Cover: A Writer's Reference, 10th Edition by Diana Hacker; Nancy Sommers

A Writer's Reference

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Tenth  Edition©2021  Diana Hacker; Nancy Sommers

ISBN:9781319332969

ISBN:9781319332884

ISBN:9781319169404

ISBN:9781319396602

ISBN:9781319400934

ISBN:9781319448172

ISBN:9781319333157

ISBN:9781319333041

ISBN:9781319333010

About

Engage more. Achieve more.

A Writer’s Reference helps you engage in and meet the challenges of your writing course. Clear How-to boxes help you complete common writing assignments like argument and analysis. Guidance about paraphrasing and fact-checking sources help you become a more responsible writer and reader. And Notes-to-self help you reflect on your progress and plan your revision. If your instructor has assigned Achieve, you have new ways to engage with course material and with your instructor and peers. Revision planning tools and individualized study plans help you become a better writer, and a built-in e-book puts your problem and your solution side by side.

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Table of Contents

C | Composing and Revising
C1 Planning
C2 Drafting 
C3 Writing paragraphs 
C4 Reviewing, revising, and editing
C5 Preparing a portfolio; reflecting on your writing
A | Academic Reading, Writing, and Speaking
A1 Reading and writing critically
A2 Reading and writing about multimodal texts
A3 Reading arguments
A4 Writing arguments
A5 Speaking confidently
A6 Writing in the disciplines
R | Researched writing
R1 Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources
R2 Managing information; taking notes responsibly
R3 Evaluating sources
MLA | MLA Style
MLA-1 Supporting a thesis
MLA-2 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
MLA-3 Integrating sources
MLA-4 Documenting sources
MLA-5 Format and sample research essay
APA CMS | APA Style and CMS Style
APA-1 Supporting a thesis
APA-2 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
APA-3 Integrating sources
APA-4 Documenting sources
APA-5 Format and sample research essay
CMS-1 Supporting a thesis
CMS-2 Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
CMS-3 Integrating sources
CMS-4 Documenting sources
CMS-5 Format and sample research essay
S | Sentence Style
S1 Parallelism
S2 Needed words
S3 Problems with modifiers
S4 Shifts
S5 Mixed constructions
S6 Sentence emphasis
S7 Sentence variety
W | Word choice
W1 Glossary of usage
W2 Wordy sentences
W3 Active verbs
W4 Appropriate language
W5 Exact language
G | Grammatical sentences
G1 Subject-verb agreement
G2 Verb form, tenses, and moods
G3 Pronouns
G4 Adjectives and adverbs
G5 Sentence fragments
G6 Run-on sentences
M | Multilingual Writers and ESL topics
M1 Verbs
M2 Articles
M3  Sentence structure
M4 Using adjectives
M5  Prepositions and idiomatic expressions
M6 Paraphrasing sources effectively
P | Punctuation and Mechanics
P1 The comma
P2 Unnecessary commas
P3 The semicolon and the colon
P4 The apostrophe
P5 Quotation marks
P6 Other punctuation marks
P7 Spelling and hyphenation
P8 Capitalization
P9 Abbreviations and numbers
P10 Italics
B | Basic Grammar
B1 Parts of speech
B2 Sentence patterns
B3 Subordinate word groups
B4 Sentence types
I | Index
[[only for WAL edition]]
L | Writing about Literature
L1 Reading to form an interpretation
L2 Planning the paper
L3 Writing the paper
L4 Observing conventions
L5 Integrating quotations from the text
L6 Using secondary sources
L7 Sample papers

Diana Hacker

Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over thirty-five years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include A Writer's Reference, Eleventh Edition (2025); A Pocket Style Manual, Tenth Edition (2025); The Bedford Handbook, Twelfth Edition (2023); Rules for Writers, Tenth Edition (2022); and Writer’s Help 2.0, Hacker Version.

Nancy Sommers

Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and editor of Tiny Teaching Stories on Macmillan Learning's Bits Blog.