dicussuonn

Complete the assignments from the following pages:

Exercise 19-2 page 195
Exercise 20-1 page 200
Exercise 21-2 page 212
Exercise 22-1 page 217
Exercise 23-1 page 221
Exercise 24-2 page 227

mech_HackerSommers-Rules8-SE-080715

Diana Hacker Nancy Sommers

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E i g h t h E d i t i o n

Rules for WRITERS

macmillanhighered.com

You’re a writer. Rules for Writers is here for you. No one learns everything about writing in a single course or even two; we all need to consult the rules or seek out advice sometimes. Having a reliable support system is key. Your peers, your instructor, and your writing center are part of your support system — and so is your Rules for Writers. Whatever the assignment, whatever your purpose for writing, Rules for Writers has answers and advice you need for papers and projects in every course. The more you rely on your handbook and learn from its advice, the more successful you’ll be as a college writer.

More support for you online If your instructor has assigned this book with LaunchPad Solo for Rules for Writers, use the activation code to access even more support. Visit macmillanhighered.com/rules8e to check out 192 grammar and research exercises, 39 sample student papers, and 30 LearningCurve adaptive quizzes.

According to a recent survey of 700 students at 50 colleges, 79% of students feel that their handbook makes them more effective academic writers.

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Brief Menu

The Writing Process 1 1 Exploring, planning, and drafting 3 2 Revising, editing, and reflecting 30 3 Building effective paragraphs 49

Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking 65 4 Reading and writing critically 66 5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts 80 6 Reading and writing arguments 91 7 Speaking confidently 119

Clarity 125 8 Active verbs 126 9 Parallel ideas 129 10 Needed words 133 11 Mixed constructions 137 12 Misplaced and dangling modifiers 140 13 Shifts 147 14 Emphasis 152 15 Variety 163 16 Wordy sentences 166 17 Appropriate language 170 18 Exact words 180

Grammar 187 19 Sentence fragments 188 20 Run-on sentences 195 21 Subject-verb agreement (is or are etc.) 202 22 Pronoun-antecedent agreement (singular or plural) 213 23 Pronoun reference (clarity) 218 24 Pronoun case (I and me etc.) 222 25 who and whom 227 26 Adjectives and adverbs 230 27 Standard English verb forms, tenses, and moods 237

Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges 255 28 Verbs 256 29 Articles 270 30 Sentence structure 279 31 Prepositions and idiomatic expressions 288

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f with infinitives g with gerunds

25 Case of who and whom case 227

26 Adjectives and adverbs adj/adv 230 a adjectives b adverbs c good, well, bad,

badly d comparatives and

superlatives e double negatives

27 Verb forms, tenses, moods vb 237 a irregular verbs b lie and lay c -s (or -es) endings d -ed endings e omitted verbs f tense g mood

Multilingual/ESL 255

28 Verbs ESL 256 29 Articles; types of

nouns ESL 270 30 Structure ESL 279 31 Prepositions and

idioms ESL 288

Punctuation 293

32 The comma ,̂ 294 a with and, but, etc. b introductory

elements c series d coordinate

adjectives e nonrestrictive

elements f transitions g direct address, yes

and no, etc. h he said etc. i dates, addresses,

titles, numbers j to prevent

confusion 33 Unnecessary

commas no , 308 34 The semicolon ;

313 a independent

clauses

b transitional expressions

c series d misuses

35 The colon : 317 a with lists,

appositives, quotations

b conventional uses c misuses

36 The apostrophe

’ 319 a possessive nouns b indefinite

pronouns c contractions d plurals of

numbers, letters, etc.

e misuses 37 Quotation marks

“ ” 323 a direct quotations b quotation within a

quotation c titles of short

works d words as words e with other

punctuation marks

f misuses 38 End

punctuation 330 a period . b question mark ? c exclamation

point ! 39 Other punctuation

marks 332 a dash — b parentheses ( ) c brackets [ ] d ellipsis mark . . . e slash /

Mechanics 337

40 Abbreviations abbr 338

41 Numbers num 341 42 Italics ital 343 43 Spelling sp 345 44 The hyphen

hyph 353 45 Capitalization

cap 356

Grammar Basics 361

46 Parts of speech basic 362

47 Sentence patterns basic 375

48 Subordinate word groups basic 383

49 Sentence types basic 392

Research 395

50 Conducting research res 396

51 Managing information; taking

notes res 408 52 Evaluating sources

res 416

MLA Papers 431

53 Thesis MLA 435 54 Avoiding plagiarism

MLA 441 55 Integrating sources

MLA 445 56 Documenting

sources MLA 458 57 Manuscript format

MLA 513 Sample paper 517

APA Papers 527

58 Thesis APA 530 59 Avoiding plagiarism

APA 534 60 Integrating sources

APA 537 61 Documenting

sources APA 546 62 Manuscript format

APA 580 Sample paper 585

Appendixes 597 Document design 597 Glossary of usage 608

Answers to lettered exercises 622 Index 636

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Punctuation 293 32 The comma 294 33 Unnecessary commas 308 34 The semicolon 313 35 The colon 317 36 The apostrophe 319 37 Quotation marks 323 38 End punctuation 330 39 Other punctuation 332

Mechanics 337 40 Abbreviations 338 41 Numbers 341 42 Italics 343 43 Spelling 345 44 The hyphen 353 45 Capitalization 356

Grammar Basics 361 46 Parts of speech 362 47 Sentence patterns 375 48 Subordinate word groups 383 49 Sentence types 392

Research 395 50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources 396 51 Managing information; taking notes responsibly 408 52 Evaluating sources 416

Writing Papers in MLA Style 431 53 Supporting a thesis 435 54 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism 441 55 Integrating sources 445 56 MLA documentation style 458 57 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper 513

Writing Papers in APA Style 527 58 Supporting a thesis 530 59 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism 534 60 Integrating sources 537 61 Documenting sources in APA style 546 62 APA manuscript format; sample paper 580

Appendixes 597

A document design gallery 597 Glossary of usage 608

Answers to lettered exercises 622 Index 636

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Eighth Edition

Rules for WRITERS

Diana Hacker

Nancy Sommers Harvard University

Contributing ESL Specialist

Kimberli Huster

Robert Morris University

Bedford /St. Martin’s A Macmillan Education Imprint

Boston • New York

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For Bedford/St. Martin’s

Vice President, Editorial, Macmillan Higher Education Humanities: Edwin Hill Editorial Director, English and Music: Karen S. Henry Publisher for Composition: Leasa Burton Executive Editors: Michelle M. Clark and Brendan Baruth Senior Editor: Mara Weible Senior Media Editor: Barbara G. Flanagan Assistant Editor: Stephanie Th omas Senior Production Editor: Gregory Erb Senior Production Supervisor: Jennifer Wetzel Marketing Manager: Emily Rowin Copy Editor: Hilly van Loon Indexer: Ellen Kuhl Repetto Director of Rights and Permissions: Hilary Newman Permissions Manager: Kalina Ingham Photo Editor: Martha Friedman Senior Art Director: Anna Palchik Text Design: Claire Seng-Niemoeller Cover Design: William Boardman Composition: Cenveo Publisher Services Printing and Binding: RR Donnelley and Sons

Copyright © 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004 by Bedford/St. Martin’s All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.

0 9 8 7 6 5 f e d c b a

For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116 (617-399-4000)

ISBN 978-1-4576-8304-6 (Student Edition) Manufactured in China ISBN 978-1-319-01134-5 (Instructor’s Edition) Manufactured in U.S. ISBN 978-1-319-01131-4 (Student Edition with Writing about Literature) Manufactured in China

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the text and art selections they cover; these acknowledgments and copyrights constitute an extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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A letter from the author

Dear Students: Welcome to Rules for Writers — your college writing hand-

book. One of the pleasures of college writing is exploring ideas and discovering what you think about a subject. You may fi nd that the writing process leads you in unexpected directions — the more you read about a topic, the more questions arise for you to consider; new questions may lead you to challenge your initial assumptions. It is in the process of writing — of thinking in depth about ideas — that you learn what’s interesting in a subject and why you care about it. And it is through this process that you fi gure out not just what you think, but why you think it. Rules for Writers will be your companion throughout the writing process, helping you to develop your authority as a thoughtful and eff ec- tive writer.

College off ers many opportunities to write and to learn from the process of writing and revising. In a criminal justice course, for example, you may be asked to write a policy memo or a legal brief; in a nursing course, you may be asked to write a case study or a nursing practice paper. To write in these courses is to learn how to think like a criminologist or a nurse and to contribute your ideas to the discipline’s important conversations and de- bates. As you write college papers, you’ll have questions about how to engage with other writers who have written about your topic, how to support your ideas with well-documented evi- dence, and how to communicate your points eff ectively. Rules for Writers provides the guidance you’ll need to write successful col- lege papers in all your courses.

Photo by Mara Weible

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As you fl ip through Rules for Writers, you’ll see that it’s easy to use and convenient to keep with you as you draft and revise. You’ll fi nd answers to all your writing questions — forming a the- sis, developing an argument, evaluating and citing sources, and managing information to avoid plagiarism. You’ll fi nd documen- tation models and formatting advice in MLA and APA. You’ll also fi nd answers to your questions about grammar, punctuation, and mechanics — how to tighten wordy sentences, for example, or how to use commas or quotation marks correctly.

Th e more you rely on Rules for Writers and learn from its advice, the more successful you’ll be as a college writer. For each assignment, fl ag sections that contain information you need to write a successful paper. And when you get feedback on a draft , fl ag sections to help you address your writing challenges.

Rules for Writers supports your writing in every college course. Use it. Being a successful college writer starts here.

With all good wishes,

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vii

Making the most of your handbook Want to be successful with writing assignments in all your college courses? Using Rules for Writers is a key fi rst step. Make the most of your handbook by turning to it whenever you’re writing, revising, conducting research, or documenting sources. You’ll fi nd advice you can use for nearly every college writing assignment, starting with answers to common questions like these:

● How can I improve my thesis? 1c

● How should I format a research essay in MLA style? 57a, 57b

● What is critical reading? Why does it matter? 4a–4e, 5a–5e

● How do I write a speech? 7a–7d

● What are multimodal texts, and how do I write about them? 5a–5e

● I’ve gotten feedback on a draft. What do I do next? 2a–2i

● How can I make my writing fl ow better? 3d

● What is the right way to use an apostrophe? 36a–36e

● How do I know whether a source is reliable and worth my time? 52a–52e

● How should I introduce a source in my paper? 55c (MLA) and 60c (APA)

● Are there easy ways to avoid plagiarism? 54 (MLA) and 59 (APA)

● How do I cite online videos and social media posts? 56 (MLA) and 61 (APA)

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viii

Quick tips for fi nding more help Whatever writing and research questions you have, fi nding help in Rules for Writers is easy. The following reference aids offer convenient, reliable help for writing assignments in any course.

● The brief and detailed contents inside the front and back covers allow you to quickly spot the help you need.

● The index includes user-friendly terms such as “fl ow” to point to help with coherence.

● Color-coded MLA and APA sections give discipline-specifi c advice for working with sources. Directories at the beginning of each section list documentation models.

● The glossaries in the Appendixes offer useful defi nitions and help with commonly confused or misused words such as affect and effect.

If your instructor has assigned this book with for Rules for Writers, use the activation code to access the exercises, sample student papers, and LearningCurve game-like quizzing. Visit macmillanhighered.com/rules8e to log in.

● 260 writing, grammar, and research exercises help you improve your writing and integrate sources.

● 39 sample student papers provide guidance in writing and formatting your work in any course.

● 30 LearningCurve adaptive quizzes offer game-like sentence-level practice and let you track your progress.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

8 Active verbs > Exercises: 8–2 to 8–6 > LearningCurve: Active and passive voice

References to additional online support appear throughout Rules for Writers.

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Preface for instructors

Dear Colleagues: As college teachers, we have an important mission. We pre-

pare students to write for diff erent purposes and for diff erent audiences. We show students how to read critically and write ef- fectively, preparing them to join ongoing research conversations as contributors (not just consumers) of ideas. In college, students learn to write, and they learn through writing. Eff ective writing is fundamental to academic success — across the disciplines.

When you adopt Rules for Writers for your students, you send an important message: Writing is worth studying and learn- ing. And you give students the resource to answer their questions and to learn from the answers. College writing is high stakes: Students learn to become nurses and teachers, biologists and criminal justice professionals through writing. Th ey might focus on psychology or economics, but they’ll most likely write in each college class they take. Rules for Writers is the one text that stu- dents will need for all their college work.

When students have a trusted handbook to answer their writ- ing questions, they become more confi dent writers. Confi dent college writers are more fl exible learners; they’re more willing to try new approaches, and they feel comfortable thinking critically. I recently surveyed 700 fi rst-year writers about the relationship between handbook use and writer confi dence. When students were asked about this relationship, 79% of survey participants, many of whom use Rules for Writers, reported that using a hand- book made them more confi dent academic writers. Students re- ported that using Rules for Writers helped them become more effi cient and eff ective writers than if they had simply searched the Internet for answers to their questions about comma usage, for example, or about citing and documenting sources. A Google search might call up 46 million results to their question about comma usage, but these results are oft en more confusing than illuminating, and never as straightforward and authoritative as the confi dence-building instruction they receive from relying on Rules for Writers.

Each new feature in the eighth edition is designed to answer students’ writing questions and address specifi c problems stu- dents face as college writers. And each new feature of Rules for Writers is designed to support your teaching with the handbook. One such feature is an emphasis on the relationship between

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x Preface for instructors

reading critically and writing eff ectively. Th e eighth edition shows students how to read carefully to understand an author’s ideas, how to read with skepticism to question those ideas, and how to present their own ideas in response. Th e entire academic writing section is focused on the important reading and writing relationship, because the more students learn to take from their reading, the more they have to give as writers.

My goal in revising Rules for Writers was to create an even more useful classroom resource to save you time and increase students’ learning. Th e eighth edition is informed by teachers and students who use it and who helped me look squarely at the writ- ing problems students face and the practical solutions they need to become confi dent academic writers. You’ll fi nd new instruc- tion on eff ective peer review, successful paraphrasing, accurate citation of online sources, and meaningful research — turning topics into questions; fi nding entry points in debates; and eval- uating, integrating, and citing sources. And you’ll fi nd step-by- step writing guides to help students write common assignments, such as an annotated bibliography.

Teaching with Rules for Writers has become easier than ever. Th e eighth edition is now available with LaunchPad Solo for Rules for Writers — an online product with assignable exer- cises, sample student writing, and other resources. I’ve included “Writing Practice” prompts to help students apply handbook ad- vice to their own draft s and to off er practice with core academic skills — thesis statements, research questions, peer review, and more. You and your students will also fi nd videos; practice exer- cises for grammar, style, and citation; and LearningCurve, game- like adaptive quizzing.

As the author of Rules for Writers, I bring to this handbook the belief that writing is worth studying and learning — that all students who use this book will learn to read deeply and write clearly, that they will fi nd in their reading ideas they care about, and that they will write about these ideas with care and depth.

I am eager to share this handbook with you, knowing that in the eighth edition you’ll fi nd everything you and your students trust and value about Rules for Writers.

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xiPreface for instructors

Acknowledgments

I am grateful for the expertise, enthusiasm, and classroom ex- perience that so many individuals brought to the eighth edition.

Reviewers

I thank those instructors who off ered detailed feedback on various parts of the handbook and its supplements: Kirk Adams, Tarrant County College; Kathryn Allen, University of North Carolina– Pembroke; David Arnold, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point; Kevin Burke, University of Delaware; Sherry Clark, Hopkinsville Community College; Kristen di Gennaro, Pace University; Marylynne Diggs, Clark College; Kimberly Dozier, College of the Desert; Candice Floyd, Prince George’s Community College; Ann Guess, Alvin Community College; Derek Handley, Community Col- lege of Allegheny County; Peter Harvan, Beachwood High School; Anne Helms, Alamance Community College; Elizabeth Joseph, Tarrant County College; Chippy McLain, Walters State Commu- nity College; L. Adam Mekler, Morgan State University; Matt Miller, Oxford High School; Candice Rowe, University of Massachusetts– Boston; Tony Russell, Central Oregon Community College; Jim Schrantz, Tarrant County College; Art Schuhart, Northern Virginia Community College; Cynthia Scurria, Alcorn State University; Alex Tavares, Hillsborough Community College; Janel Mays Th ompson, Durham Technical Community College; Brandon Wallace, Mont- gomery College; Sander Zulauf, County College of Morris.

Contributors

I am grateful to the following individuals, fellow teachers of writ- ing, for their smart revisions of important content: Kimberli Huster, ESL Specialist at Robert Morris University, updated the advice for multilingual writers, and Sara McCurry, Instructor of English at Shasta College, coauthored the second edition of Teaching with Hacker Handbooks with Jonathan Cullick, Profes- sor of English and Chair of the Department of English at North- ern Kentucky University.

Students

I would like to thank the following students who have let us adapt their papers as models: Ned Bishop, Sophie Harba, Sam

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xii Preface for instructors

Jacobs, Luisa Mirano, Michelle Nguyen, Emilia Sanchez, and Ren Yoshida. Th anks also to Alyson D’Amato and Marisa Williamson for permission to use their multimodal projects as models.

Bedford/St. Martin’s

A comprehensive handbook is a collaborative writing project, and it is my pleasure to acknowledge and thank the enormously talented Bedford/St. Martin’s editorial team, whose deep commit- ment to students informs each new feature of Rules for Writers. Edwin Hill, vice president for the humanities, Leasa Burton, publisher for composition, and Karen Henry, editorial director for English, have helped shape the handbook’s identity and have guided us with their insights about how the college handbook market is changing and how we can continue to meet the needs of today’s college writer.

Michelle Clark, executive editor, is a treasured friend and colleague and an endless source of creativity and clarity. Michelle combines wisdom with patience and imagination with practi- cality. Mara Weible, senior editor, brings to the eighth edition her superb editorial judgment and her teacher’s sensibility. It is a deep personal and professional pleasure to work with an edi- tor as thoughtful and talented as Mara. Her creativity has shaped the eighth edition and made it an even more practical and in- novative handbook. Barbara Flanagan, senior media editor, has worked on the Hacker handbooks for more than 25 years and brings attention to detail, keen insights, and unrivaled exper- tise in documentation and media. Th anks to Stephanie Th omas, assistant editor, for help with art and permissions, for managing the review process, and for developing several ancillaries. Many thanks to Gregory Erb, senior production editor, for keeping us on schedule and for producing the book with skill and care. And I am grateful to the media team — especially media pro- ducer Allison Hart — for creating engaging media for the writing course. Practical advice from Bedford colleagues Emily Rowin, Brendan Baruth, Jimmy Fleming, and Nick Carbone, who, like me, spend many, many hours on the road and in faculty offi ces, is always treasured. Th anks to Hilly van Loon, copy editor, for her thoroughness and attention to detail; to Claire Seng-Niemoeller, text designer, who craft ed another open and beautifully designed edition of the book; and to William Boardman, art director, who has given the book a strikingly beautiful cover.

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xiiiPreface for instructors

Last, but never least, I off er thanks to my own students who, over many years, have shaped my teaching and helped me under- stand their challenges in becoming college writers. Th anks to my friends and colleagues Suzanne Lane, Maxine Rodburg, Laura Saltz, and Kerry Walk for sustaining conversations about the teaching of writing. And thanks to my family: to Joshua Alper, an attentive reader of life and literature, for his steadfastness across the draft s; to my parents, Walter and Louise Sommers, and my aunt Elsie Adler, who encouraged me to write and set me forth on a career of writing and teaching; to my extended family, Ron, Charles Mary, Alexander, Demian, Devin, Liz, Kate, and Sam for their good humor and good cheer; and to Rachel and Curran, to Alexandra and Brian, witty and wise beyond measure, always generous with their instruction and inspiration in all things that matter. And to Lailah Dragonfl y, my granddaughter, thanks for the joy and sweetness you bring to life.

Nancy Sommers

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xiv Preface for instructors

Welcome to the eighth edition

Rules for Writers speaks to everything student writers need. Many students want to turn to popular search engines for quick answers, but the real shortcut is right in their hands. Rules for Writers provides authoritative, trustworthy advice that’s easy to understand and apply. No guesswork involved. And while writing-related resources on the Web off er information (some- times accurate, sometimes not), they don’t off er the instruction students will fi nd in their handbook. With the eighth edition, students have access to reference content that has been class- tested by millions of students, along with the following new con- tent to meet their evolving needs. An emphasis on critical reading Th e second section of Rules for Writers — Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking — has been substantially revised to emphasize the importance of reading to college research and writing. Th e handbook off ers students a reading process, teaching them to analyze various types of texts, sources they discover through research, their own writing, and the work of their peers. Help with analyzing multimodal texts A new chapter, “Reading and writing about multimodal texts” (pp. 80–91), introduces new genres and practical strategies for analysis. More help for composing in a variety of genres Writing guides throughout Rules for Writers (see pp. 76–77 for an example) help students work through college assignments in a variety of genres. New annotated sample papers provide helpful models. Practical advice for public speaking A new chapter, “Speaking confi dently” (pp. 119–23), helps students develop eff ective oral communication strategies, whether they’re writing a speech from scratch or turning a paper into a presentation. More help with peer review and revising with comments A new chapter, “Revising, editing, and refl ecting” (pp. 30–49), advises students on giving and receiving comments on assignments and applying feedback to revisions of their own work. Research and documentation help for every course Substantially revised sections teach students to fi nd an entry point in a debate and develop authority as a researcher. Students will fi nd new practical advice for writing a research proposal. Rules for Writers now includes more than 200 documentation models for sources in MLA and APA styles. And because some sources are especially

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xvPreface for instructors

hard to cite, new how-to boxes address tricky issues such as au- thorship of reposted online content.

for Rules for Writers — handbook-specifi c online

assignments and exercises

LaunchPad Solo for Rules for Writers, available free when pack- aged with the print text, includes 36 interactive writing prompts related to specifi c handbook content; 260 writing, grammar, and research exercises; 39 additional sample student papers in MLA and APA styles; and 30 adaptive LearningCurve quizzes. Targeted cross-references throughout the handbook connect you and your students to related resources in LaunchPad Solo for Rules for Writers. ISBN 978-1-319-05719-0

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

8 Active verbs > Exercises: 8–2 to 8–6 > LearningCurve: Active and passive voice

Writer’s Help 2.0 for Hacker Handbooks — a complete online hand-

book, and more

For searchable, assignable Hacker handbook content online, you can package Rules for Writers with Writer’s Help 2.0 for Hacker Handbooks. Instead of turning to Google for hit-or-miss advice, students can search Writer’s Help 2.0 for the same straightfor- ward, reliable content they fi nd in their handbook as well as exer- cises, videos, and additional coverage of topics such as writing in the disciplines and analyzing and composing multimodal texts. With Writer’s Help 2.0, you can assign online pages and activities and track students’ use and progress. User-friendly help for col- lege writers also means useful data for instructors and adminis- trators — two benefi ts of Writer’s Help 2.0 for Hacker Handbooks. ISBN 978-1-319-05725-1

LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers — prebuilt teaching and

learning units

Rules for Writers can be packaged with LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers, which provides multimedia content and assessments — including LearningCurve adaptive quizzing — organized into prebuilt, curated units for easy assigning and assessment of student progress. ISBN 978-1-319-05722-0

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xvi

Supplements and media

Visit the catalog page for Rules for Writers to see a complete list of instructor supplements, including Teaching with Hacker Hand- books, student supplements, e-books (various formats), and other media: macmillanhighered.com/rules/catalog.

Custom solutions

Many schools opt for a custom edition of Rules for Writers. Some programs choose to add a section about course outcomes and policies; others choose to customize by adding sample writing by their own students. Custom covers with the school’s name and school colors or a photo help emphasize that the handbook pro- vides advice students can count on in all their courses, across the disciplines and throughout their college careers.

Preface for instructors

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xvii

Contents

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS ix

The Writing Process 1

1 Exploring, planning, and drafting 3

a Assess the writing situation. 3 b Explore your subject. 12 c Draft and revise a working thesis statement. 14 d Draft a plan. 19 e Draft an introduction. 22 f Draft the body. 24 g Draft a conclusion. 25 h Manage your fi les. 29

2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting 30

a See revision as a social process. 30 b Use peer review: Revise with comments. 30 c Use peer review: Give constructive comments. 33 d Highlights of one student’s peer review process 35

SAMPLE ROUGH DRAFT WITH PEER COMMENTS 35 e Approach global revision in cycles. 38 f Revise and edit sentences. 43 g Proofread the fi nal manuscript. 44 h Sample student revision 45

SAMPLE REVISED LITERACY NARRATIVE 45 i Prepare a portfolio; refl ect on your writing. 48

3 Building effective paragraphs 49

a Focus on a main point. 49 b Develop the main point. 52 c Choose a suitable pattern of organization. 52 d Make paragraphs coherent. 59 e If necessary, adjust paragraph length. 63

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Contentsxviii

Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking 65

4 Reading and writing critically 66

a Read actively. 66

SAMPLE ANNOTATED ARTICLE 67 b Outline a text to identify main ideas. 71 c Summarize to deepen your understanding. 72 d Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading. 73

WRITING GUIDE: ANALYTICAL ESSAY 76 e Sample student writing: Analysis of an article 77

SAMPLE ANALYSIS PAPER 78

5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts 80

a Read actively. 81

SAMPLE ANNOTATED ADVERTISEMENT 83 b Outline to identify main ideas. 84 c Summarize to deepen your understanding. 85 d Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading. 86 e Sample student writing: Analysis of an advertisement 88

SAMPLE ANALYSIS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT 88

6 Reading and writing arguments 91

a Distinguish between reasonable and fallacious argumentative tactics. 92

b Distinguish between legitimate and unfair emotional appeals. 98

c Judge how fairly a writer handles opposing views. 100 d When writing arguments, consider purpose and

context. 103 e View your audience as a panel of jurors. 103 f In your introduction, establish credibility and state your

position. 105 g Back up your thesis with persuasive lines of

argument. 106 h Support your claims with specifi c evidence. 107 i Anticipate objections; counter opposing

arguments. 109 j Build common ground. 111 k Sample student writing: Argument 111

SAMPLE ARGUMENT PAPER 112

WRITING GUIDE: ARGUMENT ESSAY 118

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7 Speaking confi dently 119

a Identify your purpose, audience, and context. 120 b Prepare a presentation. 120 c Focus on delivery. 122 d Remix an essay for a presentation. 123

Clarity 125

8 Prefer active verbs. 126

a Active versus passive verbs 126 b Active versus be verbs 127 c Subject that names the actor 128

9 Balance parallel ideas. 129

a Parallel ideas in a series 130 b Parallel ideas presented as pairs 130 c Repetition of function words 132

10 Add needed words. 133

a In compound structures 133 b that 134 c In comparisons 134 d a, an, and the 136

11 Untangle mixed constructions. 137

a Mixed grammar 137 b Illogical connections 138 c is when, is where, and reason . . . is because 139

12 Repair misplaced and dangling modifi ers. 140

a Limiting modifi ers 140 b Misplaced phrases and clauses 141 c Awkwardly placed modifi ers 142 d Split infi nitives 142 e Dangling modifi ers 144

13 Eliminate distracting shifts. 147

a Point of view (person, number) 147 b Verb tense 148 c Verb mood, voice 149 d Indirect to direct questions or quotations 150

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14 Emphasize key ideas. 152

a Coordination and subordination 152 b Choppy sentences 157 c Ineffective or excessive coordination 158 d Ineffective subordination 160 e Excessive subordination 160 f Other techniques 162

15 Provide some variety. 163

a Sentence openings 163 b Sentence structures 164 c Inverted order 164

16 Tighten wordy sentences. 166

a Redundancies 166 b Unnecessary repetition 166 c Empty or infl ated phrases 167 d Simplifying the structure 168 e Reducing clauses to phrases, phrases to single

words 169

17 Choose appropriate language. 170

a Jargon 171 b Pretentious language, euphemisms, “doublespeak” 171 c Slang, regional expressions, nonstandard English 174 d Levels of formality 175 e Sexist language 176 f Offensive language 179

18 Find the exact words. 180

a Connotations 180 b Specifi c, concrete nouns 181 c Misused words 181 d Standard idioms 182 e Clichés 184 f Figures of speech 185

Grammar 187

19 Repair sentence fragments. 188

a Subordinate clauses 190 b Phrases 191 c Other fragmented word groups 192 d Acceptable fragments 194

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20 Revise run-on sentences. 195

a Revision with coordinating conjunction 197 b Revision with semicolon, colon, or dash 198 c Revision by separating sentences 199 d Revision by restructuring 200

21 Make subjects and verbs agree. 202

a Standard subject-verb combinations 202 b Words between subject and verb 202 c Subjects joined with and 203 d Subjects joined with or, nor, either . . . or,

or neither . . . nor 206 e Indefi nite pronouns 206 f Collective nouns 207 g Subject following verb 209 h Subject, not subject complement 209 i who, which, and that 210 j Words with plural form, singular meaning 211 k Titles of works, company names, words mentioned

as words, gerund phrases 211

22 Make pronouns and antecedents agree. 213

a Singular with singular, plural with plural (indefi nite pronouns, generic nouns) 213

b Collective nouns 215 c Antecedents joined with and 215 d Antecedents joined with or, nor, either . . . or,

or neither . . . nor 216

23 Make pronoun references clear. 218

a Ambiguous or remote reference 218 b Broad reference of this, that, which, and it 219 c Implied antecedents 219 d Indefi nite use of they, it, and you 220 e who for persons, which or that for things 221

24 Distinguish between pronouns such as I and me. 222

a Subjective case for subjects and subject complements 223

b Objective case for objects 223 c Appositives 224 d Pronoun following than or as 225 e we or us before a noun 225 f Subjects and objects of infi nitives 225 g Pronoun modifying a gerund 226

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25 Distinguish between who and whom. 227

a In subordinate clauses 228 b In questions 229 c As subjects or objects of infi nitives 229

26 Choose adjectives and adverbs with care. 230

a Adjectives to modify nouns 231 b Adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs 232 c good and well, bad and badly 233 d Comparatives and superlatives 234 e Double negatives 235

27 Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods in Standard English. 237

a Irregular verbs 237 b lie and lay 241 c -s (or -es) endings 242 d -ed endings 245 e Omitted verbs 246 f Verb tense 247 g Subjunctive mood 252

Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges 255

28 Verbs 256

a Appropriate form and tense 256 b Passive voice 259 c Base form after a modal 261 d Negative verb forms 264 e Verbs in conditional sentences 265 f Verbs followed by gerunds or infi nitives 267

29 Articles 270

a Articles and other noun markers 270 b When to use the 271 c When to use a or an 274 d When not to use a or an 276 e No articles with general nouns 277 f Articles with proper nouns 277

30 Sentence structure 279

a Linking verb between a subject and its complement 280 b A subject in every sentence 280

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c Repeated nouns or pronouns with the same grammatical function 281

d Repeated subjects, objects, and adverbs in adjective clauses 282 e Mixed constructions with although or because 283 f Placement of adverbs 284 g Present participles and past participles as adjectives 285 h Order of cumulative adjectives 287

31 Prepositions and idiomatic expressions 288

a Prepositions showing time and place 288 b Noun (including -ing form) after a preposition 290 c Common adjective + preposition combinations 291 d Common verb + preposition combinations 291

Punctuation 293

32 The comma 294

a Independent clauses joined with and, but, etc. 294 b Introductory elements 295 c Items in a series 297 d Coordinate adjectives 297 e Nonrestrictive and restrictive elements 299 f Transitions, parenthetical expressions, absolute phrases,

contrasts 303 g Direct address, yes and no, interrogative tags, interjections 305 h he said etc. 305 i Dates, addresses, titles, numbers 306 j To prevent confusion 307

33 Unnecessary commas 308

a Between two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses 308 b Between a verb and its subject or object 309 c Before the fi rst or after the last item in a series 309 d Between cumulative adjectives, an adjective and a noun, or an

adverb and an adjective 309 e Before and after restrictive or parenthetical elements 310 f Before essential concluding adverbial elements 310 g After a phrase beginning an inverted sentence 311 h Other misuses 311

34 The semicolon 313

a Between independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction 313

b Between independent clauses linked with a transitional expression 314

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c In a series containing internal punctuation 315 d Misuses 315

35 The colon 317

a Before a list, an appositive, or a quotation 317 b Conventional uses 318 c Misuses 318

36 The apostrophe 319

a Possessive nouns 319 b Possessive indefi nite pronouns 320 c Contractions 321 d Not for plural numbers, letters, abbreviations, words as words 321 e Misuses 322

37 Quotation marks 323

a Direct quotations 324 b Quotation within a quotation 325 c Titles of short works 325 d Words as words 325 e With other punctuation marks 326 f Misuses 328

38 End punctuation 330

a The period 330 b The question mark 331 c The exclamation point 331

39 Other punctuation marks 332

a The dash 332 b Parentheses 333 c Brackets 334 d The ellipsis mark 334 e The slash 335

Mechanics 337

40 Abbreviations 338

a Titles with proper names 338 b Familiar abbreviations 338 c Conventional abbreviations 339 d Units of measurement 339 e Latin abbreviations 340

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f Plural of abbreviations 340 g Misuses 340

41 Numbers 341

a Spelling out 341 b Using numerals 342

42 Italics 343

a Titles of works 343 b Names of ships, spacecraft, and aircraft 344 c Foreign words 344 d Words as words, letters as letters, numbers as numbers 344

43 Spelling 345

a Spelling rules 345 b The dictionary 347 c Words that sound alike 351 d Commonly misspelled words 351

44 The hyphen 353

a Compound words 353 b Hyphenated adjectives 354 c Fractions and compound numbers 354 d With certain prefi xes and suffi xes 355 e To avoid ambiguity or to separate awkward double or triple

letters 355 f Word division 355

45 Capitalization 356

a Proper vs. common nouns 356 b Titles with proper names 358 c Titles and subtitles of works 358 d First word of a sentence 359 e First word of a quoted sentence 359 f First word after a colon 359

Grammar Basics 361

46 Parts of speech 362

a Nouns 362 b Pronouns 363 c Verbs 365 d Adjectives 367

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e Adverbs 368 f Prepositions 369 g Conjunctions 370 h Interjections 371

47 Sentence patterns 375

a Subjects 375 b Verbs, objects, and complements 378 c Pattern variations 382

48 Subordinate word groups 383

a Prepositional phrases 384 b Verbal phrases 385 c Appositive phrases 388 d Absolute phrases 388 e Subordinate clauses 389

49 Sentence types 392

a Sentence structures 392 b Sentence purposes 394

Research 395

50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources 396

a Manage the project. 396 b Pose questions worth exploring. 398 c Map out a search strategy. 401 d Search effi ciently; master a few shortcuts to fi nding good

sources. 402 e Conduct fi eld research, if appropriate. 406 f Write a research proposal. 408

51 Managing information; taking notes responsibly 408

a Maintain a working bibliography. 409 b Keep track of source materials. 410 c Take notes carefully to avoid unintentional plagiarism. 410

52 Evaluating sources 416

a Think about how sources might contribute to your writing. 416 b Select sources worth your time and attention. 418 c Select appropriate versions of online sources. 421 d Read with an open mind and a critical eye. 422

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e Assess Web sources with care. 424 f Construct an annotated bibliography. 427

WRITING GUIDE: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY 428

Writing Papers in MLA Style 431

53 Supporting a thesis 435

a Form a working thesis. 435 b Organize your ideas. 436 c Use sources to inform and support your argument. 437 d Draft an introduction for your thesis. 439 e Draft the paper in an appropriate voice. 440

54 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism 441

a Understand how the MLA system works. 441 b Avoid plagiarism when quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing

sources. 442

55 Integrating sources 445

a Summarize and paraphrase effectively. 446 b Use quotations effectively. 447 c Use signal phrases to integrate sources. 450 d Synthesize sources. 454

56 Documenting sources in MLA style 458

a MLA in-text citations 458 b MLA list of works cited 468 c MLA information notes 512

57 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper 513

a MLA manuscript format 513 b Sample MLA research paper 516

Writing Papers in APA Style 527

58 Supporting a thesis 530

a Form a working thesis. 530 b Organize your ideas. 531 c Use sources to inform and support your argument. 532

59 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism 534

a Understand how the APA system works. 534 b Avoid plagiarism when quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing

sources. 535

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60 Integrating sources 537

a Summarize and paraphrase effectively. 538 b Use quotations effectively. 539 c Use signal phrases to integrate sources. 541 d Synthesize sources. 545

61 Documenting sources in APA style 546

a APA in-text citations 547 b APA list of works cited 553

62 APA manuscript format; sample paper 580

a APA manuscript format 581 b Sample APA research paper 584

Appendixes 597

A document design gallery 597 Glossary of usage 608

ANSWERS TO LETTERED EXERCISES 622

INDEX 636

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The Writing Process

1 Exploring, planning, and drafting, 3

2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting, 30

STUDENT WRITING: HIGHLIGHTS OF ONE STUDENT’S

PEER REVIEW PROCESS, 35

STUDENT WRITING: REVISED LITERACY NARRATIVE, 45

3 Building effective paragraphs, 49

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Exploring, planning, and drafting2 1

College off ers many opportunities to write and learn from the process of writing and revising.

As you write, you will read and respond to what others have written, use evidence to support your ideas, and develop your ability to think carefully and creatively. In a sociology class, you might be asked to write a fi eld report; in a nursing class, a case study; and in a literature class, a critical analysis. By writing in these classes, you contribute your ideas and join thinkers and writ- ers who share interests, ideas, and ways of communicating with one another. Developing the following habits of mind — curiosity, engagement, responsibility, and refl ection — will help you write successfully in all of your college courses.

Be curious. Good college writing starts with curiosity. What issues intrigue you? What questions need to be explored? Writing is more interesting and rewarding when you explore questions you don’t have answers to, questions that matter to you and to those in the discipline in which you are writing.

Be engaged. Writing is a social activity that brings you into con- versations with scholars, instructors, classmates, librarians, and writing center tutors. Reading actively allows you to consider and respond to the ideas of other writers. Participating in class- room or online discussions deepens your thinking and gives you opportunities to engage with your peers. Eff ective college writers reach out to readers who can help shape their work in progress.

Be responsible. Engaging with the ideas of other writers and thinkers requires responsibility — to represent their ideas accu- rately and honestly and to acknowledge their contributions to your work. By giving credit to your sources and diff erentiating your own ideas from those of your sources, you encourage your readers to trust you and take you seriously.

Be refl ective. Being refl ective in a writing class oft en means stopping to think about your own writing habits or approaches to writing assignments. By examining your decisions, successes, and challenges, you’ll be able to fi gure out what’s working and what needs more work and to transfer skills from one writing assignment to the next.

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting Writing is a process of fi guring out what you think, not a matter of recording already developed thoughts. Since it’s not possible to think about everything all at once, you’ll fi nd the process more manageable if you handle a piece of writing in stages. You will generally move from planning to draft ing to revising, but as your ideas develop, you will fi nd yourself circling back and returning to earlier stages.

Before composing a fi rst draft , spend some time generating ideas. Mull over your subject while listening to music, taking a walk, or driving to work; or jot down inspirations or explore your questions with a willing listener. Consider these questions: What do you fi nd puzzling, striking, or interesting about your subject? What would you like to know more about? Be curious and open to new ideas and diff erent points of view. Explore questions you don’t have answers to.

1a Assess the writing situation.

Begin by taking a look at your writing situation. Th e key elements of a writing situation include the following:

• subject • purpose • audience • genre • sources of information • constraints (length, document design, reviewers,

deadlines)

It is likely that you will make fi nal decisions about all of these matters later in the writing process — aft er a fi rst draft , for example — but you will become a more eff ective writer if you think about as many of them as possible in advance. For a quick checklist, see the chart on pages 4–5.

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1a Exploring, planning, and drafting4

Checklist for assessing the writing situation

Subject

● Has the subject (or a range of possible subjects) been assigned to you, or are you free to choose your own?

● What interests you about your subject? What questions would you like to explore?

● Why is your subject worth writing about? How might readers benefi t?

● Do you need to narrow your subject (because of length restric- tions, for instance)?

Purpose and audience

● Why are you writing: To inform readers? To persuade them? To call them to action? To off er an interpretation of a text? Do you have more than one purpose for writing?

● Who are your readers? How well informed are they about the subject? What do you want them to learn?

● How interested and attentive are your readers likely to be? Will they resist any of your ideas? What possible objections will you need to anticipate and counter?

● What is your relationship to your readers: Student to instructor? Citizen to citizen? Expert to novice? Employee to supervisor?

Genre

● What genre (type of writing) does your assignment require: A report? A proposal? An analysis of data? An essay?

● If the genre is not assigned, what genre is appropriate for your subject, purpose, and audience?

● What are the expectations and conventions of your assigned genre? For instance, what type of evidence is typically used in the genre?

● Does the genre require a specifi c design format or method of organization?

● Does the genre require or benefi t from visuals, such as photos, drawings, or graphs?

Sources of information

● Where will your information come from: Reading? Research? Direct observation? Interviews? Questionnaires?

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● What type of evidence suits your subject, purpose, audience, and genre?

● What documentation style is required: MLA? APA?

Length and format

● Do you have any length specifi cations? If not, what length seems appropriate, given your subject, purpose, audience, and genre?

● Is a particular format required? If so, do you have guidelines to follow or examples to consult?

Deadlines

● What are your deadlines? How much time will you need to allow for the various stages of writing, including proofreading and printing or posting the fi nal draft ?

Academic English What counts as good writing varies from culture to culture and even among groups within cultures. In some situations, you will need to become familiar with the writing styles — such as direct or indirect, personal or impersonal, plain or embellished — that are valued by the culture or discipline for which you are writing.

Subject

Frequently your subject will be given to you. In a psychology class, for example, you might be asked to discuss Bruno Bettelheim’s Freudian analysis of fairy tales. In a composition course, assign- ments oft en ask you to analyze texts and evaluate arguments. In the business world, you may be assigned to draft a marketing plan. When you are free to choose your own subject, let your own curiosity focus your choice. Make connections between yourself and what you are learning. If you are studying television, radio, and the Internet in a communications course, for example, you might ask yourself which of these subjects interests you most. Perhaps you want to learn more about the role streaming video can play in activism and social change. Look through your read- ings and class notes to see if you can identify questions you’d like to explore further in an essay.

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1a Exploring, planning, and drafting6

Make sure that you can reasonably investigate your subject in the space you have. If you are limited to a few pages, for exam- ple, you could not do justice to a broad subject such as “videos as agents of social change.” You could, however, focus on one aspect of the subject — perhaps contradictory claims about the eff ective- ness of creating video content for small, specifi c audiences.

If your interest in a subject stems from your personal expe- rience, you will want to ask what it is about your experience that would interest your audience and why. For example, if you have vol- unteered at a homeless shelter, you might have spent some time talk- ing to homeless children and learning about their needs. Perhaps you can use your experience to broaden your readers’ understand- ing of the issues, to persuade an organization to fund an aft er-school program for homeless children, or to propose changes in legislation.

Whether or not you choose your own subject, it’s important to be aware of the expectations of each writing situation. Th e fol- lowing chart suggests ways to interpret assignments.

Understanding an assignment

Determining the purpose of an assignment

Th e wording of an assignment may suggest its purpose. You might be expected to do one or more of the following in a college writing assignment:

● summarize information from course materials or research (See 4c.) ● analyze ideas and concepts (See 4d.) ● take a position on a topic and defend it with evidence (See 6h.) ● synthesize (combine ideas from) several sources and create an

original argument (See 55d and 60d.)

Understanding how to answer an assignment’s question

Many assignments will ask you to answer a how or why question. You cannot answer such questions using only facts; instead, you will need to take a position. For example, the question “What are the survival rates for leukemia patients?” can be answered with facts. Th e question “Why are the survival rates for leukemia patients in one state lower than those in a neighboring state?” must be answered with both a claim and facts.

If a list of questions appears in the assignment, be careful — instructors rarely expect you to answer all the questions in order. Look instead for topics or themes that will help you ask your own questions.

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Purpose

Your purpose, or reason for writing, will oft en be dictated by your writing situation. Perhaps you have been asked to draft a proposal requesting funding for a student organization, to report the results of a psychology experiment, or to write about the con- troversy surrounding genetically modifi ed foods for the school newspaper. Even though your overall purpose may be fairly obvi- ous in such situations, a closer look at the assignment can help you make some necessary decisions. How detailed should the proposal be? How technical does your psychology professor ex- pect your report to be? Do you want to inform students about the controversy surrounding genetically modifi ed foods or to change their attitudes toward it?

In many writing situations, part of your challenge will be discovering a purpose. Asking yourself why readers should care about what you are saying can help you decide what your pur- pose might be. Perhaps your subject is magnet schools — schools that draw students from diff erent neighborhoods because of fea- tures such as advanced science classes or a concentration on the arts. If you have discussed magnet schools in class, a description of how these schools work probably will not interest you or your readers. But maybe you have discovered that your county’s mag- net schools are not promoting diversity as had been planned, and you want to call your readers to action.

Although no precise guidelines will lead you to a purpose, you can begin by asking, “Why am I writing?” and “What is my goal?” Identify which one or more of the following aims you hope to accomplish.

Recognizing implied questions

When you are asked to discuss, analyze, agree or disagree with, or consider a topic, your instructor will oft en expect you to answer a how or why question.

Discuss the eff ects of the No Child Left Behind Act on special education programs.

= How has the No Child Left Behind Act aff ected special education programs?

Consider the recent rise of attention defi cit hyperactivity disorder diagnoses.

= Why are diagnoses of attention defi cit hyperactivity disorder rising?

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1a Exploring, planning, and drafting8

PURPOSES FOR WRITING

to inform to evaluate to persuade to recommend to entertain to request to call readers to action to propose to change attitudes to provoke thought to analyze to express feelings to argue to summarize to refl ect to synthesize

Writers oft en misjudge their own purposes, summarizing when they should be analyzing, or expressing feelings about problems instead of proposing solutions. Before beginning any writing task, pause to ask, “Why am I communicating with my readers?” Th is question will lead you to another important ques- tion: “Just who are my readers?”

Audience

Take time to ask questions about your readers and their expec- tations. Consider questions such as these: Who will be reading your draft ? What is your relationship to your readers? What in- formation will your audience need to understand your ideas? Th e choices you make as you write will tell readers who you think they are (novices or experts, for example) and will show respect for your readers’ perspectives.

Academic audiences In college writing, considerations of audi- ence can be more complex than they seem at fi rst. Your instruc- tors will read your essay, of course, but most instructors play multiple roles while reading. Th eir fi rst and most obvious roles are as coach and evaluator; but they are also intelligent and objec- tive readers, the kind of people who might be informed or called to action by what you have to say and who want to learn from your insights and ideas.

Business audiences Writers in the business world oft en fi nd themselves writing for multiple audiences. A letter to a client, for instance, might be distributed to sales representatives as well. Readers of a report might include people with and without

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Assess the writing situation 9

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technical expertise, or readers who want details and those who prefer a quick overview.

Public audiences Writers in communities oft en write to a specifi c audience — a legislative representative, readers of a local news- paper, fellow members of a social group. With public writing, it is more likely that you are familiar with the views your readers hold and the assumptions they make, so you may be better able to judge how to engage those readers.

For help with audience when composing e-mail messages, see the following chart.

Considering audience when writing e-mail messages

In academic, business, and public contexts, you will want to show readers that you value their time. Here are some strategies for writ- ing eff ective e-mails:

● Use a concise, meaningful subject line to help readers sort mes- sages and set priorities.

● State your main point at the beginning so that your reader sees it without scrolling.

● Write concisely; keep paragraphs short. ● Avoid writing in all capital letters or all lowercase letters. ● Proofread for typos and obvious errors that are likely to slow

down readers. You will also want to follow conventions of etiquette and aca-

demic integrity. Here are some strategies for writing responsible e-mails:

● E-mail messages can easily be forwarded to others and repro- duced. Do not write anything that you would not want attributed to you.

● Do not forward another person’s message without asking his or her permission.

● If you write an e-mail message that includes someone else’s words — opinions, statistics, song lyrics, and so forth — let your reader know the source for that material and where any bor- rowed material begins and ends.

● Choose your words carefully because e-mail messages can eas- ily be misread. Without hearing your voice or seeing your facial gestures or body language, readers can misunderstand your message.

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1a Exploring, planning, and drafting10

Genre

When writing for a college course, pay close attention to the genre, or type of writing, assigned. Each genre is a category of writing meant for a specifi c purpose and audience, with its own set of agreed-upon expectations and conventions for style, struc- ture, and document design. Sometimes an assignment specifi es the genre — an essay in a writing class, a policy memo in a crim- inal justice class, or an executive summary in a business class. Sometimes the genre is yours to choose, and you need to decide if a particular genre — a poster presentation, an audio essay, a Web page, or a podcast, for example — will help you communicate your purpose and reach readers.

If the genre has been assigned, the following questions will help you fi gure out how to present your ideas:

• Do you have access to sample projects in the genre that has been assigned?

• Who is the audience? What specialized vocabulary do readers expect in the genre?

• What type of evidence is usually required in the genre? • What format, organization, and citation style are

expected?

If you are free to choose the genre, consider the following questions when deciding which genre to use:

• What is your purpose: To argue a position? To instruct? To present a process? To inspire? To propose? Do you have more than one purpose?

• Who is your audience? What do you know about your readers or viewers?

• What method of presenting information would appeal to your audience: Reasoned paragraphs? Diagrams? Video? Slides?

Sources of information

Where will your evidence — facts, details, and examples — come from? What kind of reading, observation, or research is neces- sary to meet the expectations of your assignment?

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Reading Reading is an important way to deepen your under- standing of a topic and expand your perspective. It will be your primary source of information for many college assignments.

Read with an open mind to learn from the insights and re- search of others. Take notes on your thoughts, impressions, and questions. Your notes can be a way to enter a conversation with the authors of the texts you read. (See 51c.) And always keep careful records of any sources you read and consult. (See 51c.)

Observation Observation is an excellent means of collecting information about a wide range of subjects, such as gender relationships on a popular television program, the clichéd lan- guage of sports announcers, or a current exhibit at the local art museum. For such subjects, do not rely on your memory alone; your information will be fresher and more detailed if you actively collect it, with a notebook, laptop, or voice recorder.

Interviews and questionnaires Interviews and questionnaires can supply detailed and interesting information on many subjects. A nursing student interested in the care of terminally ill patients might interview hospice nurses, for example.

It is a good idea to record interviews to preserve any vivid quotations that you might want to weave into your essay. Circulating questionnaires by e-mail or on a Web site will facili- tate responses. Keep questions simple, and specify a deadline to ensure that you get a reasonable number of replies.

Length and format

Writers seldom have complete control over length requirements. Journalists usually write within strict word limits set by their edi- tors, businesspeople routinely aim for conciseness, and most col- lege assignments specify an approximate length.

Your writing situation may also require a certain format. In the academic world, you may need to learn precise disciplin- ary and genre conventions for formatting lab reports, critiques, research papers, and so on. For most undergraduate essays, a standard academic format is acceptable. (See pp. 597–607.)

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1b Exploring, planning, and drafting12

EXERCISE 1–1 Narrow three of the following subjects into topics that would be manageable for an essay of two to fi ve pages.

1. Treatments for mental illness 2. An experience with racism or sexism 3. Cyberbullying 4. Images of women in video games 5. Public health care

EXERCISE 1–2 Suggest a purpose and an audience for three of the fol- lowing subjects. More practice:

1. Genetic modifi cation of cash crops 2. Government housing for military veterans 3. Th e future of print magazines 4. Working with special needs children 5. Hybrid cars

1b Explore your subject.

Experiment with one or more techniques for exploring your sub- ject and discovering your purpose: talking and listening; reading and annotating texts; asking questions; brainstorming and free- writing; keeping a journal; blogging.

Whatever technique you turn to, the goal is the same: to gen- erate ideas that will lead you to a question, a problem, or a topic that you want to explore further.

Talking and listening

Conversation can help you develop your ideas before you begin to write them down. By talking and listening to others, you can also discover what they fi nd interesting, what they are curious about, and where they disagree with you. If you are planning to develop an argument, you can try it out on listeners with other points of view.

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting > Writing practice: Exploring a subject > Exercise: 1–3

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Reading and annotating texts

Reading is an important way to deepen your understanding of a topic, learn from the insights and research of others, and expand your perspective. Annotating a text, written or visual, encourages you to read actively — to highlight key concepts, to note contra- dictions in an argument, or to raise questions for further research and investigation.

Asking questions

Whenever you are writing about ideas, events, or people, whether current or historical, asking questions is one way to get started. You might try the questions journalists routinely ask themselves: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? If you were writing about a negative reaction to a fi lm, for instance, you might want to ask — Who objected to the fi lm and why? What were the objec- tions and when were they voiced? Such questions will help you investigate your subject to discover important facts.

In academic writing, scholars oft en generate ideas by posing questions related to a specifi c discipline. If you are writing in a particular discipline, try to fi nd out which questions its schol- ars typically explore. Look for clues in assigned readings, assign- ments, and class discussions to understand how a discipline’s questions help you understand its concerns.

Brainstorming and freewriting

Brainstorming and freewriting are good ways to fi gure out what you know and what questions you have. Write whatever comes to mind without pausing to think about word choice, spelling, or even meaning. Th e goal is to write quickly and freely to discover what questions are on your mind and what directions you might pursue.

Keeping a journal

A journal is a collection of informal, exploratory, sometimes ex- perimental writing. In a journal, oft en meant for your eyes only, you can take risks. You might freewrite, pose questions, comment on an interesting idea from one of your classes, or keep a list of questions that occur to you while reading. You might imagine a conversation between yourself and your readers or stage a debate to understand opposing positions.

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1c Exploring, planning, and drafting14

Blogging

Although a blog is a type of journal, it is a public writing space rather than a private one. You can explore an idea for a paper by blogging about it in diff erent ways or from diff erent angles. Since most blogs have a commenting feature, you can create a conver- sation by inviting readers to give you feedback — ask questions, make counterarguments, or suggest other sources on a topic.

1c Draft and revise a working thesis statement.

For many types of writing, you will be able to state your central idea in a sentence or two. Such a statement, which ordinarily ap- pears in the opening paragraph of your fi nished essay, is called a thesis.

Understanding what makes an effective thesis statement

An eff ective thesis statement is a central idea that conveys your purpose — your reason for writing — and requires support.

Keep the following guidelines in mind to help you develop an eff ective thesis statement:

• A thesis should take a position that needs to be explained and supported.

• A thesis should be your answer to a question, your solution to a problem, or your position on a topic or debate.

• A thesis should be appropriate for the length requirements of the assignment. It should not be too broad or too narrow.

• A thesis should be sharply focused. Use concrete language and make sure your thesis lets readers know what you plan to discuss.

• A thesis should stand up to the “So what?” question. (See p. 16.)

Drafting a working thesis

As you explore your topic, you will begin to see possible ways to focus your material. At this point, try to settle on a tenta- tive central idea, or working thesis statement. Th e more com- plex your topic, the more your focus may change. Th ink of your

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1cDraft and revise a thesis statement

working thesis as preliminary, open for consideration and revi- sion, as you clarify your purpose and consider the expectations of your audience. As your ideas develop, you’ll need to revisit your working thesis to see if it presents the position you want to take and if it can be supported by the sources of evidence you have accumulated.

You’ll fi nd that the process of answering a question you have posed, resolving a problem you have identifi ed, or taking a posi- tion on a debatable topic will focus your thinking and lead you to develop a working thesis. Here, for example, are one student’s eff orts to pose a question and draft a working thesis for an essay in his ethics course.

QUESTION

Should athletes who enhance their performance through biotechnology be banned from athletic competition?

WORKING THESIS

Athletes who boost their performance through biotechnology should be banned from athletic competition.

Th e working thesis off ers a useful place to start writing — a way to limit the topic and focus a fi rst draft — but it doesn’t take into consideration the expectations of readers who will ask “Why?” and “So what?” Th e student has taken a position — athletes who boost their performance through biotechnology should be banned from athletic competition — but he hasn’t answered why athletes should be banned. To fully answer his own question and to claim something specifi c in his thesis, he might push his own thinking with the word because.

STRONGER WORKING THESIS

Athletes who boost their performance through biotechnology should be banned from athletic competition because biotechnology gives athletes an unfair advantage and disrupts the sense of fair play.

Revising a working thesis

As you move to a clearer and more specifi c position you want to take, you’ll start to see ways to revise your working thesis. You may fi nd that the evidence you have collected supports a diff er- ent thesis; or you may fi nd that your position has changed as you learned more about your topic. Revision is ongoing; as your

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1c Exploring, planning, and drafting16

ideas evolve, your working thesis will evolve, too. One eff ective way to revise a working thesis is to put it to the “So what?” test (see the box below). A test like this can help you keep audience and purpose — and the expectations of your assignment — in mind as you revise.

Putting your working thesis to the “So what?” test

Use the following questions to help you revise your working thesis. ● Why would readers want to read an essay with this thesis? How

would you respond to a reader who hears your thesis and asks “So what?” or “Why does it matter?”

● Will any readers disagree with this thesis? If so, how might your thesis respond to a counter perspective?

● Is the thesis too obvious? If you cannot come up with interpretations that oppose your own, consider revising your thesis.

● Can you support your thesis with the evidence available?

Using a problem/strategy approach as you revise

Revising a working thesis is easier if you have a method or an ap- proach. Th e following problem/strategy approach is an eff ective way to evaluate and revise a working thesis, especially if you tend to start out with thesis statements that are too factual, too broad, too narrow, or too vague.

A thesis should require proof or further development through facts

and details; it cannot itself be a fact or a description.

WORKING

THESIS

Th e fi rst polygraph was developed by Dr. John A. Larson in 1921. PROBLEM Th e thesis is too factual. A reader could not disagree with it or debate it; no further development of this idea is required. STRATEGY Enter a debate by posing a question about your topic that has more than one possible answer. For example: Should the polygraph be used by private employers? Your thesis should be your answer to the question.

REVISED

THESIS

Because the polygraph has not been proved reliable, even under controlled conditions, its use by private employers should be banned.

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1cDraft and revise a thesis statement

A thesis should be an answer to a question, not a question itself.

WORKING

THESIS

Would John F. Kennedy have continued to escalate the war in Vietnam if he had lived? PROBLEM Th e thesis is a question, not an answer to a question. STRATEGY Take a position on your topic by answering the question you have posed. Your thesis should be your answer to the question.

REVISED

THESIS

Although John F. Kennedy sent the fi rst American troops to Vietnam before he died, an analysis of his foreign policy suggests that he would not have escalated the war had he lived.

A thesis should be of suffi cient scope for your assignment; it should

not be too broad.

WORKING

THESIS

Mapping the human genome has many implications for health and science. PROBLEM Th e thesis is too broad. Even in a very long research paper, you would not be able to discuss all the implications of mapping the human genome. STRATEGY Focus on a subtopic of your original topic. Once you have chosen a subtopic, take a position in an ongoing debate and pose a question that has more than one answer. For example: Should people be tested for genetic diseases? Your thesis should be your answer to the question.

REVISED

THESIS

Although scientists can now detect genetic predisposition for specifi c diseases, policymakers should establish clear guidelines about whom to test and under what circumstances.

A thesis also should not be too narrow.

WORKING

THESIS

A person who carries a genetic mutation linked to a particular disease might or might not develop that disease. PROBLEM Th e thesis is too narrow. It does not suggest any argument or debate about the topic. STRATEGY Identify challenging questions that readers might ask about your topic. Th en pose a question that has more than one answer. For example: Do the risks of genetic testing outweigh its usefulness? Your thesis should be your answer to this question.

REVISED

THESIS

Th ough positive results in a genetic test do not guarantee that the disease will develop, such results can cause psychological trauma; genetic testing should therefore be avoided if possible.

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1c Exploring, planning, and drafting18

A thesis should be sharply focused, not too vague. Avoid fuzzy, hard-

to-defi ne words such as interesting, good, or disgusting.

WORKING

THESIS

Th e Vietnam Veterans Memorial is an interesting structure. PROBLEM Th is thesis is too fuzzy and unfocused. It’s diffi cult to defi ne interesting, and the sentence doesn’t give readers any cues about where the essay is going. STRATEGY Focus your thesis with concrete language and a clear plan. Pose a question about the topic that has more than one answer. For example: How does the physical structure of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial shape the experience of visitors? Your thesis — your answer to the question — should use specifi c language.

REVISED

THESIS

By inviting visitors to see their own refl ections in the wall, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial creates a link between the present and the past.

EXERCISE 1–4 In each of the following pairs, which sentence might work well as a thesis for a short paper? What is the problem with the other one? Is it too factual? Too broad? Too vague? Use the problem/ strategy approach from pages 16–18 to evaluate each thesis.

More practice:

1. a. By networking with friends, a single parent can manage to strike a balance among work, school, a social life, and family.

b. Single parents face many challenges as they try to juggle all of their responsibilities.

2. a. At the Special Olympics, athletes with disabilities show that, with hard work and support from others, they can accomplish anything — that they can indeed be winners.

b. Working with the Special Olympics program is rewarding. 3. a. History 201, taught by Professor Brown, is off ered at 10:00 a.m.

on Tuesdays and Th ursdays. b. Whoever said that history is nothing but polishing tombstones

must have missed History 201, because in Professor Brown’s class history is vibrantly alive.

4. a. So far, research suggests that zero-emissions vehicles are not a sensible solution to the problem of steadily increasing air pollution.

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting > Writing practice: Revising a thesis > Exercises: 1–5 and 1–6

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b. Because air pollution is of serious concern to many people today, several US government agencies have implemented plans to begin solving the problem.

5. a. Anorexia nervosa is a dangerous and sometimes deadly eating disorder occurring mainly in young, upper-middle-class teens.

b. Th e eating disorder anorexia nervosa is rarely cured by one treatment alone; only by combining drug therapy with psycho- therapy and family therapy can the client begin the long jour- ney to wellness.

1d Draft a plan.

Once you have draft ed a working thesis, listing and organizing your supporting ideas can help you fl esh out the thesis. Creating outlines, whether informal or formal, can help you make sure your writing is focused and logical and can help you identify any gaps in your support.

When to use an informal outline

You might want to sketch an informal outline to see how you will support your thesis and to fi gure out a tentative structure for your ideas. Informal outlines can take many forms. Perhaps the most common is simply the thesis followed by a list of major ideas.

Working thesis: In the Hunger Games, the games help transform Katniss Everdeen’s love for her sister into the spark of revolution. • Pitting the districts against each other in the games helps the

Capitol maintain control by discouraging widespread revolt. • Before the games, Katniss and Gale think about leaving the

district in search of a better life for their families. Th ey don’t imagine ways of improving life within their district or across districts.

• Katniss volunteers for the games to save her sister, Prim, with whom Katniss shares a close bond.

• In the arena, Katniss acts like a big sister to Rue, who reminds her of Prim.

• By protecting Rue and mourning her death, Katniss begins to use the Capitol’s instrument of control — the games — to undermine the Capitol’s hold on the districts.

• More than a temporary alliance, the sister-like bond between Katniss and Rue gives Katniss, and the rest of Panem, an opportunity to imagine a world in which members of one district might fi ght for the well-being of those in another.

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1d Exploring, planning, and drafting20

If you began by jotting down a list of ideas, you can turn the list into a rough outline by crossing out some ideas, adding oth- ers, and putting the ideas in a logical order.

When to use a formal outline

Early in the writing process, rough outlines have certain advan- tages: Th ey can be produced quickly, they are obviously tenta- tive, and they can be revised easily. However, a formal outline may be useful later in the writing process, aft er you have written a rough draft , especially if your topic is complex. It can help you see whether the parts of your essay work together and whether your essay’s structure is logical.

Th e following formal outline brought order to the research paper that appears in 57b, on regulating healthy eating. Th e stu- dent’s thesis is an important part of the outline. Everything else in the outline supports it, directly or indirectly.

FORMAL OUTLINE

Thesis: In the name of public health and safety, state governments

have the responsibility to shape public health policies and to

regulate healthy eating choices, especially since doing so offers a

potentially large social benefit for a relatively small cost.

I. Debates surrounding food regulation have a long history in the

United States.

A. The 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act guarantees inspection of

meat and dairy products.

B. Such regulations are considered reasonable because

consumers are protected from harm with little cost.

C. Consumers consider reasonable regulations to be an

important government function to stop harmful items from

entering the marketplace.

II. Even though food meets safety standards, there is a need for

further regulation.

A. The typical American diet—processed sugars, fats, and

refined flours—is damaging over time.

B. Related health risks are diabetes, cancer, and heart problems.

C. Passing chronic-disease-related legislation is our single

most important public health challenge.

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III. Food legislation is not a popular solution for most Americans.

A. A proposed New York City regulation banning sale of soft

drinks greater than twelve ounces failed in 2012, and in

California, a proposed soda tax failed in 2011.

B. Many consumers find such laws to be unreasonable

restrictions on freedom of choice.

C. Opposition to food and beverage regulation is similar to

the opposition to early tobacco legislation; the public

views the issue as one of personal responsibility.

D. Counterpoint: Freedom of “choice” is a myth; our choices

are heavily influenced by marketing.

IV. The United States has a history of regulations to discourage

unhealthy behaviors.

A. Tobacco-related restrictions faced opposition.

B. Seat belt laws are a useful analogy.

C. The public seems to support laws that have a good cost-

benefit ratio; the cost of food/beverage regulations is low,

and most people agree that the benefits would be high.

V. Americans believe that personal choice is lost when regulations

such as taxes and bans are instituted.

A. Regulations open up the door to excessive control and

interfere with cultural and religious traditions.

B. Counterpoint: Burdens on individual liberty are a

reasonable price to pay for large social health benefits.

VI. Public opposition continues to stand in the way of food

regulation to promote healthier eating. We must consider

whether to allow the costly trend of rising chronic disease to

continue in the name of personal choice, or whether we are

willing to support the legal changes and public health policies

that will reverse that trend.

Planning with headings

When draft ing a research paper or a business document, consider using headings to guide your planning and to help your readers follow the organization of your fi nal draft . While draft ing, you

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1e Exploring, planning, and drafting22

can insert your working thesis, experiment with possible head- ings, and type chunks of text beneath each heading. You may need to try grouping your ideas in a few diff erent ways to suit your purpose and audience.

NOTE: Headings help writers plan and readers understand a doc- ument. See page 41 for help using headings and page 585 for a sample paper organized with headings.

1e Draft an introduction.

Th e introduction to a piece of writing announces the main point; the body develops it; and the conclusion drives it home. You can begin draft ing, however, at any point. If you fi nd it diffi cult to introduce a paper that you have not yet written, try draft ing the body fi rst and saving the introduction for later.

Your introduction will usually be a paragraph of 50 to 150 words (in a longer paper, it may be more than one paragraph). Perhaps the most common strategy is to open with a few sen- tences that engage, or hook, the reader and that establish your purpose for writing and your central idea, or thesis. In the fol- lowing introduction, the thesis is highlighted.

As the United States industrialized in the nineteenth century, using immigrant labor, social concerns took a backseat to the task of building a prosperous nation. Th e government did not regulate industries and did not provide an eff ective safety net for the poor or for those who became sick or injured on the job. Immigrants and the poor did have a few advocates, however. Settlement houses such as Hull-House in Chicago provided information, services, and a place for reform-minded individuals to gather and work to improve the conditions of the urban poor. Alice Hamilton was one of these reformers. Her work at Hull-House spanned twenty-two years and later expanded throughout the nation. Hamilton’s eff orts helped to improve the lives of immigrants and drew attention and respect to the problems and people that until then had been ignored.

— Laurie McDonough, student

Each sentence leading to your thesis should engage readers by drawing them into the world of the essay and showing them why your essay is worth reading.

Whether you are writing for a scholarly audience, a profes- sional audience, a public audience, or a general audience, you

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cannot assume your readers’ interest in the topic. Th e hook should spark readers’ curiosity and off er them a reason to continue.

Th e chart that follows provides strategies for draft ing an introduction.

NOTE: Diff erent writing situations call for diff erent introduc- tions. For more examples of eff ective introductions, see pages 88 (Yoshida), 112 (Jacobs), and 517 (Harba).

Strategies for drafting an introduction

Th e following strategies can provide a hook for your reader, whether you are composing a traditional essay or a multimodal work such as a slide show presentation or a video (see p. 80).

● Off er a startling statistic or an unusual fact ● Ask a question ● Introduce a quotation or a bit of dialogue ● Provide historical background ● Defi ne a term or concept ● Propose a problem, contradiction, or dilemma ● Use a vivid example or image ● Develop an analogy ● Relate an anecdote

As you draft your introduction, think about your writing situation, especially your genre. For some types of writing, it may be diffi cult or impossible to express the central idea in a thesis statement; or it may be unwise or unnecessary to put a thesis statement in the essay itself. A literacy narrative, for ex- ample, may have a focus too subtle to be distilled in a single sentence. Strictly informative writing, like that found in many business memos or nursing reports, may be diffi cult to summa- rize in a thesis. In such instances, do not try to force the central idea into a thesis statement. Instead, think in terms of an over- riding purpose and of the genre’s conventions and expectations. (See 1a and 1c.)

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting > Writing practice: Revising an introduction > Exercise: 1–7

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1f Exploring, planning, and drafting24

Academic English If you come from a culture that prefers an indirect approach in writing, you may feel that asserting a thesis early in an essay sounds unrefi ned and even rude. In the United States, however, readers appreciate a direct approach; when you state your point as directly as possible, you show that you understand your topic and value your readers’ time.

1f Draft the body.

Th e body of your essay develops support for your thesis, so it’s important to have at least a working thesis before you start writ- ing. What does your thesis promise readers? What question are you trying to answer? What problem are you trying to solve? What is your position on the topic? Keep these questions in mind as you draft the body of your essay.

Asking questions as you draft

You may already have written an introduction that includes your working thesis. If not, as long as you have a draft thesis, you can begin developing the body and return later to the introduction. If your thesis suggests a plan or if you have sketched a preliminary outline, try to organize your paragraphs accordingly.

Draft the body of your essay by writing at least one para- graph about each supporting point you listed in the planning stage. If you do not have a plan, pause for a few moments and sketch one. As you draft the body, keep asking questions; keep anticipating what your readers may need to know.

Keep in mind that oft en you might not know what you want to say until you have written a draft . It is possible to begin without a plan — assuming you are prepared to treat your fi rst attempt as a “dis- covery draft ” that may be radically rewritten once you discover what you really want to say. Whether or not you have a plan when you begin draft ing, you can oft en fi gure out a workable order for your ideas by stopping each time you start a new paragraph to think about what your readers will need to know to follow your train of thought.

For more detailed help with draft ing and developing para- graphs, see 3.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: As you draft , keep careful notes and records of any sources you read and consult (see 51). If you quote, paraphrase, or summarize a source, include a citation,

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1gDraft a conclusion

even in your draft . You will save time and avoid plagiarism if you follow the rules of citation while draft ing.

Adding visuals as you draft

As you draft , you may decide that some of the support for your thesis could come from one or more visuals. Visuals can con- vey information concisely and powerfully. Graphs and tables, for example, can simplify complex numerical information. Images — including photographs and diagrams — oft en express an idea more vividly than words can. Keep in mind that if you download a visual — or use published information to create your own visual — you must credit your source.

Always consider how a visual conveys your purpose and how your audience might respond to it. Choose visuals to support your writing, not to substitute for it. For an example of an eff ective use of a visual, see page 46. In writing about the shift from print to on- line news, student writer Sam Jacobs used a screen shot of a link embedded in a news article to illustrate his argument (see 6k).

Th e chart on pages 26–27 describes eight types of visuals and their purposes.

1g Draft a conclusion.

A conclusion should remind readers of the essay’s main idea without repeating it. Oft en the concluding paragraph can be rela- tively short. By the end of the essay, readers should already un- derstand your main point; your conclusion drives it home and, perhaps, gives readers something more to consider.

Strategies for drafting a conclusion

In addition to echoing your main idea, a conclusion might do any of the following:

● Briefl y summarize your essay’s key points ● Propose a course of action ● Off er a recommendation ● Discuss the topic’s wider signifi cance or implications ● Redefi ne a key term or concept ● Pose a question for future study

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1g Exploring, planning, and drafting26

Choosing visuals to suit your purpose

Pie chart

Pie charts compare a part or parts to the whole. Segments of the pie represent percentages of the whole (and always total 100 percent).

Bar graph (or line graph)

Bar graphs highlight trends over a period of time or compare numerical data. Line graphs display the same data as bar graphs; the data are graphed as points, and the points are connected with lines.

Infographic

An infographic presents data in a visually engaging form. Th e data are usually numerical, as in bar graphs or line graphs, but they are represented by a graphic element instead of by bars or lines.

Table

Tables display numbers and words in columns and rows. Th ey can be used to organize complicated numerical information into an easily understood format.

Health insurance coverage in the United States (2007)

Employer-insured 54%

Uninsured 15% Medicaid 13%

Medicare 12%

Individual 5%

Other public insurance 1%

THE PURSUIT OF PROPERTY Home ownership rates in the United States

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Just 8% of kids growing up in low-income communities graduate from college by age 24.

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1gChoose visuals

Photograph

Photographs vividly depict people, scenes, or objects discussed in a text.

Diagram

Diagrams, useful in scientifi c and technical writing, concisely illustrate processes, structures, or interactions.

Flowchart

Flowcharts show structures (the hierarchy of employees at a company, for example) or steps in a process and their relation to one another. (See also p. 145 for another example.)

Map

Maps illustrate distances, historical information, or demographics and oft en use symbols for geographic features and points of interest.

Affect a designated wilderness area?

Prevent fire, insects, or disease?

Not applicable

Permissible Follow wilderness guidelines

Proposed action

YES NO

Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images

NIAMS

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1g Exploring, planning, and drafting28

To conclude an essay analyzing the shift ing roles of women in the military services, one student discusses her topic’s implica- tions for society as a whole.

As the military continues to train women in jobs formerly reserved for men, our understanding of women’s roles in society will no doubt continue to change. And as news reports of women training for and taking part in combat operations become commonplace, reports of women becoming CEOs, police chiefs, and even president of the United States will cease to surprise us. Or perhaps we have already reached this point.

— Rosa Broderick, student

To make the conclusion memorable and to give a sense of completion, you might bring readers full circle by returning to the thesis or including a detail from the introduction. To con- clude his argument essay about the shift from print to online news, student writer Sam Jacobs returns to the phrase “fi t to print” from his introduction, and echoes his thesis to show the wider signifi cance of his argument. (See pp. 112–117.)

Th e Internet has enabled consumers to participate in a new way in reading, questioning, interpreting, and reporting the news. Decisions about appropriate content and coverage are no longer exclusively in the hands of news editors. Ordinary citizens now have a meaningful voice in the conversation — a hand in deciding what’s “fi t to print.” Some skeptics worry about the apparent free-for-all and loss of tradition. But the expanding defi nition of news provides opportunities for consumers to be more engaged with events in their communities, their nations, and the world.

To see more examples of eff ective conclusions, see pages 91 (Yoshida), 116 (Jacobs), and 523 (Harba).

Whatever concluding strategy you choose, keep in mind that an eff ective conclusion is decisive and unapologetic. Avoid intro- ducing completely new ideas at the end of an essay. And because the conclusion is so closely tied to the rest of the essay in both content and tone, be prepared to revise it or rewrite it as you re- vise your draft .

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting > Writing practice: Revising a conclusion

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Manage your fi les 29

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1h Manage your fi les.

Keeping track of all your notes, outlines, rough draft s, and fi nal draft s can be challenging. Be sure to give your fi les distinct names that refl ect the appropriate stage of your writing process, and store them in a logical place.

Writing online or in a word processing program can make draft ing and revising easier. You can undo changes or return to an earlier draft if a revision misfi res. Applying the following steps can help you explore draft ing and revising possibilities with little risk.

• Create folders and subfolders for each assignment. Save notes, outlines, and draft s together.

• Label revised draft s with diff erent fi le names and dates. • Print hard copies, make backup copies, and press the Save

button oft en (every fi ve to ten minutes). • Always record complete bibliographic information about

any sources you might use, including visuals. • Use a comment function to make notes to yourself or to

respond to the draft s of peers.

MANAGING FILES

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1 Exploring, planning, and drafting > Writing practice: Managing your fi les

My English 101 Portfolio Address

Name ▲ Essay 1 – Literacy narrative Essay 2 – Argument paper Essay 3 – Ad analysis Essay 4 – Research paper Navajo art

C:My English 101 Portfolio

Address

Name ▲ Ad analysis draft 10.13.15 Ad analysis FINAL 10.28.15 Ad analysis peer response 10.18.15 Ad analysis revised 10.20.15

C:My English 101 PortfolioEssay 3 – Ad analysis

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2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting Revising is rarely a one-step process. Global matters — thesis, purpose, organization, content, and overall strategy — generally receive atten- tion fi rst because global revisions involve bigger changes, including rewrites of paragraphs or whole sections of a paper. Improvements in sentence structure and word choice usually come later; it’s a good idea to make sure global revisions are complete before you spend time fi ne-tuning sentences. Revising at the sentence level gives you a chance to reconsider whether a particular point could be stronger or clearer or if a certain word or phrase sends the message you intended.

Editing is a step that is best left for the end of the writing process. It involves identifying errors or patterns of errors, such as using commas and quotation marks correctly, making subjects and verbs agree, or using the right form of a pronoun. See 2b for advice on keeping an editing log.

Writing multiple draft s allows you to write in stages, seek feed- back, and strengthen your paper through both revising and editing.

2a See revision as a social process.

To revise is to re-see, and the comments you receive from reviewers — instructors, peers, and writing center tutors — will help you re-see your draft from your readers’ point of view. When you ask readers for their comments, revision becomes a social experience, connect- ing you with the suggestions and insights of readers who help you shape your work in progress. As you write for college courses, form a community of readers around you and seek their feedback.

Feedback gives you perspective on what’s working and not working in your draft and keeps the expectations of your readers in mind. Simple questions such as “What would you say is my main idea?” and “Is my draft focused and organized?” will help you see your draft through readers’ eyes. Th e checklist for global revision on page 42 may help you and your reviewers get started.

2b Use peer review: Revise with comments.

Peer review gives you an opportunity to see your draft through the eyes of readers. When peers — classmates and fellow students — read your work, they off er feedback, pointing out where they are intrigued

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312bRevise with comments

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or confused. Th ey off er their insights and suggestions, answer your questions, and help you strengthen your draft . Th ink of peer review as an opportunity to talk about your writing with a coach, an advo- cate, who will help you achieve your purpose for writing.

Th e following guidelines will help you learn from your re- viewers’ comments and revise successfully. Be active. Help reviewers understand your purpose for writing and provide background about why you chose your topic, why it matters to you, and what you hope to accomplish in your draft . Let your reviewers know your specifi c questions and concerns so they can provide focused feedback. Listen with an open mind. Aft er you’ve worked hard on a draft , you might be surprised to hear reviewers tell you it still needs more devel- opment. Don’t take criticism personally. Your readers are respond- ing to your essay, not you. If comments show that a reviewer doesn’t understand what you’re trying to do, don’t be defensive. Instead, con- sider why your reader is confused, and fi gure out how to clarify your point. Responding to readers’ objections — instead of dismissing them — may strengthen your ideas and make your essay more per- suasive. Taking feedback seriously will make you a stronger writer. Weigh feedback carefully. As you begin revising, you may fi nd yourself sorting through suggestions from many people, includ- ing instructors, writing tutors, and peer reviewers. Sometimes these readers will agree, but oft en their advice will diff er. Your reviewers will probably make more suggestions than you can use, so be strategic. It’s important to sort through all the comments you receive with your original goals in mind and to focus on global concerns fi rst (see p. 42) — otherwise, you’ll be facing the impossible task of trying to incorporate everyone’s advice. Keep a revision and editing log. Make a clear and simple list of the global and sentence-level concerns that keep coming up in most of your reviewers’ comments. Th at list can serve as a starting point each time you revise a paper to help you learn about your strengths and weaknesses as a writer. When you take charge of your own writing in this way, comments will become a valuable resource. NOTE: Some instructors suggest that writers acknowledge their reviewers in a brief note at the end of their fi nished paper.

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2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting > Writing practice: Using reviewers’ comments > Exercises: 2–1 and 2–2

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Strategies for revising with comments Often the comments you’ll receive are written as shorthand com- mands — “Be specifi c!” — and sometimes as questions — “What is your main point?” Such comments don’t immediately show you how to revise, but they do identify where revision might improve your draft. Don’t hesi- tate to ask your reviewers to explain their comments if you don’t under- stand them. The following sample comments and revision strategies will help you think about how to apply reviewer feedback to your own writing — and where you might look in Rules for Writers for help.

THE COMMENT: Unfocused introduction Understanding the comment When readers point out that your intro- duction needs to be “focused,” the comment often signals that the be- ginning sentences of your essay are vague, unconnected to the rest of your essay, and don’t establish your purpose for writing.

Strategies for revising

● Reread your introduction and ask questions. Are the sentences lead- ing to your thesis specifi c enough to engage readers and communi- cate your purpose? Do these sentences lead logically to your thesis? Do they spark your readers’ curiosity and offer them a reason to continue reading? (See 1e.)

● Try engaging readers with a “hook” in your introduction — a question, a quotation, a vivid example, or a startling statistic. (See the chart on p. 23.)

THE COMMENT: Consider opposing viewpoints Understanding the comment When readers suggest that you “con- sider opposing viewpoints,” the comment often signals that you need to recognize and respond to possible objections to your argument.

Strategies for revising

● Read more to learn about the debates surrounding the topic. Under- stand the various sides of your issue so you can anticipate and coun- ter objections to your argument. (See 50a and 50b.)

● Be open-minded. Although it might seem illogical to introduce oppos- ing arguments, you’ll show your knowledge of the topic by recognizing that not everyone draws the same conclusions or holds the same point of view. (See 6i and p. 438.)

● Introduce and counter objections with phrases like these: “Some readers might point out that . . .” or “Critics of this view argue that. . . .” (See p. 110.)

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332cGive constructive comments

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2c Use peer review: Give constructive comments.

Peer review gives you an opportunity to read the work of your classmates and to learn from each other. As you off er advice about how to strengthen a peer’s thesis or how to use a visual to convey concise information, you are thinking about the purpose of a thesis and the role of visuals. When you propose a strategy for focusing an introduction or for anticipating a counterargu- ment, you not only help your classmate, but you also benefi t from the process of thinking strategically about revision.

As a peer reviewer, your work is to engage with a writer as a reader. It isn’t your job to rewrite, correct, or proofread the work of your peers. It is your job, though, to off er thoughtful, positive, encouraging comments to show peers what they’re doing well and how they might build upon their strengths as writers.

Th e following guidelines will help you off er constructive comments to your peers.

Be specifi c. Your comments will be more constructive if you point to specifi c places in a draft and show your classmate how, why, and where a draft is eff ective or confusing. Instead of say- ing “I like your draft ,” be specifi c about what you like: “You do a great job of using a startling statistic in your introduction to hook me as a reader.” Or instead of off ering a generality such as “Your draft doesn’t have much support,” give a specifi c suggestion: “A bar graph in the third paragraph might support your thesis and be convincing visual evidence.”

View yourself as a coach, not a judge. Th ink of yourself as asking questions and proposing possibilities, not dictating solutions. It is the writer, aft er all, who will have to grapple with revising. Help the writer identify the strengths of a draft and conceive possible solutions to address the draft ’s problems. Try phrasing comments this way: “Have you thought about . . .” “What if you tried . . .” or “How can you help a reader understand this important point. . . .”

Pay attention to global issues fi rst. Focus on the big picture — purpose, thesis, organization, and content — before sentence structure, word choice, and grammar. As a reader, do you understand the writer’s main idea? Can you follow the train of thought? Restate the writer’s thesis and main ideas to check your

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2c34 Revising

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understanding. Use the checklist for global revision (p. 42) to guide your comments.

Th e following excerpt from an online peer review session shows a peer reviewer off ering constructive comments:

EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE PEER REVIEW SESSION

Juan (Peer Reviewer): Rachel, your essay makes a great point that credit card companies often hook students on a cycle of spending. But it sounds as if you’re blaming students for their spending habits and credit card companies for their deceptive actions. Is this what you want to say?

Rachel (Writer): No, I want to keep the focus on the credit card companies. I didn’t realize I was blaming students. What could I change?

Juan (Reviewer): In paragraphs three and four, you group all students together as if all students have the same bad spending habits. If students are your audience, you’ll be insulting them. What reader is motivated to read something that’s alienating? What is your purpose for writing this draft?

Rachel (Writer): Well . . . It’s true that students don’t always have good spending habits, but I don’t want to blame students. My purpose is to call students to action about the dangers of credit card debt. Any suggestions for narrowing the focus?

Juan (Reviewer): Most students know about the dangers of credit card debt, but they might not know about specifi c deceptive practices companies use to lure them. Maybe ask yourself what would surprise your audience about these practices?

Rachel (Writer): Juan, that’s a good idea. I’ll try it.

Peer reviewer restates writer’s main point and asks a question to help her clarify her ideas.

Writer takes comment seriously and asks reviewer for specifi c suggestion.

Peer reviewer points to specifi c places in the draft and asks questions to help writer focus on audience and purpose.

Writer is actively engaged with peer reviewer’s comments and doesn’t take criticism personally.

Peer reviewer responds as a reader and acts as a coach to suggest possible solutions.

Writer thanks reviewer for his help and leaves session with a specifi c revision strategy.|

POST COMMENT

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Rough Draft

My family used to live in the heart of Hanoi,

Vietnam. The neighborhood was small but swamped

with crime. Drug addicts scoured the alleys and

stole the most mundane things—old clothes, worn

slippers, even license plates of motorbikes. Like

anyone else in Vietnam in the ’90s, we struggled

with poverty. There was no entertainment device

in our house aside from an 11” black-and-white

television. Even then, electricity went off for hours

on a weekly basis.

I was particularly close to a Vietnam War

veteran. My parents were away a lot, so the old man

became like a grandfather to me. He taught me how

to ride a bicycle, how to read, how to take care of

352dPeer review process

rev

2d Highlights of one student’s peer review process.

Student writer Michelle Nguyen wrote a draft in response to the following assignment:

How have your experiences with writing, positive or negative, shaped you as a writer? Write a literacy narrative (500–1,000 words) to explore this question. Select one or more key experiences that you think best illustrate how you became the writer you are today. In addition to telling a story, your narrative should make a larger point about learning to write that will be of interest to your readers.

Below is the draft Nguyen submitted to her three peer re- viewers. Here are questions she gave her peer reviewers to focus their feedback.

QUESTIONS FROM NGUYEN TO PEER REVIEWERS

Alex, Brian, and Sameera: Th anks for reading my draft . Here are three questions I have about my draft : Is my focus clear? Is there anything that confuses you? What specifi cally should I cut or add to strengthen my draft ?

ROUGH DRAFT WITH PEER COMMENTS

Alex F: You might want to add a title to focus readers.

Sameera K: I really like your introduction. It’s so vivid. Think about adding a photo of your neighborhood so readers can relate. What does Hanoi look like?

Brian S: You have great details here to set the scene in Hanoi, but why does it matter that you didn’t have an “entertainment device”? Maybe choose the most interesting among all these details.

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small pets. He worked sporadically from home, fixing

bicycle tires and broken pedals. He was a wrinkly

old man who didn’t talk much. His vocal cords were

damaged during the war, and it caused him pain to

speak. In a neighborhood full of screaming babies

and angry shop owners and slimy criminals, his

home was my quiet haven. I could read and write

and think and bond with someone whose worldliness

came from his wordlessness.

The tiny house he lived in stood at the far

end of our neighborhood. It always smelled of old

clothes and forgotten memories. He was a slight

man, but his piercing black eyes retained their

intensity even after all these years. He must have

made one fierce soldier.

“I almost died once,” he said, dusting a picture

frame. It was one of those rare instances he ever

mentioned his life during the war. As he talked, I

perched myself on the side of an armchair, rested my

head on my tiny hands, and listened intently. I didn’t

understand much. I just liked hearing his low, humming

voice. The concept of war for me was strictly confined

to the classroom, and even then, the details of combat

were always murky. The teachers just needed us to know

that the communist troops enjoyed a glorious victory.

“I was the only survivor of my unit. 20 guys. All

dead within a year. Then they let me go,” he said.

His voice cracked a little and his eyes misted over as

he stared at pictures from his combatant past. “We

didn’t even live long enough to understand what we

were fighting for.”

He finished the sentence with a drawn-out sigh, a

small set of wrinkles gathering at the end of his eyes.

2d36 Revising

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Brian S: Worldliness came from wordlessness — great phrase! Is this part of your main idea? What is your main idea?

Sameera K: You do a good job of showing us why this Vietnam veteran was important to you, but it seems like this draft is more a story about the man and not about you. What do you want readers to understand about you?

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Years later, as I thought about his stories, I started to

wonder why he referred to his deceased comrades by

the collective pronoun “we.” It was as if a little bit of

him died on the battlefield with them too.

Three years after my family left the

neighborhood, I learned that the old man became

stricken with cancer. When I came home the next

summer, I visited his house and sat by his sickbed.

His shoulder-length mop of salt and pepper hair now

dwarfed his rail-thin figure. We barely exchanged a

word. He just held my hands tightly until my mother

called for me to leave, his skeletal fingers leaving

a mark on my pale palms. Perhaps he was trying

to transmit to me some of his worldliness and his

wisdom. Perhaps he was telling me to go out into

the world and live the free life he never had.

Some people say that writers are selfish and

vain. The truth is, I learned to write because it gave me

peace in the much too noisy world of my Vietnamese

childhood. In the quiet of the old man’s house, I gazed

out the window, listened to my thoughts, and wrote

them down. It all started with a story about a wrinkly

Vietnam War veteran who didn’t talk much.

372dPeer review process

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Sameera K: I’m curious to hear more about you and why this man was so important to you. What did he teach you about writing? What did he see in you?

Alex F: This sentence is confusing. Your draft doesn’t seem to be about the selfi shness or vanity of writers.

Brian S: What does “it” refer to? I think you’re trying to say something important about silence and noise and literacy, but I’m not sure what it is.

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2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting > Sample student writing: Nguyen, Rough Draft (literacy narrative; peer-reviewed)

Aft er reading her draft and considering the feedback from her classmates, Nguyen realized that she had chosen a good di- rection but that she hadn’t focused her draft to meet the expec- tations of the assignment. Her classmates off ered her valuable suggestions about adding a photograph of her Hanoi neighbor- hood and clarifying her main idea. With her classmates’ specifi c questions and suggestions in mind, and their encouragement to

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2e38 Revising

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see the undeveloped possibilities in her draft , Nguyen developed some goals for revising.

MICHELLE NGUYEN’S REVISION GOALS

• Add a title. • Revise introduction to set the scene more dramatically. Use

Sameera’s idea to include a photo of my neighborhood. • Make the story my story, not the man’s story. Answer Sameera’s

question: What did the man see in me and I in him? Delete extra material about the old man.

• Answer Brian’s question: What is my main idea? • Follow Brian’s suggestion about the connection between

wordlessness and worldliness. Make the contrasts sharper between the neighborhood and the man’s house.

• Figure out what main idea I’m trying to communicate. See if there is a possible idea in the various contrasts. Th e surprise was fi nding writing in silence, not in the noisy exchange of voices in my neighborhood.

See page 45 for Nguyen’s revised draft .

2e Approach global revision in cycles.

Revision is more eff ective when you approach it in cycles, rather than attempting to change everything all at once. Four common cycles of global revision are discussed in this section:

• Engaging the audience • Sharpening the focus • Improving the organization • Strengthening the content

Engaging the audience

Sometimes a rough draft needs an overhaul because it is directed at no particular audience. A good question to ask yourself and your reviewers is the toughest question a reader might ask: “So what?” or “Why does it matter?” If your draft can’t pass the “So what?” test, you may need to rethink your approach.

Once you have made sure that your draft is directed at an audience — readers who have a stake in the topic — you may

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392eApproach global revision in cycles

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still need to refi ne your tone. Th e tone of a piece of writing ex- presses the writer’s feelings toward the audience and the topic, so it is important to get it right. When you seek responses to your draft , ask your readers about your tone. If they respond that your tone seems self-centered, fl ippant, bossy, patronizing, or hostile, for example, you’ll want to modify it to show respect for your readers.

Th e following paragraph was draft ed by a student who hoped to persuade his audience to buy organic produce.

A PARAGRAPH THAT ALIENATES READERS

If you choose to buy organic produce, you are supporting local farmers as well as demonstrating your opposition to chemical pesticides. As more and more supermarkets carry organic fruits and vegetables, consumers have fewer reasons not to buy organic. Some consumers do not buy organic produce because they are not willing to spend the extra money. But if you care at all about the environment or the small farmer, you should be willing to support organic farms in your area.

When the student asked a classmate to review his draft , his class- mate commented that the tone was harsh and alienating. His peer reviewer questioned why he assumed his readers didn’t care about the environment.

A PARAGRAPH THAT RESPECTS READERS

By choosing to buy organic produce, you have the opportunity to support local farmers, to oppose the use of chemical pesticides, and to taste some of the freshest produce available. Because more supermarkets carry organic produce than ever, you won’t even have to miss out on any of your favorite fruits or vegetables. Although organic produce can be more expensive than conventional produce, the costs are not prohibitive. For example, a pound of organic bananas at my local grocery store is eighty-nine cents, while the conventional bananas are sixty-nine cents a pound. If you can aff ord this small price diff erence, you will have the opportunity to make a diff erence for the environment and for the small farmer. — Leon Nage, student

Sharpening the focus

A clearly focused draft fi xes readers’ attention on one central idea and does not stray from that idea. You can sharpen the focus of a draft by clarifying the introduction (especially the thesis) and by deleting any text that is off point.

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2e40 Revising

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Clarifying the introduction Reread your introduction to see if it clearly states the essay’s main idea. To help you revise, ask your reviewers questions such as the following:

• Does the introduction let readers know what to expect as they read on?

• Does it make the signifi cance of the subject clear so that readers will want to keep reading?

• Can readers tell where the introduction stops and the body of the essay begins? Have you included material in the introduction that should appear in the body instead? Is your introduction too broad or unfocused?

• Does the thesis accurately state the main idea of the essay?

Deleting text that is off the point Compare the introduction, especially the thesis statement, with the body of the essay. Does the body fulfi ll the promise of the introduction? If not, you will need to adjust one or the other. Either rebuild the introduction to fi t the body or keep the introduction and delete body sentences or paragraphs that stray from its point.

Improving the organization

A draft is well organized when its major divisions are logical and easy to follow. To improve the organization of your draft , you may need to take one or more of the following actions: adding or sharp- ening topic sentences, moving blocks of text, and inserting headings.

Adding or sharpening topic sentences Topic sentences state the main ideas of the paragraphs in the body of an essay. (See 3a.) You can review the organization of a draft by reading only the topic sentences. Do the topic sentences clearly support the essay’s main idea? Can you turn them into a reasonable sentence outline of the paper? (See 1d.) If your draft lacks topic sentences, add them unless you have a good reason for omitting them.

Moving blocks of text Improving the organization of a draft can be as simple as moving a few sentences from one paragraph to another or reordering paragraphs. You may also fi nd that you can clarify the organization of a draft by combining choppy para- graphs or by dividing those that are too long for easy reading. (See 3e.) Oft en, however, the process is more complex. As you move blocks of text, you may need to supply transitions to make the text fi t smoothly in the new positions; you may also need to rework topic sentences to make your new organization clear.

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412eApproach global revision in cycles

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Before moving text, consider sketching a revised outline. Divisions in the outline might become topic sentences in the re- structured essay. (See 3e.)

Inserting headings In long documents, such as complex research papers or business reports, headings can help readers follow your organization. Typically, headings are presented as phrases, declar- ative or imperative sentences, or questions. To draw attention to headings, you can center them, put them in boldface, underline them, use all capital letters, or do some combination of these techniques. (See also 58b for use of headings in APA papers.)

Strengthening the content

In reviewing the content of a draft , fi rst consider whether your ar- gument is sound. Second, consider whether you should add or de- lete any text (sentences or paragraphs). If your purpose is to argue a point, consider how persuasively you have supported your point. If your purpose is to inform, be sure that you have presented your ideas clearly and with enough detail to meet your readers’ expectations.

Rethinking your argument A fi rst draft presents you with an opportunity to rethink your argument. You can oft en develop your ideas about a subject by asking yourself some questions:

• Is your claim more sweeping than the evidence supports? • Have you left out an important step in the argument? • Have you dealt fairly with opposing arguments? • Is your draft free of faulty reasoning? (See 6a.)

Adding text If any paragraphs or sections of the essay are too skimpy to be clear and convincing (a common problem in rough draft s), add specifi c facts, details, and examples. You may need to go back to the beginning of the writing process: listing specifi cs, brainstorming ideas with friends or classmates, perhaps doing more research. As you revise paragraphs, it’s helpful to ask questions such as Why? and How?

Deleting text Look for sentences and paragraphs that can be cut without serious loss of meaning. Ask your reviewers if they can show you sentences where you have repeated yourself or strayed from your point. Maybe you have given too much emphasis to minor ideas. Cuts may also be necessitated by word limits, such as those imposed by a college assignment or by the realities of the business world, where readers are oft en pressed for time.

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Checklist for global revision

Purpose and audience

● Does the draft address a question, a problem, or an issue that readers care about?

● Is the draft appropriate for its audience? Does it account for the audience’s knowledge of and possible attitudes toward the subject?

● Is the tone respectful?

Focus

● Is the thesis clear? Is it prominently placed? ● Does the thesis answer a reader’s “So what?” question?

(See p. 16.) ● If the draft has no thesis, is there a good reason for omitting one?

Organization and paragraphing

● Is each paragraph unifi ed around a main point? ● Does each paragraph support and develop the thesis? ● Have you provided organizational cues for readers such as topic

sentences and headings? ● Have you presented ideas in a logical order? ● Are any paragraphs too long or too short for easy reading?

Content

● Is the supporting material relevant and persuasive? ● Which ideas need further development? Have you left your read-

ers with any unanswered questions? ● Are the parts proportioned sensibly? Do major ideas receive

enough attention? ● Should you delete any material? Look for redundant or irrelevant

information.

Point of view

● Is the dominant point of view — fi rst person (I or we), second person (you), or third person (he, she, it, one, or they) — appropriate for your purpose and audience? (See 1a.)

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432fRevise and edit sentences

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2f Revise and edit sentences.

When you revise sentences, you focus on clarity and eff ective- ness; when you edit, you check for correctness. Sentences that are wordy, vague, or rambling may distract readers and make it hard for readers to focus on your purpose or grasp your ideas. Read each sentence slowly to determine if it is as specifi c and clear as possible. You might fi nd it helpful to read your work aloud and trust your ears to detect awkwardness, wordiness, or a jarring rep- etition. Your goal, as you revise your sentences, is to make each word count to keep the attention and interest of your readers.

Here, for example, is a rough-draft paragraph as one student made changes to solve a variety of sentence-level problems.

Although some cities have found creative ways to improve access

to public transportation for passengers with physical disabilities, and to

fund other programs, there have been problems in our city has struggled

with due to the need to address budget constraints and competing needs

priorities. This The budget crunch has led citizens to question how

funds are distributed.? For example, last year when city officials voted

to use available funds to support had to choose between allocating

funds for accessible transportation or allocating funds to after-school

programs rather than transportation upgrades., they voted for the after

school programs. It is not clear to some citizens why these after-school

programs are more important.

Th e original paragraph was too wordy, a problem that can be addressed through any number of revisions to clarify the meaning of each sentence. Th e following revision would also be acceptable.

Some cities have funded improved access to public transportation for passengers with physical disabilities. Because of budget constraints, our city chose to fund aft er-school programs rather than transportation programs. As a result, citizens have begun to question how funds are distributed and why certain programs are more important than others.

Some of the improvements in the fi rst revision do not in- volve choice and must be edited to avoid confusion and misun- derstanding. For example, the hyphen in aft er-school programs is necessary; a noun must be substituted for the pronoun these in

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2g44 Revising

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the last sentence; and the question mark in the second sentence must be changed to a period.

NOTE: You can use an editing log to keep a personal list of your common errors and learn the rules to correct the errors. To begin your log, review all the grammar, punctuation, and spelling er- rors identifi ed in your last piece of writing. For each error, list the handbook section that provides advice or examples for you to review as you edit.

2g Proofread the fi nal manuscript.

Proofreading is a special kind of reading: a slow and methodi- cal search for misspellings, typographical mistakes, and omit- ted words or word endings. Such errors can be diffi cult to spot in your own work because you may read what you intended to write, not what is actually on the page.

Although proofreading may be slow, it is crucial. Errors in an essay can be distracting and annoying. If the writer doesn’t care about this piece of writing, the reader might wonder, why should I? A carefully proofread essay, however, sends a positive message: It shows that you value your writing and respect your readers.

As you proofread, pay attention to formatting your fi nal draft and follow your instructor’s directions for formatting docu- ments. (See the document design gallery [pp. 597–607] for for- matting guidelines for MLA and APA.)

Proofreading tips

● Remove distractions and allow yourself ten to fi ft een minutes of pure concentration; turn off the TV and your cell phone and fi nd a quiet place, away from people who are talking.

● Proofread out loud, articulating each word as it is actually written.

● Proofread your sentences in reverse order. ● Proofread hard copy pages; mistakes can be diffi cult to catch

on-screen. ● Don’t rely too heavily on spell checkers and grammar checkers.

Before automatically accepting their changes, consider their accuracy and appropriateness.

● Ask a volunteer (a friend, roommate, or co-worker) to proofread aft er you. A second reader may catch something you didn’t.

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Sample student revision 452h

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2h Sample student revision

On pages 35–37, you’ll fi nd Michelle Nguyen’s fi rst draft , along with the highlights of her peer review process. Comments from her peer reviewers helped Nguyen see her draft through her readers’ eyes and to develop a revision plan (see p. 38). One reviewer asked: “What is your main idea?” Another reviewer asked: “What do you want readers to understand about you?” As she revised, Nguyen made both global revisions and sentence-level revisions to clarify her main idea and to delete extra material that might distract read- ers from her story. Here is Nguyen’s fi nal draft , “A Place to Begin.”

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2 Revising, editing, and refl ecting > Sample student writing: Nguyen, “A Place to Begin” (literacy narrative)

Nguyen 1

Michelle Nguyen

Professor Wilson

English 101

22 September 2014

A Place to Begin

I grew up in the heart of Hanoi, Vietnam—Nhà Dầu—a

small but busy neighborhood swamped with crime. Houses,

wedged in among cafés and other local businesses (see fig. 1),

measured uniformly about 200 square feet, and the walls were

so thin that we could hear every heated debate and impassioned

disagreement. Drug addicts scoured the vicinity and stole the

most mundane things—old clothes, worn slippers, even license

plates of motorbikes. It was a neighborhood where dogs howled

and kids ran amok and where the earth was always moist and

marked with stains. It was the 1990s Vietnam in miniature, with

all the turmoil and growing pains of a newly reborn nation.

In a city perpetually inundated with screaming

children and slimy criminals, I found my place in the home

Nguyen formats her fi nal draft using MLA guidelines.

Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.

Nguyen revises her introduction to engage readers with vivid details.

Sentences revised for clarity and specifi city.

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2h46 Revising

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Nguyen 2

of a Vietnam War veteran. My parents were away a lot, so

the old man became like a grandfather to me. He was a

slight man who didn’t talk much. His vocal cords had been

damaged during the war, and it caused him pain to speak.

In his quiet home, I could read and write in the presence

of someone whose worldliness grew from his wordlessness.

His tiny house stood at the far end of our

neighborhood and always smelled of old clothes and

forgotten memories. His wall was plastered with pictures

from his combatant past, pictures that told his life story

when his own voice couldn’t. “I almost died once,” he said,

dusting a picture frame. It was one of those rare instances

he ever mentioned his life during the war.

I perched myself on the side of the armchair, rested

my head on my tiny hands, and listened intently. I didn’t

understand much. I just liked hearing his low, raspy voice.

“I was the only survivor of my unit. Twenty guys. All

dead within a year. Then they let me go.”

Nguyen’s revisions clarify her main idea.

Nguyen develops her narrative with dialogue.

As her peer reviewers suggested, Nguyen adds a photograph to help readers visualize Hanoi.

Fig. 1 Nhà Dầu neighborhood in Hanoi (personal photograph

by author)

Nguyen focuses on one key story in response to reviewers’ questions.

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Sample student revision 472h

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Nguyen 3

He finished the sentence with a drawn-out sigh, a

small set of wrinkles gathering at the corner of his eye.

I wanted to hear the details of that story yet was too

afraid to ask. But the bits and pieces I did hear, I wrote

down in a notebook. I wanted to make sure that there were

not only photos but also written words to bear witness to

the old veteran’s existence.

Once, I caught him looking at the jumbled mess of

sentences I’d written. I ran to the table and snatched my

notebook, my cheeks warmed with a bright tinge of pink. I

was embarrassed. But mostly, I was terrified that he’d hate

me for stealing his life story and turning it into a collection

of words and characters and ambivalent feelings.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, my gaze drilling a hole into

the tiled floor.

Quietly, he peeled the notebook from my fingers and

placed it back on the table.

In his muted way, with his mouth barely twisted in a

smile, he seemed to be granting me permission and encouraging

me to keep writing. Maybe he saw a storyteller and a writer in

me, a little girl with a pencil and too much free time.

The last time I visited Nhà Dầu was for the veteran’s

funeral two years ago. It was a cold November afternoon, but

the weather didn’t dampen the usual tumultuous spirit of the

neighborhood. I could hear the jumble of shouting voices and

howling dogs, yet it didn’t bother me. For a minute I closed

my eyes, remembering myself as a little girl with a big pencil,

gazing out a window and scribbling words in my first notebook.

Many people think that words emerge from words and

from the exchange of voices. Perhaps this is true. But the

surprising paradox of writing for me is that I started to

Nguyen revises to keep the focus on her story and not the old man’s, as her peer reviewers suggested.

Nguyen revises her fi nal two paragraphs, circling back to the scene from the introduction, giving the narrative coherence.

Nguyen revises fi nal paragraph to show readers the signifi cance of her narrative.

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2i48 Revising

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2i Prepare a portfolio; refl ect on your writing.

At the end of the semester, your instructor may ask you to sub- mit a portfolio, or collection, of your writing. A writing portfolio oft en consists of draft s, revisions, and refl ections that demon- strate a writer’s thinking and learning processes or that showcase the writer’s best work. Your instructor may give you the choice of submitting your portfolio on paper or electronically.

As early in the course as possible, be sure you know the an- swers to the following questions:

• Should the portfolio be a paper collection or an electronic one? Is it your choice?

• Will the portfolio be checked or assessed before the end of the term? If so, when or how oft en? By whom?

• Are you free to choose any or all of the pieces to include? • Are you free to include a variety of items (not just rough

and fi nal draft s of papers), such as outlines and notes, journal entries, photographs or other visuals, comments from reviewers, sound fi les, or video clips?

• Will your instructor be the primary or only audience for the portfolio? Or will the portfolio be shared with peers or with other instructors?

TIP: Save your notes, draft s, and reviewers’ comments for possible use in your portfolio. Th e more you have assembled, the more you have to choose from to represent your best work. Keep your documents organized in a paper or electronic fi le system for easy access. (See 1h.)

Nguyen 4

write in the presence of silence. It was only in the utter

stillness of a Vietnam War veteran’s house that I could

hear my thoughts for the first time, appreciate language,

and find the confidence to put words on a page. With one

notebook and a pencil, and with the encouragement of a

wordless man to tell his story, I began to write. Sometimes

that’s all a writer needs, a quiet place to begin.

Following a peer reviewer’s advice, Nguyen chooses words from her fi nal sentence for her title.

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Focus on a main point 493a

para

Refl ection — the process of stepping back periodically to ex- amine your decisions, preferences, strengths, and challenges as a writer — helps you recognize your growth as a writer and is the backbone of portfolio keeping.

When you submit your portfolio for a fi nal evaluation or read- ing, you may be asked to include a refl ective opening statement — a cover letter, an introduction, a preface, a memo, or an essay.

Refl ective writing allows you to do the following:

• show that you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your writing

• comment on the progress you’ve made in the course • understand your own writing process • demonstrate that you’ve made good writing decisions • comment on how you might use skills developed in or

experiences from your writing course in other courses where writing is assigned

Check with your instructor about the guidelines for your re- fl ective opening statement.

3 Building effective paragraphs A paragraph is a group of sentences that focuses on one main point or example. Except for special-purpose paragraphs, such as introductions and conclusions (see 1e and 1g), body paragraphs function to develop and support an essay’s main point or thesis. Aim for paragraphs that are well developed, organized, coherent, and neither too long nor too short for easy reading. Note that there is no ideal length for a paragraph, but your instructor may have specifi c guidelines.

3a Focus on a main point.

A paragraph should be unifi ed around a main point. Th e point should be clear to readers, and all sentences in the paragraph should relate to it.

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3a50 Effective paragraphs

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Stating the main point in a topic sentence

As readers move into a paragraph, they need to know where they are — in relation to the whole essay — and what to expect in the sentences to come. A good topic sentence, a one-sentence sum- mary of the paragraph’s main point, acts as a signpost pointing in two directions: backward toward the thesis of the essay and forward toward the body of the paragraph.

Like a thesis statement (see 1c), a topic sentence is more gen- eral than the material supporting it. Usually the topic sentence (highlighted in the following example) comes fi rst in the paragraph.

All living creatures manage some form of communication. Th e dance patterns of bees in their hive help to point the way to distant fl ower fi elds or announce successful foraging. Male stickleback fi sh regularly swim upside-down to indicate outrage in a courtship contest. Male deer and lemurs mark territorial ownership by rubbing their own body secretions on boundary stones or trees. Everyone has seen a frightened dog put his tail between his legs and run in panic. We, too, use gestures, expressions, postures, and movement to give our words point.

— Olivia Vlahos, Human Beginnings

In college writing, topic sentences are oft en necessary for ad- vancing or clarifying lines of an argument and introducing evi- dence from a source. In the following paragraph on the eff ects of the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the writer uses a topic sentence (highlighted) to state that the extent of the threat is un- known before quoting three sources that illustrate her point.

To date, the full ramifi cations [of the oil spill] remain a question mark. An August report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated that 75 percent of the oil had “either evaporated or been burned, skimmed, recovered from the wellhead, or dispersed.” However, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers reported that a 1.2-mile-wide, 650-foot- high plume caused by the spill “had and will persist for some time.” And University of Georgia scientists concluded that almost 80 percent of the released oil hadn’t been recovered and “remains a threat to the ecosystem.”

— Michele Berger, “Volunteer Army”

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3 Building effective paragraphs > Writing practice: Creating unity > LearningCurve: Topics and main ideas > LearningCurve: Topic sentences and supporting details

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Focus on a main point 513a

para

Occasionally the topic sentence may be withheld until the end of the paragraph — but only if the earlier sentences hang together so well that readers perceive their direction, if not their exact point.

Sticking to the point

Sentences that do not support the topic sentence destroy the unity of a paragraph. If the paragraph is otherwise focused, such sentences can simply be deleted or perhaps moved elsewhere. In the following paragraph describing the inadequate facilities in a high school, the information about the chemistry instructor (highlighted) is clearly off the point.

As the result of tax cuts, the educational facilities of Lincoln High School have reached an all-time low. Some of the books date back to 1990 and have long since shed their covers. Th e few computers in working order must share one printer. Th e lack of lab equipment makes it necessary for four or fi ve students to work at one table, with most watching rather than performing experiments. Also, the chemistry instructor left to have a baby at the beginning of the semester, and most of the students don’t like the substitute. As for the furniture, many of the upright chairs have become recliners, and the desk legs are so unbalanced that they play seesaw on the fl oor.

EXERCISE 3–1 Underline the topic sentence in the following para- graph and cross out any material that does not clarify or develop the central idea. More practice:

Quilt making has served as an important means of social, political, and artistic expression for women. In the nineteenth century, quilting circles provided one of the few opportunities for women to forge social bonds outside of their families. Once a week or more, they came together to sew as well as trade small talk, advice, and news. Th ey used dyed cotton fabrics much like the fabrics quilters use today; surprisingly, quilters’ basic materials haven’t changed that much over the years. Sometimes the women joined their eff orts in support of a political cause, making quilts that would be raffl ed to raise money for temperance societies, hospitals for sick and wounded soldiers, and the fi ght against slavery. Quilt making also aff orded women a means of artistic expression at a time when they had few other creative outlets. Within their socially acceptable roles as homemakers, many quilters subtly pushed back at the restrictions placed on them by experimenting with color, design, and technique.

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3 Building effective paragraphs > Exercise: 3–2

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3b52 Effective paragraphs

para

3b Develop the main point.

Th ough an occasional short paragraph is fi ne, particularly if it func- tions as a transition or emphasizes a point, a series of brief para- graphs suggests inadequate development. How much development is enough? Th at varies, depending on the writer’s purpose and audience.

For example, when health columnist Jane Brody wrote a paragraph attempting to convince readers that it is impossible to lose fat quickly, she knew that she would have to present a great deal of evidence because many dieters want to believe the oppo- site. She did not write only the following:

When you think about it, it’s impossible to lose — as many diets suggest — 10 pounds of fat in ten days, even on a total fast. Even a moderately active person cannot lose so much weight so fast. A less active person hasn’t a prayer.

Th is three-sentence paragraph is too skimpy to be convincing. But the paragraph that Brody did write contains enough evidence to convince even skeptical readers.

When you think about it, it’s impossible to lose — as many . . . diets suggest — 10 pounds of fat in ten days, even on a total fast. A pound of body fat represents 3,500 calories. To lose 1 pound of fat, you must expend 3,500 more calories than you consume. Let’s say you weigh 170 pounds and, as a moderately active person, you burn 2,500 calories a day. If your diet contains only 1,500 calories, you’d have an energy defi cit of 1,000 calories a day. In a week’s time that would add up to a 7,000-calorie defi cit, or 2 pounds of real fat. In ten days, the accumulated defi cit would represent nearly 3 pounds of lost body fat. Even if you ate nothing at all for ten days and maintained your usual level of activity, your caloric defi cit would add up to 25,000 calories. . . . At 3,500 calories per pound of fat, that’s still only 7 pounds of lost fat.

— Jane Brody, Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book

3c Choose a suitable pattern of organization.

Although paragraphs (and indeed whole essays) may be patterned in any number of ways, certain patterns of organization occur fre- quently, either alone or in combination: examples and illustrations,

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3 Building effective paragraphs > LearningCurve: Patterns of organization

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533cChoose a suitable pattern of organization

para

narration, description, process, comparison and contrast, analogy, cause and eff ect, classifi cation and division, and defi nition. Th ese patterns (sometimes called methods of development) have diff erent uses, depending on the writer’s subject and purpose.

Examples and illustrations

Examples, perhaps the most common pattern of development, are appropriate whenever the reader might be tempted to ask, “For example?” Th ough examples are just selected instances, not a complete catalog, they are enough to suggest the truth of many topic sentences, as in the following paragraph.

Normally my parents abided scrupulously by “Th e Budget,” but several times a year Dad would dip into his battered black strongbox and splurge on some irrational, totally satisfying luxury. Once he bought over a hundred comic books at a fl ea market, doled out to us thereaft er at the tantalizing rate of two a week. He always got a whole fl at of pansies, Mom’s favorite fl ower, for us to give her on Mother’s Day. One day a boy stopped at our house selling fi ft y-cent raffl e tickets on a sailboat, and Dad bought every ticket the boy had left — three books’ worth.

— Connie Hailey, student

Illustrations are extended examples, frequently presented in story form. Because they require several sentences apiece, they are used more sparingly than examples. When well selected, however, they can be a vivid and eff ective means of developing a point. Th e writer of the following paragraph uses illustrations to demonstrate that Harriet Tubman, the underground railroad’s most famous conductor, was a genius at eluding her pursuers.

Part of [Harriet Tubman’s] strategy of conducting was, as in all battle-fi eld operations, the knowledge of how and when to retreat. Numerous allusions have been made to her moves when she suspected that she was in danger. When she feared the party was closely pursued, she would take it for a time on a train southward bound. No one seeing Negroes going in this direction would for an instant suppose them to be fugitives. Once on her return she was at a railroad station. She saw some men reading a poster and she heard one of them reading it aloud. It was a description of her, off ering a reward for her capture. She took a southbound train to avert suspicion. At another time when Harriet heard men talking about her, she pretended to read a book which she carried. One man remarked, “Th is can’t be the woman. Th e one we want can’t read or write.” Harriet devoutly hoped the book was right side up.

— Earl Conrad, Harriet Tubman

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3c54 Effective paragraphs

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Narration

A paragraph of narration tells a story or part of a story. Narrative paragraphs are usually arranged in chronological order, but they may also contain fl ashbacks, interruptions that take the story back to an earlier time. Th e following paragraph recounts one of the author’s experiences in the African wild.

One evening when I was wading in the shallows of the lake to pass a rocky outcrop, I suddenly stopped dead as I saw the sinuous black body of a snake in the water. It was all of six feet long, and from the slight hood and the dark stripes at the back of the neck I knew it to be a Storm’s water cobra — a deadly reptile for the bite of which there was, at that time, no serum. As I stared at it an incoming wave gently deposited part of its body on one of my feet. I remained motionless, not even breathing, until the wave rolled back into the lake, drawing the snake with it. Th en I leaped out of the water as fast as I could, my heart hammering.

— Jane Goodall, In the Shadow of Man

Description

A descriptive paragraph sketches a portrait of a person, place, or thing by using concrete and specifi c details that appeal to one or more of our senses — sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Consider, for example, the following description of the grasshop- per invasions that devastated the midwestern landscape in the United States in the late 1860s.

Th ey came like dive bombers out of the west. Th ey came by the millions with the rustle of their wings roaring overhead. Th ey came in waves, like the rolls of the sea, descending with a terrifying speed, breaking now and again like a mighty surf. Th ey came with the force of a williwaw and they formed a huge, ominous, dark brown cloud that eclipsed the sun. Th ey dipped and touched earth, hitting objects and people like hailstones. But they were not hail. Th ese were live demons. Th ey popped, snapped, crackled, and roared. Th ey were dark brown, an inch or longer in length, plump in the middle and tapered at the ends. Th ey had transparent wings, slender legs, and two black eyes that fl ashed with a fi erce intelligence.

— Eugene Boe, “Pioneers to Eternity”

Process

A process paragraph is structured in chronological order. A writer may choose this pattern either to describe how something

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553cChoose a suitable pattern of organization

para

is made or done or to explain to readers, step-by-step, how to do something. Here is a paragraph explaining how to perform a “roll cast,” a popular fl y-fi shing technique.

Begin by taking up a suitable stance, with one foot slightly in front of the other and the rod pointing down the line. Th en begin a smooth, steady draw, raising your rod hand to just above shoulder height and lift ing the rod to the 10:30 or 11:00 position. Th is steady draw allows a loop of line to form between the rod top and the water. While the line is still moving, raise the rod slightly, then punch it rapidly forward and down. Th e rod is now fl exed and under maximum compression, and the line follows its path, bellying out slightly behind you and coming off the water close to your feet. As you power the rod down through the 3:00 position, the belly of line will roll forward. Follow through smoothly so that the line unfolds and straightens above the water.

— Th e Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Fishing

Comparison and contrast

To compare two subjects is to draw attention to their similarities, although the word compare also has a broader meaning that in- cludes a consideration of diff erences. To contrast is to focus only on diff erences.

Whether a paragraph stresses similarities or diff erences, it may be patterned in one of two ways. Th e two subjects may be presented one at a time, as in the following paragraph of contrast.

So Grant and Lee were in complete contrast, representing two diametrically opposed elements in American life. Grant was the modern man emerging; beyond him, ready to come on the stage, was the great age of steel and machinery, of crowded cities and a restless, burgeoning vitality. Lee might have ridden down from the old age of chivalry, lance in hand, silken banner fl uttering over his head. Each man was the perfect champion of his cause, drawing both his strengths and his weaknesses from the people he led.

— Bruce Catton, “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”

Or a paragraph may proceed point by point, treating the two subjects together, one aspect at a time. Th e following paragraph uses the point-by-point method to contrast speeches given by Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Two men, two speeches. Th e men, both lawyers, both from Illinois, were seeking the presidency, despite what seemed their crippling connection with extremists. Each was young by modern

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3c56 Effective paragraphs

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standards for a president. Abraham Lincoln had turned fi ft y-one just fi ve days before delivering his speech. Barack Obama was forty-six when he gave his. Th eir political experience was mainly provincial, in the Illinois legislature for both of them, and they had received little exposure at the national level — two years in the House of Representatives for Lincoln, four years in the Senate for Obama. Yet each was seeking his party’s nomination against a New York senator of longer standing and greater prior reputation — Lincoln against Senator William Seward, Obama against Senator Hillary Clinton.

— Garry Wills, “Two Speeches on Race”

Analogy

Analogies draw comparisons between items that appear to have little in common. Writers turn to analogies for a variety of rea- sons: to make the unfamiliar seem familiar, to provide a concrete understanding of an abstract topic, to argue a point, or to pro- voke fresh thoughts or changed feelings about a subject. In the following paragraph, physician Lewis Th omas draws an analogy between the behavior of ants and that of humans.

Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. Th ey farm fungi, raise aphids as livestock, launch armies into wars, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves. Th e families of weaver ants engage in child labor, holding their larvae like shuttles to spin out the thread that sews the leaves together for their fungus gardens. Th ey exchange information ceaselessly. Th ey do everything but watch television.

— Lewis Th omas, “On Societies as Organisms”

Although analogies can be a powerful tool for illuminating a subject, they should be used with caution in arguments. Just be- cause two things may be alike in one respect, we cannot conclude that they are alike in all respects. (See “false analogy,” p. 94.)

Cause and effect

When causes and eff ects are a matter of argument, they are too complex to be reduced to a simple pattern (see p. 95). However, if a writer wishes merely to describe a cause-and-eff ect relation- ship that is generally accepted, then the eff ect may be stated in the topic sentence, with the causes listed in the body of the paragraph.

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Th e fantastic water clarity of the Mount Gambier sinkholes results from several factors. Th e holes are fed from aquifers holding rainwater that fell decades — even centuries — ago, and that has been fi ltered through miles of limestone. Th e high level of calcium that limestone adds causes the silty detritus from dead plants and animals to cling together and settle quickly to the bottom. Abundant bottom vegetation in the shallow sinkholes also helps bind the silt. And the rapid turnover of water prohibits stagnation.

— Hillary Hauser, “Exploring a Sunken Realm in Australia”

Or the paragraph may move from cause to eff ects, as in this paragraph from a student paper on the eff ects of the industrial revolution on American farms.

Th e rise of rail transport in the nineteenth century forever changed American farming — for better and for worse. Farmers who once raised crops and livestock to sustain just their own families could now make a profi t by selling their goods in towns and cities miles away. Th ese new markets improved the living standard of struggling farm families and encouraged them to seek out innovations that would increase their profi ts. On the downside, the competition fostered by the new markets sometimes created hostility among neighboring farm families where there had once been a spirit of cooperation. Th ose farmers who couldn’t compete with their neighbors left farming forever, facing poverty worse than they had ever known.

— Chris Mileski, student

Classifi cation and division

Classifi cation is the grouping of items into categories according to some consistent principle. For example, an elementary school teacher might classify children’s books according to their level of diffi culty, but a librarian might group them by subject mat- ter. Th e principle of classifi cation that a writer chooses ultimately depends on the purpose of the classifi cation. Th e following para- graph classifi es species of electric fi sh.

Scientists sort electric fi shes into three categories. Th e fi rst comprises the strongly electric species like the marine electric rays or the freshwater African electric catfi sh and South American electric eel. Known since the dawn of history, these deliver a punch strong enough to stun a human. In recent years, biologists have focused on a second category: weakly electric fi sh in the

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South American and African rivers that use tiny voltages for communication and navigation. Th e third group contains sharks, nonelectric rays, and catfi sh, which do not emit a fi eld but possess sensors that enable them to detect the minute amounts of electricity that leak out of other organisms.

— Anne and Jack Rudloe, “Electric Warfare: Th e Fish Th at Kill with Th underbolts”

Division takes one item and divides it into parts. As with classifi cation, division should be made according to some consis- tent principle. Th e following passage describes the components that make up a baseball.

Like the game itself, a baseball is composed of many layers. One of the delicious joys of childhood is to take apart a baseball and examine the wonders within. You begin by removing the red cotton thread and peeling off the leather cover — which comes from the hide of a Holstein cow and has been tanned, cut, printed, and punched with holes. Beneath the cover is a thin layer of cotton string, followed by several hundred yards of woolen yarn, which makes up the bulk of the ball. Finally, in the middle is a rubber ball, or “pill,” which is a little smaller than a golf ball. Slice into the rubber and you’ll fi nd the ball’s heart — a cork core. Th e cork is from Portugal, the rubber from southeast Asia, the covers are American, and the balls are assembled in Costa Rica.

— Dan Gutman, Th e Way Baseball Works

Defi nition

A defi nition puts a word or concept into a general class and then provides enough details to distinguish it from others in the same class. In the following paragraph, the writer defi nes envy as a spe- cial kind of desire.

Envy is so integral and so painful a part of what animates behavior in market societies that many people have forgotten the full meaning of the word, simplifying it into one of the synonyms of desire. It is that, which may be why it fl ourishes in market societies: democracies of desire, they might be called, with money for ballots, stuffi ng permitted. But envy is more or less than desire. It begins with an almost frantic sense of emptiness inside oneself, as if the pump of one’s heart were sucking on air. One has to be blind to perceive the emptiness, of course, but that’s just what envy is, a selective blindness. Invidia, Latin for envy, translates as “non-sight,” and Dante has the envious plodding along under

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cloaks of lead, their eyes sewn shut with leaden wire. What they are blind to is what they have, God-given and humanly nurtured, in themselves.

— Nelson W. Aldrich Jr., Old Money

3d Make paragraphs coherent.

When sentences and paragraphs fl ow from one to another with- out discernible bumps, gaps, or shift s, they are said to be co- herent. Coherence can be improved by strengthening the ties between old information and new. A number of techniques for strengthening those ties are detailed in this section.

Linking ideas clearly

Readers expect to learn a paragraph’s main point in a topic sen- tence early in the paragraph. Th en, as they move into the body of the paragraph, they expect to encounter specifi c details, facts, or examples that support the topic sentence — either directly or indirectly.

If a sentence does not support the topic sentence directly, readers expect it to support another sentence in the paragraph and therefore to support the topic sentence indirectly. Th e fol- lowing paragraph begins with a topic sentence. Th e highlighted sentences are direct supports, and the rest of the sentences are indirect supports.

Th ough the open-space classroom works for many children, it is not practical for my son, David. First, David is hyperactive. When he was placed in an open-space classroom, he became distracted and confused. He was tempted to watch the movement going on around him instead of concentrating on his own work. Second, David has a tendency to transpose letters and numbers, a tendency that can be overcome only by individual attention from the instructor. In the open classroom he was moved from teacher to teacher, with each one responsible for a diff erent subject. No single teacher worked with David long enough to diagnose the problem, let alone help him with it. Finally, David is not a highly motivated learner. In the open classroom, he was graded “at his own level,” not by criteria for a certain grade. He could receive a B in reading and still be a grade level behind, because he was doing satisfactory work “at his own level.”

— Margaret Smith, student

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Repeating key words

Repetition of key words is an important technique for gaining coherence. To prevent repetitions from becoming dull, you can use variations of a key word (hike, hiker, hiking), pronouns refer- ring to the word (gamblers . . . they), and synonyms (run, spring, race, dash). In the following paragraph describing plots among indentured servants in the seventeenth century, historian Richard Hofstadter binds sentences together by repeating the key word plots and echoing it with a variety of synonyms (which are highlighted).

Plots hatched by several servants to run away together occurred mostly in the plantation colonies, and the few recorded servant uprisings were entirely limited to those colonies. Virginia had been forced from its very earliest years to take stringent steps against mutinous plots, and severe punishments for such behavior were recorded. Most servant plots occurred in the seventeenth century: a contemplated uprising was nipped in the bud in York County in 1661; apparently led by some left -wing off shoots of the Great Rebellion, servants plotted an insurrection in Gloucester County in 1663, and four leaders were condemned and executed; some discontented servants apparently joined Bacon’s Rebellion in the 1670’s. In the 1680’s the planters became newly apprehensive of discontent among the servants “owing to their great necessities and want of clothes,” and it was feared they would rise up and plunder the storehouses and ships; in 1682 there were plant-cutting riots in which servants and laborers, as well as some planters, took part.

— Richard Hofstadter, America at 1750

Using parallel structures

Parallel structures are frequently used within sentences to un- derscore the similarity of ideas (see 9). Th ey may also be used to bind together a series of sentences expressing similar infor- mation. In the following passage describing folk beliefs, anthro- pologist Margaret Mead presents similar information in parallel grammatical form.

Actually, almost every day, even in the most sophisticated home, something is likely to happen that evokes the memory of some old folk belief. Th e salt spills. A knife falls to the fl oor. Your nose tickles. Th en perhaps, with a slightly embarrassed smile, the person who spilled the salt tosses a pinch over his left shoulder. Or someone recites the old rhyme, “Knife falls, gentleman calls.” Or as you rub your nose you think, Th at means a letter. I wonder who’s writing?

— Margaret Mead, “New Superstitions for Old”

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Maintaining consistency

Coherence suff ers whenever a draft shift s confusingly from one point of view to another or from one verb tense to another. (See 13.) In addition, coherence can suff er when new information is in- troduced with the subject of each sentence. As a rule, a sentence’s subject should echo a subject or an object in the previous sentence.

Providing transitions

Transitions help readers move from sentence to sentence; they also alert readers to more global connections of ideas — those be- tween paragraphs or even larger blocks of text.

Sentence-level transitions Certain words and phrases signal con- nections between (or within) sentences. Frequently used transi- tions are included in the chart on page 63.

Skilled writers use transitional expressions with care, mak- ing sure, for example, not to use consequently when also would be more precise. Th ey are also careful to select transitions with an appropriate tone, perhaps preferring so to thus in an informal piece, in summary to in short for a scholarly essay.

In the following paragraph, taken from an argument that dinosaurs had the “ ‘right-sized’ brains for reptiles of their body size,” biologist Stephen Jay Gould uses transitions (highlighted) with skill.

I don’t wish to deny that the fl attened, minuscule head of large bodied Stegosaurus houses little brain from our subjective, top-heavy perspective, but I do wish to assert that we should not expect more of the beast. First of all, large animals have relatively smaller brains than related, small animals. Th e correlation of brain size with body size among kindred animals (all reptiles, all mammals, for example) is remarkably regular. As we move from small to large animals, from mice to elephants or small lizards to Komodo dragons, brain size increases, but not so fast as body size. In other words, bodies grow faster than brains, and large animals have low ratios of brain weight to body weight. In fact, brains grow only about two-thirds as fast as bodies. Since we have no reason to believe that large animals are consistently stupider than their smaller relatives, we must conclude that large animals require relatively less brain to do as well as smaller animals. If we do not recognize this relationship, we are likely to underestimate the mental power of very large animals, dinosaurs in particular.

— Stephen Jay Gould, “Were Dinosaurs Dumb?”

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Academic English Choose transitions carefully and vary them appropriately. Each transition has a diff erent meaning (see the chart below). If you do not use a transition with an appropriate meaning, you might confuse your readers.

▶ Although taking eight o’clock classes may seem unappealing,

coming to school early has its advantages. Moreover,

students who arrive early typically avoid the worst traffi c and

fi nd the best parking spaces.

For example,

Paragraph-level transitions Paragraph-level transitions usually link the fi rst sentence of a new paragraph with the fi rst sentence of the previous paragraph. In other words, the topic sentences signal global connections.

Look for opportunities to allude to the subject of a previous paragraph (as summed up in its topic sentence) in the topic sen- tence of the next one. In his essay “Little Green Lies,” Jonathan H. Adler uses this strategy in the following topic sentences, which appear in a passage describing the benefi ts of plastic packaging.

Consider aseptic packaging, the synthetic packaging for the “juice boxes” so many children bring to school with their lunch. One criticism of aseptic packaging is that it is nearly impossible to recycle, yet on almost every other count, aseptic packaging is environmentally preferable to the packaging alternatives. Not only do aseptic containers not require refrigeration to keep their contents from spoiling, but their manufacture requires less than one-10th the energy of making glass bottles.

What is true for juice boxes is also true for other forms of synthetic packaging. Th e use of polystyrene, which is commonly (and mistakenly) referred to as “Styrofoam,” can reduce food waste dramatically due to its insulating properties. (Th anks to these properties, polystyrene cups are much preferred over paper for that morning cup of coff ee.) Polystyrene also requires signifi cantly fewer resources to produce than its paper counterpart.

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Common transitions

TO SHOW ADDITION and, also, besides, further, furthermore, in addition, moreover, next, too, fi rst, second TO GIVE EXAMPLES for example, for instance, to illustrate, in fact, specifi cally TO COMPARE also, in the same manner, similarly, likewise TO CONTRAST but, however, on the other hand, in contrast, nevertheless, still, even though, on the contrary, yet, although TO SUMMARIZE OR CONCLUDE in short, in summary, in conclusion, to sum up, therefore TO SHOW TIME aft er, as, before, next, during, later, fi nally, meanwhile, then, when, while, immediately TO SHOW PLACE OR DIRECTION above, below, beyond, nearby, opposite, close, to the left TO INDICATE LOGICAL RELATIONSHIP if, so, therefore, consequently, thus, as a result, for this reason, because, since

Transitions between blocks of text In long essays, you will need to alert readers to connections between blocks of text that are more than one paragraph long. You can do this by inserting transitional sentences or short paragraphs at key points in the essay. Here, for example, is a transitional paragraph from a student research paper. It announces that the fi rst part of the paper (about how apes dem- onstrate language skills) has come to a close and the second part (about whether they understand grammar) is about to begin.

Although the great apes have demonstrated signifi cant language skills, one central question remains: Can they be taught to use that uniquely human language tool we call grammar, to learn the diff erence, for instance, between “ape bite human” and “human bite ape”? In other words, can an ape create a sentence?

Another strategy to help readers move from one block of text to another is to insert headings in your essay. Headings, which usually sit above blocks of text, allow you to announce a new topic boldly, without the need for subtle transitions.

3e If necessary, adjust paragraph length.

Most readers feel comfortable reading paragraphs that range between one hundred and two hundred words. Shorter para- graphs require too much starting and stopping, and longer

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ones strain readers’ attention span. Th ere are exceptions to this guideline, however. Paragraphs longer than two hundred words frequently appear in scholarly writing, where scholars explore complex ideas. Paragraphs shorter than one hundred words occur in newspapers because of narrow columns; in informal essays to quicken the pace; and in business writing and Web sites, where readers routinely skim for main ideas.

In an essay, the fi rst and last paragraphs will ordinarily be the introduction and the conclusion. Th ese special-purpose paragraphs are likely to be shorter than the paragraphs in the body of the essay. Typically, the body paragraphs will follow the essay’s outline: one paragraph per point in short essays, several paragraphs per point in longer ones. Some ideas require more development than others, how- ever, so it is best to be fl exible. If an idea stretches to a length unrea- sonable for a paragraph, you should divide the paragraph, even if you have presented comparable points in the essay in single paragraphs.

Paragraph breaks are not always made for strictly logical rea- sons. Writers use them for the following reasons as well.

REASONS FOR BEGINNING A NEW PARAGRAPH

• to mark off the introduction and the conclusion • to signal a shift to a new idea • to indicate an important shift in time or place • to emphasize a point (by placing it at the beginning or the

end, not in the middle, of a paragraph) • to highlight a contrast • to signal a change of speakers (in dialogue) • to provide readers with a needed pause • to break up text that looks too dense

Beware of using too many short, choppy paragraphs, how- ever. Readers want to see how your ideas connect, and they be- come irritated when you break their momentum by forcing them to pause every few sentences. Here are some reasons you might have for combining some of the paragraphs in a rough draft .

REASONS FOR COMBINING PARAGRAPHS

• to clarify the essay’s organization • to connect closely related ideas • to bind together text that looks too choppy

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Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking

4 Reading and writing critically, 66

STUDENT WRITING: ANALYSIS OF AN ARTICLE, 78

5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts, 80

STUDENT WRITING: ANALYSIS OF AN ADVERTISEMENT, 88

6 Reading and writing arguments, 91

STUDENT WRITING: ARGUMENT, 112

7 Speaking confi dently, 119

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4 Reading and writing critically College writing requires you to become a critical reader — question- ing and conversing with the texts you read. When you read criti- cally, you read with an open, curious mind to understand both what is said and why. And when you write critically, you respond to a text, with thoughtful questions and insights, off ering your judgment of how the parts of a text contribute to its overall eff ect. Th e texts you’ll be asked to read and analyze may be written — many books, articles, and case studies, for example, convey meaning solely through writ- ten words. Or they may be multimodal, combining one or more modes — words, images, and sounds — such as videos, podcasts, advertisements. Whether you’re reading and writing about a writ- ten text or a multimodal text, many of the same strategies apply. Th is chapter covers strategies that will help you analyze any text. Chapter 5 off ers specifi c advice for analyzing multimodal texts.

4a Read actively.

Reading, like writing, is an active process that happens in steps. Most texts, such as the ones assigned in college, don’t yield their meaning with one quick reading. Rather, they require you to read and reread to grasp the main points and to comprehend a text’s layers of meaning.

When you read actively, you pay attention to details you would miss if you just skimmed a text. First, you read to understand the main ideas. Th en you pay attention to your own reactions by mak- ing note of what interests, surprises, or puzzles you. Active readers preview a text, annotate it, and then converse with it.

Previewing a text

Previewing — looking quickly through a text before you read — helps you understand its basic features and structure. A text’s title, for example, may reveal an author’s purpose; a text’s format or design may reveal what kind of text it is — a book, a report, a pol- icy memo, a video, and so on. As you preview, you can browse for images, scan headings, and gain a sense of the text’s subsections

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4aRead actively

and intended audience. Th e more you know about a text before you read it, the easier it will be to dig deeper into it.

Annotating a text

Annotating helps you capture and record your responses to a text. As you annotate, you take notes — jot down questions and reactions in the margins of the text or on electronic or paper sticky notes. You might circle or underline the author’s main points. Or you might develop your own system of annotating by placing question marks, asterisks, or stars by the text’s thesis, message, or major pieces of evidence.

As you annotate and think about a text, you are starting to write about it. Responding with notes helps you frame what you want to say about the author’s ideas or questions you want to ad- dress in response to the text. On a second or third reading, you may notice contradictions — statements the author makes that, put side-by-side, just don’t seem to make sense — or surprising in- sights that may lead to further investigation. Each rereading will raise new questions and lead to a better understanding of the text.

Th e following example shows how one student, Emilia Sanchez, annotated an article from CQ Researcher, a newsletter about social and political issues.

ANNOTATED ARTICLE

Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street BETSY TAYLOR

Th ere is plenty of reason to be concerned about the proliferation of Wal-Marts and other so-called “big box” stores. Th e question, however, is not whether or not these types of stores create jobs (although several studies claim they produce a net job loss in local communities) or whether they ultimately save consumers money. Th e real concern about having a 25-acre slab of concrete with a 100,000 square foot box of stuff land on a town is whether it’s good for a community’s soul.

Th e worst thing about “big boxes” is that they have a tendency to produce Ross Perot’s famous “big sucking sound” — sucking the life out of cities and small towns across the country. On the other hand, small businesses are great for a community. Th ey off er more personal service; they won’t threaten to pack up and leave town if they don’t get tax breaks, free roads and other blan- dishments; and small-business owners are much

Opening strategy — the problem is not x, it’s y.

Sentimental — what is a community’s soul? I would think job security and a strong economy are bett er for a community’s “soul” than small stores that have to lay people off or close.

Lumps all big boxes together.

(Continued )

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4a Reading and writing critically68

Conversing with a text

Conversing with a text — responding to a text and its author — helps you move beyond your initial notes to draw conclusions about what you’ve read. Perhaps you ask additional questions, point out something that doesn’t make sense, or explain how the author’s points suggest wider implications. As you respond to a text, you look more closely at how the author works through a topic, and you evaluate the author’s evidence and conclusions.

Conversing takes your understanding of a text to the next level. For example, student writer Emilia Sanchez noticed on a fi rst reading that her assigned text closed with an emotional ap- peal to the reader. On a second reading, she started to question whether the emotional appeal was too simplistic.

Many writers use a double-entry notebook to converse with a text and its author and to generate ideas and insights. To create one, draw a line down the center of a notebook page or create a two-column table in your word processing program. On the left

Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street (Continued) more responsive to a customer’s needs. (Ever try to complain about bad service or poor quality products to the president of Home Depot?)

Yet, if big boxes are so bad, why are they so success- ful? One glaring reason is that we’ve become a nation of hyper-consumers, and the big-box boys know this. Downtown shopping districts comprised of small businesses take some of the effi ciency out of overcon- sumption. Th ere’s all that hassle of having to travel from store to store, and having to pull out your credit card so many times. Occasionally, we even fi nd ourselves chat- ting with the shopkeeper, wandering into a coff ee shop to visit with a friend or otherwise wasting precious time that could be spent on acquiring more stuff .

But let’s face it — bustling, thriving city centers are fun. Th ey breathe life into a community. Th ey allow cities and towns to stand out from each other. Th ey provide an atmosphere for people to interact with each other that just cannot be found at Target, or Wal-Mart or Home Depot.

Is it anti-American to be against having a retail giant set up shop in one’s community? Some people would say so. On the other hand, if you board up Main Street, what’s left of America?

Assumes all small businesses are att entive.

Logic problem? Why couldn’t customer complain to store manager? True?

Taylor wishes for a time that is long gone or never was.

Community vs. economy. What about prices?

Author’s either/or thinking isn’t working. Stores like Home Depot try to encourage a community feel. Emotional

appeal seems too simplistic.

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side, record what the author says; include quotations, sentences, and key terms from the text. On the right side, record your ob- servations and questions. With each rereading of a text, you can return to your notebook to add new insights or questions.

A double-entry notebook allows you to begin to see the dif- ference between what a text says and what it means and to visual- ize the conversation between you and the author as it develops.

Here is an excerpt from student writer Emilia Sanchez’s double- entry notebook.

IDEAS FROM THE TEXT MY RESPONSES

“Th e question, however, is not whether or not these types of stores create jobs (although several studies claim they produce a net job loss in local communities) or whether they ultimately save consumers money” (1011).

Why are big-box stores bad if they create jobs or save people money? Taylor dismisses these possibilities without acknowledging their importance. My family needs to save money and needs jobs more than “chatting with the shopkeeper” (1011).

“Th e real concern . . . is whether [big-box stores are] good for a community’s soul” (1011).

“[S]mall businesses are great for a community” (1011).

Taylor is missing something here. Are all big-box stores bad? Are all small businesses great? Would getting rid of big-box stores save the “soul” of America? Is Main Street the “soul” of America? Taylor sounds overly sentimental. She assumes that people spend more money because they shop at big-box stores. And she assumes that small businesses are always better for consumers.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Put quotation marks around words you have copied from the source and keep an accurate record of page numbers for quotations and ideas.

Asking the “So what?” question

As you read and annotate a text, make sure you understand its thesis, or central idea. Ask yourself: “What is the author’s thesis?” Th en put the author’s thesis to the “So what?” test: “Why does this thesis mat- ter? Why does it need to be argued?” Perhaps you’ll conclude that the thesis is too obvious and doesn’t matter at all — or that it matters so much that you feel the author stopped short and overlooked key details. Or perhaps you’ll think that a reasonable person might draw diff erent conclusions about the issue. You’ll be in a stronger position to analyze a text aft er putting its thesis to the “So what?” test.

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4a Reading and writing critically70

Guidelines for active reading

Preview a written text.

● Who is the author? What are the author’s credentials? ● What is the author’s purpose: To inform? To persuade? To call to

action? ● Who is the expected audience? ● When was the text written? Where was it published? ● What kind of text is it: A book? A report? A scholarly article? A

policy memo?

Annotate a written text.

● What surprises, puzzles, or intrigues you about the text? ● What question does the text attempt to answer? Or what prob-

lem does it attempt to solve? ● What is the author’s thesis, or central claim? ● What type of evidence does the author provide to support the

thesis? How persuasive is this evidence?

Converse with a written text.

● What are the strengths and limitations of the text? ● Has the author drawn conclusions that you want to question? Do

you have a diff erent interpretation of the evidence? ● Does the text raise questions that it does not answer? ● Does the author consider opposing points of view and treat them

fairly?

Ask the “So what?” question.

● Why does the author’s thesis need to be argued, explained, or explored? What’s at stake?

● What has the author overlooked in presenting this thesis? What’s missing?

● Could a reasonable person draw diff erent conclusions about the issue?

● To put an author’s thesis to the “So what?” test, use phrases like the following: Th e author overlooks this important point: . . . and Th e author’s argument is convincing because. . . .

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4b Outline a text to identify main ideas.

You are probably familiar with using an outline as a planning tool to help you organize your ideas. An outline is a useful tool for reading, too. Outlining a text — identifying its main idea and major parts — can be an important step in your reading process.

As you outline, look closely for a text’s thesis statement (main idea) and topic sentences because they serve as important sign- posts for readers. A thesis statement oft en appears in the intro- duction, usually in the fi rst or second paragraph. Topic sentences oft en can be found at the beginning of body paragraphs, where they announce a shift to a new idea. (See 1e and 3a.)

Put the author’s thesis and key points in your own words. Here, for example, are the points Emilia Sanchez identifi ed as she prepared to write her summary and analysis of the text printed on page 67. Notice that Sanchez does not simply trace the author’s ideas para- graph by paragraph; instead, she sums up the article’s central points.

OUTLINE OF “BIG BOX STORES ARE BAD FOR MAIN STREET”

Thesis: Whether or not they take jobs away from a community or

offer low prices to consumers, we should be worried about “big-box”

stores like Wal-Mart, Target, and Home Depot because they harm

communities by taking the life out of downtown shopping districts.

I. Small businesses are better for cities and towns than big-box

stores are.

A. Small businesses offer personal service; big-box stores do not.

B. Small businesses don’t make demands on community

resources as big-box stores do.

C. Small businesses respond to customer concerns; big-box

stores do not.

II. Big-box stores are successful because they cater to

consumption at the expense of benefits to the community.

A. Buying everything in one place is convenient.

B. Shopping at small businesses may be inefficient, but it

provides opportunities for socializing.

C. Downtown shopping districts give each city or town a

special identity.

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4c Reading and writing critically72

Conclusion: Although some people say that it’s anti-American to

oppose big-box stores, actually these stores threaten the communities

that make up America by encouraging buying at the expense of the

traditional interactions of Main Street.

Reading online

For many college assignments, you will be asked to read online sources. It is tempting to skim and browse online texts rather than read them carefully. When you skim a text, you are less likely to remember what you have read and less inclined to reread to grasp layers of meaning.

Th e following strategies will help you read critically online. Read slowly. Instead of sweeping your eyes across the page, consciously slow down the pace of your reading to focus on each sentence. Avoid multitasking. Close other applications, especially messaging and social media. If you follow a link for background or the defi nition of a term, return to the text immediately. Annotate electronically. Use soft ware tools, such as sticky notes, highlighting, and commenting features, to record your thoughts as you read online texts. Print the text. If you prefer to read and annotate printed texts, make a copy for close reading and note taking. Be sure to record information about the online source so that you can fi nd it again, if needed, and cite it properly.

4c Summarize to deepen your understanding.

Your goal in summarizing a text is to state the work’s main ideas and key points simply, objectively, and accurately in your own words. Writing a summary does not require you to judge the author’s ideas; it requires you to understand the author’s ideas. In summarizing, you condense information, put an author’s ideas in your own words, and test your understanding of what a text says. If you have sketched a brief outline of the text (see 4b), refer to it as you draft your summary.

Following is Emilia Sanchez’s summary of the article that is printed on page 67.

In her essay “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street,” Betsy Taylor

argues that chain stores harm communities by taking the life out of

downtown shopping districts. Explaining that a community’s “soul” is

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more important than low prices or consumer convenience, she argues

that small businesses are better than stores like Home Depot and Target

because they emphasize personal interactions and don’t place demands

on a community’s resources. Taylor asserts that big-box stores are

successful because “we’ve become a nation of hyper-consumers” (1011),

although the convenience of shopping in these stores comes at the

expense of benefits to the community. She concludes by suggesting that

it’s not “anti-American” to oppose big-box stores because the damage

they inflict on downtown shopping districts extends to America itself. — Emilia Sanchez, student

Guidelines for writing a summary

● In the fi rst sentence, mention the title of the text, the name of the author, and the author’s thesis.

● Maintain a neutral tone; be objective. ● As you present the author’s ideas, use the third-person point of

view and the present tense: Taylor argues. . . . (If you are writing in APA style, see 60c.)

● Keep your focus on the text. Don’t state the author’s ideas as if they were your own.

● Put all or most of your summary in your own words; if you borrow a phrase or a sentence from the text, put it in quotation marks and provide the page number in parentheses.

● Limit yourself to presenting the text’s key points. ● Be concise; make every word count.

4d Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading.

Whereas a summary most oft en answers the question of what a text says, an analysis looks at how a text conveys its main idea. As you read and reread a text — previewing, annotating, and conversing — you are asking questions and generating ideas to form a judgment of it. When you analyze a text, you say to readers: “Here’s my reading of this text. Th is is what the text means and why it matters.” Assignments calling for an analysis of a text vary widely, but they usually ask you to look at how the text’s parts contribute to its central argument or pur- pose, oft en with the aim of evaluating its evidence or overall eff ect.

NOTE: Writing about a text oft en requires you to quote directly from the text. See 55 for guidelines for integrating quotations.

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4d Reading and writing critically74

Balancing summary with analysis

If you have written a summary of a text, you may fi nd it useful to refer to the main points of the summary as you write your analy- sis. Your readers may or may not be familiar with the text you are analyzing, so you need to summarize the text briefl y to help read- ers understand the basis of your analysis. Th e following strategies will help you balance summary with analysis.

• Remember that readers are interested in your ideas about a text. • Pose questions that lead to an interpretation or a judgment of

a text rather than to a summary. Th e questions on page 70 can help steer you away from summary and toward analysis.

• Focus your analysis on the text’s thesis and main ideas or some prominent feature of the reading.

• Pay attention to your topic sentences to make sure they signal analysis.

• Ask peer reviewers to give you feedback: Do you summarize too much and need to analyze more?

Here is an example of how student writer Emilia Sanchez balances summary with analysis in her essay about Betsy Taylor’s article (see p. 67). Before stating her thesis, Sanchez summarizes the article’s purpose and central idea.

[In her essay “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street,” Betsy Taylor focuses not on the economic effects

of large chain stores but on the effects these stores have

on the “soul” of America. She argues that stores like Home

Depot, Target, and Wal-Mart are bad for America because

they draw people out of downtown shopping districts

and cause them to focus on consumption. In contrast,

she believes that small businesses are good for America

because they provide personal attention, encourage

community interaction, and make each city and town

unique.] [But Taylor’s argument is unconvincing because it is based on sentimentality—on idealized images of

a quaint Main Street—rather than on the roles that

businesses play in consumers’ lives and communities.]

Summary

Analysis

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Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading 75

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Drafting an analytical thesis statement

An eff ective thesis statement for analytical writing responds to a question about a text or tries to resolve a problem in the text. Remember that your thesis isn’t the same as the text’s thesis or main idea. Your thesis presents your judgment of the text’s argument.

If student writer Emilia Sanchez had started her analysis of “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street” (p. 67) with the follow- ing thesis statement, she merely would have repeated the main idea of the article.

INEFFECTIVE THESIS STATEMENT

Big-box stores such as Wal-Mart and Home Depot promote consumerism by off ering endless goods at low prices, but they do nothing to promote community.

Instead, Sanchez wrote the following thesis statement, which off ers her judgment of Taylor’s argument.

EFFECTIVE THESIS STATEMENT

By ignoring the complex economic relationship between large chain stores and their communities, Taylor incorrectly assumes that simply getting rid of big-box stores would have a positive eff ect on America’s communities.

As you draft your thesis, try asking what, why, and how ques- tions to form a judgment about a text you are reading.

• What has the text’s author overlooked or failed to consider? Why does this matter?

• Why might a reasonable person draw a diff erent set of conclusions about the subject matter?

• How does the text clarify or complicate your understanding of the subject?

NOTE: When you analyze a text, you integrate words and ideas from the source into your own writing. For advice on quot- ing, paraphrasing, and using signal phrases, see 55 (MLA) or 60 (APA).

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4 Reading and writing critically > Writing practice: Drafting and revising an analytical thesis > Writing practice: Analyzing a text > Writing practice: Developing an analysis

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Writing guide | Analytical essay An analysis of a text allows you to examine the parts of a text to understand what it means and how it makes its meaning. Your goal is to off er your judgment of the text and to persuade readers to see it through your analytical perspective. A sample analytical essay begins on page 78.

Key features

● A careful and critical reading of a text reveals what the text says, how it works, and what it means. In an analytical essay, you pay attention to the details of the text, especially its thesis and evidence.

● A thesis that off ers a clear judgment of a text anchors your analysis. Your thesis might be the answer to a question you have posed about a text or the resolution of a problem you have identifi ed in the text.

● Support for the thesis comes from evidence in the text. You summarize, paraphrase, and quote passages that support the claims you make about the text.

● A balance of summary and analysis helps readers who may not be familiar with the text you are analyzing. Summary answers the question of what a text says; an analysis looks at how a text makes its point.

Writing your analytical essay

EXPLORE

Explore ideas by asking questions about the text. Let your questions help you understand what the text says, how it works, and what it means. Look for patterns among your questions to discover what interests you about the text’s thesis, evidence, and key passages. Explore ideas for your analysis by asking questions such as the following:

● What is the text about? ● What do you fi nd most interesting, surprising, or puzzling about

this text? ● What is the author’s thesis or central idea? Put the author’s thesis

to the “So what?” test. (See p. 69.) ● What do your annotations of the text reveal about your response

to it?

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DRAFT

● Draft a working thesis to focus your analysis. Remember that your thesis is not the same as the author’s thesis. Your thesis presents your judgment and interpretation of the text.

● Draft a plan to organize your paragraphs. Your introductory paragraph will briefly summarize the text and offer your thesis. Your body paragraphs will support your thesis with evidence from the text. Your conclusion will pull together the major points and show the significance of your analysis. (See 1d.)

● Identify specifi c words, phrases, and sentences as evidence to support your thesis.

REVISE

Ask your reviewers to give you specifi c comments. You can use the following questions to guide their feedback.

● Is the introduction eff ective and engaging? ● Is summary balanced with analysis? ● Does the thesis off er a clear judgment of the text? ● What objections might other writers pose to your analysis? ● Is the analysis well organized? Are there clear topic sentences and

transitions? ● Is there suffi cient evidence? Is the evidence analyzed? ● Have you cited words, phrases, or sentences that are summarized

or quoted?

4e Sample student writing: Analysis of an article

Following is Emilia Sanchez’s analysis of the article by Betsy Taylor (see p. 67). Sanchez used MLA (Modern Language Association) style to format her paper and cite the source.

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4 Reading and writing critically > Sample student writing: Sanchez, “Rethinking Big-Box Stores” (analysis of an article)

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4e Reading and writing critically78

Sanchez 1

Emilia Sanchez

Professor Goodwin

English 10

23 October 2014

Rethinking Big-Box Stores

In her essay “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street,”

Betsy Taylor focuses not on the economic effects of large

chain stores but on the effects these stores have on

the “soul” of America. She argues that stores like Home

Depot, Target, and Wal-Mart are bad for America because

they draw people out of downtown shopping districts and

cause them to focus on consumption. In contrast, she

believes that small businesses are good for America because

they provide personal attention, encourage community

interaction, and make each city and town unique. But

Taylor’s argument is unconvincing because it is based

on sentimentality—on idealized images of a quaint Main

Street—rather than on the roles that businesses play in

consumers’ lives and communities. By ignoring the complex

economic relationship between large chain stores and

their communities, Taylor incorrectly assumes that simply

getting rid of big-box stores would have a positive effect on

America’s communities.

Taylor’s use of colorful language reveals that she

has a sentimental view of American society and does not

understand economic realities. In her first paragraph, Taylor

refers to a big-box store as a “25-acre slab of concrete with

a 100,000 square foot box of stuff” that “land[s] on a

town,” evoking images of a powerful monster crushing the

American way of life (1011). But she oversimplifies

a complex issue. Taylor does not consider that many

Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.

Opening briefl y summarizes the article’s purpose and thesis.

Sanchez begins to analyze Taylor’s argument.

Thesis expresses Sanchez’s judgment of Taylor’s article.

Signal phrase introduces quotations from the source; Sanchez uses an MLA in-text citation.

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4eSample analysis of an article

Sanchez 2

downtown business districts failed long before chain stores

moved in, when factories and mills closed and workers lost

their jobs. In cities with struggling economies, big-box stores

can actually provide much-needed jobs. Similarly, while

Taylor blames big-box stores for harming local economies by

asking for tax breaks, free roads, and other perks, she doesn’t

acknowledge that these stores also enter into economic

partnerships with the surrounding communities by offering

financial benefits to schools and hospitals.

Taylor’s assumption that shopping in small businesses

is always better for the customer also seems driven by

nostalgia for an old-fashioned Main Street rather than

by the facts. While she may be right that many small

businesses offer personal service and are responsive to

customer complaints, she does not consider that many

customers appreciate the service at big-box stores. Just as

customer service is better at some small businesses than

at others, it is impossible to generalize about service at

all big-box stores. For example, customers depend on the

lenient return policies and the wide variety of products at

stores like Target and Home Depot.

Taylor blames big-box stores for encouraging American

“hyper-consumerism,” but she oversimplifies by equating

big-box stores with bad values and small businesses with

good values. Like her other points, this claim ignores the

economic and social realities of American society today.

Big-box stores do not force Americans to buy more. By

offering lower prices in a convenient setting, however,

they allow consumers to save time and purchase goods

they might not be able to afford from small businesses. The

existence of more small businesses would not change what

Clear topic sentence announces a shift to a new topic.

Sanchez refutes Taylor’s claim.

Sanchez identifi es and challenges Taylor’s assumptions.

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Reading and writing about multimodal texts80 5

5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts In many of your college classes, you’ll have the opportunity to read and write about multimodal texts, such as advertisements, maps, videos, and Web sites. Th ese texts are called multimodal because they use written words and images or moving images and sound or some other combination of modes to convey meaning. You might be asked to analyze an advertisement for a composition course, a map for a geology course, or a YouTube video for a sociology course. All texts can be approached in a critical way. You can en- gage with them by studying how they work to communicate their

Sanchez 3

most Americans can afford, nor would it reduce their desire

to buy affordable merchandise.

Taylor may be right that some big-box stores have a

negative impact on communities and that small businesses

offer certain advantages. But she ignores the economic

conditions that support big-box stores as well as the fact

that Main Street was in decline before the big-box store

arrived. Getting rid of big-box stores will not bring back a

simpler America populated by thriving, unique Main Streets;

in reality, Main Street will not survive if consumers cannot

afford to shop there.

Sanchez 4

Work Cited

Taylor, Betsy. “Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street.”

CQ Researcher 9.44 (1999): 1011. Print.

Sanchez treats the author fairly.

Conclusion returns to the thesis and shows the wider signifi cance of Sanchez’s analysis.

Work cited page is in MLA style.

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Read actively 815a

message and by discovering within them something that is sur- prising, interesting, and worthy of interpretation. Th e strategies and advice off ered in Chapter 4 for critically reading and writing about texts apply to multimodal texts. In this chapter, you’ll fi nd additional advice specifi c to analyzing multimodal texts.

5a Read actively.

Any multimodal text can be read — that is, examined to under- stand what it says and how it communicates its purpose and reaches its audience. As you read, think about the words, images, and sounds separately, and then analyze how they work together.

When you read a multimodal text, you’ll fi nd it helpful to preview, annotate, and converse with the text.

Previewing a multimodal text

Previewing starts when you look at the basic details of a multi- modal text and pay attention to fi rst impressions. You ask ques- tions about the text’s subject matter and design, its context and composer or creator, and its purpose and intended audience. Th e more you can gather from a fi rst look, the easier it will be to dig deeper into the meaning of a text. Th e following questions will help you preview a multimodal text:

• What kind of text is it: Advertisement? Video? Slide show? • What is your fi rst reaction to the text? Does it elicit an

emotional response? • What strikes you right away about the various modes —

words, images (moving or static), or sound? Does one mode seem to stand out more than the others?

• What does the subject matter and design suggest about the intended audience?

Annotating a multimodal text

Annotating a text — jotting down observations, reactions, and questions — helps you read actively to answer the basic question “What is this text about?” In annotating, you generate ideas by

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5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts > Writing practice: Reading visual texts actively

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5a Reading and writing about multimodal texts82

paying close attention to each mode. You notice what surprises and intrigues you about the text, and you observe what is present and absent. For example, you might question the choice of classi- cal music in an audio essay and wonder what this choice implies about the intended audience. Or in viewing a public service video, you might notice the presence of black-and-white photo- graphs and the absence of words, spoken or written, and question how these design choices serve the video’s message.

Th e following guidelines will help you annotate a multi- modal text:

• Identify the diff erent modes used and examine them separately. Th inking about each mode on its own is a helpful fi rst step to evaluating the text as a whole. What modes are present — written words, static images, moving images, or sound?

• Identify the role of each mode within the text. For example, do written words convey information? Does audio evoke an emotional response?

• Identify the features of each mode. How do various features help convey the text’s meaning and serve its purpose? For example, if written words are the mode being used, are they boldface or italic, large or small, black or in color? What diff erences do these features make?

• Keep track of details. For example, if you are making notes about an audio or a video fi le, include a time stamp with each observation so that you can easily fi nd that moment again to check your notes or to include a clip in your analysis: 04:21 Th e music stops abruptly, and a single word, “Care,” appears on-screen.

Th e example on page 83 shows how one student, Ren Yoshida, annotated an advertisement.

Conversing with a multimodal text

Conversing with a text — or responding to a text and its author — helps you move beyond your early notes to form judg- ments about the text you’re examining. You might choose to examine the choice of mode — why the message is conveyed in moving images rather than printed words, for example — or the features of a mode — why the background music becomes much louder at one point. You might point out something that

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Read actively 835a

What is being exchanged?

Why is “fairly traded” so difficult to

read?

“Farmers” in all capital letters —

shows strength?

Straightforward design and not much

text.

Outstretched hands. Is she giving a

gift? Inviting a partnership?

Hands: heart-shaped, foregrounded.

Raw coffee is earthy, natural.

Positive verbs: consumers choose,

join, empower; farmers stay, care,

farm, support, plan.

What does it mean to join a network?

How do consumers know their money

helps farmers stay on their land?

ANNOTATED ADVERTISEMENT

“Empowering” — why in an elegant

font? Who is empowering farmers?

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5b Reading and writing about multimodal texts84

is puzzling, contradictory, or provocative about the interplay between modes or their features. In his annotations to the Equal Exchange ad, Ren Yoshida asks why two words, empowering and farmers, are in diff erent fonts (see p. 83) and why the farmer’s hands are outstretched. As Yoshida moves beyond his annota- tions to form judgments about the text, he focuses his attention on the contradictions between the ad’s emotional and logical appeals. He notices that the ad appeals to consumers’ emotions, and yet such appeals raise logical questions about what is being exchanged and who is becoming empowered.

Many writers use a double-entry notebook to converse with a text and generate ideas for writing (see pp. 68–69 for guidelines on creating a double-entry notebook and sample entries). As you record details and features of a multimodal text on the left side of the notebook page and your own responses on the right side, you can visualize the conversation as it develops.

5b Outline to identify main ideas.

When you outline a text, you identify its main idea or purpose and its major parts. One approach for outlining a multimodal text is to defi ne its main idea or purpose and sketch a list of its key elements. Because ads, Web sites, and videos may not include an explicit statement of purpose, such as a thesis statement, you may have to puzzle it out from the details in the work.

Here is the informal outline Ren Yoshida developed as he prepared to write an analysis of the advertisement on page 83. Notice that Yoshida makes an attempt to state the ad’s purpose and sum up its message.

INFORMAL OUTLINE OF EQUAL EXCHANGE ADVERTISEMENT

Purpose: To persuade consumers that they can improve the lives of

organic farmers and their families by purchasing Equal Exchange

coffee.

Key features:

• The farmer’s heart-shaped hands are outstretched, offering the

viewer partnership and the product of her hard work.

• The raw coffee is surprisingly fruitlike and fresh—natural and

healthy looking.

• A variety of fonts are used for emphasis, such as the elegant font

for “empowering.”

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Summarize to deepen your understanding 855c

• Consumer support leads to a higher quality of life for the farmers

and for all people, since these farmers care for the environment

and plan for the future.

• The simplicity of the design reflects the simplicity of the exchange.

The consumer only has to buy a cup of coffee to make a difference.

Conclusion: Equal Exchange is selling more than a product—coffee.

It is selling the message that together farmers and consumers hold

the future of land, environment, farms, and families in their hands.

5c Summarize to deepen your understanding.

Your goal in summarizing a multimodal text is to state the work’s central idea and key points simply, objectively, and accurately, in your own words, and usually in paragraph form. As you present the central idea, use the third-person point of view and the pres- ent tense. If you have sketched a brief outline of the text (see 5b), refer to it as you draft your summary.

To summarize a multimodal text, begin with essential informa- tion, such as who composed the text and why, who the intended audience is, and when and where the work appeared. Briefl y explain the text’s main idea and identify its key features. Divide the summary into a few major and minor ideas. Since a summary must be fairly short, you must make judgments about what is most important.

Here is the summary Ren Yoshida developed as he prepared to write an analysis of the advertisement on page 83. Notice how Yoshida composes the summary in his own words, uses the third-person point of view (“Th e Equal Exchange advertisement is . . .”), and uses present tense (“Th e ad suggests . . .”).

The Equal Exchange advertisement is selling the message that

together farmers and consumers hold the future of the planet in

their hands. At the center of the ad is a farmer whose outstretched

hands, full of raw coffee, offer the fruit of her labor and a

partnership with consumers. The ad suggests that in a global world

producers and consumers are bound together. A cup of coffee is

more than just a morning ritual; a cup of coffee is part of an equal

exchange that empowers farmers to stay on their land and empowers

consumers to do the right thing. — Ren Yoshida, student

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5d Reading and writing about multimodal texts86

5d Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading.

A summary most oft en answers the question of what a text says, whereas an analysis looks at how a text conveys its main idea or message. As you read a multimodal text — previewing, annotating, and conversing — you are forming a judgment of it. Your analysis says to readers: “Here’s my reading of this text. Th is is what the text means and why it matters.” When you are assigned to analyze a multimodal text, you will usually be expected to look at how the diff erent modes (sound, words, moving or static images) and their features (loud or quiet, bold or italic, fast or slow) contribute to its central purpose, oft en with the aim of judging how eff ective the text is in achieving its purpose.

Balancing summary with analysis

If you have written a summary of a text, you may fi nd it useful to refer to the main points of the summary as you write your analy- sis. Your readers may or may not be familiar with the multimodal text you are analyzing and will need at least some summary to ground your analysis. For example, student writer Ren Yoshida summarizes the Equal Exchange advertisement on page 83 by describing part of the text fi rst, allowing readers to get their bearings, and then moving to an analytical statement about that particular part of the text.

[A farmer, her hardworking hands full of raw coffee, reaches out from an Equal Exchange

advertisement. The hands, in the shape of a heart,

offer to consumers the fruit of the farmer’s labor. The

ad’s message is straightforward: in choosing Equal

Exchange, consumers become global citizens, partnering

with farmers to help save the planet.] [Suddenly, a cup of coffee is more than just a morning ritual; a cup of

coffee is a moral choice that empowers both consumers

and farmers.]

Summary

Analysis

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5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts > Writing practice: Analyzing an image or a multimodal text

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Analyze to demonstrate your critical reading 875d

Th ese strategies will help you balance summary with analysis.

• Remember that readers are interested in your ideas about a text. • Pose questions that lead to an interpretation or a judgment

of a text rather than to a summary. Go beyond describing what you see or hear to ask “why” and “how” questions.

• Focus on a few signifi cant features rather than listing every detail. For example, evaluate the size and arrangement of written words or the pitch (high or low) or pace (fast or slow) of the audio.

• Pay attention to the role of each mode within the text. For example, how do images convey information or emotion?

• Ask peer reviewers to give you feedback: Do you summarize too much and need to analyze more?

Drafting an analytical thesis statement

An eff ective thesis statement for analytical writing about a multi- modal text responds to a question about the text or tries to resolve a problem in the text. Remember that your thesis isn’t the same as the text’s main idea. Your thesis presents your judgment of the text’s argument. If your draft thesis restates the text’s message, return to the questions you asked earlier in the process as you revise.

INEFFECTIVE THESIS STATEMENT

Consumers who purchase coff ee from farmers in the Equal Exchange network are helping farmers stay on their land.

Th e thesis is ineff ective because it summarizes the ad; it doesn’t present an analysis. Ren Yoshida focused the thesis by question- ing a single detail in the work.

QUESTIONS

Th e ad promises an equal exchange, but is the exchange equal between consumers and farmers? Do the words equal exchange and empowering farmers appeal to consumers’ emotions?

EFFECTIVE THESIS STATEMENT

Although the ad works successfully on an emotional level, it is less successful on a logical level because of its promise for an equal exchange between consumers and farmers.

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5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts > Writing practice: Drafting and revising an analytical thesis (multimodal) > Writing practice: Learning from other writers

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5e Reading and writing about multimodal texts88

5e Sample student writing: Analysis of an advertisement

On the following pages is Ren Yoshida’s analysis of the Equal Exchange advertisement that appears on page 83.

Yoshida 1

Ren Yoshida

Professor Marcotte

English 101

4 November 2014

Sometimes a Cup of Coffee Is Just a Cup of Coffee

A farmer, her hardworking hands full of coffee beans,

reaches out from an Equal Exchange advertisement (Equal

Exchange). The hands, in the shape of a heart, offer to

consumers the fruit of the farmer’s labor. The ad’s message

is straightforward: in choosing Equal Exchange, consumers

become global citizens, partnering with farmers to help

save the planet. Suddenly, a cup of coffee is more than

just a morning ritual; a cup of coffee is a moral choice

that empowers both consumers and farmers. This simple

exchange appeals to a consumer’s desire to be a good

person—to protect the environment and do the right

thing. Yet the ad is more complicated than it first seems,

and its design raises some logical questions about such

an exchange. Although the ad works successfully on an

emotional level, it is less successful on a logical level

because of its promise for an equal exchange between

consumers and farmers.

Yoshida summarizes the content of the ad.

The source is cited in the text. No page number is available for the online source.

Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.

Thesis expresses Yoshida’s analysis of the ad.

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5 Reading and writing about multimodal texts > Sample student writing: Yoshida, “Sometimes a Cup of Coffee Is Just a Cup of

Coffee” (analysis of an advertisement) > Sample student writing: D’Amato, “Loose Leaf Teas” (Web site); Williamson, “To the

Children of America” (video essay)

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895eSample analysis of an advertisement

Yoshida 2

The focus of the ad is a farmer, Jesus Choqueheranca

de Quevero, and, more specifically, her outstretched, cupped

hands. Her hands are full of red, raw coffee, her life’s

work. The ad successfully appeals to consumers’ emotions,

assuming they will find the farmer’s welcoming face and

hands, caked with dirt, more appealing than startling

statistics about the state of the environment or the number

of farmers who lose their land each year. It seems almost

rude not to accept the farmer’s generous offering since we

know her name and, as the ad implies, have the choice to

“empower” her. In fact, how can a consumer resist helping

the farmer “[c]are for the environment” and “[p]lan for the

future,” when it is a simple matter of choosing the right

coffee? The ad sends the message that our future is a global

future in which producers and consumers are bound together.

First impressions play a major role in the success of an

advertisement. Consumers are pulled toward a product, or

pushed away, by an ad’s initial visual and emotional appeal.

Here, the intended audience is busy people, so the ad tries

to catch viewers’ attention and make a strong impression

immediately. Yet with a second or third viewing, consumers

might start to ask some logical questions about Equal

Exchange before buying their morning coffee. Although the

farmer extends her heart-shaped hands to consumers, they

are not actually buying a cup of coffee or the raw coffee

directly from her. In reality, consumers are buying from

Equal Exchange, even if the ad substitutes the more positive

word choose for buy. Furthermore, consumers aren’t actually

empowering the farmer; they are joining “a network that

empowers farmers.” The idea of a network makes a simple

transaction more complicated. How do consumers know their

Yoshida interprets details such as the farmer’s hands.

Details show how the ad appeals to consumers’ emotions.

Yoshida begins to challenge the logic of the ad.

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5e Reading and writing about multimodal texts90

Yoshida 3

money helps farmers “[s]tay on their land” and “[p]lan for

the future” as the ad promises? They don’t.

The ad’s design elements raise questions about the use

of the key terms equal exchange and empowering farmers. The

Equal Exchange logo suggests symmetry and equality, with two

red arrows facing each other, but the words of the logo appear

almost like an eye exam poster, with each line decreasing in font

size and clarity. The words fairly traded are tiny. Below the logo,

the words empowering farmers are presented in contradictory

fonts. Empowering is written in a flowing, cursive font, almost

the opposite of what might be considered empowering, whereas

farmers is written in a plain, sturdy font. The ad’s varying fonts

communicate differently and make it hard to know exactly what

is being exchanged and who is becoming empowered.

What is being exchanged? The logic of the ad suggests

that consumers will improve the future by choosing Equal

Exchange. The first exchange is economic: consumers give one

thing—dollars—and receive something in return—a cup of

coffee—and the farmer stays on her land. The second exchange

is more complicated because it involves a moral exchange. The ad

suggests that if consumers don’t choose “fairly traded” products,

farmers will be forced off their land and the environment

destroyed. This exchange, when put into motion by consumers

choosing to purchase products not “fairly traded,” has negative

consequences for both consumers and farmers. The message of

the ad is that the actual exchange taking place is not economic

but moral; after all, nothing is being bought, only chosen. Yet

the logic of this exchange quickly falls apart. Consumers aren’t

empowered to become global citizens simply by choosing Equal

Exchange, and farmers aren’t empowered to plan for the future by

Words from the ad serve as evidence.

Summary of the ad’s key features serves Yoshida’s analysis.

Clear topic sentence announces a shift.

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916Reading and writing arguments

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6 Reading and writing arguments Many of your college assignments will ask you to read and write arguments about debatable issues. Th e questions being debated might be matters of public policy (Should corporations be allowed to advertise on public school property? or What is the least danger- ous way to dispose of hazardous waste?), or they might be schol- arly issues (What role do genes play in determining behavior? or What were the causes of the Vietnam War?). On such questions, reasonable people may disagree.

Yoshida 4

consumers’ choices. And even if all this empowerment magically

happened, there is nothing equal about such an exchange.

Advertisements are themselves about empowerment—

encouraging viewers to believe they can become someone

or do something by identifying, emotionally or logically,

with a product. In the Equal Exchange ad, consumers are

emotionally persuaded to identify with a farmer whose face

is not easily forgotten and whose heart-shaped hands hold

a collective future. On a logical level, though, the ad raises

questions because empowerment, although a good concept

to choose, is not easily or equally exchanged. Sometimes a

cup of coffee is just a cup of coffee.

Conclusion includes a detail from the introduction.

Conclusion returns to Yoshida’s thesis.

Yoshida shows why his thesis matters.

Yoshida 5

Work Cited

Equal Exchange. Advertisement. Equal Exchange. Equal

Exchange, n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

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6a Reading and writing arguments92

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As you read arguments across the disciplines and enter into academic or public policy debates, pay attention to the questions being asked, the evidence being presented, and the various positions being argued. It’s helpful to approach all arguments with an open, curious mind. Reasonable people disagree on topics worth debating, so dive into the center of these disagreements to understand what’s at stake in the arguments being debated. You’ll fi nd the critical read- ing strategies introduced in chapter 4 — previewing, annotating, and conversing with texts — to be useful as you ask questions about an argument’s logic, evidence, and use of appeals. Many arguments can stand up to critical scrutiny. Sometimes, however, a line of argument that at fi rst seems reasonable turns out to be illogical, unfair, or both.

As you write for various college courses, you’ll be asked to take positions in academic debates, propose solutions to problems, and persuade readers to accept your arguments. Just as you evaluate ar- guments with openness, you’ll want to construct arguments with the same openness — acknowledging disagreements and opposing views and presenting your arguments fully and fairly to your readers.

See sections 6a–6c for advice about reading arguments. Sections 6d–6k address writing arguments.

6a Distinguish between reasonable and fallacious argumentative tactics.

When you evaluate an argument, look closely at the reasoning and evidence behind it. A number of unreasonable argumentative tac- tics are known as logical fallacies. Most of the fallacies — such as hasty generalizations and false analogies — are misguided or dis- honest uses of legitimate strategies. Th e examples in this section suggest when such strategies are reasonable and when they are not.

Generalizing (inductive reasoning)

Writers and thinkers generalize all the time. We look at a sample of data and conclude that data we have not observed will most likely conform to what we have seen. From a spoonful of soup, we conclude just how salty the whole bowl will be. Aft er numer- ous unpleasant experiences with an airline, we decide to book future fl ights with a competitor.

When we draw a conclusion from an array of facts, we are engaged in inductive reasoning. Such reasoning deals in prob- ability, not certainty. For a conclusion to be highly probable, it

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936aRecognize argumentative tactics

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must be based on evidence that is suffi cient, representative, and relevant. (See the chart on p. 94.)

Academic English Many hasty generalizations contain words such as all, ever, always, and never, when qualifi ers such as most, many, usually, and seldom would be more accurate.

Th e fallacy known as hasty generalization is a conclusion based on insuffi cient or unrepresentative evidence.

HASTY GENERALIZATION

In a single year, scores on standardized tests in California’s public schools rose by ten points. Th erefore, more children than ever are succeeding in America’s public school systems.

Data from one state do not justify a conclusion about the whole United States.

A stereotype is a hasty generalization about a group. Here are a few examples.

STEREOTYPES

Women are bad bosses. Politicians are corrupt. Children are always curious.

Stereotyping is common because of our tendency to perceive selec- tively. We tend to see what we want to see; we notice evidence con- fi rming our already formed opinions and fail to notice evidence to the contrary. For example, if you have concluded that politicians are corrupt, your stereotype will be confi rmed by news reports of leg- islators being indicted — even though every day the media describe conscientious offi cials serving the public honestly and well.

Drawing analogies

An analogy points out a similarity between two things that are otherwise diff erent. Analogies can be an eff ective means of arguing a point. It is not always easy to draw the line between a

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Evaluating ads for logic and fairness > LearningCurve: Reading and writing arguments

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6a Reading and writing arguments94

reasonable and an unreasonable analogy. At times, however, an analogy is clearly off base, in which case it is called a false analogy.

FALSE ANALOGY

If we can send a spacecraft to Pluto, we should be able to fi nd a cure for the common cold.

Th e writer has falsely assumed that because two things are alike in one respect, they must be alike in others. Exploring the outer reaches of the solar system and fi nding a cure for the common cold are both scientifi c challenges, but the problems confronting medical researchers are quite diff erent from those solved by space scientists.

arg

Testing inductive reasoning

Th ough inductive reasoning leads to probable and not absolute truth, you can assess a conclusion’s likely probability by asking three questions. Th is chart shows how to apply those questions to a sample conclusion based on a survey.

CONCLUSION Th e majority of students on our campus would volunteer at least fi ve hours a week in a community organization if the school provided a placement service for volunteers.

EVIDENCE In a recent survey, 723 of 1,215 students questioned said they would volunteer at least fi ve hours a week in a community organization if the school provided a placement service for volunteers.

1. Is the evidence suffi cient? Th at depends. On a small campus (say, 3,000 students), the pool of students surveyed would be suffi cient for market research, but on a large campus (say, 30,000), 1,215 stu- dents are only 4 percent of the population. If that 4 percent were known to be truly representative of the other 96 percent, however, even such a small sample would be suffi cient (see question 2).

2. Is the evidence representative? Th e evidence is representative if those responding to the survey refl ect the characteristics of the entire student population: age, sex, race, fi eld of study, number of extracurricular commitments, and so on. If most of those surveyed are majors in a fi eld like social work, the researchers should question the survey’s conclusion.

3. Is the evidence relevant? Yes. Th e survey results are directly linked to the conclusion. Evidence based on a survey about the number of hours students work for pay would not be relevant because it would not be about choosing to volunteer.

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956aRecognize argumentative tactics

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Tracing causes and effects

Demonstrating a connection between causes and eff ects is rarely simple. For example, to explain why a chemistry course has a high failure rate, you would begin by listing possible causes: inadequate preparation of students, poor teaching, lack of quali- fi ed tutors, and so on. Next you would investigate each possible cause. Only aft er investigating the possible causes would you be able to weigh the relative impact of each cause and suggest appro- priate remedies.

Because cause-and-eff ect reasoning is so complex, it is not surprising that writers frequently oversimplify it. In particular, writers sometimes assume that because one event follows an- other, the fi rst is the cause of the second. Th is common fallacy is known as post hoc, from the Latin post hoc, ergo propter hoc, meaning “aft er this, therefore because of this.”

POST HOC FALLACY

Since Governor Cho took offi ce, unemployment among minorities in the state has decreased by 7 percent. Governor Cho should be applauded for reducing unemployment among minorities.

Is the governor solely responsible for the decrease? Are there other reasons? Th e writer must show that Governor Cho’s poli- cies are responsible for the decrease in unemployment; it is not enough to show that the decrease followed the governor’s taking offi ce.

Weighing options

Especially when reasoning about problems and solutions, writers must weigh options. To be fair, a writer should mention the full range of options, showing why one is superior to the others or might work well in combination with others.

It is unfair to suggest that only two alternatives exist when in fact there are more. Writers who set up a false choice between their preferred option and one that is clearly unsatisfactory are guilty of the either . . . or fallacy.

EITHER . . . OR FALLACY

Our current war against drugs has not worked. Either we should legalize drugs or we should turn the drug war over to our armed forces and let them fi ght it.

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6a Reading and writing arguments96

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Are these the only solutions — legalizing drugs and calling out the army? Other options, such as funding for drug abuse preven- tion programs, are possible.

Making assumptions

An assumption is a claim that is taken to be true — without the need of proof. Most arguments are based to some extent on assumptions, since writers rarely have the time and space to prove all the conceiv- able claims on which their argument is based. For example, some- one arguing about the best means of limiting population growth in developing countries might assume that the goal of limiting popu- lation growth is worthwhile. For most audiences, there would be no need to articulate this assumption or to defend it.

Th ere is a danger, however, in failing to spell out and prove a claim that is clearly controversial. Consider the following short argument, in which a key claim is missing.

ARGUMENT WITH MISSING CLAIM

Violent crime is increasing. Th erefore, we should vigorously enforce the death penalty.

Th e writer seems to be assuming that the death penalty deters violent criminals and that it is a fair punishment — and that most audiences will agree. Th ese are not reasonable assumptions; the writer will need to state and support both claims.

When a missing claim is an assertion that few would agree with, we say that a writer is guilty of a non sequitur (Latin for “does not follow”).

NON SEQUITUR

Christopher gets plenty of sleep; therefore, he will be a successful student in the university’s pre-med program.

Does it take more than sleep to be a successful student? Few peo- ple would agree with the missing claim — that people with good sleep habits always make successful students.

Deducing conclusions (deductive reasoning)

When we deduce a conclusion, we put things together, like any good detective. We establish that a general principle is true, that a specifi c case is an example of that principle, and that therefore a particular conclusion about that case is a certainty.

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976aRecognize argumentative tactics

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Deductive reasoning can oft en be structured in a three-step argument called a syllogism. Th e three steps are the major prem- ise, the minor premise, and the conclusion.

1. Anything that increases radiation in the environment is dangerous to public health. (Major premise)

2. Nuclear reactors increase radiation in the environment. (Minor premise)

3. Th erefore, nuclear reactors are dangerous to public health. (Conclusion)

Th e major premise is a generalization. Th e minor premise is a specifi c case. Th e conclusion follows from applying the general- ization to the specifi c case.

Deductive arguments break down if one of the premises is not true or if the conclusion does not follow logically from the premises. In the following argument, the major premise is very likely untrue.

UNTRUE PREMISE

Th e police do not give speeding tickets to people driving less than fi ve miles per hour over the limit. Dominic is driving fi ft y-nine miles per hour in a fi ft y-fi ve-mile-per-hour zone. Th erefore, the police will not give Dominic a speeding ticket.

Th e conclusion is true only if the premises are true. If the police sometimes give tickets for driving less than fi ve miles per hour over the limit, Dominic cannot safely conclude that he will avoid a ticket.

In the following argument, both premises might be true, but the conclusion does not follow logically from them.

CONCLUSION DOES NOT FOLLOW

All members of our club ran in this year’s Boston Marathon. Jay ran in this year’s Boston Marathon. Th erefore, Jay is a member of our club.

Th e fact that Jay ran the race is no guarantee that he is a member of the club. Presumably, many runners are nonmembers.

Assuming that both premises are true, the following argu- ment holds up.

CONCLUSION FOLLOWS

All members of our club ran in this year’s Boston Marathon. Jay is a member of our club. Th erefore, Jay ran in this year’s Boston Marathon.

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6b Reading and writing arguments98

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6b Distinguish between legitimate and unfair emotional appeals.

Th ere is nothing wrong with appealing to readers’ emotions. Aft er all, many issues worth arguing about have an emotional as well as a logical dimension. Even the Greek logician Aristotle lists pathos (emotion) as a legitimate argumentative tactic. For example, in an essay criticizing big-box stores (see p. 67), writer Betsy Taylor has a good reason for tugging at readers’ emotions: Her subject is the decline of city and town life. In her conclusion, Taylor appeals to readers’ emotions by invoking their national pride.

LEGITIMATE EMOTIONAL APPEAL

Is it anti-American to be against having a retail giant set up shop in one’s community? Some people would say so. On the other hand, if you board up Main Street, what’s left of America?

Emotional appeals, however, are frequently misused. Many of the arguments we see in the media, for instance, strive to win our sympathy rather than our intelligent agreement. A TV com- mercial suggesting that you will be thin and attractive if you drink a certain diet beverage is making a pitch to emotions. So is a political speech that recommends electing a candidate because he is a devoted husband and father who serves as a volunteer fi refi ghter.

Th e following passage illustrates several types of unfair emo- tional appeals.

UNFAIR EMOTIONAL APPEALS

Th is progressive proposal to build a ski resort in the state park has been carefully researched by Western Trust, the largest bank in the state; furthermore, it is favored by a majority of the local merchants. Th e only opposition comes from tree huggers who care more about trees than they do about people. One of their leaders was actually arrested for disturbing the peace several years ago.

Words with strong positive or negative connotations, such as progressive and tree hugger, are examples of biased lan- guage. Attacking the people who hold a belief (environmental- ists) rather than refuting their argument is called ad hominem,

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Identifying appeals

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996bRecognize emotional appeals

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Evaluating ethical, logical, and emotional appeals as a reader

Ancient Greek rhetoricians distinguished among three kinds of appeals used to infl uence readers — ethical, logical, emotional. As you evaluate arguments, identify these appeals and question their eff ectiveness. Are they appropriate for the audience and the argu- ment? Are they balanced and legitimate or lopsided and misleading?

Ethical appeals (ethos)

Ethical arguments call upon a writer’s character, knowledge, and authority. Ask questions such as the following when you evaluate the ethical appeal of an argument.

● Is the writer informed and trustworthy? How does the writer establish authority and credibility?

● Is the writer fair-minded and unbiased? How does the writer establish reasonableness?

● Does the writer use sources knowledgeably and responsibly? ● How does the writer describe the views of others and deal with

opposing views?

Logical appeals (logos)

Reasonable arguments appeal to readers’ sense of logic, rely on evi- dence, and use inductive and deductive reasoning. Ask questions such as the following to evaluate the logical appeal of an argument.

● Is the evidence suffi cient, representative, and relevant? ● Is the reasoning sound? ● Does the argument contain any logical fallacies or unwarranted

assumptions? ● Are there any missing or mistaken premises?

Emotional appeals (pathos)

Emotional arguments appeal to readers’ beliefs and values. Ask questions such as the following to evaluate the emotional appeal of an argument.

● What values or beliefs does the writer address, either directly or indirectly?

● Are the emotional appeals legitimate and fair? ● Does the writer oversimplify or dramatize an issue? ● Do the emotional arguments highlight or shift attention away

from the evidence?

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6c Reading and writing arguments100

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6c Judge how fairly a writer handles opposing views.

Th e way in which a writer deals with opposing views is reveal- ing. Some writers address the arguments of the opposition fairly, conceding points when necessary and countering others, all in a civil spirit. Other writers will do almost anything to win an argu- ment: either ignoring opposing views altogether or misrepresent- ing such views and attacking their proponents.

Writers build credibility — ethos — by addressing opposing arguments fairly. As you read arguments, assess the credibility of your sources by looking at how they deal with views not in agree- ment with their own.

Advertising makes use of ethical, logical, and emotional appeals to persuade consumers to buy a product or embrace a brand. This Patagonia ad makes an ethical appeal with its copy that invites customers to rethink their purchasing practices.

a Latin term meaning “to the man.” Associating a prestigious name (Western Trust) with the writer’s side is called transfer. Claiming that an idea should be accepted because a large number of people (the majority of merchants) are in favor is called the bandwagon appeal. Bringing in irrelevant issues (the arrest) is a red herring, named aft er a trick used in fox hunts to mislead the dogs by dragging a smelly fi sh across the trail.

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Judge how fairly a writer handles opposing views 1016c

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Describing the views of others

Some writers and speakers deliberately misrepresent the views of others. One way they do this is by setting up a “straw man,” a character so weak that he is easily knocked down. Th e straw man fallacy consists of an oversimplifi cation or outright dis- tortion of opposing views. For example, in a California debate over attempts to control the mountain lion population, pro-lion groups characterized their opponents as trophy hunters bent on shooting harmless animals. In truth, hunters were only one fac- tion of those who saw a need to control the lion population.

During the District of Columbia’s struggle for voting repre- sentation, some politicians set up a straw man, as shown in the following example.

STRAW MAN FALLACY

Washington, DC, residents are lobbying for statehood. Giving a city such as the District of Columbia the status of a state would be unfair.

Th e straw man wanted statehood. In fact, most DC citizens lobbied for voting representation in any form, not necessarily through statehood.

Quoting opposing views

Writers oft en quote the words of writers who hold opposing views. In general, this is a good idea, for it assures some level of fairness and accuracy. At times, though, both the fairness and the accuracy are an illusion.

A source may be misrepresented when it is quoted out of context. All quotations are to some extent taken out of context, but a fair writer will explain the context to readers. To select a provocative sentence from a source and to ignore the more mod- erate sentences surrounding it is both unfair and misleading. Sometimes a writer deliberately distorts a source through the device of ellipsis dots. Ellipsis dots tell readers that words have been omitted from the original source. When those words are crucial to an author’s meaning, omitting them is obviously un- fair. (See also 39d.)

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Johnson’s History of the American West is riddled with inaccuracies and astonishing in its blatantly racist description of the Indian wars.

— B. R., reviewer

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6c Reading and writing arguments102

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Checklist for reading and evaluating arguments

● What is the writer’s thesis, or central claim? ● Are there any gaps in reasoning? Does the argument contain any

logical fallacies (see 6a)? ● What assumptions does the argument rest on? Are there any

unstated assumptions? ● What appeals — ethical, logical, or emotional — does the writer

make? Are these appeals eff ective? ● What evidence does the writer use? Could there be alternative

interpretations of the evidence? ● How does the writer handle opposing views? ● If you are not persuaded by the writer’s argument, what counter-

arguments could you make to the writer?

EXERCISE 6–1 Explain what is illogical in the following brief argu- ments. It may be helpful to identify the logical fallacy or fallacies by name. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

a. My roommate, who is an engineering major, is taking a course called Structures of Tall Buildings. All engineers have to know how to design tall buildings.

b. If you’re old enough to vote, you’re old enough to drink. Th erefore, the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen.

c. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. d. American students could be outperforming students in schools

around the globe if it weren’t for the outmoded, behind-the-times thinking of many statewide education departments.

e. Charging a fee for curbside trash pickup will encourage everyone to recycle more because no one in my town likes to spend extra money.

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Evaluating an argument > Exercise: 6–2

MISLEADING QUOTATION

Johnson’s History of the American West is “astonishing in its . . . description of the Indian wars.”

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6d When writing arguments, consider purpose and context.

Evaluating the arguments of other writers prepares you to construct your own. When you ask questions about the logic and evidence of the arguments you read, you become more aware of such needs in your own writing. And when you pose objections to arguments, you more readily anticipate and counter objections to your own arguments.

In constructing an argument, you take a stand on a debatable issue. Your purpose is to explain your understanding of the truth about a subject or to propose the best solution to a problem, rea- sonably and logically, without being combative. Your aim is to persuade your readers to reconsider their positions by off ering new reasons to question existing viewpoints.

It’s best to start by informing yourself about the debate or con- versation around a subject — sometimes called its context. If you are planning to write about the subject of off shore drilling, you might want to read sources that shed light on the social context (the concerns of consumers, the ideas of lawmakers, the proposals of environmentalists) and sources that may inform you about the in- tellectual context (scientifi c or theoretical responses by geologists, oceanographers, or economists) in which the debate is played out. Because your readers may be aware of the social and intellectual contexts in which your issue is grounded, you will be at a disadvan- tage if you are not informed. Conduct some research before pre- paring your argument. Consulting even a few sources can help to deepen your understanding of the conversation around the issue.

6e View your audience as a panel of jurors.

Do not assume that your audience already agrees with you. Instead, envision skeptical readers who, like a panel of jurors, will make up their minds aft er listening to all sides of the argument. If you are argu- ing a public policy issue, aim your paper at readers who represent a variety of positions. In the case of a debate over off shore drilling, for example, imagine a jury that represents those who have a stake in the matter: consumers, policymakers, and environmentalists.

At times, you can deliberately narrow your audience. If you are working within a word limit, for example, you might not have the space in which to address the concerns of all interested

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Joining a conversation

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parties. Or you might be primarily interested in reaching just a segment of a larger audience, such as consumers. Once you iden- tify a specifi c audience, it’s helpful to think about what kinds of arguments and evidence will appeal to that audience.

NOTE: Your assignment may require a specifi c audience, or you may be free to identify a broader group of readers. Check with your instructor before you make your case.

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Appealing to your readers

Using ethical, logical, and emotional appeals as a writer

To construct a convincing argument, you must establish your credibil- ity (ethos) and appeal to your readers’ sense of logic and reason (logos) as well as to their values and beliefs (pathos). When using these appeals, make sure they are appropriate for your audience and your argument.

Ethical appeals (ethos)

To accept your argument, a reader must perceive you as trustworthy, fair, and reasonable. When you acknowledge alternative positions, you build common ground with readers and gain their trust by show- ing that you are knowledgeable. And when you use sources respon- sibly (summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting the views of others respectfully), you inspire readers’ confi dence in your judgment.

Logical appeals (logos)

To persuade readers, you need to appeal to their sense of logic and sound reasoning. When you provide suffi cient evidence, you off er readers logical support for your argument. And when you clarify the assumptions that underlie your arguments and avoid logical falla- cies, you appeal to readers’ desire for reason.

Emotional appeals (pathos)

To establish common ground with readers, you need to appeal to their beliefs and values as well as to their minds. When you off er readers vivid examples and illustrations, startling statistics, or com- pelling visuals, you engage readers and deepen their interest in your argument. And when you balance emotional appeals with logical appeals, you highlight the human dimension of an issue to show readers why they should care about your argument.

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Academic English Some cultures value writers who argue with force; other cultures value writers who argue subtly or indirectly. Academic audiences in the United States will expect your writing to be assertive and confident — neither aggressive nor passive. You can create an assertive tone by acknowledging different positions and supporting your ideas with specific evidence.

TOO AGGRESSIVE Of course only registered organ donors should be eligible for organ transplants. It’s selfi sh and shortsighted to think otherwise.

TOO PASSIVE I might be wrong, but I think that maybe people should have to register as organ donors if they want to be considered for a transplant.

ASSERTIVE TONE If only registered organ donors are eligible for transplants, more people will register as donors.

If you are uncertain about the tone of your work, ask for help at your school’s writing center.

6f In your introduction, establish credibility and state your position.

When you are constructing an argument, make sure your intro- duction includes a thesis statement that establishes your position on the issue you have chosen to debate. In the sentences leading up to the thesis, establish your credibility (ethos) with readers by showing that you are knowledgeable and fair-minded. If possible, build common ground (pathos) with readers who may not at fi rst agree with your views, and show them why they should consider your thesis. For advice about writing eff ective thesis statements, see 1c.

In the following introduction, student writer Kevin Smith presents himself as someone worth listening to. Because Smith introduces both sides of the debate, readers are likely to approach his essay with an open mind.

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Although the Supreme Court has ruled against prayer in public schools on First Amendment grounds, many people still feel that prayer should be allowed. Such people value prayer as a practice central to their faith and believe that prayer is a way for schools to reinforce moral principles. Th ey also compellingly point out a paradox in the First Amendment itself: at what point does the separation of church and state restrict the freedom of those who wish to practice their religion? What proponents of school prayer fail to realize, however, is that the Supreme Court’s decision, although it was made on legal grounds, makes sense on religious grounds as well. Prayer is too important to be trusted to our public schools.

— Kevin Smith, student

TIP: A good way to test a thesis while draft ing and revising is to imagine a counterargument to your argument (see 6i). If you can’t think of an opposing point of view, rethink your thesis and ask a classmate or writing center tutor to respond to your argument.

6g Back up your thesis with persuasive lines of argument.

Arguments of any complexity contain lines of argument that, when taken together, might reasonably persuade readers that the thesis has merit. Th e following, for example, are the main lines of argument that student writer Sam Jacobs used in his paper about the shift from print to online news (see pp. 112–17).

CENTRAL CLAIM

Thesis: The shift from print to online news provides unprecedented

opportunities for readers to become more engaged with the news,

to hold journalists accountable, and to participate as producers, not

simply as consumers.

SUPPORTING CLAIMS

• Print news has traditionally had a one-sided relationship with its

readers, delivering information for passive consumption.

• Online news invites readers to participate in a collaborative

process—to question and even contribute to the content.

Smith shows that he is familiar with the legal issues surrounding school prayer.

Smith is fair-minded, presenting the views of both sides.

Thesis builds common ground.

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• Links within news stories provide transparency, allowing readers

to move easily from the main story to original sources, related

articles, or background materials.

• Technology has made it possible for readers to become news

producers—posting text, audio, images, and video of news events.

• Citizen journalists can provide valuable information, sometimes

more quickly than traditional journalists can.

If you sum up your main lines of argument, as Jacobs did, you will have a rough outline of your essay. In your paper, you will provide evidence for each of these claims.

6h Support your claims with specifi c evidence.

You will need to support your central claim and any subordinate claims with evidence: facts, statistics, examples and illustrations, visuals (such as graphs or photos), expert opinion, and so on. Debatable topics require that you consult some written sources to establish your ethos and to persuade your audience. As you read through or view the sources, you will learn more about the argu- ments and counterarguments at the center of your debate.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Whether your sources provide facts or statistics, examples or illustrations, visuals, or expert opinion, remember that you must cite them. Documenting sources gives credit to authors and shows readers how to locate a source in case they want to assess its credibility or explore the issue further. For help citing sources, see 56a and 56b (MLA) and 61a and 61b (APA).

Using facts and statistics

A fact is something that is known with certainty because it has been objectively verifi ed: Th e capital of Wyoming is Cheyenne. Carbon has an atomic weight of 12. John F. Kennedy was assassi- nated on November 22, 1963. Statistics are collections of numeri- cal facts: Alcohol abuse is a factor in nearly 40 percent of traffi c fatalities. More than four in ten businesses in the United States are owned by women.

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Drafting your central claim and supporting claims

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Most arguments are supported, at least to some extent, by facts and statistics. For example, in the following passage the writer uses statistics to show that college students carry unrea- sonably high credit card debt.

A 2009 study by Sallie Mae revealed that undergraduates are carrying record-high credit card balances and are relying on credit cards more than ever, especially in the economic downturn. Th e average credit card debt per college undergraduate is more than three thousand dollars, and three-quarters of undergraduates carry balances and incur fi nance charges each month (Hunter).

Writers oft en use statistics in selective ways to bolster their own positions. If you suspect that a writer’s handling of statistics is not quite fair, track down the original sources for those statis- tics or read authors with opposing views, who may give you a fuller understanding of the numbers.

Using examples and illustrations

Examples and illustrations (extended examples, oft en in story form) rarely prove a point by themselves, but when used in com- bination with other forms of evidence, they fl esh out an argu- ment with details and bring it to life. Because examples are oft en concrete and sometimes vivid, they can reach readers in ways that statistics and abstract ideas cannot.

In a paper arguing that online news provides opportunities for readers that print does not, Sam Jacobs describes how regular citizens using only cell phones and laptops helped save lives dur- ing Hurricane Katrina by sending important updates to the rest of the world.

Citizen reporting made a difference in the wake of Hurricane Katrina

in 2005. Armed with cell phones and laptops, regular citizens

relayed critical news updates in a rapidly developing crisis, often

before traditional journalists were even on the scene.

Using visuals

Visuals — charts, graphs, diagrams, photographs — can support your argument by providing vivid and detailed evidence and by capturing your readers’ attention. Bar or line graphs, for instance, describe and organize complex statistical data; photographs can immediately and evocatively convey abstract ideas. (See pp. 26–27.)

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Anticipate objections; counter opposing arguments 1096i

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As you consider using visual evidence, ask yourself the fol- lowing questions:

• Is the visual accurate, credible, and relevant? • How will the visual appeal to readers: Logically? Ethically?

Emotionally? • How will the visual evidence function? Will it provide

background information? Present complex numerical information or convey an abstract idea? Lend authority? Refute counterarguments?

Citing expert opinion

Although they are no substitute for careful reasoning of your own, the views of an expert can contribute to the force of your argument. For example, to help make the case that print journal- ism has a one-sided relationship with its readers, student writer Sam Jacobs integrates an expert’s key description.

With the rise of the Internet, however, this model has been criticized

by journalists such as Dan Gillmor, founder of the Center for Citizen

Media, who argues that traditional print journalism treats “news as a

lecture,” whereas online news is “more of a conversation” (xxiv).

When you rely on expert opinion, make sure that your source is an expert in the fi eld you are writing about. In some cases, you may need to provide credentials showing why your source is worth listening to, such as listing the person’s position or title alongside his or her name. When including expert testi- mony in your paper, you can summarize or paraphrase the ex- pert’s opinion or you can quote the expert’s exact words. You will, of course, need to document the source, as Jacobs did.

6i Anticipate objections; counter opposing arguments.

Readers who already agree with you need no convincing, but skeptical readers may resist your arguments. To be willing to give up a position that seems reasonable, readers need to see that

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Writing practice: Practicing counterargument

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another position is even more reasonable. In addition to present- ing your own case, therefore, you should consider the opposing arguments and attempt to counter them.

Anticipating and countering objections

To anticipate a possible objection to your argument, consider the following questions.

● Could a reasonable person draw a diff erent conclusion from your facts or examples?

● Might a reader question any of your assumptions or off er an alternative explanation?

● Is there any evidence that might weaken your position? Th e following questions may help you respond to a reader’s

potential objection. ● Can you concede the point to the opposition but challenge the

point’s importance or usefulness? ● Can you explain why readers should consider a new perspective

or question a piece of evidence? ● Should you explain how your position responds to contradictory

evidence? ● Can you suggest a diff erent interpretation of the evidence?

When you write, use phrasing to signal to readers that you’re about to present an objection. Oft en the signal phrase can go in the lead sentence of a paragraph.

Critics of this view argue that . . . Some readers might point out that . . . Researchers challenge these claims by . . .

It might seem at fi rst that drawing attention to an oppos- ing point of view or contradictory evidence would weaken your argument. But by anticipating and countering objections, you show yourself as a reasonable and well-informed writer who has a thorough understanding of the signifi cance of the issue.

Th ere is no best place in an essay to deal with opposing views. Oft en it is useful to summarize the opposing position early in your essay. Aft er stating your thesis, but before developing your own arguments, you might have a paragraph that addresses the most important counterargument. Or you can anticipate objections paragraph by paragraph as you develop your case.

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Wherever you decide to address opposing arguments, you will enhance your credibility if you explain the arguments of others accurately and fairly.

6j Build common ground.

As you counter opposing arguments, try to seek out one or two assumptions you might share with readers who do not initially agree with your views. If you can show that you share their concerns, your readers will be more likely to accept that your argument is valid. For example, to persuade people opposed to controlling the deer population with a regulated hunting season, a state wildlife commission would have to show that it too cares about preserving deer and does not want them to die needlessly. Having established these values in common, the commission might be able to persuade critics that reducing the total number of deer prevents starvation caused by overpopulation.

People believe that intelligence and decency support their side of an argument. To be persuaded, they must see these qualities in your argument. Otherwise, they will persist in their opposition.

6k Sample student writing: Argument

In the paper that begins on the next page, student writer Sam Jacobs argues that the shift from print to online news benefi ts readers by providing them with opportunities to produce news and to think more critically as consumers of news. Notice how he appeals to his readers by presenting opposing views fairly before providing his own arguments.

In writing the paper, Jacobs consulted both print and online sources. When he quotes, summarizes, or paraphrases informa- tion from a source, he cites the source with an MLA (Modern Language Association) in-text citation. Citations in the paper refer readers to the list of works cited at the end of the paper. (For more details about citing sources, see 54.)

A guide to writing an argument essay appears on pages 118–19.

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6 Reading and writing arguments > Sample student writing: Jacobs, “From Lecture to Conversation: Redefi ning What’s

‘Fit to Print’” (argument)

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Jacobs 1

Sam Jacobs

Professor Alperini

English 101

5 November 2013

From Lecture to Conversation:

Redefining What ’s “Fit to Print”

“All the news that ’s fit to print,” the motto of

the New York Times since 1896, plays with the word fit,

asserting that a news story must be newsworthy and must

not exceed the limits of the printed page. The increase

in online news consumption, however, challenges both

meanings of the word fit, allowing producers and consumers

alike to rethink who decides which topics are worth

covering and how extensive that coverage should be. Any

cultural shift usually means that something is lost, but

in this case there are clear gains. The shift from print to

online news provides unprecedented opportunities for

readers to become more engaged with the news, to hold

journalists accountable, and to participate as producers, not

simply as consumers.

Guided by journalism’s code of ethics—accuracy,

objectivity, and fairness—print news reporters have

gathered and delivered stories according to what editors

decide is fit for their readers. Except for op-ed pages and

letters to the editor, print news has traditionally had a one-

sided relationship with its readers. The print news media’s

reputation for objective reporting has been held up as “a

stop sign” for readers, sending a clear message that no

further inquiry is necessary (Weinberger). With the rise of

the Internet, however, this model has been criticized by

journalists such as Dan Gillmor, founder of the Center for

Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.

In his opening sentences, Jacobs provides background for his thesis.

Thesis states the main point.

Jacobs does not need a citation for common knowledge.

Source is cited in MLA style.

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1136kSample argument paper

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Jacobs 2

Citizen Media, who argues that traditional print journalism

treats “news as a lecture,” whereas online news is “more of

a conversation” (xxiv). Print news arrives on the doorstep

every morning as a fully formed lecture, a product created

without participation from its readership. By contrast,

online news invites readers to participate in a collaborative

process—to question and even help produce the content.

One of the most important advantages online news

offers over print news is the presence of built-in hyperlinks,

which carry readers from one electronic document to

another. If readers are curious about the definition of a

term, the roots of a story, or other perspectives on a topic,

links provide a path. Links help readers become more critical

consumers of information by engaging them in a totally new

way. For instance, the link embedded in the story “Credit-

Shy: Younger Generation Is More Likely to Stick to a Cash-

Only Policy” (Sapin) allows readers to find out more about

the financial trends of young adults and provides statistics

that confirm the article’s accuracy (see fig. 1). Other

links in the article widen the conversation. These kinds of

links give readers the opportunity to conduct their own

evaluation of the evidence and verify the journalist’s claims.

Links provide a kind of transparency impossible in

print because they allow readers to see through online

news to the “sources, disagreements, and the personal

assumptions and values” that may have influenced a news

story (Weinberger). The International Center for Media and

the Public Agenda underscores the importance of news

organizations letting “customers in on the often tightly

held little secrets of journalism.” To do so, they suggest,

will lead to “accountability and accountability leads to

Jacobs clarifi es key terms (transparency and accountability).

Transition moves from Jacobs’s main argument to specifi c examples.

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6k Reading and writing arguments114

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Jacobs 3

credibility” (“Openness”). These tools alone don’t guarantee

that news producers will be responsible and trustworthy, but

they encourage an open and transparent environment that

benefits news consumers.

Not only has technology allowed readers to become

more critical news consumers, but it also has helped some

to become news producers. The Web gives ordinary people

the power to report on the day’s events. Anyone with an

Internet connection can publish on blogs and Web sites,

engage in online discussion forums, and contribute video

and audio recordings. Citizen journalists with laptops, cell

phones, and digital camcorders have become news producers

alongside large news organizations.

Not everyone embraces the spread of unregulated

news reporting online. Critics point out that citizen

journalists are not necessarily trained to be fair or ethical,

for example, nor are they subject to editorial oversight.

Acknowledging that citizen reporting is more immediate

and experimental, critics also question its accuracy and

accountability: “While it has its place . . . it really isn’t

journalism at all, and it opens up information flow to the

strong probability of fraud and abuse. . . . Information

without journalistic standards is called gossip,” writes

David Hazinski in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (23A).

In his book Losing the News, media specialist Alex S.

Jones argues that what passes for news today is in fact

“pseudo news” and is “far less reliable” than traditional

print news (27). Even a supporter like Gillmor is willing

to agree that citizen journalists are “nonexperts,” but

he argues that they are “using technology to make a

profound contribution, and a real difference” (140).

Jacobs develops the thesis.

Opposing views are presented fairly.

Jacobs counters opposing arguments.

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1156kSample argument paper

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Jacobs 4

Citizen reporting made a difference in the wake

of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Armed with cell phones

and laptops, regular citizens relayed critical news updates

in a rapidly developing crisis, often before traditional

journalists were even on the scene. In 2006, the enormous

A vivid example helps Jacobs make his point.

$15,473

$30,070

$21,912

$32,543

Younger than 35

35 and older

2010 2007

29% decline

8% decline

Percent change

Young Adults After the Recession: Fewer Homes, Fewer Cars, Less Debt By Richard Fry

OVERVIEW

After running up record debt-to-income ratios during the bubble economy of the 2000s, young adults shed substantially more debt than older adults did during the Great Recession and its immediate aftermath— mainly by virtue of owning fewer houses and cars, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of

Median Total Debt of Households, by Age of Head, 2007 and 2010 in 2011 dollars

Note: The median is calculated among all households, including those without any debt.

Source: Pew Research Center tabulations of Survey of Consumer Finances data

PEW RESEARCH CENTER

Fig. 1. Links embedded in online news articles allow readers

to move from the main story to original sources, related

articles, or background materials. The link in this online

article (Sapin) points to a statistical report by the Pew

Research Center, the original source of the author’s data on

young adults’ spending practices.

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Jacobs 5

contributions of citizen journalists were recognized when

the New Orleans Times-Picayune received the Pulitzer

Prize in public service for its online coverage—largely

citizen-generated—of Hurricane Katrina. In recognizing

the paper’s “meritorious public service,” the Pulitzer

Prize board credited the newspaper’s blog for “heroic,

multi-faceted coverage of [the storm] and its aftermath”

(“2006 Pulitzer”). Writing for the Online Journalism

Review, Mark Glaser emphasizes the role that blog

updates played in saving storm victims’ lives. Further,

he calls the Times-Picayune’s partnership with citizen

journalists a “watershed for online journalism.”

The Internet has enabled consumers to participate

in a new way in reading, questioning, interpreting, and

reporting the news. Decisions about appropriate content

and coverage are no longer exclusively in the hands of

news editors. Ordinary citizens now have a meaningful

voice in the conversation—a hand in deciding what’s “fit

to print.” Some skeptics worry about the apparent free-

for-all and loss of tradition. But the expanding definition

of news provides opportunities for consumers to be more

engaged with events in their communities, their nations,

and the world.

Jacobs uses specifi c evidence for support.

Conclusion echoes the thesis without repeating it.

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Jacobs 6

Works Cited

Gillmor, Dan. We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the

People, for the People. Sebastopol: O’Reilly, 2006.

Print.

Glaser, Mark. “NOLA.com Blogs and Forums Help Save Lives

after Katrina.” OJR: The Online Journalism Review.

Knight Digital Media Center, 13 Sept. 2005. Web. 23

Oct. 2013.

Hazinski, David. “Unfettered ‘Citizen Journalism’ Too Risky.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution 13 Dec. 2007: 23A.

General OneFile. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

Jones, Alex S. Losing the News: The Future of the News That

Feeds Democracy. New York: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.

“Openness and Accountability: A Study of Transparency in

Global Media Outlets.” ICMPA: International Center for

Media and the Public Agenda. Intl. Center for Media

and the Public Agenda, 2006. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

Sapin, Rachel. “Credit-Shy: Younger Generation Is More

Likely to Stick to a Cash-Only Policy.” Denverpost.com.

Denver Post, 26 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.

“The 2006 Pulitzer Prize Winners: Public Service.” The

Pulitzer Prizes. Columbia U, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.

Weinberger, David. “Transparency Is the New Objectivity.”

Joho the Blog. David Weinberger, 19 July 2009. Web.

22 Oct. 2013.

Works cited page uses MLA style.

List is alphabetized by authors’ last names (or by title when a work has no author).

Abbreviation “n.d.” indicates that the online source has no update date.

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http://www.NOLA.com

http://www.Denverpost.com

118

Writing guide | Argument essay Composing an argument gives you the opportunity to take a position on a debatable issue. You say to your readers: “Here is my position, here is the evidence that supports the position, and here is my response to other positions on the issue.” A sample argument essay begins on page 112.

Key features

● A thesis, stated as a clear position on a debatable issue, frames an argument essay. Th e issue is debatable because reasonable people disagree about it.

● An examination of the issue’s context indicates why the issue is important, why readers should care about it, or how your position fi ts into the debates surrounding the topic.

● Suffi cient, representative, and relevant evidence supports the argument’s claims. Evidence needs to be specifi c and persuasive; quoted, summarized, or paraphrased fairly and accurately; and cited correctly.

● Opposing positions are summarized and countered. By anticipating and countering objections to your position, you establish common ground with readers and show yourself as a reasonable and well- informed writer.

Writing your argument

EXPLORE

Generate ideas by brainstorming responses to questions such as the following.

● What is the debate around your issue? What sources will help you learn more about your issue?

● What position will you take? Why does your position need to be argued?

● What evidence supports your position? What evidence makes you question your position?

● What types of appeals — ethos, logos, pathos — might you use to persuade readers? How will you build common ground with your readers?

● Might a reader question any of your assumptions or off er an alternative perspective? If so, how might you anticipate and counter objections to your position?

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119

DRAFT

Try to fi gure out the best way to structure your argument. A typical outline might include the following steps: Capture readers’ attention; state your position; give background information; outline your major claims with specifi c evidence; recognize and respond to opposing points of view; and end by reinforcing your point and why it matters.

As you draft , think about the best order for your claims. You could organize by strength, building to your strongest argument (instead of starting with your strongest), or by concerns your audience might have.

REVISE

Ask your reviewers for specifi c feedback. Here are some questions to guide their comments.

● Is the thesis clear? Is the issue debatable? ● Is the evidence persuasive? Is more needed? ● Is your argument organized logically? ● Are there any fl aws in your reasoning or assumptions that weaken

the argument? ● Have you presented yourself as a knowledgeable, trustworthy

writer? ● Does the conclusion pull together your entire argument? How

might the conclusion be more eff ective?

7 Speaking confi dently Speaking and writing draw on many of the same skills. Eff ective speakers, like eff ective writers, identify their purpose, audience, and context. Th ey project themselves as informed and reason- able, establish common ground with listeners, and use specifi c, memorable language and techniques to capture their audience’s attention.

In many college classes, you’ll be assigned to give oral presen- tations. Th e more comfortable you become speaking in diff erent settings, the easier it will be when you give a formal presentation.

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7a Speaking confi dently120

You can develop informal speaking skills by contributing to class discussions, responding to the comments of fellow students, and playing an active role in team-based learning.

7a Identify your purpose, audience, and context.

In planning your presentation, strategize a bit: Identify your pur- pose (reason) for speaking; your audience (listeners); and the context (situation) in which you will speak.

PURPOSE Begin by asking: Why am I speaking? What is my goal? Possible goals might include the following: to inform, persuade, evaluate, recommend, and call to action.

AUDIENCE Eff ective speakers identify the expectations of their audience and shape their material to these expectations. Assess what your audience may already know and believe, what objections you might need to anticipate, and how you might interact with your listeners.

CONTEXT Ask: What is the situation for my speech? An assignment for a course? Th e presentation of a group project? A community meeting? And how much time do I have to speak? Th e answers to these questions will help you shape the presentation for your particular speaking situation.

7b Prepare a presentation.

Knowing your subject

You need to know your subject well in order to talk about it confi dently. Although you can’t pack too much material into a short speech, you need to speak knowledgeably to engage your audience. In preparing your speech, do some research to collect evidence — facts, statistics, visuals, expert testimony — that will support your points.

Developing a clear structure

A good presentation is easily followed because it has a clear beginning, middle, and end. In your introduction, forecast the purpose and structure of your presentation and the question

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Prepare a presentation 1217b

or problem you are addressing so your audience can anticipate where you are going. Organize the body of an informative speech to help your audience remember key points of information, and conclude your presentation by giving listeners a sense of comple- tion. Restate the key points, and borrow an image or phrasing from your opening to make the speech come full circle.

Using signposts and repetition

As you speak, use signpost language to remind the audience of your purpose and key points. Signposts guide listeners — “Th e shift to online news has three important benefi ts for consumers” — and help them to understand the transition from one point to the next — “Th e second benefi t is. . . .” By repeating phrases, you emphasize the importance of key points and help listeners remember them.

Writing for the ear, not the eye

Use an engaging, lively style so that the audience will enjoy lis- tening to you. Be sure to use straightforward spoken language that’s easy on the ear, not too complicated or too abstract. Keep your sentences short and direct so that listeners can easily follow your presentation.

Integrating sources with signal language

If you are using sources, do so responsibly. As you speak, be sure to acknowledge your sources with signal phrases (“According to New York Times columnist David Brooks . . .”). If you have slides, signal phrases or citations can be included on the slides.

Using multimedia purposefully

Well-chosen visuals or audio can enhance your presentation and add variety. A photograph might highlight an environmental problem, a line graph can quickly show a trend over time, and a brief video clip can off er visual evidence to capture listeners’ attention. Multimedia elements can convey information power- fully, but always consider how they support your purpose and how your audience will respond.

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7c Speaking confi dently122

7c Focus on delivery.

Establishing a relationship

If you give an audience your full attention, they will return it. Before delivering your speech, make steady eye contact with your listeners, introduce yourself, and help your audience connect with you.

Starting strong and ending strong

Beginnings and endings of speeches are critical to gain and hold an audience’s attention. Plan your opening strategy: Will you pose a question and ask for a show of hands? Will you tell a brief personal story? End strong by looking directly at your audience as you review your key points. Finish by thanking your audience and inviting questions.

Boosting your confi dence

Eff ective speaking starts with a good script and a clear message. However, pay attention to additional details that will boost your confi dence and strengthen your presentation:

• Dress for the occasion. • Make eye contact; use body language and hand gestures to

emphasize points. • Practice, practice, practice. Speak out loud in front of a

mirror or a friend, and practice using visual aids. • Time your rehearsal. • Know the setting in which you’ll deliver your talk.

NOTE: Speakers have the main role in presentations, but audience members have important roles, too. Speakers need encourage- ment, so look at the speaker, make eye contact, and be ready with a question about an interesting or surprising point.

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7 Speaking confi dently > Writing practice: Focusing on your delivery > Writing practice: Learning from another speaker (persuasive speech) > Writing practice: Learning from another speaker (informative speech)

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Remix an essay for a presentation 1237d

7d Remix an essay for a presentation.

You may be assigned to adapt an essay that you have already writ- ten for delivery to a listening audience. Student writer Sam Jacobs revised his essay as he prepared a speaking script. Compare the fi rst paragraph of Jacob’s essay (p. 112) with the opening lines for his presentation below.

Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Sam Jacobs.

Today I want to explore this question: How do

consumers benefit from reading news online?

But first let me have a quick show of hands:

How many of you read news online? If you

answered yes, you are part of the 71% of young

Americans, ages 18 to 29, who read their news

online, according to the Pew Center. We’ve grown

up in a digital generation, consuming news on

every possible mobile device, especially our cell

phones. Most of us don’t miss the newspaper

arriving on the doorstep every morning. And

because we expect to read news online, we take

it for granted. But if we take it for granted,

we might miss the benefits of participating as

producers of news, not simply as consumers. The

three benefits I want to explore are . . .

Friendly opening establishes a relationship with the audience.

Jacobs starts with his key question and engages the audience immediately.

Jacobs uses a source responsibly and integrates it well.

Establishes common ground with the audience.

Jacobs repeats words and phrases for emphasis and uses signposts to make it easier for his listeners to follow his ideas.

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7 Speaking confi dently > Writing practice: Remixing an essay for an oral presentation

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Clarity

8 Prefer active verbs. 126

9 Balance parallel ideas. 129

10 Add needed words. 133

11 Untangle mixed constructions. 137

12 Repair misplaced and dangling modifi ers. 140

13 Eliminate distracting shifts. 147

14 Emphasize key ideas. 152

15 Provide some variety. 163

16 Tighten wordy sentences. 166

17 Choose appropriate language. 170

18 Find the exact words. 180

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126

8 Prefer active verbs. As a rule, choose an active verb and pair it with a subject that names the person or thing doing the action. Active verbs express meaning more emphatically and vigorously than their weaker counterparts — verbs in the passive voice or forms of the verb be.

PASSIVE Th e pumps were destroyed by a surge of power. BE VERB A surge of power was responsible for the destruction of

the pumps. ACTIVE A surge of power destroyed the pumps.

Verbs in the passive voice lack strength because their subjects receive the action instead of doing it. Forms of the verb be (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) lack vigor because they convey no action.

Although passive verbs and the forms of be have legitimate uses, choose an active verb whenever possible. Even among ac- tive verbs, some are more vigorous and colorful than others. Carefully selected verbs can energize a piece of writing.

▶ Th e goalie crouched low, reached out his stick, and sent the

rebound away from the mouth of the net.

Academic English Although you may be tempted to avoid the passive voice completely, keep in mind that some writing situations call for it, especially scientifi c writing. For appropriate uses of the passive voice, see page 127; for advice about forming the passive voice, see 28b and 47c.

8a Use the active voice unless you have a good reason for choosing the passive.

In the active voice, the subject does the action; in the passive voice, the subject receives the action (see also 47c). Although both voices are grammatically correct, the active voice is usually more eff ective because it is clearer and more direct.

swept

hooked

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127

active

8bActive vs. be verbs

ACTIVE Hernando caught the fl y ball. PASSIVE Th e fl y ball was caught by Hernando.

Passive sentences oft en identify the actor in a by phrase, as in the preceding example. Sometimes, however, that phrase is omitted, and who or what is responsible for the action becomes unclear: Th e fl y ball was caught.

Most of the time, you will want to emphasize the actor, so you should use the active voice. To replace a passive verb with an active one, make the actor the subject of the sentence.

▶ Th e land was stripped of timber before the settlers realized the

consequences of their actions.

Th e revision emphasizes the actors (settlers) by naming them in the subject.

Appropriate uses of the passive

Th e passive voice is appropriate if you want to emphasize the receiver of the action or to minimize the importance of the actor.

APPROPRIATE

PASSIVE

Many Hawaiians were forced to leave their homes aft er the earthquake.

APPROPRIATE

PASSIVE

Near harvest time, the tobacco plants are sprayed with a chemical to slow the growth of suckers.

Th e writer of the fi rst sentence wished to emphasize the receiver of the action, Hawaiians. Th e writer of the second sentence wished to focus on the tobacco plants, not on the people spraying them.

In much scientifi c writing, the passive voice properly empha- sizes the experiment or process being described, not the researcher. Check with your instructor for the preference in your discipline.

8b Replace be verbs that result in dull or wordy sentences.

Not every be verb needs replacing. Th e forms of be (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been) work well when you want to link a subject to a noun that clearly renames it or to an adjective that describes it: Orchard House was the home of Louisa May Alcott. Th e harvest will be bountiful aft er the summer rains.

The sett lers stripped the land of timber before realizing

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active

8c128 Active verbs

Be verbs also are essential as helping verbs before present participles (is fl ying, are disappearing) to express ongoing action: Derrick was fi ghting the fi re when his wife went into labor. (See 27f.)

If using a be verb makes a sentence needlessly dull and wordy, however, consider replacing it. Oft en a phrase following the verb contains a noun or an adjective (such as violation, resistant) that suggests a more vigorous, active verb (violate, resist).

▶ Burying nuclear waste in Antarctica would be in violation of an

international treaty.

Violate is less wordy and more vigorous than be in violation of.

▶ When Rosa Parks was resistant to giving up her seat on the bus,

she became a civil rights hero.

Resisted is stronger than was resistant to.

8c As a rule, choose a subject that names the person or thing doing the action.

In weak, unemphatic prose, both the actor and the action may be buried in sentence elements other than the subject and the verb. In the following weak sentence, for example, both the actor and the action appear in prepositional phrases, word groups that do not receive much attention from readers.

WEAK Th e institution of the New Deal had the eff ect of reversing some of the economic inequalities of the Great Depression.

EMPHATIC Th e New Deal reversed some of the economic inequalities of the Great Depression.

Consider the subjects and verbs of the two versions — institution had versus New Deal reversed. Th e second version expresses the writer’s point more emphatically.

▶ Th e use of pure oxygen can cause healing in wounds that are

otherwise untreatable.

In the original sentence, the subject and verb — use can cause — express the point blandly. Pure oxygen can heal makes the point more emphatically and directly.

violate

resisted

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1299Parallelism

EXERCISE 8–1 Revise unemphatic sentences by replacing passive verbs or be verbs with active alternatives. You may need to name in the subject the person or thing doing the action. If a sentence is emphatic, do not change it. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e campfi re was doused by the ranger before we were given a

ticket for unauthorized use of a campsite.

a. Th e Prussians were victorious over the Saxons in 1745. b. Th e entire operation is managed by Ahmed, the producer. c. Th e sea kayaks were expertly paddled by the tour guides. d. At the crack of rocket and mortar blasts, I jumped from the top

bunk and landed on my buddy below, who was crawling on the fl oor looking for his boots.

e. Th ere were shouting protesters on the courthouse steps.

9 Balance parallel ideas. If two or more ideas are parallel, they are easier to grasp when ex- pressed in parallel grammatical form. Single words should be bal- anced with single words, phrases with phrases, clauses with clauses.

A kiss can be a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation

point. — Mistinguett

Th is novel is not to be tossed lightly aside, but to be hurled

with great force. — Dorothy Parker

In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste,

swim with the current. — Th omas Jeff erson

Writers oft en use parallelism to create emphasis. (See 14f.)

The ranger doused the campfi re before giving us

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9a130

Parallelism

9a Balance parallel ideas in a series.

Readers expect items in a series to appear in parallel grammatical form. When one or more of the items violate readers’ expecta- tions, a sentence will be needlessly awkward.

▶ Children who study music also learn confi dence, discipline,

and they are creative.

Th e revision presents all the items in the series as nouns: confi dence, discipline, and creativity.

▶ Impressionist painters believed in focusing on ordinary subjects,

capturing the eff ects of light on those subjects, and to use short

brushstrokes.

Th e revision uses -ing forms for all the items in the series: focusing, capturing, and using.

▶ Racing to get to work on time, Sam drove down the middle

of the road, ran one red light, and two stop signs.

Th e revision adds a verb to make the three items parallel: drove, ran, and ignored.

In headings and lists, aim for as much parallelism as the con- tent allows.

9b Balance parallel ideas presented as pairs.

When pairing ideas, underscore their connection by expressing them in similar grammatical form. Paired ideas are usually con- nected in one of these ways:

• with a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or or

• with a pair of correlative conjunctions such as either . . . or or not only . . . but also

• with a word introducing a comparison, usually than or as

creativity.

using

ignored

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1319bParallel ideas as pairs

Parallel ideas linked with coordinating conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet) link ideas of equal importance. When those ideas are closely parallel in content, they should be expressed in parallel grammatical form.

▶ Emily Dickinson’s poetry features the use of dashes and

capitalizing common words.

Th e revision balances the nouns use and capitalization.

▶ Many states are reducing property taxes for home owners and

extend tax credits to renters.

Th e revision balances the verb reducing with the verb extending.

Parallel ideas linked with correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions come in pairs: either . . . or, neither . . . nor, not only . . . but also, both . . . and, whether . . . or. Make sure that the grammatical structure following the second half of the pair is the same as that following the fi rst half.

▶ Th omas Edison was not only a prolifi c inventor but also was a

successful entrepreneur.

Th e words a prolifi c inventor follow not only, so a successful entrepreneur should follow but also. Repeating was creates an unbalanced eff ect.

▶ Th e clerk told me either to change my fl ight or take the train.

To change my fl ight, which follows either, should be balanced with to take the train, which follows or.

Comparisons linked with than or as

In comparisons linked with than or as, the elements being com- pared should be expressed in parallel grammatical structure.

▶ It is easier to speak in abstractions than grounding one’s

thoughts in reality.

To speak is balanced with to ground.

the capitalization of

extending

to ground

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9c132

Parallelism

Comparisons should also be logical and complete. (See 10c.)

▶ In Pueblo culture, according to Silko, to write down the stories of

a tribe is not the same as “keeping track of all the stories” (290).

When you are quoting from a source, parallel grammatical structure — such as writing . . . keeping — helps create continuity between your sentence and the words from the source. (See 56a on citing sources in MLA style.)

9c Repeat function words to clarify parallels.

Function words such as prepositions (by, to) and subordinating conjunctions (that, because) signal the grammatical nature of the word groups to follow. Although you can sometimes omit them, be sure to include them whenever they signal parallel structures that readers might otherwise miss.

▶ Our study revealed that left -handed students were more likely

to have trouble with classroom desks and rearranging desks for

exam periods was useful.

A second subordinating conjunction helps readers sort out the two parallel ideas: that left -handed students have trouble with classroom desks and that rearranging desks was useful.

EXERCISE 9–1 Edit the following sentences to correct faulty parallel- ism. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Rowena began her workday by pouring a cup of coff ee and

checked her e-mail.

a. Police dogs are used for fi nding lost children, tracking criminals, and the detection of bombs and illegal drugs.

writing

that

checking

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13310aCompound structures

add

b. Hannah told her rock-climbing partner that she bought a new harness and of her desire to climb Otter Cliff s.

c. It is more diffi cult to sustain an exercise program than starting one. d. During basic training, I was not only told what to do but also what

to think. e. Jan wanted to drive to the wine country or at least Sausalito.

10 Add needed words. Sometimes writers leave out words intentionally, and the mean- ing of the sentence is not aff ected. But leaving out words can occasionally cause confusion for readers or make the sentence ungrammatical. Readers need to see at a glance how the parts of a sentence are connected.

Languages sometimes diff er in the need for certain words. In par- ticular, be alert for missing articles, verbs, subjects, or expletives. See 29, 30a, and 30b.

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10a Add words needed to complete compound structures.

In compound structures, words are oft en left out for economy: Tom is a man who means what he says and [who] says what he means. Such omissions are acceptable as long as the omitted words are common to both parts of the compound structure.

If a sentence defi es grammar or idiom because an omitted word is not common to both parts of the compound structure, the simplest solution is to put the word back in.

▶ Advertisers target customers whom they identify through

demographic research or have purchased their product in the past.

Th e word who must be included because whom . . . have purchased is not grammatically correct.

who

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10b134

add

Needed words

▶ Mayor Davis never has and never will accept a bribe.

Has . . . accept is not grammatically correct.

▶ Many South Pacifi c islanders still believe and live by ancient laws.

Believe . . . by is not idiomatic in English. (For a list of common idioms, see 18d.)

NOTE: Even when the omitted word is common to both parts of the compound structure, occasionally it must be inserted to avoid ambiguity.

My favorite professor and mentor infl uenced my choice of a career. [Professor and mentor are the same person.] My favorite professor and my mentor infl uenced my choice of a career. [Professor and mentor are two diff erent people; my must be repeated.]

10b Add the word that if there is any danger of misreading without it.

If there is no danger of misreading, the word that may be omitted when it introduces a subordinate clause. Th e value of a principle is the number of things [that] it will explain. When a sentence might be misread without that, however, include the word.

▶ In his famous obedience experiments, psychologist Stanley

Milgram discovered ordinary people were willing to infl ict

physical pain on strangers.

Milgram didn’t discover ordinary people; he discovered that ordinary people were willing to infl ict pain on strangers. Th e word that tells readers to expect a clause, not just ordinary people, as the direct object of discovered.

10c Add words needed to make comparisons logical and complete.

Comparisons should be made between items that are alike. To compare unlike items is illogical and distracting.

accepted

that

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13510cComparisons

add

▶ Th e forests of North America are much more extensive than

Europe.

Forests must be compared with forests, not with all of Europe.

▶ Some say that Ella Fitzgerald’s renditions of Cole Porter’s

songs are better than any other singer.

Ella Fitzgerald’s renditions cannot logically be compared with a singer. Th e revision uses the possessive form singer’s, with the word renditions being implied.

Sometimes the word other must be inserted to make a com- parison logical.

▶ Jupiter is larger than any planet in our solar system.

Jupiter is a planet, and it cannot be larger than itself.

Sometimes the word as must be inserted to make a compari- son grammatically complete.

▶ Th e city of Lowell is as old, if not older than, the neighboring

city of Lawrence.

Th e construction as old is not complete without a second as: as old as . . . the neighboring city of Lawrence.

Comparisons should be complete enough to ensure clarity. Th e reader should understand what is being compared.

INCOMPLETE Brand X is less salty. COMPLETE Brand X is less salty than Brand Y.

Finally, comparisons should leave no ambiguity for readers. If more than one interpretation is possible, revise the sentence to state clearly which interpretation you intend. In the following ambiguous sentence, two interpretations are possible.

AMBIGUOUS Ken helped me more than my roommate. CLEAR Ken helped me more than he helped my roommate. CLEAR Ken helped me more than my roommate did.

those of

singer’s.

other

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10d136

add

Needed words

10d Add the articles a, an, and the where necessary for grammatical completeness.

It is not always necessary to repeat articles with paired items: We bought a computer and printer. However, if one of the items requires a and the other requires an, both articles must be included.

▶ We bought a computer and antivirus program.

Articles are sometimes omitted in recipes and other instruc- tions that are meant to be followed while they are being read. In nearly all other forms of writing, whether formal or informal, such omissions are inappropriate.

Choosing and using articles can be challenging for multi lingual writers. See 29.

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EXERCISE 10–1 Add any words needed for grammatical or logical completeness in the following sentences. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e offi cer feared the prisoner would escape.

a. A grapefruit or orange is a good source of vitamin C. b. Th e women entering the military academy can expect haircuts

as short as the male cadets. c. Looking out the family room window, Sarah saw her favorite tree,

which she had climbed as a child, was gone. d. Th e graphic designers are interested and knowledgeable about

producing posters for the balloon race. e. Th e Great Barrier Reef is larger than any coral reef in the

world.

that

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137

11 Untangle mixed constructions. A mixed construction contains sentence parts that do not sensi- bly fi t together. Th e mismatch may be a matter of grammar or of logic.

11a Untangle the grammatical structure.

Once you begin a sentence, your choices are limited by the range of grammatical patterns in English. (See 47 and 48.) You cannot begin with one grammatical plan and switch without warning to another. Oft en you must rethink the purpose of the sentence and revise.

MIXED For most drivers who have a blood alcohol content of .05 percent double their risk of causing an accident.

Th e writer begins the sentence with a long prepositional phrase and makes it the subject of the verb double. But a prepositional phrase can serve only as a modifi er; it cannot be the subject of a sentence.

REVISED For most drivers who have a blood alcohol content of .05 percent, the risk of causing an accident is doubled.

REVISED Most drivers who have a blood alcohol content of .05 percent double their risk of causing an accident.

In the fi rst revision, the writer begins with the prepositional phrase and fi nishes the sentence with a proper subject and verb (risk . . . is doubled). In the second revision, the writer stays with the original verb (double) and heads into the sentence another way, making drivers the subject of double.

▶ When the country elects a president is the most important

responsibility in a democracy.

Th e adverb clause When the country elects a president cannot serve as the subject of the verb is. Th e revision replaces the adverb clause with a gerund phrase, a word group that can function as a subject. (See 48b and 48e.)

Electing

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11b138

mix

Mixed constructions

▶ Although the United States is a wealthy nation, but more than

20 percent of our children live in poverty.

Th e coordinating conjunction but cannot link a subordinate clause (Although the United States . . .) with an independent clause (more than 20 percent of our children live in poverty).

Occasionally a mixed construction is so tangled that it de- fi es grammatical analysis. When this happens, back away from the sentence, rethink what you want to say, and then rewrite the sentence.

MIXED In the whole-word method, children learn to recognize entire words rather than by the phonics method in which they learn to sound out letters and groups of letters.

REVISED Th e whole-word method teaches children to recognize entire words; the phonics method teaches them to sound out letters and groups of letters.

English does not allow double subjects, nor does it allow an object or an adverb to be repeated in an adjective clause. Unlike some other languages, English does not allow a noun and a pronoun to be repeated in a sentence if they have the same grammatical function. See 30c and 30d.

▶ My father he moved to Peru before he met my mother.

▶ Th e fi nal exam I should really study for it to pass the course.

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n gu

a l

the fi nal exam

11b Straighten out the logical connections.

Th e subject and the predicate (the verb and its modifi ers) should make sense together; when they don’t, the error is known as faulty predication.

▶ Th e court decided that Tiff any’s welfare would not be safe living

with her abusive parents.

Tiff any, not her welfare, may not be safe.

Tiff any

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13911cis when, is where, reason . . . is because

mix

▶ Under the revised plan, the elderly, who now receive a double

personal exemption, will be abolished.

Th e exemption, not the elderly, will be abolished.

An appositive is a noun that renames a nearby noun. When an appositive and the noun it renames are not logically equiva- lent, the error is known as faulty apposition. (See 48c.)

▶ Th e tax accountant, a very lucrative profession, requires

intelligence, patience, and attention to mathematical detail.

Th e tax accountant is a person, not a profession.

11c Avoid is when, is where, and reason . . . is because constructions.

In formal English, many readers object to is when, is where, and reason . . . is because constructions on either grammatical or logi- cal grounds.

Grammatically, the verb is (as well as are, was, and were) should be followed by a noun that renames the subject or by an adjective that describes the subject, not by an adverb clause beginning with when, where, or because. (See 48b and 48e.) Logically, the words when, where, or because suggest relations of time, place, and cause—relations that do not always make sense with is, are, was, or were.

▶ Th e reason the experiment failed is because conditions in the lab

were not sterile.

Th e writer might have changed because to that (Th e reason the experiment failed is that conditions in the lab were not sterile), but the preceding revision is more concise.

▶ Anorexia nervosa is where people think they are too fat and diet

to the point of starvation.

Where refers to places. Anorexia nervosa is a disorder, not a place.

double personal exemption for the

Tax accounting,

a disorder suff ered by people who

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140 12

mm/dm

Misplaced and dangling modifi ers

EXERCISE 11–1 Edit the following sentences to untangle mixed con- structions. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

By taking the oath of allegiance made Ling a US citizen.

a. Using surgical gloves is a precaution now worn by dentists to prevent contact with patients’ blood and saliva.

b. A physician, the career my brother is pursuing, requires at least ten years of challenging work.

c. Th e reason the pharaohs had bad teeth was because tiny particles of sand found their way into Egyptian bread.

d. Recurring bouts of fl u among team members set a record for num- ber of games forfeited.

e. In this box contains the key to your future.

12 Repair misplaced and dangling modifi ers. Modifi ers, whether they are single words, phrases, or clauses, should point clearly to the words they modify. As a rule, related words should be kept together.

12a Put limiting modifi ers in front of the words they modify.

Limiting modifi ers such as only, even, almost, nearly, and just should appear in front of a verb only if they modify the verb: At fi rst, I couldn’t even touch my toes, much less grasp them. If they limit the meaning of some other word in the sentence, they should be placed in front of that word.

▶ Th e literature reveals that students only learn new vocabulary

words when they are encouraged to read.

Only limits the meaning of the when clause.

Taking

only

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14112bMisplaced phrases and clauses

mm/dm

▶ If you just interview chemistry majors, your picture of the student

body’s response to the new grading policies will be incomplete.

Th e adverb just limits the meaning of chemistry majors, not interview.

When the limiting modifi er not is misplaced, the sentence usually suggests a meaning the writer did not intend.

▶ In the United States in 1860, all black southerners were not slaves.

Th e original sentence says that no black southerners were slaves. Th e revision makes the writer’s real meaning clear: Some (but not all) black southerners were slaves.

12b Place phrases and clauses so that readers can see at a glance what they modify.

Although phrases and clauses can appear at some distance from the words they modify, make sure your meaning is clear. When phrases or clauses are oddly placed, absurd misreadings can result.

MISPLACED Th e soccer player returned to the clinic where he had undergone emergency surgery in 2004 in a limousine sent by Adidas.

REVISED Traveling in a limousine sent by Adidas, the soccer player returned to the clinic where he had undergone emergency surgery in 2004.

Th e revision corrects the false impression that the soccer player underwent emergency surgery in a limousine.

▶ Th ere are many pictures of comedians who have performed at

Gavin’s on the walls.

Th e comedians weren’t performing on the walls; the pictures were on the walls.

▶ Th e robber was described as a six-foot-tall man with a heavy

mustache weighing 170 pounds.

Th e robber, not the mustache, weighed 170 pounds.

just

not

On the walls

̂ .

170-pound,

̂ .

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Misplaced and dangling modifi ers

Occasionally the placement of a modifi er leads to an ambiguity — a squinting modifi er. In such a case, two revisions will be possible, depending on the writer’s intended meaning.

AMBIGUOUS Th e exchange students we met for coff ee occasionally questioned us about our latest slang.

CLEAR Th e exchange students we occasionally met for coff ee questioned us about our latest slang.

CLEAR Th e exchange students we met for coff ee questioned us occasionally about our latest slang.

In the original version, it was not clear whether the meeting or the questioning happened occasionally. Both revisions eliminate the ambiguity.

12c Move awkwardly placed modifi ers.

As a rule, a sentence should fl ow from subject to verb to object, without lengthy detours along the way. When a long adverbial word group separates a subject from its verb, a verb from its object, or a helping verb from its main verb, the result is oft en awkward.

▶ Hong Kong, aft er more than 150 years of British rule, was

transferred back to Chinese control in 1997.

Th ere is no reason to separate the subject, Hong Kong, from the verb, was transferred, with a long phrase.

English does not allow an adverb to appear between a verb and its object. See 30f.

▶ Yolanda lift ed easily the fi ft y-pound weight.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

easily

12d Avoid split infi nitives when they are awkward.

An infi nitive consists of to plus the base form of a verb: to think, to breathe, to dance. When a modifi er appears between to and

^ / A Hong

Kong

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14312dSplit infi nitives

mm/dm

the verb, an infi nitive is said to be “split”: to carefully balance, to completely understand.

When a long word or a phrase appears between the parts of the infi nitive, the result is usually awkward.

▶ Th e patient should try to if possible avoid going up and down

stairs.

Attempts to avoid split infi nitives can result in equally awk- ward sentences. When alternative phrasing sounds unnatu- ral, most experts allow — and even encourage — splitting the infi nitive.

AWKWARD We decided actually to enforce the law. BETTER We decided to actually enforce the law.

At times, neither the split infi nitive nor its alternative sounds particularly awkward. In such situations, it is usually better not to split the infi nitive, especially in formal writing.

▶ Nursing students learn to accurately record a patient’s vital

signs.

EXERCISE 12–1 Edit the following sentences to correct misplaced or awkwardly placed modifi ers. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Answering questions can be annoying in a telephone survey.

a. More research is needed to eff ectively evaluate the risks posed by volcanoes in the Pacifi c Northwest.

b. Many students graduate with debt from college totaling more than fi ft y thousand dollars.

c. It is a myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brains. d. A coolhunter is a person who can fi nd in the unnoticed corners of

modern society the next wave of fashion. e. All geese do not fl y beyond Narragansett for the winter.

If possible, the

^ / accurately.

in a telephone survey

̂ .

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Misplaced and dangling modifi ers

12e Repair dangling modifi ers.

A dangling modifi er fails to refer logically to any word in the sen- tence. Dangling modifi ers are easy to repair, but they can be hard to recognize, especially in your own writing.

Recognizing dangling modifi ers

Dangling modifi ers are usually word groups (such as verbal phrases) that suggest but do not name an actor. When a sentence opens with such a modifi er, readers expect the subject of the next clause to name the actor. If it doesn’t, the modifi er dangles.

▶ Understanding the need to create checks and balances on power,

the Constitution divided the government into three branches.

Th e framers of the Constitution (not the document itself ) understood the need for checks and balances.

▶ Aft er completing seminary training, women’s access to the

priesthood has oft en been denied.

Women (not their access to the priesthood) complete the training.

Th e following sentences illustrate four common kinds of dangling modifi ers.

DANGLING Deciding to join the navy, the recruiter enthusiastically pumped Joe’s hand. [Participial phrase]

DANGLING Upon entering the doctor’s offi ce, a skeleton caught my attention. [Preposition followed by a gerund phrase]

DANGLING To satisfy her mother, the piano had to be practiced every day. [Infi nitive phrase]

DANGLING Th ough not eligible for the clinical trial, the doctor prescribed the drug for Ethan on compassionate grounds. [Elliptical clause with an understood subject and verb]

Th ese dangling modifi ers falsely suggest that the recruiter decided to join the navy, that the skeleton entered the doctor’s offi ce, that the piano intended to satisfy the mother, and that the doctor was not eligible for the clinical trial.

the framers of

women

were often denied

̂ .

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14512eDangling modifi ers

mm/dm

Although most readers will understand the writer’s in- tended meaning in such sentences, the inadvertent humor can be distracting.

Repairing dangling modifi ers

To repair a dangling modifi er, you can revise the sentence in one of two ways:

• Name the actor in the subject of the sentence. • Name the actor in the modifi er.

Depending on your sentence, one of these revision strategies may be more appropriate than the other.

ACTOR NAMED IN SUBJECT

▶ Upon entering the doctor’s offi ce, a skeleton. caught my

attention.

▶ To satisfy her mother, the piano had to be practiced every day.

I noticed

Jing-mei had to practice

Checking for dangling modifi ers

Does an opening phrase suggest an action without

naming the actor?

No problem

Does the subject of the sentence name

the actor?

Revise the dangling modifi er.

YES

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12e146 Misplaced and dangling modifi ers

mm/dm

ACTOR NAMED IN MODIFIER

▶ Deciding to join the navy, the recruiter enthusiastically

pumped Joe’s hand.

▶ Th ough not eligible for the clinical trial, the doctor prescribed

the drug for Ethan on compassionate grounds.

NOTE: You cannot repair a dangling modifi er just by moving it. Consider, for example, the sentence about the skeleton. If you put the modifi er at the end of the sentence (A skeleton caught my at- tention upon entering the doctor’s offi ce), you are still suggesting — absurdly, of course — that the skeleton entered the offi ce. Th e only way to avoid the problem is to put the word I in the sentence, either as the subject or in the modifi er.

▶ Upon entering the doctor’s offi ce, a skeleton. caught my attention.

▶ Upon entering the doctor’s offi ce, a skeleton caught my attention.

EXERCISE 12–6 Edit the following sentences to correct dangling modifi ers. Most sentences can be revised in more than one way. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

To graduate, two science courses. must be completed.

a. To complete an online purchase with a credit card, the expiration date and the security code must be entered.

b. Th ough only sixteen, UCLA accepted Martha’s application. c. Settled in the cockpit, the pounding of the engine was muffl ed

only slightly by my helmet. d. Aft er studying polymer chemistry, computer games seemed less

complex to Phuong. e. When a young man, my mother enrolled me in tap dance classes.

When Joe decided

his

Ethan was

him

I noticed

As I entered

a student must com

plete

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147

13 Eliminate distracting shifts. Th e following sections can help you avoid unnecessary shift s that might distract or confuse your readers: shift s in point of view, in verb tense, in mood or voice, or from indirect to direct questions or quotations.

13a Make the point of view consistent in person and number.

Th e point of view of a piece of writing is the perspective from which it is written: fi rst person (I or we), second person ( you), or third person (he, she, it, one, they, or any noun).

Th e I (or we) point of view, which emphasizes the writer, is a good choice for informal letters and writing based primarily on personal experience. Th e you point of view, which emphasizes the reader, works well for giving advice or explaining how to do some- thing. Th e third-person point of view, which emphasizes the sub- ject, is appropriate in formal academic and professional writing.

Writers who have trouble settling on an appropriate point of view sometimes shift confusingly from one to another. Th e solu- tion is to choose a suitable perspective and stay with it.

▶ Our class practiced rescuing a victim trapped in a wrecked

car. We learned to dismantle the car with the essential tools.

You were graded on your speed and your skill in freeing the

victim.

Th e writer should have stayed with the we point of view. You is inappropriate because the writer is not addressing readers directly. You should not be used in a vague sense meaning “anyone.” (See 23d.)

▶ One needs a password and a credit card number to access the

database. You will be billed at an hourly rate.

You is an appropriate choice because the writer is giving advice directly to readers.

our

You need

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13b148

shift

Shifts

EXERCISE 13–1 Edit the following paragraph to eliminate distracting shift s in point of view (person and number).

More practice:

When online dating fi rst became available, many people thought that it would simplify romance. We believed that you could type in a list of criteria — sense of humor, college education, green eyes, good job — and a database would select the perfect mate. Th ousands of people signed up for services and fi lled out their profi les, confi dent that true love was only a few mouse clicks away. As it turns out, however, virtual dating is no easier than traditional dating. I still have to contact the people I fi nd, exchange e-mails and phone calls, and meet him in the real world. Although a database might produce a list of possibilities and screen out obviously undesirable people, you can’t predict chemistry. More oft en than not, people who seem perfect online just don’t click in person. Electronic services do help a single person expand their pool of potential dates, but it’s no substitute for the hard work of romance.

13b Maintain consistent verb tenses.

Consistent verb tenses clearly establish the time of the actions being described. When a passage begins in one tense and then shift s without warning and for no reason to another, readers are distracted and confused.

▶ Th ere was no way I could fi ght the current and win. Just as

I was losing hope, a stranger jumps off a passing boat and

swims toward me.

Th e writer thought that the present tense ( jumps, swims) would convey immediacy and drama. But having begun in the past tense (could fi ght, was losing), the writer should follow through in the past tense.

Writers oft en encounter diffi culty with verb tenses when writing about literature. Because fi ctional events occur outside the time frames of real life, the past tense and the present tense may seem equally appropriate. Th e literary convention is to describe fi ctional events consistently in the present tense. (See pp. 249–50.)

jumped

swam

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14913cVerb mood, voice

shift

▶ Th e scarlet letter is a punishment sternly placed on Hester’s

breast by the community, and yet it was a fanciful and

imaginative product of Hester’s own needlework.

EXERCISE 13–3 Edit the following paragraphs to eliminate distracting shift s in tense. More practice:

Th e English colonists who settled in Massachusetts received assistance at fi rst from the local Indian tribes, but by 1675 there had been friction between the English and the Indians for many years. On June 20 of that year, Metacomet, whom the colonists called Philip, leads the Wampanoag tribe in the fi rst of a series of attacks on the colonial settlements. Th e war, known today as King Philip’s War, rages on for more than a year and leaves three thousand Indians and six hundred colonists dead. Metacomet’s attempt to retain power in his native land failed. Finally he too is killed, and the victorious colonists sell his wife and children into slavery.

Th e Indians did not leave records of their encounters with the English settlers, but the settlers recorded some of their experiences at the hands of the Indians. One of the few accounts to survive was written by a captured colonist, Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. She is a minister’s wife who is kidnapped by an Indian war party and held captive for eleven weeks in 1676. Her history, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, tells the story of her experiences with the Wampanoags. Although it did not paint a completely balanced picture of the Indians, Rowlandson’s narrative, which is considered a classic early American text, showed its author to be a keen observer of life in an Indian camp.

13c Make verbs consistent in mood and voice.

Unnecessary shift s in the mood of a verb can be distracting and confusing to readers. Th ere are three moods in English: the indic- ative, used for facts, opinions, and questions; the imperative, used for orders or advice; and the subjunctive, used in certain contexts to express wishes or conditions contrary to fact (see 27g).

Th e following passage shift s confusingly from the indicative to the imperative mood.

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13d150

shift

Shifts

▶ Th e counselor advised us to spread out our core requirements

over two or three semesters. Also, pay attention to prerequisites

for elective courses.

Th e writer began by reporting the counselor’s advice in the indicative mood (counselor advised ) and switched to the imperative mood ( pay attention); the revision puts both sentences in the indicative.

A verb may be in either the active voice (with the subject doing the action) or the passive voice (with the subject receiving the action). (See 8a.) If a writer shift s without warning from one to the other, readers may be left wondering why.

▶ Each student completes a self-assessment. Th e self-

assessment is then given to the teacher and a copy is exchanged

with a classmate.

Because the passage began in the active voice (student completes) and then switched to the passive (self-assessment is given, copy is exchanged ), readers are left wondering who gives the self-assessment to the teacher and the classmate. Th e active voice, which is clearer and more direct, leaves no ambiguity.

13d Avoid sudden shifts from indirect to direct questions or quotations.

An indirect question reports a question without asking it: We asked whether we could visit Miriam. A direct question asks directly: Can we visit Miriam? Sudden shift s from indirect to direct questions are awkward. In addition, sentences containing such shift s are impossible to punctuate because indirect ques- tions must end with a period and direct questions must end with a question mark. (See 38b.)

▶ I wonder whether Karla knew of the theft and, if so, did

she report it to the police/? Th e revision poses both questions indirectly. Th e writer could also ask both questions directly: Did Karla know of the theft , and, if so, did she report it to the police?

She also suggested that we

/ , gives it

^ ,

exchanges

whether she reported

. ^

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15113dIndirect to direct questions or quotations

shift

An indirect quotation reports someone’s words without quoting word for word: Annabelle said that she is a Virgo. A direct quotation presents the exact words of a speaker or writer, set off with quotation marks: Annabelle said, “I am a Virgo.” Unannounced shift s from indirect to direct quotations are distracting and confusing, especially when the writer fails to insert the necessary quotation marks, as in the following example.

▶ Th e patient said she had been experiencing heart palpitations

and please run as many tests as possible to identify the problem.

Th e revision reports the patient’s words indirectly. Th e writer also could quote the words directly: Th e patient said, “I have been experiencing heart palpitations. Please run as many tests as possible to identify the problem.”

EXERCISE 13–5 Edit the following sentences to make the verbs consis- tent in mood and voice and to eliminate distracting shift s from indirect to direct questions or quotations. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

As a public relations intern, I wrote press releases, managed the

Web site, and all phone calls were fi elded by me.

a. An incredibly talented musician, Ray Charles mastered R&B, soul, and gospel styles. Even country music was performed well by him.

b. Environmentalists point out that shrimp farming in Southeast Asia is polluting water and making farmlands useless. Th ey warn that action must be taken by governments before it is too late.

c. Th e samples were observed for fi ve days before we detected any growth.

d. In his famous soliloquy, Hamlet contemplates whether death would be preferable to his diffi cult life and, if so, is he capable of committing suicide?

e. Th e lawyer told the judge that Miranda Hale was innocent and allow her to prove the allegations false.

asked me to

fi elded all phone calls.

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152 14

emph

Emphasis

EXERCISE 13–6 Edit the following sentences to eliminate distracting shift s. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

For many fi rst-year engineering students, adjusting to a rigorous

course load can be so challenging that you sometimes feel

overwhelmed.

a. A courtroom lawyer has more than a touch of theater in their blood. b. Th e interviewer asked if we had brought our proof of citizenship

and did we bring our passports? c. Th e experienced reconnaissance scout knows how to make fast

decisions and use sophisticated equipment to keep their team from being detected.

d. Aft er the animators fi nish their scenes, the production designer arranges the clips according to the storyboard. Synchronization notes must also be made for the sound editor and the composer.

e. Madame Defarge is a sinister fi gure in Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. On a symbolic level, she represents fate; like the Greek Fates, she knitted the fabric of individual destiny.

14 Emphasize key ideas. Within each sentence, emphasize your point by expressing it in the subject and verb of an independent clause, the words that receive the most attention from readers (see 14a–14e).

Within longer stretches of prose, you can draw attention to ideas deserving special emphasis by using a variety of techniques, oft en involving an unusual twist or some element of surprise (see 14f).

14a Coordinate equal ideas; subordinate minor ideas.

When combining two or more ideas in one sentence, you have two choices: coordination or subordination. Choose coor- dination to indicate that the ideas are equal or nearly equal in

they

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15314aCoordination and subordination

emph

importance. Choose subordination to indicate that one idea is less important than another.

Coordination

Coordination draws attention equally to two or more ideas. To coordinate single words or phrases, join them with a coordi- nating conjunction or with a pair of correlative conjunctions: bananas and strawberries; not only a lackluster plot but also infe- rior acting (see 46g).

To coordinate independent clauses — word groups that express a complete thought and that can stand alone as a sen- tence — join them with a comma and a coordinating conjunction or with a semicolon:

, and , but , or , nor , for , so , yet ;

Th e semicolon is oft en accompanied by a conjunctive adverb such as moreover, furthermore, therefore, or however or by a tran- sitional phrase such as for example, in other words, or as a matter of fact. (For a longer list, see p. 154.)

Assume, for example, that your intention is to draw equal attention to the following two ideas.

Social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world. Th ey do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction.

To coordinate these ideas, you can join them with a comma and the coordinating conjunction but or with a semicolon and the conjunctive adverb however.

Social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world, but they do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction. Social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world; however, they do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction.

It is important to choose a coordinating conjunction or con- junctive adverb appropriate to your meaning. In the preceding example, the two ideas contrast with each other, calling for but or however. (For specifi c coordination strategies, see the chart on p. 154.)

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14a154

emph

Emphasis

Subordination

To give unequal emphasis to two or more ideas, express the major idea in an independent clause and place any minor ideas in subordinate clauses or phrases. (For specifi c subordination strat- egies, see the chart on p. 156.)

Let your intended meaning determine which idea you emphasize. Consider the two ideas about social networking Web sites.

Social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world. Th ey do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction.

Using coordination to combine sentences of equal importance

1. Consider using a comma and a coordinating conjunction. (See 32a.) , and , but , or , nor , for , so , yet

▶ In Orthodox Jewish funeral ceremonies, the shroud is a simple linen

vestment/., Th e coffi n is plain wood. 2. Consider using a semicolon with a conjunctive adverb or

transitional phrase. (See 34b.) also however next as a result in addition now besides in fact of course consequently in other words otherwise fi nally in the fi rst place still for example meanwhile then for instance moreover therefore furthermore nevertheless thus

▶ Alicia scored well on the SAT/. ; She also had excellent grades and a

record of community service.

3. Consider using a semicolon alone. (See 34a.)

▶ In youth we learn/. ; In age we understand.

and the

in addition, she

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15514aCoordination and subordination

emph

If your purpose is to stress the ways that people can connect in the virtual world rather than the limitations of these connections, subordinate the idea about the limitations.

Although they do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction, social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world.

To focus on the limitations of the virtual world, subordinate the idea about the ways people connect on these Web sites.

Although social networking Web sites off er ways for people to connect in the virtual world, they do not replace face-to-face forms of social interaction.

EXERCISE 14–1 Use the coordination or subordination technique in brackets to combine each pair of independent clauses. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Ted Williams was one of the best hitters in the history of

baseball. He never won a World Series ring. [Use a comma

and a coordinating conjunction.]

a. Williams played for the Boston Red Sox from 1939 to 1960. He managed the Washington Senators and the Texas Rangers for sev- eral years aft er retiring as a player. [Use a comma and a coordinat- ing conjunction.]

b. In 1941, Williams fi nished the season with a batting average of .406. No player has hit over .400 for a season since then. [Use a semicolon.]

c. Williams acknowledged that Joe DiMaggio was a better all-around player. Williams felt that he was a better hitter than DiMaggio. [Use the subordinating conjunction although.]

d. Williams was a stubborn man. He always refused to tip his cap to the crowd aft er a home run because he claimed that fans were fi ckle. [Use a semicolon and the transitional phrase for example.]

e. Williams’s relationship with the media was unfriendly at best. He sarcastically called baseball writers the “knights of the keyboard” in his memoir. [Use a semicolon.]

baseball, but he

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14a156

emph

Emphasis

Using subordination to combine sentences of unequal importance

1. Consider putting the less important idea in a subordinate clause beginning with one of the following words. (See 48e.) aft er before that which although even though unless while as if until who as if since when whom because so that where whose

▶ Elizabeth Cady Stanton proposed a convention to discuss the

status of women in America/. Lucretia Mott agreed.

▶ My sister owes much of her recovery to a yoga program. She began

the program three years ago.

2. Consider putting the less important idea in an appositive phrase. (See 48c.)

▶ Karate is a discipline based on the philosophy of nonviolence/.

It teaches the art of self-defense.

3. Consider putting the less important idea in a participial phrase. (See 48b.)

▶ American essayist Cheryl Peck was encouraged by friends to write

about her life. She began combining humor and irony in her essays

about being overweight.

When

^ ,

/ ^

that she

^ ,

E /

/ ^

, American essayist Cheryl Peck

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15714bChoppy sentences

emph

14b Combine choppy sentences.

Short sentences demand attention, so you should use them pri- marily for emphasis. Too many short sentences, one aft er the other, make for a choppy style.

If an idea is not important enough to deserve its own sen- tence, try combining it with a sentence close by. Put any minor ideas in subordinate structures such as phrases or subordinate clauses. (See 48.)

▶ Th e Parks Department keeps the use of insecticides to a

minimum/. Th e city is concerned about the environment. Th e writer wanted to emphasize that the Parks Department minimizes its use of chemicals, so she put the reason in a subordinate clause beginning with because.

▶ Th e Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is a 184-mile waterway

constructed in the 1800s/. It was a major source of

transportation for goods during the Civil War.

A minor idea is now expressed in an appositive phrase (a 184-mile waterway constructed in the 1800s).

Although subordination is ordinarily the most eff ective technique for combining short, choppy sentences, coordination is appropriate when the ideas are equal in importance.

▶ At 3:30 p.m., Forrest displayed a fl ag of truce/. Forrest sent

in a demand for unconditional surrender.

Combining two short sentences by joining their predicates (displayed . . . sent) is an eff ective coordination technique.

Unlike some other languages, English does not repeat objects or adverbs in adjective clauses. Th e relative pronoun (that, which, whom) or relative adverb (where) in the adjective clause represents the object or adverb. See 30d.

▶ Th e apartment that we rented it needed repairs.

Th e pronoun it cannot repeat the relative pronoun that. M u lt ili

n gu

a l

because the

^ ,

and

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14c158

emph

Emphasis

EXERCISE 14–2 Combine the following sentences by subordinating minor ideas or by coordinating ideas of equal importance. You must de- cide which ideas are minor because the sentences are given out of con- text. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Agnes was another girl I worked with/. She was a hyperactive

child.

a. Th e X-Men comic books and Japanese woodcuts of kabuki dancers were part of Marlena’s research project on popular culture. Th ey covered the tabletop and the chairs.

b. Our waitress was costumed in a kimono. She had painted her face white. She had arranged her hair in a lacquered beehive.

c. Students can apply for a spot in the leadership program. Th e program teaches thinking and communication skills.

d. Shore houses were fl ooded up to the fi rst fl oor. Beaches were washed away. Brant’s Lighthouse was swallowed by the sea.

e. Laura Th ackray is an engineer at Volvo Car Corporation. She addressed women’s safety needs. She designed a pregnant crash-test dummy.

14c Avoid ineffective or excessive coordination.

Coordinate structures are appropriate only when you intend to draw readers’ attention equally to two or more ideas: Professor Sakellarios praises loudly, and she criticizes soft ly. If one idea is more important than another — or if a coordinating conjunction does not clearly signal the relationship between the ideas — you should subordinate the less important idea.

INEFFECTIVE

COORDINATION

Closets were taxed as rooms, and most colonists stored their clothes in chests or clothespresses.

IMPROVED WITH

SUBORDINATION

Because closets were taxed as rooms, most colonists stored their clothes in chests or clothespresses.

Th e revision subordinates the less important idea (closets were taxed as rooms) by putting it in a subordinate clause. Notice that

^ ,

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15914cIneffective or excessive coordination

emph

the subordinating conjunction Because signals the relation between the ideas more clearly than the coordinating conjunction and.

Because it is so easy to string ideas together with and, writers oft en rely too heavily on coordination in their rough draft s. Th e cure for excessive coordination is simple: Look for opportunities to tuck minor ideas into subordinate clauses or phrases.

▶ Shareholders exchanged investment tips at the company’s annual

meeting, and they learned that diff erent approaches can yield

similar results.

Th e minor idea has become a subordinate clause beginning with When.

▶ Four hours went by, and a rescue truck fi nally arrived, but

by that time we had been evacuated in a helicopter.

Th ree independent clauses were excessive. Th e least important idea has become a prepositional phrase.

EXERCISE 14–8 Th e following sentences show coordinated ideas (ideas joined with a coordinating conjunction or a semicolon). Restructure the sentences by subordinating minor ideas. You must decide which ideas are minor because the sentences are given out of context. Possible revi- sions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e rowers returned to shore, and had a party on the beach

and celebrated the start of the season.

a. Th ese particles are known as “stealth liposomes,” and they can hide in the body for a long time without detection.

b. Irena is a competitive gymnast and majors in biology; her goal is to apply her athletic experience and her science degree to a career in sports medicine.

c. Students, textile workers, and labor unions have loudly protested sweatshop abuses, so apparel makers have been forced to examine their labor practices.

When shareholders

After four hours,

where they

to celebrate

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14d160

emph

Emphasis

d. IRC (Internet relay chat) was developed in a European university; it was created as a way for a group of graduate students to talk about projects from their dorm rooms.

e. Th e cafeteria’s new menu has an international fl avor, and it includes everything from enchiladas and pizza to pad thai and sauerbraten.

14d Do not subordinate major ideas.

If a sentence buries its major idea in a subordinate construction, readers may not give the idea enough attention. Make sure to express your major idea in an independent clause and to subor- dinate any minor ideas.

▶ Harry S. Truman, who was the unexpected winner of the 1948

presidential election/, defeated Th omas E. Dewey. Th e writer wanted to focus on Truman’s unexpected victory, but the original sentence buried this information in an adjective clause. Th e revision puts the more important idea in an independent clause and tucks the less important idea into an adjective clause (who defeated Th omas E. Dewey).

▶ I was driving home from my new job, heading down

Ranchitos Road, when my car suddenly overheated.

Th e writer wanted to emphasize that the car overheated, not the fact of driving home. Th e revision expresses the major idea in an independent clause and places the less important idea in an adverb clause (As I was driving home from my new job).

14e Do not subordinate excessively.

In attempting to avoid short, choppy sentences, writers some- times go to the opposite extreme, putting more subordinate ideas into a sentence than its structure can bear. If a sentence collapses under its own weight, occasionally it can be restructured. More oft en, however, such sentences must be divided.

defeated Thomas E. Dewey,

^ .

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16114eExcessive subordination

emph

▶ In Animal Liberation, Peter Singer argues that animals possess

nervous systems and can feel pain and that /he believes that “the

ethical principle on which human equality rests requires us to

extend equal consideration to animals” (1).

Excessive subordination makes it diffi cult for the reader to focus on the quoted passage. By splitting the original sentence into two separate sentences, the writer draws attention to Peter Singer’s main claim, that humans should give “equal consideration to animals.” (See 56a on citing sources in MLA style.)

EXERCISE 14–10 In each of the following sentences, the idea that the writer wished to emphasize is buried in a subordinate construction. Restructure each sentence so that the independent clause expresses the major idea, as indicated in brackets, and lesser ideas are subordinated. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Catherine has weathered many hardships, although she has

rarely become discouraged. [Emphasize that Catherine has

rarely become discouraged.]

a. Gina helped the relief eff ort, distributing food and medical sup- plies. [Emphasize distributing food and medical supplies.]

b. Janbir spent every Saturday learning tabla drumming, noticing with each hour of practice that his memory for complex patterns was growing stronger. [Emphasize Janbir’s memory.]

c. Th e rotor hit, gouging a hole about an eighth of an inch deep in my helmet. [Emphasize that the rotor gouged a hole in the helmet.]

d. My grandfather, who raised his daughters the old-fashioned way, was born eighty years ago in Puerto Rico. [Emphasize how the grandfather raised his daughters.]

e. Th e Narcan reversed the depressive eff ect of the drug, saving the patient’s life. [Emphasize that the patient’s life was saved.]

^ .

Although

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162 14f

emph

Emphasis

14f Experiment with techniques for gaining special emphasis.

By experimenting with certain techniques, usually involving some element of surprise, you can draw attention to ideas that deserve special emphasis. Use such techniques sparingly, how- ever, or they will lose their punch. Th e writer who tries to empha- size everything ends up emphasizing nothing.

Using sentence endings for emphasis

You can highlight an idea simply by withholding it until the end of a sentence. Th e technique works something like a punch line. In the following example, the sentence’s meaning is not revealed until its very last word.

Th e only completely consistent people are the dead. — Aldous Huxley

Using parallel structure for emphasis

Parallel grammatical structure draws special attention to paired ideas or to items in a series. (See 9.) When parallel ideas are paired, the emphasis falls on words that underscore comparisons or contrasts, especially when they occur at the end of a phrase or clause.

We must stop talking about the American dream and start listening to the dreams of Americans. — Reubin Askew

In a parallel series, the emphasis falls at the end, so it is gen- erally best to end with the most dramatic or climactic item in the series.

Sister Charity enjoyed passing out writing punishments: translate the Ten Commandments into Latin, type a thousand- word essay on good manners, copy the New Testament with a quill pen. — Marie Visosky, student

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163

15 Provide some variety. When a rough draft is fi lled with too many sentences that begin the same way or have the same structure, try injecting some variety — as long as you can do so without sacrifi cing clarity or ease of reading.

15a Vary your sentence openings.

Most sentences in English begin with the subject, move to the verb, and continue to the object, with modifi ers tucked in along the way or put at the end. For the most part, such sentences are fi ne. Put too many of them in a row, however, and they become monotonous.

Adverbial modifi ers are easily movable when they modify verbs; they can oft en be inserted ahead of the subject. Such modi- fi ers might be single words, phrases, or clauses.

▶ A few drops of sap eventually began to trickle into the bucket.

Like most adverbs, eventually does not need to appear close to the verb it modifi es (began).

▶ A pair of black ducks fl ew over the pond just as the sun was

coming up.

Th e adverb clause, which modifi es the verb fl ew, is as clear at the beginning of the sentence as it is at the end.

Adjectives and participial phrases can frequently be moved to the beginning of a sentence without loss of clarity.

▶ Edward/, dejected and withdrawn, nearly gave up his search for

a job.

▶ John and I, /anticipating a peaceful evening, sat down at the

campfi re to brew a cup of coff ee.

TIP: When beginning a sentence with an adjective or a parti- cipial phrase, make sure that the subject of the sentence names

^ / Eventually a

^ / Just as the sun was coming up, a

^ .

Dejected and withdrawn,

John and I

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15b164 Variety

var

the person or thing described in the introductory phrase. If it doesn’t, the phrase will dangle. (See 12e.)

15b Use a variety of sentence structures.

A writer should not rely too heavily on simple sentences and compound sentences, for the eff ect tends to be both monoto- nous and choppy. (See 14b and 14c.) Too many complex or compound-complex sentences, however, can be equally monot- onous. If your style tends to one or the other extreme, try to achieve a better mix of sentence types.

Th e major sentence types are illustrated in the following sentences, all taken from Flannery O’Connor’s “Th e King of the Birds,” an essay describing the author’s pet peafowl.

SIMPLE Frequently the cock combines the lift ing of his tail with the raising of his voice.

COMPOUND Any chicken’s dusting hole is out of place in a fl ower bed, but the peafowl’s hole, being the size of a small crater, is more so.

COMPLEX Th e peacock does most of his serious strutting in the spring and summer when he has a full tail to do it with.

COMPOUND-

COMPLEX

Th e cock’s plumage requires two years to attain its pattern, and for the rest of his life, this chicken will act as though he designed it himself.

For a fuller discussion of sentence types, see 49a.

15c Try inverting sentences occasionally.

A sentence is inverted if it does not follow the normal subject- verb-object pattern (see 47c). Many inversions sound artifi cial and should be avoided, except in the most formal contexts. But if an inversion sounds natural, it can provide a welcome touch of variety.

▶ Huge lavender hearts outlined in bright white lights were set

at the top two corners of the stage.

In the revision, the subject, hearts, appears aft er the verb, were set. Notice that the two parts of the verb are also inverted — and separated from each other (Set . . . were) — without any awkwardness or loss of meaning.

Inverted sentences are used for emphasis as well as for vari- ety (see 14f ).

Set at the top two corners of the stage were huge

^ .

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16515cInverted order

var

EXERCISE 15–1 Improve sentence variety in each of the following sen- tences by using the technique suggested in brackets. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Fishing crews place turtle excluder devices in fi shing nets

to protect endangered marine turtles. [Begin the sentence with

the adverbial infi nitive phrase.]

a. Th e exhibits for insects and spiders are across the hall from the fossils exhibit. [Invert the sentence.]

b. Sayuri becomes a successful geisha aft er growing up desperately poor. [Move the adverb clause to the beginning of the sentence.]

c. Researchers have been studying Mount St. Helens for years. Th ey believe that earthquakes may have caused the 1980 eruption. [Combine the two sentences into a complex sentence.]

d. Ice cream typically contains 10 percent milk fat. Premium ice cream may contain up to 16 percent milk fat and has less air in it. [Combine the two sentences as a compound sentence.]

e. Th e economy may recover quickly if home values climb. [Move the adverb clause to the beginning of the sentence.]

EXERCISE 15–2 Edit the following paragraph to increase sentence variety.

Making architectural models is a skill that requires patience and precision. It is an art that illuminates a design. Architects come up with a grand and intricate vision. Draft spersons convert that vision into blueprints. Th e model maker follows the blueprints. Th e model maker builds a miniature version of the structure. Modelers can work in traditional materials like wood and clay and paint. Modelers can work in newer materials like Styrofoam and liquid polymers. Some modelers still use cardboard, paper, and glue. Other modelers prefer glue guns, deformable plastic, and thin aluminum and brass wire. Th e modeler may seem to be making a small mess in the early stages of model building. In the end the modeler has completed a small- scale structure. Architect Rem Koolhaas has insisted that plans reveal the logic of a design. He has argued that models expose the architect’s vision. Th e model maker’s art makes this vision real.

To protect endangered marine turtles, fi shing

^ .

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166

16 Tighten wordy sentences. Long sentences are not necessarily wordy, nor are short sentences always concise. A sentence is wordy if it can be tightened without loss of meaning.

16a Eliminate redundancies.

Writers oft en repeat themselves unnecessarily, thinking that expres- sions such as cooperate together, yellow in color, or basic essentials add emphasis to their writing. Such redundancies, though, do just the opposite. Th ere is no need to say the same thing twice.

▶ Daniel is now employed at a private rehabilitation center

working as a registered physical therapist.

Th ough modifi ers ordinarily add meaning to the words they modify, occasionally they are redundant.

▶ Sylvia very hurriedly scribbled her name, address, and phone

number on a greasy napkin.

Th e word scribbled already suggests that Sylvia wrote very hurriedly.

▶ Gabriele Muccino’s fi lm Th e Pursuit of Happyness tells the story

of a single father determined in his mind to pull himself and his

son out of homelessness.

Th e word determined contains the idea that his resolution formed in his mind.

16b Avoid unnecessary repetition of words.

Th ough words may be repeated deliberately for eff ect, repetitions will seem awkward if they are clearly unnecessary. When a more concise version is possible, choose it.

works

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16716cEmpty or infl ated phrases

▶ Our fi ft h patient, in room six, is /a mentally ill patient.

▶ Th e best teachers help each student become a better student both

academically and emotionally.

16c Cut empty or infl ated phrases.

An empty phrase can be cut with little or no loss of meaning. Common examples are introductory word groups that weaken the writer’s authority by apologizing or hedging: in my opinion, I think that, it seems that, one must admit that, and so on.

▶ In my opinion, /our current immigration policy is misguided. Readers understand without being told that they are hearing the writer’s opinion.

Infl ated phrases can be reduced to a word or two without loss of meaning.

INFLATED CONCISE

along the lines of like as a matter of fact in fact at all times always at the present time now, currently at this point in time now, currently because of the fact that because by means of by by virtue of the fact that because due to the fact that because for the purpose of for for the reason that because have the ability to be able to, can in light of the fact that because in order to to in spite of the fact that although, though in the event that if

^ .

grow

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16d168 Wordy sentences

INFLATED CONCISE

in the fi nal analysis fi nally in the nature of like in the neighborhood of about until such time as until

16d Simplify the structure.

If the structure of a sentence is needlessly indirect, try simplify- ing it. Look for opportunities to strengthen the verb.

▶ Th e fi nancial analyst claimed that because of volatile market

conditions she could not make an estimate of the company’s

future profi ts.

Th e verb estimate is more vigorous and concise than make an estimate of.

Th e colorless verbs is, are, was, and were frequently generate excess words.

▶ Investigators were involved in studying the eff ect of classical

music on unborn babies.

Th e revision is more direct and concise. Th e action (studying), originally appearing in a subordinate structure, has become a strong verb, studied.

Th e expletive constructions there is and there are (or there was and there were) can also lead to wordy sentences. Th e same is true of expletive constructions beginning with it. (See 47c.)

▶ Th ere is /another module that tells the story of Charles Darwin

and introduces the theory of evolution.

Finally, verbs in the passive voice may be needlessly indirect. When the active voice expresses your meaning as eff ectively, use it. (See 8a.)

▶ All too oft en, athletes with marginal academic skills have been

recruited by our coaches.

studied

our coaches have recruited

^ .

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16916eReducing clauses and phrases

16e Reduce clauses to phrases, phrases to single words.

Word groups functioning as modifi ers can oft en be made more compact. Look for any opportunities to reduce clauses to phrases or phrases to single words.

▶ We took a side trip to Monticello, which was the home of

Th omas Jeff erson.

▶ In the essay that follows, I argue against Immanuel Kant’s

claim that we should not lie under any circumstances/,

which is a problematic claim.

EXERCISE 16–1 Edit the following sentences to reduce wordiness. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th e Wilsons moved into the house in spite of the fact that the

back door was only ten yards from the train tracks.

a. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who set a high standard for future leaders to meet.

b. Alice has been deeply in love with cooking since she was little and could fi rst peek over the edge of a big kitchen tabletop.

c. In my opinion, Bloom’s race for the governorship is a futile exercise.

d. It is pretty important in being a successful graphic designer to have technical knowledge and at the same time an eye for color and balance.

e. Your task will be the delivery of correspondence to all employees in the company.

this

^ ,

problematic

^ .

even though

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170 17 Appropriate language

appr

EXERCISE 16–2 Edit the following business memo to reduce wordiness.

To: District managers From: Margaret Davenport, Vice President Subject: Customer database

It has recently been brought to my attention that a percentage of our sales representatives have been failing to log reports of their client calls in our customer database each and every day. I have also learned that some representatives are not checking the database on a routine basis.

Our clients sometimes receive a multiple number of sales calls from us when a sales representative is not cognizant of the fact that the client has been contacted at a previous time. Repeated telephone calls from our representatives annoy our customers. Th ese repeated telephone calls also portray our company as one that is lacking in organization.

Eff ective as of immediately, direct your representatives to do the following: • Record each and every customer contact in the customer

database at the end of each day, without fail. • Check the database at the very beginning of each day to

ensure that telephone communications will not be initiated with clients who have already been called.

Let me extend my appreciation to you for cooperating in this important matter.

17 Choose appropriate language. Language is appropriate when it suits your subject, engages your audience, and blends naturally with your own voice.

To some extent, your choice of language will be governed by the conventions of the genre in which you are writing. When in doubt about the conventions of a particular genre — lab reports, informal essays, business memos, and so on — consult your instructor or look at models written by experts in the fi eld.

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17117bPretentious language, euphemisms, “doublespeak”

appr

17a Stay away from jargon.

Jargon is specialized language used among members of a trade, profession, or group. Use jargon only when readers will be famil- iar with it and only when plain English will not do as well.

JARGON We outsourced the work to an outfi t in Ohio because we didn’t have the bandwidth to tackle it in-house.

REVISED We hired a company in Ohio because we had too few employees to do the work.

Broadly defi ned, jargon includes puff ed-up language de- signed more to impress readers than to inform them. Th e follow- ing are common examples from business, government, higher education, and the military, with plain English alternatives in parentheses.

ameliorate (improve) indicator (sign) commence (begin) optimal (best, most favorable) components (parts) parameters (boundaries, limits) endeavor (try) peruse (read, look over) exit (leave) prior to (before) facilitate (help) utilize (use) impact (v.) (aff ect) viable (workable)

Sentences fi lled with jargon are hard to read, and they are oft en wordy as well.

▶ Th e CEO should dialogue with investors about partnering with

clients to purchase land in economically deprived zones.

17b Avoid pretentious language, most euphemisms, and “doublespeak.”

Hoping to sound profound or poetic, some writers embroider their thoughts with large words and fl owery phrases. Such pre- tentious language is so ornate and wordy that it obscures the writer’s meaning.

talk

working

buy

poor neighborhoods.

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17b172 Appropriate language

appr

▶ Taylor’s employment of multihued means of expression draws

back the curtains and lets slip the nostalgic vantage point

from which she observes American society as well as her lack

of comprehension of economic realities.

Euphemisms — nice-sounding words or phrases substituted for words thought to sound harsh or ugly — are sometimes ap- propriate. Many cultures, for example, accept euphemisms when speaking or writing about excretion (I have to go to the bath- room), sexual intercourse (Th ey did not sleep together), and the like. Most euphemisms, however, are needlessly evasive or even deceitful. Like pretentious language, they obscure the intended meaning.

EUPHEMISM PLAIN ENGLISH

adult entertainment pornography preowned automobile used car economically deprived poor negative savings debts strategic withdrawal retreat or defeat revenue enhancers taxes chemical dependency drug addiction downsize lay off , fi re correctional facility prison

Th e term doublespeak applies to any deliberately evasive or deceptive language, including euphemisms. Doublespeak is es- pecially common in politics and business. A military retreat is described as tactical redeployment; enhanced interrogation is a euphemism for “torture”; and downsizing really means “fi ring employees.”

use of colorful language reveals that she has a

view of

and does not

understand

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17317bPretentious language, euphemisms, “doublespeak”

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EXERCISE 17–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate jargon, pre- tentious or fl owery language, euphemisms, and doublespeak. You may need to make substantial changes in some sentences. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Aft er two weeks in the legal department, Sue has worked into

the routine of the offi ce, and her functional and self-

management skills have exceeded all expectations.

a. In my youth, my family was under the constraints of diffi cult fi nancial circumstances.

b. In order that I may increase my expertise in the area of delivery of services to clients, I feel that participation in this conference will be benefi cial.

c. Th e prophetic meteorologist cautioned the general populace regard- ing the possible deleterious eff ects of the impending tempest.

d. Government-sanctioned investigations into the continued value of aft er-school programs indicate a perceived need in the public realm at large.

e. Passengers should endeavor to fi nalize the customs declaration form prior to exiting the aircraft .

EXERCISE 17–2 Edit the following e-mail message to eliminate jargon.

Dear Ms. Jackson:

We members of the Nakamura Reyes team value our external partnering arrangements with Creative Soft ware, and I look forward to seeing you next week at the trade show in Fresno. Per Mr. Reyes, please let me know when you’ll have some downtime there so that he and I can conduct a strategizing session with you concerning our production schedule. It’s crucial that we all be on the same page re our 2015–2016 product release dates.

Before we have some face time, however, I have some fi ndings to share. Our customer-centric approach to the new products will necessitate that user testing periods trend upward. Th e enclosed data should help you eff ectuate any adjustments to your timeline; let me know ASAP if you require any additional information to facilitate the above.

Before we convene in Fresno, Mr. Reyes and I will agendize any further talking points. Th anks for your help.

Sincerely,

Sylvia Nakamura

mastered

offi ce

^ ,

performance has

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17c174 Appropriate language

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17c In most contexts, avoid slang, regional expressions, and nonstandard English.

Slang is an informal and sometimes private vocabulary that expresses the solidarity of a group such as teenagers, rock musi- cians, or sports fans; it is subject to more rapid change than Standard English. For example, the slang teenagers use to express approval changes every few years; cool, groovy, neat, awesome, sick, and crunk have replaced one another within the last sev- eral decades. Sometimes slang becomes so widespread that it is accepted as standard vocabulary. Jazz, for example, started out as slang but is now a standard term for a style of music.

Although slang has a certain vitality, it is a code that not everyone understands, and it is very informal. Th erefore, it is inappropriate in most written work.

▶ When the server crashed unexpectedly, three hours of unsaved

data went down the tubes.

▶ Th e government’s “fi lth” guidelines for food will gross you out.

Regional expressions are common to a group in a geographic area. Let’s talk with the bark off (for Let’s speak frankly) is an ex- pression in the southern United States, for example. Regional expressions have the same limitations as slang and are therefore inappropriate in most writing.

▶ John was four blocks from the house before he remembered to

cut the headlights off .

▶ Seamus wasn’t for sure, but he thought the whales might be

migrating during his visit to Oregon.

Standard English is the language used in all academic, busi- ness, and professional fi elds. Nonstandard English is spoken by people with a common regional or social heritage. Although nonstandard English may be appropriate when spoken within a close group, it is out of place in most formal and informal writing.

we lost

^ .

disgust you.

turn off

^ .

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17517dLevels of formality

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▶ Th e governor said he don’t know if he will approve the budget

without the clean air provision.

If you speak a nonstandard dialect, try to identify the ways in which your dialect diff ers from Standard English. Look especially for the following features of nonstandard English, which com- monly cause problems in writing.

Misusing verb forms such as began and begun (See 27a.) Leaving -s endings off verbs (See 27c.) Leaving -ed endings off verbs (See 27d.) Leaving out necessary verbs (See 27e.) Using double negatives (See 26e.)

17d Choose an appropriate level of formality.

In deciding on a level of formality, consider both your subject and your audience. Does the subject demand a dignifi ed treat- ment, or is a relaxed tone more suitable? Will readers be put off if you assume too close a relationship with them, or might you alienate them by seeming too distant?

For most college and professional writing, some degree of formality is appropriate. In a job application letter, for example, it is a mistake to sound too breezy and informal.

TOO INFORMAL I’d like to get that sales job you’ve got in the paper.

MORE FORMAL I would like to apply for the position of sales associate advertised in the Peoria Journal Star.

Informal writing is appropriate for private letters, per- sonal e-mail and text messages, and business correspondence between close associates. Like spoken conversation, informal writing allows contractions (don’t, I’ll ) and colloquial words (kids, kinda). Vocabulary and sentence structure are rarely complex.

In choosing a level of formality, above all be consistent. When a writer’s voice shift s from one level of formality to an- other, readers receive mixed messages.

doesn’t

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17e176 Appropriate language

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▶ Once a pitcher for the Blue Jays, Jorge shared with me the secrets

of his trade. His lesson commenced with his famous curveball,

implemented by tucking the little fi nger behind the ball. Next

he elucidated the mysteries of the sucker pitch, a slow ball

coming behind a fast windup.

Words such as commenced and elucidated are inappropriate for the subject matter, and they clash with informal terms such as sucker pitch and fast windup.

EXERCISE 17–5 Revise the following passage so that the level of for- mality is appropriate for a letter to the editor of a major newspaper.

In pop culture, college grads who return home to live with the folks are seen as good-for-nothing losers who mooch off their families. And many older adults seem to feel that the trend of moving back home aft er school, which was rare in their day, is becoming too commonplace today. But society must realize that times have changed. Most young adults want to live on their own ASAP, but they graduate with heaps of debt and need some time to get back on their feet. College tuition and the cost of housing have increased way more than salary increases in the past fi ft y years. Also, the job market is tighter and more jobs require advanced degrees than in the past. So before people go off on college graduates who move back into their parents’ house for a spell, they’d better consider all the facts.

17e Avoid sexist language.

Sexist language is language that stereotypes or demeans women or men. Using nonsexist language is a matter of courtesy — of respect for and sensitivity to the feelings of others.

Recognizing sexist language

Some sexist language is easy to recognize because it refl ects gen- uine disdain for women: referring to a woman as a “chick,” for example, or calling a lawyer a “lady lawyer.”

Other forms of sexist language are less blatant. Th e follow- ing practices, while they may not result from conscious sex- ism, refl ect stereotypical thinking: referring to members of one

began

thrown

revealed

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17717eSexist language

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profession as exclusively male or exclusively female (teachers as women or computer engineers as men, for instance), using diff er- ent conventions when naming or identifying women and men, or assuming an exclusively male or female audience.

STEREOTYPICAL LANGUAGE

Aft er a nursing student graduates, she must face a diffi cult state board examination. [Not all nursing students are women.] Running for city council are Boris Stotsky, an attorney, and Mrs. Cynthia Jones, a professor of English and mother of three. [Th e title Mrs. and the phrase mother of three are irrelevant.]

Still other forms of sexist language result from outdated traditions. Th e pronouns he, him, and his, for instance, were traditionally used to refer generically to persons of either sex. Nowadays, to avoid that sexist usage, some writers use she, her, and hers generically or substitute the female pronouns alternately with the male pronouns.

GENERIC PRONOUNS

A journalist is motivated by his deadline. A good interior designer treats her clients’ ideas respectfully.

But both forms are sexist — for excluding one sex entirely and for making assumptions about the members of particular professions.

Similarly, the nouns man and men were once used to refer generically to persons of either sex. Current usage demands gender- neutral terms for references to both men and women.

INAPPROPRIATE APPROPRIATE

chairman chairperson, moderator, chair, head congressman member of Congress, representative, legislator fi reman fi refi ghter foreman supervisor mailman mail carrier, postal worker, letter carrier to man to operate, to staff mankind people, humans manpower personnel, staff policeman police offi cer weatherman forecaster, meteorologist

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17e178 Appropriate language

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Revising sexist language

When revising sexist language, you may be tempted to substi- tute he or she and his or her. Th ese terms are inclusive but wordy; fi ne in small doses, they can become awkward when repeated throughout an essay. A better revision strategy is to write in the plural; yet another strategy is to recast the sentence so that the problem does not arise.

SEXIST

A journalist is motivated by his deadline. A good interior designer treats her clients’ ideas respectfully.

ACCEPTABLE BUT WORDY

A journalist is motivated by his or her deadline. A good interior designer treats his or her clients’ ideas respectfully.

BETTER: USING THE PLURAL

Journalists are motivated by their deadlines. Good interior designers treat their clients’ ideas respectfully.

BETTER: RECASTING THE SENTENCE

A journalist is motivated by a deadline. A good interior designer treats clients’ ideas respectfully.

For more examples of these revision strategies, see 22.

EXERCISE 17–6 Edit the following sentences to eliminate sexist lan- guage or sexist assumptions. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

A scholarship athlete must be as concerned about his

academic performance as he is about his athletic performance.

a. Mrs. Geralyn Farmer, who is the mayor’s wife, is the chief surgeon at University Hospital. Dr. Paul Green is her assistant.

b. Every applicant wants to know how much he will earn. c. An elementary school teacher should understand the concept of

nurturing if she intends to be eff ective.

Scholarship athletes

their

they are

their

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17917fSexist language

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d. An obstetrician needs to be available to his patients at all hours. e. If man does not stop polluting his environment, mankind will perish.

EXERCISE 17–7 Eliminate sexist language or sexist assumptions in the following job posting for an elementary school teacher.

We are looking for qualifi ed women for the position of elementary school teacher. Th e ideal candidate should have a bachelor’s degree, a state teaching certifi cate, and one year of student teaching. She should be knowledgeable in all elementary subject areas, including science and math. While we want our new teacher to have a commanding presence in the classroom, we are also looking for motherly characteristics such as patience and trustworthiness. She must be able to both motivate an entire classroom and work with each student one-on-one to assess his individual needs. She must also be comfortable communicating with the parents of her students. For salary and benefi ts information, including maternity leave policy, please contact the Martin County School Board. Any qualifi ed applicant should submit her résumé by March 15.

17f Revise language that may offend groups of people.

Your writing should be respectful and free of stereotypical, biased, or other off ensive language. Be especially careful when describing or labeling people. Labels can become dated, and it is important to recognize when their continued use is not acceptable. When naming groups of people, choose labels that the groups currently use themselves. For example, instead of Eskimos, use Inuit.

▶ North Dakota takes its name from the Indian word meaning

“friend” or “ally.”

▶ Many Oriental immigrants have recently settled in our town.

Negative stereotypes (such as “drives like a teenager” or “sour as a spinster”) are of course off ensive. But you should avoid stereotyping a person or a group even if you believe your gener- alization to be positive.

▶ It was no surprise that Greer, a Chinese American, was selected

for the honors chemistry program.

Lakota

Asian

an excell

ent math and science student,

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180

18 Find the exact words. Two reference works (or their online equivalents) will help you fi nd words to express your meaning exactly: a good dictionary, such as Th e American Heritage Dictionary or Merriam-Webster online, and a collection of synonyms and antonyms, such as Roget’s International Th esaurus.

TIP: Do not turn to a thesaurus in search of fl owery or impres- sive words. Look instead for words that exactly express your meaning.

18a Select words with appropriate connotations.

In addition to their strict dictionary meanings (or denotations), words have connotations, emotional colorings that aff ect how read- ers respond to them. Th e word steel denotes “commercial iron that contains carbon,” but it also calls up a cluster of images associated with steel. Th ese associations give the word its connotations — cold, hard, smooth, unbending.

If the connotation of a word does not seem appropriate for your purpose, your audience, or your subject matter, you should change the word. When a more appropriate synonym does not come quickly to mind, consult a dictionary or a thesaurus.

▶ As I covered the boats with marsh grass, the perspiration I had

worked up evaporated in the wind, and the cold morning air

seemed even colder.

Th e word perspiration is too dainty for the context, which suggests vigorous exercise.

EXERCISE 18–1 Use a dictionary and a thesaurus to fi nd at least four synonyms for each of the following words. Be prepared to explain any slight diff erences in meaning. 1. decay (verb) 3. hurry (verb) 5. secret (adjective) 2. diffi cult (adjective) 4. pleasure (noun) 6. talent (noun)

sweat

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18118cMisused words

exact

18b Prefer specifi c, concrete nouns.

Unlike general nouns, which refer to broad classes of things, specifi c nouns point to particular items. Film, for example, names a general class, fantasy fi lm names a narrower class, and Th e Golden Compass is more specifi c still. Other examples: team, football team, Denver Broncos; music, symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth.

Unlike abstract nouns, which refer to qualities and ideas ( justice, beauty, realism, dignity), concrete nouns point to imme- diate, oft en sensory experience and to physical objects (steeple, asphalt, lilac, stone, garlic).

Specifi c, concrete nouns express meaning more vividly than general or abstract ones. Although general and abstract language is sometimes necessary to convey your meaning, use specifi c, concrete words whenever possible.

▶ Th e senator spoke about the challenges of the future:

the environment and world peace.

Nouns such as thing, area, aspect, factor, and individual are especially dull and imprecise.

▶ Toni Morrison’s Beloved is about slavery, among other things.

18c Do not misuse words.

If a word is not in your active vocabulary, you may fi nd yourself misusing it, sometimes with embarrassing consequences. When in doubt, check the dictionary.

▶ Th e fans were migrating up the bleachers in search of seats.

▶ Th e Internet has so diff used our culture that it touches all

segments of society.

Be especially alert for misused word forms — using a noun such as absence or signifi cance, for example, when your meaning requires the adjective absent or signifi cant.

pollution, dwindling resources, and terrorism.

mot

herhood, and memory.

climbing

permeated

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18d182 Exact words

exact

▶ Most dieters are not persistence enough to make a permanent

change in their eating habits.

EXERCISE 18–2 Edit the following sentences to correct misused words. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th ese days the training required for a ballet dancer is

all-absorbent.

a. We regret this delay; thank you for your patients. b. Ada’s plan is to require education and experience to prepare her-

self for a position as property manager. c. Serena Williams, the penultimate competitor, has earned millions

of dollars just in endorsements. d. Many people take for granite that public libraries have up-to-date

computer systems. e. Th e aff ect of Gao Xinjian’s novels on Chinese exiles is hard to gauge.

18d Use standard idioms.

Idioms are speech forms that follow no easily specifi ed rules. Th e English say “Bernice went to hospital,” an idiom strange to American ears, which are accustomed to hearing the in front of hospital. Native speakers of a language seldom have problems with idioms, but prepositions (such as with, to, at, and of ) some- times cause trouble, especially when they follow certain verbs and adjectives. When in doubt, consult a dictionary.

UNIDIOMATIC IDIOMATIC

abide with (a decision) abide by (a decision) according with according to agree to (an idea) agree with (an idea) angry at (a person) angry with (a person) capable to capable of

persistent

all-absorbing.

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18318dStandard idioms

exact

comply to comply with desirous to desirous of diff erent than (a person or thing)

diff erent from (a person or thing)

intend on doing intend to do off of off plan on doing plan to do preferable than preferable to prior than prior to similar than similar to superior than superior to sure and sure to think on think of, about try and try to type of a type of

Because idioms follow no particular rules, you must learn them individually. You may fi nd it helpful to keep a list of idioms that you frequently encounter in conversation and in reading.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

EXERCISE 18–5 Edit the following sentences to eliminate errors in the use of idiomatic expressions. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

We agreed to abide with the decision of the judge.

a. Queen Anne was so angry at Sarah Churchill that she refused to see her again.

b. Jean-Pierre’s ambitious travel plans made it impossible for him to comply with the residency requirement for in-state tuition.

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18e184 Exact words

exact

c. Th e parade moved off of the street and onto the beach. d. Th e frightened refugees intend on making the dangerous trek

across the mountains. e. What type of a wedding are you planning?

18e Do not rely heavily on clichés.

Th e pioneer who fi rst announced that he had “slept like a log” no doubt amused his companions with a fresh and unlikely compar- ison. Today, however, that comparison is a cliché, a saying that can no longer add emphasis or surprise.

To see just how predictable clichés are, put your hand over the right-hand column in the following list and then fi nish the phrases on the left .

cool as a cucumber beat around the bush blind as a bat busy as a bee, beaver crystal clear dead as a doornail out of the frying pan and into the fi re light as a feather like a bull in a china shop playing with fi re nutty as a fruitcake selling like hotcakes starting out at the bottom of the ladder water under the bridge white as a sheet, ghost avoid clichés like the plague

Th e solution for clichés is simple: Just delete them or rewrite them.

▶ When I received a full scholarship from my second-choice

school, I found myself between a rock and a hard place. ^

felt pressured to sett le for second best.

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18518fFigures of speech

exact

Sometimes you can write around a cliché by adding an ele- ment of surprise. One student, for example, who had written that she had butterfl ies in her stomach, revised her cliché like this:

If all of the action in my stomach is caused by butterfl ies, there must be a horde of them, with horseshoes on.

Th e image of butterfl ies wearing horseshoes is fresh and unlikely, not predictable like the original cliché.

18f Use fi gures of speech with care.

A fi gure of speech is an expression that uses words imaginatively (rather than literally) to make abstract ideas concrete. Most oft en, fi gures of speech compare two seemingly unlike things to reveal surprising similarities.

In a simile, the writer makes the comparison explicitly, usu- ally by introducing it with like or as: By the time cotton had to be picked, Grandfather’s neck was as red as the clay he plowed. In a metaphor, the like or as is omitted, and the comparison is implied. For example, in the Old Testament Song of Solomon, a young woman compares the man she loves to a fruit tree: With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

Although fi gures of speech are useful devices, writers some- times use them without thinking through the images they evoke. Th e result is sometimes a mixed metaphor, the combination of two or more images that don’t make sense together.

▶ Our manager decided to put all controversial issues

in a holding pattern on a back burner until aft er the

annual meeting.

Here the writer is mixing airplanes and stoves. Simply deleting one of the images corrects the problem.

▶ Crossing Utah’s salt fl ats in a new convertible, my cousin

fl ew under a full head of steam.

Flew suggests an airplane, whereas under a full head of steam suggests a steamboat or train. To clarify the image, the writer should stick with one comparison or the other.

at jet speed.

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18f186 Exact words

exact

EXERCISE 18–8 Edit the following sentences to replace worn-out ex- pressions and clarify mixed fi gures of speech. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

When he heard about the accident, he turned white as a sheet.

a. John stormed into the room like a bull in a china shop. b. Some people insist that they’ll always be there for you, even when

they haven’t been before. c. Th e Cubs easily beat the Mets, who were in the soup early in the

game today at Wrigley Field. d. We ironed out the sticky spots in our relationship. e. My mother accused me of beating around the bush when in fact I

was just talking off the top of my head.

the co

lor drained from his face.

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Grammar

19 Repair sentence fragments. 188

20 Revise run-on sentences. 195

21 Make subjects and verbs agree. 202

22 Make pronouns and antecedents agree. 213

23 Make pronoun references clear. 218

24 Distinguish between pronouns such as I and me. 222

25 Distinguish between who and whom. 227

26 Choose adjectives and adverbs with care. 230

27 Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods. 237

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188

19 Repair sentence fragments. A sentence fragment is a word group that pretends to be a sen- tence. Sentence fragments are easy to recognize when they appear out of context, like these:

When the cat leaped onto the table. Running for the bus.

When fragments appear next to related sentences, however, they are harder to spot.

We had just sat down to dinner. When the cat leaped onto the table. I tripped and twisted my ankle. Running for the bus.

Recognizing sentence fragments

To be a sentence, a word group must consist of at least one inde- pendent clause. An independent clause includes a subject and a verb, and it either stands alone or could stand alone.

To test whether a word group is a complete sentence or a fragment, use the fl owchart on page 189. By using the fl owchart, you can see exactly why When the cat leaped onto the table is a fragment: It has a subject (cat) and a verb (leaped ), but it begins with a subordinating word (When), which makes the word group a dependent clause. Running for the bus is a fragment because it lacks a subject and a verb (Running is a verbal, not a verb). (See also 48b and 48e.)

Repairing sentence fragments

You can repair most fragments in one of two ways:

• Pull the fragment into a nearby sentence. • Rewrite the fragment as a complete sentence.

▶ We had just sat down to dinner/. When the cat leaped onto the table.

▶ I tripped and twisted my ankle. Running for the bus. ^

when

Running for the bus,

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189 19

frag

Sentence fragments

Test for fragments

*Do not mistake verbals for verbs. A verbal is a verb form (such as walking, to act ) that does not function as a verb of a clause. (See 48b.) **Th e subject of a sentence may be you, understood but not present in the sentence. (See 47a.) ***A sentence may open with a subordinate clause, but the sentence must also include an independent clause. (See 19a and 49a.)

If you fi nd any fragments, try one of these methods of revision

(see 19a–19c):

1. Attach the fragment to a nearby sentence. 2. Rewrite the fragment as a complete sentence.

Is there a verb?*

It is a fragment.

Is there a subject?**

It is a sentence.

YES

Is the word group merely a subordinate clause (because it begins with a word such as

because or when)?***

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19a190 Sentence fragments

frag

Unlike some other languages, English requires a subject and a verb in every sentence (except in commands, where the subject you is understood but not present: Sit down). See 30a and 30b.

▶ Is oft en hot and humid during the summer.

▶ Students usually very busy at the end of the semester writing papers

and taking exams.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

It is

are

19a Attach fragmented subordinate clauses or turn them into sentences.

A subordinate clause is patterned like a sentence, with both a subject and a verb, but it begins with a word that marks it as sub- ordinate. Th e following words commonly introduce subordinate clauses.

aft er how unless who although if until whom as since when whose as if so that where why because than whether before that which even though though while

Subordinate clauses function within sentences as adjectives, as adverbs, or as nouns. Th ey cannot stand alone. (See 48e.)

Most fragmented clauses beg to be pulled into a sentence nearby.

▶ Americans have come to fear the West Nile virus/. Because it is

transmitted by the common mosquito.

Because introduces a subordinate clause, so it cannot stand alone. (For punctuation of subordinate clauses appearing at the end of a sentence, see 33f.)

because

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19119bPhrases

frag

▶ Although psychiatrist Peter Kramer expresses concerns

about Prozac/. Many other doctors believe that the

benefi ts of antidepressants outweigh the risks.

Although introduces a subordinate clause, which cannot stand alone. (For punctuation of subordinate clauses at the beginning of a sentence, see 32b.)

If a fragmented clause cannot be attached to a nearby sen- tence or if you feel that attaching it would be awkward, try turning the clause into a sentence. Th e simplest way to do this is to delete the opening word or words that mark the clause as subordinate.

▶ Population increases and uncontrolled development are

taking a deadly toll on the environment. So that across the

globe, fragile ecosystems are collapsing.

19b Attach fragmented phrases or turn them into sentences.

Like subordinate clauses, phrases function within sentences as adjectives, as adverbs, or as nouns. Th ey cannot stand alone. Fragmented phrases are oft en prepositional or verbal phrases; sometimes they are appositives, words or word groups that rename nouns or pronouns. (See 48a, 48b, and 48c.)

Oft en a fragmented phrase may simply be pulled into a nearby sentence.

▶ Th e archaeologists worked slowly/., Examining and labeling

every pottery shard they uncovered.

Th e word group beginning with Examining is a verbal phrase, so it cannot stand alone.

▶ Th e patient displayed symptoms of ALS/., /A neurodegenerative

disease.

A neurodegenerative disease is an appositive renaming the noun ALS. (For punctuation of appositives, see 32e.)

^ , many

Across

examining

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19c192 Sentence fragments

frag

If a fragmented phrase cannot be pulled into a nearby sen- tence eff ectively, turn the phrase into a sentence. You may need to add a subject, a verb, or both.

▶ In the training session, Jamie explained how to access our new

database. Also how to submit expense reports and request

vendor payments.

Th e revision turns the fragmented phrase into a sentence by adding a subject and a verb.

19c Attach other fragmented word groups or turn them into sentences.

Other word groups that are commonly fragmented include parts of compound predicates, lists, and examples introduced by for example, in addition, or similar expressions.

Parts of compound predicates

A predicate consists of a verb and its objects, complements, and modifi ers (see 47b). A compound predicate includes two or more predicates joined with a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or or. Because the parts of a compound predicate have the same subject, they should appear in the same sentence.

▶ Th e woodpecker fi nch of the Galápagos Islands carefully selects

a twig of a certain size and shape/. And then uses this tool to pry

out grubs from trees.

Th e subject is fi nch, and the compound predicate is selects . . . and . . . uses. (For punctuation of compound predicates, see 33a.)

Lists

To correct a fragmented list, oft en you can attach it to a nearby sentence with a colon or a dash. (See 35a and 39a.)

▶ It has been said that there are only three indigenous American

art forms/. : Musical comedy, jazz, and soap opera.

She also taught us

and

musical

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19319cOther fragmented word groups

frag

Sometimes terms like especially, namely, like, and such as in- troduce fragmented lists. Such fragments can usually be attached to the preceding sentence.

▶ In the twentieth century, the South produced some great

American writers/., Such as Flannery O’Connor, William

Faulkner, Alice Walker, and Tennessee Williams.

Examples introduced by for example, in addition,

or similar expressions

Other expressions that introduce examples or explanations can lead to unintentional fragments. Although you may begin a sen- tence with some of the following words or phrases, make sure that what follows has a subject and a verb.

also for example mainly and for instance or but in addition that is

Oft en the easiest solution is to turn the fragment into a sentence.

▶ In his memoir, Primo Levi describes the horrors of living in a

concentration camp. For example, working without food and

suff ering emotional abuse.

Th e writer corrected this fragment by adding a subject — he — and substituting verbs for the verbals working and suff ering.

▶ Deborah Tannen’s research reveals that men and women have

diff erent ideas about communication. For example, that a woman

“expects her husband to be a new and improved version of her

best friend” (441).

A quotation must be part of a complete sentence. Th at a woman “expects her husband to be a new and improved version of her best friend” is a fragment — a subordinate clause. In this case, adding a signal phrase that includes a subject and a verb (Tannen explains) corrects the fragment and clarifi es that the quotation is from Tannen.

such

he worked

suff ered

Tannen explains

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19d194 Sentence fragments

frag

19d Exception: A fragment may be used for effect.

Writers occasionally use sentence fragments for special purposes.

FOR EMPHASIS Following the dramatic Americanization of their children, even my parents grew more publicly confi dent. Especially my mother.

— Richard Rodriguez

TO ANSWER

A QUESTION

Are these new drug tests 100 percent reliable? Not in the opinion of most experts.

TRANSITIONS And now the opposing arguments. EXCLAMATIONS Not again! IN ADVERTISING Fewer carbs. Improved taste.

Although fragments are sometimes appropriate, writers and readers do not always agree on when they are appropriate. Th at’s why you will fi nd it safer to write in complete sentences.

EXERCISE 19–1 Repair any fragment by attaching it to a nearby sen- tence or by rewriting it as a complete sentence. If a word group is cor- rect, write “correct” aft er it. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

One Greek island that should not be missed is Mykonos/., /A vacation

spot for Europeans and a playground for the rich and famous.

a. Listening to the CD her sister had sent, Mia was overcome with a mix of emotions. Happiness, homesickness, and nostalgia.

b. Cortés and his soldiers were astonished when they looked down from the mountains and saw Tenochtitlán. Th e magnifi cent capital of the Aztecs.

c. Although my spoken Spanish is not very good. I can read the lan- guage with ease.

d. Th ere are several reasons for not eating meat. One reason being that dangerous chemicals are used throughout the various stages of meat production.

e. To learn how to sculpt beauty from everyday life. Th is is my inten- tion in studying art and archaeology.

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19520Run-on sentences

run-on

EXERCISE 19–2 Repair each fragment in the following passage by attaching it to a sentence nearby or by rewriting it as a complete sentence.

Digital technology has revolutionized information delivery. Forever blurring the lines between information and entertainment. Yesterday’s readers of books and newspapers are today’s readers of e-books and news blogs. Countless readers have moved on from print information entirely. Choosing instead to scroll their way through a text on their Amazon Kindle or in an online forum. Once a nation of people spoon-fed television commercials and the six o’clock evening news. We are now seemingly addicted to YouTube. Remember the family trip when Dad or Mom wrestled with a road map? On the way to St. Louis or Seattle? No wrestling is required with a GPS navigator by the driver’s side. Unless it’s Mom and Dad wrestling over who gets to program the address. Accessing information now seems to be America’s favorite pastime. John Horrigan, associate director for research at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, reports that 31 percent of American adults are “elite” users of technology. Who are “highly engaged” with digital content. As a country, we embrace information and communication technologies. Which include iPads, smartphones, and other handheld devices. Children rely on such devices and the Internet from an early age. For activities like reading, socializing, gaming, and information gathering.

20 Revise run-on sentences. Run-on sentences are independent clauses that have not been joined correctly. An independent clause is a word group that can stand alone as a sentence. (See 49a.) When two independent clauses appear in one sentence, they must be joined in one of these ways:

• with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet)

• with a semicolon (or occasionally with a colon or a dash)

Recognizing run-on sentences

Th ere are two types of run-on sentences. When a writer puts no mark of punctuation and no coordinating conjunction between independent clauses, the result is called a fused sentence.

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196 20 Run-on sentences

run-on

FUSED Air pollution poses risks to all humans it can be

deadly INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

for asthma suff erers.

A far more common type of run-on sentence is the comma splice — two or more independent clauses joined with a comma but without a coordinating conjunction. In some comma splices, the comma appears alone.

COMMA

SPLICE

Air pollution poses risks to all humans, it can be deadly for asthma suff erers.

In other comma splices, the comma is accompanied by a joining word that is not a coordinating conjunction. Th ere are only seven coordi- nating conjunctions in English: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

COMMA

SPLICE

Air pollution poses risks to all humans, however, it can be deadly for asthma suff erers.

However is a transitional expression and cannot be used with only a comma to join two independent clauses (see 20b).

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

Recognizing run-on sentences

If you fi nd an error, choose an eff ective method of revision. See 20a–20d for revision strategies.

Revise. It is a run-on sentence.

Does the sentence contain two independent clauses

(word groups that can stand alone as sentences)?

No problem

Are the clauses joined with a comma and a coordinating

conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet)?

Are the clauses joined with a semicolon?

YES

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19720aRevision with coordinating conjunction

run-on

Revising run-on sentences

To revise a run-on sentence, you have four choices.

1. Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).

▶ Air pollution poses risks to all humans, it can be deadly for

people with asthma.

2. Use a semicolon (or, if appropriate, a colon or a dash). A semicolon may be used alone or with a transitional expression.

▶ Air pollution poses risks to all humans/, ; it can be deadly for

people with asthma.

▶ Air pollution poses risks to all humans/, ; it can be deadly for

people with asthma.

3. Make the clauses into separate sentences.

▶ Air pollution poses risks to all humans/, . it can be deadly for

people with asthma.

4. Restructure the sentence, perhaps by subordinating one of the clauses.

▶ Air pollution poses risks to all humans, it can be deadly for

people with asthma.

One of these revision techniques usually works better than the others for a particular sentence. Th e fourth technique, the one requiring the most extensive revision, is oft en the most eff ective.

20a Consider separating the clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction.

Th ere are seven coordinating conjunctions in English: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet. When a coordinating conjunction joins independent clauses, it is usually preceded by a comma. (See 32a.)

but

however,

Although air

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20b198 Run-on sentences

run-on

▶ Some lesson plans include exercises, completing them should not

be the focus of all class periods.

▶ Many government offi cials privately admit that the polygraph is

unreliable, however, they continue to use it as a security measure.

However is a transitional expression, not a coordinating conjunc- tion, so it cannot be used with only a comma to join independent clauses. (See also 20b.)

20b Consider separating the clauses with a semicolon (or, if appropriate, with a colon or a dash).

When the independent clauses are closely related and their rela- tion is clear without a coordinating conjunction, a semicolon is an acceptable method of revision. (See 34a.)

▶ Tragedy depicts the individual confronted with the fact of

death/, ; comedy depicts the adaptability of human society.

A semicolon is required between independent clauses that have been linked with a transitional expression (such as however, therefore, moreover, in fact, or for example). For a longer list, see 34b.

▶ In his fi lm adaptation of the short story “Killings,” director Todd

Field changed key details of the plot/, ; in fact, he added whole

scenes that do not appear in the story.

A colon or a dash may be more appropriate if the fi rst in- dependent clause introduces the second or if the second clause summarizes or explains the fi rst. (See 35a and 39a.) In formal writing, the colon is usually preferred to the dash.

▶ Nuclear waste is hazardous: this is an indisputable fact.

▶ Th e female black widow spider is oft en a widow of her own

making/, she has been known to eat her partner aft er mating.

but

yet

This

—

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19920cRevision by separating sentences

run-on

A colon is an appropriate method of revision if the fi rst inde- pendent clause introduces a quoted sentence.

▶ Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore had this to say about climate

change/, : “Th e truth is that our circumstances are not only new;

they are completely diff erent than they have ever been in all of

human history.”

20c Consider making the clauses into separate sentences.

▶ Why should we spend money on expensive space

exploration/, ? we have enough underfunded programs here

on Earth.

A question and a statement should be separate sentences.

▶ Some studies have suggested that the sexual relationships

of bonobos set them apart from common chimpanzees/, .

according to Stanford (1998), these diff erences have been

exaggerated.

Using a comma to join two independent clauses creates a comma splice. In this example, an eff ective revision is to separate the fi rst independent clause (Some studies . . .) from the second independent clause (these diff erences . . .) and to keep the signal phrase with the second clause. (See also 61a on citing sources in APA style.)

NOTE: When two quoted independent clauses are divided by explanatory words, make each clause its own sentence.

▶ “It’s always smart to learn from your mistakes,” quipped my

supervisor/, . “it’s even smarter to learn from the mistakes of

others.”

According

“It’s

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20d200 Run-on sentences

run-on

20d Consider restructuring the sentence, perhaps by subordinating one of the clauses.

If one of the independent clauses is less important than the other, turn the less important clause into a subordinate clause or phrase. (For more about subordination, see 14, especially the chart on p. 156.)

▶ One of the most famous advertising slogans is Wheaties cereal’s

“Breakfast of Champions,” it was penned in 1933.

▶ Mary McLeod Bethune was the seventeenth child of former

slaves, she founded the National Council of Negro Women in

1935.

Minor ideas in these sentences are now expressed in subordinate clauses or phrases.

EXERCISE 20–1 Revise the following run-on sentences using the method of revision suggested in brackets. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Daniel had been obsessed with his weight as a teenager, he

rarely ate anything sweet. [Restructure the sentence.]

a. Th e city had one public swimming pool, it stayed packed with children all summer long. [Restructure the sentence.]

b. Th e building is being renovated, therefore at times we have no heat, water, or electricity. [Use a comma and a coordinating conjunction.]

c. Th e view was not what the travel agent had described, where were the rolling hills and the shimmering rivers? [Make two sentences.]

d. Walker’s coming-of-age novel is set against a gloomy scientifi c backdrop, the earth’s rotation has begun to slow down. [Use a semicolon.]

e. City offi cials had good reason to fear a major earthquake, most of the business district was built on landfi ll. [Use a colon.]

which

^ ,

Because

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20120dRevision by restructuring

run-on

EXERCISE 20–2 Revise any run-on sentences using a technique that you fi nd eff ective. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book.

Crossing so many time zones on an eight-hour fl ight, I knew

I would be tired when I arrived, however, I was too excited to

sleep on the plane.

a. Wind power for the home is a supplementary source of energy, it can be combined with electricity, gas, or solar energy.

b. Aidan viewed Sofi a Coppola’s Lost in Translation three times and then wrote a paper describing the fi lm as the work of a mysterious modern painter.

c. In the Middle Ages, the streets of London were dangerous places, it was safer to travel by boat along the Th ames.

d. “He’s not drunk,” I said, “he’s in a state of diabetic shock.” e. Are you able to endure extreme angle turns, high speeds, frequent

jumps, and occasional crashes, then supermoto racing may be a sport for you.

EXERCISE 20–3 In the following rough draft , revise any run-on sentences.

Some parents and educators argue that requiring uniforms in public schools would improve student behavior and perfor- mance. Th ey think that uniforms give students a more profes sional attitude toward school, moreover, they believe that uniforms help create a sense of community among students from diverse backgrounds. But parents and educators should consider the drawbacks to requiring uniforms in public schools.

Uniforms do create a sense of community, they do this, however, by stamping out individuality. Youth is a time to express originality, it is a time to develop a sense of self. One important way young people express their identities is through the clothes they wear. Th e self-patrolled dress code of high school students may be stricter than any school-imposed code, nevertheless, trying to control dress habits from above will only lead to resentment or to mindless conformity.

If children are going to act like adults, they need to be treated like adults, they need to be allowed to make their own choices. Telling young people what to wear to school merely prolongs their childhood. Requiring uniforms undermines the educational purpose of public schools, which is not just to teach facts and fi gures but to help young people grow into adults who are responsible for making their own choices.

but

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202

21 Make subjects and verbs agree. In the present tense, verbs agree with their subjects in number (singular or plural) and in person (fi rst, second, third): I sing, you sing, he sings, she sings, we sing, they sing. Even if your ear recognizes the standard subject-verb combinations presented in 21a, you will no doubt encounter tricky situations such as those described in 21b–21k.

21a Learn to recognize the standard subject-verb combinations.

Th is section describes the basic guidelines for making present- tense verbs agree with their subjects. Th e present-tense ending -s (or -es) is used on a verb if its subject is third-person singular (he, she, it, and singular nouns); otherwise, the verb takes no ending. Consider, for example, the present-tense forms of the verbs love and try, given at the beginning of the chart on page 204.

Th e verb be varies from this pattern; it has special forms in both the present and the past tense. Th ese forms appear at the end of the chart.

If you aren’t sure of the standard forms, use the charts on pages 204 and 205 as you proofread your work for subject-verb agreement. You may also want to look at 27c on -s endings of regular and irregular verbs.

21b Make the verb agree with its subject, not with a word that comes between.

Word groups oft en come between the subject and the verb. Such word groups, usually modifying the subject, may contain a noun that at fi rst appears to be the subject. By mentally stripping away such modifi ers, you can isolate the noun that is in fact the subject.

Th e samples on the tray in the lab need testing.

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20321cSubjects joined with and

sv agr

▶ High levels of air pollution cause/s damage to the respiratory

tract.

Th e subject is levels, not pollution. Strip away the phrase of air pollution to hear the correct verb: levels cause.

▶ Th e slaughter of pandas for their pelts have caused the panda

population to decline drastically.

Th e subject is slaughter, not pandas or pelts.

NOTE: Phrases beginning with the prepositions as well as, in ad- dition to, accompanied by, together with, and along with do not make a singular subject plural.

▶ Th e governor as well as his press secretary were on the plane.

To emphasize that two people were on the plane, the writer could use and instead: Th e governor and his press secretary were on the plane.

21c Treat most subjects joined with and as plural.

A subject with two or more parts is said to be compound. If the parts are connected with and, the subject is almost always plural.

Leon and Jan oft en jog together.

▶ Th e Supreme Court’s willingness to hear the case and its

affi rmation of the original decision has set a new precedent.

EXCEPTION 1: When the parts of the subject form a single unit or when they refer to the same person or thing, treat the subject as singular.

Fish and chips was a last-minute addition to the menu. Sue’s friend and adviser was surprised by her decision.

has

was

have

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21c204 Subject-verb agreement

sv agr

Subject-verb agreement at a glance

Present-tense forms of love and try (typical verbs)

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I love we love SECOND PERSON you love you love THIRD PERSON he/she/it* loves they** love

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I try we try SECOND PERSON you try you try THIRD PERSON he/she/it* tries they** try

Present-tense forms of have

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I have we have SECOND PERSON you have you have THIRD PERSON he/she/it* has they** have

Present-tense forms of do (including negative forms)

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I do/don’t we do/don’t SECOND PERSON you do/don’t you do/don’t THIRD PERSON he/she/it* does/doesn’t they** do/don’t

Present-tense and past-tense forms of be

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I am/was we are/were SECOND PERSON you are/were you are/were THIRD PERSON he/she/it* is/was they** are/were

*And singular nouns (child, Roger ) **And plural nouns (children, the Mannings)

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20521cSubjects joined with and

sv agr

When to use the -s (or -es ) form of a present-tense verb

EXCEPTION: Choosing the correct present-tense form of be (am, is, or are ) is not quite so simple. See the chart on the previous page for both present- and past-tense forms of be. TIP: Do not use the -s form of a verb if it follows a modal verb such as can, must, or should or another helping verb. (See 28c.)

Is the verb’s subject he, she, it, or one?

Use the -s form.

Use the -s form

(loves, tries, has, does).

Is the subject a singular noun (such as parent)?

Use the base form of

the verb (such as love, try, have, do).

Is the subject a singular indefi nite pronoun —

anybody, anyone, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, neither, no one,

someone, or something?

YES

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21d206 Subject-verb agreement

sv agr

EXCEPTION 2: When a compound subject is preceded by each or every, treat it as singular.

Every car, truck, and van is required to pass inspection.

Th is exception does not apply when a compound subject is fol- lowed by each: Alan and Marcia each have diff erent ideas.

21d With subjects joined with or or nor (or with either . . . or or neither . . . nor), make the verb agree with the part of the subject nearer to the verb.

A driver’s license or credit card is required.

A driver’s license or two credit cards are required.

▶ If an infant or a child have a high fever, call a doctor.

▶ Neither the chief fi nancial offi cer nor the marketing managers

was able to convince the client to reconsider.

Th e verb must be matched with the part of the subject closer to it: child has in the fi rst sentence, managers were in the second.

NOTE: If one part of the subject is singular and the other is plural, put the plural one last to avoid awkwardness.

21e Treat most indefi nite pronouns as singular.

Indefi nite pronouns are pronouns that do not refer to specifi c persons or things. Th e following commonly used indefi nite pro- nouns are singular.

anybody each everyone nobody somebody anyone either everything no one someone anything everybody neither nothing something

has

were

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20721fCollective nouns

sv agr

Many of these words appear to have plural meanings, and they are oft en treated as such in casual speech. In formal written En glish, however, they are nearly always treated as singular.

Everyone on the team supports the coach.

▶ Each of the essays have been graded.

▶ Nobody who participated in the clinical trials were given a

placebo.

Th e subjects of these sentences are Each and Nobody. Th ese indefi nite pronouns are third-person singular, so the verbs must be has and was.

A few indefi nite pronouns (all, any, none, some) may be singular or plural depending on the noun or pronoun they refer to.

SINGULAR Some of our luggage was lost.

None of his advice makes sense.

PLURAL Some of the rocks are slippery.

None of the eggs were broken.

NOTE: When the meaning of none is emphatically “not one,” none may be treated as singular: None [meaning “Not one”] of the eggs was broken. Using not one instead is sometimes clearer: Not one of the eggs was broken.

21f Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural.

Collective nouns such as jury, committee, audience, crowd, troop, family, and couple name a class or a group. In American English, collective nouns are nearly always treated as singular: They emphasize the group as a unit. Occasionally, when there

has

was

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21f208 Subject-verb agreement

sv agr

is some reason to draw attention to the individual members of the group, a collective noun may be treated as plural. (See also 22b.)

SINGULAR Th e class respects the teacher.

PLURAL Th e class are debating among themselves.

To underscore the notion of individuality in the second sentence, many writers would add a clearly plural noun.

PLURAL Th e class members are debating among themselves.

▶ Th e board of trustees meet in Denver twice a year.

Th e board as a whole meets; there is no reason to draw attention to its individual members.

▶ A young couple was arguing about politics while holding hands.

Th e meaning is clearly plural. Only separate individuals can argue and hold hands.

NOTE: Th e phrase the number is treated as singular, a number as plural.

SINGULAR Th e number of school-age children is declining.

PLURAL A number of children are attending the wedding.

NOTE: In general, when fractions or units of measurement are used with a singular noun, treat them as singular; when they are used with a plural noun, treat them as plural.

SINGULAR Th ree-fourths of the salad has been eaten.

Twenty inches of wallboard was covered with mud.

PLURAL One-fourth of the drivers were texting.

Two pounds of blueberries were used to make the pie.

meets

were

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20921hSubject, not subject complement

sv agr

21g Make the verb agree with its subject even when the subject follows the verb.

Verbs ordinarily follow subjects. When this normal order is reversed, it is easy to become confused. Sentences beginning with there is or there are (or there was or there were) are inverted; the subject follows the verb.

Th ere are surprisingly few honeybees left in southern China.

▶ Th ere was a social worker and a journalist at the meeting.

Th e subject, worker and journalist, is plural, so the verb must be were.

Occasionally, you may decide to invert a sentence for variety or eff ect. When you do so, check to make sure that your subject and verb agree.

▶ Of particular concern is penicillin and tetracycline, antibiotics

used to make animals more resistant to disease.

Th e subject, penicillin and tetracycline, is plural, so the verb must be are.

21h Make the verb agree with its subject, not with a subject complement.

One basic sentence pattern in English consists of a subject, a linking verb, and a subject complement: Jack is a lawyer. Because the subject complement (lawyer) names or describes the subject (Jack), it is sometimes mistaken for the subject. (See 47b on sub- ject complements.)

Th ese exercises are a way to test your ability to perform under pressure.

▶ A tent and a sleeping bag is the required equipment.

Tent and bag is the subject, not equipment.

were

are

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21i210 Subject-verb agreement

sv agr

▶ A major force in today’s economy are children — as consumers,

decision makers, and trend spotters.

Force is the subject, not children. If the corrected version seems too awkward, make children the subject: Children are a major force in today’s economy — as consumers, decision makers, and trend spotters.

21i Who, which, and that take verbs that agree with their antecedents.

Like most pronouns, the relative pronouns who, which, and that have antecedents, nouns or pronouns to which they refer. Relative pronouns used as subjects of subordinate clauses take verbs that agree with their antecedents.

Take a course that prepares you for classroom management.

One of the

Constructions such as one of the students who [or one of the things that] cause problems for writers. Do not assume that the antecedent must be one. Instead, consider the logic of the sentence.

▶ Our ability to use language is one of the things that set/s us

apart from animals.

Th e antecedent of that is things, not one. Several things set us apart from animals.

Only one of the

When the phrase the only comes before one, you are safe in assuming that one is the antecedent of the relative pronoun.

▶ Veronica was the only one of the fi rst-year Spanish students

who were fl uent enough to apply for the exchange program.

Th e antecedent of who is one, not students. Only one student was fl uent enough.

ANT PN V

was

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21121kTitles, company names, etc.

sv agr

21j Words such as athletics, economics, mathematics, physics, politics, statistics, measles, and news are usually singular, despite their plural form.

▶ Politics are among my mother’s favorite pastimes.

EXCEPTION: Occasionally some of these words, especially eco- nomics, mathematics, politics, and statistics, have plural meanings: Offi ce politics oft en sway decisions about hiring and promotion. Th e economics of the building plan are prohibitive.

21k Titles of works, company names, words mentioned as words, and gerund phrases are singular.

▶ Lost Cities describe the discoveries of fi ft y ancient civilizations.

▶ Delmonico Brothers specialize in organic produce.

▶ Controlled substances are a euphemism for illegal drugs.

A gerund phrase consists of an -ing verb form followed by any objects, complements, or modifi ers (see 48b). Treat gerund phrases as singular.

▶ Encountering long hold times make customers impatient with

telephone tech support.

EXERCISE 21–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate problems with subject-verb agreement. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Jack’s fi rst days in the infantry was grueling.

a. One of the main reasons for elephant poaching are the profi ts received from selling the ivory tusks.

describes

specializes

makes

were

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21k212 Subject-verb agreement

sv agr

b. Not until my interview with Dr. Hwang were other possibilities opened to me.

c. A number of students in the seminar was aware of the importance of joining the discussion.

d. Batik cloth from Bali, blue and white ceramics from Delft , and a bocce ball from Turin has made Angelie’s room the talk of the dorm.

e. Th e board of directors, ignoring the wishes of the neighborhood, has voted to allow further development.

EXERCISE 21–2 For each sentence in the following passage, underline the subject (or compound subject) and then select the verb that agrees with it. (If you have trouble identifying the subject, consult 47a.)

More practice:

Loggerhead sea turtles (migrate / migrates) thousands of miles before returning to their nesting location every two to three years. Th e nesting season for loggerhead turtles (span / spans) the hottest months of the summer. Although the habitat of Atlantic loggerheads (range / ranges) from Newfoundland to Argentina, nesting for these turtles (take / takes) place primarily along the southeastern coast of the United States. Female turtles that have reached sexual maturity (crawl / crawls) ashore at night to lay their eggs. Th e cavity that serves as a nest for the eggs (is / are) dug out with the female’s strong fl ippers. Deposited into each nest (is / are) anywhere from fi ft y to two hundred spherical eggs, also known as a clutch. Aft er a two-month incubation period, all eggs in the clutch (begin / begins) to hatch, and within a few days the young turtles attempt to make their way into the ocean. A major cause of the loggerhead’s decreasing numbers (is / are) natural predators such as raccoons, birds, and crabs. Beach erosion and coastal development also (threaten / threatens) the turtles’ survival. For example, a crowd of curious humans or lights from beachfront residences (is / are) enough to make the female abandon her nesting plans and return to the ocean. Since only one in one thousand loggerheads survives to adulthood, special care should be taken to protect this threatened species.

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213

22 Make pronouns and antecedents agree. A pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun. (See 46b.) Many pronouns have antecedents, nouns or pronouns to which they refer. A pronoun and its antecedent agree when they are both sin- gular or both plural.

SINGULAR Dr. Ava Berto fi nished her rounds.

PLURAL Th e hospital interns fi nished their rounds.

Th e pronouns he, his, she, her, it, and its must agree in gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) with their antecedents, not with the words they modify.

Steve visited his [not her] sister in Seattle.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

22a Do not use plural pronouns to refer to singular antecedents.

Writers are frequently tempted to use plural pronouns to refer to two kinds of singular antecedents: indefi nite pronouns and generic nouns.

Indefi nite pronouns

Indefi nite pronouns refer to nonspecifi c persons or things. Even though some of the following indefi nite pronouns may seem to have plural meanings, treat them as singular in formal English.

anybody each everyone nobody somebody anyone either everything no one someone anything everybody neither nothing something

Everyone performs at his or her [not their] own fi tness level.

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22a214 Pronoun-antecedent agreement

pn agr

When a plural pronoun refers mistakenly to a singular in- defi nite pronoun, you can usually choose one of three options for revision:

1. Replace the plural pronoun with he or she (or his or her). 2. Make the antecedent plural. 3. Rewrite the sentence so that no problem of agreement exists.

▶ When someone travels outside the United States for the

fi rst time, they need to apply for a passport.

▶ When someone travels outside the United States for the

fi rst time, they need to apply for a passport.

▶ When someone travels outside the United States for the

fi rst time/, they need to apply for a passport.

Because the he or she construction is wordy, oft en the second or third revision strategy is more eff ective. Using he (or his) to refer to per- sons of either sex, while less wordy, is considered sexist, as is using she (or her) for all persons. Some writers alternate male and female pronouns throughout a text, but the result is oft en awkward. See 17e and the chart on page 216 for strategies that avoid sexist language.

NOTE: If you change a pronoun from singular to plural (or vice versa), check to be sure that the verb agrees with the new pro- noun (see 21e).

Generic nouns

A generic noun represents a typical member of a group, such as a typ- ical student, or any member of a group, such as any lawyer. Although generic nouns may seem to have plural meanings, they are singular.

Every runner must train rigorously if he or she wants [not they want] to excel.

When a plural pronoun refers mistakenly to a generic noun, you will usually have the same three revision options as men- tioned at the top of this page for indefi nite pronouns.

he or she needs

people travel

Anyone who

needs

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21522cAntecedents joined with and

pn agr

▶ A medical student must study hard if they want to succeed.

22b Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural.

Collective nouns such as jury, committee, audience, crowd, class, troop, family, team, and couple name a group. Ordinarily the group functions as a unit, so the noun should be treated as singu- lar; if the members of the group function as individuals, however, the noun should be treated as plural. (See also 21f.)

AS A UNIT Th e committee granted its permission to build.

AS INDIVIDUALS Th e committee put their signatures on the document.

When treating a collective noun as plural, many writers pre- fer to add a clearly plural antecedent such as members to the sentence: Th e members of the committee put their signatures on the document.

▶ Defense attorney Clarence Darrow surprisingly urged the jury

to fi nd his client, John Scopes, guilty so that he could appeal the

case to a higher court. Th e jury complied, returning their verdict

in only nine minutes.

Th ere is no reason to draw attention to the individual members of the jury, so jury should be treated as singular.

22c Treat most compound antecedents joined with and as plural.

In 1987, Reagan and Gorbachev held a summit where they signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

he or she wants

Medical students

its

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22d216 Pronoun-antecedent agreement

pn agr

22d With compound antecedents joined with or or nor (or with either . . . or or neither . . . nor), make the pronoun agree with the nearer antecedent.

Either Bruce or Tom should receive fi rst prize for his poem.

Neither the mouse nor the rats could fi nd their way through the maze.

NOTE: If one of the antecedents is singular and the other plural, as in the second example, put the plural one last to avoid awkwardness.

Choosing a revision strategy that avoids sexist language

Because many readers object to sexist language, avoid using he, him, and his (or she, her, and hers) to refer to both men and women. Also try to avoid the wordy expressions he or she and his or her. More graceful alternatives are usually possible.

Use an occasional he or she (or his or her ).

▶ In our offi ce, everyone works at their own pace.

Make the antecedent plural.

▶ An employee on extended disability leave may continue their life

insurance.

Recast the sentence.

▶ Th e amount of vacation time a federal worker may accrue depends on

their length of service.

▶ If a child is born to parents who are both tall/, they have a high chance

of being tall.

▶ In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin suggests that anyone

can achieve success as long as they live a virtuous life and work hard.

his or her

Employees

has

by living

working

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21722dAntecedents joined with or, nor, either . . . or, neither . . . nor

pn agr

EXCEPTION: If one antecedent is male and the other female, do not follow the traditional rule. Th e sentence Either Bruce or Elizabeth should receive fi rst prize for her short story makes no sense. Th e best solution is to recast the sentence: Th e prize for best short story should go to either Bruce or Elizabeth.

EXERCISE 22–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement. Most of the sentences can be revised in more than one way, so experiment before choosing a solution. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e recruiter may tell the truth, but there is much that they

choose not to tell.

a. Every presidential candidate must appeal to a wide variety of ethnic and social groups if they want to win the election.

b. David lent his motorcycle to someone who allowed their friend to use it.

c. Th e aerobics teacher motioned for everyone to move their arms in wide, slow circles.

d. Th e parade committee was unanimous in its decision to allow all groups and organizations to join the festivities.

e. Th e applicant should be bilingual if they want to qualify for this position.

EXERCISE 22–2 Edit the following paragraph to eliminate problems with pronoun-antecedent agreement or sexist language.

A common practice in businesses is to put each employee in their own cubicle. A typical cubicle resembles an office, but their walls don’t reach the ceiling. Many office managers feel that a cubicle floor plan has its advantages. Cubicles make a large area feel spacious. In addition, they can be moved around so that each new employee can be accommodated in his own work area. Of course, the cubicle model also has problems. The typical employee is not as happy with a cubicle

Recruiters

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218 23 Pronoun reference

ref

as they would be with a traditional office. Also, productivity can suffer. Neither a manager nor a frontline worker can ordinarily do their best work in a cubicle because of noise and lack of privacy. Each worker can hear his neighbors tapping on computer keyboards, making telephone calls, and muttering under their breath.

23 Make pronoun references clear. Pronouns substitute for nouns; they are a kind of shorthand. In a sentence like Aft er Andrew intercepted the ball, he kicked it as hard as he could, the pronouns he and it substitute for the nouns Andrew and ball. Th e word a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.

23a Avoid ambiguous or remote pronoun reference.

Ambiguous pronoun reference occurs when a pronoun could refer to two possible antecedents.

▶ When Gloria set the pitcher on the glass-topped table/,. it broke.

▶ Tom told James, that he had won the lottery.”

What broke — the pitcher or the table? Who won the lottery — Tom or James? Th e revisions eliminate the ambiguity.

Remote pronoun reference occurs when a pronoun is too far away from its antecedent for easy reading.

▶ Aft er the court ordered my ex-husband to pay child support,

he refused. Eight months later, the judge ordered him to make

payments directly to the court, which would in turn pay me.

The pitcher broke when Gloria set it

“You have

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21923cImplied antecedents

ref

Aft er six months, payments stopped. Again he was summoned to

appear in court; he did not respond.

Th e pronoun he was too distant from its antecedent, ex-husband, which appeared several sentences earlier.

23b Generally, avoid broad reference of this, that, which, and it.

For clarity, the pronouns this, that, which, and it should ordi- narily refer to specifi c antecedents rather than to whole ideas or sentences. When a pronoun’s reference is needlessly broad, either replace the pronoun with a noun or supply an antecedent to which the pronoun clearly refers.

▶ By advertising on television, pharmaceutical companies gain

exposure for their prescription drugs. Patients respond to this by

requesting drugs they might not need.

For clarity, the writer substituted the noun ads for the pronoun this, which referred broadly to the idea expressed in the preceding sentence.

▶ Romeo and Juliet were both too young to have acquired much

wisdom, and that accounts for their rash actions.

Th e writer added an antecedent ( fact) that the pronoun that clearly refers to.

23c Do not use a pronoun to refer to an implied antecedent.

A pronoun should refer to a specifi c antecedent, not to a word that is implied but not present in the sentence.

▶ Aft er braiding Ann’s hair, Sue decorated them with ribbons.

Th e pronoun them referred to Ann’s braids (implied by the term braiding), but the word braids did not appear in the sentence.

my ex-husband

the ads

a fact

the braids

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23d220 Pronoun reference

ref

Modifi ers, such as possessives, cannot serve as antecedents. A modifi er may strongly imply the noun that a pronoun might logically refer to, but it is not itself that noun.

▶ In Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl,” she describes the advice a mother

gives her daughter, including the mysterious warning not to be

“the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread” (454).

Using the possessive form of an author’s name to introduce a source leads to a problem later in this sentence: Th e pronoun she cannot refer logically to a possessive modifi er (Jamaica Kincaid’s). Th e revision substitutes the noun Jamaica Kincaid for the pronoun she, thereby eliminating the problem. (For more on writing with sources in MLA style, see 55.)

23d Avoid the indefi nite use of they, it, and you.

Do not use the pronoun they to refer indefi nitely to persons who have not been specifi cally mentioned. Th ey should always refer to a specifi c antecedent.

▶ In June, they voted to charge a fee for students to participate in

sports and music programs.

Th e word it should not be used indefi nitely in constructions such as It is said on television . . . or In the article, it says that. . . .

▶ In the encyclopedia it states that male moths can smell female

moths from several miles away.

Th e pronoun you is appropriate only when the writer is ad- dressing the reader directly: Once you have kneaded the dough, let it rise in a warm place. Except in informal contexts, however, you should not be used to mean “anyone in general.” Use a noun instead.

▶ Ms. Pickersgill’s Guide to Etiquette stipulates that you should not

arrive at a party too early or leave too late.

Jamaica Kincaid

the board

The

a guest

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22123ewho for persons, which or that for things

ref

23e To refer to persons, use who, whom, or whose, not which or that.

In most contexts, use who, whom, or whose to refer to persons, which or that to refer to animals or things. Which is reserved only for animals or things; it is impolite to use it to refer to persons.

▶ All thirty-two women in the study, half of which were

unemployed for more than six months, reported higher

self-esteem aft er job training.

Although that is sometimes used to refer to persons, many readers will fi nd such references dehumanizing. It is more polite to use a form of who — a word reserved only for people.

▶ During the two-day festival El Día de los Muertos (Day of the

Dead), Mexican families celebrate loved ones that have died.

EXERCISE 23–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in pro- noun reference. In some cases, you will need to decide on an antecedent that the pronoun might logically refer to. Possible revisions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Although Apple makes the most widely recognized

smartphone, other companies have gained a share of the

market. Th is has kept prices from skyrocketing.

a. Th ey say that engineering students should have hands-on experience with dismantling and reassembling machines.

b. She had decorated her living room with posters from chamber music festivals. Th is led her date to believe that she was interested in classical music. Actually, she preferred rock.

c. In my high school, you didn’t need to get all A’s to be considered a success; you just needed to work to your ability.

whom

who

The competition

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222 24 Case of personal pronouns

case

d. Marianne told Jenny that she was worried about her mother’s illness.

e. Th ough Lewis cried for several minutes aft er scraping his knee, eventually it subsided.

EXERCISE 23–2 Edit the following passage to correct errors in pro- noun reference. In some cases, you will need to decide on an antecedent that the pronoun might logically refer to.

Since its launch in the 1980s, the Internet has grown to be one of the largest communications forums in the world. Th e Internet was created by a team of academics who were building on a platform that government scientists had started developing in the 1950s. Th ey initially viewed it as a noncommercial enterprise that would serve only the needs of the academic and technical communities. But with the introduction of user-friendly browser technology in the 1990s, it expanded tremendously. By the late 1990s, many businesses were connecting to the Internet with high-speed broadband and fi ber-optic connections, which is also true of many home users today. Accessing information, shopping, and communicating are easier than ever before. Th is, however, can lead to some possible drawbacks. You forfeit privacy when you search, shop, and communicate. Th ey say that avoiding disclosure of personal information and routinely adjusting your privacy settings on social media sites are the best ways to protect yourself on the Internet.

24 Distinguish between pronouns such as I and me. Th e personal pronouns in the following chart change what is known as case form according to their grammatical function in a sentence. Pronouns functioning as subjects or subject comple- ments appear in the subjective case; those functioning as objects appear in the objective case; and those showing ownership appear in the possessive case.

SUBJECTIVE

CASE

OBJECTIVE

CASE

POSSESSIVE

CASE

SINGULAR I me my you you your he/she/it him/her/it his/her/its

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22324bObjects

case

SUBJECTIVE

CASE

OBJECTIVE

CASE

POSSESSIVE

CASE

PLURAL we us our you you your they them their

Pronouns in the subjective and objective cases are frequently confused. Most of the rules in this section specify when to use one or the other of these cases. Section 24g explains a special use of pronouns and nouns in the possessive case.

24a Use the subjective case (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) for subjects and subject complements.

When personal pronouns are used as subjects, ordinarily your ear will tell you the correct pronoun. Problems sometimes arise, however, with compound word groups containing a pronoun, so it is not always safe to trust your ear.

▶ Joel ran away because his stepfather and him had quarreled.

His stepfather and he is the subject of the verb had quarreled. If we strip away the words his stepfather and, the correct pronoun becomes clear: he had quarreled (not him had quarreled).

When a pronoun is used as a subject complement (a word following a linking verb), your ear may mislead you, since the incorrect form is frequently heard in casual speech. (See “subject complements,” 47b.)

▶ During the Lindbergh trial, Bruno Hauptmann repeatedly

denied that the kidnapper was him.

If kidnapper was he seems too stilted, rewrite the sentence: . . . Bruno Hauptmann repeatedly denied that he was the kidnapper.

24b Use the objective case (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) for all objects.

When a personal pronoun is used as a direct object, an indirect object, or the object of a preposition, ordinarily your ear will lead

he.

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24c224 Case of personal pronouns

case

you to the correct pronoun. When an object is compound, how- ever, you may occasionally become confused.

▶ Janice was indignant when she realized that the salesclerk was

insulting her mother and she.

Her mother and her is the direct object of the verb was insulting. Strip away the words her mother and to hear the correct pronoun: was insulting her (not was insulting she).

▶ Th e most traumatic experience for her father and I occurred long

aft er her operation.

Her father and me is the object of the preposition for. Strip away the words her father and to test for the correct pronoun: for me (not for I).

When in doubt about the correct pronoun, some writers try to avoid making the choice by using a refl exive pronoun such as myself. Using a refl exive pronoun in such situations is nonstandard.

▶ Nidra gave my cousin and myself some good tips on traveling in

New Delhi.

My cousin and me is the indirect object of the verb gave. For correct uses of myself, see the glossary of usage in the appendixes.

24c Put an appositive and the word to which it refers in the same case.

Appositives are noun phrases that rename nouns or pronouns. A pronoun used as an appositive has the same function (usually subject or object) as the word(s) it renames.

▶ Th e managers, Dr. Bell and me, could not agree on a plan.

Th e appositive Dr. Bell and I renames the subject, managers. Test: I could not agree (not me could not agree).

▶ Th e reporter interviewed only two witnesses, the bicyclist and I.

Th e appositive the bicyclist and me renames the direct object, witnesses. Test: interviewed me (not interviewed I).

her.

me.

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22524fSubjects and objects of infi nitives

case

24d Following than or as, choose the pronoun that expresses your meaning.

When a comparison begins with than or as, your choice of a pronoun will depend on your intended meaning. To test for the correct pronoun, mentally complete the sentence: My roommate likes football more than I [do].

▶ In our report on nationalized health care in the United States,

we argued that Canadians are much better off than us.

We is the subject of the verb are, which is understood: Canadians are much better off than we [are]. If the correct English seems too formal, you can always add the verb.

▶ We respected no other candidate for the city council as much

as she.

Th is sentence means that we respected no other candidate as much as we respected her. Her is the direct object of the understood verb respected.

24e For we or us before a noun, choose the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were omitted.

▶ Us tenants would rather fi ght than move.

▶ Management is shortchanging we tenants.

No one would say Us would rather fi ght than move or Management is shortchanging we.

24f Use the objective case for subjects and objects of infi nitives.

An infi nitive is the word to followed by the base form of a verb. (See 48b.) Subjects of infi nitives are an exception to the rule that subjects must be in the subjective case. Whenever an infi nitive

we.

her.

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24g226 Case of personal pronouns

case

has a subject, it must be in the objective case. Objects of infi ni- tives also are in the objective case.

▶ Sue asked John and I to drive the senator and she to the airport.

John and me is the subject of the infi nitive to drive; senator and her is the direct object of the infi nitive.

24g Use the possessive case to modify a gerund.

A pronoun that modifi es a gerund or a gerund phrase should be in the possessive case (my, our, your, his, her, its, their). A gerund is a verb form ending in -ing that functions as a noun. Gerunds frequently appear in phrases; when they do, the whole gerund phrase functions as a noun. (See 48b.)

▶ Th e chances of you being hit by lightning are about two million

to one.

Your modifi es the gerund phrase being hit by lightning.

Nouns as well as pronouns may modify gerunds. To form the possessive case of a noun, use an apostrophe and an -s (victim’s) or just an apostrophe (victims’). (See 36a.)

▶ Th e old order in France paid a high price for the aristocracy

exploiting the lower classes.

Th e possessive noun aristocracy’s modifi es the gerund phrase exploiting the lower classes.

EXERCISE 24–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate errors in pronoun case. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Papa chops wood for neighbors much younger than him.

her

your

aristocracy’s

he.

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22725who vs. whom

case

a. Rick applied for the job even though he heard that other candidates were more experienced than he.

b. Th e volleyball team could not believe that the coach was she. c. She appreciated him telling the truth in such a diffi cult situation. d. Th e director has asked you and I to draft a proposal for a new

recycling plan. e. Five close friends and myself rented a station wagon, packed it

with food, and drove two hundred miles to Mardi Gras.

EXERCISE 24–2 In the following paragraph, choose the correct pro- noun in each set of parentheses.

We may blame television for the number of products based on characters in children’s TV shows — from Big Bird to SpongeBob — but in fact merchandising that capitalizes on a character’s popularity started long before television. Raggedy Ann began as a child’s rag doll, and a few years later books about (she / her) and her brother, Raggedy Andy, were published. A cartoonist named Johnny Gruelle painted a cloth face on a family doll and applied for a patent in 1915. Later Gruelle began writing and illustrating stories about Raggedy Ann, and in 1918 (he / him) and a publisher teamed up to publish the books and sell the dolls. He was not the only one to try to sell products linked to children’s stories. Beatrix Potter published the fi rst of many Peter Rabbit picture books in 1902, and no one was better than (she / her) at making a living from spin-off s. Aft er Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny became popular, Potter began putting pictures of (they / them) and their little animal friends on merchandise. Potter had fans all over the world, and she understood (them / their) wanting to see Peter Rabbit not only in books but also on teapots and plates and lamps and other furnishings for the nursery. Potter and Gruelle, like countless others before and since, knew that entertaining children could be a profi table business.

25 Distinguish between who and whom. Th e choice between who and whom (or whoever and whomever) occurs primarily in subordinate clauses and in questions. Who and whoever, subjective-case pronouns, are used for subjects and subject complements. Whom and whomever, objective-case pro- nouns, are used for objects. (See 25a and 25b.)

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25a228 Case of who and whom

case

An exception to this general rule occurs when the pronoun functions as the subject of an infi nitive (see 25c). See also 24f.

25a Use who and whom correctly in subordinate clauses.

When who and whom (or whoever and whomever) introduce sub- ordinate clauses, their case is determined by their function within the clause they introduce.

In the following two examples, the pronouns who and who- ever function as the subjects of the clauses they introduce.

▶ First prize goes to the runner whom earns the most points.

Th e subordinate clause is who earns the most points. Th e verb of the clause is earns, and its subject is who.

▶ Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings should be read by

whomever is interested in the eff ects of racial prejudice on children.

Th e writer selected the pronoun whomever, thinking that it was the object of the preposition by. However, the object of the preposition is the entire subordinate clause whoever is interested in the eff ects of racial prejudice on children. Th e verb of the clause is is, and the subject of the verb is whoever.

When functioning as an object in a subordinate clause, whom (or whomever) also appears out of order, before the subject and verb. To choose the correct pronoun, you can mentally restruc- ture the clause.

▶ You will work with our senior traders, who you will meet later.

Th e subordinate clause is whom you will meet later. Th e subject of the clause is you, and the verb is will meet. Whom is the direct object of the verb. Th e correct choice becomes clear if you mentally restructure the clause: you will meet whom.

When functioning as the object of a preposition in a subor- dinate clause, whom is oft en separated from its preposition.

▶ Th e tutor who I was assigned to was very supportive.

Whom is the object of the preposition to. In this sentence, the writer might choose to drop whom: Th e tutor I was assigned to was very supportive.

who

whoever

whom

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22925cAs subjects or objects of infi nitives

case

NOTE: Inserted expressions such as they know, I think, and she says should be ignored in determining whether to use who or whom.

▶ Th e speech pathologist reported a particularly diffi cult session

with a stroke patient whom she knew was suff ering from aphasia.

Who is the subject of was suff ering, not the object of knew.

25b Use who and whom correctly in questions.

When who and whom (or whoever and whomever) are used to open questions, their case is determined by their function within the question. In the following example, who functions as the sub- ject of the question.

▶ Whom was responsible for creating that computer virus?

Who is the subject of the verb was.

When whom functions as the object of a verb or the object of a preposition in a question, it appears out of normal order. To choose the correct pronoun, you can mentally restructure the question.

▶ Who did the Democratic Party nominate in 2008?

Whom is the direct object of the verb did nominate. Th is becomes clear if you restructure the question: Th e Democratic Party did nominate whom in 2008?

25c Use whom for subjects or objects of infi nitives.

An infi nitive is the word to followed by the base form of a verb. (See 48b.) Subjects of infi nitives are an exception to the rule that subjects must be in the subjective case. Th e subject of an infi ni- tive must be in the objective case. Objects of infi nitives also are in the objective case.

▶ When it comes to money, I know who to believe.

Th e infi nitive phrase whom to believe is the direct object of the verb know, and whom is the subject of the infi nitive to believe.

who

Who

Whom

whom

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230 26 Adjectives and adverbs

adj, adv

NOTE: In spoken English, who is frequently used when the cor- rect whom sounds too stuff y. Although some readers will accept constructions like Who [not Whom] did Senator Boxer replace? in informal written English, it is safer to use whom in formal writing.

EXERCISE 25–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate errors in the use of who and whom (or whoever and whomever). If a sentence is cor- rect, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

What is the address of the artist who Antonio hired?

a. Arriving late for rehearsal, we had no idea who was supposed to dance with whom.

b. Th e environmental policy conference featured scholars who I had never heard of.

c. Whom did you support in last month’s election for student government president?

d. Daniel always gives a holiday donation to whomever needs it. e. So many singers came to the audition that Natalia had trouble

deciding who to select for the choir.

26 Choose adjectives and adverbs with care. Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Th ey usually come before the word they modify; occasionally they function as comple- ments following the word they modify. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. (See 46d and 46e.)

Many adverbs are formed by adding -ly to adjectives ( normal, normally; smooth, smoothly). But don’t assume that all words ending in -ly are adverbs or that all adverbs end in -ly. Some adjectives end in -ly (lovely, friendly), and some adverbs don’t (always, here, there). When in doubt, consult a dictionary.

whom

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25 Who and whom > Exercises: 25–2 and 25–3 > Exercises: 24/25–6 and 24/25–7 (pronoun review)

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23126aAdjectives to modify nouns

adj, adv

Placement of adjectives and adverbs can be a tricky matter for multi- lingual writers. See 30f and 30h.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

26a Use adjectives to modify nouns.

Adjectives ordinarily precede the nouns they modify. But they can also function as subject complements or object comple- ments, following the nouns they modify.

In English, adjectives are not pluralized to agree with the words they modify:

▶ Th e reds roses were a surprise.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

red

Subject complements

A subject complement follows a linking verb and completes the meaning of the subject. (See 47b.) When an adjective functions as a subject complement, it describes the subject.

Justice is blind.

Problems can arise with verbs such as smell, taste, look, and feel, which sometimes, but not always, function as linking verbs. If the word following one of these verbs describes the subject, use an adjective; if the word following the verb modifi es the verb, use an adverb.

ADJECTIVE Th e detective looked cautious. ADVERB Th e detective looked cautiously for fi ngerprints.

Th e adjective cautious describes the detective; the adverb cau- tiously modifi es the verb looked.

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26b232 Adjectives and adverbs

adj, adv

Linking verbs suggest states of being, not actions. Notice, for example, the diff erent meanings of looked in the preceding ex- amples. To look cautious suggests the state of being cautious; to look cautiously is to perform an action in a cautious way.

▶ Th e lilacs in our backyard smell especially sweetly this year.

Th e verb smell suggests a state of being, not an action. Th erefore, it should be followed by an adjective, not an adverb.

▶ Th e drawings looked well aft er the architect made a few changes.

Th e verb looked is a linking verb suggesting a state of being, not an action. Th e adjective good is appropriate following the linking verb to describe drawings. (See also 26c.)

Object complements

An object complement follows a direct object and completes its meaning. (See 47b.) When an adjective functions as an object complement, it describes the direct object.

Sorrow makes us wise.

Object complements occur with verbs such as call, consider, create, fi nd, keep, and make. When a modifi er follows the direct object of one of these verbs, use an adjective to describe the direct object; use an adverb to modify the verb.

ADJECTIVE Th e referee called the plays perfect. ADVERB Th e referee called the plays perfectly.

Th e fi rst sentence means that the referee considered the plays to be perfect; the second means that the referee did an excellent job of calling the plays.

26b Use adverbs to modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

When adverbs modify verbs (or verbals), they nearly always answer the question When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? How oft en? or To what degree? When adverbs modify

sweet

good

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23326cgood and well, bad and badly

adj, adv

adjectives or other adverbs, they usually qualify or intensify the meaning of the word they modify. (See 46e.)

Adjectives are oft en used incorrectly in place of adverbs in casual or nonstandard speech.

▶ Th e travel arrangement worked out perfect for everyone.

▶ Th e manager must see that the offi ce runs smooth and effi cient.

Th e adverb perfectly modifi es the verb worked out; the adverbs smoothly and effi ciently modify the verb runs.

▶ Th e chance of recovering any lost property looks real slim.

Only adverbs can modify adjectives or other adverbs. Really intensifi es the meaning of the adjective slim.

26c Distinguish between good and well, bad and badly.

Good is an adjective ( good performance). Well is an adverb when it modifi es a verb (speak well). Th e use of the adjective good in place of the adverb well to modify a verb is nonstandard and especially common in casual speech.

▶ We were glad that Sanya had done good on the CPA exam.

Th e adverb well modifi es the verb had done.

Confusion can arise because well is an adjective when it mod- ifi es a noun or pronoun and means “healthy” or “satisfactory” (Th e babies were well and warm).

▶ Adrienne did not feel good, but she performed anyway.

As an adjective following the linking verb did feel, well describes Adrienne’s health.

Bad is always an adjective and should be used to describe a noun; badly is always an adverb and should be used to modify a verb. Th e adverb badly is oft en used inappropriately to describe a noun, especially following a linking verb.

perfectly

smoothly

effi ciently.

really

well

well,

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26d234 Adjectives and adverbs

adj, adv

▶ Th e sisters felt badly when they realized they had left their

brother out of the planning.

Th e adjective bad is used aft er the linking verb felt to describe the noun sisters.

26d Use comparatives and superlatives with care.

Most adjectives and adverbs have three forms: the positive, the comparative, and the superlative.

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE

soft soft er soft est fast faster fastest careful more careful most careful bad worse worst good better best

Comparative versus superlative

Use the comparative to compare two things, the superlative to compare three or more.

▶ Which of these two low-carb drinks is best?

▶ Th ough Shaw and Jackson are impressive, Zhao is the more

qualifi ed of the three candidates running for mayor.

Forming comparatives and superlatives

To form comparatives and superlatives of most one- and two- syllable adjectives, use the endings -er and -est: smooth, smoother, smoothest; easy, easier, easiest. With longer adjectives, use more and most (or less and least for downward comparisons): exciting, more exciting, most exciting; helpful, less helpful, least helpful.

Some one-syllable adverbs take the endings -er and -est ( fast, faster, fastest), but longer adverbs and all of those ending in -ly form the comparative and superlative with more and most (or less and least).

bad

bett er?

most

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23526eDouble negatives

adj, adv

Th e comparative and superlative forms of some adjectives and adverbs are irregular: good, better, best; well, better, best; bad, worse, worst; badly, worse, worst.

▶ Th e Kirov is the talentedest ballet company we have seen.

▶ According to our projections, sales at local businesses will be

worser than those at the chain stores this winter.

Double comparatives or superlatives

Do not use double comparatives or superlatives. When you have added -er or -est to an adjective or adverb, do not also use more or most (or less or least).

▶ Of all her family, Julia is the most happiest about the move.

▶ All the polls indicated that Gore was more likelier to win

than Bush.

Absolute concepts

Avoid expressions such as more straight, less perfect, very round, and most unique. Either something is unique or it isn’t. It is illogi- cal to suggest that absolute concepts come in degrees.

▶ Th at is the most unique wedding gown I have ever seen.

▶ Th e painting is even more priceless because it is signed.

26e Avoid double negatives.

Standard English allows two negatives only if a positive meaning is intended: Th e orchestra was not unhappy with its performance (meaning that the orchestra was happy). Using a double negative to emphasize a negative meaning is nonstandard.

Negative modifi ers such as never, no, and not should not be paired with other negative modifi ers or with negative words such as neither, none, no one, nobody, and nothing.

most talented

worse

likely

unusual

valuable

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26e236 Adjectives and adverbs

adj, adv

▶ Th e county is not doing nothing to see that the trash is picked up.

Th e double negative not . . . nothing is nonstandard.

Th e modifi ers hardly, barely, and scarcely are considered negatives in standard English, so they should not be used with negatives such as not, no one, or never.

▶ Maxine is so weak that she can’t hardly climb stairs.

EXERCISE 26–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate errors in the use of adjectives and adverbs. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

We weren’t surprised by how good the sidecar racing team

fl owed through the tricky course.

a. Do you expect to perform good on the exam next week? b. With the budget deadline approaching, our offi ce hasn’t hardly

had time to handle routine correspondence. c. Some fl owers smell surprisingly bad. d. Th e customer complained that he hadn’t been treated nice by the

agent on the phone. e. Of all the smart people in my family, Aunt Ida is the most cleverest.

EXERCISE 26–2 Edit the following passage to eliminate errors in the use of adjectives and adverbs.

Doctors recommend that to give skin the most fullest protection from ultraviolet rays, people should use plenty of sunscreen, limit sun exposure, and wear protective clothing. Th e commonest sunscreens today are known as “broad spectrum” because they block out both UVA and UVB rays. Th ese lotions don’t feel any diff erently on the skin from the old UVA-only types, but they work best at preventing premature aging and skin cancer. Many sunscreens claim to be waterproof, but they won’t hardly

anything

can

well

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26 Adjectives and adverbs > Exercises: 26–3 to 26–5 > LearningCurve: Verbs, adjectives, and adverbs

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23727aIrregular verbs

provide adequate coverage aft er extended periods of swimming or perspiring. To protect good, even waterproof sunscreens should be reapplied liberal and oft en. All areas of exposed skin, including ears, backs of hands, and tops of feet, need to be coated good to avoid burning or damage. Some people’s skin reacts bad to PABA, or para-aminobenzoic acid, so PABA-free (hypoallergenic) sunscreens are widely available. In addition to recommending sunscreen, doctors almost unanimously agree that people should stay out of the sun when rays are the most strongest — between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. — and should limit time in the sun. Th ey also suggest that people wear long-sleeved shirts, broad-brimmed hats, and long pants whenever possible.

27 Choose appropriate verb forms, tenses, and moods in Standard English.

In speech, some people use verb forms and tenses that match a home dialect or variety of English. In writing, use Standard En glish verb forms unless you are quoting nonstandard speech or using alternative forms for literary eff ect. (See 17c.)

Except for the verb be, all verbs in English have fi ve forms. Th e following list shows the fi ve forms and provides a sample sentence in which each might appear.

BASE FORM Usually I (walk, ride). PAST TENSE Yesterday I (walked, rode). PAST PARTICIPLE I have (walked, ridden) many times before. PRESENT PARTICIPLE I am (walking, riding) right now. -S FORM He/she/it (walks, rides) regularly.

Th e verb be has eight forms instead of the usual fi ve: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been.

27a Choose Standard English forms of irregular verbs.

For all regular verbs, the past-tense and past-participle forms are the same (ending in -ed or -d), so there is no danger of

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27a238 Standard English verb forms

confusion. Th is is not true, however, for irregular verbs, such as the following.

BASE FORM PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

go went gone break broke broken fl y fl ew fl own sing sang sung

Th e past-tense form always occurs alone, without a helping verb. It expresses action that occurred entirely in the past: I rode to work yesterday. I walked to work last Tuesday. Th e past parti- ciple is used with a helping verb. It forms the perfect tenses with has, have, or had; it forms the passive voice with be, am, is, are, was, were, being, or been. (See 46c for a complete list of helping verbs and 27f for a survey of tenses.)

PAST TENSE Last July, we went to Paris. HELPING VERB + PAST PARTICIPLE We have gone to Paris twice.

Th e list of common irregular verbs beginning below will help you distinguish between the past tense and the past partici- ple. Choose the past-participle form if the verb in your sentence requires a helping verb; choose the past-tense form if the verb does not require a helping verb. (See verb tenses in 27f.)

▶ Yesterday we seen a documentary about Isabel Allende.

Th e past-tense saw is required because there is no helping verb.

▶ Th e truck was apparently stole while the driver ate lunch.

▶ By Friday, the stock market had fell two hundred points.

Because of the helping verbs was and had, the past-participle forms are required: was stolen, had fallen.

Common irregular verbs

BASE FORM PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

arise arose arisen awake awoke, awaked awaked, awoke, awoken be was, were been

saw

stolen

fallen

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23927aIrregular verbs

BASE FORM PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

beat beat beaten, beat become became become begin began begun bend bent bent bite bit bitten, bit blow blew blown break broke broken bring brought brought build built built burst burst burst buy bought bought catch caught caught choose chose chosen cling clung clung come came come cost cost cost deal dealt dealt dig dug dug dive dived, dove dived do did done drag dragged dragged draw drew drawn dream dreamed, dreamt dreamed, dreamt drink drank drunk drive drove driven eat ate eaten fall fell fallen fi ght fought fought fi nd found found fl y fl ew fl own forget forgot forgotten, forgot freeze froze frozen get got gotten, got

(continued )

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27a240 Standard English verb forms

BASE FORM PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

give gave given go went gone grow grew grown hang (execute) hanged hanged hang (suspend) hung hung have had had hear heard heard hide hid hidden hurt hurt hurt keep kept kept know knew known lay (put) laid laid lead led led lend lent lent let (allow) let let lie (recline) lay lain lose lost lost make made made prove proved proved, proven read read read ride rode ridden ring rang rung rise (get up) rose risen run ran run say said said see saw seen send sent sent set (place) set set shake shook shaken shoot shot shot shrink shrank shrunk sing sang sung sink sank sunk

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24127blie vs. lay

BASE FORM PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

sit (be seated) sat sat slay slew slain sleep slept slept speak spoke spoken spin spun spun spring sprang sprung stand stood stood steal stole stolen sting stung stung strike struck struck, stricken swear swore sworn swim swam swum swing swung swung take took taken teach taught taught throw threw thrown wake woke, waked waked, woken wear wore worn wring wrung wrung write wrote written

27b Distinguish among the forms of lie and lay.

Writers and speakers frequently confuse the various forms of lie (meaning “to recline or rest on a surface”) and lay (meaning “to put or place something”). Lie is an intransitive verb; it does not take a direct object: Th e forms lie on the table. Th e verb lay is transitive; it takes a direct object: Please lay the forms on the table. (See 47b.)

In addition to confusing the meaning of lie and lay, writ- ers and speakers are oft en unfamiliar with the Standard English forms of these verbs.

BASE FORM PAST TENSE

PAST

PARTICIPLE

PRESENT

PARTICIPLE

lie (recline) lay lain lying lay (put) laid laid laying

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27c242 Standard English verb forms

▶ Sue was so exhausted that she laid down for a nap.

Th e past-tense form of lie (“to recline”) is lay.

▶ Th e patient had laid in an uncomfortable position all night.

Th e past-participle form of lie (“to recline”) is lain. If the correct English seems too stilted, recast the sentence: Th e patient had been lying in an uncomfortable position all night.

▶ Th e prosecutor lay the pistol on a table close to the jurors.

Th e past-tense form of lay (“to place”) is laid.

▶ Letters dating from 1915 were laying in a corner of the chest.

Th e present participle of lie (“to rest on a surface”) is lying.

EXERCISE 27–1 Edit the following sentences to eliminate problems with irregular verbs. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e ranger seen the forest fi re ten miles away.

a. When I get the urge to exercise, I lay down until it passes. b. Grandmother had drove our new hybrid to the sunrise church

service, so we were left with the station wagon. c. A pile of dirty rags was laying at the bottom of the stairs. d. How did the game know that the player had went from the room

with the blue ogre to the hall where the gold was heaped? e. Abraham Lincoln took good care of his legal clients; the contracts

he drew for the Illinois Central Railroad could never be broke.

27c Use -s (or -es) endings on present-tense verbs that have third-person singular subjects.

All singular nouns (child, tree) and the pronouns he, she, and it are third-person singular; indefi nite pronouns such as everyone

lay

lain

laid

lying

saw

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27 Verb forms, tenses, and moods > Exercises: 27–2 to 27–4 > LearningCurve: Verbs

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24327c-s (or -es) endings

and neither are also third-person singular. When the subject of a sentence is third-person singular, its verb takes an -s or -es end- ing in the present tense. (See also 21.)

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I know we know SECOND PERSON you know you know THIRD PERSON he/she/it

child everyone

knows knows knows

they parents

know know

▶ My neighbor drive to Marco Island every weekend.

▶ Sulfur dioxide turn leaves yellow, dissolve marble, and eat away

iron and steel.

Th e subjects neighbor and sulfur dioxide are third-person singular, so the verbs must end in -s.

TIP: Do not add the -s ending to the verb if the subject is not third-person singular. Th e writers of the following sentences, knowing they sometimes dropped -s endings from verbs, over- corrected by adding the endings where they don’t belong.

▶ I prepare/s program specifi cations and logic diagrams for every

installation.

Th e writer mistakenly concluded that the -s ending belongs on present- tense verbs used with all singular subjects, not just third-person singular subjects. Th e pronoun I is fi rst-person singular, so its verb does not require the -s.

▶ Th e dirt fl oors require/s continual sweeping. Th e writer mistakenly thought that the verb needed an -s ending because of the plural subject. But the -s ending is used only on present- tense verbs with third-person singular subjects.

Has versus have

In the present tense, use has with third-person singular subjects; all other subjects require have.

drives

turns

dissolves

eats

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27c244 Standard English verb forms

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I have we have SECOND PERSON you have you have THIRD PERSON he/she/it has they have

▶ Th is respected musician almost always have a message to convey

in his work.

Th e subject musician is third-person singular, so the verb should be has.

▶ My law classes has helped me understand contracts.

Th e subject of this sentence — classes — is third-person plural, so Standard English requires have. Has is used only with third-person singular subjects.

Does versus do and doesn’t versus don’t

In the present tense, use does and doesn’t with third-person sin- gular subjects; all other subjects require do and don’t.

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I do/don’t we do/don’t SECOND PERSON you do/don’t you do/don’t THIRD PERSON he/she/it does/doesn’t they do/don’t

▶ Grandfather really don’t have a place to call home.

Grandfather is third-person singular, so the verb should be doesn’t.

Am, is, and are; was and were

Th e verb be has three forms in the present tense (am, is, are) and two in the past tense (was, were).

SINGULAR PLURAL

FIRST PERSON I am/was we are/were SECOND PERSON you are/were you are/were THIRD PERSON he/she/it is/was they are/were

▶ Did you think you was going to drown?

Th e subject you is second-person singular, so the verb should be were.

has

have

doesn’t

were

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24527d-ed endings

27d Do not omit -ed endings on verbs.

Speakers who do not fully pronounce -ed endings sometimes omit them unintentionally in writing. Failure to pronounce -ed endings is common in many dialects and in informal speech, even in Standard English. In the following frequently used words and phrases, for example, the -ed ending is not always fully pronounced.

advised developed prejudiced supposed to asked fi xed pronounced used to concerned frightened stereotyped

When a verb is regular, both the past tense and the past par- ticiple are formed by adding -ed (or -d) to the base form of the verb.

Past tense

Use the ending -ed or -d to express the past tense of regular verbs. Th e past tense is used when the action occurred entirely in the past.

▶ Over the weekend, Ed fi x his brother’s skateboard and tuned up

his mother’s 1991 Fiat.

▶ Last summer, my counselor advise me to ask my chemistry

instructor for help.

Past participles

Past participles are used in three ways: (1) following have, has, or had to form one of the perfect tenses; (2) following be, am, is, are, was, were, being, or been to form the passive voice; and (3) as adjectives modifying nouns or pronouns. Th e perfect tenses are listed on page 248, and the passive voice is discussed in 8a. For a discussion of participles as adjectives, see 48b.

▶ Robin has ask for more housing staff for next year.

Has asked is present perfect tense (have or has followed by a past participle).

fi xed

advised

asked

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27e246 Standard English verb forms

▶ Th ough it is not a new phenomenon, domestic violence is now

publicize more than ever.

Is publicized is a verb in the passive voice (a form of be followed by a past participle).

▶ All kickboxing classes end in a cool-down period to stretch

tighten muscles.

Th e past participle tightened functions as an adjective modifying the noun muscles.

27e Do not omit needed verbs.

Although Standard English allows some linking verbs and help- ing verbs to be contracted in informal contexts, it does not allow them to be omitted.

Linking verbs, used to link subjects to subject complements, are frequently a form of be: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been. (See 47b.) Some of these forms may be contracted (I’m, she’s, we’re, you’re, they’re), but they should not be omitted altogether.

▶ When we quiet in the evening, we can hear the crickets.

Helping verbs, used with main verbs, include forms of be, do, and have and the modal verbs can, will, shall, could, would, should, may, might, and must. (See 46c.) Some helping verbs may be contracted (he’s leaving, we’ll celebrate, they’ve been told), but they should not be omitted altogether.

▶ We been in Chicago since last Th ursday.

▶ Do you know someone who be good for the job?

Some languages do not require a linking verb between a subject and its complement. English, however, requires a verb in every sentence. See 30a.

▶ Every night, I read a short book to my daughter. When I too busy,

my husband reads to her.M u lt ili

n gu

a l

publicized

tightened

are

have

would

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24727fVerb tense

EXERCISE 27–5 Edit the following sentences to eliminate problems with -s and -ed verb forms and with omitted verbs. If a sentence is cor- rect, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th e Pell Grant sometimes cover the student’s full tuition.

a. Th e glass sculptures of the Swan Boats was prominent in the brightly lit lobby.

b. Visitors to the glass museum were not suppose to touch the exhibits.

c. Our church has all the latest technology, even a closed-circuit television.

d. Christos didn’t know about Marlo’s promotion because he never listens. He always talking.

e. Most psychologists agree that no one performs well under stress.

27f Choose the appropriate verb tense.

Tenses indicate the time of an action in relation to the time of the speaking or writing about that action.

Th e most common problem with tenses — shift ing confus- ingly from one tense to another — is discussed in section 13. Other problems with tenses are detailed in this section, aft er the following survey of tenses.

Survey of tenses

Tenses are classified as present, past, and future, with simple, per- fect, and progressive forms for each.

Simple tenses Th e simple tenses indicate relatively simple time relations. Th e simple present tense is used primarily for actions occurring at the same time they are being discussed or for actions occurring regularly. Th e simple past tense is used for actions com- pleted in the past. Th e simple future tense is used for actions that will occur in the future. In the following table, the simple tenses

covers

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27f248 Standard English verb forms

are given for the regular verb walk, the irregular verb ride, and the highly irregular verb be.

SIMPLE PRESENT

SINGULAR PLURAL

I walk, ride, am we walk, ride, are you walk, ride, are you walk, ride, are he/she/it walks, rides, is they walk, ride, are

SIMPLE PAST

SINGULAR PLURAL

I walked, rode, was we walked, rode, were you walked, rode, were you walked, rode, were he/she/it walked, rode, was they walked, rode, were

SIMPLE FUTURE

I, you, he/she/it, we, they will walk, ride, be

Perfect tenses More complex time relations are indicated by the perfect tenses. A verb in one of the perfect tenses (a form of have plus the past participle) expresses an action that was or will be completed at the time of another action.

PRESENT PERFECT

I, you, we, they have walked, ridden, been he/she/it has walked, ridden, been

PAST PERFECT

I, you, he/she/it, we, they had walked, ridden, been

FUTURE PERFECT

I, you, he/she/it, we, they will have walked, ridden, been

Progressive forms Th e simple and perfect tenses have progres- sive forms that describe actions in progress. A progressive verb consists of a form of be followed by a present participle. Th e pro- gressive forms are not normally used with certain verbs, such as believe, know, hear, seem, and think.

PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

I am walking, riding, being he/she/it is walking, riding, being you, we, they are walking, riding, being

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24927fVerb tense

PAST PROGRESSIVE

I, he/she/it was walking, riding, being you, we, they were walking, riding, being

FUTURE PROGRESSIVE

I, you, he/she/it, we, they will be walking, riding, being

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

I, you, we, they have been walking, riding, being he/she/it has been walking, riding, being

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

I, you, he/she/it, we, they had been walking, riding, being

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

I, you, he/she/it, we, they will have been walking, riding, being

See 28a for more specifi c examples of verb tenses that can be chal- lenging for multilingual writers.

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

Special uses of the present tense

Use the present tense when expressing general truths, when writ- ing about literature, and when quoting, summarizing, or para- phrasing an author’s views.

General truths or scientific principles should appear in the present tense unless such principles have been disproved.

▶ Galileo taught that the earth revolved around the sun.

Because Galileo’s teaching has not been discredited, the verb should be in the present tense. Th e following sentence, however, is acceptable: Ptolemy taught that the sun revolved around the earth.

When writing about a work of literature, you may be tempted to use the past tense. Th e convention, however, is to describe fictional events in the present tense.

revolves

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27f250 Standard English verb forms

▶ In Masuji Ibuse’s Black Rain, a child reached for a pomegranate

in his mother’s garden, and a moment later he was dead, killed

by the blast of the atomic bomb.

When you are quoting, summarizing, or paraphras- ing the author of a nonliterary work, use present-tense verbs such as writes, reports, asserts, and so on to introduce the source. Th is convention is usually followed even when the au- thor is dead (unless a date or the context specifi es the time of writing).

▶ Dr. Jerome Groopman argued that doctors are “susceptible to the

subtle and not so subtle eff orts of the pharmaceutical industry to

sculpt our thinking” (9).

In MLA style, signal phrases are written in the present tense, not the past tense. (See also 55c.)

APA NOTE: When you are documenting a paper with the APA (American Psychological Association) style of in-text citations, use past tense verbs such as reported or demonstrated or present perfect verbs such as has reported or has demonstrated to intro- duce the source. (See also 60c.)

E. Wilson (1994) reported that positive reinforcement alone was a less eff ective teaching technique than a mixture of positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.

The past perfect tense

Th e past perfect tense consists of a past participle preceded by had (had worked, had gone). Th is tense is used for an action already completed by the time of another past action or for an action already completed at some specific past time.

Everyone had spoken by the time I arrived. I pleaded my case, but Paula had made up her mind.

Writers sometimes use the simple past tense when they should use the past perfect.

reaches

argues

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25127fVerb tense

▶ We built our cabin high on a pine knoll, forty feet above an

abandoned quarry that was flooded in 1920 to create a lake.

Th e building of the cabin and the flooding of the quarry both occurred in the past, but the flooding was completed before the time of building.

▶ By the time dinner was served, the guest of honor left .

Th e past perfect tense is needed because the action of leaving was already completed at a specific past time (when dinner was served).

Some writers tend to overuse the past perfect tense. Do not use the past perfect if two past actions occurred at the same time.

▶ When Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba, he had written For

Whom the Bell Tolls.

Sequence of tenses with infinitives and participles

An infinitive is the base form of a verb preceded by to. (See 48b.) Use the present infinitive to show action at the same time as or later than the action of the verb in the sentence.

▶ Sonia had hoped to have paid the bill by May 1.

Th e action expressed in the infinitive (to pay) occurred later than the action of the sentence’s verb (had hoped).

Use the perfect form of an infinitive (to have followed by the past participle) for an action occurring earlier than that of the verb in the sentence.

▶ Dan would like to join the navy, but he went to college fi rst.

Th e liking occurs in the present; the joining would have occurred in the past.

Like the tense of an infinitive, the tense of a participle is gov- erned by the tense of the sentence’s verb. Use the present parti- ciple (ending in -ing) for an action occurring at the same time as that of the sentence’s verb.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail, we spotted many wildflowers.

had been

had

wrote

pay

have joined

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27g252 Standard English verb forms

Use the past participle (such as given or helped) or the present perfect participle (having plus the past participle) for an action occurring before that of the verb.

Discovered off the coast of Florida, the Spanish galleon yielded many treasures. Having worked her way through college, Lee graduated debt-free.

27g Use the subjunctive mood in the few contexts that require it.

Th ere are three moods in English: the indicative, used for facts, opinions, and questions; the imperative, used for orders or advice; and the subjunctive, used in certain contexts to express wishes, requests, or conditions contrary to fact. For many writers, the subjunctive causes the most problems.

Forms of the subjunctive

In the subjunctive mood, present-tense verbs do not change form to indicate the number and person of the subject (see 21). Instead, the subjunctive uses the base form of the verb (be, drive, employ) with all subjects.

It is important that you be [not are] prepared for the interview. We asked that she drive [not drives] more slowly.

Also, in the subjunctive mood, there is only one past-tense form of be: were (never was).

If I were [not was] you, I’d try a new strategy.

Uses of the subjunctive

Th e subjunctive mood appears only in a few contexts: in contrary-to-fact clauses beginning with if or expressing a wish; in that clauses following verbs such as ask, insist, recommend, request, and suggest; and in certain set expressions.

In contrary-to-fact clauses beginning with if When a subordinate clause beginning with if expresses a condition contrary to fact, use the subjunctive were in place of was.

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25327gSubjunctive mood

▶ If I was a member of the management team, I would organize

more social events for employees.

▶ Th e astronomers would be able to see the moons of Jupiter

tonight if the weather was clearer.

Th e verbs in these sentences express conditions that do not exist: Th e writer is not a member of Congress, and the weather is not clear.

Do not use the subjunctive mood in if clauses expressing conditions that exist or may exist.

If Dana wins the contest, she will leave for Barcelona in June.

In contrary-to-fact clauses expressing a wish In formal En glish, use the subjunctive were in clauses expressing a wish or desire.

INFORMAL I wish that Dr. Vaughn was my professor. FORMAL I wish that Dr. Vaughn were my professor.

In that clauses following verbs such as ask, insist, request, and suggest

Because requests have not yet become reality, they are expressed in the subjunctive mood.

▶ Professor Moore insists that her students are on time for every

class.

▶ We recommend that Mrs. Lambert fi les form 1050 as soon as

possible.

In certain set expressions Th e subjunctive mood, once more widely used, remains in certain set expressions: Be that as it may, as it were, far be it from me, and so on.

were

fi le

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27g254 Standard English verb forms

EXERCISE 27–9 Edit the following sentences to eliminate errors in verb tense or mood. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Aft er the path was plowed, we were able to walk in the park.

a. Th e palace of Knossos in Crete is believed to have been destroyed by fi re around 1375 BCE.

b. Watson and Crick discovered the mechanism that controlled inheritance in all life: the workings of the DNA molecule.

c. When city planners proposed rezoning the waterfront, did they know that the mayor promised to curb development in that neighborhood?

d. Tonight’s concert begins at 9:30. If it was earlier, I’d consider going. e. Th e math position was fi lled by the woman who had been running

the tutoring center.

had been

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Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges

28 Verbs, 256

29 Articles (a, an, the) and types of nouns, 270

30 Sentence structure, 279

31 Prepositions and idiomatic expressions, 288

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ESL

Verbs256 28

Th is section of Rules for Writers is primarily for multilingual writers. You may fi nd this section helpful if you learned English as a second language (ESL) or if you speak a language other than English with your friends and family.

28 Verbs Both native and nonnative speakers of English encounter chal- lenges with verbs. Section 28 focuses on specifi c challenges that multilingual writers sometimes face. You can fi nd more help with verbs in other sections in the book:

making subjects and verbs agree (21) using irregular verb forms (27a, 27b) leaving off verb endings (27c, 27d) choosing the correct verb tense (27f ) avoiding inappropriate uses of the passive voice (8a)

28a Use the appropriate verb form and tense.

Th is section off ers a brief review of English verb forms and tenses. For additional help, see 27 and 46c.

Basic verb forms

Every main verb in English has fi ve forms, which are used to cre- ate all of the verb tenses in standard English. Th e chart at the top of page 257 shows these forms for the regular verb help and the irregular verbs give and be. See 27a for the forms of other com- mon irregular verbs.

Verb tenses

Section 27f describes all the verb tenses in English, showing the forms of a regular verb, an irregular verb, and the verb be in each tense. Th e chart on pages 257–59 provides more details about the tenses commonly used in the active voice in writing; the chart on page 260 gives details about tenses commonly used in the passive voice.

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257

ESL

28aAppropriate form and tense

Basic verb forms

REGULAR

VERB HELP IRREGULAR

VERB GIVE IRREGULAR

VERB BE *

BASE FORM help give be PAST TENSE helped gave was, were PAST PARTICIPLE helped given been PRESENT PARTICIPLE helping giving being -S FORM helps gives is

*Be also has the forms am and are, which are used in the present tense.

Verb tenses commonly used in the active voice

For descriptions and examples of all verb tenses, see 27f. For verb tenses commonly used in the passive voice, see the chart on page 260.

Simple tenses

For general facts, states of being, habitual actions

Simple present Base form or -s form

● general facts

● states of being

● habitual, repetitive actions

● scheduled future events

College students oft en study late at night. Water becomes steam at 100 degrees centigrade. We donate to a diff erent charity each year. Th e train arrives tomorrow at 6:30 p.m.

NOTE: For uses of the present tense in writing about literature, see page 249.

Simple past Base form + -ed or -d or irregular form

● completed actions at a specifi c time in the past

● facts or states of being in the past

Th e storm destroyed their property. She drove to Montana three years ago. When I was young, I usually walked to school with my sister.

Simple future will + base form

● future actions, promises, or predictions

I will exercise tomorrow. Th e snowfall will begin around midnight.

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ESL

28a Verbs258

Verb tenses commonly used in the active voice, continued

Simple progressive forms

For continuing actions

Present progressive am, is, are + present participle

● actions in progress at the present time, not continuing indefi nitely

● future actions (with leave, go, come, move, etc.)

Th e students are taking an exam in Room 105. Th e valet is parking the car. I am leaving tomorrow morning.

Past progressive was, were + present participle

● actions in progress at a specifi c time in the past

● was going to, were going to for past plans that did not happen

Th ey were swimming when the storm struck. We were going to drive to Florida for spring break, but the car broke down.

NOTE: Some verbs are not normally used in the progressive: appear, believe, belong, contain, have, hear, know, like, need, see, seem, taste, understand, and want.

▶ I am wanting to see August Wilson’s Radio Golf.

Perfect tenses

For actions that happened or will happen before another time

Present perfect has, have + past participle

● repetitive or constant actions that began in the past and continue to the present

I have loved cats since I was a child. Alicia has worked in Kenya for ten years.

● actions that happened at an unknown or unspecifi c past time

Stephen has visited Wales three times.

Past perfect had + past participle

● actions that began or occurred before another time in the past

She had just crossed the street when the runaway car crashed into the building.

NOTE: For more discussion of uses of the past perfect, see 27f. For uses of the past perfect in conditional sentences, see 28e.

want

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259

ESL

28bPassive voice

28b To write a verb in the passive voice, use a form of be with the past participle.

When a sentence is written in the passive voice, the subject receives the action instead of doing it. (See “Passive transforma- tions” in 47c.)

Th e solution was measured by the lab assistant.

To form the passive voice, use a form of be — am, is, are, was, were, being, be, or been — followed by the past participle of the main verb: was chosen, are remembered. (Sometimes a form of be follows another helping verb: will be considered, could have been broken.)

▶ Dreaming in Cuban was writing by Cristina García.

In the passive voice, the past participle written, not the present participle writing, must follow was (the past tense of be).

▶ Th e child is being test.

Th e past participle tested, not the base form test, must be used with is being to form the passive voice.

For details on forming the passive in various tenses, consult the chart on page 260. (For appropriate uses of the passive voice, see 8a.)

writt en

tested.

Verb tenses commonly used in the active voice, continued

Perfect progressive forms

For continuous past actions before another time

Present perfect progressive has, have + been + present participle

● continuous actions that began in the past and continue to the present

Yolanda has been trying to get a job in Boston for fi ve years.

Past perfect progressive had + been + present participle

● actions that began and continued in the past until another past action

By the time I moved to Georgia, I had been supporting myself for fi ve years.

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ESL

28b Verbs260

Verb tenses commonly used in the passive voice

For details about verb tenses in the active voice, see pages 257–59.

Simple tenses (passive voice)

Simple present am, is, are + past participle

● general facts ● habitual, repetitive actions

Breakfast is served daily. Th e receipts are counted every night.

Simple past was, were + past participle

● completed past actions He was rewarded for being on time. Simple future will be + past participle

● future actions, promises, or predictions

Th e decision will be made by the committee next week.

Simple progressive forms (passive voice)

Present progressive am, is, are + being + past participle

● actions in progress at the present time

● future actions (with leave, go, come, move, etc.)

Th e new stadium is being built with private money. Jo is being promoted to a new job next month.

Past progressive was, were + being + past participle

● actions in progress at a specifi c time in the past

We thought we were being followed.

Perfect tenses (passive voice)

Present perfect has, have + been + past participle

● actions that began in the past and continue to the present

● actions that happened at an unknown or unspecifi c time in the past

Th e fl ight has been delayed because of storms in the Midwest.

Wars have been fought throughout history.

Past perfect had + been + past participle

● actions that began or occurred before another time in the past

He had been given all the hints he needed to complete the puzzle.

NOTE: Future progressive, future perfect, and perfect progressive forms are not used in the passive voice.

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261

ESL

28cBase form after a modal

NOTE: Only transitive verbs, those that take direct objects, may be used in the passive voice. Intransitive verbs such as occur, happen, sleep, die, become, and fall are not used in the passive. (See 47b.)

▶ Th e accident was happened suddenly.

EXERCISE 28–1 Revise the following sentences to correct errors in verb forms and tenses in the active and the passive voice. You may need to look at 27a for the correct form of some irregular verbs and at 27f for help with tenses. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th e meeting begin tonight at 7:30.

a. In the past, tobacco companies deny any connection between smoking and health problems.

b. Th e volunteer’s compassion has touch many lives. c. I am wanting to register for a summer tutoring session. d. By the end of the year, the state will have test 139 birds for avian fl u. e. Th e golfers were prepare for all weather conditions.

28c Use the base form of the verb after a modal.

Th e modal verbs are can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, and would. (Ought to is also considered a modal verb.) Th e modals are used with the base form of a verb to show ability, cer- tainty, necessity, permission, obligation, or possibility.

Modals and the verbs that follow them do not change form to indicate tense. For a summary of modals and their meanings, see the chart on pages 262–63. (See also 27e.)

▶ Th e art museum will launches its fundraising campaign

next month.

Th e modal will must be followed by the base form launch, not the present tense launches.

begins

launch

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ESL

28c Verbs262

Modals and their meanings

can

● general ability (present)

● informal requests or permission

Ants can survive anywhere, even in space. Jorge can run a marathon faster than his brother. Can you tell me where the light is? Sandy can borrow my calculator.

could

● general ability (past)

● polite, informal requests or permission

Lea could read when she was only three years old. Could you give me that pen?

may

● formal requests or permission

● possibility

May I see the report? Students may park only in the yellow zone. I may try to fi nish my homework tonight, or I may wake up early and fi nish it tomorrow.

might

● possibility Funding for the language lab might double by 2019.

NOTE: Might usually expresses a stronger possibility than may.

must

● necessity (present or future)

● strong probability ● near certainty

(present or past)

To be eff ective, welfare-to-work programs must provide access to job training. Amy must be nervous. [She is probably nervous.] I must have left my wallet at home. [I almost certainly left my wallet at home.]

should

● suggestions or advice

● obligations or duties ● expectations

Diabetics should drink plenty of water every day. Th e government should protect citizens’ rights. Th e books should arrive soon. [We expect the books to arrive soon.]

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263

ESL

28c

▶ Th e translator could spoke many languages, so the

ambassador hired her for the European tour.

Th e modal could must be followed by the base form speak, not the past tense spoke.

TIP: Do not use to in front of a main verb that follows a modal.

▶ Gina can to drive us home if we miss the last train.

For the use of modals in conditional sentences, see 28e.

EXERCISE 28–4 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of verb forms with modals. You may fi nd it helpful to consult the chart on pages 262–63. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

We should to order pizza for dinner.

a. A major league pitcher can to throw a baseball more than ninety- fi ve miles per hour.

speak

will

● certainty

● requests

● promises and off ers

If you don’t leave now, you will be late for your rehearsal. Will you help me study for my psychology exam? Jonah will arrange the carpool.

would

● polite requests

● habitual or repeated actions (past)

Would you help me carry these books? I would like some coff ee. [Would like is more polite than want.] Whenever Elena needed help with sewing, she would call her aunt.

Base form after a modal

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28d Verbs264

b. Th e writing center tutor will helps you revise your essay. c. A reptile must adjusted its body temperature to its environment. d. In some states, individuals may renew a driver’s license online. e. My uncle, a cartoonist, could sketched a face in less than two

minutes.

28d To make negative verb forms, add not in the appropriate place.

If the verb is the simple present or past tense of be (am, is, are, was, were), add not aft er the verb.

Gianna is not a member of the club.

For simple present-tense verbs other than be, use do or does plus not before the base form of the verb. (For the correct forms of do and does, see the chart on p. 204.)

▶ Mariko no want more dessert.

▶ Mariko does not wants more dessert.

For simple past-tense verbs other than be, use did plus not before the base form of the verb.

▶ Th ey did not planted corn this year.

In a verb phrase consisting of one or more helping verbs and a present or past participle (is watching, were living, has played, could have been driven), use the word not aft er the fi rst helping verb.

▶ Inna should have not gone dancing last night.

▶ Bonnie is no singing this weekend.

NOTE: English allows only one negative in an independent clause to express a negative idea; using more than one is an error known as a double negative (see 26e).

▶ We could not fi nd no books about the history of our school.

does not

plant

not

any

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28eVerbs in conditional sentences

28e In a conditional sentence, choose verb tenses according to the type of condition expressed in the sentence.

Conditional sentences contain two clauses: a subordinate clause (usually starting with if, when, or unless) and an independent clause. Th e subordinate clause (sometimes called the if or unless clause) states the condition or cause; the independent clause states the result or eff ect. In each example in this section, the sub- ordinate clause (if clause) is marked SUB, and the independent clause is marked IND. (See 48e on subordinate clauses.)

Factual

Factual conditional sentences express relationships based on facts. If the relationship is a scientifi c truth, use the present tense in both clauses.

If water cools to 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it freezes.

If the sentence describes a condition that is (or was) habitually true, use the same tense in both clauses.

When Sue jogs along the canal, her dog runs ahead of her.

Whenever the coach asked for help, I volunteered.

Predictive

Predictive conditional sentences are used to predict the future or to express future plans or possibilities. To form a predictive sentence, use a present-tense verb in the subordinate clause; in the independent clause, use the modal will, can, may, should, or might plus the base form of the verb.

If you practice regularly, your tennis game should improve.

We will lose our remaining wetlands unless we act now.

TIP: In all types of conditional sentences (factual, predictive, and speculative), if or unless clauses do not use the modal verb will.

▶ If Jenna will pass her history test, she will graduate this year.

SUB IND

IND SUB

passes

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28e Verbs266

Speculative

Speculative conditional sentences express unlikely, contrary-to- fact, or impossible conditions. English uses the past or past per- fect tense in the if clause, even for conditions in the present or the future.

Unlikely possibilities If the condition is possible but unlikely in the present or the future, use the past tense in the subordinate clause; in the independent clause, use would, could, or might plus the base form of the verb.

If I won the lottery, I would travel to Egypt.

Th e writer does not expect to win the lottery. Because this is a possible but unlikely present or future situation, the past tense is used in the subordinate clause.

Conditions contrary to fact In conditions that are currently unreal or contrary to fact, use the past-tense verb were (not was) in the if clause for all subjects. (See also 27g on the subjunctive mood.)

▶ If I was president, I would make children’s issues a priority.

Th e writer is not president, so were is correct in the if clause.

Events that did not happen In a conditional sentence that specu- lates about an event that did not happen or was impossible in the past, use the past perfect tense in the if clause; in the independent clause, use would have, could have, or might have with the past participle. (See also past perfect tense, p. 258.)

If I had saved more money, I would have visited Laos last year.

Th e writer did not save more money and did not travel to Laos. Th is sentence shows a possibility that did not happen.

If Aunt Grace had been alive for your graduation, she would

have been very proud.

Aunt Grace was not alive at the time of the graduation. Th is sen- tence shows an impossible situation in the past.

SUB IND

were

SUB IND

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28fVerbs followed by gerunds or infi nitives

EXERCISE 28–7 Edit the following sentences to correct problems with verbs. In some cases, more than one revision is possible. Possible revi- sions appear in the back of the book. More practice:

If I have time, I would study both French and Russian next

semester.

a. Th e electrician might have discovered the broken circuit if she went through the modules one at a time.

b. If Verena wins a scholarship, she would go to graduate school. c. Whenever a rainbow appears aft er a storm, everybody came out

to see it. d. Sarah did not understood the terms of her internship. e. If I live in Budapest with my cousin Szusza, she would teach me

Hungarian cooking.

28f Become familiar with verbs that may be followed by gerunds or infi nitives.

A gerund is a verb form that ends in -ing and is used as a noun: sleeping, dreaming. (See 48b on verbal phrases.) An infi nitive is the word to plus the base form of the verb: to sleep, to dream. Th e word to is an infi nitive marker, not a preposition, in this use. (See 48b on infi nitive phrases.)

A few verbs may be followed by either a gerund or an infi ni- tive; others may be followed by a gerund but not by an infi nitive; still others may be followed by an infi nitive but not by a gerund.

Verb + gerund or infi nitive (no change in meaning)

Th e following commonly used verbs may be followed by a ger- und or an infi nitive, with little or no diff erence in meaning:

begin hate love continue like start

I love skiing. I love to ski.

had

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28f Verbs268

Verb + gerund or infi nitive (change in meaning)

With a few verbs, the choice of a gerund or an infi nitive changes the meaning dramatically:

forget remember stop try

She stopped speaking to Lucia. [She no longer spoke to Lucia.] She stopped to speak to Lucia. [She paused so that she could speak to Lucia.]

Verb + gerund

Th ese verbs may be followed by a gerund but not by an infi nitive: admit discuss imagine put off risk appreciate enjoy miss quit suggest avoid escape postpone recall tolerate deny fi nish practice resist

Bill enjoys playing [not to play] the piano. Jamie quit smoking.

Verb + infi nitive

Th ese verbs may be followed by an infi nitive but not by a gerund: agree decide manage plan wait ask expect mean pretend want beg help need promise wish claim hope off er refuse would like

Jill has off ered to water [not watering] the plants while we are away. Joe fi nally managed to fi nd a parking space.

A few of these verbs may be followed either by an infi nitive directly or by a noun or pronoun plus an infi nitive:

ask help promise would like expect need want

We asked to speak to the congregation. We asked Rabbi Abrams to speak to our congregation.

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28f

Verb + noun or pronoun + infi nitive

With certain verbs in the active voice, a noun or pronoun must come between the verb and the infi nitive that follows it. Th e noun or pro- noun usually names a person who is aff ected by the action of the verb.

advise convince order tell allow encourage persuade urge cause have (own) remind warn command instruct require

Th e class encouraged Luis to tell the story of his escape. Th e counselor advised Haley to take four courses instead of fi ve.

Verb + noun or pronoun + unmarked infi nitive

An unmarked infi nitive is an infi nitive without to. A few verbs (oft en called causative verbs) may be followed by a noun or pro- noun and an unmarked infi nitive.

have (cause) let (allow) help make (force)

Jorge had the valet park his car.

▶ Rose had the attendant to wash the windshield.

▶ Frank made me to carry his book for him.

NOTE: Help can be followed by a noun or pronoun and either an unmarked or a marked infi nitive.

Emma helped Brian wash the dishes. Emma helped Brian to wash the dishes.

NOTE: Th e infi nitive is used in some typical constructions with too and enough. TOO + ADJECTIVE + INFINITIVE Th e gift is too large to wrap.

ENOUGH + NOUN + INIFINITIVE Our emergency pack has enough bottled water to last a week.

ADJECTIVE + ENOUGH + INFINITIVE Some of the hikers felt strong enough to climb another thousand feet.

V N INF

Verbs followed by gerunds or infi nitives

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270 Articles (a, an, the)29

EXERCISE 28–10 Form sentences by adding gerund or infi nitive con- structions to the following sentence openings. In some cases, more than one kind of construction is possible. Possible answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Please remind

a. I enjoy b. Th e tutor told Samantha c. Th e team hopes d. Ricardo and his brothers miss e. Jon remembered

29 Articles Articles (a, an, the) are part of a category of words known as noun markers or determiners.

29a Be familiar with articles and other noun markers.

Standard English uses noun markers to help identify the nouns that follow. In addition to articles (a, an, and the), noun markers include the following:

• possessive nouns, such as Elena’s (See 36a.) • possessive pronoun/adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our,

their (See 46b.) • demonstrative pronoun/adjectives: this, that, these, those

(See 46b.) • quantifi ers: all, any, each, either, every, few, many, more,

most, much, neither, several, some, and so on (See 29d.) • numbers: one, twenty-three, and so on

^ your sister to call me.

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29bWhen to use the

Using articles and other noun markers

Articles and other noun markers always appear before nouns; sometimes other modifi ers, such as adjectives, come between a noun marker and a noun.

Felix is reading a book about mythology.

We took an exciting trip to Alaska last summer.

Th at very delicious meal was expensive.

In most cases, do not use an article with another noun marker.

▶ Th e Natalie’s older brother lives in Wisconsin.

Expressions like a few, the most, and all the are exceptions: a few potatoes, all the rain. See also 29d.

Types of articles and types of nouns

To choose an appropriate article for a noun, you must fi rst determine whether the noun is common or proper, count or noncount, singular or plural, and specifi c or general. Th e chart on pages 273–74 describes the types of nouns.

Articles are classifi ed as indefi nite and defi nite. Th e indefi nite articles, a and an, are used with general nouns. Th e defi nite arti- cle, the, is used with specifi c nouns. (Th e last section of the chart on pp. 273–74 explains general and specifi c nouns.)

A and an both mean “one” or “one among many.” Use a before a consonant sound: a banana, a vacation, a picture, a happy child, a united family. Use an before a vowel sound: an eggplant, an occasion, an uncle, an honorable person. (See also a, an in the glossary of usage.)

Th e shows that a noun is specifi c; use the with one or more than one specifi c thing: the newspaper, the soldiers.

29b Use the with most specifi c common nouns.

Th e defi nite article, the, is used with most nouns — both count and noncount — that the reader can identify specifi cally. Usually the identity will be clear to the reader for one of the six reasons on pages 272–74. (See also the chart on p. 275.)

ART N

ART ADJ N

NOUN MARKER ADV ADJ N

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29b272 Articles (a, an, the)

1. Th e noun has been previously mentioned.

▶ A truck cut in front of our van. When truck skidded a few

seconds later, we almost crashed into it.

Th e article A is used before truck when the noun is fi rst mentioned. When the noun is mentioned again, it needs the article the because readers can now identify which truck skidded — the one that cut in front of the van.

2. A phrase or clause following the noun restricts its identity.

▶ Bryce warned me that GPS in his car was not working.

Th e phrase in his car identifi es the specifi c GPS.

NOTE: Descriptive adjectives do not necessarily make a noun specifi c. A specifi c noun is one that readers can identify within a group of nouns of the same type.

▶ If I win the lottery, I will buy the brand-new bright red

sports car.

Th e reader cannot identify which specifi c brand-new bright red sports car the writer will buy. Even though car has many adjectives in front of it, it is a general noun in this sentence.

3. A superlative adjective such as best or most intelligent makes the noun’s identity specifi c. (See also 26d on comparatives and superlatives.)

▶ Our petite daughter dated tallest boy in her class.

Th e superlative tallest makes the noun boy specifi c. Although there might be several tall boys, only one boy can be the tallest.

4. Th e noun describes a unique person, place, or thing.

▶ During an eclipse, one should not look directly at sun.

Th ere is only one sun in our solar system, so its identity is clear.

5. Th e context or situation makes the noun’s identity clear.

▶ Please don’t slam door when you leave.

Both the speaker and the listener know which door is meant.

the

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29b

Types of nouns

Common or proper

Common nouns Examples

● name general persons, places, things, or ideas

● begin with lowercase

religion beauty knowledge student rain country

Proper nouns Examples

● name specifi c persons, places, things, or ideas

● begin with capital letter

Hinduism President Adams Philip Blue Mosque Vietnam Renaissance

Count or noncount (common nouns only)

Count nouns Examples

● name persons, places, things, or ideas that can be counted

● have plural forms

girl, girls city, cities goose, geese philosophy, philosophies

Noncount nouns Examples

● name things or abstract ideas that cannot be counted

● cannot be made plural

water patience silver knowledge furniture air

NOTE: See the chart on page 276 for commonly used noncount nouns.

Singular or plural (both common and proper)

Singular nouns

(count and noncount) Examples

● represent one person, place, thing, or idea

backpack rain country beauty woman Nile River achievement Block Island

Plural nouns (count only) Examples

● represent more than one person, place, thing, or idea

● must be count nouns

backpacks Ural Mountains countries Falkland Islands women achievements

When to use the

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29c274 Articles (a, an, the)

6. Th e noun is singular and refers to a scientifi c class or category of items (most oft en animals, musical instruments, and inventions).

▶ Tin whistle is common in traditional Irish music.

Th e writer is referring to the tin whistle as a class of musical instruments.

29c Use a (or an) with common singular count nouns that refer to “one” or “any.”

If a count noun refers to one unspecifi c item (not a whole cate- gory), use the indefi nite article, a or an. A and an usually mean “one among many” but can also mean “any one.” (See the chart on p. 275.)

▶ My English professor asked me to bring dictionary to class.

Th e noun dictionary refers to “one unspecifi c dictionary” or “any dictionary.”

The tin

Types of nouns, continued

Specifi c (defi nite) or general (indefi nite) (count and noncount)

Specifi c nouns Examples

● name persons, places, things, or ideas that can be identifi ed within a group of the same type

Th e students in Professor Martin’s class should study. Th e airplane carrying the senator was late. Th e furniture in the truck was damaged.

General nouns Examples

● name categories of persons, places, things, or ideas (oft en plural)

Students should study. Books bridge gaps between cultures. Th e airplane has made commuting between cities easy.

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29cWhen to use a or an

Choosing articles for common nouns

Use the

● if the reader has enough information to identify the noun specifi cally

COUNT: Please turn on the lights. We’re going to the lake tomorrow. NONCOUNT: Th e food throughout Italy is excellent.

Use a or an

● if the noun refers to one item and

● if the item is singular but not specifi c

COUNT: Bring a pencil to class. Charles wrote an essay about his fi rst job.

NOTE: Do not use a or an with plural or noncount nouns.

Use a quantifi er (enough, many, some, etc.)

● if the noun represents an unspecifi ed amount of something

● if the amount is more than one but not all items in a category

COUNT ( plural ): Amir showed us some photos of India. Many turtles return to the same nesting site each year. NONCOUNT: We didn’t get enough rain this summer.

NOTE: Sometimes no article conveys an unspecifi ed amount: Amir showed us photos of India.

Use no article

● if the noun represents all items in a category

● if the noun represents a category in general

COUNT ( plural ): Students can attend the show for free. NONCOUNT: Coal is a natural resource.

NOTE: Th e is occasionally used when a singular count noun refers to all items in a class or a specifi c category: Th e bald eagle is no longer endangered in the United States.

▶ We want to rent apartment close to the lake.

Th e noun apartment refers to “any apartment close to the lake,” not a specifi c apartment.

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29d276 Articles (a, an, the)

29d Use a quantifi er such as some or more, not a or an, with a noncount noun to express an approximate amount.

Do not use a or an with noncount nouns. Also do not use numbers or words such as several or many; they must be used with plural nouns, and noncount nouns do not have plural forms. (See the chart above for a list of commonly used noncount nouns.)

▶ Dr. Snyder gave us an information about the Peace Corps.

▶ Do you have many money with you?

You can use quantifi ers such as enough, less, and some to sug- gest approximate amounts or nonspecifi c quantities of noncount

Commonly used noncount nouns

Food and drink

beef, bread, butter, candy, cereal, cheese, cream, meat, milk, pasta, rice, salt, sugar, water, wine

Nonfood substances

air, cement, coal, dirt, gasoline, gold, paper, petroleum, plastic, rain, silver, snow, soap, steel, wood, wool

Abstract nouns

advice, anger, beauty, confi dence, courage, employment, fun, happiness, health, honesty, information, intelligence, knowledge, love, poverty, satisfaction, wealth

Use no article

biology (and other areas of study), clothing, equipment, furni- ture, homework, jewelry, luggage, machinery, mail, money, news, poetry, pollution, research, scenery, traffi c, transportation, violence, weather, work NOTE: A few noncount nouns (such as love) can also be used as count nouns: He had two loves: music and archery.

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29fArticles with proper nouns

nouns: a little salt, any homework, enough wood, less information, much pollution.

▶ Vincent’s mother told him that she had a news that would

surprise him.

29e Do not use articles with nouns that refer to all of something or something in general.

When a noncount noun refers to all of its type or to a concept in general, it is not marked with an article.

▶ Th e kindness is a virtue.

Th e noun represents kindness in general; it does not represent a specifi c type of kindness, such as the kindness he showed me aft er my mother’s death.

▶ In some parts of the world, the rice is preferred to all other grains.

Th e noun rice represents rice in general. To refer to a specifi c type or serving of rice, the defi nite article is appropriate: Th e rice my husband served last night is the best I’ve ever tasted.

In most cases, when you use a count noun to represent a general category, make the noun plural. Do not use unmarked singular count nouns to represent whole categories.

▶ Fountain is an expensive element of landscape design.

Fountains is a count noun that represents fountains in general.

EXCEPTION: In some cases, the can be used with singular count nouns to represent a class or specifi c category: Th e Chinese alliga- tor is smaller than the American alligator. See also number 6 in 29b.

29f Do not use articles with most singular proper nouns. Use the with most plural proper nouns.

Since singular proper nouns are already specifi c, they typically do not need an article: Prime Minister Cameron, Jamaica, Lake Huron, Mount Etna.

some

Kindness

Fountains are

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29f278 Articles (a, an, the)

Th ere are, however, many exceptions. In most cases, if the proper noun consists of a common noun with modifi ers (adjec- tives or an of phrase), use the with the proper noun.

▶ We visited Great Wall of China last year.

▶ Rob wants to be a translator for Central Intelligence Agency.

Th e is used with most plural proper nouns: the McGregors, the Bahamas, the Finger Lakes, the United States.

Geographic names create problems because there are so many exceptions to the rules. When in doubt, consult the chart on page 279, check a dictionary, or ask a native speaker.

EXERCISE 29–1 Edit the following sentences for proper use of articles and nouns. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers ap- pear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e Josefi na’s dance routine was fl awless.

a. Doing volunteer work oft en brings a satisfaction. b. As I looked out the window of the plane, I could see the Cape Cod. c. Melina likes to drink her coff ees with lots of cream. d. Recovering from abdominal surgery requires patience. e. I completed the my homework assignment quickly.

EXERCISE 29–2 Articles have been omitted from the following descrip- tion of winter weather. Insert the articles a, an, and the where English requires them and be prepared to explain the reasons for your choices.

Many people confuse terms hail, sleet, and freezing rain. Hail normally occurs in thunderstorm and is caused by strong updraft s that lift growing chunks of ice into clouds. When chunks of ice, called hailstones, become too heavy to be carried by updraft s, they fall to ground. Hailstones can cause damage to crops, windshields, and people. Sleet occurs during winter storms and is caused by snowfl akes falling from layer of cold air into warm layer, where they become raindrops, and then into another cold layer. As they

the

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30Sentence structure

fall through last layer of cold air, raindrops freeze and become small ice pellets, forming sleet. When it hits car windshield or windows of house, sleet can make annoying racket. Driving and walking can be hazardous when sleet accumulates on roads and sidewalks. Freezing rain is basically rain that falls onto ground and then freezes aft er it hits ground. It causes icy glaze on trees and any surface that is below freezing.

Using the with geographic nouns

When to omit the

streets, squares, parks

cities, states, counties most countries, continents bays, single lakes single mountains, islands

Ivy Street, Union Square, Denali National Park Miami, New Mexico, Bee County Italy, Nigeria, China, South America, Africa Tampa Bay, Lake Geneva Mount Everest, Crete

When to use the

country names with of phrase large regions, deserts peninsulas oceans, seas, gulfs

canals and rivers mountain ranges groups of islands

the United States (of America), the People’s Republic of China the East Coast, the Sahara the Baja Peninsula, the Sinai Peninsula the Pacifi c Ocean, the Dead Sea, the Persian Gulf the Panama Canal, the Amazon the Rocky Mountains, the Alps the Solomon Islands

30 Sentence structure Although their structure can vary widely, sentences in English generally fl ow from subject to verb to object or complement: Bears eat fi sh. Th is section focuses on the major challenges that

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30a Sentence structure 280

multilingual students face when writing sentences in English. For more details on the parts of speech and the elements of sentences, consult sections 46–49.

30a Use a linking verb between a subject and its complement.

Some languages, such as Russian and Turkish, do not use link- ing verbs (is, are, was, were) between subjects and complements (nouns or adjectives that rename or describe the subject). Every English sentence, however, must include a verb. For more on linking verbs, see 27e.

▶ Jim intelligent.

▶ Many streets in San Francisco very steep.

30b Include a subject in every sentence.

Some languages, such as Spanish and Japanese, do not require a subject in every sentence. Every English sentence, however, needs a subject. Commands are an exception: Th e subject you is under- stood but not present in the sentence ([You] Give me the book).

▶ Your aunt is very energetic. Seems young for her age.

Th e word it is used as the subject of a sentence describing the weather or temperature, stating the time, indicating distance, or suggesting an environmental fact.

▶ Is raining in the valley and snowing in the mountains.

▶ Is 9:15 a.m.

In most English sentences, the subject appears before the verb. Some sentences, however, are inverted: Th e subject comes aft er the verb. In these sentences, a placeholder called an expletive (there or it) oft en comes before the verb.

Th ere are many people here today. (Many people are here today.)

are

She seems

It is

EXP V S S V

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30cRepeated nouns or pronouns

▶ Is an apple pie in the refrigerator.

▶ As you know, many religious sects in India.

Notice that the verb agrees with the subject that follows it: apple pie is, sects are. (See 21g.)

Sometimes an inverted sentence has an infi nitive (to work) or a noun clause (that she is intelligent) as the subject. In such sentences, the placeholder it is needed before the verb. (See also 48b and 48e.)

It is important to study daily. (To study daily is important.)

▶ Because the road is fl ooded, is necessary to change our route.

TIP: Th e words here and there are not used as subjects. When they mean “in this place” (here) or “in that place” (there), they are adverbs, not nouns.

▶ I just returned from a vacation in Japan. Th ere is very

beautiful.

▶ Here off ers a master’s degree in physical therapy; there has

only a bachelor’s program.

30c Do not use both a noun and a pronoun to perform the same grammatical function in a sentence.

English does not allow a subject to be repeated in its own clause.

▶ Th e doctor she advised me to cut down on salt.

Th e pronoun she cannot repeat the subject, doctor.

Do not add a pronoun even when a word group comes be- tween the subject and the verb.

▶ Th e watch that I lost on vacation it was in my backpack.

Th e pronoun it cannot repeat the subject, watch.

There is

there are

EXP V S S V

/ ^

there.

This school

that school

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30d Sentence structure 282

Some languages allow “topic fronting,” placing a word or phrase (a “topic”) at the beginning of a sentence and following it with an independent clause that explains something about the topic. Th is form is not allowed in English because the sentence seems to start with one subject but then introduces a new subject in an independent clause.

INCORRECT Th e seeds I planted them last fall.

Th e sentence can be corrected by bringing the topic (seeds) into the independent clause.

▶ Th e seeds I planted them last fall.

30d Do not repeat a subject, an object, or an adverb in an adjective clause.

Adjective clauses begin with relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that) or relative adverbs (when, where). Relative pronouns usually serve as subjects or objects in the clauses they introduce; another word in the clause cannot serve the same function. Relative adverbs should not be repeated by other adverbs later in the clause.

Th e cat ran under the car that was parked on the street.

▶ Th e cat ran under the car that it was parked on the street.

Th e relative pronoun that is the subject of the adjective clause, so the pronoun it cannot be added as a subject.

▶ Myrna enjoyed the investment seminars that she attended

them last week.

Th e relative pronoun that is the object of the verb attended. Th e pronoun them cannot also serve as an object.

Sometimes the relative pronoun is understood but not pres- ent in the sentence. In such cases, do not add another word with the same function as the omitted pronoun.

TOPIC IND CLAUSE

the seeds

ADJ CLAUSE

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30eMixed constructions with although or because

▶ Myrna enjoyed the seminars she attended them last week.

Th e relative pronoun that is understood aft er seminars even though it is not present in the sentence.

If the clause begins with a relative adverb, do not use another adverb with the same meaning later in the clause.

▶ Th e offi ce where I work there is one hour from the city.

Th e adverb there cannot repeat the relative adverb where.

EXERCISE 30–1 In the following sentences, add needed subjects or expletives and delete any repeated subjects, objects, or adverbs. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e new geology professor is the one whom we saw him on TV

this morning.

a. Are some cartons of ice cream in the freezer. b. I don’t use the subway because am afraid. c. Th e prime minister she is the most popular leader in my country. d. We tried to get in touch with the same manager whom we spoke to

him earlier. e. Recently have been a number of earthquakes in Turkey.

30e Avoid mixed constructions beginning with although or because.

A word group that begins with although cannot be linked to a word group that begins with but or however. Th e result is an error called a mixed construction (see also 11a). Similarly, a word group that begins with because cannot be linked to a word group that begins with so or therefore.

If you want to keep although or because, drop the other link- ing word (see the examples on p. 284).

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30f Sentence structure 284

▶ Although Nikki Giovanni is best known for her poetry for

adults, but she has written several books for children.

▶ Because German and Dutch are related languages, therefore

tourists from Berlin can usually read a few signs in Amsterdam.

If you want to keep the other linking word, omit although or because.

▶ Although Nikki Giovanni is best known for her poetry for

adults, but she has written several books for children.

▶ Because German and Dutch are related languages, therefore

tourists from Berlin can usually read a few signs in

Amsterdam.

For advice about using commas and semicolons with linking words, see 32a and 34b.

30f Do not place an adverb between a verb and its direct object.

Adverbs modifying verbs can appear in various positions: at the beginning or end of a sentence, before or aft er a verb, or between a helping verb and its main verb.

Slowly, we drove along the rain-slick road. Mia handled the teapot very carefully. Martin always wins our tennis matches. Christina is rarely late for our lunch dates. My daughter has oft en spoken of you. Th e election results were being closely followed by analysts.

However, an adverb cannot appear between a verb and its direct object.

▶ Mother wrapped carefully the gift .

Th e adverb carefully cannot appear between the verb, wrapped, and its direct object, the gift .

/ ^ ;

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carefully

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30gPresent and past participles

EXERCISE 30–4 Edit the following sentences for proper sentence structure. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

She peeled slowly the banana.

a. Although freshwater freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit, however ocean water freezes at 28 degrees Fahrenheit.

b. Because we switched cable packages, so our channel lineup has changed.

c. Th e competitor mounted confi dently his skateboard. d. My sister performs well the legong, a Balinese dance. e. Because product development is behind schedule, we will have to

launch the product next spring.

30g Distinguish between present participles and past participles used as adjectives.

Both present and past participles may be used as adjectives. Th e present participle always ends in -ing. Past participles usually end in -ed, -d, -en, -n, or -t. (See 27a.)

PRESENT PARTICIPLES confusing, speaking, boring

PAST PARTICIPLES confused, spoken, bored

Like all other adjectives, participles can come before nouns; they also can follow linking verbs, in which case they describe the subject of the sentence. (See 47b.)

Use a present participle to describe a person or thing causing or stimulating an experience.

Th e boring lecture put us to sleep. [Th e lecture caused boredom.]

Use a past participle to describe a person or thing under- going an experience.

Th e audience was bored by the lecture. [Th e audience experienced boredom.]

/ ^

slowly.

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30g Sentence structure 286

Participles that describe emotions or mental states oft en cause the most confusion.

annoying/annoyed exhausting/exhausted boring/bored fascinating/fascinated confusing/confused frightening/frightened depressing/depressed satisfying/satisfi ed exciting/excited surprising/surprised

▶ Our aft ernoon hike to Th undering Brook Falls was

exhausted.

Exhausting suggests that the hike caused exhaustion.

▶ Th e exhausting hikers reached the campground just

before midnight.

Exhausted describes how the hikers felt.

EXERCISE 30–7 Edit the following sentences for proper use of pres- ent and past participles. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Danielle and Monica were very exciting to be going to a

Broadway show for the fi rst time.

a. Listening to everyone’s complaints all day was irritated. b. Th e long fl ight to Singapore was exhausted. c. His skill at chess is amazing. d. Aft er a great deal of research, the scientist made a fascinated

discovery. e. Surviving that tornado was one of the most frightened experiences

I’ve ever had.

exhausting.

exhausted

excited

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30hOrder of cumulative adjectives

30h Place cumulative adjectives in an appropriate order.

Adjectives usually come before the nouns they modify and may also come aft er linking verbs. (See 46d and 47b.)

Janine wore a new necklace. Janine’s necklace was new.

Cumulative adjectives, which cannot be joined by the word and or separated by commas, must come in a particular order. If you use cumulative adjectives before a noun, see the chart on this page. Th e chart is only a guide; don’t be surprised if you encoun- ter exceptions. (See also 33d.)

▶ My dorm room has only a desk and a plastic red stained chair.

ADJ N V ADJ

stained red plastic

Order of cumulative adjectives

FIRST ARTICLE OR OTHER NOUN MARKER a, an, the, her, Joe’s, two, many, some EVALUATIVE WORD attractive, dedicated, delicious, ugly, disgusting SIZE large, enormous, small, little LENGTH OR SHAPE long, short, round, square AGE new, old, young, antique COLOR yellow, blue, crimson NATIONALITY French, Peruvian, Vietnamese RELIGION Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim MATERIAL silver, walnut, wool, marble

LAST NOUN/ADJECTIVE tree (as in tree house), kitchen (as in kitchen table)

THE NOUN MODIFIED house, coat, bicycle, bread, woman, coin

My large blue wool coat is in the attic. Joe’s collection includes two small antique silver coins.

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Prepositions and idiomatic expressions288 31

EXERCISE 30–10 Using the chart on page 287 as necessary, arrange the following modifi ers and nouns in their proper order. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

new, French, two, bicycles, racing

a. sculptor, young, an, Vietnamese, intelligent b. dedicated, a, priest, Catholic c. old, her, sweater, blue, wool d. delicious, Joe’s, Scandinavian, bread e. many, boxes, jewelry, antique, beautiful

31 Prepositions and idiomatic expressions 31a Become familiar with prepositions that show time and place.

Th e most frequently used prepositions in English are at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, and with. Prepositions can be diffi cult to mas- ter because the diff erences among them are subtle and idiomatic. Th e chart on page 289 is limited to three troublesome preposi- tions that show time and place: at, on, and in.

Not every possible use is listed in the chart, so don’t be sur- prised when you encounter exceptions and idiomatic uses that you must learn one at a time. For example, in English a person rides in a car but on a bus, plane, train, or subway.

▶ My fi rst class starts on 8:00 a.m.

▶ Th e farmers go to market in Wednesday.

two new French racing bicycles

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31aPrepositions showing time and place (at, on, in)

EXERCISE 31–1 In the following sentences, replace prepositions that are not used correctly. You may need to refer to the chart on this page. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e play begins on 7:20 p.m.

a. Whenever we eat at the Centerville Café, we sit at a small table on the corner of the room.

b. In the 1990s, entrepreneurs created new online businesses in record numbers.

c. In Th ursday, Nancy will attend her fi rst home repair class at the community center.

At, on, and in to show time and place

Showing time

AT at a specifi c time: at 7:20, at dawn, at dinner ON on a specifi c day or date: on Tuesday, on June 4 IN in a part of a 24-hour period: in the aft ernoon, in the

daytime [but at night] in a year or month: in 2008, in July in a period of time: fi nished in three hours

Showing place

AT at a meeting place or location: at home, at the club at the edge of something: sitting at the desk at the corner of something: turning at the intersection at a target: throwing the snowball at Lucy ON on a surface: placed on the table, hanging on the wall on a street: the house on Spring Street on an electronic medium: on television, on the Internet IN in an enclosed space: in the garage, in an envelope in a geographic location: in San Diego, in Texas in a print medium: in a book, in a magazine

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31b Prepositions and idiomatic expressions290

d. Alex began looking for her lost mitten in another location. e. We decided to go to a restaurant because there was no fresh food

on the refrigerator.

31b Use nouns (including -ing forms) after prepositions.

In a prepositional phrase, use a noun (not a verb) aft er the prepo- sition. Sometimes the noun will be a gerund, the -ing verb form that functions as a noun (see 48b).

▶ Our student government is good at save money.

Distinguish between the preposition to and the infi nitive marker to. If to is a preposition, it should be followed by a noun or a gerund.

▶ We are dedicated to help the poor.

If to is an infi nitive marker, it should be followed by the base form of the verb.

▶ We want to helping the poor.

To test whether to is a preposition or an infi nitive marker, in- sert a word that you know is a noun aft er the word to. If the noun makes sense in that position, to is a preposition. If the noun does not make sense aft er to, then to is an infi nitive marker.

Zoe is addicted to . Th ey are planning to .

In the fi rst sentence, a noun (such as magazines) makes sense aft er to, so to is a preposition and should be followed by a noun or a gerund: Zoe is addicted to magazines. Zoe is addicted to running.

In the second sentence, a noun (such as magazines) does not make sense aft er to, so to is an infi nitive marker and must be fol- lowed by the base form of the verb: Th ey are planning to build a new school.

saving

helping

help

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31dVerb + preposition combinations

Adjective + preposition combinations

accustomed to connected to guilty of preferable to addicted to covered with interested in proud of afraid of dedicated to involved in responsible angry with devoted to involved with for ashamed of diff erent from known as satisfi ed with aware of engaged in known for scared of committed to engaged to made of (or similar to concerned excited about made from) tired of about familiar with married to worried concerned with full of opposed to about

31c Become familiar with common adjective + preposition combinations.

Some adjectives appear only with certain prepositions. Th ese expressions are idiomatic and may be diff erent from the combi- nations used in your native language.

▶ Paula is married with Jon.

Check an ESL dictionary for combinations that are not listed in the chart at the bottom of this page.

31d Become familiar with common verb + preposition combinations.

Many verbs and prepositions appear together in idiomatic phrases. Pay special attention to the combinations that are diff er- ent from the combinations used in your native language.

▶ Your success depends of your eff ort.

Check an ESL dictionary for combinations that are not listed in the chart on page 292.

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Prepositions and idiomatic expressions292 31d

Verb + preposition combinations

agree with compare with forget about speak to (or apply to concentrate on happen to speak with) approve of consist of hope for stare at arrive at count on insist on succeed at arrive in decide on listen to succeed in ask for depend on participate in take advantage of believe in diff er from rely on take care of belong to disagree with reply to think about care about dream about respond to think of care for dream of result in wait for compare to feel like search for wait on

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Punctuation

32 The comma, 294

33 Unnecessary commas, 308

34 The semicolon, 313

35 The colon, 317

36 The apostrophe, 319

37 Quotation marks, 323

38 End punctuation, 330

39 Other punctuation marks, 332

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32 The comma Th e comma was invented to help readers. Without it, sen- tence parts can collide into one another unexpectedly, causing misreadings.

CONFUSING If you cook Elmer will do the dishes. CONFUSING While we were eating a rattlesnake approached

our campsite.

Add commas in the logical places (aft er cook and eating), and suddenly all is clear. No longer is Elmer being cooked, the rattle- snake being eaten.

Various rules have evolved to prevent such misreadings and to speed readers along through complex grammatical structures. Th ose rules are detailed in this section. (Section 33 explains when not to use commas.)

32a Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction joining independent clauses.

When a coordinating conjunction connects two or more inde- pendent clauses — word groups that could stand alone as separate sentences — a comma must precede it. Th ere are seven coordi- nating conjunctions in English: and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

A comma tells readers that one independent clause has come to a close and that another is about to begin.

▶ Th e department sponsored a seminar on college survival

skills and it also hosted a barbecue for new students.

EXCEPTION: If the two independent clauses are short and there is no danger of misreading, the comma may be omitted.

Th e plane took off and we were on our way.

TIP: As a rule, do not use a comma with a coordinating conjunc- tion that joins only two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses. (See 33a.)

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Introductory clauses or phrases

▶ A good money manager controls expenses, and invests surplus

dollars to meet future needs.

Th e word group following and is not an independent clause; it is the second half of a compound predicate (controls . . . and invests).

32b Use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase.

Th e most common introductory word groups are clauses and phrases functioning as adverbs. Such word groups usually tell when, where, how, why, or under what conditions the main ac- tion of the sentence occurred. (See 48a, 48b, and 48e.)

A comma tells readers that the introductory clause or phrase has come to a close and that the main part of the sentence is about to begin.

▶ When Irwin was ready to iron his cat tripped on the cord.

Without the comma, readers may have Irwin ironing his cat. Th e comma signals that his cat is the subject of a new clause, not part of the introductory one.

▶ Near a small stream at the bottom of the canyon the park

rangers discovered an abandoned mine.

Th e comma tells readers that the introductory prepositional phrase has come to a close.

EXCEPTION: Th e comma may be omitted aft er a short adverb clause or phrase if there is no danger of misreading: In no time we were at 2,800 feet.

Sentences also frequently begin with participial phrases that function as adjectives, describing the noun or pronoun immedi- ately following them. Th e comma tells readers that they are about to learn the identity of the person or thing described; therefore, the comma is usually required even when the phrase is short. (See 48b.)

▶ Buried under layers of younger rocks the earth’s oldest rocks

contain no fossils.

NOTE: Other introductory word groups include transitional ex- pressions and absolute phrases (see 32f ).

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32b The comma296

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EXERCISE 32–1 Add or delete commas where necessary in the follow- ing sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Because we had been saving molding for a few weeks we had

enough wood to frame all thirty paintings.

a. Alisa brought the injured bird home, and fashioned a splint out of Popsicle sticks for its wing.

b. Considered a classic of early animation Th e Adventures of Prince Achmed used hand-cut silhouettes against colored backgrounds.

c. If you complete the evaluation form and return it within two weeks you will receive a free breakfast during your next stay.

d. Aft er retiring from the New York City Ballet in 1965, legendary dancer Maria Tallchief went on to found the Chicago City Ballet.

e. Roger had always wanted a handmade violin but he couldn’t aff ord one.

EXERCISE 32–2 Add or delete commas where necessary in the follow- ing sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

Th e car had been sitting idle for a month so the battery was

completely dead.

a. J. R. R. Tolkien fi nished writing his draft of Th e Lord of the Rings trilogy in 1949 but the fi rst book in the series wasn’t published until 1954.

b. In the fi rst two minutes of its ascent the space shuttle had broken the sound barrier and reached a height of over twenty-fi ve miles.

c. German shepherds can be gentle guide dogs or they can be fi erce attack dogs.

d. Some former professional cyclists claim that the use of performance-enhancing drugs is widespread in cycling and they argue that no rider can be competitive without doping.

e. As an intern, I learned most aspects of the broadcasting industry but I never learned about fundraising.

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Coordinate adjectives

32c Use a comma between all items in a series.

When three or more items are presented in a series, those items should be separated from one another with commas. Items in a series may be single words, phrases, or clauses.

▶ Langston Hughes’s poetry is concerned with racial pride,

social justice and the diversity of the African American

experience.

▶ Bubbles of air, leaves, ferns, bits of wood and insects are

oft en found trapped in amber.

Although some writers view the last comma in a series as op- tional, most experts advise using the comma because its omission can result in ambiguity or misreading.

▶ My uncle willed me all of his property, houses and boats.

Did the uncle will his property and houses and boats — or simply his property, consisting of houses and boats? If the former meaning is intended, a comma is necessary to prevent ambiguity.

▶ Th e activities include touring the White House, visiting the Air

and Space Museum, attending a lecture about the Founding

Fathers and kayaking on the Potomac River.

Without the comma, the activities might seem to include a lecture about kayaking, not participating in kayaking. Th e comma makes it clear that kayaking on the Potomac River is a separate item in the series.

32d Use a comma between coordinate adjectives not joined with and. Do not use a comma between cumulative adjectives.

When two or more adjectives each modify a noun separately, they are coordinate.

Roberto is a warm, gentle, aff ectionate father.

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32d The comma298

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If the adjectives can be joined with and, the adjectives are coordinate, so you should use commas: warm and gentle and aff ectionate (warm, gentle, aff ectionate).

Adjectives that do not modify the noun separately are cumulative.

Th ree large gray shapes moved slowly toward us.

Beginning with the adjective closest to the noun shapes, these modifi ers lean on one another, piggyback style, with each modify- ing a larger word group. Gray modifi es shapes, large modifi es gray shapes, and three modifi es large gray shapes. Cumulative adjectives cannot be joined with and (not three and large and gray shapes).

COORDINATE ADJECTIVES

▶ Should patients with severe irreversible brain damage be put

on life support systems?

Adjectives that can be connected with and are coordinate: severe and irreversible.

CUMULATIVE ADJECTIVES

▶ Ira ordered a rich, chocolate, layer cake.

Ira didn’t order a cake that was rich and chocolate and layer: He ordered a layer cake that was chocolate, a chocolate layer cake that was rich.

EXERCISE 32–5 Add or delete commas where necessary in the follow- ing sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

We gathered our essentials, took off for the great outdoors

and ignored the fact that it was Friday the 13th.

a. Th e cold impersonal atmosphere of the university was unbearable. b. An ambulance threaded its way through police cars, fi re trucks

and irate citizens. c. Th e 1812 Overture is a stirring, magnifi cent piece of music.

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Nonrestrictive elements

d. Aft er two broken arms, three cracked ribs and one concussion, Ken quit the varsity football team.

e. My cat’s pupils had constricted to small black shining slits.

EXERCISE 32–6 Add or delete commas where necessary in the follow- ing sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

Good social workers excel in patience, diplomacy and

positive thinking.

a. NASA’s rovers on Mars are equipped with special cameras that can take close-up high-resolution pictures of the terrain.

b. A baseball player achieves the triple crown by having the highest batting average, the most home runs, and the most runs batted in during the regular season.

c. If it does not get enough sunlight, a healthy green lawn can turn into a shriveled brown mess within a matter of days.

d. Love, vengeance, greed and betrayal are common themes in Western literature.

e. Many experts believe that shark attacks on surfers are a result of the sharks’ mistaking surfb oards for small, injured seals.

32e Use commas to set off nonrestrictive (nonessential) elements. Do not use commas to set off restrictive (essential) elements.

Certain word groups that modify nouns or pronouns can be re- strictive or nonrestrictive — that is, essential or not essential to the meaning of a sentence. Th ese word groups are usually adjec- tive clauses, adjective phrases, or appositives.

Restrictive elements

A restrictive element defi nes or limits the meaning of the word it modifi es; it is therefore essential to the meaning of the sentence and is not set off with commas. If you remove a restrictive modi- fi er from a sentence, the meaning changes signifi cantly, becom- ing more general than you intended.

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32e The comma300

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RESTRICTIVE (NO COMMAS)

Th e campers need clothes that are durable. Scientists who study the earth’s structure are called geologists.

Th e fi rst sentence does not mean that the campers need clothes in general. Th e intended meaning is more limited: Th e campers need durable clothes. Th e second sentence does not mean that scientists in general are called geologists; only those scientists who specifi cally study the earth’s structure are called geologists. Th e italicized word groups are essential and are therefore not set off with commas.

Nonrestrictive elements

A nonrestrictive modifi er describes a noun or pronoun whose meaning has already been clearly defi ned or limited. Because the modifi er contains nonessential or parenthetical information, it is set off with commas. If you remove a nonrestrictive element from a sentence, the meaning does not change dramatically. Some meaning may be lost, but the defi ning characteristics of the per- son or thing described remain the same.

NONRESTRICTIVE (WITH COMMAS)

Th e campers need sturdy shoes, which are expensive. Th e scientists, who represented eight diff erent universities, met to review applications for the Advancements in Science Award.

In the fi rst sentence, the campers need sturdy shoes, and the shoes happen to be expensive. In the second sentence, the sci- entists met to review applications for the award; that they repre- sented eight diff erent universities is informative but not critical to the meaning of the sentence. Th e nonessential information in both sentences is set off with commas.

NOTE: Oft en it is diffi cult to tell whether a word group is restric- tive or nonrestrictive without seeing it in context and considering the writer’s meaning. Both of the following sentences are gram- matically correct, but their meaning is slightly diff erent.

Th e dessert made with fresh raspberries was delicious. Th e dessert, made with fresh raspberries, was delicious.

In the fi rst example, the phrase made with fresh raspberries tells readers which of two or more desserts the writer is referring to. In the example with commas, the phrase merely adds informa- tion about the dessert.

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Adjective clauses

Adjective clauses are patterned like sentences, containing sub- jects and verbs, but they function within sentences as modifi ers of nouns or pronouns. Th ey always follow the word they modify, usually immediately. Adjective clauses begin with a relative pro- noun (who, whom, whose, which, that) or with a relative adverb (where, when). (See also 48e.)

Nonrestrictive adjective clauses are set off with commas; restrictive adjective clauses are not.

NONRESTRICTIVE CLAUSE (WITH COMMAS)

▶ Ed’s house which is located on thirteen acres was completely

furnished with bats in the raft ers and mice in the kitchen.

Th e adjective clause which is located on thirteen acres does not restrict the meaning of Ed’s house; the information is nonessential and is therefore set off with commas.

RESTRICTIVE CLAUSE (NO COMMAS)

▶ Th e giant panda, that was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2003,

was sent to China in 2007.

Because the adjective clause that was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2003 identifi es one particular panda out of many, the information is essential and is therefore not set off with commas.

NOTE: Use that only with restrictive (essential) clauses. Many writers prefer to use which only with nonrestrictive (nonessen- tial) clauses, but usage varies.

Adjective phrases

Prepositional or verbal phrases functioning as adjectives may be restrictive or nonrestrictive. Nonrestrictive phrases are set off with commas; restrictive phrases are not.

NONRESTRICTIVE PHRASE (WITH COMMAS)

▶ Th e helicopter with its million-candlepower spotlight

illuminating the area circled above.

Th e with phrase is nonessential because its purpose is not to specify which of two or more helicopters is being discussed. Th e phrase is not required for readers to understand the meaning of the sentence.

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Nonrestrictive elements

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RESTRICTIVE PHRASE (NO COMMAS)

▶ One corner of the attic was fi lled with newspapers, dating

from the early 1900s.

Dating from the early 1900s restricts the meaning of newspapers, so the comma should be omitted.

▶ Th e bill, proposed by the Illinois representative, would

lower taxes for middle-income families.

Proposed by the Illinois representative identifi es exactly which bill is meant.

Appositives

An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames a nearby noun. Nonrestrictive appositives are set off with commas; restric- tive appositives are not.

NONRESTRICTIVE APPOSITIVE (WITH COMMAS)

▶ Darwin’s most important book On the Origin of Species

was the result of many years of research.

Most important restricts the meaning to one book, so the appositive On the Origin of Species is nonrestrictive and should be set off with commas.

RESTRICTIVE APPOSITIVE (NO COMMAS)

▶ Th e song, “Viva la Vida, ” was blasted out of huge amplifi ers.

Once they’ve read song, readers still don’t know precisely which song the writer means. Th e appositive following song restricts its meaning, so the appositive should not be set off with commas.

EXERCISE 32–9 Add or delete commas where necessary in the follow- ing sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

My sister who plays center on the Sparks now lives at

Th e Sands a beach house near Los Angeles.

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Transitions, parenthetical expressions, etc.

a. Choreographer Alvin Ailey’s best-known work Revelations is more than just a crowd-pleaser.

b. Twyla Th arp’s contemporary ballet Push Comes to Shove was made famous by the Russian dancer Baryshnikov. [Th arp has written more than one contemporary ballet.]

c. Th e glass sculptor sift ing through hot red sand explained her tech- nique to the other glassmakers. [Th ere is more than one glass sculptor.]

d. A member of an organization, that provides job training for teens, was also appointed to the education commission.

e. Brian Eno who began his career as a rock musician turned to meditative compositions in the late 1970s.

32f Use commas to set off transitional and parenthetical expressions, absolute phrases, and word groups expressing contrast.

Transitional expressions

Transitional expressions serve as bridges between sentences or parts of sentences. Th ey include conjunctive adverbs such as however, therefore, and moreover and transitional phrases such as for example, as a matter of fact, and in other words. (For complete lists of these expressions, see 34b.)

When a transitional expression appears between indepen- dent clauses in a compound sentence, it is preceded by a semico- lon and is usually followed by a comma. (See 34b.)

▶ Minh did not understand our language; moreover he was

unfamiliar with our customs.

When a transitional expression appears at the beginning of a sentence or in the middle of an independent clause, it is usually set off with commas.

▶ As a matter of fact American football was established in the

mid-nineteenth century by fans who wanted to play a more

organized game of rugby.

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▶ Natural foods are not always salt free; celery for example

contains more sodium than most people would imagine.

EXCEPTION: If a transitional expression blends smoothly with the rest of the sentence, calling for little or no pause in reading, it does not need to be set off with a comma. Expressions such as also, at least, certainly, consequently, indeed, of course, moreover, no doubt, perhaps, then, and therefore do not always call for a pause.

Alice’s bicycle is broken; therefore you will need to borrow Sue’s.

Parenthetical expressions

Expressions that are distinctly parenthetical, providing only supplemental information, should be set off with commas. Th ey interrupt the fl ow of a sentence or appear at the end as aft erthoughts.

▶ Evolution as far as we know doesn’t work this way.

Absolute phrases

An absolute phrase, which modifi es the whole sentence, usually consists of a noun followed by a participle or participial phrase. (See 48d.) Absolute phrases may appear at the beginning or at the end of a sentence and should be set off with commas.

Th e sun appearing for the fi rst time in a week, we were at last able to begin the archaeological dig.

▶ Elvis Presley made music industry history in the 1950s his

records having sold more than ten million copies.

NOTE: Do not insert a comma between the noun and the parti- ciple in an absolute construction.

▶ Th e next contestant, being fi ve years old, the host adjusted

the height of the microphone.

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ABSOLUTE PHRASE N PARTICIPLE

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he said, etc.

Word groups expressing contrast

Sharp contrasts beginning with words such as not, never, and un- like are set off with commas.

▶ Th e Epicurean philosophers sought mental not bodily

pleasures.

▶ Unlike Robert Rae Marie enjoyed managing the household

budget.

32g Use commas to set off nouns of direct address, the words yes and no, interrogative tags, and mild interjections.

▶ Forgive me Angela for forgetting your birthday.

▶ Yes the loan will probably be approved.

▶ Th e fi lm was faithful to the book wasn’t it?

▶ Well cases like these are diffi cult to decide.

32h Use commas with expressions such as he said to set off direct quotations.

▶ In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King

Jr. wrote “We know through painful experience that freedom

is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be

demanded by the oppressed” (225).

See 37 on the use of quotation marks and pages 467–68 on citing literary sources in MLA style.

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32i Use commas with dates, addresses, titles, and numbers.

Dates

In dates, set off the year from the rest of the sentence with a pair of commas.

▶ On December 12 1890 orders were sent out for the arrest of

Sitting Bull.

EXCEPTIONS: Commas are not needed if the date is inverted or if only the month and year are given.

Th e security alert system went into eff ect on 15 April 2009. February 2015 was an extremely snowy month.

Addresses

Th e elements of an address or a place name are separated with commas. A zip code, however, is not preceded by a comma.

▶ John Lennon was born in Liverpool England in 1940.

▶ Please send the package to Greg Tarvin at 708 Spring Street

Washington IL 61571.

Titles

If a title follows a name, set off the title from the rest of the sen- tence with a pair of commas.

▶ Ann Hall MD has been appointed to the board of trustees.

Numbers

In numbers more than four digits long, use commas to separate the numbers into groups of three, starting from the right. In numbers four digits long, a comma is optional.

3,500 [or 3500] 100,000 5,000,000

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To prevent confusion

EXCEPTIONS: Do not use commas in street numbers, zip codes, telephone numbers, or years with four or fewer digits.

32j Use a comma to prevent confusion.

In certain situations, a comma is necessary to prevent confusion. If the writer has intentionally left out a word or phrase, for ex- ample, a comma may be needed to signal the omission.

▶ To err is human; to forgive divine.

If two words in a row echo each other, a comma may be needed for ease of reading.

▶ Th e catastrophe that we had feared might happen happened.

Sometimes a comma is needed to prevent readers from grouping words in ways that do not match the writer’s intention.

▶ Patients who can walk up and down the halls every day.

EXERCISE 32–11 Th is exercise covers the major uses of the comma described in 32a–32e. Add or delete commas where necessary. If a sen- tence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Even though our brains actually can’t focus on two tasks

at a time many people believe they can multitask.

a. Cricket which originated in England is also popular in Australia, South Africa and India.

b. At the sound of the starting pistol the horses surged forward toward the fi rst obstacle, a sharp incline three feet high.

c. Aft er seeing an exhibition of Western art Gerhard Richter escaped from East Berlin, and smuggled out many of his notebooks.

d. Corrie’s new wet suit has an intricate, blue pattern. e. We replaced the rickety, old, spiral staircase with a sturdy, new ladder.

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EXERCISE 32–12 Th is exercise covers all uses of the comma. Add or delete commas where necessary in the following sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

“Yes neighbors, we must work together to save the community

center,” urged Mr. Owusu.

a. On January 15, 2008 our offi ce moved to 29 Commonwealth Avenue, Mechanicsville VA 23111.

b. Th e coach having bawled us out thoroughly, we left the locker room with his harsh words ringing in our ears.

c. Ms. Carlson you are a valued customer whose satisfaction is very important to us.

d. Mr. Mundy was born on July 22, 1939 in Arkansas, where his family had lived for four generations.

e. Her board poised at the edge of the half-pipe, Nina waited her turn to drop in.

33 Unnecessary commas Many common misuses of the comma result from a misunder- standing of the major comma rules presented in 32.

33a Do not use a comma with a coordinating conjunction that joins only two words, phrases, or subordinate clauses.

Th ough a comma should be used before a coordinating con- junction joining independent clauses (see 32a) or with a series of three or more elements (see 32c), these rules should not be extended to other compound word groups.

▶ Ron discovered a leak, and came back to fi x it.

Th e coordinating conjunction and links two verbs in a compound predicate: discovered and came.

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With certain adjectives, nouns, and adverbs

▶ We knew that she had won, but that the election was close.

Th e coordinating conjunction but links two subordinate clauses, each beginning with that.

33b Do not use a comma to separate a verb from its subject or object.

A sentence should fl ow from subject to verb to object without unnecessary pauses. Commas may appear between these major sentence elements only when a specifi c rule calls for them.

▶ Zoos large enough to give the animals freedom to roam, are

becoming more popular.

Th e comma should not separate the subject, Zoos, from the verb, are becoming.

33c Do not use a comma before the fi rst or after the last item in a series.

Th ough commas are required between items in a series (32c), do not place them either before or aft er the whole series.

▶ Other causes of asthmatic attacks are, stress, change in

temperature, and cold air.

▶ Ironically, even novels that focus on horror, evil, and alienation,

oft en have themes of spiritual renewal and redemption as well.

33d Do not use a comma between cumulative adjectives, between an adjective and a noun, or between an adverb and an adjective.

Commas are required between coordinate adjectives (those that can be joined with and ), but they do not belong between

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cumulative adjectives (those that cannot be joined with and ). (For a full discussion, see 32d.)

▶ In the corner of the closet, we found an old, maroon hatbox.

A comma should never be used between an adjective and the noun that follows it.

▶ It was a senseless, dangerous, mission.

Nor should a comma be used between an adverb and an adjective that follows it.

▶ Th e Hillside is a good home for severely, disturbed youths.

33e Do not use commas to set off restrictive elements.

Restrictive elements are modifi ers or appositives that restrict the meaning of the nouns they follow. Because they are essential to the meaning of the sentence, they are not set off with commas. (For a full discussion of restrictive and nonrestrictive elements, see 32e.)

▶ Drivers, who think they own the road, make cycling a

dangerous sport.

Th e modifi er who think they own the road restricts the meaning of Drivers and is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Putting commas around the who clause falsely suggests that all drivers think they own the road.

▶ Margaret Mead’s book, Coming of Age in Samoa, stirred up

considerable controversy when it was published in 1928.

Since Mead wrote more than one book, the appositive contains information essential to the meaning of the sentence.

33f Do not use a comma to set off a concluding adverb clause that is essential for meaning.

When adverb clauses introduce a sentence, they are nearly always followed by a comma (see 32b). When they conclude a sentence,

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Other misuses

however, they are not set off by commas if their content is es- sential to the meaning of the earlier part of the sentence. Adverb clauses beginning with aft er, as soon as, because, before, if, since, unless, until, and when are usually essential.

▶ Don’t visit Paris at the height of the tourist season, unless

you have booked hotel reservations.

Without the unless clause, the meaning of the sentence might at fi rst seem broader than the writer intended.

When a concluding adverb clause is nonessential, it should be preceded by a comma. Clauses beginning with although, even though, though, and whereas are usually nonessential.

▶ Th e lecture seemed to last only a short time although the

clock said it had gone on for more than an hour.

33g Do not use a comma after a phrase that begins an inverted sentence.

Th ough a comma belongs aft er most introductory phrases (see 32b), it does not belong aft er phrases that begin an inverted sen- tence. In an inverted sentence, the subject follows the verb, and a phrase that ordinarily would follow the verb is moved to the beginning (see 47c).

▶ At the bottom of the hill, sat the stubborn mule.

33h Avoid other common misuses of the comma.

Do not use a comma in the following situations.

AFTER A COORDINATING CONJUNCTION (AND, BUT, OR, NOR, FOR, SO, YET )

▶ Occasionally TV talk shows are performed live, but, more

oft en they are taped.

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33h Unnecessary commas312

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AFTER SUCH AS OR LIKE

▶ Shade-loving plants such as, begonias, impatiens, and coleus

can add color to a shady garden.

AFTER ALTHOUGH

▶ Although, the air was balmy, the water was too cold for

swimming.

BEFORE A PARENTHESIS

▶ Th ough Sylvia’s ACT score was low, (only 15), her admissions

essay was superior.

TO SET OFF AN INDIRECT (REPORTED) QUOTATION

▶ Samuel Goldwyn once said, that a verbal contract isn’t worth

the paper it’s written on.

WITH A QUESTION MARK OR AN EXCLAMATION POINT

▶ “Why don’t you try it?, ” she coaxed. “You can’t do any worse

than the rest of us.”

EXERCISE 33–1 Delete any unnecessary commas in the following sen- tences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

In his Silk Road Project, Yo-Yo Ma incorporates work by

musicians such as, Kayhan Kalhor and Richard Danielpour.

a. Aft er the morning rains cease, the swimmers emerge from their cottages.

b. Tricia’s fi rst artwork was a bright, blue, clay dolphin.

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31334a

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With independent clauses and no coordinating conjunction

c. Some modern musicians, (trumpeter John Hassell is an ex- ample) blend several cultural traditions into a unique sound.

d. Myra liked hot, spicy foods such as, chili, kung pao chicken, and buff alo wings.

e. On the display screen, was a soothing pattern of light and shadow.

EXERCISE 33–2 Delete unnecessary commas in the following passage.

Each spring since 1970, New Orleans has hosted the Jazz and Heritage Festival, an event that celebrates the music, food, and culture, of the region. Although, it is oft en referred to as “Jazz Fest,” the festival typically includes a wide variety of musical styles such as, gospel, Cajun, blues, zydeco, and, rock and roll. Famous musicians who have appeared regularly at Jazz Fest, include Dr. John, B. B. King, and Aretha Franklin. Large stages are set up throughout the fairgrounds in a way, that allows up to ten bands to play simultaneously without any sound overlap. Food tents are located throughout the festival, and off er popular, local dishes like crawfi sh Monica, jambalaya, and fried, green tomatoes. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Jazz Fest revived quickly, and attendance has steadily increased each year. Fans, who cannot attend the festival, still enjoy the music by downloading songs, and watching performances online.

34 The semicolon Th e semicolon is used to connect major sentence elements of equal grammatical rank.

34a Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses not joined with a coordinating conjunction.

When two independent clauses appear in one sentence, they are usually linked with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet). Th e coordinating conjunction sig- nals the relation between the clauses. If the clauses are closely

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related and the relation is clear without a conjunction, they may be linked with a semicolon instead.

In fi lm, a low-angle shot makes the subject look powerful; a high- angle shot does just the opposite.

A semicolon must be used whenever a coordinating con- junction has been omitted between independent clauses. To use merely a comma creates a type of run-on sentence known as a comma splice. (See 20.)

▶ In 1800, a traveler needed six weeks to get from New York City

to Chicago, in 1860, the trip by railroad took only two days.

34b Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with a transitional expression.

Transitional expressions include conjunctive adverbs and transi- tional phrases.

CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS

accordingly furthermore moreover still also hence nevertheless subsequently anyway however next then besides incidentally nonetheless therefore certainly indeed now thus consequently instead otherwise conversely likewise similarly fi nally meanwhile specifi cally

TRANSITIONAL PHRASES

aft er all even so in fact as a matter of fact for example in other words as a result for instance in the fi rst place at any rate in addition on the contrary at the same time in conclusion on the other hand

When a transitional expression appears between indepen- dent clauses, it is preceded by a semicolon and usually followed by a comma.

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Misuses

▶ Many corals grow very gradually, in fact, the creation of a

coral reef can take centuries.

When a transitional expression appears in the middle or at the end of the second independent clause, the semicolon goes between the clauses.

▶ Biologists have observed laughter in primates other than

humans, chimpanzees, however, sound more like they are

panting than laughing.

Transitional expressions should not be confused with the co- ordinating conjunctions and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet, which are preceded by a comma when they link independent clauses. (See 32a.)

34c Use a semicolon between items in a series containing internal punctuation.

▶ Classic science fi ction sagas are Star Trek, with Mr. Spock,

Battlestar Galactica, with its Cylons, and Star Wars, with

Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader.

Without the semicolons, the reader would have to sort out the major groupings, distinguishing between important and less important pauses according to the logic of the sentence. By inserting semicolons at the major breaks, the writer does this work for the reader.

34d Avoid common misuses of the semicolon.

Do not use a semicolon in the following situations.

BETWEEN A SUBORDINATE CLAUSE AND THE REST OF THE SENTENCE

▶ Although children’s literature was added to the National

Book Awards in 1969; it has had its own award, the Newbery

Medal, since 1922.

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BETWEEN AN APPOSITIVE AND THE WORD IT REFERS TO

▶ Th e scientists were fascinated by the species Argyroneta

aquatica; a spider that lives underwater.

TO INTRODUCE A LIST

▶ Some of my favorite celebrities have been animal rights

advocates; Betty White, Casey Affl eck, and Dave Navarro.

BETWEEN INDEPENDENT CLAUSES JOINED BY AND, BUT, OR, NOR, FOR, SO, OR YET

▶ Five of the applicants had worked with spreadsheets; but

only one was familiar with database management.

EXCEPTIONS: If one or both of the independent clauses contain a comma, you may use a semicolon with a coordinating conjunc- tion between the clauses.

EXERCISE 34–1 Add commas or semicolons where needed in the fol- lowing well-known quotations. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

If an animal does something we call it instinct if we do

the same thing we call it intelligence. — Will Cuppy

a. Do not ask me to be kind just ask me to act as though I were. — Jules Renard b. When men talk about defense they always claim to be protecting

women and children but they never ask the women and children what they think. — Pat Schroeder

c. When I get a little money I buy books if any is left I buy food and clothes. — Desiderius Erasmus

d. America is a country that doesn’t know where it is going but is determined to set a speed record getting there.

— Laurence J. Peter e. Wit has truth in it wisecracking is simply calisthenics with words.

— Dorothy Parker

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31735a

Before a list, an appositive, a quotation, or a summary

EXERCISE 34–2 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of the comma and the semicolon. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

Love is blind envy has its eyes wide open.

a. Strong black coff ee will not sober you up, the truth is that time is the only way to get alcohol out of your system.

b. Margaret was not surprised to see hail and vivid lightning, condi- tions had been right for violent weather all day.

c. Th ere is oft en a fi ne line between right and wrong; good and bad; truth and deception.

d. My mother always says that you can’t learn common sense; either you’re born with it or you’re not.

e. Severe, unremitting pain is a ravaging force; especially when the patient tries to hide it from others.

35 The colon Th e colon is used primarily to call attention to the words that fol- low it. In addition, the colon has some conventional uses.

35a Use a colon after an independent clause to direct attention to a list, an appositive, a quotation, or a summary or an explanation.

A LIST

Th e daily routine should include at least the following: twenty knee bends, fi ft y sit-ups, and fi ve minutes of running in place.

AN APPOSITIVE

My roommate is guilty of two of the seven deadly sins: gluttony and sloth.

A QUOTATION

Consider the words of Benjamin Franklin: “Th ere never was a good war or a bad peace.”

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35b The colon318

A SUMMARY OR AN EXPLANATION

Faith is like love: It cannot be forced. Th e novel is clearly autobiographical: Th e author even gives his own name to the main character.

NOTE: For other ways of introducing quotations, see “Introducing quoted material” on pages 327–28. When an independent clause follows a colon, begin with a capital letter. Some disciplines use a lowercase letter instead. See 45f for variations.

35b Use a colon according to convention.

SALUTATION IN A LETTER Dear Sir or Madam: HOURS AND MINUTES 5:30 p.m. PROPORTIONS Th e ratio of women to men was 2:1. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Th e Glory of Hera: Greek Mythology and the Greek Family BIBLIOGRAPHIC ENTRIES Boston: Bedford, 2014 CHAPTER AND VERSE IN SACRED TEXT Luke 2:14, Qur’an 67:3

35c Avoid common misuses of the colon.

A colon must be preceded by a full independent clause. Th erefore, avoid using it in the following situations.

BETWEEN A VERB AND ITS OBJECT OR COMPLEMENT

▶ Some important vitamins found in vegetables are: vitamin A,

thiamine, niacin, and vitamin C.

BETWEEN A PREPOSITION AND ITS OBJECT

▶ Th e heart’s two pumps each consist of: an upper chamber,

or atrium, and a lower chamber, or ventricle.

AFTER SUCH AS, INCLUDING, OR FOR EXAMPLE

▶ Th e NCAA regulates college athletic teams, including:

basketball, baseball, soft ball, and football.

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31936a

’

Possessive nouns

EXERCISE 35–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of the comma, the semicolon, or the colon. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Lift ing the cover gently, Luca found the source of the odd

sound; a marble in the gears.

a. We always looked forward to Th anksgiving in Vermont: It was our only chance to see our Grady cousins.

b. If we have come to fi ght, we are far too few, if we have come to die, we are far too many.

c. Th e travel package includes: a round-trip ticket to Athens, a cruise through the Cyclades, and all hotel accommodations.

d. Th e news article portrays the land use proposal as reckless; although 62 percent of the town’s residents support it.

e. Psychologists Kindlon and Th ompson (2000) off er parents a sim- ple starting point for raising male children, “Teach boys that there are many ways to be a man” (p. 256).

36 The apostrophe 36a Use an apostrophe to indicate that a noun is possessive.

Possessive nouns usually indicate ownership, as in Tim’s hat, the law- yer’s desk. Frequently, however, ownership is only loosely implied: the tree’s roots, a day’s work. If you are not sure whether a noun is posses- sive, try turning it into an of phrase: the roots of the tree, the work of a day. (Pronouns also have possessive forms. See 36b and 36e.)

When to add -’s

1. If the noun does not end in -s, add -’s.

Luck oft en propels a rock musician’s career.

/ ^ :

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36b The apostrophe320

’

Th e Children’s Defense Fund is a nonprofi t organization that supports programs for poor and minority children.

2. If the noun is singular and ends in -s or an s sound, add -’s to indicate possession.

Lois’s sister spent last year in India. Her article presents an overview of Marx’s teachings.

NOTE: To avoid potentially awkward pronunciation, some writers use only the apostrophe with a singular noun ending in -s: Sophocles’.

When to add only an apostrophe

If the noun is plural and ends in -s, add only an apostrophe.

Both diplomats’ briefcases were searched by guards.

Joint possession

To show joint possession, use -’s or (-s’ ) with the last noun only; to show individual possession, make all nouns possessive.

Have you seen Joyce and Greg’s new camper? John’s and Marie’s expectations of marriage couldn’t have been more diff erent.

Joyce and Greg jointly own one camper. John and Marie indi- vidually have diff erent expectations.

Compound nouns

If a noun is compound, use -’s (or -s’ ) with the last element.

My father-in-law’s memoir about his childhood in Sri Lanka was published in October.

36b Use an apostrophe and -s to indicate that an indefi nite pronoun is possessive.

Indefi nite pronouns refer to no specifi c person or thing: every- one, someone, no one, something. (See 46b.)

Someone’s raincoat has been left behind.

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32136d

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Not for plural numbers, letters, abbreviations, etc.

36c Use an apostrophe to mark omissions in contractions and numbers.

In a contraction, the apostrophe takes the place of one or more missing letters. It’s stands for it is, can’t for cannot.

It’s a shame that Frank can’t go on the tour.

Th e apostrophe is also used to mark the omission of the fi rst two digits of a year (the class of ’08) or years (the ’60s generation).

36d Do not use an apostrophe in certain situations.

An apostrophe typically is not used to pluralize numbers, letters, abbreviations, and words mentioned as words. Note the few ex- ceptions and be consistent throughout your paper.

Plural of numbers

Do not use an apostrophe in the plural of any numbers.

Oksana skated nearly perfect fi gure 8s. Th e 1920s are known as the Jazz Age.

Plural of letters

Italicize the letter and use roman (regular) font style for the -s ending. Do not italicize academic grades.

Two large Ps were painted on the door. He received two Ds for the fi rst time in his life.

EXCEPTIONS: To avoid misreading, use an apostrophe to form the plural of lowercase letters and the capital letters A and I.

Beginning readers oft en confuse b’s and d’s. Students with straight A’s earn high honors.

MLA NOTE: MLA recommends using an apostrophe for the plural of single capital and lowercase letters: H ’s, p’s.

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Plural of abbreviations

Do not use an apostrophe to pluralize an abbreviation.

Harriet has thirty DVDs on her desk. Marco earned two PhDs before his thirtieth birthday.

Plural of words mentioned as words

Generally, omit the apostrophe to form the plural of words men- tioned as words. If the word is italicized, the -s ending appears in roman (regular) type.

We’ve heard enough maybe s.

Words mentioned as words may also appear in quotation marks. When you choose this option, use the apostrophe.

We’ve heard enough “maybe’s.”

36e Avoid common misuses of the apostrophe.

Do not use an apostrophe with nouns that are not possessive or with the possessive pronouns its, whose, his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs.

▶ Some outpatient’s have special parking permits.

▶ Each area has it’s own conference room.

It’s means “it is.” Th e possessive pronoun its contains no apostrophe despite the fact that it is possessive.

▶ We attended a reading by Junot Díaz, who’s work focuses on the

Dominican immigration experience.

Who’s means “who is.” Th e possessive pronoun is whose.

EXERCISE 36–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of the apostrophe. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Our favorite barbecue restaurant is Poor Richards Ribs.

a. Th is diet will improve almost anyone’s health.

outpatients

its

whose

Richard’s

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Quotation marks

b. Th e innovative shoe fastener was inspired by the designers young son. c. Each days menu features a diff erent European country’s dish. d. Sue worked overtime to increase her families earnings. e. Ms. Jacobs is unwilling to listen to students complaints about

computer failures.

EXERCISE 36–2 Edit the following passage to correct errors in the use of the apostrophe.

Its never too soon to start holiday shopping. In fact, some people choose to start shopping as early as January, when last seasons left over’s are priced at their lowest. Many stores try to lure customers in with promise’s of savings up to 90 percent. Th eir main objective, of course, is to make way for next years inventory. Th e big problem with postholiday shopping, though, is that there isn’t much left to choose from. Store’s shelves have been picked over by last- minute shoppers desperately searching for gift s. Th e other problem is that its hard to know what to buy so far in advance. Next year’s hot items are anyones guess. But proper timing, mixed with lot’s of luck and determination, can lead to good purchases at great price’s.

37 Quotation marks Writers use quotation marks primarily to enclose direct quota- tions of another person’s spoken or written words. You will also fi nd these other uses and exceptions:

• for quotations within quotations (single quotation marks: 37b) • for titles of short works (37c) • for words used as words (37d) • with other marks of punctuation (37e) • with brackets and ellipsis marks (39c, 39d) • no quotation marks for indirect quotations, paraphrases,

and summaries (p. 324) • no quotation marks for long quotations (p. 324)

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36 The apostrophe > Exercises: 36–3 to 36–5 > LearningCurve: Apostrophes

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37a Quotation marks324

“ ”

37a Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotations.

Direct quotations of a person’s words, whether spoken or written, must be in quotation marks.

“Twitter,” according to social media researcher Jameson Brown, “is the best social network for brand to customer engagement.”

In dialogue, begin a new paragraph to mark a change in speaker.

“Mom, his name is Willie, not William. A thousand times I’ve told you, it’s Willie.” “Willie is a derivative of William, Lester. Surely his birth certifi cate doesn’t have Willie on it, and I like calling people by their proper names.” “Yes, it does, ma’am. My mother named me Willie K. Mason.” — Gloria Naylor

If a single speaker utters more than one paragraph, introduce each paragraph with a quotation mark, but do not use a closing quotation mark until the end of the speech.

Exception: Indirect quotations

Do not use quotation marks around indirect quotations. An indirect quotation reports someone’s ideas without using that person’s exact words. In academic writing, indirect quotation is called paraphrase or summary. (See pp. 412–14.)

Social media researcher Jameson Brown claims that Twitter is the best social media tool for companies that want to reach their consumers.

Exception: Long quotations

Long quotations of prose or poetry are generally set off from the text by indenting. Quotation marks are not used because the in- dented format tells readers that the quotation is taken word-for- word from the source.

After making an exhaustive study of the historical record, James

Horan evaluates Billy the Kid like this:

The portrait that emerges of [the Kid] from the thousands

of pages of affidavits, reports, trial transcripts, his letters,

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Words as words

and his testimony is neither the mythical Robin Hood nor

the stereotyped adenoidal moron and pathological killer.

Rather Billy appears as a disturbed, lonely young man,

honest, loyal to his friends, dedicated to his beliefs, and

betrayed by our institutions and the corrupt, ambitious,

and compromising politicians in his time. (158)

Th e long quotation and the page number in parentheses are han- dled according to MLA style. (See 56a.)

MLA and APA have specifi c guidelines for what constitutes a long quotation and how it should be indented (see pp. 449 and 541, respectively).

37b Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation.

Megan Marshall notes that Elizabeth Peabody’s school focused on “not merely ‘teaching’ but ‘educating children morally and spiritually as well as intellectually from the fi rst’ ” (107).

37c Use quotation marks around the titles of short works.

Short works include newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, songs, episodes of television and radio programs, and chapters or subdivisions of books.

James Baldwin’s story “Sonny’s Blues” tells the story of two brothers who come to understand each other’s suff ering.

NOTE: Titles of long works such as books, plays, television and radio programs, fi lms, magazines, and newspapers are put in italics. (See 42a.)

37d Quotation marks may be used to set off words used as words.

Although words used as words are ordinarily italicized (see 42d), quotation marks are also acceptable. Be consistent throughout your paper.

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37e Quotation marks326

“ ”

Th e words “accept” and “except” are frequently confused. Th e words accept and except are frequently confused.

37e Use punctuation with quotation marks according to convention.

Th is section describes the conventions American publishers use in placing various marks of punctuation inside or outside quota- tion marks. It also explains how to punctuate when introducing quoted material. (For the use of quotation marks in MLA and APA styles, see 56a and 61a, respectively. Th e examples in this section show MLA style.)

Periods and commas

Place periods and commas inside quotation marks.

“I’m here as part of my service-learning project,” I told the classroom teacher. “I’m hoping to become a reading specialist.”

Th is rule applies to single quotation marks as well as double quota- tion marks. (See 37b.) It also applies to all uses of quotation marks: for quoted material, for titles of works, and for words used as words.

EXCEPTION: In MLA and APA styles of parenthetical in-text cita- tions, the period follows the citation in parentheses.

James M. McPherson comments, approvingly, that the Whigs “were not averse to extending the blessings of American liberty, even to Mexicans and Indians” (48).

Colons and semicolons

Put colons and semicolons outside quotation marks.

Harold wrote, “I regret that I am unable to attend the fundraiser for AIDS research”; his letter, however, came with a donation.

Question marks and exclamation points

Put question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks unless they apply to the whole sentence.

Dr. Abram’s fi rst question was “What are your goals?” Have you heard the old proverb “Do not climb the hill until you reach it”?

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With other punctuation marks

In the fi rst sentence, the question mark applies only to the quoted question. In the second sentence, the question mark applies to the whole sentence.

NOTE: In MLA and APA styles for a quotation that ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, the parenthetical citation and a period should follow the entire quotation.

Rosie Th omas asks, “Is nothing in life ever straight and clear, the way children see it?” (77).

Introducing quoted material

Aft er a word group introducing a quotation, choose a colon, a comma, or no punctuation at all, whichever is appropriate in context.

Formal introduction If a quotation is formally introduced, a colon is appropriate. A formal introduction is a full independent clause, not just an expression such as he said or she remarked.

Th omas Friedman provides a challenging yet optimistic view of the future: “We need to get back to work on our country and on our planet. Th e hour is late, the stakes couldn’t be higher, the project couldn’t be harder, the payoff couldn’t be greater” (25).

Expression such as he writes If a quotation is introduced with an expression such as he writes or she remarked — or if it is followed by such an expression — a comma is needed.

“With regard to air travel,” Stephen Ambrose notes, “Jeff erson was a full century ahead of the curve” (53). “Unless another war is prevented it is likely to bring destruction on a scale never before held possible and even now hardly conceived,” Albert Einstein wrote in the aft ermath of the atomic bomb (29).

Blended quotation When a quotation is blended into the writer’s own sentence, either a comma or no punctuation is appropriate, depending on the way in which the quotation fi ts into the sen- tence structure.

Th e future champion could, as he put it, “fl oat like a butterfl y and sting like a bee.” Virginia Woolf wrote in 1928 that “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fi ction” (4).

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37f Quotation marks328

“ ”

Beginning of sentence If a quotation appears at the beginning of a sentence, use a comma aft er it unless the quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a reporter,” American poet Gwendolyn Brooks once stated (162). “What is it?” she asked, bracing herself.

Interrupted quotation If a quoted sentence is interrupted by explanatory words, use commas to set off the explanatory words. If two successive quoted sentences from the same source are interrupted by explanatory words, use a comma before the explanatory words and a period aft er them.

“Everyone agrees journalists must tell the truth,” Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel write. “Yet people are befuddled about what ‘the truth’ means” (37).

37f Avoid common misuses of quotation marks.

Do not use quotation marks to draw attention to familiar slang, to disown trite expressions, or to justify an attempt at humor.

▶ Th e economist estimated that single-family home prices would

decline another 5 percent by the end of the year, emphasizing

that this was only a “ballpark fi gure.”

Do not use quotation marks around the title of your own essay.

EXERCISE 37–1 Add or delete quotation marks as needed and make any other necessary changes in punctuation in the following sentences. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Gandhi once said, An eye for an eye only ends up making

the whole world blind.

/ /

^ “

^ ”

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37 Quotation marks > Exercises: 37–3 to 37–5

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32937f

“ ”

Quotation marks

a. As for the advertisement “Sailors have more fun”, if you consider chip- ping paint and swabbing decks fun, then you will have plenty of it.

b. Even aft er forty minutes of discussion, our class could not agree on an interpretation of Robert Frost’s poem “Th e Road Not Taken.”

c. Aft er winning the lottery, Juanita said that “she would give half the money to charity.”

d. Aft er the movie, Vicki said, “Th e reviewer called this fl ick “trash of the fi rst order.” I guess you can’t believe everything you read.”

e. “Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing,” said Phyllis Diller, “is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.”

EXERCISE 37–2 Add or delete quotation marks as needed and make any other necessary changes in punctuation in the following passage. Citations should conform to MLA style (see 54b).

In his article Th e Moment of Truth, former vice president Al Gore argues that global warming is a genuine threat to life on Earth and that we must act now to avoid catastrophe. Gore calls our situation a “true planetary emergency” and cites scientifi c evidence of the greenhouse eff ect and its consequences (170–71). “What is at stake, Gore insists, is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth (197).” With such a grim predicament at hand, Gore questions why so many political and economic leaders are reluctant to act. “Is it simply more convenient to ignore the warnings,” he asks (171)?

Th e crisis, of course, will not go away if we just pretend it isn’t there. Gore points out that in Chinese two symbols form the character for the word crisis. Th e fi rst of those symbols means “danger”, and the second means “opportunity.” Th e danger we face, he claims, is accompanied by “unprecedented opportunity.” (172) Gore contends that throughout history we have won battles against seemingly unbeatable evils such as slavery and fascism and that we did so by facing the truth and choosing the moral high ground. Gore’s fi nal appeal is to our humanity:

“Ultimately, [the fi ght to end global warming] is not about any scientifi c discussion or political dialogue; it is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our limitations, to rise to this new occasion. To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for.” (244)

Gore feels that the fate of our world rests in our own hands, and his hope is that we will make the choice to save the planet. Source of quotations: Al Gore; “Th e Moment of Truth”; Vanity Fair May 2006: 170+; print.

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38 End punctuation 38a The period

Use a period to end all sentences except direct questions or genu- ine exclamations. Also use periods in abbreviations according to convention.

To end sentences

Most sentences should end with a period. A sentence that reports a question instead of asking it directly, (an indirect question) should end with a period, not a question mark.

▶ Th e professor asked whether talk therapy was more benefi cial

than antidepressants?

If a sentence is not a genuine exclamation, it should end with a period, not an exclamation point. (See also 38c.)

▶ Aft er years of working her way through school, Geeta fi nally

graduated with high honors!

In abbreviations

A period is conventionally used in abbreviations of titles and Latin words or phrases, including the time designations for morning and aft ernoon.

Mr. i.e. a.m. (or AM) Ms. e.g. p.m. (or PM) Dr. etc.

NOTE: If a sentence ends with a period marking an abbreviation, do not add a second period.

Do not use a period with US Postal Service abbreviations for states: MD, TX, CA.

/ ^ .

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33138c

The exclamation point

Current usage is to omit the period in abbreviations of organization names, academic degrees, and designations for eras.

NATO UNESCO UCLA BS BC IRS AFL-CIO NIH PhD BCE

38b The question mark

A direct question should be followed by a question mark.

What is the horsepower of a 777 engine?

TIP: Do not use a question mark aft er an indirect question, one that is reported rather than asked directly. Use a period instead.

▶ He asked me who was teaching the math course this

year?

38c The exclamation point

Use an exclamation point after a word group or sentence to express exceptional feeling or to provide special empha- sis. The exclamation point is rarely appropriate in academic writing.

When Gloria entered the room, I switched on the lights, and we all yelled, “Surprise!”

TIP: Do not overuse the exclamation point.

▶ In the fi sherman’s memory, the fi sh lives on, increasing in

length and weight with each passing year, until at last it is

big enough to shade a fi shing boat!

Th is sentence doesn’t need to be pumped up with an exclamation point. It is emphatic enough without it.

/ ^ .

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332 39 Other punctuation marks

—

EXERCISE 38–1 Add appropriate end punctuation in the following paragraph.

Although I am generally rational, I am superstitious I never walk under ladders or put shoes on the table If I spill the salt, I go into frenzied calisthenics picking up the grains and tossing them over my left shoulder As a result of these curious activities, I’ve always wondered whether knowing the roots of superstitions would quell my irrational responses Superstition has it, for example, that one should never place a hat on the bed Th is superstition arises from a time when head lice were common and placing a guest’s hat on the bed stood a good chance of spreading lice through the host’s bed Doesn’t this make good sense And doesn’t it stand to reason that, if I know that my guests don’t have lice, I shouldn’t care where their hats go Of course it does It is fair to ask, then, whether I have changed my ways and place hats on beds Are you kidding I wouldn’t put a hat on a bed if my life depended on it

39 Other punctuation marks 39a The dash

When typing, use two hyphens to form a dash (–). Do not put spaces before or aft er the dash. If your word processing program has what is known as an “em-dash” (—), you may use it instead, with no space before or aft er it.

Use a dash to set off parenthetical material that deserves emphasis.

Everything that went wrong — from the peeping Tom at her window last night to my head-on collision today — we blamed on our move.

Use a dash to set off appositives that contain commas. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames a nearby noun. Ordinarily, most appositives are set off with commas (32e), but when the appositive itself contains commas, a pair of dashes helps readers see the relative importance of all the pauses.

In my hometown, people’s basic needs — food, clothing, and shelter — are less costly than in a big city like Los Angeles.

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33339b

( )

Parentheses

A dash can also introduce a list, a restatement, an amplifi ca- tion, or a dramatic shift in tone or thought.

Along the wall are the bulk liquids — sesame seed oil, honey, saffl ower oil, and that half-liquid “peanuts only” peanut butter. In his last semester, Peter tried to pay more attention to his priorities — applying to graduate school and getting fi nancial aid. Everywhere we looked there were little kids — a bag of Skittles in one hand and their mommy or daddy’s sleeve in the other. Kiere took a few steps back, came running full speed, kicked a mighty kick — and missed the ball.

In the fi rst two examples, the writer could also use a colon. (See 35a.) Th e colon is more formal than the dash and not quite as dramatic.

TIP: Unless there is a specifi c reason for using the dash, avoid it. Unnecessary dashes create a choppy eff ect.

39b Parentheses

Use parentheses to enclose supplemental material, minor di- gressions, and aft erthoughts.

Nurses record patients’ vital signs (temperature, pulse, and blood pressure) several times a day.

Use parentheses to enclose letters or numbers labeling items in a series.

Regulations stipulated that only the following equipment could be used on the survival mission: (1) a knife, (2) thirty feet of parachute line, (3) a book of matches, (4) two ponchos, (5) an E tool, and (6) a signal fl are.

TIP: Rough draft s are likely to contain unnecessary parentheses. As writers head into a sentence, they oft en think of additional details, using parentheses to work them in as best they can. Such sentences usually can be revised to include the details without parentheses.

▶ Researchers have said that seventeen million (estimates run

as high as twenty-three million) Americans have diabetes. ^

from

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39c Other punctuation marks334

[ ]

39c Brackets

Use brackets to enclose any words or phrases that you have in- serted into an otherwise word-for-word quotation.

Audubon reports that “if there are not enough young to balance deaths, the end of the species [California condor] is inevitable” (4).

Th e sentence quoted from the Audubon article did not contain the words California condor (since the context of the full article made clear what species was meant), so the writer needed to add the name in brackets.

Th e Latin word “sic” in brackets indicates that an error in a quoted sentence appears in the original source.

According to the review, Nelly Furtado’s performance was brilliant, “exceding [sic] the expectations of even her most loyal fans.”

Do not overuse “sic,” however, since calling attention to oth- ers’ mistakes can appear snobbish. Th e preceding quotation, for example, might have been paraphrased instead: According to the review, even Nelly Furtado’s most loyal fans were surprised by the brilliance of her performance.

39d The ellipsis mark

Th e ellipsis mark consists of three spaced periods. Use an ellipsis mark to indicate that you have deleted words from an otherwise word-for-word quotation.

Shute (2010) acknowledges that treatment for autism can be expensive: “Sensory integration therapy . . . can cost up to $200 an hour” (82).

If you delete a full sentence or more in the middle of a quoted passage, use a period before the three ellipsis dots.

“If we don’t properly train, teach, or treat our growing prison population,” says longtime reform advocate Luis Rodríguez, “somebody else will. . . . Th is may well be the safety issue of the new century” (16).

TIP: Ordinarily, do not use the ellipsis mark at the beginning or at the end of a quotation. Readers will understand that the quoted material is taken from a longer passage. If you have cut

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33539eSlash

some words from the end of the fi nal quoted sentence, however, MLA requires an ellipsis mark.

In quoted poetry, use a full line of ellipsis dots to indicate that you have dropped a line or more from the poem, as in this example from “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell:

Had we but world enough, and time, Th is coyness, lady, were no crime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

But at my back I always hear Time’s wingèd chariot hurrying near; (1–2, 21–22)

39e The slash

Use the slash to separate two or three lines of poetry that have been run into your text. Add a space both before and aft er the slash.

In the opening lines of “Jordan,” George Herbert pokes gentle fun at popular poems of his time: “Who says that fi ctions only and false hair / Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?” (1–2).

Four or more lines of poetry should be handled as an indented quotation. (See pp. 324–25.)

Th e slash may occasionally be used to separate paired terms such as pass/fail and producer/director. Do not use a space before or aft er the slash. Be sparing in this use of the slash. In partic- ular, avoid the use of and/or, he/she, and his/her. Instead of using he/she and his/her to solve sexist language problems, you can usually fi nd more graceful alternatives. (See 17e and 22a.)

EXERCISE 39–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in punc- tuation, focusing especially on appropriate use of the dash, parentheses, brackets, the ellipsis mark, and the slash. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Social insects, bees, for example, are able to

communicate complicated messages to one another.

/ — ^

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39 Other punctuation marks > Exercises: 39–2 and 39–3

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39e Other punctuation marks336

a. A client left his/her cell phone in our conference room aft er the meeting.

b. Th e fi lms we made of Kilauea — on our trip to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park — illustrate a typical spatter cone eruption.

c. Although he was confi dent in his course selections, Greg chose the pass/fail option for Chemistry 101.

d. Of three engineering fi elds, chemical, mechanical, and materials, Keegan chose materials engineering for its application to toy manufacturing.

e. Th e writer Chitra Divakaruni explained her work with other Indian American immigrants: “Many women who came to Maitri [a women’s support group in San Francisco] needed to know simple things like opening a bank account or getting citizen- ship. . . . Many women in Maitri spoke English, but their English was functional rather than emotional. Th ey needed someone who understands their problems and speaks their language.”

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Mechanics

40 Abbreviations, 338

41 Numbers, 341

42 Italics, 343

43 Spelling, 345

44 The hyphen, 353

45 Capitalization, 356

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338

40 Abbreviations Use abbreviations only when they are clearly appropriate and uni- versally understood (such as Dr., a.m., PhD, and so on). Th is sec- tion provides details about common abbreviations and about how to handle abbreviations that might not be familiar to your audience.

40a Use standard abbreviations for titles immediately before and after proper names.

TITLES BEFORE

PROPER NAMES

TITLES AFTER

PROPER NAMES

Mr. Rafael Zabala William Albert Sr. Ms. Nancy Linehan Th omas Hines Jr. Dr. Margaret Simmons Robert Simkowski, MD Rev. John Stone Margaret Chin, LLD

Do not abbreviate a title if it is not used with a proper name.

▶ My history prof. is an expert on race relations in South Africa.

Avoid redundant titles such as Dr. Amy Day, MD. Choose one title or the other: Dr. Amy Day or Amy Day, MD.

40b Use abbreviations only when you are sure your readers will understand them.

Familiar abbreviations for the names of organizations, compa- nies, countries, academic degrees, and common terms, written without periods, are generally acceptable.

CIA FBI MD NAACP NBA CEO PhD DVD YMCA CBS USA ESL

Talk show host Conan O’Brien is a Harvard graduate with a BA in history. Th e YMCA has opened a new gym close to my offi ce.

professor

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Units of measurement 339

abbr

40d

When using an unfamiliar abbreviation (such as NASW for National Association of Social Workers) or a potentially am- biguous abbreviation (such as AMA, which might refer to the American Medical Association or the American Management Association), write the full name followed by the abbreviation in parentheses at the fi rst mention of the name. Th en use just the abbreviation throughout the rest of the paper.

NOTE: An abbreviation that can be pronounced as a word is called an acronym: NATO, MADD, OPEC.

40c Use BC, AD, a.m., p.m., No., and $ only with specifi c dates, times, numbers, and amounts.

Th e abbreviation BC (“before Christ”) follows a date, and AD (“anno Domini”) precedes a date. Acceptable alternatives are BCE (“before the common era”) and CE (“common era”), both of which follow a date.

40 BC (or 40 BCE) 4:00 a.m. (or AM) No. 12 (or no. 12) AD 44 (or 44 CE) 6:00 p.m. (or PM) $150

Avoid using a.m., p.m., No., or $ when not accompanied by a specifi c numeral: in the morning (not in the a.m.).

40d Units of measurement

Th e following are typical abbreviations for units of measurement. Most social sciences and related fi elds use metric units (km, mg), but in other fi elds and in everyday use, US standard units (mi, lb) are typical. As a general rule, use the abbreviations for units when they appear with numerals; spell out the units when they are used alone or when they are used with spelled-out numbers (see also 41a).

METRIC UNITS US STANDARD UNITS

m, cm, mm yd, ft , in. km, kph mi, mph kg, g, mg lb, oz

Results were measured in pounds. Runners in the 5-km race had to contend with a stiff headwind.

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abbr

Abbreviations340 40e

Use no periods aft er abbreviations for units of measurement, except for the abbreviation for “inch” (in.), to distinguish it from the preposition in.

40e Be sparing in your use of Latin abbreviations.

Latin abbreviations are acceptable in footnotes and bibliographies.

cf. (Latin confer, “compare”) e.g. (Latin exempli gratia, “for example”) et al. (Latin et alia, “and others”) etc. (Latin et cetera, “and so forth”) i.e. (Latin id est, “that is”) N.B. (Latin nota bene, “note well”)

In most academic writing, use the appropriate English phrases.

▶ Many obsolete laws remain on the books. A law in

Vermont, e.g., forbids an unmarried man and woman to

sit closer than six inches apart on a park bench.

40f Plural of abbreviations

To form the plural of most abbreviations, add -s, without an apostrophe: PhDs, DVDs. Do not add -s to indicate the plural of units of measurement: mm (not mms), lb (lbs), in. (not ins.).

40g Avoid inappropriate abbreviations.

In academic writing, abbreviations for the following are not com- monly accepted.

PERSONAL NAMES Charles (not Chas.) DAYS OF THE WEEK Monday (not Mon.) HOLIDAYS Christmas (not Xmas) MONTHS January, February, March (not Jan., Feb., Mar.) COURSES OF STUDY political science (not poli. sci.)

for example,

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341Spelling out numbers

num

41a

DIVISIONS OF WRITTEN WORKS chapter, page (not ch., p.) STATES AND COUNTRIES Massachusetts (not MA or Mass.) PARTS OF A BUSINESS NAME Adams Lighting Company (not Adams Lighting Co.); Kim and Brothers (not Kim and Bros.)

NOTE: Use abbreviations for units of measurement when they are preceded by numerals (13 cm). Do not abbreviate them when they are used alone. (See 40d.)

EXCEPTION: Abbreviate states and provinces in complete addresses, and always abbreviate DC when used with Washington.

EXERCISE 40–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in abbreviations. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th is year Xmas will fall on a Tues.

a. Since its inception, the BBC has maintained a consistently high standard of radio and television broadcasting.

b. Some combat soldiers are trained by govt. diplomats to be sensi- tive to issues of culture, history, and religion.

c. Mahatma Gandhi has inspired many modern leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr.

d. How many lb. have you lost since you began running four miles a day? e. Denzil spent all night studying for his psych. exam.

41 Numbers 41a Follow the conventions in your discipline for spelling out or using numerals to express numbers.

In the humanities, which generally follow Modern Language Association (MLA) style, use numerals only for specifi c numbers above one hundred: 353, 1,020. Spell out numbers one hundred and below and large round numbers: eleven, thirty-fi ve, sixty, fi ft een million.

Christmas

Tuesday.

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40 Abbreviations > Exercises: 40–2 and 40–3

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41b Numbers342

num

Th e social sciences and other disciplines that follow American Psychological Association (APA) style use numer- als for all but the numbers one through nine. Spell out numbers from one to nine even when they are used with related numerals in a passage: Th e survey found that nine of the 157 respondents had not taken a course on alcohol use. (An exception is the ab- stract of a paper, where numerals are used for all numbers. See 62a on APA manuscript format.)

If a sentence begins with a number, spell out the number or rewrite the sentence.

▶ 150 children in our program need expensive dental treatment.

Rewriting the sentence may be less awkward if the number is long: In our program, 150 children need expensive dental treatment.

41b Use numerals according to convention in dates, addresses, and so on.

DATES July 4, 1776; 56 BC; AD 30 ADDRESSES 77 Latches Lane, 519 West 42nd Street PERCENTAGES 55 percent (or 55%) FRACTIONS, DECIMALS ⅞, 0.047 SCORES 7 to 3, 21–18 STATISTICS average age 37, average weight 180 SURVEYS 4 out of 5 EXACT AMOUNTS OF MONEY $105.37, $106,000 DIVISIONS OF BOOKS volume 3, chapter 4, page 189 DIVISIONS OF PLAYS act 3, scene 3 (or act III, scene iii) TIME OF DAY 4:00 p.m., 1:30 a.m.

NOTE: When not using a.m. or p.m., write out the time in words (two o’clock in the aft ernoon, twelve noon, seven in the morning).

EXERCISE 41–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of numbers. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

By the end of the evening, Ashanti had only three dollars

and six cents left .

One hundred fi fty

$3.06

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343Titles of works

ital

42a

a. Th e carpenters located 3 maple timbers, 21 sheets of cherry, and 10 oblongs of polished ebony for the theater set.

b. Th e program’s cost is well over one billion dollars. c. Th e score was tied at 5–5 when the momentum shift ed and carried

the Standards to a decisive 12–5 win. d. 8 students in the class had been labeled “learning disabled.” e. Th e Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, had fi ft y-

eight thousand one hundred thirty-two names inscribed on it when it was dedicated in 1982.

42 Italics Th is section describes conventional uses for italics. (If your instructor requires underlining, simply substitute underlining for italics in the examples in this section.)

Some soft ware applications do not allow for italics. To in- dicate words that should be italicized, you can use underscore marks or asterisks before and aft er the words.

I will write my senior thesis on _And the Mountains Echoed_.

NOTE: Excessive use of italics to emphasize words or ideas, espe- cially in academic writing, is distracting and should be avoided.

42a Italicize the titles of works according to convention.

Titles of the following types of works should be italicized.

TITLES OF BOOKS Th e Color Purple, Th e Round House MAGAZINES Time, Scientifi c American, Slate NEWSPAPERS the Baltimore Sun, the Orlando Sentinel Online PAMPHLETS Common Sense, Facts about Marijuana LONG POEMS Th e Waste Land, Paradise Lost PLAYS ’Night Mother, Wicked FILMS Casablanca, Argo

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41 Numbers > Exercises: 41–2 and 41–3

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Italics344 42b

ital

TELEVISION PROGRAMS Th e Voice, Frontline RADIO PROGRAMS All Th ings Considered MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS Porgy and Bess CHOREOGRAPHIC WORKS Brief Fling WORKS OF VISUAL ART American Gothic DATABASES [MLA] ProQuest WEB SITES Salon, Google COMPUTER SOFTWARE OR APPS [MLA] Photoshop, Instagram

Th e titles of other works — including short stories, essays, episodes of radio and television programs, songs, and short poems — are enclosed in quotation marks. (See 37c.)

NOTE: Do not use italics when referring to the Bible, titles of books in the Bible (Genesis, not Genesis), or titles of legal docu- ments (the Constitution, not the Constitution).

42b Italicize the names of specifi c ships, spacecraft, and aircraft.

Queen Mary 2, Endeavour, Wright Flyer Th e success of the Soviets’ Sputnik energized the US space program.

42c Italicize foreign words used in an English sentence.

Shakespeare’s Falstaff is a comic character known for both his excessive drinking and his general joie de vivre.

EXCEPTION: Do not italicize foreign words that have become a standard part of the English language — “laissez-faire,” “fait accom- pli,” “modus operandi,” and “per diem,” for example.

42d Italicize words mentioned as words, letters mentioned as letters, and numbers mentioned as numbers.

Tomás assured us that the chemicals could probably be safely mixed, but his probably stuck in our minds. Some toddlers have trouble pronouncing the letters f and s. A big 3 was painted on the stage door.

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345Spelling rules

43a

NOTE: Quotation marks may be used instead of italics to set off words mentioned as words. (See 37d.)

EXERCISE 42–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in the use of italics. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e lecture was about Gini Alhadeff ’s memoir Th e Sun at

Midday.

a. Howard Hughes commissioned the Spruce Goose, a beautifully built but thoroughly impractical wooden aircraft .

b. Th e old man screamed his anger, shouting to all of us, “I will not leave my money to you worthless layabouts!”

c. I learned the Latin term ad infi nitum from an old nursery rhyme about fl eas: “Great fl eas have little fl eas upon their back to bite ’em, / Little fl eas have lesser fl eas and so on ad infi nitum.”

d. Cinema audiences once gasped at hearing the word damn in Gone with the Wind.

e. Neve Campbell’s lifelong interest in ballet inspired her involvement in the fi lm “Th e Company,” which portrays a season with the Joff rey Ballet.

43 Spelling You learned to spell from repeated experience with words in both reading and writing. As you proofread, you can probably tell if a word doesn’t look quite right. In such cases, the solution is sim- ple: Look up the word in the dictionary. (See 43b.)

43a Become familiar with the major spelling rules.

i before e except after c

In general, use i before e except aft er c and except when sounded like ay, as in neighbor and weigh.

Correct

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42 Italics > Exercises: 42–2 and 42–3

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43a Spelling346

I BEFORE E relieve, believe, sieve, niece, fi erce, frieze E BEFORE I receive, deceive, sleigh, freight, eight EXCEPTIONS seize, either, weird, height, foreign, leisure

Suffi xes

Final silent -e Generally, drop a fi nal silent -e when adding a suf- fi x that begins with a vowel. Keep the fi nal -e if the suffi x begins with a consonant.

combine, combination achieve, achievement desire, desiring care, careful prude, prudish entire, entirety remove, removable gentle, gentleness

Words such as changeable, judgment, argument, and truly are exceptions.

Final -y When adding -s or -d to words ending in -y, ordinarily change -y to -ie when the -y is preceded by a consonant but not when it is preceded by a vowel.

comedy, comedies monkey, monkeys dry, dried play, played

With proper names ending in -y, however, do not change the -y to -ie even if it is preceded by a consonant: the Doughertys (the Dougherty family).

Final consonants If a fi nal consonant is preceded by a single vowel and the consonant ends a one-syllable word or a stressed syllable, double the consonant when adding a suffi x beginning with a vowel.

bet, betting occur, occurrence commit, committed

Plurals

-s or -es Add -s to form the plural of most nouns; add -es to sin- gular nouns ending in -s, -sh, -ch, and -x.

table, tables church, churches paper, papers dish, dishes

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34743bThe dictionary

Ordinarily add -s to nouns ending in -o when the -o is pre- ceded by a vowel. Add -es when it is preceded by a consonant.

radio, radios hero, heroes video, videos tomato, tomatoes

Other plurals To form the plural of a hyphenated compound word, add -s to the chief word even if it does not appear at the end.

mother-in-law, mothers-in-law

English words derived from other languages such as Latin, Greek, or French sometimes form the plural as they would in their original language.

medium, media chateau, chateaux criterion, criteria

Spelling varieties among English-speaking countries can cause confusion. Following is a list of some common words with diff erent American and British spellings. Consult a dictionary for others.

AMERICAN BRITISH

canceled, traveled cancelled, travelled color, humor colour, humour judgment judgement check cheque realize, apologize realise, apologise defense defence anemia, anesthetic anaemia, anaesthetic theater, center theatre, centre fetus foetus mold, smolder mould, smoulder civilization civilisation connection, infl ection connexion, infl exion licorice liquorice

M u lt ili

n gu

a l

43b Become familiar with your dictionary.

A good dictionary, whether print or online — such as Th e Random House College Dictionary or Merriam-Webster online — is an indispensable writer’s aid.

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43b Spelling348

A sample print dictionary entry, taken from Th e American Heritage Dictionary, appears at the bottom of this page.

A sample online dictionary entry, taken from Merriam- Webster online, appears on page 349.

Spelling, word division, pronunciation

Th e main entry (re•gard in the sample entries) shows the correct spelling of the word. When there are two correct spellings of a word (as in collectible, collectable, for example), both are given, with the preferred spelling usually appearing fi rst.

Meanings

Spelling

Word division

Part of speech label

Word endings (inflections)

Pronunciation Grammatical

label

Idioms

Synonyms

Usage note

Word origin (etymology)

Usage label

PRINT DICTIONARY ENTRY

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34943bThe dictionary

Th e dot between re and gard separates the two syllables and indicates where the word should be divided if it can’t fi t at the end of a line of type (see 44f ). When a word is compound, the main entry shows how to write it: as one word (crossroad ), as a hyphenated word (cross-stitch), or as two words (cross section).

Alternative entries Pronunciation

Part of speech label

Audio pronunciation link

Word origin (etymology)

Link for multilingual writers

Usage label

Idioms

Meanings (synonyms shown as hyperlinks)

ONLINE DICTIONARY ENTRY

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43b Spelling350

Th e word’s pronunciation is given just aft er the main entry. Th e accents indicate which syllables are stressed; the other marks are explained in the dictionary’s pronunciation key. Many online entries include an audio link to a voice pronouncing the word.

Word endings and grammatical labels

When a word takes endings to indicate grammatical functions (called infl ections), the endings are listed in boldface, as with -garded, -garding, and -gards in the sample print entry (p. 348).

Labels for the parts of speech and for other grammatical terms are sometimes abbreviated, as they are in the print entry. Th e most commonly used abbreviations are these:

n. noun adj. adjective pl. plural adv. adverb sing. singular pron. pronoun v. verb prep. preposition tr. transitive verb conj. conjunction intr. intransitive verb interj. interjection

Meanings, word origin, synonyms, and antonyms

Sometimes a word can be used as more than one part of speech (regard, for instance, can be used as either a verb or a noun). In such a case, all the meanings for one part of speech are given before all the meanings for another, as in the sample entries.

Th e origin of the word, called its etymology, appears in brackets aft er all the meanings in the print and online versions.

Synonyms, words similar in meaning to the main entry, are frequently listed. In the sample print entry, the dictionary draws distinctions in meaning among the various synonyms. In the online entry, synonyms appear as hyperlinks. Antonyms, which do not appear in the sample entries, are words having a meaning opposite from that of the main entry.

Usage

Usage labels indicate when, where, or under what conditions a particular meaning for a word is appropriately used. Common labels are informal (or colloquial ), slang, archaic, poetic, non- standard, dialect, obsolete, and British. In the sample print entry

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35143dCommonly misspelled words

(p. 348), two meanings of regard are labeled obsolete because they are no longer in use. Th e sample online entry (p. 349) has one meaning labeled archaic.

Dictionaries sometimes include usage notes as well. Advice in the notes is based on the opinions of many experts and on ac- tual usage in current publications.

43c Discriminate between words that sound alike but have different meanings.

Words that sound alike or nearly alike but have diff erent mean- ings and spellings are called homophones. Th e following sets of words are commonly confused. (See also the glossary of usage in the appendixes.)

aff ect (verb: to exert an infl uence) eff ect (verb: to accomplish; noun: result) its (possessive pronoun: of or belonging to it) it’s (contraction of it is or it has) loose (adjective: free, not securely attached) lose (verb: to fail to keep, to be deprived of ) principal (adjective: most important; noun: head of a school) principle (noun: a fundamental guideline or truth) their (possessive pronoun: belonging to them) they’re (contraction of they are) there (adverb: that place or position) who’s (contraction of who is or who has) whose (possessive form of who) your (possessive pronoun: belonging to you) you’re (contraction of you are)

43d Be alert to commonly misspelled words.

absence academic accidentally accommodate achievement acknowledge

acquaintance acquire address all right amateur analyze

answer apparently appearance arctic argument arithmetic

arrangement ascend athlete athletics attendance basically

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43d Spelling352

beautiful beginning believe benefi ted bureau business calendar candidate cemetery changeable column commitment committed committee competitive completely conceivable conscience conscientious conscious criticism criticize decision defi nitely descendant desperate dictionary diff erent disastrous eighth eligible embarrass emphasize entirely

environment especially exaggerated exercise exhaust existence extraordinary extremely familiar fascinate February foreign forty fourth friend government grammar guard harass height humorous incidentally incredible independence indispensable inevitable intelligence irrelevant irresistible knowledge library license lightning loneliness

maintenance maneuver marriage mathematics mischievous necessary noticeable occasion occurred occurrence pamphlet parallel particularly pastime permanent permissible perseverance phenomenon physically playwright practically precede preference preferred prejudice presence prevalent privilege proceed professor pronunciation publicly quiet quite

quizzes receive recognize referred restaurant rhythm roommate sandwich schedule seize separate sergeant siege similar sincerely sophomore strictly subtly succeed surprise thorough tomorrow tragedy transferred tries truly unnecessarily usually vacuum vengeance villain weird whether writing

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353Compound words

hyph

44a

EXERCISE 43–1 Th e following memo has been run through a spell checker. Proofread it carefully, editing the spelling and typographical errors that remain. More practice:

November 3, 2014 To: Patricia Wise From: Constance Mayhew Subject: Express Tours annual report Th ank you for agreeing to draft the annual report for Express Tours. Before you begin you’re work, let me outline the initial steps. First, its essential for you to include brief profi les of top management. Early next week, I’ll provide profi les for all manages accept Samuel Heath, who’s biographical information is being revised. You should edit these profi les carefully and than format them according to the enclosed instructions. We may ask you to include other employee’s profi les at some point. Second, you should arrange to get complete fi nancial information for fi scal year 2014 from our comptroller, Richard Chang. (Helen Boyes, to, can provide the necessary fi gures.) When you get this information, precede according tot he plans we discuss in yesterday’s meeting. By the way, you will notice from the fi gures that the sale of our Charterhouse division did not signifi cantly eff ect net profi ts. Th ird, you should e-mail a fi rst draft of the report by December 15. Of coarse, you should proofread you writing. I am quiet pleased that you can take on this project. If I can answers questions, don’t hesitate to call.

44 The hyphen In addition to the guidelines in this section, a dictionary will help you make decisions about hyphenation.

44a Consult the dictionary to determine how to treat a compound word.

Th e dictionary shows whether to treat a compound word as a hyphenated compound (water-repellent), one word (waterproof ),

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43 Spelling > Exercise: 43–2

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The hyphen354 44b

hyph

or two words (water table). If the compound word is not in the dictionary, treat it as two words.

▶ Th e prosecutor chose not to cross examine any witnesses.

▶ All students are expected to record their data in a small note book.

▶ Alice walked through the looking/-glass into a backward world.

44b Hyphenate two or more words used together as an adjective before a noun.

▶ Many teachers use Web delivered content in the classroom.

▶ Richa Gupta is not yet a well known candidate.

Web-delivered in the fi rst example and well-known in the second example are adjectives used before the nouns content and candidate.

Generally, do not use a hyphen when such compounds fol- low the noun.

▶ Aft er our television campaign, Richa Gupta will be well/- known.

Do not use a hyphen to connect -ly adverbs to the words they modify.

▶ A slowly/-moving truck tied up traffi c.

NOTE: When two or more hyphenated adjectives in a row modify the same noun, you can suspend the hyphens. Do you prefer fi rst-, second-, or third-class tickets?

44c Hyphenate fractions and certain numbers when they are spelled out.

For numbers written as words, use a hyphen in all fractions (two- thirds) and in all forms of compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine (thirty-fi ve, sixty-seventh).

▶ One fourth of my income goes to pay my child care expenses.

^ –

( )

^ –

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35544fWord division

hyph

44d Use a hyphen with the prefi xes all-, ex- (meaning “former”), and self- and with the suffi x -elect.

▶ Th e private foundation is funneling more money into

self help projects.

▶ Th e Student Senate bylaws require the president elect

to attend all senate meetings between the election and the

offi cial transfer of offi ce.

44e Use a hyphen to clarify certain words.

Without the hyphen, there would be no way to distinguish between words such as re-creation and recreation.

Bicycling in the city is my favorite form of recreation. Th e fi lm was praised for its astonishing re-creation of nineteenth- century London.

Hyphens are sometimes used to separate awkward double or triple letters in compound words (anti-intellectual, cross-stitch).

44f Check for correct word breaks when words must be divided at the end of a line.

Some word processing programs and other computer applica- tions automatically generate word breaks at the ends of lines. For academic writing, it’s best to disable automatic hyphenation. Th is setting will ensure that only words already containing a hyphen (such as long-distance, pre-Roman) will be hyphenated at the ends of lines.

E-mail addresses and URLs need special attention when they occur at the end of a line of text or in bibliographic citations. You can’t rely on your word processor to divide these terms correctly, so you must make a decision in each case. Do not insert a hyphen to divide electronic addresses. Instead, break an e-mail address

^ –

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Capitalization356

cap

aft er the @ symbol or before a period. It is common practice to break a URL before most punctuation marks. (For variations in MLA and APA styles, see 57a and 62a, respectively.)

I repeatedly e-mailed Janine at janine.r.rose@dunbaracademy .org before I gave up and called her cell phone. To avoid standing in line, I now order stamps online at http://www .usps.com.

EXERCISE 44–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in hyphenation. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Émile Zola’s fi rst readers were scandalized by his slice of life novels.

a. Gold is the seventy-ninth element in the periodic table. b. Th e swift ly-moving tugboat pulled alongside the barge and

directed it away from the oil spill in the harbor. c. Th e Moche were a pre-Columbian people who established a

sophisticated culture in ancient Peru. d. Your dog is well-known in our neighborhood. e. Road-blocks were set up along all the major highways leading out

of the city.

45 Capitalization In addition to the rules in this section, a good dictionary can tell you when to use capital letters.

45a Capitalize proper nouns and words derived from them; do not capitalize common nouns.

Proper nouns are the names of specifi c persons, places, and things. All other nouns are common nouns. Th e following types of words are usually capitalized: names of deities, religions,

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35745aProper vs. common nouns

cap

religious followers, sacred books; words of family relation- ship used as names; particular places; nationalities and their languages, races, tribes; educational institutions, departments, degrees, particular courses; government departments, organi- zations, political parties; historical movements, periods, events, documents; and trade names.

PROPER NOUNS COMMON NOUNS

God (used as a name) a god Book of Common Prayer a sacred book Uncle Pedro my uncle Father (used as a name) my father Lake Superior a picturesque lake the Capital Center a center for advanced studies the South a southern state Wrigley Field a baseball stadium University of Wisconsin a state university Geology 101 geology Environmental Protection Agency

a federal agency

the Democratic Party a political party the Enlightenment the eighteenth century the Treaty of Versailles a treaty Advil a painkiller

Months, holidays, and days of the week are treated as proper nouns; the seasons and numbers of the days of the month are not.

Our academic year begins on a Tuesday in early September, right aft er Labor Day. Graduation is in late spring, on the second of June.

EXCEPTION: Capitalize Fourth of July (or July Fourth) when refer- ring to the holiday.

Names of school subjects are capitalized only if they are names of languages. Names of particular courses are capitalized.

Th is semester Lee is taking math, geography, geology, French, and English. Professor Obembe off ers Modern American Fiction 501 to undergraduate students.

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Capitalization358 45b

cap

Th e terms Web and Internet are typically capitalized, but re- lated common nouns are not: home page, operating system. Usage varies widely, however, so check with your instructor about whether you should follow the guidelines for MLA or APA style (57a or 62a, respectively).

CAUTION: Do not capitalize common nouns to make them seem important.

45b Capitalize titles of persons when used as part of a proper name but usually not when used alone.

Professor Margaret Barnes; Dr. Sinyee Sein; John Scott Williams Jr. District Attorney Marshall was reprimanded for badgering the witness. Th e district attorney was elected for a two-year term.

Usage varies when the title of an important public fi gure is used alone: Th e president [or President] vetoed the bill.

45c Capitalize the fi rst, last, and all major words in titles and subtitles of works such as books, articles, songs, and online documents.

In both titles and subtitles of works mentioned in the text of a paper, major words such as nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs should be capitalized. Minor words such as articles, prepositions, and coordinating conjunctions are not capitalized unless they are the fi rst or last word of a title or subtitle.

Capitalize the second part of a hyphenated term in a title if it is a major word but not if it is a minor word. Capitalize chapter titles and the titles of other major divisions of a work following the same guidelines used for titles of complete works.

Seizing the Enigma: Th e Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes A River Runs through It “I Want to Hold Your Hand” Th e Canadian Green Page

To see why some of the titles in the list are italicized and some are put in quotation marks, see 42a and 37c.

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35945fFirst word after a colon

cap

Titles of works are handled diff erently in the APA reference list. See “Preparing the list of references” in 62a.

45d Capitalize the fi rst word of a sentence.

Th e fi rst word of a sentence should be capitalized. When a sen- tence appears within parentheses, capitalize its fi rst word unless the parentheses appear within another sentence.

Early detection of breast cancer signifi cantly increases survival rates. (See table 2.) Early detection of breast cancer signifi cantly increases survival rates (see table 2).

45e Capitalize the fi rst word of a quoted sentence but not a quoted word or phrase.

Loveless writes, “If failing schools are ever to be turned around, much more must be learned about how schools age as institutions” (25). Russell Baker has written that in this country, sports are “the opiate of the masses” (46).

If a quoted sentence is interrupted by explanatory words, do not capitalize the fi rst word aft er the interruption. (See 37e.)

“If you want to go out,” he said, “tell me now.”

When quoting poetry, copy the poet’s capitalization exactly. Many poets capitalize the fi rst word of every line of poetry; a few contemporary poets dismiss capitalization altogether.

it was the week that i felt the city’s narrow breezes rush about me — Don L. Lee

45f Capitalize the fi rst word after a colon if it begins an independent clause.

If a group of words following a colon could stand on its own as a complete sentence, capitalize the fi rst word (see p. 360).

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45f Capitalization360

cap

Clinical trials called into question the safety profi le of the drug: A high percentage of participants reported hypertension and kidney problems.

Preferences vary among academic disciplines. See 57a and 62a.

Always use lowercase for a list or an appositive that follows a colon (see 35a).

Students were divided into two groups: residents and commuters.

EXERCISE 45–1 Edit the following sentences to correct errors in capi- talization. If a sentence is correct, write “correct” aft er it. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

On our trip to the West, we visited the / grand /canyon and the

/ great /salt /desert.

a. Assistant dean Shirin Ahmadi recommended off ering more world language courses.

b. We went to the Mark Taper Forum to see a production of Angels in America.

c. Kalindi has an ambitious semester, studying diff erential calculus, classical hebrew, brochure design, and greek literature.

d. Lydia’s Aunt and Uncle make modular houses as beautiful as modernist works of art.

e. We amused ourselves on the long fl ight by discussing how Spring in Kyoto stacks up against Summer in London.

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Grammar Basics

46 Parts of speech, 362

47 Sentence patterns, 375

48 Subordinate word groups, 383

49 Sentence types, 392

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46 Parts of speech Traditional grammar recognizes eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and interjection. Many words can function as more than one part of speech. For example, depending on its use in a sentence, the word paint can be a noun (Th e paint is wet) or a verb (Please paint the ceiling next).

46a Nouns

A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or concept.

Th e lion in the cage growled at the zookeeper.

Nouns sometimes function as adjectives modifying other nouns. Because of their dual roles, nouns used in this manner may be called noun/adjectives.

Th e leather notebook was tucked in the student’s backpack.

Nouns are classifi ed in a variety of ways. Proper nouns are capitalized, but common nouns are not (see 45a). For clarity, writ- ers choose between concrete and abstract nouns (see 18b). Th e distinction between count nouns and noncount nouns can be especially helpful to multilingual writers (see 29a). Most nouns have singular and plural forms; collective nouns may be either singular or plural, depending on how they are used (see 21f and 22b). Possessive nouns require an apostrophe (see 36a).

EXERCISE 46–1 Underline the nouns (and noun/adjectives) in the fol- lowing sentences. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th e best part of dinner was the chef ’s newest dessert.

N N N

N/ADJ N/ADJ

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Pronouns 363

basic

46b

a. Th e stage was set for a confrontation of biblical proportions. b. Th e courage of the mountain climber was an inspiration to the

rescuers. c. Th e need to arrive before the guest of honor motivated us to navi-

gate the thick fog. d. Th e defense attorney made a fi nal appeal to the jury. e. A national museum dedicated to women artists opened in 1987.

46b Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Usually the pro- noun substitutes for a specifi c noun, known as its antecedent.

When the battery wears down, we recharge it.

Although most pronouns function as substitutes for nouns, some can function as adjectives modifying nouns. Such pro- nouns may be called pronoun/adjectives.

Th at bird was at the same window yesterday morning.

Pronouns are classifi ed as personal, possessive, intensive and refl exive, relative, interrogative, demonstrative, indefi nite, and reciprocal.

Personal pronouns Personal pronouns refer to specifi c persons or things. Th ey always function as subsitutes for nouns.

Singular: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it Plural: we, us, you, they, them

Possessive pronouns Possessive pronouns indicate ownership.

Singular: my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, its Plural: our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs

Some of these possessive pronouns function as adjectives modi- fying nouns: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

Intensive and refl exive pronouns Intensive pronouns emphasize a noun or another pronoun (Th e senator herself met us at the door). Refl exive pronouns name a receiver of an action identical with the doer of the action (Paula cut herself ).

ANT PN

PN/ADJ

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46b Parts of speech364

Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Relative pronouns Relative pronouns introduce subordinate clauses functioning as adjectives (Th e writer who won the award refused to accept it). Th e relative pronoun, in this case who, also points back to a noun or pronoun that the clause modifi es (writer). (See 48e.)

who, whom, whose, which, that

Th e pronouns whichever, whoever, whomever, what, and whatever are sometimes considered relative pronouns. Th ese words intro- duce noun clauses, however; they do not point back to a noun or pronoun. (See “Noun clauses” in 48e.)

Interrogative pronouns Interrogative pronouns introduce ques- tions (Who is expected to win the election?).

who, whom, whose, which, what

Demonstrative pronouns Demonstrative pronouns identify or point to nouns. Frequently they function as adjectives (Th is chair is my favorite), but they may also function as substitutes for nouns (Th is is my favorite chair).

this, that, these, those

Indefi nite pronouns Indefi nite pronouns refer to nonspecifi c per- sons or things. Most are always singular (everyone, each); some are always plural (both, many); a few may be singular or plural (see 21e). Most indefi nite pronouns function as substitutes for nouns (Something is burning), but some can also function as adjectives (All campers must check in at the lodge).

all anything everyone nobody several another both everything none some any each few no one somebody anybody either many nothing someone anyone everybody neither one something

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Verbs 365

basic

46c

Reciprocal pronouns Reciprocal pronouns refer to individual parts of a plural antecedent (By turns, the penguins fed one another).

each other, one another

NOTE: See also pronoun-antecedent agreement (22), pronoun reference (23), distinguishing between pronouns such as I and me (24), and distinguishing between who and whom (25).

EXERCISE 46–5 Underline the pronouns (and pronoun/adjectives) in the following sentences. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

We were intrigued by the video that the fi ft h graders

produced as their fi nal project.

a. Th e governor’s loyalty was his most appealing trait. b. In the fall, the geese that fl y south for the winter pass through our

town in huge numbers. c. As Carl Sandburg once said, even he himself did not understand

some of his poetry. d. I appealed my parking ticket, but you did not get one. e. Angela did not mind gossip as long as no one gossiped about her.

46c Verbs

Th e verb of a sentence usually expresses action ( jump, think) or being (is, become). It is composed of a main verb possibly pre- ceded by one or more helping verbs.

Th e horses exercise every day.

Th e task force report was not completed on schedule.

No one has been defended with more passion than our mayor.

HV MV

HV HV MV

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46c Parts of speech366

Notice that words, usually adverbs, can intervene between the helping verb and the main verb (was not completed). (See 46e.)

Helping verbs

Th ere are twenty-three helping verbs in English: forms of have, do, and be, which may also function as main verbs; and nine modals, which function only as helping verbs. Have, do, and be change form to indicate tense; the nine modals do not.

FORMS OF HAVE, DO, AND BE

have, has, had do, does, did be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been

MODALS

can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would

Th e verb phrase ought to is oft en classifi ed as a modal as well.

Main verbs

Th e main verb of a sentence is always the kind of word that would change form if put into these test sentences:

BASE FORM Usually I (walk, ride). PAST TENSE Yesterday I (walked, rode). PAST PARTICIPLE I have (walked, ridden) many times

before. PRESENT PARTICIPLE I am (walking, riding) right now. -S FORM Usually he/she/it (walks, rides).

If a word doesn’t change form when slipped into the test sen- tences, you can be certain that it is not a main verb. For example, the noun revolution, though it may seem to suggest an action, can never function as a main verb. Just try to make it behave like one (Today I revolution . . . Yesterday I revolutioned . . .) and you’ll see why.

When both the past-tense and the past-participle forms of a verb end in -ed, the verb is regular (walked, walked). Otherwise, the verb is irregular (rode, ridden). (See 27a.)

Th e verb be is highly irregular, having eight forms instead of the usual fi ve: the base form be; the present-tense forms am, is, and are; the past-tense forms was and were; the present participle

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Adjectives 367

basic

46d

being; and the past participle been. Helping verbs combine with main verbs to create tenses. For a survey of tenses, see 28a.

NOTE: Some verbs are followed by particles, words that look like prepositions but that are actually part of the verbs. Common verb-particle combinations include bring up, call off , drop off , give in, look up, run into, and take off .

Sharon packed up her broken laptop and sent it off to the repair shop.

TIP: For more information about using verbs, see these sections: active verbs (8), subject-verb agreement (21), Standard English verb forms (27), verb tense and mood (27f and 27g), and multilingual/ESL challenges with verbs (28).

EXERCISE 46–9 Underline the verbs in the following sentences, in- cluding helping verbs and particles. If a verb is part of a contraction (such as is in isn’t or would in I’d), underline only the letters that repre- sent the verb. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Th e ground under the pine trees wasn’t wet from the rain.

a. My grandmother always told me a soothing story before bed. b. Th ere were fi ft y apples on the tree before the frost killed them. c. Morton brought down the box of letters from the attic. d. Stay on the main road and you’ll arrive at the base camp before us. e. Th e fi sh struggled vigorously but was trapped in the net.

46d Adjectives

An adjective is a word used to modify, or describe, a noun or pronoun. An adjective usually answers one of these questions: Which one? What kind of ? How many?

the frisky horse [Which horse?]

cracked old plates [What kind of plates?]

ADJ

ADJ ADJ

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46e Parts of speech368

nine months [How many months?]

qualifi ed applicants [What kind of applicants?]

Adjectives usually precede the words they modify. Th ey may also follow linking verbs, in which case they describe the subject. (See 47b.)

Th e decision was unpopular.

Th e defi nite article the and the indefi nite articles a and an are also classifi ed as adjectives.

A defendant should be judged on the evidence provided to the jury, not on hearsay.

Some possessive, demonstrative, and indefi nite pronouns can function as adjectives: their, its, this, all (see 46b). And nouns can function as adjectives when they modify other nouns: apple pie (the noun apple modifi es the noun pie; see 46a).

TIP: You can fi nd more details about using adjectives in 26. If you are a multilingual writer, you may fi nd help with articles and spe- cifi c uses of adjectives in 29, 30g, and 30h.

46e Adverbs

An adverb is a word used to modify, or qualify, a verb (or verbal), an adjective, or another adverb. It usually answers one of these questions: When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? To what degree?

Pull fi rmly on the emergency handle. [Pull how?] Read the text fi rst and then complete the exercises. [Read when? Complete when?]

Adverbs modifying adjectives or other adverbs usually in- tensify or limit the intensity of the word they modify.

Be extremely kind, and you will have many friends.

We proceeded very cautiously in the dark house.

Th e words not and never are classifi ed as adverbs.

ADJ

ART ART ART

ADV

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Prepositions 369

basic

46f

A word such as cannot contains the helping verb can and the adverb not. Th e word can’t contains the helping verb can and a contracted form of not (see 36c).

TIP: You can fi nd more details about using adverbs in 26b–26d. Multilingual writers can fi nd more about the placement of ad- verbs in 30f.

EXERCISE 46–13 Underline the adjectives and circle the adverbs in the following sentences. If a word is a noun or pronoun functioning as an adjective, underline it and mark it as a noun/adjective or pronoun/ adjective. Also treat the articles a, an, and the as adjectives. Answers ap- pear in the back of the book. More practice:

Finding an available room during the convention

was not easy.

a. Generalizations lead to weak, unfocused essays. b. Th e Spanish language is wonderfully fl exible. c. Th e wildfl owers smelled especially fragrant aft er the steady rain. d. I’d rather be slightly hot than bitterly cold. e. Th e cat slept soundly in its wicker basket.

46f Prepositions

A preposition is a word placed before a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that modifi es another word in the sentence. Th e prepo- sitional phrase nearly always functions as an adjective or as an adverb.

Th e road to the summit travels past craters from an extinct volcano.

To the summit functions as an adjective modifying the noun road; past craters functions as an adverb modifying the verb travels;

P P P

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46g Parts of speech370

from an extinct volcano functions as an adjective modifying the noun craters. (For more on prepositional phrases, see 48a.)

English has a limited number of prepositions. Th e most common are included in the following list.

about beside from outside toward above besides in over under across between inside past underneath aft er beyond into plus unlike against but like regarding until along by near respecting unto among concerning next round up around considering of since upon as despite off than with at down on through within before during onto throughout without behind except opposite till below for out to

Some prepositions are more than one word long. Along with, as well as, in addition to, next to, and rather than are common examples.

TIP: Prepositions are used in idioms such as capable of and dig up (see 18d). For specifi c issues for multilingual writers, see 31.

46g Conjunctions

Conjunctions join words, phrases, or clauses, and they indicate the relation between the elements joined.

Coordinating conjunctions A coordinating conjunction is used to connect grammatically equal elements. (See 9b and 14a.) Th e coordinating conjunctions are and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.

Th e sociologist interviewed children but not their parents. Write clearly, and your readers will appreciate your eff orts.

In the fi rst sentence, but connects two noun phrases; in the sec- ond, and connects two independent clauses.

Correlative conjunctions Correlative conjunctions come in pairs; they connect grammatically equal elements.

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Interjections 371

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46h

either . . . or whether . . . or neither . . . nor both . . . and not only . . . but also

Either the painting was brilliant or it was a forgery.

Subordinating conjunctions A subordinating conjunction intro- duces a subordinate clause and indicates the relation of the clause to the rest of the sentence. (See 48e.) Th e most common subordi- nating conjunctions are aft er, although, as, as if, because, before, if, in order that, once, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, and while. (For a complete list, see p. 390.)

When the fundraiser ends, we will have raised a million dollars.

Conjunctive adverbs Conjunctive adverbs connect independent clauses and indicate the relation between the clauses. Th ey can be used with a semicolon to join two independent clauses in one sentence, or they can be used alone with an independent clause. Th e most common conjunctive adverbs are fi nally, furthermore, however, moreover, nevertheless, similarly, then, therefore, and thus. (For a complete list, see p. 374.)

Th e photographer failed to take a light reading; therefore, all the pictures were underexposed. During the day, the kitten sleeps peacefully. However, when night falls, the kitten is wide awake and ready to play. Conjunctive adverbs can appear at the beginning or in the

middle of a clause.

When night falls, however, the kitten is wide awake and ready to play.

TIP: Recognizing conjunctive adverbs and coordinating conjunc- tions will help you avoid run-on sentences and make punctua- tion decisions (see 20, 32a, and 32f ). Recognizing subordinating conjunctions will help you avoid sentence fragments (see 19).

46h Interjections

An interjection is a word used to express surprise or emotion (Oh! Hey! Wow!).

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46h372 Parts of speech

Parts of speech

● A noun names a person, place, thing, or concept.

Repetition does not transform a lie into truth.

● A pronoun substitutes for a noun.

Before the attendant let us board the small plane, he weighed us

and our baggage.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS: my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, its, our, ours, their, theirs INTENSIVE AND REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves RELATIVE PRONOUNS: that, which, who, whom, whose INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS: who, whom, whose, which, what DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS: this, that, these, those

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

all each many one another either neither several any everybody nobody some anybody everyone none somebody anyone everything no one someone anything few nothing something both

RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS: each other, one another ● A helping verb comes before a main verb.

MODALS: can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would (also ought to) FORMS OF BE: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been FORMS OF HAVE: have, has, had FORMS OF DO: do, does, did

N N N

PN PN PN

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46hParts of speech

(Th e forms of be, have, and do may also function as main verbs.)

● A main verb shows action or a state of being.

Th e novel opens with a tense description of a grim murder, but

the author does not maintain the initial level of suspense.

A main verb will always change form when put into these positions in sentences:

Usually I . (walk, ride) Yesterday I . (walked, rode) I have many times before. I am right now. Usually he .

(walked, ridden) (walking, riding) (walks, rides)

Th e highly irregular verb be has eight forms: be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been.

● An adjective modifi es a noun or pronoun, usually answering one of these questions: Which one? What kind of ? How many? Th e articles a, an, and the are also adjectives.

Our family’s strong ties gave us welcome comfort in our grief.

● An adverb modifi es a verb, an adjective, or an adverb, usually answering one of these questions: When? Where? Why? How? Under what conditions? To what degree?

Young people oft en approach history skeptically.

● A preposition indicates the relationship between the noun or pronoun that follows it and another word in the sentence.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

HV MV

PN/ADJ N/ADJ ADJ ADJ PN/ADJ

ADV ADV

P P

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46h374 Parts of speech

Parts of speech, continued

COMMON PREPOSITIONS

about besides like since above between near than across beyond next through aft er but next to throughout against by of till along concerning off to along with considering on toward among despite onto under around down opposite underneath as during out unlike as well as except outside until at for over unto because of from past up before in plus upon behind in addition to rather than with below inside regarding within beside into respecting without

● A conjunction connects words or word groups.

COORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: aft er, although, as, as if, because, before, even though, if, in order that, once, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, while CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS: either . . . or; neither . . . nor; not only . . . but also; both . . . and; whether . . . or CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS: accordingly, also, anyway, besides, certainly, consequently, conversely, fi nally, furthermore, hence, however, incidentally, indeed, instead, likewise, meanwhile, moreover, nevertheless, next, nonetheless, now, otherwise, similarly, specifi cally, still, subsequently, then, therefore, thus

● An interjection expresses surprise or emotion (Oh! Wow! Hooray! ).

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47 Sentence patterns Th e vast majority of sentences in English conform to one of these fi ve patterns:

subject/verb/subject complement subject/verb/direct object subject/verb/indirect object/direct object subject/verb/direct object/object complement subject/verb

Adverbial modifi ers (single words, phrases, or clauses) may be added to any of these patterns, and they may appear nearly anywhere — at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end.

Predicate is the grammatical term given to the verb plus its objects, complements, and adverbial modifi ers.

For a quick-reference chart of sentence patterns, see page 380.

47a Subjects

Th e subject of a sentence names whom or what the sentence is about. Th e simple subject is always a noun or pronoun; the com- plete subject consists of the simple subject and any words or word groups modifying the simple subject.

The complete subject

To fi nd the complete subject, ask Who? or What?, insert the verb, and fi nish the question. Th e answer is the complete subject.

Th e devastating eff ects of famine can last for many years.

Who or what can last for many years? Th e devastating eff ects of famine.

Adventure novels that contain multiple subplots are oft en made into successful movies.

COMPLETE SUBJECT

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Who or what are oft en made into movies? Adventure novels that contain multiple subplots.

In our program, student teachers work full-time for ten months.

Who or what works full-time for ten months? Student teach- ers. Notice that In our program, student teachers is not a sensible answer to the question. (It is not safe to assume that the subject must always appear fi rst in a sentence.)

The simple subject

To fi nd the simple subject, strip away all modifi ers in the com- plete subject. Th is includes single-word modifi ers such as the and devastating, phrases such as of famine, and subordinate clauses such as that contain multiple subplots.

Th e devastating eff ects of famine can last for many years.

Adventure novels that contain multiple subplots are oft en made into successful movies.

A sentence may have a compound subject containing two or more simple subjects joined with a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or or.

Great commitment and a little luck make a successful actor.

Understood subjects

In imperative sentences, which give advice or issue commands, the subject is understood but not actually present in the sentence. Th e subject of an imperative sentence is understood to be you.

[You] Put your hands on the steering wheel.

Subject after the verb

Although the subject ordinarily comes before the verb (Th e planes took off ), occasionally it does not. When a sentence begins with Th ere is or Th ere are (or Th ere was or Th ere were), the subject

COMPLETE SUBJECT

SS SS

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follows the verb. In such inverted constructions, the word Th ere is an expletive, an empty word serving merely to get the sentence started.

Th ere are eight planes waiting to take off .

Occasionally a writer will invert a sentence for eff ect.

Joyful is the child whose school closes for snow.

Joyful is an adjective, so it cannot be the subject. Turn this sen- tence around and its structure becomes obvious.

Th e child whose school closes for snow is joyful.

In questions, the subject frequently appears between the helping verb and the main verb.

Do Kenyan marathoners train year-round?

TIP: Th e ability to recognize the subject of a sentence will help you edit for fragments (19), subject-verb agreement (21), pro- nouns such as I and me (24), missing subjects (30b), and repeated subjects (30c).

EXERCISE 47–1 In the following sentences, underline the complete subject and write SS above the simple subject(s). If the subject is an un- derstood you, insert you in parentheses. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Parents and their children oft en look alike.

a. Th e hills and mountains seemed endless, and the snow atop them glistened.

b. In foil fencing, points are scored by hitting an electronic target. c. Do not stand in the aisles or sit on the stairs. d. Th ere were hundreds of fi refl ies in the open fi eld. e. Th e evidence against the defendant was staggering.

HV SS MV

SS SS

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47b Sentence patterns378

47b Verbs, objects, and complements

Section 46c explains how to fi nd the verb of a sentence. A sen- tence’s verb is classifi ed as linking, transitive, or intransitive, de- pending on the kinds of objects or complements the verb can (or cannot) take.

Linking verbs and subject complements

Linking verbs connect the subject to a subject complement, a word or word group that completes the meaning of the subject by renaming or describing it.

If the subject complement renames the subject, it is a noun or noun equivalent (sometimes called a predicate noun).

An e-mail requesting personal information may be a scam.

If the subject complement describes the subject, it is an adjective or adjective equivalent (sometimes called a predicate adjective).

Last month’s temperatures were mild.

Whenever they appear as main verbs (rather than help- ing verbs), the forms of be — be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been — usually function as linking verbs. In the preceding exam- ples, for instance, the main verbs are be and were.

Verbs such as appear, become, feel, grow, look, make, seem, smell, sound, and taste are linking when they are followed by a word or word group that renames or describes the subject.

As it thickens, the sauce will look unappealing.

Transitive verbs and direct objects

A transitive verb takes a direct object, a word or word group that names a receiver of the action.

Th e hungry cat clawed the bag of dry food.

Th e simple direct object is always a noun or pronoun, in this case bag. To fi nd it, simply strip away all modifi ers.

S V SC

S V DO

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47bVerbs, objects, complements

Transitive verbs usually appear in the active voice, with the subject doing the action and a direct object receiving the action. Active-voice sentences can be transformed into the passive voice, with the subject receiving the action instead. (See 47c.)

Transitive verbs, indirect objects, and

direct objects

Th e direct object of a transitive verb is sometimes preceded by an indirect object, a noun or pronoun telling to whom or for whom the action of the sentence is done.

You give her some yarn, and she will knit you a scarf.

Th e simple indirect object is always a noun or pronoun. To test for an indirect object, insert the word to or for before the word or word group in question. If the sentence makes sense, the word or word group is an indirect object.

You give [to] her some yarn, and she will knit [for] you a scarf.

An indirect object may be turned into a prepositional phrase using to or for: You give some yarn to her, and she will knit a scarf for you.

Only certain transitive verbs take indirect objects. Some ex- amples are ask, bring, fi nd, get, give, hand, lend, make, off er, pay, promise, read, send, show, teach, tell, throw, and write.

Transitive verbs, direct objects, and

object complements

Th e direct object of a transitive verb is sometimes followed by an object complement, a word or word group that renames or describes the object.

People oft en consider chivalry a thing of the past.

Th e kiln makes clay fi rm and strong.

When the object complement renames the direct object, it is a noun or pronoun (such as thing). When it describes the direct object, it is an adjective (such as fi rm and strong).

S V IO DO S V IO DO

S V DO OC

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Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs take no objects or complements.

Th e audience laughed.

Th e driver accelerated in the straightaway.

Nothing receives the actions of laughing and accelerating in these sentences, so the verbs are intransitive. Notice that such verbs may or may not be followed by adverbial modifi ers. In the second sentence, in the straightaway is an adverbial prepo- sitional phrase modifying accelerated.

S V

Sentence patterns

Subject / linking verb / subject complement

Acting is art. [Art renames Acting.]

Good researchers are curious. [Curious describes researchers.]

Subject / transitive verb / direct object

An antihistamine may prevent an allergic reaction.

Subject / transitive verb / indirect object / direct object

Th e elevator’s rapid ascent gave Irina an attack of vertigo.

Subject / transitive verb / direct object / object complement

Th e reviewer called the fi lm a masterpiece. [Masterpiece renames fi lm.]

Th e new double-glazed windows made the house warmer. [Warmer describes house.]

Subject / intransitive verb

Th e kettle whistles.

S V SC

S V DO

S V IO DO

S V DO OC

S V

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47bVerbs, objects, complements

NOTE: Th e dictionary will tell you whether a verb is transitive or intransitive. Some verbs have both transitive and intransitive functions.

TRANSITIVE Sandra fl ew her small plane over the canyon. INTRANSITIVE A fl ock of migrating geese fl ew overhead.

In the fi rst example, fl ew has a direct object that receives the action: her small plane. In the second example, the verb is fol- lowed by an adverb (overhead), not by a direct object.

EXERCISE 47–5 Label the subject complements and direct objects in the following sentences, using the labels SC and DO. If a subject comple- ment or direct object consists of more than one word, bracket and label all of it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

Th e sharp right turn confused most drivers.

a. Textbooks are expensive. b. Samurai warriors never fear death. c. Successful coaches always praise their players’ eff orts. d. St. Petersburg was the capital of the Russian Empire for two centuries. e. Th e medicine tasted bitter.

EXERCISE 47–6 Each of the following sentences has either an indirect object followed by a direct object or a direct object followed by an object complement. Label the objects and complements, using the labels IO, DO, and OC. If an object or a complement consists of more than one word, bracket and label all of it. Answers appear in the back of the book.

More practice:

Most people consider their own experience normal.

a. Stress can make adults and children weary. b. Th e dining hall off ered students healthy meal choices. c. Consider the work fi nished. d. We showed the agent our tickets, and she gave us boarding

passes. e. Zita has made community service her priority this year.

DO OC

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47c Sentence patterns382

47c Pattern variations

Although most sentences follow one of the fi ve patterns in the chart on page 380, variations of these patterns commonly occur in questions, commands, sentences with delayed subjects, and passive transformations.

Questions and commands

Questions are sometimes patterned in normal word order, with the subject preceding the verb.

Who will have the most hits this season?

Sometimes the pattern of a question is inverted, with the subject appearing between the helping verb and the main verb or aft er the verb.

Will he have the most hits this season?

Why is the number of hits an important statistic?

In commands, the subject of the sentence is an understood you.

[You] Pay attention to the road.

Sentences with delayed subjects

Writers sometimes choose to delay the subject of a sentence to achieve a special eff ect such as suspense or humor.

Behind the phony tinsel of Hollywood lies the real tinsel.

Th e subject of the sentence is also delayed in sentences open- ing with the expletive Th ere or It. When used as expletives, the words Th ere and It have no strict grammatical function; they serve merely to get the sentence started.

Th ere are thirty thousand spectators in the stadium.

It is best to avoid trans fats.

Th e subject in the second example is an infi nitive phrase. (See 48b.)

S V

HV S MV

V S

S V

V S

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48Subordinate word groups

Passive transformations

Transitive verbs, those that can take direct objects, usually appear in the active voice. In the active voice, the subject does the action, and a direct object receives the action.

ACTIVE Th e fi reworks display dazzled the viewers on the

Esplanade.

Sentences in the active voice may be transformed into the passive voice, with the subject receiving the action instead.

PASSIVE Th e viewers on the Esplanade were dazzled by the fi reworks display.

What was once the direct object (the viewers on the Esplanade) has become the subject in the passive-voice transformation, and the original subject appears in a prepositional phrase beginning with by. Th e by phrase is frequently omitted in passive- voice constructions.

PASSIVE Th e viewers on the Esplanade were dazzled.

Verbs in the passive voice can be identifi ed by their form alone. Th e main verb is always a past participle, such as dazzled (see 46c), preceded by a form of be (be, am, is, are, was, were, being, been): were dazzled. Sometimes adverbs intervene (were usually dazzled).

TIP: Avoid using the passive voice when the active voice would be more appropriate (see 8a).

48 Subordinate word groups Subordinate word groups include phrases and clauses. Phrases are subordinate because they lack a subject and a verb; they are classifi ed as prepositional, verbal, appositive, and absolute (see 48a–48d). Subordinate clauses have a subject and a verb, but they begin with a word (such as although, that, or when) that marks them as subordinate (see 48e).

S V DO

S HV MV

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48a Prepositional phrases

A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition such as at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, or with (see 46f ) and usually ends with a noun or noun equivalent: on the table, for him, by sleeping late. Th e noun or noun equivalent is known as the object of the preposition.

Prepositional phrases function either as adjectives or as ad- verbs. When functioning as an adjective, a prepositional phrase nearly always appears immediately following the noun or pro- noun it modifi es.

Th e hut had walls of mud.

Adjective phrases usually answer one or both of the ques- tions Which one? and What kind of ? If we ask Which walls? or What kind of walls? we get a sensible answer: walls of mud.

Adverbial prepositional phrases usually modify the verb, but they can also modify adjectives or other adverbs. When a prepo- sitional phrase modifi es the verb, it can appear nearly anywhere in a sentence.

James walked his dog on a leash.

Sabrina in time adjusted to life in Ecuador.

During a mudslide, the terrain can change drastically.

If a prepositional phrase is movable, you can be certain that it is adverbial.

In the cave, the explorers found well-preserved prehistoric drawings. Th e explorers found well-preserved prehistoric drawings in the cave.

Adverbial word groups usually answer one of these ques- tions: When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? To what degree?

James walked his dog how? On a leash. Sabrina adjusted to life in Ecuador when? In time. Th e terrain can change drastically under what conditions? During a mudslide.

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48b

In questions and subordinate clauses, a preposition may appear aft er its object.

What are you afraid of ? We avoided the bike trail that John had warned us about.

EXERCISE 48–1 Underline the prepositional phrases in the follow- ing sentences. Tell whether each one is an adjective phrase or an adverb phrase and what it modifi es in the sentence. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Flecks of mica glittered in the new granite fl oor.

a. In northern Italy, we met many people who speak German as their fi rst language.

b. William completed the three-mile hike through the thick forest with ease.

c. To my boss’s dismay, I was late for work again. d. Th e traveling exhibit of Mayan artifacts gave viewers new insight

into pre-Columbian culture. e. In 2002, the euro became the offi cial currency in twelve European

countries.

48b Verbal phrases

A verbal is a verb form that does not function as the verb of a clause. Verbals include infi nitives (the word to plus the base form of the verb), present participles (the -ing form of the verb), and past participles (the verb form usually ending in -d, -ed, -n, -en, or -t). (See 27a and 46c.)

INFINITIVE

PRESENT

PARTICIPLE

PAST

PARTICIPLE

to dream dreaming dreamed to choose choosing chosen to build building built to grow growing grown

(Adjective phrase

modifying “Flecks”; adverb phrase modifying “glitt ered”)

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Instead of functioning as the verb of a clause, a verbal func- tions as an adjective, a noun, or an adverb.

ADJECTIVE Broken promises cannot be fi xed. NOUN Constant complaining becomes wearisome. ADVERB Can you wait to celebrate?

Verbals with objects, complements, or modifi ers form verbal phrases.

In my family, singing loudly is more appreciated than singing well.

Governments exist to protect the rights of minorities.

Like verbals, verbal phrases function as adjectives, nouns, or adverbs. Verbal phrases are ordinarily classifi ed as participial, gerund, and infi nitive.

Participial phrases

Participial phrases always function as adjectives. Th eir verbals are either present participles (such as dreaming, asking) or past participles (such as stolen, reached).

Participial phrases frequently appear immediately following the noun or pronoun they modify.

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech

or of the press.

Participial phrases are oft en movable. Th ey can precede the word they modify.

Being a weight-bearing joint, the knee is among the most frequently injured.

Th ey may also appear at some distance from the word they modify.

Last night we saw a play that aff ected us deeply, written with

profound insight into the lives of immigrants.

Gerund phrases

Gerund phrases are built around present participles (verb forms that end in -ing), and they always function as nouns: usually as

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subjects, subject complements, direct objects, or objects of a preposition.

Rationalizing a fear can eliminate it.

Th e key to a good sauce is browning the mushrooms.

Lizards usually enjoy sunning themselves.

Th e American Heart Association has documented the benefi ts of

diet and exercise in reducing the risk of heart attack.

Infi nitive phrases

Infi nitive phrases, usually constructed around to plus the base form of the verb (to call, to drink), can function as nouns, as adjectives, or as adverbs. When functioning as a noun, an infi ni- tive phrase may appear in almost any noun slot in a sentence, usually as a subject, subject complement, or direct object.

To live without health insurance is risky.

Infi nitive phrases functioning as adjectives usually appear immediately following the noun or pronoun they modify.

Th e Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote.

Th e infi nitive phrase modifi es the noun right. Which right? Th e right to vote.

Adverbial infi nitive phrases usually qualify the meaning of the verb, telling when, where, how, why, under what conditions, or to what degree an action occurred.

Volunteers rolled up their pants to wade through the fl oodwaters.

Why did they roll up their pants? To wade through the fl oodwaters.

NOTE: In some constructions, the infi nitive is unmarked; that is, the to does not appear. (See 28f.)

Graphs and charts can help researchers [to] present complex data.

OBJ OF PREP

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48c Subordinate word groups388

EXERCISE 48–6 Underline the verbal phrases in the following sen- tences. Tell whether each phrase is participial, gerund, or infi nitive and how each is used in the sentence. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Do you want to watch that documentary?

a. Updating your soft ware will fi x the computer glitch. b. Th e challenge in decreasing the town budget is identifying nones-

sential services. c. Cathleen tried to help her mother by raking the lawn. d. Understanding little, I had no hope of passing my biology fi nal. e. Working with animals gave Steve a sense of satisfaction.

48c Appositive phrases

Appositive phrases describe nouns or pronouns. Instead of mod- ifying nouns or pronouns, however, appositive phrases rename them. In form they are nouns or noun equivalents.

Bloggers, conversationalists at heart, are the online equivalent of radio talk show hosts.

Appositives are said to be “in apposition to” the nouns or pronouns they rename. Conversationalists at heart is in apposi- tion to the noun Bloggers.

48d Absolute phrases

An absolute phrase modifi es a whole clause or sentence, not just one word. It consists of a noun or noun equivalent usually fol- lowed by a participial phrase.

Her words reverberating in the hushed arena, the senator urged the crowd to support her former opponent.

(Infi nitive phrase used

as direct object of “Do want”)

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48e Subordinate clauses

Subordinate clauses are patterned like sentences, having subjects and verbs and sometimes objects or complements. But they func- tion within sentences as adjectives, adverbs, or nouns. Th ey can- not stand alone as complete sentences.

A subordinate clause usually begins with a subordinating conjunction or a relative pronoun. Th e chart on page 390 clas- sifi es these words according to the kinds of clauses (adjective, adverb, or noun) they introduce.

Adjective clauses

Adjective clauses modify nouns or pronouns, usually answering the question Which one? or What kind of ? Most adjective clauses begin with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, which, or that). In addition to introducing the clause, the relative pronoun points back to the noun that the clause modifi es.

Th e coach chose players who would benefi t from intense drills.

A book that goes unread is a writer’s worst nightmare.

Relative pronouns are sometimes “understood.”

Th e things [that] we cherish most are the things [that] we might lose.

Occasionally an adjective clause is introduced by a relative adverb, usually when, where, or why.

Th e aging actor returned to the stage where he had made his debut as Hamlet half a century earlier.

Th e parts of an adjective clause are oft en arranged as in sen- tences (subject/verb/object or complement).

Sometimes it is our closest friends who disappoint us.

Frequently, however, the object or complement appears fi rst, out of the normal order of subject/verb/object.

Th ey can be the very friends whom we disappoint.

TIP: For punctuation of adjective clauses, see 32e and 33e. For ad- vice about avoiding repeated words in adjective clauses, see 30d.

S V DO

DO S V

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Adverb clauses

Adverb clauses modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, usu- ally answering one of these questions: When? Where? Why? How? Under what conditions? To what degree? Th ey always begin with a subordinating conjunction (such as aft er, although, because, that, though, unless, or when). (For a complete list, see the chart on this page.)

When the sun went down, the hikers prepared their camp.

Kate would have made the team if she hadn’t broken her ankle.

Adverb clauses are usually movable when they modify a verb. In the preceding examples, for instance, the adverb clauses can be moved without aff ecting the meaning of the sentences.

Th e hikers prepared their camp when the sun went down. If she hadn’t broken her ankle, Kate would have made the team.

When an adverb clause modifi es an adjective or an adverb, it is not movable; it must appear next to the word it modifi es. In the following examples, the when clause modifi es the adjective Uncertain, and the than clause modifi es the adverb better.

Words that introduce subordinate clauses

Words introducing adjective clauses

RELATIVE PRONOUNS: that, which, who, whom, whose RELATIVE ADVERBS: when, where, why

Words introducing adverb clauses

SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS: aft er, although, as, as if, because, before, even though, if, in order that, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, while

Words introducing noun clauses

RELATIVE PRONOUNS: that, which, who, whom, whose OTHER PRONOUNS: what, whatever, whichever, whoever, whomever OTHER SUBORDINATING WORDS: how, if, when, whenever, where, wherever, whether, why

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48e

Uncertain when the baby would be born, Ray and Leah stayed close to home. Jackie can dance better than I can walk.

Adverb clauses are sometimes elliptical, with some of their words being understood but not appearing in the sentence.

When [it is] renovated, the dorm will hold six hundred students.

Noun clauses

A noun clause functions just like a single-word noun, usually as a subject, a subject complement, a direct object, or an object of a preposition. It usually begins with one of the following words: how, if, that, what, whatever, when, where, whether, which, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose, why. (For a complete list, see the box on p. 390.)

Whoever leaves the house last must double-lock the door.

Copernicus argued that the sun is the center of the universe.

Th e subordinating word introducing the clause may or may not play a signifi cant role in the clause. In the preceding example sentences, Whoever is the subject of its clause, but that does not perform a function in its clause.

As with adjective clauses, the parts of a noun clause may ap- pear in normal order (subject/verb/object or complement) or out of their normal order.

Loyalty is what keeps a friendship strong.

New Mexico is where we live.

EXERCISE 48–10 Underline the subordinate clauses in the follow- ing sentences. Tell whether each clause is an adjective, adverb, or noun clause and how it is used in the sentence. Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Show the committee the latest draft before you print the

fi nal report. (Adverb clause modifying “Show”)

S V DO OC

DO S V

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Sentence types392 49

a. Th e city’s electoral commission adjusted the voting process so that every vote would count.

b. A marketing campaign that targets baby boomers may not appeal to young professionals.

c. Aft er the Tambora volcano erupted in the southern Pacifi c in 1815, no one realized that it would contribute to the “year without a summer” in Europe and North America.

d. Th e concept of peak oil implies that at a certain point there will be no more oil to extract from the earth.

e. Details are easily overlooked when you are rushing.

49 Sentence types Sentences are classifi ed in two ways: according to their structure (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) and ac- cording to their purpose (declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory).

49a Sentence structures

Depending on the number and the types of clauses they con- tain, sentences are classifi ed as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex.

Clauses come in two varieties: independent and subordinate. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate, and it either stands alone or could stand alone as a sentence. A subor- dinate clause also contains a subject and a predicate, but it func- tions within a sentence as an adjective, an adverb, or a noun; it cannot stand alone. (See 48e.)

Simple sentences

A simple sentence is one independent clause with no subordinate clauses.

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Sentence structures 393

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Without a passport, Eva could not visit her grandparents in

Hungary.

A simple sentence may contain compound elements — a compound subject, verb, or object, for example — but it does not contain more than one full sentence pattern. Th e following sen- tence is simple because its two verbs (comes in and goes out) share a subject (Spring).

Spring comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

Compound sentences

A compound sentence is composed of two or more independent clauses with no subordinate clauses. Th e independent clauses are usually joined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet) or with a semicolon. (See 14a.)

Th e car broke down, but a rescue van arrived within minutes.

A shark was spotted near shore; people left immediately.

Complex sentences

A complex sentence is composed of one independent clause with one or more subordinate clauses. (See 48e.)

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

CLAUSE CLAUSE

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

INDEPENDENTINDEPENDENT

ADJECTIVE Th e pitcher who won the game is a rookie.

ADVERB If you leave late, take a cab home.

NOUN What matters most to us is a quick commute.

CLAUSE

SUBORDINATE

Compound-complex sentences

A compound-complex sentence contains at least two indepen- dent clauses and at least one subordinate clause. Th e following

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49b Sentence types394

sentence contains two independent clauses, each of which con- tains a subordinate clause.

Tell the doctor how you feel, and she will decide whether

you can go home.

49b Sentence purposes

Writers use declarative sentences to make statements, impera- tive sentences to issue requests or commands, interrogative sentences to ask questions, and exclamatory sentences to make exclamations.

DECLARATIVE Th e echo sounded in our ears. IMPERATIVE Love your neighbor. INTERROGATIVE Did the better team win tonight? EXCLAMATORY We’re here to save you!

EXERCISE 49–1 Identify the following sentences as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex. Identify the subordinate clauses and clas- sify them according to their function: adjective, adverb, or noun. (See 48e.) Answers appear in the back of the book. More practice:

Th e deli in Courthouse Square was crowded with lawyers

at lunchtime.

a. Fires that are ignited in dry areas spread especially quickly. b. Th e early Incas were advanced; they used a calendar and devel-

oped a decimal system. c. Elaine’s jacket was too thin to block the wintry air. d. Before we leave for the station, we always check the Amtrak

Web site. e. Decide when you want to leave, and I will be there to pick you up.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE SUB CL

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE

SUB CL

(Simple)

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Research

50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources, 396

51 Managing information; taking notes responsibly, 408

52 Evaluating sources, 416

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50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources A college research assignment asks you to pose questions worth exploring, to read widely in search of possible answers, to inter- pret what you read, to draw reasoned conclusions, and to support those conclusions with evidence. In short, it asks you to enter a research conversation by engaging with the ideas of other writers and thinkers who have explored and studied your topic. As you lis- ten to and learn from the voices already in the conversation, you’ll fi nd entry points where you can add your own insights and ideas.

Becoming a confi dent researcher means fi guring out how to respond to and engage with ideas, fi nd your own voice, and pre- sent your ideas alongside other people’s thoughts. It also requires embracing the idea that writing with sources is a process that takes time. As your ideas evolve, you may fi nd that the process leads you in unexpected directions — perhaps new questions in the conversation require you to create a new search strategy, fi nd additional sources, and challenge your initial assumptions. Keep an open mind throughout the process, be curious, and enjoy the work of fi nding answers to questions that matter to you.

50a Manage the project.

When you begin a research project, you need to understand the assignment, choose a direction, and quickly grasp the big picture for the topic you choose. Th e following tips will help you manage the beginning phase of research.

Managing time

When you receive your assignment, set a realistic schedule of dead- lines. Th ink about how much time you might need for each step of your project. One student created a calendar to map out her tasks for a research paper assigned on October 3 and due October 31, keep- ing in mind that some tasks might overlap or need to be repeated.

Keeping a research log

Research is a process. As your topic evolves, you may fi nd your- self asking new questions that require you to create a new search

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2 3 Receive and analyze the assign- ment.

4 Pose questions you might explore.

5 6 Start research log.

7 Settle on a topic; narrow the focus.

8 Revise research questions.

Locate sources.

9 10 11 12 13 Draft a working thesis and an outline.

14 15

16 17 18 19 Visit the writing center for feedback.

20 21 22

23 Ask peers for feedback.

24 25 26 27 28 29 Proofread the final draft.

30 Proofread the final draft.

31 Submit the final draft.

Read, take notes, and compile a working bibliography.

Revise the paper; if necessary, revise the thesis.

Draft the paper.

Talk with a reference librarian; plan a search strategy.

Draft the paper.

Prepare a list of works cited.

Do additional research if needed.

SAMPLE CALENDAR FOR A RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

Manage the project 397

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50a

strategy, fi nd additional sources, and revise your initial assumptions. A research log helps you bring order to this process by keeping accu- rate records of the sources you read and your ideas about them. You might want to use a separate hardcopy notebook for your log or cre- ate a digital set of fi les. Keeping an accurate source trail and working bibliography, and separating your own insights and ideas from those of your sources, will help you become a more effi cient researcher.

Getting the big picture

As you consider a possible research topic, set aside some time to learn what people are saying about it by reading sources on the Web or in library databases. Ask yourself questions such as these:

• What aspects of the topic are generating the most debate? • Why and on what points are people disagreeing? • Which arguments and approaches seem worth exploring?

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50b Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources398

Once you have an aerial view of the topic and are familiar with some of the existing research, you can zoom in closer to examine subtopics and debates that look interesting.

50b Pose questions worth exploring.

Every research project starts with questions. Working within the guidelines of your assignment, pose a few preliminary questions that seem worth researching — questions that you are interested in exploring, that you feel would engage your audience, and about which there is substantial debate. You’ll fi nd the research process more rewarding and meaningful if you choose questions that you care about.

Thinking like a researcher

To develop your authority as a researcher, you need to think like a researcher — asking interesting questions, becoming well informed through reading and evaluating sources, and citing sources to acknowledge other researchers. Be curious. What makes you angry, concerned, or perplexed? What topics and debates do you care about? What problems do you want to help solve? Explore your topic from multiple perspectives, and let your curiosity drive your project. Be engaged. Talk with a librarian and learn how to use your library’s research tools and resources. Once you fi nd promising sources, let one source lead you to another; follow clues (in the source’s list of works cited, if one exists) to learn who else has written about your topic. Listen to the key voices in the research conversation you’ve joined — and then respond. Be responsible. Use sources to develop and support your ideas rather than patching them together to let them speak for you. From the start of your research project, keep careful track of sources you read or view (see 51), place quotation marks around words copied from sources, and maintain accurate records for all bibliographic information. Be refl ective. Keep a research log, and use your log to explore vari- ous points you are developing and to pose counterarguments to your research argument. Research is never a straightforward path, so use your log to refl ect on the evolution of your project as well as your evolution as a researcher.

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Pose questions worth exploring 399

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50b

Here are some preliminary questions jotted down by stu- dents enrolled in a variety of college courses.

• Why are boys diagnosed with attention defi cit disorder more oft en than girls are?

• Do nutritional food labels inform consumers or confuse them? • Should states require public schools to adopt antibullying

policies? • Why was amateur archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann such

a controversial fi gure in his own time?

As you think about possible questions, choose those that are focused (not too broad), challenging (not just factual), and grounded (not too speculative) as possible entry points in a conversation.

Choosing a focused question

If your initial question is too broad, given the length of the paper you plan to write, look for ways to restrict your focus. Here, for example, is how two students narrowed their initial questions.

TOO BROAD FOCUSED

What are the benefi ts of stricter auto emissions standards?

How will stricter auto emissions standards create new auto industry jobs and make US carmakers more competitive in the world market?

What causes depression? How has the widespread use of antidepressant drugs aff ected teenage suicide rates?

Choosing a challenging question

Your research paper will be more interesting to both you and your audience if you base it on an intellectually challenging line of inquiry. Avoid factual questions that fail to provoke thought or engage readers in a debate; such questions lead to reports or lists of facts, not to researched arguments.

TOO FACTUAL CHALLENGING

Is autism on the rise? Why is autism so diffi cult to treat? Where is wind energy being used?

What makes wind farms economically viable?

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You will need to address a factual question in the course of answering a more challenging one. For example, if you were writing about promising treatments for autism, you would no doubt answer the question “What is autism?” at some point in your paper and even analyze competing defi nitions of autism to help support your arguments about the challenges of treating the condition. It would be unproductive, however, to use the factual question as the focus for the entire paper.

Choosing a grounded question

Make sure that your research question is grounded, not too speculative. Although speculative questions — such as those that address morality or beliefs — are worth asking in a research paper, they are unsuitable central questions. For most college courses, the central argument of a research paper should be grounded in evidence and should not be based entirely on beliefs.

TOO SPECULATIVE GROUNDED

Is it wrong to share pornographic personal photos by cell phone?

What role should the US government play in regulating mobile content?

Do medical scientists have the right to experiment on animals?

How have technical breakthroughs made medical experiments on animals increasingly unnecessary?

Finding an entry point in a research conversation

As you pose preliminary research questions, you may wonder where and how to step into a research conversation. To fi nd entry points, you may need to ask:

• Who are the major writers or thinkers in the debate? What positions have they taken?

• How and why do the major writers or thinkers disagree? • What hasn’t been said in the conversation and needs to be

pointed out?

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50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources > Exercise: 50–1 > Writing practice: Entering a research conversation (with video)

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Map out a search strategy 401

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50c

As you orient yourself, try using the following statements to help you fi nd points of entry in a research conversation.

On one side of the debate is position X, on the other side is Y, but there is a middle position, Z. Th e conventional view about the problem or issue needs to be challenged because . . . Key details in this debate that have been overlooked are . . . Researchers have drawn conclusion X from the evidence, but one could also draw conclusion Y.

Testing a research question

● Does the question allow you to enter into a research conversation that you care about?

● Is the question fl exible enough to allow for many possible answers?

● Is the question clear, focused, interesting? ● Is the question narrow enough, given the length of the

assignment? ● Put the question to the “So what?” test. Can you show readers

why the question needs to be asked and why the answer matters? (See p. 16.)

50c Map out a search strategy.

A search strategy is a systematic plan for tracking down sources. To create a search strategy appropriate for your research question, it may help to consult a librarian and take a look at your library’s Web site, which will give you an overview of available resources.

No single search strategy works for every topic. For some topics, it may be useful to search for information in popu- lar newspapers, magazines, and Web sites. For others, the best sources might be found in scholarly journals, books, and spe- cialized reference works. Still other topics might be enhanced by fi eld research — interviews, surveys, or observation.

With the help of a librarian, each of the students whose re- search essays can be found in this handbook constructed a search strategy appropriate for the research question.

Sophie Harba (See her full paper in 57b.) Sophie Harba’s topic, the role of government in legislating food choices, is debated in

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50d Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources402

scholarly articles and in publications aimed at the general public. To fi nd information on her topic, Harba decided to

• search the Web to locate current news, government publications, and information from organizations that focus on the issues surrounding government regulation of food

• check a library database for current peer-reviewed research articles

• use the library catalog to search for a recently published book that was cited in a blog post on her topic and on several well-respected Web sites

Luisa Mirano (See her full paper in 62b.) Luisa Mirano’s topic, the limitations of medication for childhood obesity, is the subject of psychological studies as well as articles in newspapers and maga- zines aimed at the general public. Th inking that both scholarly and popular sources would be appropriate, Mirano decided to

• search the Web to see what issues about childhood obesity might be interesting

• focus her search on medications reported in newspaper and magazine articles, advocacy Web sites, and government sites

• search specialized databases related to psychology and medicine for recent scholarly and scientifi c articles

• track down an article that several of her sources cited as an infl uential study

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Use your research log (see p. 396) to record information for each source you read or view, especially page numbers and URLs. If you gather complete publication information from the start of your project, you’ll easily fi nd it when you need to document your sources.

50d Search effi ciently; master a few shortcuts to fi nding good sources.

Most students use a combination of library databases and the Web in their research. You can save yourself a lot of time by becoming an effi cient searcher.

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50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources > Writing practice: Mapping out a search strategy

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403

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50dSearch effi ciently

Using the library

Th e Web site hosted by your college library is full of useful infor- mation. In addition to dozens of databases and links to other references, many libraries off er online subject guides as well as one-on-one help from reference librarians through e-mail or chat. You can save yourself time if you get advice from your instructor, a librarian, or your library’s Web site about the best place to start your search for sources.

Visiting your library can also be helpful. You can consult personally with reference librarians, who can show you what re- sources are available, help you refi ne your keywords for catalog or database searches, or suggest ways to narrow your search.

Savvy searchers cut down on the clutter of a broad search by adding additional search terms, limiting a search to recent pub- lications, or selecting a database option to look at only one type of source, such as peer-reviewed articles, if that’s what is needed. When looking for books, you can broaden a catalog search by asking “What kind of book might contain the information I need?” Aft er you’ve identifi ed a promising book on the library shelves, looking through the books on nearby shelves can also be valuable.

Using the Web

When using a search engine, it’s a good idea to use terms that are as specifi c as possible and to enclose search phrases in quotation marks. You can refi ne your search by date or domain; for exam- ple, autism site:.gov will search for information about autism on government (.gov) Web sites. Use clues in what you fi nd (such as organizations or government agencies that seem particularly informative) to refi ne your search.

As you examine sites, look for “about” links to learn about the site’s author or sponsoring agency. Examine URLs for clues. Th ose that contain .k12 may be intended for young audiences; URLs ending in .gov lead to offi cial information from US gov- ernment entities. URLs may also off er clues about the country of origin: .au for Australia, .uk for United Kingdom, .in for India, and so on. If you aren’t sure where a page originated, erase ev- erything in the URL aft er the fi rst slash in your address bar; the result should be the root page of the site, which may off er useful information about the site’s purpose and audience (see p. 404). Avoid sites that provide information but no explanation of who

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CHECK URLS FOR CLUES ABOUT SPONSORSHIP

This source, from an internal page of a Web site, provides no indication of an author or a sponsor. Shortening the URL to http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/ leads to a main page that lists a university literature professor as the author and the University of Virginia Library as the sponsor.

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50d Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources404

the authors are or why the site was created. Th ey may simply be advertising platforms attracting visitors with commonly sought information that is not original or substantial. For more on eval- uating Web sites, see 52e.

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50dSearch effi ciently

Using bibliographies and citations as shortcuts

Scholarly books and articles list the works the author has cited, usually at the end. Th ese lists are useful shortcuts to additional reliable sources on your topic. For example, most of the scholarly articles that student writer Luisa Mirano consulted contained citations to related research studies, selected by experts in the fi eld. Th rough these citations, she quickly located other sources related to her topic, treatments for childhood obesity. Even popu- lar sources such as news articles, videos, and interviews may refer to additional relevant sources that may be worth tracking down.

Using a variety of online tools and databases

You will probably fi nd that your instructor, your librarian, or your library’s Web site can be helpful in pointing you in the right direction once you have a topic and a research question. If you are still seeking some guidance about which Web sites, directo- ries, databases, and other sources might yield useful searches, the URL at the bottom of the page will lead you to lists of sources that might provide the jump start you are looking for.

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50 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources > Finding research help: Locating sources using online tools and databases

Tips for smart searching

For currency. If you need current information, news outlets such as the New York Times and the BBC, think tanks, government agen- cies, and advocacy groups may provide appropriate sources for your research. When using Google, you can limit a search to the most recent year, month, week, or day. For authority. As you search, keep an eye out for any experts being cited in sources you examine. Following the citation trail may lead you to sources by those experts — or the organizations they represent — that may be even more helpful. You can limit a Google search by type of Web site and type of source. Add site:.gov to focus on government sources or fi letype:pdf to zero in on reports and research papers as PDF fi les. For scholarship. When you need scholarly or peer-reviewed articles, use a library database to look for reports of original research written by the people who conducted it. Scholarly articles provide information about where the authors work (such as universities or research centers), use a formal writing style, and include footnotes or a bibliography.

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50e Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources406

50e Conduct fi eld research, if appropriate.

Your own fi eld research can enhance or be the focus of a writing project. For a composition class, for example, you might want to interview a local politician about a current issue, such as the initiation of a city bike-share program. For a sociology class, you might decide to conduct a survey about campus trends in com- munity service.

RESEARCH NOTE: Colleges and universities oft en require research- ers to submit projects to an institutional review board (IRB) if the research involves human subjects outside a classroom setting. Before administering a survey or conducting other fi eldwork, check with your instructor to see if IRB approval is required.

Interviewing

Interviews can oft en shed new light on a topic. Look for an expert who has fi rsthand knowledge of the subject, or seek out a key participant whose personal experience provides a valuable perspective.

When asking for an interview, be clear about who you are, what the purpose of the interview is, and how you would prefer to conduct it: by e-mail, over the phone, or in person. Ask ques- tions that lead to facts, anecdotes, and opinions that will add a meaningful dimension to your paper.

Tips for smart searching, continued

For context. Books are important sources in many fi elds such as history, philosophy, and sociology, and they oft en do a better job than scholarly articles of putting ideas in context. You may fi nd a single chapter or even a few pages that are just what you need to gain a deeper perspective. Consider publication dates with your topic in mind. For fi rsthand authenticity. In some fi elds, primary sources may be required. In historical research, for example, a primary source is one that originated in the historical period under discussion or is a fi rsthand account from a witness. In the sciences, a primary source (sometimes called a primary article) is a published report of research written by the scientist who conducted it. For more information, see page 423.

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50eConduct fi eld research

INEFFECTIVE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

How many years have you spent studying childhood obesity? Is your work interesting?

EFFECTIVE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

What are some current interpretations of the causes of childhood obesity? What treatments have you found to be most eff ective? Why do you think they work?

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: When quoting your source (the interviewee) in your paper, be accurate and fair. Do not change the meaning of your interviewee’s words or take them out of con- text. To ensure accuracy, you might want to ask permission to record the interview or conduct it by e-mail.

Surveying opinion

For some topics, you may fi nd it useful to survey opinions through written questionnaires, telephone or e-mail polls, or questions posted on a social media site. Many people are reluc- tant to fi ll out long questionnaires, so for a good response rate, limit your questions with your purpose in mind.

Surveys with yes/no questions or multiple-choice options can be completed quickly, and the results are easy to tally. You may also want to ask a few open-ended questions to elicit more individual responses, some of which may be worth quoting in your paper.

SAMPLE YES/NO QUESTION

Do you favor the use of Internet surveillance in the workplace?

SAMPLE OPEN-ENDED QUESTION

What, if any, experiences have you had with Internet surveillance in the workplace?

Other fi eld methods

Your fi rsthand visits to and observations of signifi cant places, people, or events can enhance a paper in a variety of disciplines. If you aren’t able to visit an organization, a company, or a his- toric site, you may fi nd useful information on an offi cial Web site or a phone number or e-mail address to use to contact a representative.

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408 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources50f

50f Write a research proposal.

One eff ective way to manage your research project and focus your thinking is to write a research proposal. A proposal gives you an opportunity to look back — to remind you why you decided to enter a specifi c research conversation — and to look forward — to predict any diffi culties or obstacles that might arise during your project. Your objective is to make a case for the question you plan to explore, the sources you plan to use, and the feasibility of the project, given the time and resources available. As you take stock of your project, you also have the valuable opportunity to receive comments from your instructor and classmates about your pro- posed research question and search strategy.

Th e following points will help you organize your proposal.

• Research question. What question will you be exploring? Why does this question need to be asked? What do you hope to learn from the project?

• Research conversation. What have you learned so far about the debate or specifi c research conversation you will enter? What entry point have you found to off er your own insights and ideas?

• Search strategy. Explain your search strategy: What kinds of sources will you use to explore your question? What sources have you found most useful, and why? How will you locate a variety of sources (print and visual, primary and secondary, for example)?

• Research challenges. What challenges, if any, do you anticipate (locating suffi cient sources, managing the project, fi nding a position to take)? What resources are available to help you meet these challenges?

51 Managing information; taking notes responsibly An eff ective researcher is a good record keeper. Whether you decide to keep records in your research log or in a fi le on your computer, you will need methods for managing information: maintaining a working bibliography (see 51a), keeping track of

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source materials (see 51b), and taking notes without plagiarizing your sources (see 51c). (For more on avoiding plagiarism, see 54 for MLA style and 59 for APA style.)

51a Maintain a working bibliography.

Keep a record of each source you read or view. Th is record, called a working bibliography, will help you compile the list of sources that will appear at the end of your paper. Th e format of this list depends on the documentation style you are using (for MLA style, see 56b; for APA style, see 61b). Using the proper style in your working bibliography will ensure that you have all the infor- mation you need to correctly cite any sources you use. (See 52f for advice on using your working bibliography as the basis for an annotated bibliography.)

Most researchers save bibliographic information from the library’s catalog and databases and from the Web. Th e informa- tion you need is given in the chart on page 411. If you download a visual, you must gather the same information as for a print source.

For Web sources, some bibliographic information may not be available, but spend time looking for it before assuming that it doesn’t exist. When information isn’t available on the home page, you may have to follow links to interior pages. (See also pp. 405 and 425 for more details about fi nding bibliographic information in online sources.)

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Use care when printing or saving articles from a database or Web site. Th e fi les themselves may not include some of the elements you need to cite the source prop- erly, especially page numbers. You may need to record additional information from the database or Web site where you accessed the fi le.

RESEARCH TIP: Your school may provide citation soft ware, which automatically formats citations in any style using bibliographic information submitted by researchers. You must carefully proof- read the results from these programs, however, because the cita- tions oft en include errors.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

51 Managing information; taking notes responsibly > Finding research help: Choosing a documentation style

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Managing information; taking notes responsibly410 51b

51b Keep track of source materials.

Th e best way to keep track of source materials is to save a copy of each potential source as you conduct your research. Many data- base services will allow you to e-mail, save, or print citations or full texts of articles, and you can easily download, copy, or take screen shots of information from the Web.

Working with photocopies, printouts, and electronic fi les — as opposed to relying on memory or hastily written notes — has several benefi ts. You can highlight key passages, perhaps even color-coding them to refl ect topics in your out- line. You can get a head start on note taking. Finally, you reduce the chances of unintentional plagiarism since you will be able to compare your use of a source in your paper with the actual source, not just with your notes.

51c Take notes carefully to avoid unintentional plagiarism.

When you take notes from sources and jot down ideas, use your own words. Avoid copying passages — or cutting and pasting texts from electronic sources — without using quotation marks to indicate which words are yours and which ones you’ve taken from a source. Even if you half-copy the author’s sen- tences — either by mixing the author’s phrases with your own without using quotation marks or by plugging your synonyms into the author’s sentence structure — you are committing pla- giarism, a serious academic offense. (For examples of this kind of plagiarism, sometimes referred to as patchwriting, see 54b and 59b.)

To take notes responsibly, make sure you understand the ideas in the source. What are the major arguments? What is the evidence? Then, resist the temptation to look at the source as you take notes — except when you are quoting. Keep the source close by so that you can check for accuracy, but don’t try to put ideas in your own words with the source’s sentences in front of you. When you include a quotation in your notes, make sure you copy the words exactly and put quotation marks around them.

For strategies for avoiding plagiarism when using sources from the Web, see page 415.

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Information to collect for a working bibliography

For an entire book

● All authors; any editors or translators ● Title and subtitle ● Edition (if not the fi rst) ● Publication information: city, publisher, and date ● Medium: print, Web, and so on ● Date you retrieved the source (for an online source)

For an article

● All authors of the article ● Title and subtitle of the article ● Title of the journal, magazine, or newspaper ● Date; volume, issue, and page numbers ● Medium: print, Web, DVD, and so on ● Date you retrieved the source (for an online source)

For an article retrieved from a database (in addition to preceding

information)

● Name of the database ● Accession number or other number assigned by the database ● Digital object identifi er (DOI), if there is one ● URL of the journal’s home page, if there is no DOI ● Date you retrieved the source

For a Web source (including visual, audio, and multimedia sources)

● All authors, editors, or composers of the source ● Editor or compiler of the Web source, if there is one ● Title and subtitle of the source ● Title of the longer work, if the source is contained in a longer work ● Title of the Web site ● Print publication information for the source, if available ● Online page or paragraph numbers, if any ● Date of online publication (or latest update) ● Sponsor of the site ● Date you accessed the source ● Th e site’s URL

NOTE: For the exact bibliographic format to use in your working bib- liography and in the fi nal paper, see 56b (MLA) and 61b (APA).

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51c Managing information; taking notes responsibly412

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Be especially careful when using copy-and-paste functions in electronic fi les. Some researchers plagiarize their sources because they lose track of which words came from sources and which are their own. To prevent unin- tentional plagiarism, put quotation marks around any source text that you copy during your research.

Th ere are three kinds of note taking: summarizing, para- phrasing, and quoting. Be sure to keep track of exact page refer- ences for all three types of notes; you will need the page numbers later if you use the information in your paper. And it is good practice to indicate in your notes if you have summarized, para- phrased, or quoted an author’s words to avoid unintentionally plagiarizing a source.

Summarizing without plagiarizing

A summary condenses information and captures main ideas, per- haps reducing a chapter to a short paragraph or a paragraph to a single sentence. A summary should be written in your own words; if you use phrases from the source, put them in quotation marks.

Academic English Even in the early stages of note taking, it is important to keep in mind that in the United States written texts are considered an author’s property. (Th is “property” isn’t a physical object, so it is oft en referred to as intellectual property.) Th e author (or the publisher) owns the language as well as any original ideas contained in the writing, whether the source is published in print or digital form. When you use another author’s property in your own writing, you are required to follow certain conventions for citing the material, or you risk committing plagiarism.

Here is a passage about marine pollution from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Web site. Following the passage are the student’s annotations on the source — notes and questions that help him fi gure out the meaning — and then his summary of the passage. (Th e biblio- graphic information is recorded in MLA style.)

ORIGINAL SOURCE

A question that is oft en posed to the NOAA Marine Debris Program (MDP) is “How much debris is actually out there?”

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Th e MDP has recognized the need for this answer as well as the growing interest and value of citizen science. To that end, the MDP is developing and testing two types of monitoring and assessment protocols: 1) rigorous scientifi c survey and 2) volunteer at-sea visual survey. Th ese types of monitoring programs are necessary in order to compare marine debris, composition, abundance, distribution, movement, and impact data on national and global scales.

— NOAA Marine Debris Program. “Eff orts and Activities Related to the

‘Garbage Patches.’ ” Marine Debris. NOAA Marine Debris Program, 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

ORIGINAL SOURCE WITH STUDENT ANNOTATIONS

A question that is oft en posed to the NOAA Marine Debris

Program (MDP) is “How much debris is actually out there?”

Th e MDP has recognized the need for this answer as well as the

growing interest and value of citizen science. To that end, the MDP

is developing and testing two types of monitoring and assessment

protocols: 1) rigorous scientifi c survey and 2) volunteer at-sea visual

survey. Th ese types of monitoring programs are necessary in order

to compare marine debris, composition, abundance, distribution,

movement, and impact data on national and global scales.

SUMMARY

Source: NOAA Marine Debris Program. “Efforts and Activities Related

to the ‘Garbage Patches.’ ” Marine Debris. NOAA Marine Debris

Program, 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

Having to field citizens’ questions about the size of debris fields

in Earth’s oceans, the Marine Debris Program, an arm of the US

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is currently

implementing methods to monitor and draw conclusions about our

oceans’ patches of pollution (NOAA Marine Debris Program).

by whom? ocean trash

ways of gathering information

kinds of materials how much?

why it matt ers

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51c Managing information; taking notes responsibly414

Paraphrasing without plagiarizing

Like a summary, a paraphrase is written in your own words; but whereas a summary reports signifi cant information in fewer words than the source, a paraphrase restates the information in roughly the same number of words. A successful paraphrase also uses sentence structure that’s diff erent from the original. If you retain occasional choice phrases from the source, use quotation marks so that later you will know which phrases are not your own. If you paraphrase a source, you must still cite the source.

As you read the following paraphrase of the original source (see pp. 412–13), notice that the language is signifi cantly diff er- ent from that in the original.

PARAPHRASE

Source: NOAA Marine Debris Program. “Efforts and Activities Related

to the ‘Garbage Patches.’ ” Marine Debris. NOAA Marine Debris

Program, 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

Citizens concerned and curious about the amount, makeup, and

locations of debris patches in our oceans have been pressing NOAA’s

Marine Debris Program for answers. In response, the organization

is preparing to implement plans and standards for expert study and

nonexpert observation, both of which will yield results that will be

helpful in determining the significance of the pollution problem

(NOAA Marine Debris Program).

Using quotation marks to avoid plagiarizing

A quotation consists of the exact words from a source. In your notes, put all quoted material in quotation marks; do not assume that you will remember later which words, phrases, and passages you have quoted and which are your own. When you quote, be sure to copy the words of your source exactly, including punctua- tion and capitalization.

QUOTATION

Source: NOAA Marine Debris Program. “Efforts and Activities Related

to the ‘Garbage Patches.’ ” Marine Debris. NOAA Marine Debris

Program, 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.

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The NOAA Marine Debris Program has noted that, as our oceans

become increasingly polluted, surveillance is “necessary in order

to compare marine debris, composition, abundance, distribution,

movement, and impact data on national and global scales.”

Note that because the source is from a Web site without page numbers, the in-text citation includes only the author name and not a page number.

Avoiding plagiarism from the Web

Understand what plagiarism is. When you use another author’s intellectual property — language, visuals, or ideas — in your own writing without giving proper credit, you commit a kind of aca- demic theft called plagiarism.

Treat Web sources the same way you treat print sources. Any lan- guage that you fi nd on the Web must be cited, even if the material is in the public domain (which generally includes older works no longer protected by copyright law) or is publicly accessible on free sites. When you use material from Web sites sponsored by federal, state, or municipal governments (.gov sites) or by nonprofi t organizations (.org sites), you must acknowledge that material, too, as intellectual property owned by those agencies.

Keep track of which words come from sources and which are your

own. To prevent unintentional plagiarism when you copy and paste passages from Web sources to an electronic fi le, put quo- tation marks around any text that you have inserted into your own work. During note taking and draft ing, you might use a dif- ferent color font or highlighting to draw attention to text taken from sources so that material from articles, Web sites, and other sources stands out unmistakably as someone else’s words.

Avoid Web sites that bill themselves as “research services” and sell

essays. When you use Web search engines to research a topic, you will oft en see links to sites that appear to off er legitimate writing support but that actually sell college essays. Of course, submitting a paper that you have purchased is cheating, but even using material from such a paper is considered plagiarism.

For details on avoiding plagiarism while working with sources, see 54b (MLA) and 59b (APA).

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52 Evaluating sources You can oft en locate dozens or even hundreds of potential sources for your topic — far more than you will have time to read. Your challenge will be to determine what kinds of sources you need to answer your research questions and to zero in on a reasonable number of trustworthy sources. Th is kind of decision making is referred to as evaluating sources. When you evaluate a source, you make a judgment about how useful the source is to your project.

Evaluating sources isn’t something you do in one sitting. Being an eff ective researcher doesn’t mean following a formula ( fi nd some sources > evaluate those sources > write the paper). Rather, it means seeing the process as more dynamic. Aft er you do some planning, searching, and reading, for example, you may refl ect on the information you have collected and conclude that you need to rethink your research question — and so you return to assessing the kinds of sources you need. You may be midway through draft ing your paper when you begin to question a par- ticular source’s credibility, at which point you return to searching and reading.

52a Think about how sources might contribute to your writing.

How you plan to use sources in your paper will aff ect how you evaluate them. Not every source must directly support your the- sis; sources can have a range of functions in a paper. Th ey can do any of the following:

• provide background information or context for your topic • explain terms or concepts that your readers might not

understand • provide evidence for your argument • lend authority to your argument • identify a gap or contradiction in the conversation • off er counterarguments and alternative interpretations to

your argument

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As you plan, you will need to think through the kinds of sources that will help you fulfi ll your purpose. Th e following are notes that one student took as she planned a paper.

Purpose: to persuade

My argument: that public funding for the arts should be granted on

artistic merit alone and not on so-called decency standards

Sources I could use for

background/context:

1998 Supreme Court decision (National

Endowment for the Arts v. Finley)

First Amendment

Sources that support my

argument:

interviews of controversial artists

Karen Finley and Tim Miller

Source that represents an

alternative viewpoint:

passages from a profile of conservative

North Carolina senator Jesse Helms

With her overall purpose in mind, the student judged each source according to the specifi c role it would play in her argument. For more examples of how student writers use sources for a variety of purposes, see 53c and 58c.

Viewing evaluation as a process

When you use sources in your writing, make a habit of evaluating, or judging the value of, those sources at each stage of your project. Th e following questions may help.

Evaluate as you PLAN Evaluate as you SEARCH

What kinds of sources do I need? What do I need these sources to help me do: Defi ne? Persuade? Inform?

How can I fi nd reliable sources that help me answer my research question? Which sources will help me build my credibility as a researcher?

Evaluate as you READ Evaluate as you WRITE

What positions do these sources take in the debate on my topic? What are their biases? How do these sources inform my understanding of the topic and the position I will take?

How do the sources I’ve chosen help me make my point? How do my own ideas fi t into the conversation on my research topic?

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52b Evaluating sources418

52b Select sources worth your time and attention.

As you search for sources in databases, the library catalog, and search engines, you’re likely to get many more results than you can read or use. Th is section explains how to scan through the results for the most promising sources, and how to preview them to see whether they will help you answer your research question.

Scanning search results

As you scan through a list of search results, look for clues indicat- ing whether a source might be useful for your purposes or not worth pursuing. You will need to use somewhat diff erent strate- gies when scanning search results from a database, a library cata- log, and a Web search engine.

Databases Most databases list at least the following information, which can help you decide if a source is relevant, current, and scholarly (see the chart on p. 421).

Title and brief description (How relevant?) Date (How current?) Name of periodical or other publication (How scholarly?) Length (How extensive in coverage?)

Many databases allow you to sort your list of results by rele- vance or date; sorting may help you scan the information more effi ciently.

Library catalogs Th e library’s catalog usually lists basic information about books, periodicals, DVDs, and other material — enough to give you a fi rst impression. As in database search results, the title and date of publication of books and other sources listed in the catalog will oft en be your fi rst clues as to whether the source is worth consulting. If a title looks interest- ing, you can click on it for information about the subject matter and length. For books, reports, or other long sources, a table of contents may also be available.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

52 Evaluating sources > Writing practice: Planning with sources

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52b

Web search engines Reliable and unreliable sources live side- by-side online. As you scan through search results, look for the following clues about the probable relevance, currency, and reli- ability of a Web site.

Th e title, keywords, headings, and lead-in text (How relevant?) A date (How current?) An indication of the site’s sponsor or purpose (How reliable?) Th e URL, especially the URL ending: for example, .com, .edu, .gov, or .org (How relevant? How reliable?)

At the bottom of this page are a few of the results that stu- dent writer Luisa Mirano retrieved aft er typing the keywords childhood obesity into a search engine; she limited her search to works with those words in the title.

Mirano found the fi rst site, sponsored by a research-based organization, promising enough to explore for her paper. Th e second and fourth sites held less promise because they seemed to off er popular rather than scholarly information. In addi- tion, the second site was full of distracting advertisements. Mirano rejected the third source not because she doubted its reliability — in fact, research from the National Institutes of Health was what she hoped to fi nd — but because a review of its contents revealed that the information was too general for her purposes.

EVALUATING SEARCH RESULTS: INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE

Content from a research-based organization. Promising.

Popular rather than scholarly source. Not relevant.

Content too general. Not relevant.

Popular and too general. Not relevant.

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52b Evaluating sources420

Previewing sources

Once you have decided that a source looks promising, preview it quickly to see whether it lives up to its promise. If you can evalu- ate as you search, rejecting irrelevant or unreliable sources before actually reading them, you will save yourself time.

PREVIEWING AN ARTICLE

• Consider the publication in which the article is printed. Is it a scholarly journal (see the chart on p. 421)? A popular magazine? A newspaper with a national reputation?

• For a magazine or journal article, look for an abstract or a statement of purpose at the beginning; also look for a summary at the end.

• For a newspaper article, focus on the headline and the opening paragraphs for relevance.

• Scan any headings and look at any visuals — charts, graphs, diagrams, or illustrations — that might indicate the article’s focus and scope.

PREVIEWING A BOOK

• Glance through the table of contents, keeping your research question in mind. Even if the entire book is not relevant, parts of it may prove useful.

• Scan the preface in search of a statement of the author’s purposes.

• Use the index to look up a few words related to your topic. • If a chapter looks useful, read its opening and closing

paragraphs and skim any headings.

PREVIEWING A WEB SITE

• Check to see if the sponsor is a reputable organization, a government agency, or a university. Is the group likely to look at only one side of a debatable issue?

• If you have landed on an internal page of a site and no author or sponsor is evident, try navigating to the home page, either through a link or by truncating the URL (see the tip on p. 404).

• Try to determine the purpose of the Web site. Is the site trying to sell a product? Promote an idea? Inform the public? Is the purpose consistent with your research?

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52c

• If the Web site includes statistical data (tables, graphs, charts), can you tell how and by whom the statistics were compiled? Is research cited?

• Find out when the site was created or last updated. Is it current enough for your purposes?

52c Select appropriate versions of online sources.

An online source may appear as an abstract, an excerpt, or a full- text article or book. It is important to distinguish among these versions of sources and to use a complete version of a source, preferably one with page numbers, for your research.

Abstracts and excerpts are shortened versions of complete works. An abstract — a summary of a work’s contents — might appear in a database record for a source and can give you clues

Determining if a source is scholarly

For many college assignments, you will be asked to use scholarly sources. Th ese are written by experts for a knowledgeable audience and usually go into more depth than books and articles written for a general audience. (Scholarly sources are sometimes called refereed or peer-reviewed because the work is evaluated by experts in the fi eld before publication.) To determine if a source is scholarly, you should look for the following:

● Formal language and presentation ● Authors who are academics or scientists ● Footnotes or a bibliography documenting the works cited by the

author in the source ● Original research and interpretation (rather than a summary of

other people’s work) ● Quotations from and analysis of primary sources (in humani-

ties disciplines such as literature, history, and philosophy) ● A description of research methods or a review of related research

(in the sciences and social sciences) NOTE: In some databases, searches can be limited to refereed or peer-reviewed journals.

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52d Evaluating sources422

52d Read with an open mind and a critical eye.

As you begin reading the sources you have chosen, keep an open mind. Do not let your personal beliefs prevent you from listening to new ideas and opposing viewpoints. Be curious about the wide range of positions in the research conversation you are enter- ing. Your research question should guide you as you engage your sources.

When you read critically, you are examining an author’s as- sumptions, assessing evidence, and weighing conclusions.

Reading critically means

• reading carefully (What does the source say?) • reading skeptically (Are any of the author’s points or

conclusions problematic?) • reading evaluatively (How does this source help me make my

argument?)

For one student’s careful reading of a source text, see 5a.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Take time to read the entire source and try to understand an author’s arguments, assumptions, and conclusions. Try to avoid taking quotations from the fi rst few pages of a source before you understand if the words and ideas are representative of the work as a whole.

about the usefulness of the source for your research. An excerpt is the fi rst few sentences or paragraphs of a newspaper or maga- zine article and sometimes appears in a list of results from an online search. Abstracts and excerpts oft en provide enough in- formation for you to determine whether the complete article would be useful for your paper. Both are brief (usually fewer than fi ve hundred words) and generally do not contain enough infor- mation to function alone as sources in a research paper. Reading the complete article is the best way to understand the author’s argument before referring to it in your own writing. If an article is available in multiple fi le formats, work with the fi le that includes page numbers. Numbering will help you with accurate note taking and citation.

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52d

Distinguishing between primary and secondary sources

As you begin assessing evidence in a source, determine whether you are reading a primary or a secondary source. Primary sources include original documents such as letters, diaries, legis- lative bills, laboratory studies, fi eld research reports, and eyewit- ness accounts. Secondary sources are commentaries on primary sources — another writer’s opinions about or interpretation of a primary source.

Although a primary source is not necessarily more reliable than a secondary source, it has the advantage of being a fi rsthand account. You can better evaluate what a secondary source says if you have fi rst read any primary sources it discusses.

Being alert for signs of bias

Bias is a way of thinking, a tendency to be partial, that prevents people and publications from viewing a topic objectively. Both in print and online, some sources are more objective than others. If you are exploring the rights of organizations like WikiLeaks to distribute sensitive government documents over the Internet, for example, you may not fi nd objective, unbiased information in a US State Department report. If you are researching timber harvesting practices, you are likely to encounter bias in publica- tions sponsored by environmental groups. As a researcher, you will need to consider any suspected bias as you assess the source. If you are uncertain about a source’s special interests, seek the help of a reference librarian.

Like publishers, some authors are more objective than oth- ers. If you have reason to believe that a writer is particularly biased, you will want to assess his or her arguments with spe- cial care. For a list of questions worth asking, see the chart on page 424.

Assessing the author’s argument

In nearly all subjects worth writing about, there is some element of argument, so expect to encounter debates and disagreements among authors. In fact, areas of disagreement give you entry points in a research conversation. Th e questions in the chart on page 424 can help you weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each author’s arguments.

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52e Evaluating sources424

52e Assess Web sources with care.

Sources found on the Web can provide valuable information, but verifying their credibility may take time. Before using a Web source in your paper, make sure you know who created the mate- rial and for what purpose. Sites with reliable information can stand up to careful scrutiny. For a checklist on evaluating Web sources, see the chart on page 425. (See also an evaluation of two sample Web sites on pp. 426–27.)

Evaluating all sources

Checking for signs of bias

● Does the author or publisher endorse political or religious views that could aff ect objectivity?

● Is the author or publisher associated with a special-interest group, such as PETA or the National Rifl e Association, that might present only one side of an issue?

● Are alternative views presented and addressed? How fairly does the author treat opposing views? (See 6c.)

● Does the author’s language show signs of bias?

Assessing an argument

● What is the author’s central claim or thesis? ● How does the author support this claim — with relevant and

suffi cient evidence or with just a few anecdotes or emotional examples?

● Are statistics consistent with those you encounter in other sources? Have they been used fairly? Does the author explain where the statistics come from?

● Are any of the author’s assumptions questionable? ● Does the author consider opposing arguments and refute

them persuasively? (See 6c.) ● Does the author fall prey to any logical fallacies?

(See 6a.)

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

52 Evaluating sources > Writing practice: Evaluating sources you fi nd on the Web

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425

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52eAssess Web sources with care

Evaluating sources you fi nd on the Web

Authorship

● Does the Web site or document have an author? You may need to do some clicking and scrolling to fi nd the author’s name. If you have landed directly on an internal page of a site, for example, you may need to navigate to the home page or fi nd an “about this site” link to learn the name of the author.

● If there is an author, can you tell whether he or she is knowl- edgeable and credible? When the author’s qualifi cations aren’t listed on the site itself, look for links to the author’s home page, which may provide evidence of his or her interests and expertise.

Sponsorship

● Who, if anyone, sponsors the site? Th e sponsor of a site is oft en named and described on the home page.

● What does the URL tell you? Th e domain name extension oft en indicates the type of group hosting the site: commercial (.com), educational (.edu), nonprofi t (.org), governmental (.gov), military (.mil), or network (.net). URLs may also indi- cate a country of origin: .uk (United Kingdom) or .jp (Japan), for instance.

Purpose and audience

● Why was the site created: To argue a position? To sell a product? To inform readers?

● Who is the site’s intended audience?

Currency

● How current is the site? Check for the date of publication or the latest update, oft en located at the bottom of the home page or at the beginning or end of an internal page.

● How current are the site’s links? If many of the links no longer work, the site may be too dated for your purposes.

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52e Evaluating sources426

EVALUATING A WEB SITE: CHECKING RELIABILITY

1 This page on Internet monitoring and workplace privacy appears on a Web site sponsored by the National Conference of State Legislatures. The NCSL is a bipartisan group that functions as a clearinghouse of ideas and research of interest to state lawmakers. It is also a lobby for state issues before the US government.

2 A clear date of publication shows currency.

3 An “About Us” page provides an opportunity to verify the organization’s credentials. When you know something about the creator of the site, you will be in a good position to evaluate the worth and reliability of its information.

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Construct an annotated bibliography 427

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52f

EVALUATING A WEB SITE: CHECKING PURPOSE

1 The site is sponsored by a company that specializes in employee-monitoring software.

2 Repeated links for trial downloads and purchase suggest the site’s intended audience: consumers seeking to purchase software (probably not researchers seeking detailed information about employees’ use of the Internet in the workplace).

3 The site appears to provide information and even shows statistics from studies, but ultimately the purpose of the site is to sell a product.

52f Construct an annotated bibliography.

Section 51a describes how to write a working bibliography, a document that helps you keep track of publication information for all of the sources you may be considering for your project. At some point during your research process, or as a separate assignment, your instructor may ask you to write an annotated

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

52 Evaluating sources > Writing practice: Developing an annotated bibliography > Sample student writing: Orlov, “Online Monitoring: A Threat to Employee Privacy in

the Wired Workplace: An Annotated Bibliography” (annotated bibliography; MLA) > Sample student writing: Niemeyer, “Keynesian Policy: Implications for the Current

U.S. Economic Crisis” (annotated bibliography; APA)

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Writing guide | Annotated bibliography An annotated bibliography gives you an opportunity to summarize, evaluate, and record publication information for your sources before draft ing your research paper. You summarize each source to understand its main ideas; you evaluate each source for accuracy, quality, and relevance. Finally, you refl ect, asking yourself how the source will contribute to your research project. A sample annotated bibliography entry appears on page 430.

Key features

● A list of sources arranged in alphabetical order by author includes complete bibliographic information for each source.

● A brief entry for each source is typically one hundred to two hundred words.

● A summary of each source states the work’s main ideas and key points briefl y and accurately. Th e summary is written in the third person and the present tense. Summarizing helps you test your understanding of a source and convey its meaning responsibly.

● An evaluation of the source’s role and usefulness in your project includes an assessment of the source’s strengths and limitations, the author’s qualifi cations and expertise, and the function of the source in your project. Evaluating a source helps you analyze how the source fi ts into your project and separate the source’s ideas from your own.

Writing your annotated bibliography

EXPLORE

For each source, begin by brainstorming responses to questions such as the following.

● What is the purpose of the source? Who is the author’s intended audience?

● What is the author’s thesis? What evidence supports the thesis? ● What qualifi cations and expertise does the author bring?

Does the author have any biases or make any questionable assumptions?

● Why do you think this source is useful for your project? ● How does this source relate to the other sources in your

bibliography?

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DRAFT

● Arrange the sources in alphabetical order by author (or by title for works with no author).

● Provide consistent bibliographic information for each source. For the exact bibliographic format, see 56b (MLA) or 61b (APA).

● Start your summary by identifying the thesis and purpose of the source as well as the credentials of the source’s author.

● Keep your research question in mind. How does this source contribute to your project? How does it help you take your place in the conversation?

REVISE

Ask reviewers for specifi c feedback. Here are some questions to guide their comments.

● Is each source summarized clearly? Have you identifi ed the author’s main idea?

● For each source, have you made a clear judgment about how and why the source is useful for your project?

● Have you used quotation marks around exact words from a source?

bibliography entry for one or more of the sources you’ve gath- ered. When annotating a bibliography entry, you provide citation information for the source and, in your own words, a summary of its contents. Summarizing key points of a source will help you identify how the source relates to your argument and will help you judge whether the source is relevant and appropriate for your project. Evaluating your sources’ ideas will help you separate them from your own ideas, and it will also help you move toward a draft in which you synthesize sources and present your own thesis. (See 55d and 60d for more on synthesis.) For a sample annotated bibliography, see page 430. For more help with writing an annotated bibliography, see the Writing Guide that begins on page 428.

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52f Evaluating sources430

SAMPLE ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY (MLA STYLE)

Resnik, David. “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom.”

American Journal of Bioethics 10.3 (2010): 27-32.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

In this scholarly article, bioethicist David

Resnik argues that bans on unhealthy foods

threaten our personal freedom. He claims that

researchers don’t have enough evidence

to know whether banning trans fats will save

lives or money; all we know is that such bans

restrict dietary choices. Resnik explains why

most Americans oppose food restrictions, noting

our multiethnic and regional food traditions as

well as our resistance to government limitations

on personal freedoms. He acknowledges that

few people would miss eating trans fats, but he

fears that bans on such substances could lead

to widespread restrictions on red meat, sugary

sodas, and other foods known to have harmful

effects. Resnik offers a well-reasoned argument,

but he goes too far by insisting that all proposed

food restrictions will do more harm than good.

This article contributes important perspectives on

American resistance to government intervention

in food choice and counters arguments in other

sources that support the idea of food legislation

to advance public health.

Summarize the source using present tense.

Annotations should be three to seven sentences long.

Evaluate the source for bias and relevance.

Evaluate the source for its contribution to the research project.

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Writing Papers in MLA Style

DIRECTORY TO MLA IN-TEXT CITATION MODELS, 432

DIRECTORY TO MLA WORKS CITED MODELS, 432

53 Supporting a thesis, 435

54 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism, 441

55 Integrating sources, 445

56 Documenting sources in MLA style, 458

57 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper, 513

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General guidelines for signal

phrases and page numbers

1. Author named in a signal phrase, 459

2. Author named in parentheses, 460

3. Author unknown, 460 4. Page number unknown, 460 5. One-page source, 460

Variations on the

general guidelines

6. Two or three authors, 461 7. Four or more authors, 461 8. Organization as author, 462 9. Authors with the same last

name, 462 10. Two or more works by the same

author, 462 11. Two or more works in one

citation, 463 12. Repeated citations from the

same source, 463

13. Encyclopedia or dictionary entry, 464

14. Multivolume work, 464 15. Entire work, 464 16. Selection in an anthology, 464 17. Government document, 465 18. Historical document, 465 19. Legal source, 465 20. Visual such as a table, a chart,

or another graphic, 465 21. Personal communication and

social media, 466 22. Web source, 466 23. Indirect source (source quoted

in another source), 466

Literary works and sacred texts

24. Literary work without parts or line numbers, 467

25. Verse play or poem, 467 26. Novel with numbered

divisions, 468 27. Sacred text, 468

Directory to MLA in-text citation models

General guidelines for

listing authors

1. Single author, 469 2. Two or three authors, 469 3. Four or more authors, 472 4. Organization or company as

author, 472 5. No author listed, 472

a. Article or other short work, 472

b. Television program, 473 c. Book, entire Web site, or

other long work, 473 6. Two or more works by the same

author, 473 7. Two or more works by the same

group of authors, 473 8. Editor or translator, 473 9. Author with editor or

translator, 474 10. Graphic narrative or illustrated

work, 475 a. Author fi rst, 475

b. Illustrator fi rst, 475 c. Author and illustrator the

same person, 476 11. Author using a pseudonym (pen

name) or screen name, 476 12. Author quoted by another

author (indirect source), 476

Articles and other short works

13. Basic format for an article or other short work, 477 a. Print, 477 b. Web, 477 c. Database, 477

14. Article in a journal, 477 a. Print, 477 b. Online journal, 479 c. Database, 479

15. Article in a magazine, 479 a. Print (monthly), 479 b. Print (weekly), 479 c. Web, 481 d. Database, 481

Directory to MLA works cited models

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16. Article in a newspaper, 481 a. Print, 481 b. Web, 482 c. E-reader, 482 d. Database, 482

17. Abstract or executive summary, 482 a. Abstract of an article, 482 b. Abstract of a paper, 482 c. Abstract of a

dissertation, 483 d. Executive summary, 483

18. Article with a title in its title, 483

19. Editorial, 483 20. Unsigned article, 483 21. Letter to the editor, 483 22. Comment on an online

article, 484 23. Paper or presentation at a

conference, 484 24. Book review, 484

a. Print, 485 b. Web, 485 c. Database, 485

25. Film review or other review, 485 a. Print, 485 b. Web, 485

26. Performance review, 485 27. Interview, 486

a. Print, 486 b. Web, 486 c. Television or radio, 486 d. Personal, 486

28. Article in a reference work (encyclopedia, dictionary, wiki), 486 a. Print, 487 b. Web, 487

29. Letter, 487 a. Print, 487 b. Web, 487 c. Personal, 487

Books and other long works

30. Basic format for a book, 488 a. Print, 488 b. E-book, 488

c. Web, 488 d. Database, 488

31. Parts of a book, 490 a. Foreword, introduction,

preface, or afterword, 490 b. Chapter in a book, 490

32. Book with a title in its title, 490 33. Book in a language other than

English, 490 34. Entire anthology or

collection, 490 35. One selection from an

anthology or a collection, 491 36. Two or more selections from an

anthology or a collection, 491 37. Edition other than the fi rst, 491 38. Multivolume work, 493 39. Sacred text, 493 40. Book in a series, 494 41. Republished book, 494 42. Publisher’s imprint, 494 43. Pamphlet, brochure, or

newsletter, 494 44. Dissertation, 494

a. Published, 494 b. Unpublished, 494

45. Proceedings of a conference, 495

46. Manuscript, 495

Web sites and parts of Web sites

47. An entire Web site, 495 a. Web site with author or

editor, 495 b. Web site with organization

as author, 496 c. Web site with no author, 496 d. Web site with no title, 496

48. Short work from a Web site, 496 a. Short work with author, 496 b. Short work with no

author, 496 49. Long work from a Web site, 498 50. Entire blog, 498 51. Blog post or comment, 498 52. Academic course or department

home page, 498

Directory to MLA works cited models, continued

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434

Audio, visual, and

multimedia sources

53. Podcast, 499 a. Web, 499 b. Downloaded, 499

54. Film (DVD, BD, or other format), 499

55. Supplementary material accompanying a fi lm, 500

56. Video or audio from the Web, 500

57. Video game, 501 58. Computer software

or app, 501 59. Television or radio episode or

program, 501 a. Broadcast, 501 b. Web, 502 c. Podcast, 502

60. Transcript, 503 61. Performance, 504 62. Lecture or public address, 504

a. Live, 504 b. Web, 504

63. Musical score, 504 64. Sound recording, 505

a. CD, 505 b. Downloaded, 505

65. Work of art, 505 a. Original, 506 b. Web, 506

c. Digital fi le, 506 d. Reproduction (print), 506

66. Photograph, 506 a. Original, 507 b. Web, 507 c. Digital fi le, 507 d. Reproduction (print), 507

67. Cartoon, 507 68. Advertisement, 507 69. Visual such as a table, a chart,

or another graphic, 507 70. Map, 508 71. Digital fi le, 509

Government and legal documents

72. Government document, 510 73. Testimony before a legislative

body, 510 74. Historical document, 510 75. Legislative act (law), 511 76. Court case, 511

Personal communication

and social media

77. E-mail message, 511 78. Text message, 511 79. Posting to an online discussion

list, 512 80. Facebook post or

comment, 512 81. Twitter post (tweet), 512

Directory to MLA works cited models, continued

Most English instructors and some humanities instructors will ask you to document your sources with the Modern Language Association (MLA) system of citations described in chapter 56.

When writing an MLA paper that is based on sources, you face three main challenges: (1) supporting a thesis, (2) citing your sources accurately and avoiding plagiarism, and (3) inte- grating source material eff ectively.

Examples in chapters 53–55 are drawn from a student’s re- search about the role of government in legislating food choices. Sophie Harba’s research paper, in which she argues that state gov- ernments have the responsibility to advance health policies and to regulate healthy eating choices, appears on pages 517–25.

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435

MLA

53aForm a working thesis

NOTE: For advice on fi nding and evaluating sources and on man- aging information in all your college courses, see chapters 50–52.

53 Supporting a thesis Most research assignments ask you to form a thesis, or main idea, and to support that thesis with well-organized evidence. (See also 1c.)

53a Form a working thesis.

Once you have read a variety of sources, considered your issue from diff erent perspectives, and chosen an entry point in the research conversation (see 50b), you are ready to form a work- ing thesis to focus your project: a one-sentence (or occasionally a two-sentence) statement of your central idea. (See also 1c and 53d.) Th e working thesis expresses more than your opinion; it expresses your informed, reasoned answer to your research question — a question about which people might disagree. As you learn more about your subject, your ideas may change, and your working thesis will evolve, too. You can revise your thesis as you draft .

In a research paper, your thesis will answer the central re- search question that you pose (see 50b). Here, for example, are student writer Sophie Harba’s research question and working thesis.

RESEARCH QUESTION

Should the government enact laws to regulate healthy eating

choices?

WORKING THESIS

Government has the responsibility to regulate healthy eating choices

because of the rise of chronic diseases.

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53 Supporting a thesis > Writing practice: Writing a working thesis for a research paper > Exercises: 53–1 and 53–2

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MLA

53b436 Supporting a thesis

Aft er you have written a rough draft and perhaps done more reading, you may decide to revise your thesis, as Harba did, to give it a sharper and more specifi c focus.

REVISED THESIS

In the name of public health and safety, state governments have

the responsibility to advance health policies and to regulate healthy

eating choices, especially since doing so offers a potentially large

social benefit for a relatively small cost.

Th e thesis usually appears at the end of the introductory para- graph. To read Sophie Harba’s thesis in her introduction, see page 517.

Testing your thesis

When draft ing and revising a thesis statement, make sure it answers your central research question and that you can eff ectively develop it with the sources available to you. Keeping the following guidelines in mind will help you develop an eff ective thesis statement.

● A thesis should take a position that needs to be argued and sup- ported. It should not be a fact or description.

● A thesis should match the scope of the research project. If your thesis is too broad, explore a subtopic of your original topic. If your thesis is too narrow, pose a research question that has more than one answer.

● A thesis should be sharply focused. Avoid vague words such as interesting or good. Use concrete language and make sure your thesis lets readers know your position.

● A thesis should stand up to the “So what?” question. Ask yourself why readers should care about your thesis. If your thesis matters to you, your readers are more likely to fi nd your ideas engaging.

53b Organize your ideas.

Th e body of your paper will consist of evidence in support of your thesis. It will be useful to sketch an informal plan that helps you begin to organize your ideas. Sophie Harba, for example, used this simple plan to outline the structure of her argument:

• Debates about the government’s role in regulating food have a long history in the United States.

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437

MLA

53cUse sources to inform and support your argument

• Some experts argue that we should focus on the dangers of unhealthy eating habits and on preventing chronic diseases linked to diet.

• But food regulations are not a popular solution because many Americans object to government restrictions on personal choice.

• Food regulations designed to prevent chronic disease don’t ask Americans to give up their freedom; they ask Americans to see health as a matter of public good.

Aft er you have written a rough draft , a formal outline can help you organize your argument (see 1d).

53c Use sources to inform and support your argument.

Used thoughtfully, the source materials you have gathered will make your argument more developed and convincing for read- ers. Sources can play several diff erent roles to support your thesis and develop your points.

Providing background information or context

You can use facts and statistics to support generalizations or to establish the importance of your topic, as student writer Sophie Harba does to demonstrate the large social benefi ts of laws designed to prevent chronic disease.

To give just one example, Marion Nestle, New York University

professor of nutrition and public health, notes that “a 1% reduction

in intake of saturated fat across the population would prevent more

than 30,000 cases of coronary heart disease annually and save more

than a billion dollars in health care costs” (7).

Explaining terms or concepts

If readers are unfamiliar with a term or a concept, you will want to defi ne or explain it; or if your argument depends on a term with multiple meanings, you will want to explain your use of the term. Quoting or paraphrasing a source can help you defi ne terms and concepts in accessible language. Harba defi nes the

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MLA

53c438 Supporting a thesis

term refi ned grains as part of her claim that the typical American diet is getting less healthy over time.

A diet that is low in nutritional value and high in sugars, fats, and

refined grains—grains that have been processed to increase shelf

life but that sacrifice fiber, iron, and B vitamins—can be damaging

over time (United States, Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of Health

and Human Services 36).

Supporting your claims

As you develop your argument, back up your assertions with facts, examples, and other evidence from your research. (See also 6h.) Harba, for example, uses factual evidence to make the point that the typical American diet is damaging.

Michael Pollan, who has written extensively about Americans’ unhealthy

eating habits, cites the Centers for Disease Control in arguing that “fully

three quarters of US health care spending goes to treat chronic diseases,

most of which are preventable and linked to diet: heart disease, stroke,

type 2 diabetes, and at least a third of all cancers.”

Lending authority

Expert opinion can add weight and credibility to your argument. (See also 6h.) But don’t rely on experts to make your points for you. State your ideas in your own words and, when appropriate, cite the judgment of an authority in the fi eld to support your position.

Debates surrounding the government’s role in regulating food have

a long history in the United States. According to Lorine Goodwin, a

food historian, nineteenth-century reformers who sought to purify

the food supply were called “fanatics” and “radicals” by critics who

argued that consumers should be free to buy and eat what they

want (77).

Anticipating and countering objections

Do not ignore sources that seem contrary to your position. Instead, use them to give voice to opposing points of view and to state potential objections to your argument before you counter

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439

MLA

53dDraft an introduction for your thesis

them (see 6i). By anticipating her readers’ argument that many Americans oppose laws to limit what they eat, Sophie Harba cre- ates an opportunity to counter that objection and build common ground with her readers.

Why is the public largely resistant to laws that would limit

unhealthy choices or penalize those choices with so-called fat

taxes? Many consumers and civil rights advocates find such laws

to be an unreasonable restriction on individual freedom of choice.

As health policy experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan point out,

opposition to food and beverage regulation is similar to the

opposition to early tobacco legislation: the public views the issue as

one of personal responsibility rather than one requiring government

intervention (2602). In other words, if a person eats unhealthy food

and becomes ill as a result, that is his or her choice. But those who

favor legislation claim that freedom of choice is a myth because of

the strong influence of food and beverage industry marketing on

consumers’ dietary habits.

53d Draft an introduction for your thesis.

In a research paper, readers are accustomed to seeing the thesis statement — the paper’s main point — at the end of the fi rst or sec- ond paragraph. Th e advantage of putting it in the fi rst paragraph is that readers can easily recognize your position. Th e advantage of delaying the thesis until the second paragraph is that you can provide a fuller context for your main idea.

As you draft your introduction, you may revise your work- ing thesis, either because you have refi ned your thinking or be- cause new wording fi ts more smoothly into the context you have created for it.

In addition to stating your thesis, an introduction should hook readers (see 1e). For example, in your fi rst sentence or two you might introduce readers to the research conversation by connecting your topic to a recent news item or by pointing to emerging trends in an academic discipline. Other strategies are to pose a puzzling problem or to cite a startling statistic. Sophie Harba begins her paper by engaging readers with her research question: “Should the government enact laws to regulate healthy

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MLA

53e440 Supporting a thesis

eating choices?” She then highlights the research conversation around the question before off ering her perspective in her thesis (see p. 517).

53e Draft the paper in an appropriate voice.

A chatty, breezy voice is usually not appropriate in a research paper, but neither is a vague, timid one.

TOO CHATTY

What’s up with these people who think food isn’t important and don’t want the government in their kitchen? People who are against food regulation seem so irrational and unreasonable.

MORE FORMAL

Why is the public largely resistant to laws that would limit unhealthy choices or penalize those choices with so-called fat taxes? Many consumers and civil rights advocates fi nd such laws to be an unreasonable restriction on individual freedom of choice.

TOO VAGUE

It has been concluded that a majority of Americans don’t want the government to restrict their food access.

MORE SPECIFIC

According to a nationwide poll, 75 percent of Americans are opposed to laws that restrict or put limitations on access to unhealthy foods (Neergaard and Agiesta).

TOO TIMID

I may not be an expert on food policy, but it seems to me that eating unhealthy foods contributes to chronic disease and lots of other problems.

MORE AUTHORITATIVE

Mounting scientifi c evidence points to unhealthy foods as a signifi cant contributing factor to chronic disease, which we know is straining our health care system, decreasing our quality of life, and leading to unnecessary premature deaths.

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54 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism In a research paper, you will draw on the work of other writ- ers, and you must document their contributions by citing your sources. Sources are cited for two reasons:

1. to tell readers where your information comes from — so that they can assess its reliability and, if interested, fi nd and read the original source

2. to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas

Borrowing another writer’s language, sentence structures, or ideas without proper acknowledgment is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism.

You must include a citation when you quote from a source, when you summarize or paraphrase, and when you borrow facts that are not common knowledge (see also 54b).

54a Understand how the MLA system works.

Most English professors and some humanities professors require the MLA (Modern Language Association) system of in-text citations. Here, briefl y, is how the MLA citation system usually works. (See 56 for more details and model citations. See 57b for a sample research paper with in-text citations and a works cited list in MLA style.)

1. Th e source is introduced by a signal phrase that names its author.

2. Th e material being cited is followed by a page number in parentheses (unless the source is an unpaginated Web source).

3. At the end of the paper, a list of works cited (arranged alphabetically by authors’ last names) gives complete publication information for the source.

441

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MLA

54b442 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism

IN-TEXT CITATION

Bioethicist David Resnik emphasizes that such policies “open

the door to excessive government control over food, which could

restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious

traditions, and exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities” (31).

ENTRY IN THE LIST OF WORKS CITED

Resnik, David. “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom.” American

Journal of Bioethics 10.3 (2010): 27-32. Academic Search

Premier. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

NOTE: When you use an MLA in-text citation, a period appears aft er the parenthetical citation. Th is basic MLA format varies for diff erent types of sources. For a detailed discussion and other models, see 56.

54b Avoid plagiarism when quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources.

In a research paper, you draw on the work of other writers, and you must document their contributions by citing your sources. When you acknowledge your sources, you avoid plagiarism, a serious academic off ense. (See also 51c.)

In general, these three acts are considered plagiarism: (1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas, (2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and (3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words. Defi nitions of plagiarism may vary; it’s a good idea to fi nd out how your school defi nes academic dishonesty.

Citing quotations and borrowed ideas

You must cite all direct quotations. You must also cite any ideas borrowed from a source: summaries and paraphrases; statistics and other specifi c facts; and visuals such as cartoons, graphs, and diagrams.

Th e only exception is common knowledge — information that your readers could easily fi nd in any number of general sources. For example, a quick search could tell you that Joel Coen directed Fargo in 1996 and that Emily Dickinson published only a handful of her many poems during her lifetime.

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54b Avoid plagiarism when quoting,

summarizing, and paraphrasing sources

As a rule, when you have seen information repeatedly in your reading, you don’t need to cite it. However, when informa- tion has appeared in only one or two sources, when it is highly specifi c (as with statistics), or when it is controversial, you should cite the source. If a topic is new to you and you are not sure what is considered common knowledge or what is controversial, ask your instructor, a reference librarian, or someone else with ex- pertise. When in doubt, cite the source. (See 56 for details.)

Enclosing borrowed language in quotation marks

To indicate that you are using a source’s exact phrases or sen- tences, you must enclose them in quotation marks unless they have been set off from the text by indenting (see 55b). To omit the quotation marks is to claim — falsely — that the language is your own, as in the example below. Such an omission is plagia- rism even if you have cited the source.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

Although these policies may have a positive impact on human health, they open the door to excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions, and exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities.

—David Resnik, “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom,” p. 31

PLAGIARISM

Bioethicist David Resnik points out that policies to ban trans fats

may protect human health, but they open the door to excessive

government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices

and interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions (31).

BORROWED LANGUAGE IN QUOTATION MARKS

Bioethicist David Resnik points out that policies to ban trans fats

may protect human health, but they “open the door to excessive

government control over food, which could restrict dietary choices,

interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions, and

exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities” (31).

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54b444 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism

Putting summaries and paraphrases in your own words

Summaries and paraphrases are written in your own words. A summary condenses information from a source; a paraphrase uses roughly the same number of words as the original source to convey the information. When you summarize or paraphrase, it is not enough to name the source; you must restate the source’s meaning using your own language. (See also 51c and 55a.) Half- copying the author’s sentences by using the author’s phrases in your own sentences without quotation marks or by plugging synonyms into the author’s sentence structure (sometimes called patchwriting) is a form of plagiarism.

Th e fi rst paraphrase of the following source is plagiarized. Even though the source is cited, too much of its language is bor- rowed from the original. Th e highlighted strings of words have been copied exactly (without quotation marks). In addition, the writer has closely echoed the sentence structure of the source, merely substituting some synonyms (interfere with lifestyle choices for paternalistic intervention into lifestyle choices and decrease the feeling of personal responsibility for enfeeble the notion of personal responsibility).

ORIGINAL SOURCE

[A]ntiobesity laws encounter strong opposition from some quarters on the grounds that they constitute paternalistic intervention into lifestyle choices and enfeeble the notion of personal responsibility. Such arguments echo those made in the early days of tobacco regulation.

— Michelle M. Mello, David M. Studdert, and Troyen A. Brennan, “Obesity — Th e New Frontier of

Public Health Law,” p. 2602

PLAGIARISM: UNACCEPTABLE BORROWING

Health policy experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan argue that

antiobesity laws encounter strong opposition from some quarters

because they interfere with lifestyle choices and decrease the

feeling of personal responsibility. These arguments mirror those

made in the early days of tobacco regulation (2602).

To avoid plagiarizing an author’s language, resist the temp- tation to look at the source while you are summarizing or paraphrasing. Aft er you have read the passage you want to para- phrase, set the source aside. Ask yourself, “What is the author’s

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55Integrating sources

meaning?” In your own words, state your understanding of the author’s ideas.

Return to the source and check that you haven’t used the au- thor’s language or sentence structure or misrepresented the au- thor’s ideas. Following these steps will help you avoid plagiarizing the source. When you fully understand another writer’s meaning, you can more easily and accurately represent those ideas in your own words.

ACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE

As health policy experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan point out,

opposition to food and beverage regulation is similar to the

opposition to early tobacco legislation: the public views the issue as

one of personal responsibility rather than one requiring government

intervention (2602).

55 Integrating sources Your research paper draws on and borrows from the work of others — your sources — to help you develop and support your ideas. As you conduct research, you gather language and ideas from your sources that you might want to use in your paper. Section 54 shows you how to acknowledge those sources to avoid plagiarism. Th is section will help you integrate those sources seamlessly and eff ectively into your paper, so that readers under- stand how your use of quotation, summary, and paraphrase con- tributes to your argument.

As you integrate sources, you need to fi nd a balance between the words of your sources and your own voice. Readers should al- ways know who is speaking in your paper — you or your source. You can use several strategies to integrate research sources into your paper while maintaining your own voice.

• Use sources as concisely as possible so that your own thinking and voice aren’t lost (55a and 55b).

• Use signal phrases and avoid dropping quotations into your paper without indicating the boundary between your words and the source’s words (55c).

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55a446 Integrating sources

• Discuss and analyze your sources to show readers how each source supports your argument and how the sources relate to one another (55d).

55a Summarize and paraphrase effectively.

In your academic writing, keep the emphasis on your ideas and your language; use your own words to summarize and to para- phrase your sources and to explain your points. Whether you choose to summarize or paraphrase a source depends on your purpose.

Summarizing

When you summarize a source, you express another writer’s ideas in your own words, condensing the author’s key points and using fewer words than the author. Th e following guidelines will help you decide when summary is the most eff ective method for integrating your source.

WHEN TO USE A SUMMARY

• When a passage is lengthy and you want to condense a chapter to a short paragraph or a paragraph to a single sentence

• When you want to state the source’s main ideas simply and briefl y in your own words

• When you want to compare arguments or ideas from various sources

• When you want to provide readers with an understanding of the source’s argument before you respond to it or launch your own

Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase, you express an author’s ideas in your own words, using approximately the same number of words and details as in the source. Th e following guidelines will help you decide when paraphrase is the most eff ective method for inte- grating your source.

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WHEN TO USE A PARAPHRASE

• When the ideas and information are important but the author’s exact words are not needed for accuracy or emphasis

• When you want to restate the source’s ideas in your own words

• When you need to simplify and explain a technical or complicated source

• When you need to reorder a source’s ideas

Even though you use your own words to summarize and para- phrase, the original idea remains the intellectual property of the author, so you must include a citation. (See 54b.)

55b Use quotations effectively.

When you quote a source, you borrow some of the author’s exact words and enclose them in quotation marks. Quotation marks show your readers that both the idea and the words belong to the author.

WHEN TO USE QUOTATIONS

• When language is especially vivid or expressive • When exact wording is needed for technical accuracy • When it is important to let the debaters of an issue explain

their positions in their own words • When the words of an authority lend weight to an argument • When the language of a source is the topic of your

discussion (as in an analysis or interpretation)

Limiting your use of quotations

Although it is tempting to insert many quotations in your paper and to use your own words only for connecting passages, do not quote excessively.

It is not always necessary to quote full sentences from a source. To reduce your reliance on the words of others, you can oft en

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55b Integrating sources448

integrate language from a source into your own sentence structure. (For the use of signal phrases in integrating quotations, see 55c.)

Resnik acknowledges that his argument relies on the “slippery slope”

fallacy, but he insists that “social and political pressures” regarding

food regulations make his concerns valid (31).

Using the ellipsis mark and brackets

Two useful marks of punctuation, the ellipsis mark and brackets, allow you to keep quoted material to a minimum and to integrate it smoothly into your text.

The ellipsis mark To condense a quoted passage, you can use the ellipsis mark (three periods, with spaces between) to indicate that you have left words out. What remains must be grammati- cally complete.

In Mississippi, legislators passed “a ban on bans—a law that

forbids . . . local restrictions on food or drink” (Conly A23).

Th e writer has omitted from the source the words municipalities to place before local restrictions to condense the quoted material.

On the rare occasions when you want to leave out one or more full sentences, use a period before the three ellipsis dots.

Legal scholars Gostin and Gostin argue that “individuals have

limited willpower to defer immediate gratification for longer-term

health benefits. . . . A person understands that high-fat foods

or a sedentary lifestyle will cause adverse health effects, or that

excessive spending or gambling will cause financial hardship, but it

is not always easy to refrain” (217).

Ordinarily, do not use an ellipsis mark at the beginning or at the end of a quotation. Your readers will understand that the quoted material is taken from a longer passage, so such marks are not necessary. Th e only exception occurs when you have dropped words at the end of the fi nal quoted sentence. In such cases, put three ellipsis dots before the closing quotation mark and paren- thetical reference.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Make sure omissions and ellipsis marks do not distort the meaning of your source.

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55bUse quotations effectively

Brackets Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted material. You can insert words in brackets to clarify a con- fusing reference or to keep a sentence grammatical in your con- text. You also use brackets to indicate that you are changing a letter from capital to lowercase (or vice versa) to fi t into your sentence.

Neergaard and Agiesta argue that “a new poll finds people are split

on how much the government should do to help [find solutions to

the national health crisis]—and most draw the line at attempts to

force healthier eating.”

In this example, the writer inserted words in brackets to clarify the meaning of help.

To indicate an error such as a misspelling in a quotation, in- sert [sic], including the brackets, right aft er the error.

“While Americans of every race, gender and ethnicity are affected

by this disease, diabetes disproportionately effects [sic] minority

populations.”

Do not overuse [sic] to call attention to errors in a source. Sometimes paraphrasing is a better option. (See 39c.)

Setting off long quotations

When you quote more than four typed lines of prose or more than three lines of poetry, set off the quotation by indenting it one inch from the left margin.

Long quotations should be introduced by an informative sentence, oft en followed by a colon. Quotation marks are unnec- essary because the indented format tells readers that the passage is taken word-for-word from the source.

In response to critics who claim that laws aimed at stopping

us from eating whatever we want are an assault on our freedom of

choice, Conly offers a persuasive counterargument:

[L]aws aren’t designed for each one of us individually.

Some of us can drive safely at 90 miles per hour, but we’re

bound by the same laws as the people who can’t, because

individual speeding laws aren’t practical. Giving up a little

liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in

a democratic society that is governed by laws. (A23)

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55c Integrating sources450

Notice that at the end of an indented quotation the par- enthetical citation goes outside the fi nal mark of punctuation. (When a quotation is run into your text, the opposite is true. See the sample citations on p. 448.)

55c Use signal phrases to integrate sources.

Using signal phrases in MLA papers

To avoid monotony, try to vary both the language and the placement of your signal phrases.

Model signal phrases

Michael Pollan, who has written extensively about Americans’ unhealthy eating habits, argues that “. . .” As health policy experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan point out, “. . .” Marion Nestle, New York University professor of nutrition and public health, notes, “. . .” Conly off ers a persuasive counterargument: “. . .”

Verbs in signal phrases

acknowledges comments endorses reasons adds compares grants refutes admits confi rms illustrates rejects agrees contends implies reports argues declares insists responds asserts denies notes suggests believes disputes observes thinks claims emphasizes points out writes

When you write a signal phrase, choose a verb that is ap- propriate for the way you are using the source. Are you providing

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55cUse signal phrases to integrate sources

background, explaining a concept, supporting a claim, lending authority, or refuting a belief (see 53c)? Refer to the chart on page 450 for a list of verbs commonly used in signal phrases.

NOTE: MLA style calls for verbs in the present or present perfect tense (argues, has argued) to introduce source material unless you include a date that specifi es the time of the original author’s writing.

Marking boundaries

Readers need to move from your words to the words of a source without feeling a jolt. Avoid dropping quotations into the text without warning. Instead, provide clear signal phrases, including at least the author’s name, to indicate the boundary between your words and the source’s words. (Th e signal phrase is highlighted in the second example.)

DROPPED QUOTATION

Laws designed to prevent chronic disease by promoting

healthier food and beverage consumption also have potential

economic benefits. “[A] 1% reduction in the intake of saturated

fat across the population would prevent more than 30,000 cases of

coronary heart disease annually and would save more than a billion

dollars in health care costs” (Nestle 7).

QUOTATION WITH SIGNAL PHRASE

Laws designed to prevent chronic disease by promoting

healthier food and beverage consumption also have potential

economic benefits. Marion Nestle, New York University professor

of nutrition and public health, notes that “a 1% reduction in the

intake of saturated fat across the population would prevent more

than 30,000 cases of coronary heart disease annually and would

save more than a billion dollars in health care costs” (7).

Establishing authority

Th e fi rst time you mention a source, include in the signal phrase the author’s title, credentials, or experience to help your readers recognize the source’s authority and your own credibility as a

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55c Integrating sources452

responsible researcher who has located reliable sources. (Signal phrases are highlighted in the next two examples.)

SOURCE WITH NO CREDENTIALS

Michael Pollan notes that “the Centers for Disease Control

estimates that fully three quarters of US health care spending goes

to treat chronic diseases, most of which are preventable and linked

to diet: heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and at least a third

of all cancers.”

SOURCE WITH CREDENTIALS

Journalist Michael Pollan, who has written extensively about

Americans’ unhealthy eating habits, notes that “the Centers for

Disease Control estimates that fully three quarters of US health

care spending goes to treat chronic diseases, most of which are

preventable and linked to diet: heart disease, stroke, type 2

diabetes, and at least a third of all cancers.”

Introducing summaries and paraphrases

Introduce most summaries and paraphrases with a signal phrase that names the author and places the material in the context of your argument. (See also 55c.) Readers will then understand that everything between the signal phrase and the parenthetical cita- tion summarizes or paraphrases the cited source.

Without the signal phrase (highlighted) in the following ex- ample, readers might think that only the quotation at the end is being cited, when in fact the whole paragraph is based on the source.

To improve public health, advocates such as Bowdoin

College philosophy professor Sarah Conly contend that it is the

government’s duty to prevent people from making harmful choices

whenever feasible and whenever public benefits outweigh the costs.

In response to critics who claim that laws aimed at stopping us

from eating whatever we want are an assault on our freedom of

choice, Conly asserts that “laws aren’t designed for each one of us

individually” (A23).

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55cUse signal phrases to integrate sources

Th ere are times when a summary or a paraphrase does not require a signal phrase naming the author. When the context makes clear where the cited material begins, you may omit the signal phrase and include the author’s last name in parentheses.

Using signal phrases with statistics and other facts

When you cite a statistic or another specifi c fact, a signal phrase is oft en not necessary. Readers usually will understand that the citation refers to the statistic or fact (not the whole paragraph).

Seventy-five percent of Americans are opposed to laws that restrict

or put limitations on access to unhealthy foods (Neergaard and

Agiesta).

Th ere is nothing wrong, however, with using signal phrases to introduce statistics or other facts.

Putting source material in context

Readers should not have to guess why source material appears in your paper. A signal phrase can help you make the connection between your own ideas and those of another writer by clarifying how the source will contribute to your paper (see 52a).

If you use another writer’s words, you must explain how they relate to your argument. Quotations don’t speak for themselves; you must support them by creating a context for readers. Embed each quotation between sentences of your own: Introduce the quotation with a signal phrase, and follow it with interpretive comments that link the quotation to your paper’s argument (see also 55d).

QUOTATION WITH EFFECTIVE CONTEXT

In response to critics who claim that laws aimed at stopping

us from eating whatever we want are an assault on our freedom of

choice, Conly offers a persuasive counterargument:

[L]aws aren’t designed for each one of us individually.

Some of us can drive safely at 90 miles per hour, but we’re

bound by the same laws as the people who can’t, because

individual speeding laws aren’t practical. Giving up a little

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55d Integrating sources454

liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in

a democratic society that is governed by laws. (A23)

As Conly suggests, we need to change our either/or thinking

(either we have complete freedom of choice or we have government

regulations and lose our freedom) and instead need to see health as

a matter of public good, not individual liberty.

55d Synthesize sources.

When you synthesize multiple sources in a research paper, you create a conversation about your research topic. Your argument includes your active analysis and integration of ideas, not just a series of quotations and paraphrases. Your synthesis will show how your sources relate to one another; one source may support, extend, or counter the ideas of another. Not every source has to “speak” to another in a research paper, but readers should be able to see how each one functions in your argument (see 52a).

Considering how sources relate to your argument

Before you integrate sources and show readers how they relate to one another, consider how each one might contribute to your own argument. As student writer Sophie Harba became more informed about her research topic, she asked herself these questions: What have I learned from my sources? Which sources might support my ideas or illustrate the points I want to make? What counterargu- ments do I need to address to strengthen my position? She annotated a passage from one of her sources — a nonprofi t group’s assertion that our choices about food are skewed by marketing messages.

STUDENT NOTES ON THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

useful factual information Th e food and beverage industry spends approximately $2 billion per year marketing to children. — “Facts on Junk Food”

could use this to counter the point about personal choice in Mello et al.

Placing sources in conversation

You can show readers how the ideas of one source relate to those of another by connecting and analyzing the ideas in your own voice. Aft er all, you’ve done the research and thought through the

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issues, so you should control the conversation. When you eff ec- tively synthesize sources, the emphasis is still on your own writ- ing; the thread of your argument should be easy to identify and to understand, with or without your sources.

SAMPLE SYNTHESIS

Why is the public largely resistant to laws

that would limit unhealthy choices or penalize

those choices with so-called fat taxes? Many

consumers and civil rights advocates find such

laws to be an unreasonable restriction on

individual freedom of choice. As health policy

experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan point out,

opposition to food and beverage regulation

is similar to the opposition to early tobacco

legislation: the public views the issue as one of

personal responsibility rather than one requiring

government intervention (2602). In other words,

if a person eats unhealthy food and becomes ill as

a result, that is his or her choice. But those who

favor legislation claim that freedom of choice is

a myth because of the strong influence of food

and beverage industry marketing on consumers’

dietary habits. According to one nonprofit health

advocacy group, food and beverage companies

spend roughly two billion dollars per year

marketing directly to children. As a result, kids

see about four thousand ads per year encouraging

them to consume unhealthy food and drinks

(“Facts on Junk Food”). As was the case with

antismoking laws passed in recent decades, taxes

and legal restrictions on junk food sales could

help to counter the strong marketing messages

that promote unhealthy products.

Student writer Sophie Harba sets up her synthesis with a question.

Student writer

A signal phrase indicates how the source contributes to Harba’s argument and shows that the idea that follows is not her own.

Source 1

Harba interprets a paraphrased source. Student

writer

Harba uses a source to support her counter- argument.

Source 2

Student writer

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55d Integrating sources456

The United States has a history of state and

local public health laws that have successfully

promoted a particular behavior by punishing an

undesirable behavior. The decline in tobacco

use as a result of antismoking taxes and laws

is perhaps the most obvious example. Another

example is legislation requiring the use of seat

belts, which have significantly reduced fatalities

in car crashes. One government agency reports

that seat belt use saved an average of more than

fourteen thousand lives per year in the United

States between 2000 and 2010 (United States,

Dept. of Transportation, Natl. Highway Traffic

Safety Administration 231). Perhaps seat belt laws

have public support because the cost of wearing a

seat belt is small, especially when compared with

the benefit of saving fourteen thousand lives per

year.

In this synthesis, Harba uses her own analysis to shape the conver- sation among her sources. She does not simply string quotations together or allow them to overwhelm her writing. She guides her readers through a conversation about a variety of laws that could promote and have promoted public health. She fi nds points of intersection among her sources, acknowledges the contributions of others in the research conversation, and shows readers, in her own voice, how the various sources support her argument.

When synthesizing sources, ask yourself the following questions:

• How do your sources speak to your research question? • How do your sources speak to each other? • Have you varied the function of sources — to provide

background, to explain concepts, to lend authority, and to anticipate counterarguments?

• Do you connect and analyze sources in your own voice? • Is your own argument easy to identify and to understand,

with or without your sources?

Harba uses a statistic to extend the argument and follows the source with a closing thought of her own.

Source 3

Student writer

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Reviewing an MLA paper: Use of sources

Use of quotations

● Have you used quotation marks around quoted material (unless it has been set off from the text)? (See 54b.)

● Have you checked that quoted language is word-for-word accu- rate? If not, do ellipsis marks or brackets indicate the omissions or changes? (See pp. 448–49.)

● Does a clear signal phrase (usually naming the author) prepare readers for each quotation and for the purpose the quotation serves? (See 55c.)

● Does a parenthetical citation follow each quotation? (See 56a.) ● Have you embedded each quotation between sentences of your

own to put the source in context? (See 55c.)

Use of summaries and paraphrases

● Are summaries and paraphrases free of plagiarized wording — not copied or half-copied from the source? (See 54b.)

● Are summaries and paraphrases documented with parenthetical citations? (See 54b and 56a.)

● Do readers know where the cited material begins? In other words, does a signal phrase mark the boundary between your words and the summary or paraphrase? Or does the context alone make clear exactly what you are citing? (See 55c.)

● Does a signal phrase prepare readers for the purpose the sum- mary or paraphrase has in your argument?

Use of statistics and other facts

● Are statistics and facts (other than common knowledge) docu- mented with parenthetical citations? (See 54b and 56a.)

● If there is no signal phrase, will readers understand exactly which facts are being cited? (See 55c.)

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56 Documenting sources in MLA style In English and other humanities classes, you may be asked to use the MLA (Modern Language Association) system for document- ing sources, which is set forth in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (New York: MLA, 2009).

MLA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of works cited. A typical in-text citation names the author of the source, oft en in a signal phrase, and gives a page number in pa- rentheses. At the end of the paper, the list of works cited provides publication information about the source; the list is alphabetized by authors’ last names (or by titles for works without authors). Th ere is a direct connection between the in-text citation and the alphabetical listing. In the following example, that connection is highlighted.

IN-TEXT CITATION

Bioethicist David Resnik emphasizes that such policies, despite

their potential to make our society healthier, “open the door to

excessive government control over food, which could restrict dietary

choices, interfere with cultural, ethnic, and religious traditions, and

exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities” (31).

ENTRY IN THE LIST OF WORKS CITED

Resnik, David. “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom.” American

Journal of Bioethics 10.3 (2010): 27-32. Academic Search

Premier. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

For a list of works cited that includes this entry, see page 524.

56a MLA in-text citations

MLA in-text citations are made with a combination of signal phrases and parenthetical references. A signal phrase introduces information taken from a source (a quotation, summary, para- phrase, or fact); usually the signal phrase includes the author’s name. Th e parenthetical reference comes aft er the cited material,

458

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oft en at the end of the sentence. It includes at least a page num- ber (except for unpaginated sources, such as those found on the Web). In the models in 56a, the elements of the in-text citation are highlighted.

IN-TEXT CITATION

Resnik acknowledges that his argument relies on “slippery slope”

thinking, but he insists that “social and political pressures”

regarding food regulation make his concerns valid (31).

Readers can look up the author’s last name in the alphabetized list of works cited, where they will learn the work’s title and other publication information. If readers decide to consult the source, the page number will take them straight to the cited passage.

General guidelines for signal phrases and page numbers

Items 1–5 explain how the MLA system usually works for all sources — in print, on the Web, in other media, and with or with- out authors and page numbers. Items 6–27 give variations on the basic guidelines.

■ 1. Author named in a signal phrase Ordinarily, introduce the material being cited with a signal phrase that includes the author’s name. In addition to preparing readers for the source, the signal phrase allows you to keep the parenthetical citation brief.

According to Lorine Goodwin, a food historian, nineteenth-century

reformers who sought to purify the food supply were called “fanatics”

and “radicals” by critics who argued that consumers should be free to

buy and eat what they want (77).

Th e signal phrase — According to Lorine Goodwin — names the author; the parenthetical citation gives the page number of the book in which the quoted words may be found.

Notice that the period follows the parenthetical citation. When a quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, leave the end punctuation inside the quotation mark and add a period at the end of your sentence. (See the example at the top of page 460.)

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Burgess asks a critical question: “How can we think differently

about food labeling?” (51).

■ 2. Author named in parentheses If you do not give the author’s name in a signal phrase, put the last name in parentheses along with the page number (if the source has one). Use no punctua- tion between the name and the page number: (Moran 351).

According to a nationwide poll, 75% of Americans are opposed to

laws that restrict or put limitations on access to unhealthy foods

(Neergaard and Agiesta).

■ 3. Author unknown If a source has no author, the works cited entry will begin with the title. In your in-text citation, either use the complete title in a signal phrase or use a short form of the title in parentheses. Titles of books and other long works are itali- cized; titles of articles and other short works are put in quotation marks (see also p. 514).

As a result, kids see nearly four thousand ads per year encouraging

them to eat unhealthy food and drinks (“Facts on Junk Food”).

NOTE: If the author is a corporation or a government agency, see items 8 and 17 on pages 462 and 465, respectively.

■ 4. Page number unknown Do not include the page num- ber if a work lacks page numbers, as is the case with many Web sources. Do not use page numbers from a printout from a Web site. (When the pages of a Web source are stable, as in PDF fi les, supply a page number in your in-text citation.)

Michael Pollan points out that “cheap food” actually has “significant

costs—to the environment, to public health, to the public purse,

even to the culture.”

If a source has numbered paragraphs or sections, use “par.” (or “pars.”) or “sec.” (or “secs.”) in the parentheses: (Smith, par. 4). Notice that a comma follows the author’s name.

■ 5. One-page source If the source is one page long, MLA allows (but does not require) you to omit the page number. It’s a good idea to include the page number because without it readers

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may not know where your citation ends or, worse, may not real- ize that you have provided a citation at all.

NO PAGE NUMBER IN CITATION

Sarah Conly uses John Stuart Mill’s “harm principle” to argue

that citizens need their government to intervene to prevent them

from taking harmful actions—such as driving too fast or buying

unhealthy foods—out of ignorance of the harm they can do. But

government intervention may overstep in the case of food choices.

PAGE NUMBER IN CITATION

Sarah Conly uses John Stuart Mill’s “harm principle” to argue

that citizens need their government to intervene to prevent them

from taking harmful actions—such as driving too fast or buying

unhealthy foods—out of ignorance of the harm they can do (A23).

But government intervention may overstep in the case of food

choices.

Variations on the general guidelines

Th is section describes the MLA guidelines for handling a variety of situations not covered in items 1–5.

■ 6. Two or three authors Name the authors in a signal phrase, as in the following example, or include their last names in the parenthetical reference: (Gostin and Gostin 214).

As legal scholars Gostin and Gostin explain, “[I]nterventions that

do not pose a truly significant burden on individual liberty” are

justified if they “go a long way towards safeguarding the health and

well-being of the populace” (214).

When you name three authors in the parentheses, separate the names with commas: (Alton, Davies, and Rice 56).

■ 7. Four or more authors Name all authors or include only the fi rst author’s name followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”). Th e format you use should match the format in your works cited entry (see item 3 on p. 472).

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The study was extended for two years, and only after results were

reviewed by an independent panel did the researchers publish their

findings (Blaine et al. 35).

■ 8. Organization as author When the author is a corporation or an organization, name that author either in the signal phrase or in the parentheses. (For a government agency as author, see item 17 on p. 465.)

The American Diabetes Association estimates that the cost of

diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2012 was $245 billion.

In the list of works cited, the American Diabetes Association is treated as the author and alphabetized under A. When you give the organization name in parentheses, abbreviate common words in the name: “Assn.,” “Dept.,” “Natl.,” “Soc.,” and so on.

The cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States in 2012 was

estimated at $245 billion (Amer. Diabetes Assn.).

■ 9. Authors with the same last name If your list of works cited includes works by two or more authors with the same last name, include the author’s fi rst name in the signal phrase or fi rst initial in the parentheses.

One approach to the problem is to introduce nutrition literacy at the

K-5 level in public schools (E. Chen 15).

■ 10. Two or more works by the same author Mention the title of the work in the signal phrase or include a short version of the title in the parentheses.

The American Diabetes Association tracks trends in diabetes across

age groups. In 2012, more than 200,000 children and adolescents

had diabetes (“Fast Facts”). Because of an expected dramatic

increase in diabetes in young people over the next forty years, the

association encourages “strategies for implementing childhood

obesity prevention programs and primary prevention programs for

youth at risk of developing type 2 diabetes” (“Number of Youth”).

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Titles of articles and other short works are placed in quotation marks; titles of books and other long works are italicized. (See also p. 514.)

In the rare case when both the author’s name and a short title must be given in parentheses, separate them with a comma.

Researchers have estimated that “the number of youth with type 2

[diabetes] could quadruple and the number with type 1 could triple”

by 2050, “with an increasing proportion of youth with diabetes from

minority populations” (Amer. Diabetes Assn., “Number of Youth”).

■ 11. Two or more works in one citation To cite more than one source in the parentheses, list the authors (or titles) in alphabeti- cal order and separate them with a semicolon.

The prevalence of early-onset Type 2 diabetes has been well

documented (Finn 68; Sharma 2037; Whitaker 118).

It may be less distracting to use an information note for multiple citations (see 56c).

■ 12. Repeated citations from the same source When you are writing about a single work, you do not need to include the author’s name each time you quote from or paraphrase the work. Aft er you mention the author’s name at the beginning of your paper, you may include just the page number in your parentheti- cal citations.

In Susan Glaspell’s short story “A Jury of Her Peers,” two women

accompany their husbands and a county attorney to an isolated

house where a farmer named John Wright has been choked to death

in his bed with a rope. The chief suspect is Wright’s wife, Minnie,

who is in jail awaiting trial. The sheriff’s wife, Mrs. Peters, has come

along to gather some personal items for Minnie, and Mrs. Hale has

joined her. Early in the story, Mrs. Hale sympathizes with Minnie and

objects to the way the male investigators are “snoopin’ round and

criticizin’ ” her kitchen (249). In contrast, Mrs. Peters shows respect

for the law, saying that the men are doing “no more than their duty”

(249).

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In a paper with multiple sources, if you are citing a source more than once in a paragraph, you may omit the author’s name aft er the fi rst mention in the paragraph as long as it is clear that you are still referring to the same source.

■ 13. Encyclopedia or dictionary entry When an encyclopedia or a dictionary entry does not have an author, it will be alphabet- ized in the list of works cited under the word or entry that you consulted (see item 28 on p. 486). Either in your text or in your parenthetical citation, mention the word or entry. No page number is required because readers can easily look up the word or entry.

The word crocodile has a complex etymology (“Crocodile”).

■ 14. Multivolume work If your paper cites more than one vol- ume of a multivolume work, indicate in the parentheses the vol- ume you are referring to, followed by a colon and the page number.

In his studies of gifted children, Terman describes a pattern of

accelerated language acquisition (2: 279).

If you cite only one volume of a multivolume work, you will in- clude the volume number in the list of works cited and will not need to include it in the parentheses. (See the second example in item 38 on p. 493.)

■ 15. Entire work Use the author’s name in a signal phrase or a parenthetical citation. Th ere is no need to use a page number.

Pollan explores the issues surrounding food production and

consumption from a political angle.

■ 16. Selection in an anthology Put the name of the author of the selection (not the editor of the anthology) in the signal phrase or the parentheses.

In “Love Is a Fallacy,” the narrator’s logical teachings disintegrate

when Polly declares that she should date Petey because “[h]e’s got a

raccoon coat” (Shulman 391).

In the list of works cited, the work is alphabetized under Shulman, the author of the story, not under the name of the editor of the anthology. (See item 35 on p. 491.)

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Shulman, Max. “Love Is a Fallacy.” Current Issues and Enduring

Questions. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. 9th ed. Boston:

Bedford, 2011. 383-91. Print.

■ 17. Government document When a government agency is the author, you will alphabetize it in the list of works cited under the name of the government, such as United States or Great Britain (see item 72 on p. 510). For this reason, you must name the government as well as the agency in your in-text citation.

One government agency reports that seat belt use saved an average

of more than fourteen thousand lives per year in the United States

between 2000 and 2010 (United States, Dept. of Transportation,

Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Administration 231).

■ 18. Historical document For a historical document, such as the United States Constitution or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provide the document title, neither italicized nor in quota- tion marks, along with relevant article and section numbers. In paren- thetical citations, use common abbreviations such as “art.” and “sec.” and abbreviations of well-known titles: (US Const., art. 1, sec. 2).

While the United States Constitution provides for the formation of

new states (art. 4, sec. 3), it does not explicitly allow or prohibit

the secession of states.

Cite other historical documents as you would any other work, by the fi rst element in the works cited entry (see item 74 on p. 510).

■ 19. Legal source For a legislative act (law) or court case, name the act or case either in a signal phrase or in parentheses. Italicize the names of cases but not the names of acts. (See also items 75 and 76 on p. 511.)

The Jones Act of 1917 granted US citizenship to Puerto Ricans.

In 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney declared in Dred Scott v.

Sandford that blacks, whether enslaved or free, could not be citizens

of the United States.

■ 20. Visual such as a table, a chart, or another graphic To cite a visual that has a fi gure number in the source, use the abbreviation

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“fi g.” and the number in place of a page number in your paren- thetical citation: (Manning, fi g. 4). If you refer to the fi gure in your text, spell out the word “fi gure” in the text.

To cite a visual that does not have a fi gure number in a print source, use the visual’s title or a description in your text and cite the author and page number as for any other source.

For a visual not in a print source, identify the visual in your text and then in parentheses use the fi rst element in the works cited entry: the artist’s or photographer’s name or the title of the work. (See items 65–70 on pp. 505–8.)

Photographs such as Woman Aircraft Worker (Bransby) and Women

Welders (Parks) demonstrate the US government’s attempt to

document the contributions of women during World War II.

■ 21. Personal communication and social media Cite personal letters, personal interviews, e-mail messages, and social media posts by the name listed in the works cited entry, as you would for any other source. Identify the type of source in your text if you feel it is necessary for clarity. (See items 27d, 29c, and 77–81 in section 56b.)

■ 22. Web source Your in-text citation for a source from the Web should follow the same guidelines as for other sources. If the source lacks page numbers but has numbered paragraphs, sections, or divisions, use those numbers with the appropriate abbreviation in your in-text citation: “par.,” “sec.,” “ch.,” “pt.,” and so on. Do not add such numbers if the source itself does not use them; simply give the author or title in your in-text citation.

Julian Hawthorne points out profound differences between his father

and Ralph Waldo Emerson but concludes that, in their lives and their

writing, “together they met the needs of nearly all that is worthy in

human nature” (ch. 4).

■ 23. Indirect source (source quoted in another source) When a writer’s or a speaker’s quoted words appear in a source writ- ten by someone else, begin the parenthetical citation with the abbreviation “qtd. in.” (See also item 12 on p. 476.) In the fol- lowing example, Gostin and Gostin are the authors of the source given in the works cited list; the source contains a quotation by Beauchamp.

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Public health researcher Dan Beauchamp has said that “public health

practices are ‘communal in nature, and concerned with the well-

being of the community as a whole and not just the well-being of

any particular person’ ” (qtd. in Gostin and Gostin 217).

Literary works and sacred texts

Literary works and sacred texts are usually available in a vari- ety of editions. Your list of works cited will specify which edition you are using, and your in-text citation will usually consist of a page number from the edition you consulted (see item 24). When possible, give enough information — such as book parts, play divisions, or line numbers — so that readers can locate the cited passage in any edition of the work (see items 25–27).

■ 24. Literary work without parts or line numbers Many liter- ary works, such as most short stories and many novels and plays, do not have parts or line numbers. In such cases, simply cite the page number.

At the end of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour,” Mrs. Mallard

drops dead upon learning that her husband is alive. In the final

irony of the story, doctors report that she has died of a “joy that

kills” (25).

■ 25. Verse play or poem For verse plays, give act, scene, and line numbers that can be located in any edition of the work. Use arabic numerals and separate the numbers with periods.

In Shakespeare’s King Lear, Gloucester, blinded for suspected

treason, learns a profound lesson from his tragic experience: “A man

may see how this world goes / with no eyes” (4.2.148-49).

For a poem, cite the part, stanza, and line numbers, if it has them, separated by periods.

The Green Knight claims to approach King Arthur’s court “because

the praise of you, prince, is puffed so high, / And your manor and

your men are considered so magnificent” (1.12.258-59).

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For poems that are not divided into numbered parts or stanzas, use line numbers. For a fi rst reference, use the word “lines”: (lines 5–8). Th ereaft er use just the numbers: (12–13).

■ 26. Novel with numbered divisions When a novel has num- bered divisions, put the page number fi rst, followed by a semico- lon, and then the book, part, or chapter in which the passage may be found. Use abbreviations such as “bk.,” “pt.,” and “ch.”

One of Kingsolver’s narrators, teenager Rachel, pushes her

vocabulary beyond its limits. For example, Rachel complains that

being forced to live in the Congo with her missionary family is “a

sheer tapestry of justice” because her chances of finding a boyfriend

are “dull and void” (117; bk. 2, ch. 10).

■ 27. Sacred text When citing a sacred text such as the Bible or the Qur’an, name the edition you are using in your works cited entry (see item 39 on p. 493). In your parenthetical citation, give the book, chapter, and verse (or their equivalent), separated with peri- ods. Common abbreviations for books of the Bible are acceptable.

Consider the words of Solomon: “If your enemy is hungry, give him

bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink” (Oxford

Annotated Bible, Prov. 25.21).

Th e title of a sacred work is italicized when it refers to a specifi c edition of the work, as in the preceding example. If you refer to the book in a general sense in your text, neither italicize it nor put it in quotation marks (see also the note on p. 344 in section 42a).

The Bible and the Qur’an provide allegories that help readers

understand how to lead a moral life.

56b MLA list of works cited

Th e elements you will need for the works cited list will diff er slightly for some sources, but the main principles apply to all sources, whether in print or from the Web: You should identify an author, a creator, or a producer whenever possible; give a title; provide the date on which the source was produced; and indicate the medium of delivery. Some sources will require page numbers;

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some will require a sponsoring person or organization; and some will require other identifying information.

Section 56b provides details for how to cite many of the sources you are likely to encounter. It also provides hints for what you can do when a source does not match one of the models ex- actly. When you cite sources, your goals are to show that your sources are reliable and relevant, to provide readers with enough information to fi nd sources easily, and to provide that informa- tion consistently according to MLA conventions.

▶ Directory to MLA works cited models, page 432 ▶ General guidelines for the works cited list, page 470

General guidelines for listing authors

Th e formatting of authors’ names in items 1–12 applies to all sources — books, articles, Web sites — in print, on the Web, or in other media. For more models of specifi c source types, see items 13–81.

■ 1. Single author

author: last city of name fi rst title (book) publication publisher date

Bowker, Gordon. James Joyce: A New Biography. New York: Farrar, 2012.

medium

Print.

■ 2. Two or three authors

fi rst author: second author: city of last name fi rst in normal order title (book) publication

Gourevitch, Philip, and Errol Morris. Standard Operating Procedure. New York:

publisher date medium

Penguin, 2008. Print.

fi rst author: other authors: last name fi rst in normal order title (newspaper article)

Farmer, John, John Azzarello, and Miles Kara. “Real Heroes, Fake Stories.” date newspaper title of publication page medium

New York Times 14 Sept. 2008: WK10. Print.

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56b470 MLA documentation style

General guidelines for the works cited list

In the list of works cited, include only sources that you have quoted, summarized, or paraphrased in your paper.

Authors and titles

● Arrange the list alphabetically by authors’ last names or by titles for works with no authors.

● For the fi rst author, place the last name fi rst, a comma, and the fi rst name. For subsequent authors, put their names in normal order (fi rst name followed by last name).

● In titles of works, capitalize all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (at, between, from, under, and so on), coordinat- ing conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and the to in infi nitives — unless the word is fi rst or last in the title or subtitle.

● Use quotation marks for titles of articles and other short works. ● Italicize titles of books and other long works.

Place of publication and publisher

● For sources that require a place of publication, give the city of publication without a state or country name.

● Shorten publishers’ names, usually to the fi rst principal word (“Wiley” for “John Wiley and Sons,” for instance). For university publishers, use “U” and “P” for “University” and “Press”: UP of Florida.

● If a work has two publishers, give the city and name for both (in the order listed on the title page), separated with a semicolon.

● List a sponsor or a publisher for most sources from the Web. ● If a source has no sponsor or publisher, use “N.p.” (for “No

publisher”). ● For a work found in a database, give the title of the database but

not a sponsor.

Dates

● For a print source, give the most recent date on the title page or the copyright page.

● For a Web source, use the copyright date or the most recent update. ● For books and for most journals, use the year of publication. ● For monthly magazines, use the month and the year. Abbreviate

all months except May, June, and July.

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56bMLA list of works cited

● For weekly magazines and newspapers, give the day, month, and year, with no commas (18 Feb. 2013). Abbreviate all months except May, June, and July.

● If there is no date of publication or update, use “n.d.” (for “no date”). ● For sources found on the Web or in a database, give your date of

access.

Page numbers

● For most articles and other short works, give page numbers when they are available.

● If page numbers are not available (as is oft en the case with sources on the Web), use “n. pag.” (for “no pagination”) in place of page numbers.

● Do not use the page numbers from a printout of a source. ● If an article does not appear on consecutive pages, give the num-

ber of the fi rst page followed by a plus sign: 35+.

Medium

● Include the medium in which a work was published, produced, or delivered.

● Capitalize the medium, but do not italicize it or put it in quota- tion marks.

● Typical designations for the medium are “Print,” “Web,” “Radio,” “Television,” “CD,” “Film,” “DVD,” “Photograph,” “Performance,” “Lecture,” “MP3 fi le,” and “PDF fi le.”

URLs

● MLA guidelines assume that readers can locate most Web sources by entering the author, title, or other identifying infor- mation in a search engine or a database. Consequently, MLA does not require a URL in citations for Web sources.

● If your instructor requires a URL, see the note at the end of item 47.

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■ 3. Four or more authors Either name all the authors or name the fi rst author followed by “et al.” (Latin for “and others”). In an in-text citation, use the same form for the authors’ names as you use in the works cited entry. See item 7 on page 461.

Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair, and Nicholas Smith.

Change in Contemporary English: A Grammatical Study. Cambridge:

Cambridge UP, 2009. Print.

■ 4. Organization or company as author

National Geographic. National Geographic Visual Atlas of the World.

Washington: Natl. Geographic Soc., 2008. Print.

Your in-text citation also should treat the organization as the author (see item 8 on p. 462).

■ 5. No author listed

a. Article or other short work

“Policing Ohio’s Online Courses.” Editorial. Plain Dealer [Cleveland]

9 Oct. 2012: A5. Print.

“Chapter 2: What Can Be Patented?” Inventor’s Handbook. Lemelson-MIT.

Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

fi rst author: last name fi rst

other authors: in normal order

title (book) city of

publication

publisher year medium

author: organization name, not abbreviated title (book)

city of publication

publisher, with common abbreviations date medium

article title label newspaper title (city in brackets)

date page(s) medium

article title title of long work title of

Web site

sponsor no

date medium date of access

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b. Television program

“Fast Times at West Philly High.” Frontline. Prod. Debbie Morton. PBS.

KTWU, Topeka, 4 Dec. 2012. Television.

c. Book, entire Web site, or other long work

Women of Protest: Photographs from the Records of the National Woman’s Party.

Lib. of Cong., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

TIP: Oft en the author’s name is available but is not easy to fi nd. It may appear at the end of the page, in tiny print, or on another page of the site, such as the home page. Also, an organization or a government may be the author (see items 4 and 72).

■ 6. Two or more works by the same author First alphabetize the works by title (ignoring the article A, An, or Th e at the begin- ning of a title). Use the author’s name for the fi rst entry; for subse- quent entries, use three hyphens and a period. Th e three hyphens must stand for exactly the same name as in the fi rst entry.

García, Cristina. Dreams of Significant Girls. New York: Simon, 2011. Print.

—. The Lady Matador’s Hotel. New York: Scribner, 2010. Print.

■ 7. Two or more works by the same group of authors To list multiple works by the same group of two or more authors, alpha- betize the works by title (ignoring the article A, An, or Th e at the beginning of a title). Use all authors’ names for the fi rst entry; begin subsequent entries with three hyphens and a period. Th e three hyphens must stand for all the authors’ names.

Agha, Hussein, and Robert Malley. “The Arab Counterrevolution.” New

York Review of Books. NYREV, 29 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

—. “This Is Not a Revolution.” New York Review of Books. NYREV, 8 Nov.

2012. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.

■ 8. Editor or translator Begin with the editor’s or translator’s name. For one editor, use “ed.” aft er the name; for more than one, use “eds.” Use “trans.” for one or more translators. (See p. 474.)

episode title title of

TV show producer network

local station, city

date of broadcast medium

title (Web site)

sponsor no

date medium date of access

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MLA

56b474 MLA documentation style

Jones, Russell M., and John H. Swanson, eds. Dear Helen: Wartime Letters

from a Londoner to Her American Pen Pal. Columbia: U of Missouri P,

2009. Print.

■ 9. Author with editor or translator Begin with the name of the author. Place the editor’s or translator’s name aft er the title. “Ed.” or “Trans.” means “Edited by” or “Translated by,” so it is the same for one or more editors or translators.

Scirocco, Alfonso. Garibaldi: Citizen of the World. Trans. Allan Cameron.

Princeton: Princeton UP, 2007. Print.

fi rst editor: last name fi rst

other editor(s): in normal order title (book)

city of publication publisher

year medium

author: last name fi rst title (book)

translator: in normal order

city of publication publisher year medium

How to answer the basic question “Who is the author?”

PROBLEM: Sometimes when you need to cite a source, it’s not clear who the author is. Th is is especially true for sources on the Web or other nonprint sources, which may have been created by one person and uploaded by a diff erent person or an organization. Whom do you cite as the author in such a case? How do you determine who is the author?

EXAMPLE: Th e video “Surfi ng the Web on the Job” (see below) was uploaded to YouTube by CBSNewsOnline. Is the person or organization who uploads the video the author of the video? Not necessarily.

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475

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56bMLA list of works cited

■ 10. Graphic narrative or other illustrated work If a work has both an author and an illustrator, the order in your citation will depend on which of those persons you emphasize in your paper. (See also p. 476.)

a. Author fi rst If you emphasize the author’s work, begin with the author’s name. Aft er the title, use the abbreviation “Illus.” (meaning “Illustrated by”) followed by the illustrator’s name.

Moore, Alan. V for Vendetta. Illus. David Lloyd. New York: Vertigo-DC

Comics, 2008. Print.

b. Illustrator fi rst If you emphasize the illustrator, begin your citation with the illustrator’s name, followed by the abbreviation “illus.” (meaning “illustrator”). Aft er the title of the work, put the author’s name, preceded by “By.”

Weaver, Dustin, illus. The Tenth Circle. By Jodi Picoult. New York:

Washington Square, 2006. Print.

STRATEGY: Aft er you view or listen to the source a few times, ask yourself whether you can tell who is chiefl y responsible for creating the content in the source. It could be an organization. It could be an identifi able individual. Th is video consists entirely of reporting by Daniel Sieberg, so in this case the author is Sieberg.

CITATION: To cite the source, you would use the basic MLA guidelines for a video found on the Web (item 56).

Sieberg, Daniel. “Surfing the Web on the Job.” YouTube. YouTube,

12 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.

If you want to include the person or organization who uploaded the video, you can add it as supplementary information at the end.

Sieberg, Daniel. “Surfing the Web on the Job.” YouTube. YouTube,

12 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2012. Uploaded by CBSNewsOnline.

author: last name fi rst title of video

Web site title sponsor

update date medium date of access

author: last name fi rst title of video

Web site title sponsor

update date medium date of access supplementary

information

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56b476 MLA documentation style

■ 10. Graphic narrative or other illustrated work (cont.)

c. Author and illustrator the same person If the illustrator and the author are the same person, cite the work as you would any other work with one author (not using the label “illus.” or “by”).

Smith, Lane. Abe Lincoln’s Dream. New York: Roaring Brook, 2012. Print.

■ 11. Author using a pseudonym (pen name) or screen name Give the author’s name as it appears in the source (the pseudonym), followed by the author’s real name, if available, in brackets. (For screen names in social media, see items 80 and 81 on p. 512.)

Grammar Girl [Mignon Fogarty]. “When Are Double Words OK?” Grammar

Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Macmillan, 28 Sept.

2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

Pauline. Comment. “Is This the End?” By James Atlas. New York Times.

New York Times, 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.

■ 12. Author quoted by another author (indirect source) If one of your sources uses a quotation from another source and you’d like to use the quotation, provide a works cited entry for the source in which you found the quotation. In your in-text citation, indicate that the quoted words appear in the source (see item 23 on p. 466). In the following examples, Belmaker is the source in the works cited list; Townson is quoted in Belmaker.

SOURCE (BELMAKER) QUOTING ANOTHER SOURCE (TOWNSON)

Peter Townson, a journalist working with the DOHA Center for Press Freedom in Qatar, says there is one obvious reason that some countries in the Middle East have embraced social media so heartily. “It’s kind of the preferred way for people to get news, because they know there’s no self-censorship involved,” Townson said in a phone interview.

WORKS CITED ENTRY

Belmaker, Genevieve. “Five Ways Journalists Can Use Social Media for

On-the-Ground Reporting in the Middle East.” Poynter. Poynter

Inst., 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

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477

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56bMLA list of works cited

IN-TEXT CITATION

Peter Townson points out that social media in the Middle East are

“kind of the preferred way for people to get news, because they

know there’s no self-censorship involved” (qtd. in Belmaker).

Articles and other short works

▶ Citation at a glance: Article in a journal, page 478 ▶ Citation at a glance: Article from a database, page 480

■ 13. Basic format for an article or other short work

a. Print

Ferris, William R. “Southern Literature: A Blending of Oral, Visual, and

Musical Voices.” Daedalus 141.1 (2012): 139-53. Print.

b. Web

Sonderman, Jeff. “Survey: Public Prefers News from Professional

Journalists.” Poynter. Poynter Inst., 29 Aug. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

c. Database

Emanuel, Lynn Collins. “The Noirs: Collecting the Evidence.” American Poetry

Review 41.6 (2012): 6. General OneFile. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.

■ 14. Article in a journal

a. Print

Fuqua, Amy. “ ‘The Furrow of His Brow’: Providence and Pragmatism in Toni

Morrison’s Paradise.” Midwest Quarterly 54.1 (2012): 38-52. Print.

author: last name fi rst article title

journal title

volume, issue year page(s) medium

author: last name fi rst title of short work

title of Web site sponsor

update date medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst article title journal title

volume, issue year page(s)

database title medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst article title

journal title volume, issue year page(s) medium

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478

Citation at a glance Article in a journal (MLA) To cite an article in a print journal in MLA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s) of article

2 Title and subtitle of article

3 Title of journal

4 Volume and issue numbers (if any)

5 Year of publication

6 Page number(s) of article

7 Medium

4 5

FIRST

PAGE

ARTICLE

JOURNAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

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WORKS CITED ENTRY FOR AN ARTICLE IN A PRINT JOURNAL

Turner, Joseph. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the History of

Medieval Rhetoric.” Rhetoric Review 31.4 (2012): 371-88. Print.

For more on citing articles in MLA style, see items 13–16.

1 2

3 4 5 6 7

479

■ 14. Article in a journal (cont.)

b. Online journal

Cáceres, Sigfrido Burgos. “Towards Concert in Africa: Seeking Progress and

Power through Cohesion and Unity.” African Studies Quarterly 12.4

(2011): 59-73. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

c. Database

Maier, Jessica. “A ‘True Likeness’: The Renaissance City Portrait.”

Renaissance Quarterly 65.3 (2012): 711-52. JSTOR. Web. 30 Aug. 2013.

■ 15. Article in a magazine

a. Print (monthly)

Bryan, Christy. “Ivory Worship.” National Geographic Oct. 2012: 28-61.

Print.

b. Print (weekly)

Vick, Karl. “The Stateless Statesman.” Time 15 Oct. 2012: 32-37. Print.

author: last name fi rst article title

journal title volume, issue

year page(s) medium date of access

author: last name fi rst article title

journal title volume, issue year page(s)

database title medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst article title magazine title date page(s)

medium

author: last name fi rst article title

magazine title date page(s) medium

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Citation at a glance Article from a database (MLA) To cite an article from a database in MLA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s) of article

2 Title and subtitle of article

3 Title of journal, magazine, or newspaper

4 Volume and issue numbers (for journal)

5 Date or year of publication

6 Page number(s) of article (“n. pag.” if none)

7 Name of database

8 Medium

9 Date of access

DATABASE RECORD

480

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481

WORKS CITED ENTRY FOR AN ARTICLE FROM A DATABASE

Weinberger, Stephen. “From Censors to Critics: Representing ‘the People.’ ”

Film & History 42.2 (2012): 5-22. OmniFile Full Text Select. Web.

12 Jan. 2014.

For more on citing articles from a database in MLA style, see items 13–16.

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 8

■ 15. Article in a magazine (cont.)

c. Web

Leonard, Andrew. “The Surveillance State High School.” Salon. Salon Media Group,

27 Nov. 2012. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.

d. Database

Rosenbaum, Ron. “The Last Renaissance Man.” Smithsonian Nov. 2012:

39-44. OmniFile Full Text Select. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.

■ 16. Article in a newspaper If the city of publication is not obvious from the title of the newspaper, include the city in brackets aft er the newspaper title (see item 5a).

a. Print If sections are numbered, include the section number between the date and the page number: 14 Sept. 2013, sec. 2: 21.

Sherry, Allison. “Volunteers’ Personal Touch Turns High-Tech Data into Votes.”

Denver Post 30 Oct. 2012: 1A+. Print.

author: last name fi rst article title

Web site title sponsor

date medium date of access

author: last name fi rst article title

magazine title date

page(s) database title medium date of access

author: last name fi rst article title

newspaper title date page(s) medium

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MLA

56b482 MLA documentation style

b. Web

Amos, Adria. “STEM Teacher Uses ‘Flip’ Method to Put Classroom Focus on

Students, Not Educator.” Knoxnews.com. Knoxville News Sentinel,

1 Oct. 2012. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

c. E-reader

“Church Votes No on Female Bishops.” Boston Globe 21 Nov. 2012: A3. E-reader.

d. Database

“The Road toward Peace.” Editorial. New York Times 15 Feb. 1945: 18.

ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times. Web.

18 June 2013.

■ 17. Abstract or executive summary Include the label “Abstract” or “Executive summary,” neither italicized nor in quota- tion marks, aft er the title of the work.

a. Abstract of an article

Bottomore, Stephen. “The Romance of the Cinematograph.” Abstract. Film

History 24.3 (2012): 341-44. General OneFile. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.

b. Abstract of a paper

Dixon, Rosemary, Dmitri Iourinski, and Kyle B. Roberts. “The

Opportunities and Challenges of Virtual Library Systems: A Case

Study.” Abstract. Paper presented at the 2011 Chicago Colloquium

on Digital Humanities and Computer Science. U of Chicago. 20 Nov.

2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.

author: last name fi rst article title

Web site title sponsor

date medium date of access

article title newspaper

title date page(s) medium

article title label newspaper title date page(s)

database title medium

date of access

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483

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

c. Abstract of a dissertation

Chen, Shu-Ling. “Mothers and Daughters in Morrison, Tan, Marshall,

and Kincaid.” Diss. U of Washington, 2000. DAI 61.6 (2000):

AAT9975963. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. Web. 22 Feb. 2013.

d. Executive summary

Pintak, Lawrence. The Murrow Rural Information Initiative: Final Report.

Executive summary. Pullman: Murrow Coll. of Communication,

Washington State U, 25 May 2012. PDF file.

■ 18. Article with a title in its title Use single quotation marks around a title of a short work or a quoted term that appears in an article title. Italicize a title or term normally italicized.

Silber, Nina. “From ‘Great Emancipator’ to ‘Vampire Hunter’: The Many

Stovepipe Hats of Cinematic Lincoln.” Cognoscenti. WBUR, 22 Nov.

2012. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.

■ 19. Editorial Cite as a source with no author (see item 5) and use the label “Editorial” following the article title.

“New State for the US?” Editorial. Columbus Dispatch. Dispatch Printing,

24 Nov. 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

■ 20. Unsigned article Cite as a source with no author (see item 5).

“Public Health Response to a Changing Climate.” Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

1 Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

“Harper’s Index.” Harper’s Magazine Feb. 2012: 11. Print.

■ 21. Letter to the editor Use the label “Letter” aft er the title. If the letter has no title, place the label aft er the author’s name.

Fahey, John A. “Recalling the Cuban Missile Crisis.” Letter. Washington

Post 28 Oct. 2012: A16. LexisNexis Library Express. Web. 15 Dec.

2013.

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56b484 MLA documentation style

■ 22. Comment on an online article If the writer of the com- ment uses a screen name, see item 11. Aft er the name, include the label “Comment” followed by the title of the article and the author of the article (preceded by “By”). Continue with publica- tion information for the article.

pablosharkman. Comment. “ ‘We Are All Implicated’: Wendell Berry Laments

a Disconnection from Community and the Land.” By Scott Carlson.

Chronicle of Higher Education. Chronicle of Higher Educ.,

23 Apr. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

■ 23. Paper or presentation at a conference If the paper or presentation is included in the proceedings of a conference, cite it as a selection in an anthology (see item 35; see also item 45 for proceedings of a conference). If you viewed the presentation live, cite it as a lecture or public address (see item 62).

Zuckerman, Ethan, with Tim Berners-Lee, Esther Dyson, Jaron Lanier, and

Kaitlin Thaney. “Big Data, Big Challenges, and Big Opportunities.”

Presentation at Wired for Change: The Power and the Pitfalls of Big Data.

Ford Foundation, New York. 15 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

■ 24. Book review Name the reviewer and the title of the review, if any, followed by “Rev. of ” and the title and author of the work reviewed. Add the publication information for the publica- tion in which the review appears. If the review has no author and

author: screen name label article title

author of article

Web site title sponsor

update date medium date of access

fi rst author: last name fi rst other contributors: in normal order

presentation title

label conference title

conference sponsor location date medium

date of access

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485

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

no title, begin with “Rev. of ” and alphabetize the entry by the fi rst principal word in the title of the work reviewed.

a. Print

Flannery, Tim. “A Heroine in Defense of Nature.” Rev. of On a Farther

Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson, by William Souder. New

York Review of Books 22 Nov. 2012: 21-23. Print.

b. Web

Telander, Alex C. “In an MMO Far Far Away.” Rev. of Omnitopia Dawn, by

Diane Duane. San Francisco Book Review. 1776 Productions, 17 Jan.

2012. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.

c. Database

Petley, Christer. Rev. of The Atlantic World and Virginia, 1550-1624, by

Peter C. Mancall. Caribbean Studies 38.1 (2008): 175-77. JSTOR.

Web. 14 Oct. 2013.

■ 25. Film review or other review Name the reviewer and the title of the review, if any, followed by “Rev. of ” and the title and writer or director of the work reviewed. Add the publication information for the publication in which the review appears. If the review has no author and no title, begin with “Rev. of ” and alphabetize the entry by the fi rst principal word in the title of the work reviewed.

a. Print

Lane, Anthony. “Film within a Film.” Rev. of Argo, dir. Ben Affleck, and

Sinister, dir. Scott Derrickson. New Yorker 15 Oct. 2012: 98-99. Print.

b. Web

Cobbett, Richard. “World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Review.” Rev.

of Mists of Pandaria, by Blizzard Entertainment. PC Gamer. Future

Publishing, 4 Oct. 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.

■ 26. Performance review Name the reviewer and the title of the review, if any, followed by “Rev. of ” and the title and author of the work reviewed. Add the publication information for the

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MLA

56b486 MLA documentation style

publication in which the review appears. If the review has no author and no title, begin with “Rev. of ” and alphabetize the entry by the fi rst principal word in the title of the work reviewed.

Matson, Andrew. Rev. of Until the Quiet Comes, by Flying Lotus. Seattle

Times. Seattle Times, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Nov. 2013.

■ 27. Interview Begin with the person interviewed, followed by the title of the interview (if there is one). If the interview does not have a title, include the word “Interview” aft er the interview- ee’s name. If you wish to include the name of the interviewer, put it aft er the title of the interview (or aft er the name of the inter- viewee if there is no title). (See also item 60 for citing transcripts of interviews.)

a. Print

Weddington, Sarah. “Sarah Weddington: Still Arguing for Roe.” Interview

by Michele Kort. Ms. Winter 2013: 32-35. Print.

b. Web

Kapoor, Anil. “Anil Kapoor on Q.” Interview by Jian Ghomeshi. Q. CBC

Radio, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

c. Television or radio

Buffett, Warren, and Carol Loomis. Interview by Charlie Rose. Charlie

Rose. PBS. WGBH, Boston, 26 Nov. 2012. Television.

d. Personal To cite an interview that you conducted, begin with the name of the person interviewed. Th en write “Personal interview” or “Telephone interview,” followed by the date of the interview.

Akufo, Dautey. Personal interview. 11 Apr. 2013.

■ 28. Article in a reference work (encyclopedia, dictionary,

wiki) List the author of the entry (if there is one), the title of the entry, the title of the reference work, the edition number (if any), the date of the edition, and the medium. Page numbers are not necessary, even for print sources, because the entries in the source are arranged alphabetically and are therefore easy to locate.

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487

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56bMLA list of works cited

a. Print

Posner, Rebecca. “Romance Languages.” The Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Macropaedia. 15th ed. 1987. Print.

“Sonata.” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th

ed. 2011. Print.

b. Web

“Hip Hop Music.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Nov. 2012. Web.

18 Dec. 2013.

Durante, Amy M. “Finn Mac Cumhail.” Encyclopedia Mythica. Encyclopedia

Mythica, 17 Apr. 2011. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.

■ 29. Letter

a. Print Begin with the writer of the letter, the words “Letter to” and the recipient, and the date of the letter (use “N.d.” if it is undated). Add the title of the collection, the editor, and publica- tion information. Add the page range before the medium.

Wharton, Edith. Letter to Henry James. 28 Feb. 1915. Henry James and

Edith Wharton: Letters, 1900-1915. Ed. Lyall H. Powers. New York:

Scribner’s, 1990. 323-26. Print.

b. Web Aft er information about the letter writer, recipient, and date (if known), give the name of the Web site or archive, itali- cized; the date of posting; the medium (“Web”); and your date of access.

Oblinger, Maggie. Letter to Charlie Thomas. 31 Mar. 1895. Prairie

Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters, 1862-1912.

Lib. of Cong., 15 Sept. 2000. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.

c. Personal To cite a letter that you received, begin with the writ- er’s name and add the phrase “Letter to the author,” followed by the date. Add the medium (“MS” for “manuscript,” or a hand- written letter; “TS” for “typescript,” or a typed letter).

Primak, Shoshana. Letter to the author. 6 May 2013. TS.

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Books and other long works

▶ Citation at a glance: Book, page 489

■ 30. Basic format for a book

a. Print

Wolfe, Tom. Back to Blood. New York: Little, 2012. Print.

b. E-book

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. Trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky.

New York: Knopf, 2007. Nook file.

c. Web Give whatever print publication information is available for the work, followed by the title of the Web site, the medium, and your date of access.

Thoreau, Henry David. Thoreau’s Walden. Ed. and introd. Raymond MacDonald Alden.

New York: Longmans, 1910. Longmans’ English Classics. Google Books.

Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

Saalman, Lora, ed. and trans. The China-India Nuclear Crossroads. Washington:

Carnegie Endowment for Intl. Peace, 2012. Scribd. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

d. Database

Cullender, Rose. A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes Held at Bury St. Edmonds for

the Count of Suffolk on the Tenth Day of March, 1664. London, 1682.

Early English Books Online. Web. 29 Apr. 2013.

author: last name fi rst book title city publisher date medium

author: last name fi rst book title translators: in normal order

city publisher date medium

author: last name fi rst book title

contributor(s): in normal order

city publisher original date series

Web site title

medium date of access

author: last name fi rst book title

city and date of original

database title medium date of access

MLA

56b488 MLA documentation style

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Citation at a glance Book (MLA) To cite a print book in MLA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s)

2 Title and subtitle

3 City of publication

4 Publisher

5 Date of publication (latest date)

6 Medium

WORKS CITED ENTRY FOR A PRINT BOOK

Popham, Peter. The Lady and the Peacock: The Life of Aung San Suu Kyi.

New York: Experiment, 2012. Print.

For more on citing books in MLA style, see items 30–42.

1 2

3 4 5 6

FROM

TITLE PAGE

489

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56b490 MLA documentation style

■ 31. Parts of a book

a. Foreword, introduction, preface, or afterword

Bennett, Hal Zina. Foreword. Shimmering Images: A Handy Little Guide to

Writing Memoir. By Lisa Dale Norton. New York: Griffin-St. Martin’s,

2008. xiii-xvi. Print.

Ozick, Cynthia. “Portrait of the Essay as a Warm Body.” Introduction. The Best

American Essays 1998. Ed. Ozick. Boston: Houghton, 1998. xv-xxi. Print.

b. Chapter in a book

Adams, Henry. “Diplomacy.” The Education of Henry Adams. Boston: Houghton,

1918. N. pag. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.

■ 32. Book with a title in its title If the book title contains a title normally italicized, neither italicize the internal title nor place it in quotation marks. If the title within the title is normally put in quotation marks, retain the quotation marks and italicize the entire book title.

Masur, Louis P. Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen’s

American Vision. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009. Print.

Millás, Juan José. “Personality Disorders” and Other Stories. Trans. Gregory

B. Kaplan. New York: MLA, 2007. Print.

■ 33. Book in a language other than English Capitalize the title according to the conventions of the book’s language. If your read- ers are not familiar with the language, include a translation of the title in brackets.

Vargas Llosa, Mario. El sueño del celta [The Dream of the Celt]. Madrid:

Alfaguara, 2010. Print.

■ 34. Entire anthology or collection An anthology is a collec- tion of works, oft en with various authors and an editor for the entire volume. (Th e abbreviation “eds.” is for multiple editors. If the book has only one editor, use the singular “ed.”)

author of foreword: last name fi rst book part book title

author of book: in normal order city imprint-publisher

date page(s) medium

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491

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American

Literature. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford, 2008. Print.

■ 35. One selection from an anthology or a collection ▶ Citation at a glance: Selection from an anthology or a collection, page 492

Lorde, Audre. “Black Mother Woman.” The Bedford Anthology of American

Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson. Vol. 2. Boston:

Bedford, 2008. 1419. Print.

■ 36. Two or more selections from an anthology or a collection For two or more works from the same anthology, provide an entry for the entire anthology (see item 34) and a shortened entry for each selection. Use the medium only for the complete anthol- ogy. Alphabetize the entries by authors’ or editors’ last names.

Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American

Literature. Vol. 2. Boston: Bedford, 2008. Print.

Lorde, Audre. “Black Mother Woman.” Belasco and Johnson 1419.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman.” Belasco and Johnson 1475-81.

■ 37. Edition other than the fi rst Include the number of the edition (2nd, 3rd, and so on). If the book has a translator or an editor in addition to the author, give the name of the translator or editor before the edition number, using the abbreviation “Trans.” for “Translated by” or “Ed.” for “Edited by” (see item 9).

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. 3rd ed. Minneapolis:

U of Minnesota P, 2008. Print.

fi rst editor: last name fi rst

other editor(s): in normal order

title of anthology

volume city publisher date medium

author of selection

title of selection title of anthology

editor(s) of anthology volume city

publisher date page(s) medium

fi rst editor: last name fi rst

other editor(s): in normal order

title of anthology

volume city publisher date medium

author of selection

title of selection

editor(s) of anthology page(s)

author of selection title of

selection editor(s)

of anthology page(s)

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492

Citation at a glance Selection from an anthology or a collection (MLA) To cite a selection from an anthology in MLA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s) of selection

2 Title and subtitle of selection

3 Title and subtitle of anthology

4 Editor(s) of anthology

5 City of publication

6 Publisher

7 Date of publication

8 Page numbers of selection

9 Medium

FROM

FIRST PAGE OF SELECTION

TITLE PAGE OF

ANTHOLOGY

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493

WORKS CITED ENTRY FOR A SELECTION FROM AN ANTHOLOGY

Coleman, Isobel. “Technology’s Quiet Revolution for Women.” The

Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights.

Ed. Minky Worden. New York: Seven Stories, 2012. 41-49. Print.

For more on citing selections from anthologies in MLA style, see items 34–36.

1 2

4 5 6 7 8 9

■ 38. Multivolume work Include the total number of volumes before the city and publisher, using the abbreviation “vols.” If the volumes were published over several years, give the inclusive dates of publication. (Th e abbreviation “Ed.” means “Edited by,” so it is the same for one or more editors.)

Stark, Freya. Letters. Ed. Lucy Moorehead. 8 vols. Salisbury: Compton,

1974-82. Print.

If you cite only one of the volumes in your paper, include the volume number before the city and publisher and give the date of publication for that volume. Aft er the date, give the medium of publication followed by the total number of volumes.

Stark, Freya. Letters. Ed. Lucy Moorehead. Vol. 5. Salisbury: Compton,

1978. Print. 8 vols.

■ 39. Sacred text Give the title of the edition (taken from the title page), italicized; the editor’s or translator’s name (if any); publication information; and the medium. Add the name of the version, if there is one, aft er the medium.

The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Ed. Herbert G. May and Bruce

M. Metzger. New York: Oxford UP, 1965. Print. Rev. Standard Vers.

The Qur’an: Translation. Trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Elmhurst: Tahrike, 2000. Print.

author: last name fi rst

book title

editor(s): in normal order

total volumes city publisher

inclusive dates medium

author: last name fi rst

book title

editor(s): in normal order

volume cited city publisher

date of volume medium

total volumes

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MLA

56b494 MLA documentation style

■ 40. Book in a series Aft er the publication information, give the medium and then the series name as it appears on the title page, followed by the series number, if any.

Denham, A. E., ed. Plato on Art and Beauty. New York: Palgrave, 2012.

Print. Philosophers in Depth.

■ 41. Republished book Aft er the title of the book, give the original year of publication, followed by the current publication information. If the republished book contains new material, such as an introduction or an aft erword, include information about the new material aft er the original date.

Trilling, Lionel. The Liberal Imagination. 1950. Introd. Louis Menand. New

York: New York Rev. of Books, 2008. Print.

■ 42. Publisher’s imprint Give the name of the imprint (a division of a publishing company), a hyphen, and the name of the publisher.

Mantel, Hilary. Bring Up the Bodies. New York: Macrae-Holt, 2012. Print.

■ 43. Pamphlet, brochure, or newsletter Cite as you would a book.

The Legendary Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Concord: Friends of Sleepy Hollow

Cemetery, 2008. Print.

■ 44. Dissertation

a. Published For dissertations that have been published in book form, italicize the title. Aft er the title and before the book’s publi- cation information, give the abbreviation “Diss.,” the name of the institution, and the year the dissertation was accepted. Add the medium of publication at the end.

Damberg, Cheryl L. Healthcare Reform: Distributional Consequences of an

Employer Mandate for Workers in Small Firms. Diss. Rand Graduate

School, 1995. Santa Monica: Rand, 1996. Print.

b. Unpublished Begin with the author’s name, followed by the dis- sertation title in quotation marks; the abbreviation “Diss.”; the name of the institution; the year the dissertation was accepted; and the medium of the dissertation.

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495

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

Jackson, Shelley. “Writing Whiteness: Contemporary Southern Literature

in Black and White.” Diss. U of Maryland, 2000. Print.

■ 45. Proceedings of a conference Cite as you would a book, adding the name, date, and location of the conference aft er the title.

Sowards, Stacey K., Kyle Alvarado, Diana Arrieta, and Jacob Barde, eds.

Across Borders and Environments: Communication and Environmental

Justice in International Contexts. Proc. of Eleventh Biennial Conf. on

Communication and the Environment, 25-28 June 2011, U of Texas

at El Paso. Cincinnati: Intl. Environmental Communication Assn.,

2012. PDF file.

■ 46. Manuscript Give the author, a title or a description of the manuscript, and the date of composition. Use the abbre- viation “MS” for “manuscript” (handwritten) or “TS” for “type- script.” Add the name and location of the institution housing the material. For a manuscript found on the Web, give the preceding information but omit “MS” or “TS.” List the title of the Web site, the medium (“Web”), and your date of access.

Arendt, Hannah. Between Past and Future. N.d. 1st draft. Hannah

Arendt Papers. MS Div., Lib. of Cong. Manuscript Division, Library of

Congress. Web. 24 Aug. 2013.

Web sites and parts of Web sites

■ 47. An entire Web site

a. Web site with author or editor

Railton, Stephen. Mark Twain in His Times. Stephen Railton and U of Virginia Lib.,

2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

Halsall, Paul, ed. Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Fordham U, 4 Nov.

2011. Web. 19 Sept. 2013.

author or editor: last name fi rst

title of Web site sponsor

update date medium

date of access

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■ 47. An entire Web site (cont.)

b. Web site with organization as author

United States. Dept. of Agriculture. USDA. US Dept. of Agriculture,

12 Feb. 2014. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.

c. Web site with no author Begin with the title of the site. If the site has no title, begin with a label such as “Home page.”

Jacob Leisler Papers Project. Dept. of History, New York U, n.d. Web. 24

Aug. 2013.

d. Web site with no title Use the label “Home page” or another appropriate description in place of a title.

Gray, Bethany. Home page. Iowa State U, 2013. Web. 22 Sept. 2013.

NOTE: If your instructor requires a URL for Web sources, include the URL, enclosed in angle brackets, at the end of the entry.

Railton, Stephen. Mark Twain in His Times. Stephen Railton and U of Virginia

Lib., 2012. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. <http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/>.

■ 48. Short work from a Web site ▶ Citation at a glance: Short work from a Web site, page 497

a. Short work with author

Gallagher, Sean. “The Last Nomads of the Tibetan Plateau.” Pulitzer Center

on Crisis Reporting. Pulitzer Center, 25 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

b. Short work with no author

“Social and Historical Context: Vitality.” Arapesh Grammar and Digital Language

Archive Project. Inst. for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, n.d.

Web. 18 Feb. 2014.

government department title of

Web site sponsor

update date medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst title of short work

title of Web site

sponsor update date medium

date of access

title of article title of Web site

sponsor no

date

medium date of access

MLA

56b496 MLA documentation style

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http://twain.lib.virginia.edu/

Citation at a glance Short work from a Web site (MLA) To cite a short work from a Web site in MLA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s) of short work (if any)

2 Title and subtitle of short work

3 Title and subtitle of Web site

4 Sponsor of Web site (“N.p.” if none)

5 Latest update date (“n.d.” if none)

6 Medium

7 Date of access

WORKS CITED ENTRY FOR A SHORT WORK FROM A WEB SITE

“Losing a Country, Finding a Home.” Amherst College. Amherst Coll., n.d.

Web. 12 Jan. 2013.

For more on citing sources from Web sites in MLA style, see items 48 and 49.

2 3 4 5

6 7

INTERNAL PAGE OF WEB SITE

FOOTER

ON PAGE

Courtesy of the Trustees of Amherst College. Reproduced by permission.

497

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MLA

56b498 MLA documentation style

■ 49. Long work from a Web site

Milton, John. Paradise Lost: Book I. Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation,

2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

■ 50. Entire blog Cite a blog as you would an entire Web site (see item 47).

Kiuchi, Tatsuro. Tatsuro Kiuchi: News & Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

■ 51. Blog post or comment Cite a blog post or comment (a response to a post) as you would a short work from a Web site (see item 48). If the post or comment has no title, use the label “Blog post” or “Blog comment.” Follow with the remaining infor- mation as for an entire blog (see item 50). (See item 11 for the use of screen names.)

Eakin, Emily. “Cloud Atlas’s Theory of Everything.” NYR Blog. NYREV,

2 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

mitchellfreedman. Blog comment. “Cloud Atlas’s Theory of Everything,” by

Emily Eakin. NYR Blog. NYREV, 3 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

■ 52. Academic course or department home page Cite as a short work from a Web site (see item 48). For a course home page, begin with the name of the instructor and the title of the course or title of the page (use “Course home page” if there is no other title). For a department home page, begin with the name of the department and the label “Dept. home page.”

Masiello, Regina. “355:101: Expository Writing.” Rutgers School of Arts

and Sciences. Writing Program, Rutgers U, 2013. Web. 19 Aug. 2013.

author: last name fi rst

title of long work

title of Web site sponsor

update date medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst title of blog post

title of blog sponsor

update date medium

date of access

author: screen name label title of blog post

author of blog post

title of blog sponsor

update date medium

date of access

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499

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

Comparative Media Studies. Dept. home page. Massachusetts Institute of

Technology. MIT, n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.

Audio, visual, and multimedia sources

■ 53. Podcast If you view or listen to a podcast on the Web, cite it as you would a short work from a Web site (see item 48). If you download the podcast and view or listen to it on a computer or portable player, give the fi le type (such as “MP3 fi le” or “MOV fi le”) as the medium.

a. Web

Tanner, Laura. “Virtual Reality in 9/11 Fiction.” Literature Lab. Dept. of English,

Brandeis U, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

b. Downloaded

Tanner, Laura. “Virtual Reality in 9/11 Fiction.” Literature Lab. Dept. of English,

Brandeis U, n.d. MP3 file.

■ 54. Film (DVD, BD, or other format) Generally, begin the entry with the title, followed by the director and lead performers, as in the fi rst example. If your paper emphasizes one or more people involved with the fi lm, you may begin with those names, as in the second example.

Typical designations for medium are “Film” (if viewed in a theater or streamed through a service such as Netfl ix); “DVD”; “BD” (for Blu-ray Disc); and “Web” (if viewed on a Web site). If you aren’t sure of the medium, use “Film.”

Argo. Dir. Ben Affleck. Perf. Affleck, Bryan Cranston, and Alan Arkin.

Warner. Bros., 2012. Film.

author: last name fi rst podcast title Web site title sponsor

no date medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst podcast title Web site title sponsor

no date medium

fi lm title director major performers

distributor release

date medium

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MLA

56b500 MLA documentation style

■ 54. Film (DVD, BD, or other format) (cont.)

Forster, Marc, dir. Finding Neverland. Perf. Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet,

Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell, and Dustin Hoffman. Miramax, 2004.

DVD.

■ 55. Supplementary material accompanying a fi lm Begin with the title of the supplementary material, in quotation marks, and the names of any important contributors, as for a fi lm. End with information about the fi lm, as in item 54.

“Sweeney’s London.” Prod. Eric Young. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber

of Fleet Street. Dir. Tim Burton. DreamWorks, 2007. DVD. Disc 2.

■ 56. Video or audio from the Web Cite video or audio that you accessed on the Web as you would a short work from a Web site (see item 48), giving information about the author before other information about the video or audio.

Lewis, Paul. “Citizen Journalism.” YouTube. YouTube, 14 May 2011. Web.

24 Sept. 2013.

Fletcher, Antoine. “The Ancient Art of the Atlatl.” Narr. Brenton Bellomy.

Russell Cave National Monument. Natl. Park Service, 12 Feb. 2014.

Web. 24 Feb. 2014.

Burstein, Julie. “Four Lessons in Creativity.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading.

TED Conf., Mar. 2012. Web. 18 Aug. 2013.

director: last name fi rst fi lm title major performers

distributor release

date

medium

author: last name fi rst title of video

Web site title sponsor

update date medium

date of access

author: last name fi rst title of video

narrator (or host or speaker)

Web site title sponsor update date

medium date of access

author: last name fi rst title of video Web site title

sponsor update date medium

date of access

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501

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

■ 57. Video game List the developer or author of the game (if any); the title, italicized; the version (“Vers.”), if there is one; the distributor and date of publication; and the platform or medium. If the game can be played on the Web, add information as for a work from a Web site (see item 48).

Firaxis Games. Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution. Take-Two Interactive,

2008. Xbox 360. Edgeworld. Atom Entertainment, 1 May 2012. Web.

15 June 2013.

■ 58. Computer software or app Cite as a video game (see item 57), giving whatever information is available about the version, distributor, date, and platform.

Words with Friends. Vers. 5.84. Zynga, 2013. iOS 4.3.

■ 59. Television or radio episode or program If you are cit- ing an episode or a segment of a program, begin with the title of the episode or segment, in quotation marks. Th en give the title of the program, italicized; relevant information about the program, such as the writer (“By”), director (“Dir.”), performers (“Perf.”), or narrator or host (“Narr.”); the network; the local sta- tion and location (if any, as in item 27c; not necessary for cable networks); the date of broadcast; and the medium (“Television,” “Radio”).

For a program you accessed on the Web, aft er the informa- tion about the program give the network, the original broadcast date, the title of the Web site, the medium (“Web”), and your date of access. If you are citing an entire program (not an episode or a segment), begin your entry with the title of the program, italicized.

a. Broadcast

“Federal Role in Support of Autism.” Washington Journal. Narr. Robb Harleston.

C-SPAN. 1 Dec. 2012. Television.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. 29 Nov. 2012.

Television.

title of episode program title narrator

(or host or speaker)

network broadcast

date medium

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MLA

56b502 MLA documentation style

■ 59. Television or radio episode or program (cont.)

b. Web

“Back-to-School Cure.” Currently Concordia. Narr. Melissa Mulligan. CJLO,

22 Sept. 2012. CJLO.com. Web. 6 Jan. 2014.

c. Podcast

“NIH Research Radio.” Episode 0170. Narr. Joe Balintfy. NIH Radio.

Natl. Inst. of Health, 19 Oct. 2012. MP3 file.

title of episode program title narrator (or host

or speaker) network

date of posting

Web site title medium

date of access

podcast title episode number

(if any) narrator (or host

or sponsor) Web site

title

sponsor date

of posting medium

How to cite a source reposted from another source

PROBLEM: Some sources that you fi nd online, particularly on video- sharing sites, did not originate with the person who uploaded or published the source online. How do you give proper credit for such sources?

EXAMPLE: Say you need to cite President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address. You have found a video on YouTube that provides footage of the address (see image). Th e video was uploaded by PaddyIrishMan2 on October 29, 2006. But clearly, PaddyIrishMan2 is not the author of the video or of the address.

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503

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

■ 60. Transcript You might fi nd a transcript related to an interview or a program on a radio or television Web site or in a transcript database, such as in the fi rst example. Cite the source as you would an interview (see item 27) or a radio or television program (see item 59). Add the label “Transcript” at the end of the entry.

Cullen, Heidi. “Weather Warnings for a ‘Climate Changed Planet. ’ ”

Interview by Terry Gross. Fresh Air. Natl. Public Radio, 25 July 2011.

LexisNexis Library Express. Web. 5 Apr. 2013. Transcript.

“Missing Athletes Join a Long List of Olympic Defectors.” Narr. Melissa

Block. All Things Considered. Natl. Public Radio, 9 Aug. 2012. Web.

28 Aug. 2013. Transcript.

STRATEGY: Start with what you know. Th e source is a video that you viewed on the Web. For this particular video, John F. Kennedy is the speaker and the author of the inaugural address. PaddyIrishMan2 is identifi ed as the person who uploaded the source to YouTube.

CITATION: To cite the source, you can combine the basic MLA guidelines for a lecture or public address (see item 62) and for a video found on the Web (see item 56).

Kennedy, John F. “JFK Inaugural Address: 1 of 2.” YouTube. YouTube,

29 Oct. 2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.

Because Kennedy’s inauguration is a well-known historical event, you can be fairly certain that this is not the only version of the inauguration video. It is a good idea, therefore, to include information about which version you viewed as supplementary information at the end of your citation.

Kennedy, John F. “JFK Inaugural Address: 1 of 2.” YouTube. YouTube,

29 Oct. 2006. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. Uploaded by PaddyIrishMan2.

NOTE: If your work calls for a primary source, you should try to fi nd the original source of the video; a reference librarian can help.

author/speaker: last name fi rst title of address

Web site title sponsor

update date medium date of access

author/speaker: last name fi rst title of address

Web site title sponsor

update date medium date of access

supplementary information

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MLA

56b504 MLA documentation style

■ 61. Performance For a live performance of a concert, a play, a ballet, or an opera, begin with the title of the work per- formed, italicized (unless it is named by form, number, and key). Th en give the author or composer of the work (“By”); relevant information such as the director (“Dir.”), the chore- ographer (“Chor.”), the conductor (“Cond.”), or the major per- formers (“Perf.”); the theater, ballet, or opera company, if any; the theater and location; the date of the performance; and the label “Performance.”

Wetu in the City: An Urban Black Indian Tale. By Mwalim [Morgan James

Peters]. Dir. Naheem Garcia. Hibernian Hall, Boston. 16 Nov. 2012.

Performance.

Symphony no. 4 in G. By Gustav Mahler. Cond. Mark Wigglesworth. Perf.

Juliane Banse and Boston Symphony Orch. Symphony Hall, Boston.

17 Apr. 2009. Performance.

■ 62. Lecture or public address Begin with the speaker’s name, followed by the title of the lecture (if any), in quotation marks; the organization sponsoring the lecture; the location; the date; and a label such as “Lecture” or “Address.” If you viewed the lec- ture on the Web, cite as you would a short work from a Web site (see item 48).

a. Live

Berry, Wendell E. “It All Turns on Affection.” Natl. Endowment for

the Humanities. John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,

Washington. 23 Apr. 2012. Lecture.

b. Web

Clinton, Hillary Rodham. “Remarks on ‘Creating an AIDS-Free

Generation. ’ ” US Department of State: Diplomacy in Action. US Dept.

of State, 8 Nov. 2011. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.

■ 63. Musical score For both print and online versions, begin with the composer’s name; the title of the work, italicized (unless it is named by form, number, and key); and the date of

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505

MLA

56bMLA list of works cited

composition. For a print source, give the place of publication; the name of the publisher and date of publication; and the medium. For an online source, give the title of the Web site; the publisher or sponsor of the site; the date of Web publication; the medium; and your date of access.

Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony no. 5 in C Minor, op. 67. 1807. Center

for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities. CCARH, Stanford

U, 2000. Web. 23 Aug. 2013.

■ 64. Sound recording Begin with the name of the person you want to emphasize: the composer, conductor (“Cond.”), or per- former (“Perf.”). For a long work, give the title, italicized (unless it is named by form, number, and key); the names of pertinent artists (such as performers, readers, or musicians); and the orchestra and conductor, if relevant. End with the manufacturer, the date, and the medium (“CD,” “Audiocassette”). For a song, put the title in quotation marks. If you include the name of the album or CD, italicize it.

a. CD

Bizet, Georges. Carmen. Perf. Jennifer Larmore, Thomas Moser, Angela

Gheorghiu, and Samuel Ramey. Bavarian State Orch. and Chorus.

Cond. Giuseppe Sinopoli. Warner, 1996. CD.

Blige, Mary J. “Don’t Mind.” Life II: The Journey Continues (Act 1).

Geffen, 2011. CD.

b. Downloaded

Blige, Mary J. “Don’t Mind.” Life II: The Journey Continues (Act 1).

Geffen, 2011. MP3 file.

■ 65. Work of art (a) For an original work of art, cite the artist’s name; the title of the artwork, italicized; the date of composition; the medium of composition (for instance, “Oil on canvas,” “Charcoal on paper”); and the institution and city in which the artwork is located. (b) For artworks found on the Web, omit the medium of composition and include the title of the Web site, the medium (“Web”), and your date of access.

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56b506 MLA documentation style

(c) If you downloaded a digital file from an archive or other online source, cite as in (a) but include the type of file as the medium (“JPEG file,” “TIFF file”). (d) If you viewed the art- work as a reproduction in a print source, omit the medium of composition and add publication information about the print source, including the page number or figure number for the artwork; give the medium of reproduction at the end.

a. Original

Constable, John. Dedham Vale. 1802. Oil on canvas. Victoria and Albert

Museum, London.

b. Web

Hessing, Valjean. Caddo Myth. 1976. Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha. Joslyn

Art Museum. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.

c. Digital fi le

Diebenkorn, Richard. Ocean Park No. 38. 1971. Phillips Collection,

Washington. JPEG file.

d. Reproduction (print)

O’Keeffe, Georgia. Black and Purple Petunias. 1925. Private collection.

Two Lives: A Conversation in Paintings and Photographs. Ed.

Alexandra Arrowsmith and Thomas West. New York: Harper, 1992. 67.

Print.

■ 66. Photograph (a) For an original photograph, cite the photographer’s name; the title of the photograph, italicized; the date of composition; the medium (“Photograph”); and the institution and city in which the photograph is located. (b) For photographs found on the Web, omit the medium “Photograph” and include the title of the Web site, the medium “Web,” and your date of access. (c) If you downloaded a digital file from an archive or other online source, cite as in (a) but include the type of file as the medium (“JPEG file,” “TIFF file”). (d) If you viewed the photograph as a reproduction in a print source, omit the medium of composition and add publication information about the print source, including the page number or figure number for the artwork; give the medium of reproduction at the end.

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507

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56bMLA list of works cited

a. Original

Feinstein, Harold. Hangin’ Out, Sharing a Public Bench, NYC. 1948.

Photograph. Panopticon Gallery, Boston.

b. Web

McCurry, Steve. A World of Prayer. 29 Oct. 2012. Magnum Photos. Web. 30

Apr. 2013.

c. Digital fi le

Lucy Branham in Occoquan Prison Dress. 1919. Lib. of Cong. JPEG file.

d. Reproduction (print)

Kertész, André. Meudon. 1928. Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-

Bresson. By Clive Scott. London: Tauris, 2011. 61. Print.

■ 67. Cartoon Give the cartoonist’s name; the title of the car- toon, if it has one, in quotation marks; the label “Cartoon” or “Comic strip”; publication information; and the medium. To cite an online cartoon, give the title of the Web site, the sponsor or publisher, the medium, and your date of access.

Zyglis, Adam. “Delta and Denial.” Cartoon. Buffalo News. Buffalo News, 11

Jan. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2013.

■ 68. Advertisement Name the product or company being advertised, followed by the word “Advertisement.” Give pub- lication information for the source in which the advertisement appears.

UnitedHealthcare. Advertisement. Smithsonian Dec. 2012: 27. Print.

Corolla. Advertisement. Root. Slate Group, 28 Nov. 2012. Web. 3 Dec.

2013.

■ 69. Visual such as a table, a chart, or another graphic Cite a visual as you would a short work within a longer work. Use the label “Table,” “Chart,” or “Graphic” following the title. Add the medium and, for an online source, the sponsor or publisher and the date of access. If the visual has a number in the source, give that number immediately before the medium.

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56b508

How to cite course materials

PROBLEM: Sometimes you will be assigned to work with materials that an instructor has uploaded to a course Web site or has handed out in class. Complete publication information may not always be given for such sources. A PDF fi le or a hard copy article, for instance, may have a title and an author’s name but give no other information. Or a video may not include information about the creator or the date the video was created. When you write a paper using such sources, how should you cite them in your own work?

EXAMPLE: Perhaps your instructor has included a PDF fi le of an article in a collection of readings on the course Web site (see image at right). You are writing a paper in which you use a passage from the work.

MLA documentation style

“Canada’s Energy Flow 2007.” Chart. Economist. Economist Newspaper,

26 Oct. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

“CDC Climate Ready States and Cities Initiative.” Graphic. Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.

■ 70. Map Cite a map as you would a short work within a longer work. Or, if the map is published on its own, cite it as a book or another long work. Use the label “Map” following the title. Add the medium and, for an online source, the sponsor or publisher and the date of access.

“Population Origin Groups in Rural Texas.” Map. Perry-Castañeda Library

Map Collection. U of Texas at Austin, 1976. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.

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56bMLA list of works cited

■ 71. Digital fi le A digital fi le is any document or image that exists in digital form, independent of a Web site. Begin with infor- mation required for the source (such as a photograph, a report, a sound recording, or a radio program), following the guidelines throughout section 56b. Th en for the medium, indicate the type of fi le: “JPEG fi le,” “PDF fi le,” “MP3 fi le,” and so on.

Hine, Lewis W. Girl in Cherryville Mill. 1908. Prints and Photographs Div.,

Lib. of Cong. JPEG file.

“Back to School.” This American Life. Narr. Ira Glass. Episode 474. Chicago

Public Media, 14 Sept. 2012. MP3 file.

photographer photograph

title date of

composition location of photograph

medium

STRATEGY: Look through section 56b for a model that matches the type of source you’re working with. Is it an article? A chapter from a book? A photograph? A video? Th e model or models you fi nd will give you an idea of the information you need to gather about the source. Th e usual required information is (1) the author or creator, (2) the title, (3) the date the work was published or created, (4) the date you accessed the source (usually only for sources on the Web), and (5) the medium in which the source was presented (see p. 471).

CITATION: For your citation, you can give only as much of the required information as you can fi nd in the source. In this example, you know the source is an article with an author and a title, and you accessed it as a PDF fi le. So you can combine items 13a (basic format for an article) and 71 (digital fi le) to create the works cited entry for the source. Since you can’t tell when the article was published, you should use “N.d.” for “No date.” At the end of your citation, it is a good idea to include the description “Course materials” and supplementary information about the course (such as its title or number and the term).

Jahn, Gary R. “The Image of the Railroad in Anna Karenina.” N.d. PDF file.

Course materials, EN101, Fall 2013.

NOTE: When in doubt about how much information to include or where to fi nd it, consult your instructor.

author: last name fi rst article title

no date medium

supplementary information

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56b510 MLA documentation style

■ 71. Digital fi le (cont.)

National Institute of Mental Health. What Rescue Workers Can Do.

Washington: US Dept. of Health and Human Services, 2006. PDF file.

Government and legal documents

■ 72. Government document Treat the government agency as the author, giving the name of the government followed by the name of the department and the agency, if any. For print sources, add the medium at the end of the entry. For sources found on the Web, follow the model for an entire Web site (see item 47) or for short or long works from a Web site (see items 48 and 49).

United States. Dept. of Agriculture. Food and Nutrition Service. Child

Nutrition Programs. Eligibility Manual for School Meals: Determining

and Verifying Eligibility. National School Lunch Program.

US Dept. of Agriculture, Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.

Canada. Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Dev. Gathering Strength:

Canada’s Aboriginal Action Plan. Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and

Govt. Services Can., 2000. Print.

■ 73. Testimony before a legislative body

Carson, Johnnie. “Assessing US Policy on Peacekeeping Operations in

Africa.” Testimony before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee,

Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights. US

Department of State: Diplomacy in Action. US Dept. of State, 13 Sept.

2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.

■ 74. Historical document Th e titles of most historical docu- ments, such as the US Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, are neither italicized nor put in quotation marks. For a print version, cite as for a selection in an anthology

government department agency (or agencies)

title (long work)

Web site title

sponsor update date medium

date of access

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56bMLA list of works cited

(see item 35) or for a book (with the title not italicized). For an online version, cite as a short work from a Web site (see item 48).

Jefferson, Thomas. First Inaugural Address. 1801. The American Reader.

Ed. Diane Ravitch. New York: Harper, 1990. 42-44. Print.

Constitution of the United States. 1787. The Charters of Freedom. US Natl.

Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2013.

■ 75. Legislative act (law) Begin with the name of the act, neither italicized nor in quotation marks. Th en provide the act’s Public Law number; its Statutes at Large volume and page num- bers; its date of enactment; and the medium.

Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996. Pub. L.

104-231. 110 Stat. 3048. 2 Oct. 1996. Print.

■ 76. Court case Name the fi rst plaintiff and the fi rst defen- dant. Th en give the volume, name, and page number of the law report; the court name; the year of the decision; and publication information. Do not italicize the name of the case. (In the text of the paper, the name of the case is italicized; see item 19 on p. 465.)

Utah v. Evans. 536 US 452. Supreme Court of the US. 2002. Supreme Court

Collection. Legal Information Inst., Cornell U Law School, n.d. Web.

30 Apr. 2013.

Personal communication and social media

■ 77. E-mail message Begin with the writer’s name and the subject line. Th en write “Message to” followed by the name of the recipient. End with the date of the message and the medium (“E-mail”).

Lowe, Walter. “Review Questions.” Message to the author. 15 Mar. 2013.

E-mail.

■ 78. Text message Cite like an e-mail message, giving the medium as “Text message.”

Wiley, Joanna. Message to the author. 4 Apr. 2014. Text message.

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56c512 MLA documentation style

■ 79. Posting to an online discussion list When possible, cite archived versions of postings. If you cannot locate an archived ver- sion, keep a copy of the posting for your records. Begin with the author’s name, followed by the title or subject line, in quotation marks (use the label “Online posting” if the posting has no title). Th en proceed as for a short work from a Web site (see item 48).

Baker, Frank. “A New Twist on a Classic.” Developing Digital Literacies.

NCTE, 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.

■ 80. Facebook post or comment Cite as a short work from a Web site (see item 48), beginning with the writer’s real name followed by the screen name in parentheses, if both are given. Otherwise use whatever name is given in the source. Follow with the title of the post, if any, in quotation marks. If there is no title, use the label “Post.”

Bedford/St. Martin’s. “Liz Losh Discusses Teaching about Interactive

Media with Comics: http://ow.ly/imucP.” Facebook. Facebook,

5 Mar. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2013.

Erin Houlihan. Post. Facebook. Facebook, 23 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Nov.

2013.

■ 81. Twitter post (tweet) Begin with the writer’s real name followed by the screen name in parentheses, if both are given. Otherwise use whatever name is given in the source. Give the text of the entire tweet in quotation marks, using the writer’s capitalization and punctuation. Follow the text with the date and time noted on the tweet. Use “Tweet” as the medium.

Curiosity Rover. “The journey of 352,000,000 miles begins with a single

launch. One year ago today, I left Earth for Mars http://twitpic.com/

bgq1vn.” 26 Nov. 2012, 10:10 a.m. Tweet.

56c MLA information notes (optional)

Researchers who use the MLA system of parenthetical documen- tation may also use information notes for one of two purposes:

1. to provide additional material that is important but might interrupt the fl ow of the paper

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57aMLA manuscript format

2. to refer to several sources that support a single point or to provide comments on sources

Information notes may be either footnotes or endnotes. Footnotes appear at the foot of the page; endnotes appear on a separate page at the end of the paper, just before the list of works cited. For either style, the notes are numbered consecutively throughout the paper. Th e text of the paper contains a raised arabic numeral that corresponds to the number of the note.

TEXT

In the past several years, employees have filed a number of lawsuits

against employers because of online monitoring practices.1

NOTE

1. For a discussion of federal law applicable to electronic surveillance

in the workplace, see Kesan 293.

57 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper Th e following guidelines are consistent with advice given in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th ed. (New York: MLA, 2009), and with typical requirements for student papers. For a sample MLA research paper, see pages 517–25.

57a MLA manuscript format

Formatting the paper

Papers written in MLA style should be formatted as follows.

Font If your instructor does not require a specifi c font, choose one that is standard and easy to read (such as Times New Roman).

Title and identifi cation MLA does not require a title page. On the fi rst page of your paper, place your name, your instructor’s

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57a514 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper

name, the course title, and the date on separate lines against the left margin. Th en center your title. (See p. 517 for a sample fi rst page.)

If your instructor requires a title page, ask for formatting guidelines.

Page numbers (running head) Put the page number preceded by your last name in the upper right corner of each page, one- half inch below the top edge. Use arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on).

Margins, line spacing, and paragraph indents Leave margins of one inch on all sides of the page. Left -align the text.

Double-space throughout the paper. Do not add extra space above or below the title of the paper or between paragraphs.

Indent the fi rst line of each paragraph one-half inch from the left margin.

Capitalization, italics, and quotation marks In titles of works, capi- talize all words except articles (a, an, the), prepositions (to, from, between, and so on), coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet), and the to in infi nitives — unless the word is fi rst or last in the title or subtitle. Follow these guidelines in your paper even if the title appears in all capital or all lowercase letters in the source.

In the text of an MLA paper, when a complete sentence follows a colon, lowercase the fi rst word following the colon unless the sentence is a quotation or a well-known expression or principle.

Italicize the titles of books, journals, magazines, and other long works, such as Web sites. Use quotation marks around the titles of articles, short stories, poems, and other short works.

Long quotations When a quotation is longer than four typed lines of prose or three lines of poetry, set it off from the text by indenting the entire quotation one inch from the left margin. Double-space the indented quotation and do not add extra space above or below it.

Do not use quotation marks when a quotation has been set off from the text by indenting. See page 522 for an example.

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57aMLA manuscript format

URLs When you need to break a URL at the end of a line in the text of your paper, break it only aft er a slash or a double slash and do not insert a hyphen. For MLA rules on dividing URLs in your list of works cited, see page 516.

Headings MLA neither encourages nor discourages the use of headings and provides no guidelines for their use. If you would like to insert headings in a long essay or research paper, check fi rst with your instructor.

Visuals MLA classifi es visuals as tables and fi gures (fi gures include graphs, charts, maps, photographs, and drawings). Label each table with an arabic numeral (“Table 1,” “Table 2,” and so on) and provide a clear caption that identifi es the subject. Capitalize the caption as you would a title (see 45c); do not italicize the label and caption or place them in quotation marks. Place the label and caption on separate lines above the table, fl ush with the left margin.

For a table that you have borrowed or adapted, give the source below the table in a note like the following:

Source: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind; “Leadership Is a Conversation”;

Harvard Business Review June 2012: 83; print.

For each fi gure, place the fi gure number (using the abbrevia- tion “Fig.”) and a caption below the fi gure, fl ush left . Capitalize the caption as you would a sentence; include source informa- tion following the caption. (When referring to the fi gure in your paper, use the abbreviation “fi g.” in parenthetical citations; other- wise spell out the word.) See page 519 for an example of a fi gure in a paper.

Place visuals in the text, as close as possible to the sentences that relate to them, unless your instructor prefers that visuals ap- pear in an appendix.

Preparing the list of works cited

Begin the list of works cited on a new page at the end of the paper. Center the title “Works Cited” about one inch from the top of the page. Double-space throughout. See pages 117 and 524–25 for sample lists of works cited.

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57b516 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper

Alphabetizing the list Alphabetize the list by the last names of the authors (or editors); if a work has no author or editor, alphabetize by the fi rst word of the title other than A, An, or Th e.

If your list includes two or more works by the same author, use the author’s name for the fi rst entry only. For subsequent en- tries, use three hyphens followed by a period. List the titles in alphabetical order. (See items 6 and 7 on p. 473.)

Indenting Do not indent the fi rst line of each works cited entry, but indent any additional lines one-half inch. Th is technique highlights the names of the authors, making it easy for readers to scan the alphabetized list. See page 524.

URLs (Web addresses) If you need to include a URL in a works cited entry and it must be divided across lines, break the URL only aft er a slash or a double slash. Do not insert a hyphen at the end of the line. Insert angle brackets around the URL. (See the note following item 47 on p. 496.) If your word processing pro- gram automatically turns URLs into links (by underlining them and changing the color), turn off this feature.

57b Sample MLA research paper

On the following pages is a research paper on the topic of the role of government in legislating food choices, written by Sophie Harba, a student in a composition class. Harba’s paper is docu- mented with in-text citations and a list of works cited in MLA style. Annotations in the margins of the paper draw your atten- tion to Harba’s use of MLA style and her eff ective writing.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

57 MLA manuscript format; sample paper > Sample student writing: Harba, “What’s for Dinner? Personal Choices vs. Public Health”

(research)

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57bSample MLA research paper

Harba 1

Sophie Harba

Professor Baros-Moon

Engl 1101

30 April 2013

What’s for Dinner? Personal Choices vs. Public Health

Should the government enact laws to regulate healthy

eating choices? Many Americans would answer an emphatic

“No,” arguing that what and how much we eat should be

left to individual choice rather than unreasonable laws.

Others might argue that it would be unreasonable for the

government not to enact legislation, given the rise of

chronic diseases that result from harmful diets. In this

debate, both the definition of reasonable regulations

and the role of government to legislate food choices are

at stake. In the name of public health and safety, state

governments have the responsibility to shape health

policies and to regulate healthy eating choices, especially

since doing so offers a potentially large social benefit for a

relatively small cost.

Debates surrounding the government’s role in

regulating food have a long history in the United States.

According to Lorine Goodwin, a food historian,

nineteenth-century reformers who sought to purify the food

supply were called “fanatics” and “radicals” by critics who

argued that consumers should be free to buy and eat what

they want (77). Thanks to regulations, though, such as

the 1906 federal Pure Food and Drug Act, food, beverages,

and medicine are largely free from toxins. In addition, to

prevent contamination and the spread of disease, meat and

dairy products are now inspected by government agents to

ensure that they meet health requirements. Such regulations

Title is centered.

Opening research question engages readers.

Writer highlights the research conversation.

Thesis answers the research question and presents Harba’s main point.

Signal phrase names the author. The parenthetical citation includes a page number.

Historical background provides context for debate.

Marginal annotations indicate MLA-style formatting and effective writing.

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57b518 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper

Harba 2

can be considered reasonable because they protect us from

harm with little, if any, noticeable consumer cost. It is

not considered an unreasonable infringement on personal

choice that contaminated meat or arsenic-laced cough drops

are unavailable at our local supermarket. Rather, it is an

important government function to stop such harmful items

from entering the marketplace.

Even though our food meets current safety standards,

there is a need for further regulation. Not all food dangers,

for example, arise from obvious toxins like arsenic and E. coli.

A diet that is low in nutritional value and high in sugars,

fats, and refined grains—grains that have been processed

to increase shelf life but that contain little fiber, iron, and

B vitamins—can be damaging over time (United States,

Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of Health and Human Services

36). A graph from the government’s Dietary Guidelines for

Americans, 2010 provides a visual representation of the

American diet and how far off it is from the recommended

nutritional standards (see fig. 1).

Michael Pollan, who has written extensively about

Americans’ unhealthy eating habits, notes that “[t]he

Centers for Disease Control estimates that fully three

quarters of US health care spending goes to treat chronic

diseases, most of which are preventable and linked to diet:

heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and at least a third of

all cancers.” In fact, the amount of money the United States

spends to treat chronic illnesses is increasing so rapidly

that the Centers for Disease Control has labeled chronic

disease “the public health challenge of the 21st century”

(United States, Dept. of Health and Human Services 1).

In fighting this epidemic, the primary challenge

Transition helps readers move from one paragraph to the next.

No page number is available for this Web source.

Harba establishes common ground with the reader.

Harba explains her use of a key term, reasonable.

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57bSample MLA research paper

Harba 3

is not the need to find a cure; the challenge is to prevent

chronic diseases from striking in the first place.

Legislation, however, is not a popular solution when it

comes to most Americans and the food they eat. According

to a nationwide poll, 75% of Americans are opposed to laws

that restrict or put limitations on access to unhealthy foods

(Neergaard and Agiesta). When New York mayor Michael

Bloomberg proposed a regulation in 2012 banning the sale

of soft drinks in servings greater than twelve ounces in

restaurants and movie theaters, he was ridiculed as “Nanny

Bloomberg.” In California in 2011, legislators failed to pass

a law that would impose a penny-per-ounce tax on soda,

Harba sets forth the urgency of her argument.

Harba treats both sides fairly.

How Do Typical American Diets Compare to Recommended Intake Levels or Limits?

Source: USDA & HHS: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 2010 * Solid Fats and Added Sugars

Fig. 1. This graph shows that Americans consume about

three times more fats and sugars and twice as many refined

grains as is recommended but only half of the recommended

foods (United States, Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of

Health and Human Services, fig. 5-1).

The visual includes a fi gure number, descriptive caption, and source information.

Harba uses a graph to illustrate Americans’ poor nutritional choices.

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57b520 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper

Harba 4

which would have funded obesity prevention programs. And

in Mississippi, legislators passed “a ban on bans—a law that

forbids . . . local restrictions on food or drink” (Conly A23).

Why is the public largely resistant to laws that would

limit unhealthy choices or penalize those choices with so-called

fat taxes? Many consumers and civil rights advocates find such

laws to be an unreasonable restriction on individual freedom of

choice. As health policy experts Mello, Studdert, and Brennan

point out, opposition to food and beverage regulation is similar

to the opposition to early tobacco legislation: the public views

the issue as one of personal responsibility rather than one

requiring government intervention (2602). In other words, if

a person eats unhealthy food and becomes ill as a result, that

is his or her choice. But those who favor legislation claim that

freedom of choice is a myth because of the strong influence of

food and beverage industry marketing on consumers’ dietary

habits. According to one nonprofit health advocacy group, food

and beverage companies spend roughly two billion dollars per

year marketing directly to children. As a result, kids see nearly

four thousand ads per year encouraging them to consume

unhealthy food and drinks (“Facts on Junk Food”). As was the

case with antismoking laws passed in recent decades, taxes and

legal restrictions on junk food sales could help to counter the

strong marketing messages that promote unhealthy products.

The United States has a history of state and local

public health laws that have successfully promoted a

particular behavior by punishing an undesirable behavior.

The decline in tobacco use as a result of antismoking

taxes and laws is perhaps the most obvious example.

Another example is legislation requiring the use of seat

belts, which have significantly reduced fatalities in car

An analogy extends Harba’s argument.

Harba anticipates objections to her idea. She counters opposing views and provides support for her argument.

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57bSample MLA research paper

Harba 5

crashes. One government agency reports that seat belt use saved

an average of more than fourteen thousand lives per year in the

United States between 2000 and 2010 (United States, Dept.

of Transportation, Natl. Highway Traffic Safety Administration

231). Perhaps seat belt laws have public support because the

cost of wearing a seat belt is small, especially when compared

with the benefit of saving fourteen thousand lives per year.

Laws designed to prevent chronic disease by

promoting healthier food and beverage consumption also

have potentially enormous benefits. To give just one

example, Marion Nestle, New York University professor of

nutrition and public health, notes that “a 1% reduction in

intake of saturated fat across the population would prevent

more than 30,000 cases of coronary heart disease annually

and save more than a billion dollars in health care costs”

(7). Few would argue that saving lives and dollars is not an

enormous benefit. But three-quarters of Americans say they

would object to the costs needed to achieve this benefit—

the regulations needed to reduce saturated fat intake.

Why do so many Americans believe there is a degree of

personal choice lost when regulations such as taxes, bans, or

portion limits on unhealthy foods are proposed? Some critics

of anti-junk-food laws believe that even if state and local laws

were successful in curbing chronic diseases, they would still be

unacceptable. Bioethicist David Resnik emphasizes that such

policies, despite their potential to make our society healthier,

“open the door to excessive government control over food,

which could restrict dietary choices, interfere with cultural,

ethnic, and religious traditions, and exacerbate socioeconomic

inequalities” (31). Resnik acknowledges that his argument

relies on “slippery slope” thinking, but he insists that “social

Harba acknowledges critics and counterarguments.

Harba introduces a direct quotation with a signal phrase and follows with a comment that shows readers why she chose to use the source.

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Harba 6

and political pressures” regarding food regulation make his

concerns valid (31). Yet the social and political pressures that

Resnik cites are really just the desire to improve public health, and

limiting access to unhealthy, artificial ingredients seems a small

price to pay. As legal scholars L. O. Gostin and K. G. Gostin explain,

“[I]nterventions that do not pose a truly significant burden on

individual liberty” are justified if they “go a long way towards

safeguarding the health and well-being of the populace” (214).

To improve public health, advocates such as Bowdoin

College philosophy professor Sarah Conly contend that it

is the government’s duty to prevent people from making

harmful choices whenever feasible and whenever public

benefits outweigh the costs. In response to critics who

claim that laws aimed at stopping us from eating whatever

we want are an assault on our freedom of choice, Conly

offers a persuasive counterargument:

[L]aws aren’t designed for each one of us

individually. Some of us can drive safely at 90 miles

per hour, but we’re bound by the same laws as the

people who can’t, because individual speeding

laws aren’t practical. Giving up a little liberty is

something we agree to when we agree to live in a

democratic society that is governed by laws. (A23)

As Conly suggests, we need to change our either/or

thinking (either we have complete freedom of choice or we

have government regulations and lose our freedom) and

instead need to see health as a matter of public good, not

individual liberty. Proposals such as Mayor Bloomberg’s that

seek to limit portions of unhealthy beverages aren’t about

giving up liberty; they are about asking individuals to choose

substantial public health benefits at a very small cost.

Including the source’s credentials makes Harba more credible.

Long quotation is introduced with a signal phrase naming the author.

Long quotation is set off from the text. Quotation marks are omitted.

Long quotation is followed with comments that connect the source to Harba’s argument.

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57bSample MLA research paper

Harba 7

Despite arguments in favor of regulating unhealthy

food as a means to improve public health, public opposition

has stood in the way of legislation. Americans freely eat

as much unhealthy food as they want, and manufacturers

and sellers of these foods have nearly unlimited freedom to

promote such products and drive increased consumption,

without any requirements to warn the public of potential

hazards. Yet mounting scientific evidence points to

unhealthy food as a significant contributing factor to

chronic disease, which we know is straining our health care

system, decreasing Americans’ quality of life, and leading

to unnecessary premature deaths. Americans must consider

whether to allow the costly trend of rising chronic disease

to continue in the name of personal choice or whether to

support the regulatory changes and public health policies

that will reverse that trend.

Conclusion sums up Harba‘s argument and provides closure.

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57b524 MLA manuscript format; sample research paper

Harba 8

Works Cited

Conly, Sarah. “Three Cheers for the Nanny State.” New York

Times 25 Mar. 2013: A23.

“The Facts on Junk Food Marketing and Kids.” Prevention

Institute. Prevention Inst., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013.

Goodwin, Lorine Swainston. The Pure Food, Drink, and Drug

Crusaders, 1879-1914. Jefferson: McFarland, 2006. Print.

Gostin, L. O., and K. G. Gostin. “A Broader Liberty: J. S. Mill,

Paternalism, and the Public’s Health.” Public Health

123.3 (2009): 214-21. Academic Search Premier. Web.

17 Apr. 2013.

Mello, Michelle M., David M. Studdert, and Troyen A.

Brennan. “Obesity—The New Frontier of Public Health

Law.” New England Journal of Medicine 354.24 (2006):

2601-10. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 22 Apr. 2013.

Neergaard, Lauran, and Jennifer Agiesta. “Obesity’s a Crisis

but We Want Our Junk Food, Poll Shows.” Huffington

Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 4 Jan. 2013. Web. 20

Apr. 2013.

Nestle, Marion. Food Politics: How the Food Industry

Influences Nutrition and Health. Berkeley: U of

California P, 2013. Print.

Pollan, Michael. “The Food Movement, Rising.” New York Review

of Books. NYREV, 10 June 2010. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

Resnik, David. “Trans Fat Bans and Human Freedom.”

American Journal of Bioethics 10.3 (2010): 27-32.

Academic Search Premier. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

United States. Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of Health

and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans,

2010. Dept. of Agriculture and Dept. of Health and

Human Services, 2010. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.

Double-spacing is used throughout.

The government agency is used as the author of a government document.

First line of each entry is at the left margin; extra lines are indented ½″.

Heading is centered.

Abbreviation “n.d.” indicates that the online source has no update date.

List is alphabetized by authors’ last names (or by title when a work has no author).

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57bSample MLA research paper

Harba 9

United States. Dept. of Health and Human Services. Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention. The Power of

Prevention. Natl. Center for Chronic Disease Prevention

and Health Promotion, 2009. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

United States. Dept. of Transportation. Natl. Highway Traffic

Safety Administration. Traffic Safety Facts 2010: A

Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the

Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General

Estimates System. US Dept. of Transportation, 2010.

Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

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Writing Papers in APA Style

DIRECTORY TO APA IN-TEXT CITATION MODELS, 528

DIRECTORY TO APA REFERENCE LIST MODELS, 528

58 Supporting a thesis, 530

59 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism, 534

60 Integrating sources, 537

61 Documenting sources in APA style, 546

62 APA manuscript format; sample research paper, 580

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528

1. Basic format for a quotation, 547

2. Basic format for a summary or a paraphrase, 548

3. Work with two authors, 548 4. Work with three to fi ve

authors, 548 5. Work with six or more

authors, 549 6. Work with unknown author, 549 7. Organization as author, 549 8. Authors with the same last

name, 550 9. Two or more works by the same

author in the same year, 550 10. Two or more works in the same

parentheses, 550

11. Multiple citations to the same work in one paragraph, 550

12. Web source, 551 a. No page numbers, 551 b. Unknown author, 551 c. Unknown date, 551

13. An entire Web site, 552 14. Multivolume work, 552 15. Personal communication, 552 16. Course materials, 552 17. Part of a source (chapter,

fi gure), 552 18. Indirect source (source quoted

in another source), 552 19. Sacred or classical text, 553

Directory to APA in-text citation models

General guidelines for

listing authors

1. Single author, 556 2. Two to seven authors, 556 3. Eight or more authors, 556 4. Organization as author, 556 5. Unknown author, 557 6. Author using a pseudonym

(pen name) or screen name, 557

7. Two or more works by the same author, 557

8. Two or more works by the same author in the same year, 557

9. Editor, 558 10. Author and editor, 558 11. Translator, 558 12. Editor and translator, 558

Articles and other short works

13. Article in a journal, 559 a. Print, 559 b. Web, 559 c. Database, 559

14. Article in a magazine, 563 a. Print, 563 b. Web, 563 c. Database, 563

15. Article in a newspaper, 563 a. Print, 563 b. Web, 564

16. Abstract, 564 a. Abstract of a journal article,

564 b. Abstract of a paper, 564

17. Supplemental material, 564 18. Article with a title in its

title, 564 19. Letter to the editor, 565 20. Editorial or other unsigned

article, 565 21. Newsletter article, 565 22. Review, 565 23. Published interview, 566 24. Article in a reference work

(encyclopedia, dictionary, wiki), 566 a. Print, 566 b. Web, 566

25. Comment on an online article, 566

26. Testimony before a legislative body, 566

27. Paper presented at a meeting or symposium (unpublished), 566

28. Poster session at a conference, 567

Directory to APA reference list models

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Books and other long works

29. Basic format for a book, 567 a. Print, 567 b. Web (or online library), 567 c. E-book, 567 d. Database, 567

30. Edition other than the fi rst, 569 31. Selection in an anthology or a

collection, 569 a. Entire anthology, 569 b. Selection in an

anthology, 569 32. Multivolume work, 569

a. All volumes, 569 b. One volume, with title, 570

33. Introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword, 570

34. Dictionary or other reference work, 570

35. Republished book, 570 36. Book with a title in its title, 570 37. Book in a language other than

English, 570 38. Dissertation, 570

a. Published, 570 b. Unpublished, 571

39. Conference proceedings, 571 40. Government document, 571 41. Report from a private

organization, 571 42. Legal source, 571 43. Sacred or classical text, 572

Web sites and parts of

Web sites

44. Entire Web site, 572 45. Document from a Web site,

572 46. Section in a Web

document, 572

47. Blog post, 573 48. Blog comment, 573

Audio, visual, and

multimedia sources

49. Podcast, 573 50. Video or audio on the Web, 573 51. Transcript of an audio or a

video fi le, 574 52. Film (DVD, BD, or other format),

574 53. Television or radio

program, 574 a. Series, 574 b. Episode on the air, 574 c. Episode on the Web, 575

54. Music recording, 575 55. Lecture, speech, or

address, 575 56. Data set or graphic

representation of data (graph, chart, table), 575

57. Mobile application software (app), 578

58. Video game, 578 59. Map, 578 60. Advertisement, 578 61. Work of art or photograph, 578 62. Brochure or fact sheet, 579 63. Press release, 579 64. Presentation slides, 579 65. Lecture notes or other course

materials, 579

Personal communication

and social media

66. E-mail, 579 67. Online posting, 580 68. Twitter post (tweet), 580 69. Facebook post, 580

Directory to APA reference list models, continued

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Supporting a thesis530 58

APA

Most instructors in the social sciences and some instructors in other disciplines will ask you to document your sources with the American Psychological Association (APA) system of in-text citations and references described in section 61.

When writing an APA-style paper that draws on sources, you face three main challenges: (1) supporting a thesis, (2) citing your sources accurately and avoiding plagiarism, and (3) integrating source material eff ectively.

Examples in this section are drawn from one student’s research for a review of the literature on treatments for child- hood obesity. Luisa Mirano’s paper appears on pages 585–96.

NOTE: For advice on fi nding and evaluating sources and on man- aging information in all your college courses, see sections 50–52.

58 Supporting a thesis Most research assignments ask you to form a thesis, or main idea, and to support that thesis with well-organized evidence. In a paper reviewing the literature on a topic, the thesis ana- lyzes the oft en competing conclusions drawn by a variety of researchers.

58a Form a working thesis.

Once you have read a range of sources, considered your issue from diff erent perspectives, and chosen an entry point in the research conversation (see 50b), you are ready to form a work- ing thesis to focus your project: a one-sentence (or occasionally a two-sentence) statement of your central idea. (See also 1c.) Th e working thesis expresses more than your opinion; it expresses your informed, reasoned answer to your research question — a question about which people might disagree. As you learn more about your subject, your ideas may change, and your working thesis will evolve, too. You can revise your thesis as you draft . Here, for example, is a research question posed by Luisa Mirano, a student in a psychology class, followed by her thesis in answer to that question.

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58b

RESEARCH QUESTION

Is medication the right treatment for the escalating problem of

childhood obesity?

WORKING THESIS

Treating cases of childhood obesity with medication alone is too

narrow an approach for this growing problem.

Th e thesis usually appears at the end of the introductory para- graph. To read Luisa Mirano’s thesis in the context of her intro- duction, see page 587.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

58 Supporting a thesis > Exercises: 58–1 and 58–2

Testing your thesis

When draft ing and revising a thesis statement, make sure it answers your central research question and that you can eff ectively develop it with the sources available to you.

Keeping the following guidelines in mind will help you develop an eff ective thesis statement.

● A thesis should take a position that needs to be argued and sup- ported. It should not be a fact or description.

● A thesis should be sharply focused. Avoid vague words such as interesting or good. Use concrete language and make sure your thesis lets readers know your position.

58b Organize your ideas.

Th e American Psychological Association (APA) encourages the use of headings to help readers follow the organization of a paper. For an original research report, the major headings oft en follow a standard model: Method, Results, Discussion. Th e introduction does not have a heading; it consists of the material between the title of the paper and the fi rst heading.

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58c

For a literature review, headings will vary. Luisa Mirano used four questions to focus her research into treatments for childhood obesity; the questions then became headings in her paper (see 62b).

58c Use sources to inform and support your argument.

Sources can play several diff erent roles to support your thesis and develop your points.

Providing background information or context

You can use facts and statistics to support generalizations or to establish the importance of your topic, as student writer Luisa Mirano does in her introduction.

In March 2004, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona called

attention to a health problem in the United States that, until recently,

has been overlooked: childhood obesity. Carmona said that the

“astounding” 15% child obesity rate constitutes an “epidemic.” Since

the early 1980s, that rate has “doubled in children and tripled in

adolescents.” Now more than nine million children are classified as obese.

Explaining terms or concepts

If readers are unfamiliar with a term or a concept important to your topic, you will want to defi ne or explain it; or if your argu- ment depends on a term with multiple meanings, you will want to explain your use of the term. Quoting or paraphrasing a source can help you defi ne terms and concepts in accessible language. Luisa Mirano uses a scholarly source to explain how one of the major obesity drugs functions.

Sibutramine suppresses appetite by blocking the reuptake of

the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain

(Yanovski & Yanovski, 2002, p. 594).

Supporting your claims

As you develop your points, back up your assertions with facts, examples, and other evidence from your research (see also 6h).

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58c

Luisa Mirano, for example, uses one source’s fi ndings to support her central idea that the medical treatment of childhood obesity has limitations.

As journalist Greg Critser (2003) noted in his book Fat Land, use of

weight-loss drugs is unlikely to have an effect without the proper

“support system”—one that includes doctors, facilities, time, and

money (p. 3).

Lending authority to your argument

Expert opinion can add weight and credibility to your argument (see also 6h). But don’t rely on experts to make your points for you. State your ideas in your own words and, when appropriate, cite the judgment of an authority in the fi eld to support your position.

Both medical experts and policymakers recognize that solutions

might come not only from a laboratory but also from policy,

education, and advocacy. A handbook designed to educate doctors

on obesity called for “major changes in some aspects of western

culture” (Hoppin & Taveras, 2004, Conclusion section, para. 1).

Anticipating and countering alternative interpretations

Do not ignore sources that seem contrary to your position. Instead, use them to give voice to opposing points of view and alternative interpretations before you counter them (see 6i). Readers oft en have objections in mind already, whether or not they agree with you. Mirano uses a source to acknowledge value in her opponents’ posi- tion that medication alone can successfully treat childhood obesity.

As researchers Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have explained, obesity

was once considered “either a moral failing or evidence of underlying

psychopathology” (p. 592). But this view has shifted: Many medical

professionals now consider obesity a biomedical rather than a moral

condition, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors.

Yanovski and Yanovski have further noted that the development of

weight-loss medications in the early 1990s showed that “obesity

should be treated in the same manner as any other chronic disease . . .

through the long-term use of medication” (p. 592).

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534

59 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism In a research paper, you will draw on the work of other research- ers and writers, and you must document their contributions by citing your sources. Sources are cited for two reasons:

1. to tell readers where your information comes from — so that they can assess its reliability and, if interested, fi nd and read the original source

2. to give credit to the writers from whom you have borrowed words and ideas

You must cite anything you borrow from a source, including direct quotations; statistics and other specifi c facts; visuals such as tables, graphs, and diagrams; and any ideas you present in a summary or paraphrase. Borrowing without proper acknowledg- ment is a form of dishonesty known as plagiarism.

Th e only exception is common knowledge — information that your readers may know or could easily locate in any number of reference sources.

59a Understand how the APA system works.

Th e American Psychological Association recommends an author-date system of citations. Th e following is a brief descrip- tion of how the author-date system usually works.

1. Th e source is introduced by a signal phrase that includes the last name of the author followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

2. Th e material being cited is followed by a page number in parentheses (unless the source is an unpaginated Web source).

3. At the end of the paper, an alphabetized list of references gives complete publication information for the source.

IN-TEXT CITATION

As researchers Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have explained,

obesity was once considered “either a moral failing or evidence of

underlying psychopathology” (p. 592).

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APA Avoid plagiarism when quoting,

summarizing, and paraphrasing sources 59b

ENTRY IN THE LIST OF REFERENCES

Yanovski, S. Z., & Yanovski, J. A. (2002). Drug therapy: Obesity. The

New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 591-602.

Th is basic APA format varies for diff erent types of sources. For a detailed discussion and other models, see 61.

59b Avoid plagiarism when quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing sources.

In a research paper, you draw on the work of other writers and you must document their contributions by citing your sources. When you acknowledge your sources, you avoid plagiarism, a serious academic off ense.

Citing quotations and borrowed ideas

To indicate that you are using a source’s exact phrases or sen- tences, you must enclose them in quotation marks unless they have been set off from the text by indenting (see 60b). To omit the quotation marks is to claim — falsely — that the language is your own, as in the example below. Such an omission is plagia- rism even if you have cited the source.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

In an eff ort to seek the causes of this disturbing trend, experts have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media: a reduction in physical education classes and aft er-school athletic programs, an increase in the availability of sodas and snacks in public schools, the growth in the number of fast-food outlets across the country, the trend toward “super-sizing” food portions in restaurants, and the increasing number of highly processed high-calorie and high-fat grocery products.

— Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Th e Role of Media in Childhood Obesity” (2004), p. 1

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59 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism > Exercises: 59–1 to 59–7

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59b

PLAGIARISM

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004), experts

have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the

rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media (p. 1).

BORROWED LANGUAGE IN QUOTATION MARKS

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004), “experts

have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the

rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media” (p. 1).

NOTE: Quotation marks are not used when quoted sentences are set off from the text by indenting (see 60b).

Putting summaries and paraphrases in your own words

Half-copying the author’s sentences by using the author’s phrases in your own sentences without quotation marks or by plugging synonyms into the author’s sentence structure (some- times called patchwriting) is a form of plagiarism.

Th e following paraphrases are plagiarized — even though the source is cited — because their language and sentence structure are too close to those of the source.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

In an eff ort to seek the causes of this disturbing trend, experts have pointed to a range of important potential contributors to the rise in childhood obesity that are unrelated to media.

— Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, “Th e Role of Media in Childhood Obesity” (2004), p. 1

UNACCEPTABLE BORROWING OF PHRASES

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004), experts

have indicated a range of significant potential contributors to the

rise in childhood obesity that are not linked to media (p. 1).

UNACCEPTABLE BORROWING OF STRUCTURE

According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004),

experts have identified a variety of key factors causing a

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APA

Integrating sources 60

rise in childhood obesity, factors that are not tied to

media (p. 1).

To avoid plagiarizing an author’s language, resist the temp- tation to look at the source while you are summarizing or para- phrasing. Aft er you have read the passage you want to paraphrase, set the source aside. Ask yourself, “What is the author’s meaning?” In your own words, state your understanding of the author’s ideas.

Return to the source and check that you haven’t used the au- thor’s language or sentence structure or misrepresented the author’s ideas. When you fully understand another writer’s meaning, you can more easily and accurately present those ideas in your own words.

ACCEPTABLE PARAPHRASE

A report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004) described

causes other than media for the childhood obesity crisis.

60 Integrating sources Your research paper draws on and borrows from the work of others — your sources — to help you develop and support your ideas. As you conduct research, you gather language and ideas from your sources that you might want to use in your paper. Section 59 shows you how to acknowledge those sources to avoid plagiarism. Th is section will help you integrate those sources seamlessly and eff ectively into your paper, so that readers understand how your use of quotation, summary, and paraphrase contributes to your argument. As you integrate sources, you need to fi nd a balance between the words of your sources and your own voice. Readers should always know who is speaking in your paper — you or your source. You can use several strategies to integrate research sources into your paper while maintaining your own voice.

• Use sources as concisely as possible so that your own thinking and voice aren’t lost (60a and 60b).

• Use signal phrases and avoid dropped quotations. Clearly indicate the boundary between your words and the source’s words (60c).

• Discuss and analyze your sources to show readers how each source supports your points and how the sources relate to one another (60d).

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60a

60a Summarize and paraphrase effectively.

In your academic writing, keep the emphasis on your ideas and your language; use your own words to summarize and to paraphrase your sources and to explain your points. Whether you choose to summarize or paraphrase a source depends on your purpose.

Summarizing

When you summarize a source, you express another writer’s ideas in your own words, condensing the author’s key points and using fewer words than the author. Even though a summary is in your own words, the original idea remains the intellectual prop- erty of the author, so you must include a citation.

WHEN TO USE A SUMMARY

• When a passage is lengthy and you want to condense a chapter to a short paragraph or a paragraph to a single sentence

• When you want to state the source’s main ideas simply and briefl y in your own words

• When you want to compare or contrast arguments or ideas from various sources

• When you want to provide readers with an understanding of the source’s argument before you respond to it or launch your own

Paraphrasing

When you paraphrase, you express an author’s ideas in your own words, using approximately the same number of words and details as in the source. Even though the words are your own, the original idea is the author’s intellectual property, so you must give a citation.

WHEN TO USE A PARAPHRASE

• When the ideas and information are important but the author’s exact words are not needed for accuracy or emphasis

• When you want to restate the source’s ideas in your own words • When you need to simplify and explain a technical or

complicated source • When you need to reorder a source’s ideas

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APA

60b

Even though you use your own words to summarize and para- phrase, the original idea remains the intellectual property of the author, so you must include a citation. (See 59b.)

60b Use quotations effectively.

When you quote a source, you borrow some of the author’s exact words and enclose them in quotation marks. Quotation marks show your readers that both the idea and the words belong to the author.

WHEN TO USE QUOTATIONS

• When language is especially vivid or expressive • When exact wording is needed for technical accuracy • When it is important to let the debaters of an issue explain

their positions in their own words • When the words of an authority lend weight to an argument • When you want to discuss the language of a source

Limiting your use of quotations

Although it is tempting to insert many quotations in your paper and to use your own words only for connecting passages, do not quote excessively.

It is not always necessary to quote full sentences from a source. To reduce your reliance on the words of others, you can in- tegrate language from a source into your own sentence structure. (For the use of signal phrases in integrating quotations, see 60c.)

Carmona (2004) advised the subcommittee that the situation

constitutes an “epidemic” and that the skyrocketing statistics are

“astounding.”

As researchers continue to face a number of unknowns about

obesity, it may be helpful to envision treating the disorder, as

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) suggested, “in the same manner as

any other chronic disease” (p. 592).

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60 Integrating sources > Exercises: 60–1 to 60–7

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60b

Using the ellipsis mark

To condense a quoted passage, you can use the ellipsis mark (three periods, with spaces between) to indicate that you have omitted words. What remains must be grammatically complete.

Roman (2003) reported that “social factors are nearly as significant

as individual metabolism in the formation of . . . dietary habits of

adolescents” (p. 345).

Th e writer has omitted the words both healthy and unhealthy from the source.

When you want to leave out one or more full sentences, use a period before the three ellipsis dots.

According to Sothern and Gordon (2003), “Environmental factors

may contribute as much as 80% to the causes of childhood

obesity. . . . Research suggests that obese children demonstrate

decreased levels of physical activity and increased psychosocial

problems” (p. 104).

Ordinarily, do not use an ellipsis mark at the beginning or at the end of a quotation. Readers will understand that you have taken the quoted material from a longer passage. Th e only ex- ception occurs when you feel it is necessary, for clarity, to in- dicate that your quotation begins or ends in the middle of a sentence.

USING SOURCES RESPONSIBLY: Make sure that omissions and ellipsis marks do not distort the meaning of your source.

Using brackets

Brackets allow you to insert your own words into quoted mate- rial. You can insert words in brackets to clarify a confusing refer- ence or to keep a sentence grammatical in your context.

The cost of treating obesity currently totals $117 billion per year—a

price, according to the surgeon general, “second only to the cost of

[treating] tobacco use” (Carmona, 2004).

To indicate an error such as a misspelling in a quotation, in- sert [sic], italicized and in brackets, right aft er the error.

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60c

Setting off long quotations

When you quote forty or more words from a source, set off the quotation by indenting it one-half inch from the left margin. Use the normal right margin and do not single-space the quotation.

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have described earlier treatments of

obesity that focused on behavior modification:

With the advent of behavioral treatments for obesity in the

1960s, hope arose that modification of maladaptive eating and

exercise habits would lead to sustained weight loss, and that

time-limited programs would produce permanent changes in

weight. Medications for the treatment of obesity were proposed

as short-term adjuncts for patients, who would presumably

then acquire the skills necessary to continue to lose weight,

reach “ideal body weight,” and maintain a reduced weight

indefinitely. (p. 592)

Notice that at the end of an indented quotation the parentheti- cal citation goes outside the fi nal mark of punctuation. (When a quotation is run into your text, the opposite is true. See the sam- ple citations on p. 540.)

60c Use signal phrases to integrate sources.

Whenever you include a paraphrase, summary, or direct quota- tion of another writer’s work in your paper, prepare your read- ers for it with introductory words called a signal phrase. A signal phrase usually names the author of the source, gives the publi- cation year in parentheses, and oft en provides some context. It is generally acceptable in APA style to call authors by their last name only, even on a fi rst mention. If your paper refers to two authors with the same last name, use initials as well.

When you write a signal phrase, choose a verb that is ap- propriate for the way you are using the source. Are you providing background, explaining a concept, supporting a claim, lending

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authority, or refuting an argument (see 58c)? See the chart on page 543 for a list of verbs commonly used in signal phrases. Note that APA requires using verbs in the past tense or present perfect tense (explained or has explained) to introduce source material. Use the present tense only for discussing the applications or ef- fects of your own results (the data suggest) or knowledge that has been clearly established (researchers agree).

Marking boundaries

Readers need to move from your words to the words of a source without feeling a jolt. Avoid dropping direct quotations into your text without warning. Instead, provide clear signal phrases, including at least the author’s name and the year of publication. Signal phrases mark the boundaries between source material and your own words; they can also tell readers why a source is worth quoting. (Th e signal phrase is highlighted in the second example.)

DROPPED QUOTATION

Obesity was once considered in a very different light. “For many

years, obesity was approached as if it were either a moral failing

or evidence of underlying psychopathology” (Yanovski & Yanovski,

2002, p. 592).

QUOTATION WITH SIGNAL PHRASE

Obesity was once considered in a very different light. As researchers

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have explained, obesity was widely

thought of as “either a moral failing or evidence of underlying

psychopathology” (p. 592).

Using signal phrases with summaries and paraphrases

As with quotations, you should introduce most summaries and paraphrases with a signal phrase that mentions the author and the year and places the material in the context of your own writ- ing. Readers will then understand where the summary or para- phrase begins.

Without the signal phrase (highlighted) in the following ex- ample, readers might think that only the last sentence is being cited, when in fact the whole paragraph is based on the source.

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60c

Carmona (2004) advised a Senate subcommittee that the problem of

childhood obesity is dire and that the skyrocketing statistics—which

put the child obesity rate at 15%—are cause for alarm. More than

nine million children, double the number in the early 1980s, are

classified as obese. Carmona warned that obesity can cause myriad

physical problems that only worsen as children grow older.

Th ere are times, however, when a summary or a paraphrase does not require a signal phrase naming the author. When the context makes clear where the cited material begins, you may omit the signal phrase and include the author’s name and the year in parentheses.

Using signal phrases in APA papers

To avoid monotony, try to vary both the language and the placement of your signal phrases.

Model signal phrases

In the words of Carmona (2004), “. . .” As Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) have noted, “. . .” Hoppin and Taveras (2004), medical researchers, pointed out that “. . .” “. . . ,” claimed Critser (2003). “. . . ,” wrote Duenwald (2004), “. . .” Researchers McDuffi e et al. (2003) have off ered a compelling argument for this view: “. . .” Hilts (2002) answered objections with the following analysis: “. . .”

Verbs in signal phrases

admitted contended reasoned agreed declared refuted argued denied rejected asserted emphasized reported believed insisted responded claimed noted suggested compared observed thought confi rmed pointed out wrote

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Integrating statistics and other facts

When you are citing a statistic or another specifi c fact, a sig- nal phrase is oft en not necessary. In most cases, readers will understand that the citation refers to the statistic or fact (not the whole paragraph).

In purely financial terms, the drugs cost more than $3 a day on

average (Duenwald, 2004).

Th ere is nothing wrong, however, with using a signal phrase to introduce a statistic or another fact.

Putting source material in context

If you use another writer’s words, you must explain how they relate to your writing. Quotations don’t speak for themselves; you must support them by creating a context for readers. Embed each quotation between sentences of your own: Introduce the quota- tion with a signal phrase, and follow it with interpretive com- ments that link the quotation to your own ideas. (See also 60c.)

QUOTATION WITH EFFECTIVE CONTEXT

A report by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2004) outlined

trends that may have contributed to the childhood obesity

crisis, including food advertising for children as well as

a reduction in physical education classes . . . , an increase

in the availability of sodas and snacks in public schools,

the growth in the number of fast-food outlets . . . , and the

increasing number of highly processed high-calorie and high-

fat grocery products. (p. 1)

Addressing each of these areas requires more than a

doctor armed with a prescription pad; it requires a broad

mobilization not just of doctors and concerned parents but of

educators, food industry executives, advertisers, and media

representatives.

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60d Synthesize sources.

When you synthesize multiple sources in a research paper, you create a conversation about your research topic. Your paper includes your active analysis and integration of ideas, not just a series of quotations and paraphrases. Your synthesis will show how your sources relate to one another; one source may support, extend, or counter the ideas of another. Not every source has to “speak” to another in a research paper, but readers should be able to see how each one functions in your argument.

SAMPLE SYNTHESIS (DRAFT)

Medical treatments have clear costs for

individual patients, including unpleasant side

effects, little information about long-term use,

and uncertainty that they will yield significant

weight loss. The financial burden is heavy as well;

the drugs cost more than $3 a day on average

(Duenwald, 2004). In each of the clinical trials,

use of medication was accompanied by expensive

behavioral therapies, including counseling,

nutrition education, fitness advising, and

monitoring. As Critser (2003) noted in his book

Fat Land, use of weight-loss drugs is unlikely

to have an effect without the proper “support

system”—one that includes doctors, facilities,

time, and money (p. 3). For many families, this

level of care is prohibitively expensive.

Both medical experts and policymakers

recognize that solutions might come not

only from a laboratory but also from policy,

education, and advocacy. A handbook designed

to educate doctors on obesity called for “major

changes in some aspects of western culture”

(Hoppin & Taveras, 2004, Conclusion section,

para. 1). Solving the childhood obesity problem

Student writer Luisa Mirano begins with a claim that needs support.

Student writer

Signal phrases indicate how sources contribute to Mirano’s paper and show that the ideas that follow are not her own.

Source 1

Student writer

Mirano interprets and connects sources. Each paragraph ends with her own thoughts.

Source 2

Student writer

Source 3

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will require broad mobilization of doctors and

concerned parents and also of educators, food

industry executives, advertisers, and media

representatives.

In this synthesis, Mirano uses her own analyses to shape the conversation among her sources. She does not simply string quo- tations and statistics together or allow her sources to overwhelm her writing. Th e fi nal sentence, written in her own voice, gives her an opportunity to explain to readers how her sources support and extend her argument.

When synthesizing sources, ask yourself these questions:

• How do your sources speak to your research question? • How do your sources speak to each other? • Have you varied the functions of sources — to provide

background, explain concepts, lend authority, and anticipate counterarguments?

• Do you explain how your sources support your argument? • Do you connect and analyze sources in your own voice? • Is your own argument easy to identify and to understand,

with or without your sources?

61 Documenting sources in APA style In most social science classes and some humanities classes, you will be asked to use the APA system for documenting sources, which is set forth in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: APA, 2010).

APA recommends in-text citations that refer readers to a list of references. An in-text citation gives the author of the source (oft en in a signal phrase), the year of publication, and oft en a page number in parentheses. At the end of the paper, a list of references provides publication information about the source; the list is alphabetized by authors’ last names (or by titles for works with no authors). Th e direct link between the in-text

Student writer

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61a

citation and the entry in the reference list is highlighted in the following example.

IN-TEXT CITATION

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) reported that “the current state of

the treatment for obesity is similar to the state of the treatment of

hypertension several decades ago” (p. 600).

ENTRY IN THE LIST OF REFERENCES

Yanovski, S. Z., & Yanovski, J. A. (2002). Drug therapy: Obesity. The

New England Journal of Medicine, 346, 591-602.

For a reference list that includes this entry, see pages 595–96.

61a APA in-text citations

APA’s in-text citations provide the author’s last name and the year of publication, usually before the cited material, and a page num- ber in parentheses directly aft er the cited material. In the follow- ing models, the elements of the in-text citation are highlighted.

NOTE: APA style requires the use of the past tense or the present perfect tense in signal phrases introducing cited material: Smith (2012) reported, Smith (2012) has argued. (See also p. 543.)

■ 1. Basic format for a quotation Ordinarily, introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author’s last name followed by the year of publication in parentheses. Put the page number (preceded by “p.”) in parentheses aft er the quota- tion. For sources from the Web without page numbers, see item 12a on page 551.

Critser (2003) noted that despite growing numbers of overweight

Americans, many health care providers still “remain either in

ignorance or outright denial about the health danger to the poor

and the young” (p. 5).

If the author is not named in the signal phrase, place the author’s name, the year, and the page number in parentheses aft er the

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quotation: (Critser, 2003, p. 5). (See items 6 and 12 for citing sources that lack authors; item 12 also explains how to handle sources without dates or page numbers.)

NOTE: Do not include a month in an in-text citation, even if the entry in the reference list includes the month.

■ 2. Basic format for a summary or a paraphrase As with a quo- tation (see item 1), include the author’s last name and the year either in a signal phrase introducing the material or in parenthe- ses following it. Use a page number, if one is available, following the cited material. For sources from the Web without page num- bers, see item 12a on page 551.

Yanovski and Yanovski (2002) explained that sibutramine suppresses

appetite by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters serotonin

and norepinephrine in the brain (p. 594).

Sibutramine suppresses appetite by blocking the reuptake of

the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain

(Yanovski & Yanovski, 2002, p. 594).

■ 3. Work with two authors Name both authors in the sig- nal phrase or in parentheses each time you cite the work. In the parentheses, use “&” between the authors’ names; in the signal phrase, use “and.”

According to Sothern and Gordon (2003), “Environmental factors

may contribute as much as 80% to the causes of childhood obesity”

(p. 104).

Obese children often engage in limited physical activity (Sothern &

Gordon, 2003, p. 104).

■ 4. Work with three to fi ve authors Identify all authors in the signal phrase or in parentheses the fi rst time you cite the source.

In 2003, Berkowitz, Wadden, Tershakovec, and Cronquist

concluded, “Sibutramine . . . must be carefully monitored in

adolescents, as in adults, to control increases in [blood pressure]

and pulse rate” (p. 1811).

In subsequent citations, use the fi rst author’s name followed by “et al.” in either the signal phrase or the parentheses.

APA documentation style

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As Berkowitz et al. (2003) advised, “Until more extensive safety and

efficacy data are available, . . . weight-loss medications should be

used only on an experimental basis for adolescents” (p. 1811).

■ 5. Work with six or more authors Use the fi rst author’s name followed by “et al.” in the signal phrase or in parentheses.

McDuffie et al. (2002) tested 20 adolescents, aged 12-16, over

a three-month period and found that orlistat, combined with

behavioral therapy, produced an average weight loss of 4.4 kg, or

9.7 pounds (p. 646).

■ 6. Work with unknown author If the author is unknown, mention the work’s title in the signal phrase or give the fi rst word or two of the title in the parentheses. Titles of short works such as articles are put in quotation marks; titles of long works such as books and reports are italicized.

Children struggling to control their weight must also struggle

with the pressures of television advertising that, on the one

hand, encourages the consumption of junk food and, on the other,

celebrates thin celebrities (“Television,” 2002).

NOTE: In the rare case when “Anonymous” is specifi ed as the author, treat it as if it were a real name: (Anonymous, 2001). In the list of references, also use the name Anonymous as author.

■ 7. Organization as author If the author is an organization or a government agency, name the organization in the signal phrase or in the parentheses the fi rst time you cite the source.

Obesity puts children at risk for a number of medical complications,

including Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and

orthopedic problems (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2004,

p. 1).

If the organization has a familiar abbreviation, you may in- clude it in brackets the fi rst time you cite the source and use the abbreviation alone in later citations.

FIRST CITATION (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012)

LATER CITATIONS (CDC, 2012)

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■ 8. Authors with the same last name To avoid confusion if your reference list includes two or more authors with the same last name, use initials with the last names in your in-text citations.

Research by E. Smith (1989) revealed that. . . .

One 2012 study contradicted . . . (R. Smith, p. 234).

■ 9. Two or more works by the same author in the same year When your list of references includes more than one work by the same author in the same year, you will use lowercase letters (“a,” “b,” and so on) with the year to order the entries in the reference list. (See item 8 on p. 557.) Use those same letters with the year in the in-text citation.

Research by Durgin (2003b) has yielded new findings about the role

of counseling in treating childhood obesity.

■ 10. Two or more works in the same parentheses Put the works in the same order that they appear in the reference list, separated with semicolons.

Researchers have indicated that studies of pharmacological

treatments for childhood obesity are inconclusive (Berkowitz et al.,

2003; McDuffie et al., 2002).

■ 11. Multiple citations to the same work in one paragraph If you give the author’s name in the text of your paper (not in parentheses) and you mention that source again in the text of the same paragraph, give only the author’s name, not the date, in the later citation. If any subsequent reference in the same paragraph is in parentheses, include both the author and the date in the parentheses.

Principal Jean Patrice said, “You have to be able to reach students

where they are instead of making them come to you. If you don’t,

you’ll lose them” (personal communication, April 10, 2006). Patrice

expressed her desire to see all students get something out of their

educational experience. This feeling is common among members of

Waverly’s faculty. With such a positive view of student potential, it

is no wonder that 97% of Waverly High School graduates go on to a

four-year university (Patrice, 2006).

APA documentation style

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■ 12. Web source Cite sources from the Web as you would cite any other source, giving the author and the year when they are available.

Atkinson (2001) found that children who spent at least four hours

a day watching TV were less likely to engage in adequate physical

activity during the week.

Usually a page number is not available; occasionally a Web source will lack an author or a date (see items 12a, 12b, and 12c).

a. No page numbers When a Web source lacks stable numbered pages, you may include paragraph numbers or headings to help readers locate the passage being cited.

If the source has numbered paragraphs, use the paragraph number preceded by the abbreviation “para.”: (Hall, 2012, para. 5). If the source has no numbered paragraphs but contains head- ings, cite the appropriate heading in parentheses; you may also indicate which paragraph under the heading you are referring to, even if the paragraphs are not numbered.

Hoppin and Taveras (2004) pointed out that several other medications

were classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as having the

“potential for abuse” (Weight-Loss Drugs section, para. 6).

NOTE: For PDF documents that have stable page numbers, give the page number in the parenthetical citation.

b. Unknown author If no author is named in the source, mention the title of the source in a signal phrase or give the fi rst word or two of the title in parentheses (see also item 6). (If an organization serves as the author, see item 7.)

The body’s basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is a measure of its at-rest

energy requirement (“Exercise,” 2003).

c. Unknown date When the source does not give a date, use the abbreviation “n.d.” (for “no date”).

Attempts to establish a definitive link between television

programming and children’s eating habits have been problematic

(Magnus, n.d.).

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■ 13. An entire Web site If you are citing an entire Web site, not an internal page or a section, give the URL in the text of your paper but do not include it in the reference list.

The U.S. Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion website (http://

www.cnpp.usda.gov/) provides useful information about diet and

nutrition for children and adults.

■ 14. Multivolume work If you have used more than one volume from a multivolume work, add the volume number in parentheses with the page number.

Banford (2009) has demonstrated stable weight loss over time from

a combination of psychological counseling, exercise, and nutritional

planning (Volume 2, p. 135).

■ 15. Personal communication Interviews that you conduct, memos, letters, e-mail messages, social media posts, and simi- lar communications that would be diffi cult for your readers to retrieve should be cited in the text only, not in the reference list. (Use the fi rst initial with the last name in parentheses.)

One of Atkinson’s colleagues, who has studied the effect of the

media on children’s eating habits, has contended that advertisers

for snack foods will need to design ads responsibly for their younger

viewers (F. Johnson, personal communication, October 20, 2013).

■ 16. Course materials Cite lecture notes from your instruc- tor or your own class notes as personal communication (see item 15). If your instructor distributes or posts materials that con- tain publication information, cite as you would the appropriate source (for instance, an article, a section in a Web document, or a video). See also item 65 on page 579.

■ 17. Part of a source (chapter, fi gure) To cite a specifi c part of a source, such as a whole chapter or a fi gure or table, identify the element in parentheses. Don’t abbreviate terms such as “Figure,” “Chapter,” and “Section”; “page” is always abbreviated “p.” (or “pp.” for more than one page).

The data support the finding that weight loss stabilizes with consistent

therapy and ongoing monitoring (Hanniman, 2010, Figure 8-3, p. 345).

■ 18. Indirect source (source quoted in another source) When a writer’s or a speaker’s quoted words appear in a source written by

APA documentation style

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61bAPA list of references

someone else, begin the parenthetical citation with the words “as cited in.” In the following example, Critser is the author of the source given in the reference list; that source contains a quotation by Satcher.

Former surgeon general Dr. David Satcher described “a nation of

young people seriously at risk of starting out obese and dooming

themselves to the difficult task of overcoming a tough illness”

(as cited in Critser, 2003, p. 4).

■ 19. Sacred or classical text Identify the text, the version or edition you used, and the relevant part (chapter, verse, line). It is not necessary to include the source in the reference list.

Peace activists have long cited the biblical prophet’s vision

of a world without war: “And they shall beat their swords into

plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not

lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more”

(Isaiah 2:4, Revised Standard Version).

61b APA list of references

As you gather sources for an assignment, you will likely fi nd sources in print, on the Web, and in other places. Th e information you will need for the reference list at the end of your paper will diff er slightly for some sources, but the main principles apply to all sources: You should identify an author, a creator, or a producer whenever pos- sible; give a title; and provide the date on which the source was pro- duced. Some sources will require page numbers; some will require a publisher; and some will require retrieval information.

▶ General guidelines for the reference list, page 554

Section 61b provides specifi c requirements for and examples of many of the sources you are likely to encounter. When you cite sources, your goals are to show that the sources you’ve used are reli- able and relevant to your work, to provide your readers with enough information so that they can fi nd your sources easily, and to provide that information in a consistent way according to APA conventions.

In the list of references, include only sources that you have quoted, summarized, or paraphrased in your paper.

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61b APA documentation style

General guidelines for listing authors

Th e formatting of authors’ names in items 1–12 applies to all sources in print and on the Web — books, articles, Web sites, and so on. For more models of specifi c source types, see items 13–69.

General guidelines for the reference list

In APA style, the alphabetical list of works cited, which appears at the end of the paper, is titled “References.”

Authors and dates

● Alphabetize entries in the list of references by authors’ last names; if a work has no author, alphabetize it by its title.

● For all authors’ names, put the last name fi rst, followed by a comma; use initials for the fi rst and middle names.

● With two or more authors, use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name. Separate the names with commas. Include names for the fi rst seven authors; if there are eight or more authors, give the fi rst six authors, three ellipsis dots, and the last author.

● If the author is a company or an organization, give the name in normal order.

● Put the date of publication immediately aft er the fi rst element of the citation. Enclose the date in parentheses, followed by a period (outside the parentheses).

● For books, give the year of publication. For magazines, newspa- pers, and newsletters, give the exact date as in the publication (the year plus the month or the year plus the month and the day). For sources on the Web, give the date of posting, if it is available. Use the season if the publication gives only a season and not a month.

Titles

● Italicize the titles and subtitles of books, journals, and other long works.

● Use no italics or quotation marks for the titles of articles. ● For books and articles, capitalize only the fi rst word of the title

and subtitle and all proper nouns. ● For the titles of journals, magazines, and newspapers, capitalize

all words of four letters or more (and all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs of any length).

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Place of publication and publisher

● Take the information about a book from its title page and copy- right page. If more than one place of publication is listed, use only the fi rst.

● Give the city and state for all US cities. Use postal abbreviations for all states.

● Give the city and country for all non-US cities; include the province for Canadian cities. Do not abbreviate the country and province.

● Do not give a state if the publisher’s name includes it (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, for example).

● In publishers’ names, omit terms such as “Company” (or “Co.”) and “Inc.” but keep “Books” and “Press.” Omit fi rst names or ini- tials (Norton, not W. W. Norton, for example).

● If the publisher is the same as the author, use the word “Author” in the publisher position.

Volume, issue, and page numbers

● For a journal or a magazine, give only the volume number if the publication is paginated continuously through each volume; give the volume and issue numbers if each issue begins on page 1.

● Italicize the volume number and put the issue number, not itali- cized, in parentheses.

● For monthly magazines, give the year and the month; for weekly magazines, add the day.

● For daily and weekly newspapers, give the month, day, and year; use “p.” or “pp.” before page numbers (if any). For journals and magazines, do not add “p.” or “pp.”

● When an article appears on consecutive pages, provide the range of pages. When an article does not appear on consecutive pages, give all page numbers: A1, A17.

URLs, DOIs, and other retrieval information

● For articles and books from the Web, use the DOI (digital object identifi er) if the source has one, and do not give a URL. If a source does not have a DOI, give the URL.

● Use a retrieval date for a Web source only if the content is likely to change. Most of the examples in 61b do not show a retrieval date because the content of the sources is stable. If you are unsure about whether to use a retrieval date, include the date or consult your instructor.

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■ 1. Single author

Brown, S. (2014). Mean streak. New York, NY: Grand Central.

■ 2. Two to seven authors List up to seven authors by last names followed by initials. Use an ampersand (&) before the name of the last author. (See items 3–5 on pp. 548–49 for citing works with multiple authors in the text of your paper.)

Stanford, D. J., & Bradley, B. A. (2012). Across the Atlantic ice: The origins

of America’s Clovis culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Ludwig, J., Duncan, G. J., Gennetian, L. A., Katz, L. F., Kessler, R. C.,

Kling, J. R., & Sanbonmatsu, L. (2012). Neighborhood effects on

the long-term well-being of low-income adults. Science, 337,

1505-1510. doi:10.1126/science.1224648

■ 3. Eight or more authors List the fi rst six authors followed by three ellipsis dots and the last author’s name.

Tøttrup, A. P., Klaassen, R. H. G., Kristensen, M. W., Strandberg, R.,

Vardanis, Y., Lindström, Å., . . . Thorup, K. (2012). Drought in Africa

caused delayed arrival of European songbirds. Science, 338, 1307.

doi:10.1126/science.1227548

■ 4. Organization as author

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical

manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

author: last name + initial(s)

year (book) title (book)

place of publication publisher

all authors: last name + initial(s)

year (book) title (book)

place of publication publisher

all authors: last name + initial(s)

year (journal) title (article)

journal title volume

page(s) DOI

author: organization name year title (book)

edition place

of publication

organization as author

and publisher

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557

APA

61bAPA list of references

■ 5. Unknown author Begin the entry with the work’s title.

The rise of the sharing economy. (2013, March 9). The Economist,

406(8826), 14.

New concise world atlas. (2010). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

■ 6. Author using a pseudonym (pen name) or screen name Use the author’s real name, if known, and give the pseudonym or screen name in brackets exactly as it appears in the source. If only the screen name is known, begin with that name and do not use brackets. (See also items 47 and 68 on citing screen names in social media.)

littlebigman. (2012, December 13). Re: Who’s watching? Privacy concerns

persist as smart meters roll out [Comment]. National Geographic

Daily News. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

■ 7. Two or more works by the same author Use the author’s name for all entries. List the entries by year, the earliest fi rst.

Heinrich, B. (2009). Summer world: A season of bounty. New York, NY: Ecco.

Heinrich, B. (2012). Life everlasting: The animal way of death. New York,

NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

■ 8. Two or more works by the same author in the same year List the works alphabetically by title. In the parentheses, following the year add “a,” “b,” and so on. Use these same letters when giving the year in the in-text citation. (See also p. 584 and item 9 on p. 550.)

Bower, B. (2012a, December 15). Families in flux. Science News, 182(12), 16.

Bower, B. (2012b, November 3). Human-Neandertal mating gets a new

date. Science News, 182(9), 8.

title (article) year + month + day (weekly publication) journal title

volume, issue page(s)

title (book) year place of

publication publisher

screen name year + month + day (daily publication) title of original article

label title of publication

URL for Web publication

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 55719_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 557 01/09/15 4:58 PM01/09/15 4:58 PM

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

558

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61b APA documentation style

■ 9. Editor Begin with the name of the editor or editors; place the abbreviation “Ed.” (or “Eds.” for more than one editor) in parentheses following the name. (See item 10 for a work with both an author and an editor.)

Carr, S. C., MacLachlan, M., & Furnham, A. (Eds.). (2012).

Humanitarian work psychology. New York, NY: Palgrave.

■ 10. Author and editor Begin with the name of the author, followed by the name of the editor and the abbreviation “Ed.” For an author with two or more editors, use the abbreviation “Ed.” aft er each editor’s name: Gray, W., & Jones, P. (Ed.), & Smith, A. (Ed.).

James, W., & Pelikan, J. (Ed.). (2009). The varieties of religious experience.

New York, NY: Library of America. (Original work published 1902)

■ 11. Translator Begin with the name of the author. Aft er the title, in parentheses place the name of the translator (in normal order) and the abbreviation “Trans.” (for “Translator”). Add the original date of publication at the end of the entry.

Scheffer, P. (2011). Immigrant nations (L. Waters, Trans.). Cambridge,

England: Polity Press. (Original work published 2007)

■ 12. Editor and translator If the editor and translator are the same person, the same name appears in both the editor position and the translator position.

Girard, R., & Williams, J. G. (Ed.). (2012). Resurrection from the

underground (J. G. Williams, Trans.). East Lansing: Michigan State

University Press. (Original work published 1996)

all editors: last name + initial(s) year

title (book) place of

publication publisher

author editor year title (book)

place of publication publisher

original publication information

author year title (book) translator place of

publication

publisher original

publication information

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559

APA

61bAPA list of references

Articles and other short works

▶ Citation at a glance: Article in a journal or magazine, page 560 ▶ Citation at a glance: Article from a database, page 562

■ 13. Article in a journal If an article from the Web or a data- base has no DOI, include the URL for the journal’s home page.

a. Print

Bippus, A. M., Dunbar, N. E., & Liu, S.-J. (2012). Humorous responses

to interpersonal complaints: Effects of humor style and nonverbal

expression. The Journal of Psychology, 146, 437-453.

b. Web

Vargas, N., & Schafer, M. H. (2013). Diversity in action: Interpersonal

networks and the distribution of advice. Social Science Research,

42(1), 46-58. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2012.08.013

Brenton, S. (2011). When the personal becomes political: Mitigating

damage following scandals. Current Research in Social Psychology.

Retrieved from http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html

c. Database

Sohn, K. (2012). The social class origins of U.S. teachers, 1860-1920.

Journal of Social History, 45(4), 908-935. doi:10.1093/jsh/shr121

all authors: last name + initial(s) year article title

journal title volume page(s)

all authors: last name + initial(s) year article title

journal title

volume, issue page(s) DOI

author year article title

journal title (no volume available)

URL for journal home page

author year

( journal) article title

journal title volume, issue page(s) DOI

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 55919_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 559 01/09/15 4:58 PM01/09/15 4:58 PM

http://www.uiowa.edu/~grpproc/crisp/crisp.html

Citation at a glance Article in a journal or magazine (APA) To cite an article in a print journal or magazine in APA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s)

2 Year of publication for journal; complete date for magazine

3 Title and subtitle of article

4 Name of journal or magazine

5 Volume number; issue number, if required (see p. 555)

6 Page number(s) of article

JOURNAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

4 2

560

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REFERENCE LIST ENTRY FOR AN ARTICLE IN A PRINT JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE

Butcher, J. (2013). School choice marches forward. Education Next, 13(1),

20-27.

For more on citing articles in APA style, see items 13–15.

1 2 3 4 5

Reprinted by permission of Harvard Kennedy School.

FIRST PAGE OF ARTICLE

2 4

561

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Citation at a glance Article from a database (APA) To cite an article from a database in APA style, include the following:

1 Author(s)

2 Year of publication for journal; complete date for magazine or newspaper

3 Title and subtitle of article

4 Name of periodical

5 Volume number; issue number, if required (see p. 555)

6 Page number(s)

7 DOI (digital object identifi er)

8 URL for periodical’s home page (if there is no DOI)

DATABASE RECORD

Reprinted by permission of EBSCO Publishing.

2 64 5

562

For more on citing articles from a database in APA style, see items 13–15.

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563

■ 14. Article in a magazine If an article from the Web or a data- base has no DOI, include the URL for the magazine’s home page.

a. Print

Comstock, J. (2012, December). The underrated sense. Psychology Today,

45(6), 46-47.

b. Web

Burns, J. (2012, December 3). The measure of all things. The American

Prospect. Retrieved from http://prospect.org/

c. Database

Tucker, A. (2012, November). Primal instinct. Smithsonian, 43(7), 54-63.

Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

■ 15. Article in a newspaper

a. Print

Swarns, R. L. (2012, December 9). A family, for a few days a year.

The New York Times, pp. 1, 20.

author year + month

(monthly magazine) article title magazine

title

volume, issue page(s)

author date of posting (when available) article title magazine title

URL for home page

author year + month

(monthly magazine) article title magazine title volume, issue page(s)

URL for magazine home page

author year + month + day article title

newspaper title page(s)

REFERENCE LIST ENTRY FOR AN ARTICLE FROM A DATABASE

Cojanu, V. (2013). Economics, Darwinism, and the case of disciplinary

imports. American Journal of Economics & Sociology, 72, 179-198.

doi:10.1111/j.1536-7150.2012.00867.x

1 2 3

4 5 6

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http://prospect.org/

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/

564

APA

61b APA documentation style

■ 15. Article in a newspaper (cont.)

b. Web

Villanueva-Whitman, E. (2012, November 27). Working to stimulate

memory function. Des Moines Register. Retrieved from

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

■ 16. Abstract Add the label “Abstract,” in brackets, aft er the title.

a. Abstract of a journal article

Morales, J., Calvo, A., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Working memory

development in monolingual and bilingual children [Abstract].

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 114, 187-202. Retrieved

from http://www.sciencedirect.com/

b. Abstract of a paper

Denham, B. (2012). Diffusing deviant behavior: A communication

perspective on the construction of moral panics [Abstract]. Paper

presented at the AEJMC 2012 Conference, Chicago, IL. Retrieved

from http://www.aejmc.org/home/2012/04/ctm-2012-abstracts/

■ 17. Supplemental material If an article on the Web contains supplemental material that is not part of the main article, cite the material as you would an article and add the label “Supplemental material” in brackets following the title.

Reis, S., Grennfelt, P., Klimont, Z., Amann, M., ApSimon, H., Hettelingh,

J.-P., . . . Williams, M. (2012). From acid rain to climate change

[Supplemental material]. Science 338(6111), 1153-1154.

doi:10.1126/science.1226514

■ 18. Article with a title in its title If an article title contains another article title or a term usually placed in quotation marks, use quotation marks around the internal title or the term.

Easterling, D., & Millesen, J. L. (2012, Summer). Diversifying civic

leadership: What it takes to move from “new faces” to adaptive

author: last name + initial(s) year + month + day article title

newspaper title

URL for home page

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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

http://www.sciencedirect.com/

http://www.aejmc.org/home/2012/04/ctm-2012-abstracts/

565

APA

61bAPA list of references

problem solving. National Civic Review, 20-27. doi:10.1002

/ncr.21073

■ 19. Letter to the editor Insert the words “Letter to the editor” in brackets aft er the title of the letter. If the letter has no title, use the bracketed words as the title (as in the following example).

Lim, C. (2012, November-December). [Letter to the editor]. Sierra.

Retrieved from http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/

■ 20. Editorial or other unsigned article

The business case for transit dollars [Editorial]. (2012, December 9). Star

Tribune. Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/

■ 21. Newsletter article Cite as you would an article in a magazine, giving whatever publication information is available (volume, issue, page numbers, and so on).

Scrivener, L. (n.d.). Why is the minimum wage issue important for food

justice advocates? Food Workers—Food Justice, 15. Retrieved from

http://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/199/pm.asp?nav=1&ID=41429

■ 22. Review Give the author and title of the review (if any) and, in brackets, the type of work, the title, and the author for a book or the year for a fi lm. If the review has no author or title, use the material in brackets as the title.

Aviram, R. B. (2012). [Review of the book What do I say? The therapist’s

guide to answering client questions, by L. N. Edelstein & C. A. Waehler].

Psychotherapy, 49(4), 570-571. doi:10.1037/a0029815

Bradley, A., & Olufs, E. (2012). Family dynamics and school violence

[Review of the motion picture We need to talk about Kevin, 2011].

PsycCRITIQUES, 57(49). doi:10.1037/a0030982

author of review

year (journal) book title

book author(s)

journal title volume, issue page(s) DOI

author(s) year

(journal) review title

fi lm title year (fi lm)

journal title volume, issue DOI

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 56519_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 565 01/09/15 4:59 PM01/09/15 4:59 PM

http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/

http://www.startribune.com/

http://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/199/pm.asp?nav=1&ID=41429

566

APA

61b APA documentation style

■ 23. Published interview Begin with the person interviewed, and put the interviewer in brackets following the title (if any).

Githongo, J. (2012, November 20). A conversation with John Githongo

[Interview by Baobab]. The Economist. Retrieved from http://www

.economist.com/

■ 24. Article in a reference work (encyclopedia, dictionary, wiki)

a. Print See also item 32 on citing a volume in a multivolume work.

Konijn, E. A. (2008). Affects and media exposure. In W. Donsbach (Ed.),

The international encyclopedia of communication (Vol. 1, pp. 123-129).

Malden, MA: Blackwell.

b. Web

Ethnomethodology. (2006). In STS wiki. Retrieved December 15, 2012,

from http://www.stswiki.org/index.php?title=Ethnomethodology

■ 25. Comment on an online article Begin with the writer’s real name or screen name. If both are given, put the real name fi rst, followed by the screen name in brackets. Before the title, use “Re” and a colon. Add “Comment” in brackets following the title.

Danboy125. (2012, November 9). Re: No flowers on the psych ward

[Comment]. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic

.com/

■ 26. Testimony before a legislative body

Carmona, R. H. (2004, March 2). The growing epidemic of childhood

obesity. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Competition, Foreign

Commerce, and Infrastructure of the U.S. Senate Committee on

Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Retrieved from http://www

.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t040302.html

■ 27. Paper presented at a meeting or symposium (unpublished)

Karimi, S., Key, G., & Tat, D. (2011, April 22). Complex predicates in

focus. Paper presented at the West Coast Conference on Formal

Linguistics, Tucson, AZ.

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 56619_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 566 01/09/15 4:59 PM01/09/15 4:59 PM

http://www.stswiki.org/index.php?title=Ethnomethodology

http://www.economist.com/

http://www.theatlantic.com/

http://www.hhs.gov/asl/testify/t040302.html

567

APA

61bAPA list of references

■ 28. Poster session at a conference

Lacara, N. (2011, April 24). Predicate which appositives. Poster session

presented at the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics,

Tucson, AZ.

Books and other long works

▶ Citation at a glance: Book, page 568

■ 29. Basic format for a book

a. Print

Child, B. J. (2012). Holding our world together: Ojibwe women and the

survival of community. New York, NY: Viking.

b. Web (or online library) Give the URL for the home page of the Web site or the online library.

Amponsah, N. A., & Falola, T. (2012). Women’s roles in sub-Saharan Africa.

Retrieved from http://books.google.com/

c. E-book Give the version in brackets aft er the title (“Kindle ver- sion,” “Nook version,” and so on). Include the DOI or, if a DOI is not available, the URL for the home page of the site from which you downloaded the book.

Wolf, D. A., & Folbre, N. (Eds.). (2012). Universal coverage of long-term

care in the United States [Adobe Digital Editions version]. Retrieved

from https://www.russellsage.org/

d. Database Give the URL for the database.

Beasley, M. H. (2012). Women of the Washington press: Politics, prejudice,

and persistence. Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/

author(s): last name + initial(s) year book title

place of publication publisher

author(s) year book title

URL

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 56719_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 567 01/09/15 4:59 PM01/09/15 4:59 PM

http://books.google.com/

https://www.russellsage.org/

http://muse.jhu.edu/

REFERENCE LIST ENTRY FOR A PRINT BOOK

Smith, P. D. (2012). City: A guidebook for the urban age. London, England:

Bloomsbury.

For more on citing books in APA style, see items 29–37.

1 2 3 4

Citation at a glance Book (APA) To cite a print book in APA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s)

2 Year of publication

3 Title and subtitle

4 Place of publication

5 Publisher

FROM

PAGE

TITLE PAGE

568

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569

APA

61bAPA list of references

■ 30. Edition other than the fi rst Include the edition number (abbreviated) in parentheses aft er the title.

Harvey, P. (2013). An introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, history, and

practices (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

■ 31. Selection in an anthology or a collection An anthology is a collection of works on a common theme, oft en with diff erent authors for the selections and usually with an editor for the entire volume.

a. Entire anthology

Warren, A. E. A., Lerner, R. M., & Phelps, E. (Eds.). (2011). Thriving and

spirituality among youth: Research perspectives and future possibilities.

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

b. Selection in an anthology

Lazar, S. W. (2012). Neural correlates of positive youth development. In

A. E. A. Warren, R. M. Lerner, & E. Phelps (Eds.), Thriving and spirituality

among youth: Research perspectives and future possibilities (pp. 77-90).

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

■ 32. Multivolume work If the volumes have been published over several years, give the span of years in parentheses. If you have used only one volume of a multivolume work, indicate the volume number aft er the title of the complete work; if the volume has its own title, add that title aft er the volume number.

a. All volumes

Khalakdina, M. (2008-2011). Human development in the Indian context: A

socio-cultural focus (Vols. 1-2). New Delhi, India: Sage.

editor(s) year

title of anthology

place of publication publisher

author of selection year title of selection

editors of anthology title of anthology

page numbers of selection

place of publication publisher

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570

APA

61b APA documentation style

b. One volume, with title

Jensen, R. E. (Ed.). (2012). Voices of the American West: Vol. 1. The

Indian interviews of Eli S. Ricker, 1903-1919. Lincoln: University of

Nebraska Press.

■ 33. Introduction, preface, foreword, or afterword

Zachary, L. J. (2012). Foreword. In L. A. Daloz, Mentor: Guiding the

journey of adult learners (pp. v-vii). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

■ 34. Dictionary or other reference work

Leong, F. T. L. (Ed.). (2008). Encyclopedia of counseling (Vols. 1-4).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Nichols, J. D., & Nyholm, E. (2012). A concise dictionary of Minnesota

Ojibwe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

■ 35. Republished book

Mailer, N. (2008). Miami and the siege of Chicago: An informal history of

the Republican and Democratic conventions of 1968. New York, NY:

New York Review Books. (Original work published 1968)

■ 36. Book with a title in its title If the book title contains another book title or an article title, do not italicize the internal title and do not put quotation marks around it.

Marcus, L. (Ed.). (1999). Sigmund Freud’s The interpretation of dreams:

New interdisciplinary essays. Manchester, England: Manchester

University Press.

■ 37. Book in a language other than English Place the English translation, not italicized, in brackets.

Carminati, G. G., & Méndez, A. (2012). Étapes de vie, étapes de soins [Stages

of life, stages of care]. Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland: Médecine & Hygiène.

■ 38. Dissertation

a. Published

Hymel, K. M. (2009). Essays in urban economics (Doctoral dissertation).

Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

(AAT 3355930)

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571

APA

61bAPA list of references

b. Unpublished

Mitchell, R. D. (2007). The Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Relocating the

conversation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Claremont School

of Theology, Claremont, CA.

■ 39. Conference proceedings

Yu, F.-Y., Hirashima, T., Supnithi, T., & Biswas, G. (2011). Proceedings

of the 19th International Conference on Computers in Education:

ICCE 2011. Retrieved from http://www.apsce.net:8080/icce2011

/program/proceedings/

■ 40. Government document If the document has a number, place the number in parentheses aft er the title.

U.S. Transportation Department, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety

Administration. (2012). Emergency response guidebook 2012.

Washington, DC: Author.

U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis. (2012, December). U.S.

international trade in goods and services, October 2012 (Report No.

CB12-232, BEA12-55, FT-900 [12-10]). Retrieved from http://www

.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/2012pr/10/

■ 41. Report from a private organization If the publisher and the author are the same, begin with the publisher. For a print source, use “Author” as the publisher at the end of the entry (see item 4 on p. 556); for an online source, give the URL. If the report has a number, put it in parentheses following the title.

Ford Foundation. (2012, November). Eastern Africa. Retrieved from http://

www.fordfoundation.org/pdfs/library/Eastern-Africa-brochure-2012.pdf

Atwood, B., Beam, M., Hindman, D. B., Hindman, E. B., Pintak, L., & Shors,

B. (2012, May 25). The Murrow Rural Information Initiative: Final report.

Pullman: Murrow College of Communication, Washington State University.

■ 42. Legal source Th e title of a court case is italicized in an in-text citation, but it is not italicized in the reference list.

Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950). Retrieved from Cornell University

Law School, Legal Information Institute website: http://www.law

.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0339_0629_ZS.html

19_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 57119_HAC_01131_PT11_527_596.indd 571 01/09/15 4:59 PM01/09/15 4:59 PM

http://www.fordfoundation.org/pdfs/library/Eastern-Africa-brochure-2012.pdf

http://www.apsce.net:8080/icce2011/program/proceedings/

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/Press-Release/2012pr/10/

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0339_0629_ZS.html

572

APA

61b APA documentation style

■ 43. Sacred or classical text It is not necessary to list sacred works such as the Bible or the Qur’an or classical Greek and Roman works (such as the Odyssey) in your reference list. See item 19 on page 553 for how to cite these sources in the text of your paper.

Web sites and parts of Web sites

▶ Citation at a glance: Section in a Web document, page 576

NOTE: In an APA paper or an APA reference list entry, the word “website” is spelled all lowercase, as one word.

■ 44. Entire Web site Do not include an entire Web site in the reference list. Give the URL in parentheses when you mention it in the text of your paper. (See item 13 on p. 552.)

■ 45. Document from a Web site List as many of the follow- ing elements as are available: author’s name, publication date (or “n.d.” if there is no date), title (in italics), publisher (if any), and URL. If the publisher is known and is not named as the author, include the publisher in your retrieval statement.

Wagner, D. A., Murphy, K. M., & De Korne, H. (2012, December).

Learning first: A research agenda for improving learning in

low-income countries. Retrieved from Brookings Institution

website: http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/12

/learning-first-wagner-murphy-de-korne

Gerber, A. S., & Green, D. P. (2012). Field experiments: Design, analysis, and

interpretation. Retrieved from Yale Institution for Social and Policy

Studies website: http://isps.yale.edu/research/data/d081#.UUy2HFdPL5w

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012, December 10).

Concussion in winter sports. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov

/Features/HockeyConcussions/index.html

■ 46. Section in a Web document Cite as you would a chapter in a book or a selection in an anthology (see item 31b on p. 569).

Pew Research Center. (2012, December 12). About the 2012 Pew global

attitudes survey. In Social networking popular across globe. Retrieved

from http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/12/12/social-networking

-popular-across-globe

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http://isps.yale.edu/research/data/d081#.UUy2HFdPL5w

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/12/learning-first-wagner-murphy-de-korne

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HockeyConcussions/index.html

http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/12/12/social-networking-popular-across-globe

573

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61bAPA list of references

Chang, W.-Y., & Milan, L. M. (2012, October). Relationship

between degree field and emigration. In International

mobility and employment characteristics among recent

recipients of U.S. doctorates. Retrieved from National Science

Foundation website: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief

/nsf13300

■ 47. Blog post Begin with the writer’s real name or screen name. If both are given, put the real name fi rst, followed by the screen name in brackets. Add the date of the post (or “n.d.” if the post is undated). Place the label “Blog post” in brackets following the title of the post. If there is no title, use the bracketed material as the title. End with the URL for the post.

Kerssen, T. (2012, October 5). Hunger is political: Food Sovereignty Prize

honors social movements [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www

.foodfirst.org/en/node/4020

■ 48. Blog comment Cite as a blog post, but add “Re” and a colon before the title of the original post and the label “Blog com- ment” in brackets following the title.

Studebakerhawk_14611. (2012, December 5). Re: A people’s history of

MOOCs [Blog comment]. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered

.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/people’s-history-moocs

Audio, visual, and multimedia sources

■ 49. Podcast

Schulz, K. (2011, March). Kathryn Schulz: On being wrong [Video podcast].

Retrieved from TED on http://itunes.apple.com/

Taylor, A., & Parfitt, G. (2011, January 13). Physical activity and mental

health: What’s the evidence? [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from Open

University on http://itunes.apple.com/

■ 50. Video or audio on the Web

Kurzen, B. (2012, April 5). Going beyond Muslim-Christian conflict in

Nigeria [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=JD8MIJOA050

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http://itunes.apple.com/

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf13300

http://www.foodfirst.org/en/node/4020

http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/library-babel-fish/people�s-history-moocs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD8MIJOA050

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61b APA documentation style

■ 50. Video or audio on the Web (cont.)

Malone, T. W. Collective intelligence [Video file]. Retrieved from

http://edge.org/conversation/collective-intelligence

Bever, T., Piattelli-Palmarini, M., Hammond, M., Barss, A., & Bergesen,

A. (2012, February 2). A basic introduction to Chomsky’s linguistics

[Audio file]. Retrieved from University of Arizona, College of Social

& Behavioral Sciences, Department of Linguistics website: http://

linguistics.arizona.edu/node/711

■ 51. Transcript of an audio or a video fi le

Malone, T. W. Collective intelligence [Transcript of video file]. Retrieved

from http://edge.org/conversation/collective-intelligence

Glass, I. (2012, September 14). Back to school [Transcript of audio file No. 474].

In This American life. Retrieved from http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

■ 52. Film (DVD, BD, or other format) Give the director, pro- ducer, and other relevant contributors, followed by the year of the fi lm’s release and the title. In brackets, add a description of the medium. Use “Motion picture” if you viewed the fi lm in a theater; “Video fi le” if you downloaded the fi lm from the Web or through a streaming service such as Netfl ix; “DVD” or “BD” if you viewed the fi lm on DVD or Blu-ray Disc. For a motion picture or a DVD or BD, add the location where the fi lm was made and the studio. If you retrieved the fi lm from the Web or used a streaming ser- vice, give the URL for the home page.

Affleck, B. (Director). (2012). Argo [Motion picture]. Burbank, CA: Warner Bros.

Ross, G. (Director and Writer), & Collins, S. (Writer). (2012). The hunger

games [Video file]. Retrieved from http://netflix.com/

■ 53. Television or radio program

a. Series

Hager, M. (Executive producer), & Schieffer, B. (Moderator). (2012). Face

the nation [Television series]. Washington, DC: CBS News.

b. Episode on the air

Harleston, R. (Host). (2012, December 1). Federal role in support of autism

[Television series episode]. In Washington journal. Washington, DC: C-SPAN.

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http://edge.org/conversation/collective-intelligence

http://linguistics.arizona.edu/node/711

http://edge.org/conversation/collective-intelligence

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

http://netflix.com/

575

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61bAPA list of references

c. Episode on the Web

Morton, D. (Producer). (2012). Fast times at West Philly High [Television

series episode]. In M. Hager (Executive producer), Frontline.

Retrieved from http://www.wgbh.org/

Glass, I. (Host). (2012, November 23). Little war on the prairie (No. 479)

[Radio series episode]. In This American life. Retrieved from

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

■ 54. Music recording

Chibalonza, A. Jubilee. (2012). On African voices [CD]. Merenberg,

Germany: ZYX Music.

African voices [CD]. (2012). Merenberg, Germany: ZYX Music.

■ 55. Lecture, speech, or address

Verghese, A. (2012, December 6). Colonialism and patterns of ethnic

conflict in contemporary India. Address at the Freeman Spogli

Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

Donovan, S. (2012, June 12). Assisted housing mobility in challenging

times [Video file]. Address at the 5th National Conference on

Assisted Housing Mobility, Urban Institute, Washington, DC.

Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/events/HUD-Secretary-Shaun

-Donovan-Speaks-on-Housing-Mobility.cfm

■ 56. Data set or graphic representation of data (graph,

chart, table) Give information about the type of source in brackets following the title. If there is no title, give a brief description of the content of the source in brackets in place of the title. If the item is numbered in the source, indicate the number in parentheses after the title. If the graphic appears within a larger document, do not italicize the title of the graphic.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (2011). Daily

intake of nutrients by food source: 2005-08 [Data set]. Retrieved

from http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-consumption

-and-nutrient-intakes.aspx

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http://www.wgbh.org/

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/

http://www.urban.org/events/HUD-Secretary-Shaun-Donovan-Speaks-on-Housing-Mobility.cfm

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-consumption-and-nutrient-intakes.aspx

Citation at a glance Section in a Web document (APA) To cite a section in a Web document in APA style, include the following elements:

1 Author(s)

2 Date of publication or most recent update (“n.d.” if there is no date)

3 Title of section

4 Title of document

5 URL of section

WEB DOCUMENT CONTENTS PAGE

576

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REFERENCE LIST ENTRY FOR A SECTION IN A WEB DOCUMENT

Minnesota Department of Health. (n.d.). Fertility. In 2010 Minnesota

health statistics annual summary. Retrieved from http://www.health

.state.mn.us/divs/chs/annsum/10annsum/Fertility2010.pdf

For more on citing documents from Web sites in APA style, see items 45 and 46.

1 2 3 4

Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Health.

ON-SCREEN VIEW OF DOCUMENT

577

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http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/chs/annsum/10annsum/Fertility2010.pdf

578

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61b APA documentation style

■ 56. Data set or graphic representation of data (cont.)

Gallup. (2012, December 5). In U.S., more cite obesity as most urgent

health problem [Graphs]. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com

/poll/159083/cite-obesity-urgent-health-problem.aspx

■ 57. Mobile application software (app) Begin with the devel- oper of the app, if known (as in the second example).

MindNode Touch 2.3 [Mobile application software]. (2012). Retrieved

from http://itunes.apple.com/

Source Tree Solutions. (2012). mojoPortal [Mobile application software].

Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/

■ 58. Video game Begin with the creator of the video game, if known. Add the label “Video game” in brackets aft er the title of the program. If the game can be played on the Web or was downloaded from the Web, give the URL instead of publication information.

Firaxis Games. (2010). Sid Meier’s Civilization V [Video game]. New York,

NY: Take-Two Interactive. Xbox 360.

Atom Entertainment. (2012). Edgeworld [Video game]. Retrieved from

http://www.addictinggames.com/

■ 59. Map

Ukraine [Map]. (2008). Retrieved from the University of Texas at Austin

Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection website: http://www.lib

.utexas.edu/maps/cia08/ukraine_sm_2008.gif

Syrian uprising map [Map]. (2012, October). Retrieved from http://www

.polgeonow.com/2012/10/syria-uprising-map-october-2012-7.html

■ 60. Advertisement

VMware [Advertisement]. (2012, September). Harvard Business Review,

90(9), 27.

■ 61. Work of art or photograph

Olson, A. (2011). Short story [Painting]. Museum of Contemporary Art,

Chicago, IL.

Crowner, S. (2012). Kurtyna fragments [Painting]. Retrieved from http://

www.walkerart.org/

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http://itunes.apple.com/

http://www.microsoft.com/web/gallery/

http://www.addictinggames.com/

http://www.walkerart.org/

http://www.gallup.com/poll/159083/cite-obesity-urgent-health-problem.aspx

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia08/ukraine_sm_2008.gif

http://www.polgeonow.com/2012/10/syria-uprising-map-october-2012-7.html

579

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61bAPA list of references

Weber, J. (1992). Toward freedom [Outdoor mural]. Sherman Oaks, CA.

■ 62. Brochure or fact sheet

National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2011). A nurse’s guide to

professional boundaries [Brochure]. Retrieved from https://www

.ncsbn.org/

World Health Organization. (2012, September). Road traffic injuries (No.

358) [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mediacentre

/factsheets/fs358/en/index.html

■ 63. Press release Generally, list the organization respon- sible for the press release. Give the exact date.

Urban Institute. (2012, October 11). Two studies address health policy on

campaign trail [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.urban

.org/publications/901537.html

■ 64. Presentation slides

Boeninger, C. F. (2008, August). Web 2.0 tools for reference and

instructional services [Presentation slides]. Retrieved from http://

libraryvoice.com/archives/2008/08/04/opal-20-conference

-presentation-slides

■ 65. Lecture notes or other course materials Cite materials that your instructor has posted on the Web as you would a Web document or a section in a Web document (see item 45 or 46). If the materials are handouts or printouts, cite whatever informa- tion is available in the source. Cite the instructor’s personal notes or material that is not posted (such as slides) as personal commu- nication in the text of your paper (see items 15 and 16 on p. 552).

Blum, R. (2011). Neurodevelopment in the first decade of life [Lecture

notes and audio file]. In R. Blum & L. M. Blum, Child health and

development. Retrieved from http://ocw.jhsph.edu/index.cfm/go

/viewCourse/course/childhealth/coursePage/lectureNotes/

Personal communication and social media

■ 66. E-mail E-mail messages, letters, and other personal com- munication are not included in the list of references. (See item 15 on p. 552 for citing these sources in the text of your paper.)

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https://www.ncsbn.org/

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs358/en/index.html

http://www.urban.org/publications/901537.html

http://libraryvoice.com/archives/2008/08/04/opal-20-conference-presentation-slides

http://ocw.jhsph.edu/index.cfm/go/viewCourse/course/childhealth/coursePage/lectureNotes/

580 APA manuscript format; sample research paper62

APA

■ 67. Online posting If an online posting is not archived, cite it as a personal communication in the text of your paper and do not include it in the list of references. If the posting is archived, give the URL and the name of the discussion list if it is not part of the URL.

McKinney, J. (2006, December 19). Adult education-healthcare

partnerships [Electronic mailing list message]. Retrieved from

http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/healthliteracy/2006/000524.html

■ 68. Twitter post (tweet) Use the author’s real name, if it is given, and put the screen name in brackets exactly as it appears in the source (including capitalization and punctuation). If only the screen name is known, begin with that name and do not enclose it in brackets. Include the entire text of the tweet as the title, fol- lowed by the label “Tweet” in brackets; end with the URL.

CQ Researcher. (2012, December 5). Up to 80 percent of the 600,000

processed foods sold in America have sugar added to their recipes.

See http://bit.ly/UmfA4L [Tweet]. Retrieved from https://twitter

.com/cqresearcher/status/276449095521038336

■ 69. Facebook post Use the author’s name exactly as it appears in the post. In place of a title, give a few words of the post followed by the label “Facebook post” in brackets. Include the date you retrieved the source and the URL for the poster’s Facebook page. If you are citing a personal Facebook page that will not be acces- sible to your readers, cite it as personal communication in your text, not in the reference list (see item 15 on p. 552).

U.S. Department of Education. (2012, October 9). They are resilient

[Facebook post]. Retrieved October 15, 2012, from http://www

.facebook.com/ED.gov

62 APA manuscript format; sample research paper Th e guidelines in this section are consistent with advice given in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: APA, 2010), and with typical require- ments for undergraduate papers.

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http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/healthliteracy/2006/000524.html

http://bit.ly/UmfA4L

http://www.facebook.com/ED.gov

https://twitter.com/cqresearcher/status/276449095521038336

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62a

62a APA manuscript format

Formatting the paper

Th e guidelines on pages 581–83 describe APA’s recommenda- tions for formatting the text of your paper. For guidelines on pre- paring the reference list, see pages 583–84.

Font If your instructor does not require a specifi c font, choose one that is standard and easy to read (such as Times New Roman).

Title page Begin at the top left , with the words “Running head,” followed by a colon and the title of your paper (shortened to no more than fi ft y characters) in all capital letters. Put the page number 1 fl ush with the right margin.

About halfway down the page, on separate lines, center the full title of your paper, your name, and your school’s name. At the bottom of the page, you may add the heading “Author Note,” cen- tered, followed by a brief paragraph that lists specifi c information about the course or department or provides acknowledgments or contact information. See page 585 for a sample title page.

Page numbers and running head Number all pages with arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, and so on) in the upper right corner one-half inch from the top of the page. Flush with the left margin on the same line as the page number, type a running head consisting of the title of the paper (shortened to no more than fi ft y characters) in all capital letters. On the title page only, include the words “Running head” followed by a colon before the title. See pages 585–96.

Margins, line spacing, and paragraph indents Use margins of one inch on all sides of the page. Left -align the text.

Double-space throughout the paper. Indent the fi rst line of each paragraph one-half inch.

Capitalization, italics, and quotation marks In headings and in titles of works that appear in the text of the paper, capitalize all words of four letters or more (and all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs of any length). Capitalize the fi rst word following a colon if the word begins a complete sentence.

In the body of your paper, italicize the titles of books, journals, magazines, and other long works, such as Web sites. Use quotation marks around the titles of articles, short stories, and other short works.

NOTE: APA has diff erent requirements for titles in the reference list. See page 584.

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62a APA manuscript format; sample research paper

Long quotations When a quotation is forty or more words, set it off from the text by indenting it one-half inch from the left mar- gin. Double-space the quotation. Do not use quotation marks around it. (See p. 594 for an example. See also p. 541 for more information about integrating long quotations.) Footnotes If you insert a footnote number in the text of your paper, place the number, raised above the line, immediately follow- ing any mark of punctuation except a dash. At the bottom of the page, begin the note with a one-half-inch indent and the superscript number corresponding to the number in the text. Insert an extra double-spaced line between the last line of text on the page and the footnote. Double-space the footnote. (See p. 587 for an example.) Abstract and keywords An abstract is a 150-to-250-word para- graph that provides readers with a quick overview of your essay. It should express your main idea and your key points; it might also briefl y suggest any implications or applications of the research you discuss in the paper.

If your instructor requires one, include an abstract on a new page aft er the title page. Center the word “Abstract” (in regular font, not boldface) one inch from the top of the page. Double- space the abstract and do not indent the fi rst line.

A list of keywords follows the abstract; the keywords help readers search for a published paper on the Web or in a data- base. Leave one line of space aft er the abstract and begin the next line with the word “Keywords,” italicized and indented one-half inch, followed by a colon. Th en list important words related to your paper. Check with your instructor for requirements in your course. (See p. 586 for an example of an abstract.) Headings Although headings are not always necessary, their use is encouraged in the social sciences. For most undergraduate papers, one level of heading is usually suffi cient. (See pp. 588–92.)

First-level headings are centered and boldface. In research papers and laboratory reports, the major headings are “Method,” “Results,” and “Discussion.” In other types of papers, the major headings should be informative and concise, conveying the structure of the paper.

Second-level headings are fl ush left and boldface. Th ird-level headings are indented and boldface, followed by a period and the text on the same line.

In fi rst- and second-level headings, capitalize the fi rst and last words and all words of four or more letters (and nouns, pro- nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs of any length). In third- level headings, capitalize only the fi rst word, any proper nouns, and the fi rst word aft er a colon.

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APA manuscript format 583

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62a

First-Level Heading Centered

Second-Level Heading Flush Left

Third-level heading indented. Text immediately follows.

Visuals (tables and fi gures) APA classifi es visuals as tables and fi g- ures (fi gures include graphs, charts, drawings, and photographs).

Label each table with an arabic numeral (Table 1, Table 2, and so on) and provide a clear title. Place the label and title on separate lines above the table, fl ush left and double-spaced. Type the table number in regular font; italicize the table title.

If you have used data from an outside source or have taken or adapted the table from a source, give the source information in a note below the table. Begin with the word “Note,” italicized and followed by a period. If any data in the table require an ex- planatory footnote, use a superscript lowercase letter in the table and in a footnote following the source note. Double-space source notes and footnotes; do not indent the fi rst line of each note. (For an example of a note in a table, see p. 591.)

For each fi gure, place the fi gure number and a caption below the fi gure, fl ush left and double-spaced. Begin with the word “Figure” and an arabic numeral, both italicized, followed by a period. Place the caption, not italicized, on the same line. If you have taken or adapted the fi gure from an outside source, give the source information immediately following the caption. Use the term “From” or “Adapted from” before the source information.

In the text of your paper, discuss the most signifi cant fea- tures of each visual. Place the visual as close as possible to the sentences that relate to it unless your instructor prefers that visu- als appear in an appendix.

Preparing the list of references

Begin your list of references on a new page at the end of the paper. Center the title “References” one inch from the top of the page. Double-space throughout. For a sample reference list, see page 595.

Indenting entries Type the fi rst line of each entry fl ush left and indent any additional lines one-half inch.

Alphabetizing the list Alphabetize the reference list by the last names of the authors (or editors) or by the fi rst word of an orga- nization name (if the author is an organization). When a work has no author or editor, alphabetize by the fi rst word of the title other than A, An, or Th e.

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62b APA manuscript format; sample research paper

If your list includes two or more works by the same author, arrange the entries by year, the earliest fi rst. If your list includes two or more works by the same author in the same year, arrange the works alphabetically by title. Add the letters “a,” “b,” and so on within the parentheses aft er the year. For journal articles, use only the year and the letter: (2012a). For articles in magazines and news- papers, use the full date and the letter in the reference list: (2012a, July 7); use only the year and the letter in the in-text citation.

Authors’ names Invert all authors’ names and use initials instead of fi rst names. Separate the names with commas. For two to seven authors, use an ampersand (&) before the last author’s name. For eight or more authors, give the fi rst six authors, three ellipsis dots, and the last author (see item 3 on p. 556).

Titles of books and articles In the reference list, italicize the titles and subtitles of books. Do not italicize or use quotation marks around the titles of articles. For both books and articles, capi- talize only the fi rst word of the title and subtitle (and all proper nouns). Capitalize names of journals, magazines, and newspa- pers as you would capitalize them normally (see 45c).

Abbreviations for page numbers Abbreviations for “page” and “pages” (“p.” and “pp.”) are used before page numbers of newspaper articles and selections in anthologies (see item 15 on p. 563 and item 31 on p. 569). Do not use “p.” or “pp.” before page numbers of articles in journals and magazines (see items 13 and 14 on pp. 559 and 563).

Breaking a URL or DOI When a URL or a DOI (digital object identifi er) must be divided, break it aft er a double slash or before any other mark of punctuation. Do not insert a hyphen; do not add a period at the end.

62b Sample APA research paper

On the following pages is a research paper on the eff ectiveness of treatments for childhood obesity, written by Luisa Mirano, a student in a psychology class. Mirano’s assignment was to write a literature review paper documented with APA-style citations and references.

macmillanhighered.com/rules8e

62 APA manuscript format; sample paper > Sample student writing: Mirano, “Can Medication Cure Obesity in Children?

A Review of the Literature” (literature review)

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Sample APA research paper 62b

Running head: CAN MEDICATION CURE OBESITY IN CHILDREN? 1

Can Medication Cure Obesity in Children?

A Review of the Literature

Luisa Mirano

Northwest-Shoals Community College

Author Note

This paper was prepared for Psychology 108, Section

B, taught by Professor Kang.

A running head consists of a title (shortened to no more than fi fty characters) in all capital letters. On the title page, it is preceded by the label “Running head.” Page numbers appear in the upper right corner.

Full title, writer’s name, and school name are centered halfway down the page.

An author’s note lists specifi c information about the course or department and can provide acknowledgments and contact information.

Marginal annotations indicate APA-style formatting and effective writing.

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APA

62b586 APA manuscript format; sample research paper 62b

CAN MEDICATION CURE OBESITY IN CHILDREN? 2

Abstract

In recent years, policymakers and medical experts have

expressed alarm about the growing problem of childhood

obesity in the United States. While most agree that the

issue deserves attention, consensus dissolves around how to

respond to the problem. This literature review examines one

approach to treating childhood obesity: medication. The

paper compares the effectiveness for adolescents of the only

two drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration

(FDA) for long-term treatment of obesity, sibutramine and

orlistat. This examination of pharmacological treatments

for obesity points out the limitations of medication

and suggests the need for a comprehensive solution

that combines medical, social, behavioral, and political

approaches to this complex problem.

Keywords: obesity, childhood, adolescence, medication,

public policy

Keywords help readers search for a paper on the Web or in a database.

Abstract appears on a separate page. Heading is centered and not boldface.

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Sample APA research paper 62b

CAN MEDICATION CURE OBESITY IN CHILDREN? 3

Can Medication Cure Obesity in Children?

A Review of the Literature

In March 2004, U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona

called attention to a health problem in the United States

that, until recently, has been overlooked: childhood obesity.

Carmona said that the “astounding” 15% child obesity rate

constitutes an “epidemic.” Since the early 1980s, that rate

has “doubled in children and tripled in adolescents.” Now

more than nine million children are classified as obese. 1

While the traditional response to a medical epidemic is

to hunt for a vaccine or a cure-all pill, childhood obesity

is more elusive. The lack of success of recent initiatives

suggests that medication might not be the answer for

the escalating problem. This literature review considers

whether the use of medication is a promising approach for

solving the childhood obesity problem by responding to the

following questions.

1. What are the implications of childhood obesity?

2. Is medication effective at treating childhood obesity?

3. Is medication safe for children?

4. Is medication the best solution?

Understanding the limitations of medical treatments for

children highlights the complexity of the childhood obesity

problem in the United States and underscores the need for

physicians, advocacy groups, and policymakers to search for

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