Cover: EasyWriter, 9th Edition by Andrea A. Lunsford

EasyWriter

Ninth  Edition©2026  Andrea A. Lunsford

About

EasyWriter is for every writer. Whether you want to follow the rules of academic writing or prefer to experiment; whether you learn in typical ways or in divergent ways; whether you choose to use AI or opt not to use it; whether you came to college knowing critical reading strategies or needing them – EasyWriter is for you. It has the writing help you need in a format that’s easy to use and easy to afford.

Table of Contents

PART 1 WRITING PROCESSES
1 Why Write?
a Write to connect
b Write to survive
c Write to define and discover
d Write to succeed

2 A Writer’s Opportunities
a Recognize opportunities
b Be open to difference
c Use social media wisely
d Use AI tools wisely
e Position yourself as an academic writer
f Collaborate with others
g Take advantage of low-stakes writing assignments

3 A Writer’s Choices
a Take responsibility
b Consider assignment and purpose
c Choose a topic
d Identify your audience
e Consider stance and tone
f Consider language
g Consider time, genre, medium, and format

4 Exploring, Planning, and Drafting
a Explore a topic
b Develop a working thesis
c Do research and gather credible evidence
d Plan and draft
e Develop paragraphs
f Draft strong introductions and conclusions

5 Making Design Decisions
a Lay out text
b Consider accessibility
c Choose visuals and media
d Use visuals and media ethically

6 Reviewing, Revising, Editing, and Reflecting
a Review your writing
b Revise your writing
c Edit and proofread your writing
d Reflect on your writing

PART 2 READING, WRITING, AND SPEAKING

7 Building Confidence for College Reading
a Identify your purpose for reading
b Use tools and technologies to your advantage
c Preview the text
d Annotate the text

8 Reading Critically and Analytically
a Ask critical questions as you preview a text
b Annotate to begin an analysis
c Read collaboratively
d Summarize the text
e Analyze the text
f Student writing: Rhetorical analysis

9 Arguing Ethically and Persuasively
a Read and listen openly
b Identify basic appeals in an argument
c Analyze the elements of an argument
d Argue purposefully
e Make an argument
f Organize your argument
g Student writing: Argument essay

PART 3 RESEARCH

10 Writing in a Variety of Disciplines and Genres
a Recognize expectations of academic disciplines
b Understand genres
c Adapt genre structures
d Choose genres for public writing
e Student writing: Samples in a variety of disciplines and genres

11 Creating Presentations
a Consider task, purpose, and audience
b Write a memorable introduction and conclusion
c Use explicit structure and signpost language
d Plan visuals
e Practice
f Deliver the presentation
g Student writing: Excerpts from a presentation

12 Conducting Research
a Understand the challenges to research today
b Begin the research process
c Choose among types of sources
d Use web and library research
e Use generative AI for research
f Do field research

13 Evaluating Sources and Taking Notes
a Check facts
b Read vertically
c Read laterally
d Read and analyze sources
e Synthesize sources
f Keep track of sources
g Work with quotations, paraphrases, and summaries
h Create an annotated bibliography
i Student writing: Annotated bibliography

14 Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
a Use sources ethically
b Integrate quotations, paraphrases, and summaries
c Integrate visuals and media
d Know which sources to acknowledge
e Avoid plagiarism

15 Writing a Research Project
a Draft your text, including illustrations
b Review and revise a research project
c Prepare a list of sources
d Edit and proofread
e Student writing: Outline for a research project

PART 4 DOCUMENTATION

16 MLA Style
a Understand MLA citation style
b Consider the context of your sources
c Follow MLA format
d Create MLA in-text citations
e Create an MLA list of works cited
f Student writing: Research essay, MLA style

17 APA Style
a Understand APA citation style
b Follow APA format
c Create APA in-text citations
d Create an APA list of references
e Student writing: Research essay, APA style

18 Chicago Style
a Understand Chicago citation style
b Follow Chicago format
c Create Chicago notes and bibliographic entries
d Student writing: Research essay (excerpt), Chicago style

PART 5 STYLE: EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE

19 Language and Identity
a Recognize how the language of others can shape identity
b Use language to shape your own identity

20 Writing across Cultures, Communities, and Identities
a Communicate respectfully and inclusively
b Clarify meaning
c Meet audience expectations

21 Language That Builds Connections
a Examine assumptions and avoid stereotypes
b Examine assumptions about gender
c Examine assumptions about race and ethnicity
d Consider abilities and disabilities

22 Language Varieties
a Practice language awareness
b Experiment with language varieties
c Bring in other languages

23 Word Choice
a Choose among levels of formality
b Consider denotation and connotation
c Use general and specific language effectively
d Use figurative language effectively

PART 6 STYLE: EFFECTIVE SENTENCES

24 Varying Sentences
a Vary sentence length
b Vary sentence openings

25 Consistency and Completeness
a Revise confusing sentence structure
b Match subjects and predicates
c Make complete comparisons

26 Coordination and Subordination
a Relate equal ideas
b Distinguish main ideas

27 Conciseness
a Eliminate redundant words
b Eliminate empty words
c Replace wordy phrases
d Simplify sentence structure

28 Parallelism
a Make items in a series or list parallel
b Make paired ideas parallel
c Use words necessary for clarity

29 Shifts
a Revise shifts in tense
b Revise shifts in voice
c Revise shifts in point of view
d Revise shifts between direct and indirect discourse

PART 7 GRAMMAR

30 What Is “Standardized” English?
a Understand how languages are shaped—and reshaped
b Ask: What does standardized language have to do with me?

31 Top Twenty Tips for Editing Your Writing

32 Verbs and Verb Phrases
a Understand regular and irregular verb forms
b Build verb phrases
c Choose between infinitives and gerunds
d Understand lie and lay, sit and set, rise and raise
e Choose verb tenses to fit your meaning
f Choose active or passive voice
g Use mood appropriately

33 Nouns and Noun Phrases
a Understand count and noncount nouns
b Choose determiners
c Choose the best article

34 Subject-Verb Agreement
a Check for words between subject and verb
b Check agreement with compound subjects
c Make verbs agree with collective nouns
d Make verbs agree with indefinite pronouns
e Make verbs agree with who, which, and that
f Make linking verbs agree with subjects
g Make verbs agree with subjects that end in -s
h Check for subjects that follow the verb
i Make verbs agree with titles and words used as words
j Consider forms of be in varieties of English

35 Adjectives and Adverbs
a Use adjectives after linking verbs
b Understand comparatives and superlatives

36 Modifier Placement
a Revise misplaced modifiers
b Revise disruptive modifiers
c Revise dangling modifiers

37 Pronouns
a Consider a pronoun’s role in the sentence
b Make pronouns agree with antecedents
c Make pronouns refer to clear antecedents
38 Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
a Choose the right preposition
b Use two-word verbs idiomatically

39 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
a Separate the clauses into two sentences
b Link the clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction
c Link the clauses with a semicolon
d Rewrite the two clauses as one independent clause
e Rewrite one independent clause as a dependent clause
f Link the two clauses with a dash

40 Sentence Fragments
a Identify sentence fragments
b Revise phrase fragments
c Revise compound-predicate fragments
d Revise clause fragments

PART 8 PUNCTUATION/MECHANICS

41 Commas
a Set off introductory elements
b Separate clauses in compound sentences
c Set off nonrestrictive elements
d Separate items in a series
e Set off parenthetical and transitional expressions
f Set off contrasting elements, interjections, direct address, and tag questions
g Set off parts of dates and addresses
h Set off quotations
i Avoid unnecessary commas

42 Semicolons
a Link independent clauses
b Separate items in a series containing other punctuation
c Avoid misusing semicolons

43 End Punctuation
a Periods
b Question marks
c Exclamation points
d Understand end punctuation in informal writing

44 Apostrophes
a Signal possessive case
b Signal contractions
c Understand apostrophes and plural forms

45 Quotation Marks
a Signal a direct quotation
b Identify titles of short works
c Use quotation marks with other punctuation
d Avoid misusing quotation marks

46 Other Punctuation
a Parentheses
b Brackets
c Dashes
d Colons
e Slashes
f Ellipses
g Emoticons, emojis, and tone indicators

47 Capital Letters
a Capitalize the first word of a sentence
b Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives
c Capitalize titles before proper names
d Capitalize titles of works
e Revise unnecessary capitalization

48 Abbreviations and Numbers
a Use abbreviations
b Use numbers

49 Italics and Hyphens
a Italicize titles
b Italicize words, letters, and numbers used as terms
c Italicize non-English words
d Use italics for emphasis—occasionally
e Use hyphens with compound words
f Avoid unnecessary hyphens

Andrea Lunsford

Andrea Lunsford,   Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor of English emerita and former Director of the Program in Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, joined the Stanford faculty in 2000. Prior to this appointment, she was Distinguished Professor of English at The Ohio State University (1986-2000) and, before that, Associate Professor and Director of Writing at the University of British Columbia (1977-86) and Associate Professor of English at Hillsborough Community College. A frequent member of the faculty of the Bread Loaf School of English, Andrea earned her B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in English at The Ohio State University (1977). She holds honorary degrees from Middlebury College and The University of Ôrebro. 


Andrea’s scholarly interests include the contributions of women and people of color to rhetorical history, theory, and practice; collaboration and collaborative writing, comics/graphic narratives; translanguaging and style, and technologies of writing. She has written or coauthored/coedited many books, including Essays on Classical Rhetoric and Modern Discourse; Singular Texts/Plural Authors: Perspectives on Collaborative Writing; Reclaiming Rhetorica: Women in the History of Rhetoric, and The Norton Anthology of Rhetoric and Writing as well as numerous chapters and articles. For Bedford/St. Martin’s, she is the author of The St. Martins Handbook, The Everyday Writer, and EasyWriter; the co-author (with John Ruszkiewicz) of Everything’s an Argument and (with John Ruszkiewicz and Keith Walters) of Everything’s an Argument with Readings; and the co-author (with Lisa Ede) of Writing Together: Collaboration in Theory and Practice. 


Andrea has given presentations and workshops on the changing nature and scope of writing and critical language awareness at scores of North American universities, served as Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, as Chair of the Modern Language Association Division on Writing, and as a member of the MLA Executive Council. In her spare time, she serves on the Board of La Casa Roja’s Next Generation Leadership Network, as past Chair of the Kronos Quartet Performing Arts Association--and works diligently if not particularly well in her communal organic garden.