Documentation: The MLA Style Documentation: The APA Style Documentation: Endnotes and BibliographyPART 4: STYLE Finding Your VoiceAdding Details Repetition: Bad, Not-So-Bad, and GoodRecognizing Cliches Eliminating Offensive Language Trimming Wordiness Using Strong Verbs Varying Your Sentences Keeping a JournalPostscript A List of Valuable Sources About the Authors Index Troubleshooting Guide, inside back cover