Harris Reference Guide for Writers, 10th edition
Published by Pearson (January 4, 2019) © 2018
- Muriel Harris Purdue University
- Jennifer L. Kunka Francis Marion University
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- Assess student progress with performance insights
For first-year composition courses.
Tried-and-true advice at every stage in the writing process
The Harris Reference Guide for Writers, formerly known as The Prentice Hall Reference Guide, allows student writers to find the information they need, without requiring them to search using exact terminology. Instead, a series of “portals” efficiently guides learners to writing, research and grammar-related help. Informed by years of field testing and two expert authors, this resource offers guidance at each stage of the writing process, all while using language students will understand.
Extensively revised, the 10th Edition offers updated, easier-to-use instructions. More coverage of critical reading and thinking is included, along with new examples of student writing and explanatory graphics.
Hallmark features of this title
- User-friendly structure helps students find answers using terms they know, thereby improving writing skills and vocabulary.
- Organized to address FAQs at each stage of the writing process with charts and quick reference points to improve work at the sentence-level and beyond.
- Academic and career examples include multimodal projects, documented student papers (many exemplifying visual best practices), emails, cover letters, a resume guide, and portfolio tips.
- Offers how-to guidance (e.g., paragraph organization strategies) to write for assessments, create visual arguments and more.
- Develops research skills to create thesis statements, narrow topics, annotate and highlight.
- Students learn to properly document print and online sources with current guidelines.
- Free download: The Pearson Guide to the 2021 MLA Handbook.
New and updated features of this title
- NEW: Connections made between critical thinking, reading and writing, include strategies for critical and active reading and coverage tying strategies to specific rhetorical situations (e.g., research writing). Skills to evaluate rhetorical situations and identify clear connections between genre, purpose and audience are a focus.
- NEW: Strategies for success begin with coverage of habits of mind for college work, include visuals of note-taking strategies and apply strategies to note-taking in multiple academic subjects.
- NEW: Writing etiquette in academics and business coverage includes composing tactful emails to professors among other essential skills for school and work.
- NEW: Visual, concise, user-friendly research coverage includes a checklist to evaluate credibility of source materials, a graphic of how to map out multiple sources when outlining a paper, and examples of quoting a source accurately.
- NEW: Updates reflect the 8th editions of the MLA Handbook and CSE's Scientific Style and Format, including examples of MLA, APA, CMOS and CSE reference entries.
- UPDATED: Step-by-step guides, graphics, images and sourcemaps help students create Works Cited entries, understand MLA's new container system, and cite a variety of sources (including in-text citations and long quote formats).
TAB 1: Introduction
FAQs & How To's
Question & Correct
Compare & Correct
TAB 2: Reading and Writing Processes
- Thinking About Reading and Writing
- Reading and Writing Processes and Strategies
- Paragraphs
- Designing Papers and Projects
TAB 3: Reading and Writing for College and Career
- Reading and Writing in the Disciplines
- Reading and Writing About Literature
- Critical Reading, Thinking, and Arguing
- Visual Argument
- Professional Writing
- Writing for Assessment
TAB 4: Revising Sentences for Accuracy, Clarity, and Variety
- Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
- Subject—Verb Agreement
- Sentence Fragments
- Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers
- Parallel Constructions
- Consistency (Avoiding Shifts)
- Faulty Predication
- Coordination and Subordination
- Sentence Clarity
- Transitions
- Sentence Variety
TAB 5: Parts of Sentences
- Verbs
- Nouns and Pronouns
- Pronoun Case and Reference
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Subjects
- Phrases
- Clauses
- Essential and Nonessential Clauses and Phrases
- Sentences
TAB 6: Style and Word Choice
- Style Versus Grammar
- General and Specific Language
- Glossary of Usage
- Conciseness and Wordiness
- Passive Versus Active Voice
- Unnecessary and Inappropriate Language
- Appropriate Language
- Gender-Inclusive Language
TAB 7: Punctuation
- Commas
- Apostrophes
- Semicolons
- Colons
- Quotation Marks
- Hyphens
- End Punctuation
- Other Punctuation
TAB 8: Mechanics and Spelling
- Capitals
- Abbreviations
- Numbers
- Italics
- Spelling
TAB 9: For Multilingual Writers
- American Style in Writing
- Verbs
- Omitted and Repeated Words
- Pronouns and Adverbs
- Count and Noncount Nouns
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Prepositions
- Idioms
TAB 10: Research
- Finding a Topic
- Choosing Primary and Secondary Sources
- Searching Libraries and Library Databases
- Using Web Resources
- Conducting First-hand Research
- Evaluating Sources
- Collecting Information
- Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
- Writing the Research Paper
TAB 11: MLA Documentation
- Documenting in MLA Style
TAB 12: APA, CMOS, and CSE Documentation
- Documenting in APA Style
- Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)
- Council of Science Editors (CSE) Style
- Resources for Other Styles
About our authors
Muriel Harris, Emerita Professor of English, Purdue University, started the Purdue University Writing Lab in 1975, with the help of several graduate students. Later, with graduate student assistance, she developed the extensive OWL website of instructional pages on writing skills and grammar. Drawing on this experience, she authored The Harris Reference Guide for Writers (formerly The Prentice Hall Reference Guide) and The Writer's FAQs, both later co-authored with Jennifer Kunka. These books originated after explaining to a Prentice Hall editor that composition handbooks are unhelpful because too many students found them difficult to use. When the editor challenged her to write textbooks that would be student friendly and easy to use, these reference handbooks were her answer and have since gone through multiple editions. Harris also initiated and continues to edit the Writing Lab Newsletter, now renamed as WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship. She continually champions writing center collaboration as a highly effective instructional context for working with writers. Because of her fervent interest in helping writers develop into effective communicators, she is firmly committed to one-to-one collaboration between tutors and writers as a particularly successful partnership with classroom teachers of writing. Her CV list of books, book chapters, articles, and conference presentations, all of which focus on the theory, pedagogy, and administrative work of writing center professionals, is available on the Purdue University Department of English's website section for retired faculty. She is most proud–and awed by–her husband, their children, children's spouses, and grandchildren.
Jennifer Liethen Kunka is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Writing Center at Francis Marion University. She earned her Ph.D. in English from Purdue University, along with a secondary specialization in feminist theory and women's studies. She teaches Business Writing and British Literature. Her research involves writing center theory and practice, tech-enhanced writing, and research writing. She also is a specialist in 19th and 20th-century British literature, focusing on issues of gender and class in the novel. Dr. Kunka served on the original Gender Studies Steering Committee, and on the Gender Studies Advisory Committee.
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