DK Handbook, The (spiral), (with MyCompLab NEW with E-Book Student Access Code Card)

"I would describe The DK Handbook as visually arresting and a breath of fresh air in the market of composition handbooks…I think this text is remarkably suited to today's generation of visual learners."  -Joel Henderson, ChattanoogaStateTechnical CC   Transforming student and instructor expectations for textbooks,The DK Handbook presents information in newly accessible, scientifically tested, and student-friendly ways.    Never before seen in the handbook market, The DK Handbook’s design is a true marriage of visual and textual content, in which each topic is presented in self-contained, two-page spreads for at-a-glance referencing. Explanations are concise and “chunked” to be more approachable and appealing for today’s readers, and accompanying visuals truly teach – making concepts and processes visible to students.  The ground-breaking layout creates a consistent look and feel that helps students connect with the material, find information, and recognize solutions to writing problems they often don’t have names for.   In planning this new kind of handbook, Longman commissioned an in-depth usability study to learn more about how students use handbooks and where they have difficulties.  The results not only informed the handbook's development, they confirmed that The DK Handbook's distinctive presentation is more effective and "useful" than the market-leading handbook.    In addition to the groundbreaking design, The DK Handbook provides the content that students need.  With more attention to research—particularly online research—than other handbooks, DK gives students a solid foundation in information literacy.  The handbookalso presents grammar and documentation (MLA, APA, CMS and CSE) in new ways that makes the material more accessible, including unique “pattern pages” that help students grasp principles visually.    With strong attention to the rhetorical situation, a visual presentation of the writing process, and usablity tested grammar, research and documentation coverage, The DK Handbook offers all the standard material expected in a handbook, but presents it in a revolutionary format that will motivate students to use their handbook – and help them become better writers and researchers.

Table of Contents:
  1. A PROCESS FOR COMPOSING What is composing? What is rhetoric?     Audience     Purpose     Context     Strategies Rhetoric and a process for composing a research paper     Understanding your project or assignment        2. FINDING IDEAS Composing to learn and composing to communicate A research process Getting started with research Finding a topic Narrowing a topic       How do you know when you have a narrowed topic?       Other strategies for narrowing a topic Questions to guide research       Using research questions to develop a topic Kinds of sources, kinds of research     Kinds of research       Determining where to research       Choosing sources       Choosing sources—books       Choosing sources—periodicals       Choosing sources—webpages Finding sources       Library research                   Using library indexes                   Using library catalogs                   Using library journal databases                   Steps in using databases       Online research                   Search engines and directories                   Online references                   Online newspapers                   Government sources       Archival and special collection sources       Field research sources                   Interviews                   Observations                       Surveys What if you can’t find anything on your narrowed topic? Keeping track of sources Starting a paper   3. ANALYZING ARGUMENTS AND EVALUATING SOURCES What is analysis? Understanding and analyzing texts       Developing a sense of the author       Understanding appeals to emotion       Understanding arrangement and logic       A sample analysis essay Analyzing arguments       Thesis statements       What counts as evidence?                   Expert testimony                   Personal experience                   Analogies                   Facts                   Field research                   Shared values                   Examples       Further questions to guide critical reading       Critical reading                   Sample argumentative essay                   A sample rhetorical analysis       Questions to guide critical looking                 A sample analysis of a visual text Evaluating sources       Evaluating sources for relevance                   Sample sources       Evaluating sources for credibility: Print                   Sample sources       Evaluating sources for credibility: Online                   Sample sources Researching ethically                   Shared culture, academic research, and fair use Developing a thesis statement   4. CONNECTING WITH AUDIENCES  Understanding your audience       Characteristics your audience might share       What do people know, think, and feel about the issue?       Making audiences real and specific       Some complexities of audience       Developing a statement of purpose Starting to write for an audience         How to write a statement of purpose         Choices a writer can make based on a statement of purpose         A sample rough draft         Developing a revision plan Writing for different kinds of audiences       Academic audiences       Workplace audiences         5. ORGANIZING AND SHAPING TEXTS What is organization? Organization and medium Organization, audience, and genre        Online genres             Email             Blogs and other social networking websites       Popular genres             Letters to the editor             Letters of complaint             Magazine articles       Academic genres in the disciplines             Writing in the humanities             Writing in the sciences             Writing in the social sciences        Workplace genres             Memos             Resumes             Cover letters Shaping paragraphs for audience and purpose     Unified and coherent paragraphs     Paragraphs that develop         Paragraphs that describe         Paragraphs that define         Paragraphs that narrate         Paragraphs that give examples         Paragraphs that use analogy         Paragraphs that divide         Paragraphs that blend organizations Visual organization         Major elements of texts that mix words, pictures, and other visual pieces         Building visual organizations         Make some elements stand out         Group elements or make them similar         Align elements Organization for oral presentations         The parts of an oral presentation         Other organizational features Figuring out what to do with a paragraph that is too long   6. WRITING FOR DIVERSE AUDIENCES Varieties of English         Language standardization and language variety         Academic English         English as a global language Writing English when English is not your home language       Writing as a second language       Multilingual writers writing in English Using inclusive language       How do you show respect for your readers?       Including all ethnicities       Including all ages       Including all genders       Including all abilities       Including all sexual orientations       Including all religions Using an ESL dictionary   7. COMPOSING WITH STYLE Style and audience Style in writing       Clarity, concision, coherence, emphasis, engagement Styling words         Dictionary definitions and associations         The names we use         Action verbs         Concrete nouns         Clichés         Jargon         Too many words Styling sentences         Academic sentences         Sentences that are easy to read         Using coordination and subordination         Parallelism         Figurative language Styling paragraphs         Concluding paragraphs         Introductory paragraphs         Transitions between paragraphs         Passive voice Style in visual texts       Typography       Headings       Color Style in oral presentations       Body language and gestures       Using visual supports                 8. DOCUMENTING Why cite and document sources?       What is plagiarism?       Plagiarism—or misuse of sources?       Tips for avoiding plagiarism Four facets of citing and documenting Quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing       Quoting the words of others       Summarizing the words of others       Paraphrasing the words of others Five kinds of sources Collecting citation information from printed books Collecting citation information when you are citing part of a printed book Collecting citation information when you are citing printed periodicals Collecting citation information when you are citing webpages Citation information for databases to journals Collecting citation information for other kinds of sources   MLA Documentation MLA documentation for in-text citations     Variations on the pattern MLA documentation for works cited        For books        For parts of books        For articles from periodicals        For webpages other than databases        For texts from online databases        For other kinds of texts        Author’s name        Titles        Website titles        A very long URL        Place of publication        Year of publication         Periodical volume and date         Page numbers for articles from periodicals         Additional information         A works cited page in MLA format         For other kinds of texts         Sample paper in MLA format         Guide to MLA documentation models   APA Documentation APA documentation and in-text citations         Variations on the pattern APA documentation for reference list entries         For periodical sources         For nonperiodical sources         Author's name         Year of publication         Titles         Additional information         Place of publication         Periodical volume and issue         For online texts         For other kinds of sources A references page in APA format Guide to APA documentation models   CSE Documentation CSE references CSE in-text citations Details of the patterns CSE sample references   Chicago Manual of Style documentation and in-text citations CMS in-text citations and footnotes CMS sample references    9. EDITING AND PROOFREADING YOUR WORK Editing and proofreading   Grammar       There are 4 sentence functions       There are 4 sentence patterns                  Simple sentences 1 / 2                  Simple sentences 3                     Subjects and predicates                     More on predicates                     Compound subjects and predicates                     Prepositional phrases                  Compound sentences                  Complex sentences: Working with independent and dependent clauses                      Complex sentences with adverb clauses                   Compound-complex sentences       Avoiding sentence fragments       Avoiding run-on sentences       Parts of speech                   Nouns                   Pronouns                         Choosing the expected personal pronoun                         Pronoun agreement                   Adjectives                   Articles                   Verbs                         The tenses of English verbs                         Using the tenses of English verbs in academic writing                         Shifting verb tenses                         Subject-verb agreement                         The subjunctive mood of English verbs                   Adverbs                   Prepositions                   Conjunctions      Avoiding shifts in grammatical forms         Shifts in person and number         Shifts in voice         Shifts in levels of formality     Avoiding misplaced and dangling modifiers   Punctuation Commas     With numbers, place names, and dates     When you are quoting the words of others     To separate words in lists     To build sentences with multiple parts     When not to use commas Semicolons     To separate the ideas in a list     To join two sentences Colons     In certain conventional patterms     To prepare readers for information at the end of a sentence     To link two sentences Parentheses     To explain abbreviations     For numbers in lists     For in-text citations     To add information Dashes Brackets Hyphens Slashes Ellipses Quotation marks     For titles of short works     To indicate you are using a word as a word     To indicate technical terms     To show irony     To indicate direct quotation     To indicate speech Apostrophes Periods Question marks Exclamation points   Mechanics Using italics and underlining Spelling     Using spell checkers Capitalizing words Abbreviations Numbers   Glossary of grammatical terms and usage

Review :
"I would describe The DK Handbook as visually arresting and a breath of fresh air in the market of composition handbooks... I think this text is remarkably suited to today's generation of visual learners." --Joel Henderson, Chattanooga State Technical Community College "Users were extremely positive about the use of examples and the distinctive formatting of the headers vs. the examples" --Tharon Howard, Director of Usability Testing Facility, Clemson University "These pages show that the authors have considered both the students' desire for ease in accessing information and the instructors' concerns about organizing their lectures. When may I have a copy of this textbook?" --Cheryl Clements, Blinn College-Bryan "Too often, students just want to use the handbook to check their punctuation. This text puts those concerns into context and connects them to a larger writing process. It shows students that it is ridiculous to worry about comma splices before you have figured out who you are writing to, what your purpose is, and how you are going to arrange your work." --Erica Messenger, Bowling Green State University "I love it! Great! Easy to read, the layout makes locating information fast even when scanning the pages... The visual approach is fantastic. Stunning." --Sharon McGee, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville (Advisory Board Member) "Such a large chunk of material is available at a glance. Students can use the icons as they do on MS Windows and on the cell phones. This entire project makes so much sense." --Scott Douglass, Chattanooga State Technical Community College "The audience section seems to be among the most comprehensive I've seen. I like it and could easily envision a detailed lesson built around this section." --Michael Knievel, University of Wyoming (Advisory Board Member) "This is the most visually appealing handbook out there. The visuals are actually useful, not just decoration. The book is very user-friendly--easy to flip through. I think students will find it easy to use and will find it very useful for their writing." --Valerie Russell, Valencia Community College--East "The DK Handbook is informative, clearly organized, and written in a way that speaks directly to the student rather than the teacher. Its design has website-like appearance, which most students would be familiar and comfortable with. The visual component of The DK Handbook makes it stand apart from most other handbooks I've read." --Kip Knott, Columbus State Community College "Research = EXCELLENT! I especially like the sections on using library databases! this is not covered in such depth in other handbooks. I also like the way you talk about evaluating the relevance of sources and appropriateness. Examples here are great." --Kerith Dutkiewicz, Lansing Community College "What strikes me foremost about this book is the layout and design. Instead of putting too much information onto one page, a concerted effort was made to highlight important sections of, for example, citations, and then build on those skills over several pages. I think this is a significant improvement over our current text in terms of layout and usability." --Darren DeFrain, Wichita State University "This handbook covers the same material as my current handbook, but this one is clearer and more enjoyable to read. I like the design, the introductions, the examples, and the way the steps are broken down into bite-sized chunks of information." --Gary Zacharias, Palomar Community College "The combination of simple language and layout make this most unlike other handbooks I have used. Of course, all handbooks strive to be accessible but this one seems to be aware of the student as audience--not the teacher. The readability and layout are exceptional!" --John Allison, Morehead College (Advisory Board Member) "I've never seen argument presented this clearly before." --Joseph Schrer, Community College of Allegheny County (Advisory Board Member)