The Little, Brown Compact
Handbook packages the authority and currency of its best-selling parent, The Little, Brown
Handbook , in a briefer book with a comb-binding and tabbed dividers.
Concise and accessible, The
Little Brown Compact Handbook helps writing students find what they need and then use what
they find. It provides clear explanations of handbook basics-the writing process,
grammar and usage, and research writing-along with coverage of critical thinking and
argument, writing across the curriculum, using computers and the Internet for writing and
research, and the latest guidelines for citing sources in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE.
The fifth edition builds on
the handbook's best-selling features with a stronger emphasis on academic writing, new
"Culture and Language" notes that encompass both ESL and dialect issues, new material
on critically reading images, and thorough integration between the handbook and its vastly
expanded Web site. Revamped coverage of research writing provides the latest MLA
documentation guidelines, stresses the library as Web gateway, shows how to use and
document subscription services, provides a case study in evaluating a Web site, and covers
plagiarism more extensively in a chapter of its own. A fully interactive CD-ROM can be
packaged with the text.
Table of Contents
I. The Writing Process.
1. The Writing Situation.
Assessment.
Subject.
Audience.
Purpose.
Academic writing.
2. Invention.
Journal keeping.
Observing.
Freewriting.
Brainstorming.
Clustering.
Asking Questions.
Reading.
Thinking Critically.
3. Thesis and Organization.
Thesis statement.
Organization.
4. Drafting.
Starting.
Maintaining Momentum.
Sample First Draft.
5. Revising and Editing.
Revising. @AHEADS = Sample
Revision.
Editing.
Formatting; Proofreading.
Sample Final Draft.
Collaborating.
Preparing a Writing
Portfolio.
6. Paragraphs.
Unity.
Coherence.
Development.
Introductions and
Conclusions.
7. Critical Thinking and
Argument.
Critical Thinking and
Reading.
Critically Viewing Images.
Elements of Argument.
Writing Reasonably.
Organizing an Argument.
Sample Argument.
II. COMPUTERS IN WRITING.
8. Key Computer Skills.
Word Processing.
Spelling Checkers and Other
Tools.
Electronic Mail.
The Web.
9. Document Design.
Principles of Design.
Elements of Design.
Sample Report and
Newsletter.
10. Web Composition.
Web Compositions vs. Printed
Documents.
HTML.
Online Papers.
Original Sites.
III. CLARITY AND STYLE.
11. Emphasis.
Effective Subjects and
Verbs.
Sentence Beginnings and
Endings.
Coordination.
Subordination.
12. Parallelism.
With and, but, or, nor, yet.
With both...and, not...but,
etc.
In Comparisons.
With Lists, Headings, and
Outlines.
13. Variety and Details.
Sentence Length.
Sentence Structure.
Details.
14. Appropriate and Exact
Words.
Appropriate Language.
Exact Language.
15. Completeness.
Compounds.
Needed Words.
16. Conciseness.
Focusing on Subject and
Verb.
Cutting Empty Words.
Cutting Repetition.
Reducing Clauses and
Phrases.
Cutting there is or it is.
Combining Sentences.
Rewriting Jargon.
IV. SENTENCE PARTS AND
PATTERNS.
Basic Grammar.
17. Parts of Speech.
Nouns.
Pronouns.
Verbs.
Adjectives and Adverbs.
Prepositions and
Conjunctions.
Interjections.
18. The Sentence.
Subject and Predicate.
Predicate Patterns.
19. Phrases and Subordinate
Clauses.
Phrases.
Subordinate Clauses.
20. Sentence Types.
Simple Sentences.
Compound Sentences.
Complex Sentences.
Compound-Complex Sentences.
Verbs.
21. Forms.
Sing/sang/sung and Other
Irregular Verbs.
Sit/set; lie/lay;
rise/raise.
-s and -ed Forms.
Be, have, and Other Helping
Verbs.
Verb + Gerund or Infinitive:
Stop Eating vs. Stop to Eat.
Verb + Particle: Look Up,
Look Over, etc.
22. Tenses.
Present Tense: sing.
Perfect Tenses:
have/had/will have sung.
Progressive Tenses:
is/was/will be singing.
Consistency.
Sequence.
23. Mood.
Subjunctive: I wish I were.
Consistency.
24. Voice.
Active vs. Passive.
Consistency.
25. Subject-Verb Agreement.
-s and -es Endings.
Intervening Words.
Subjects with and.
Subjects with or or nor.
Everyone and Other
Indefinite Pronouns.
Team and Other Collective
Nouns.
Who, which, that.
News and Other Singular
Nouns Ending in -s.
Inverted Word Order.
Is, are, and Other Linking
Verbs.
Titles, etc.
Pronouns.
26. Case.
She and I vs. her and me.
It was she vs. It was her.
Who vs. whom.
Other Constructions.
27. Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement.
Antecedents with and.
Antecedents with or or nor.
Everyone, person, and Other
Indefinite Words.
Team and Other Collective
Nouns.
28. Pronoun Reference.
Clear Reference.
Close Reference.
Specific Reference.
Definite it and they.
Appropriate you.
Consistency.
Modifiers.
29. Adjectives and Adverbs.
Adjective vs. Adverb.
Adjective with Linking Verb:
felt bad.
Bigger, most talented, and
Other Comparisons.
Double Negatives.
Present and Past
Participles: boring vs. bored.
A, an, the, and Other
Determiners.
30. Misplaced and Dangling
Modifiers.
Misplaced Modifiers.
Dangling Modifiers.
Sentence Faults.
31. Fragments.
Tests.
Revision.
Acceptable Fragments.
32. Comma Splices and Fused
Sentences.
Main Clauses without and,
but, etc.
Main Clauses with however,
for example, etc.
33. Mixed Sentences.
Reason is because and Other
Mixed Meanings.
Tangled Grammar.
Repeated Subjects and Other
Parts.
V. PUNCTUATION.
34. End Punctuation.
Period.
Question Mark.
Exclamation Point.
35. Comma.
Main clauses with and, but,
etc.
Introductory Elements.
Nonessential Elements.
Items in a Series.
Two or More Adjectives.
Dates, etc.
With Quotations.
Misuses.
36. Semicolon.
Main Clauses without and,
but, etc.
Main Clauses with however,
for example, etc.
Main Clauses or Series Items
with Commas.
Misuses.
37. Colon.
Concluding Explanation,
Series, etc.
Salutation, Title and
Subtitle, etc.
Misuses.
38. Apostrophe.
Possessive Case.
Misuses.
Contractions.
Plurals of Abbreviations,
etc.
39. Quotation Marks.
Direct Quotations.
Within Quotations.
Titles of Works.
Words Used in a Special
Sense.
Misuses
With Other Punctuation
40. Other Marks.
Dash or Dashes.
Parentheses.
Ellipsis Mark.
Brackets.
Slash.
VI. SPELLING AND MECHANICS.
41. Spelling.
Typical Problems.
Rules.
42. Hyphen.
Compound Words.
Word Division at Ends of
Lines.
43. Capital Letters.
First Word of Sentence.
Proper Nouns and Adjectives.
Titles of Works.
Titles of Persons.
Online Communication.
44. Underlining or Italics.
Underlining vs. Italics.
Titles of Works.
Names of Vehicles.
Foreign Words.
Words Being Defined, etc.
Emphasis.
Online Communication.
45. Abbreviations.
Titles with Proper Names.
Familiar Abbreviations.
BC, AM, etc.
Latin Abbreviations.
Inc., Bros., Co., &.
Units of Measurement, Names,
etc.
46. Numbers.
Numerals vs. Words.
Days, Addresses, etc.
Beginning Sentences.
VII. RESEARCH AND
DOCUMENTATION.
47. Research Strategy.
Planning.
Research Journal.
Researchable Subject and
Question.
Goals for Sources.
Working Bibliography.
48. Finding Sources.
Searching Electronically.
Reference Works.
Books.
Periodicals.
The Web.
Other Online Sources.
Pamphlets and Government
Publications.
Your Own Sources.
49. Working with Sources.
Evaluating Sources.
Synthesizing Sources
Gathering Information.
Using Summary, Paraphrase,
and Quotation.
Integrating Sources.
50. Avoiding Plagiarism and
Documenting Sources.
Plagiarism and the Internet.
What Not to Acknowledge.
What Must be Acknowledged.
Online Sources.
Documenting Ssources.
51. Writing the Paper.
Focusing; Organizing.
Drafting; Revising;
Formatting.
52. MLA Documentation and
Format.
Indexes to Models.
Parenthetical Text
Citations.
List of Works Cited.
Format of Paper.
Sample Paper.
53. APA Documentation and
Format.
Indexes to Models.
Parenthetical Text
Citations.
List of References.
Format of Paper.
Sample Paper.
54. Chicago Documentation.
Index to Models.
Notes and Works-Cited
Entries
Models
55. CSE Documentation.
Index to Models.
Name-Year Text Citations.
Numbered Text Citations.
List of References
VIII. SPECIAL WRITING
SITUATIONS.
56. Reading and Writing
About Literature.
Reading Literature.
Analyzing Literature.
Two Literary Works and
Sample Papers.
57. Writing for Business.
Letters and Résum"s.
Memos.
Electronic Communication.
560 pages