The Bedford Handbook, 9th Edition

What habits are common among good college writers? Good college writers are curious, engaged, reflective, and responsible. They read critically. They write with purpose. They tune into their audience. They collaborate and seek feedback. They know credible evidence makes them credible researchers. They revise. The Bedford Handbook, based on surveys with more than 1,000 first-year college students, fosters these habits and offers more support than ever before for college reading and writing. New writing guides support students as they compose in an ever-wider variety of genres, including multimodal genres. New reading support encourages students to become active readers. Retooled research advice emphasizes inquiry and helps writers cite even the trickiest digital sources confidently and responsibly. Best of all, the Handbook remains a trusted companion for students because it is accessible, comprehensive, and authoritative. Instructors benefit, too: A substantially revised Instructor’s Edition includes Nancy Sommers’s personal mentoring—more than 100 new concrete tips for teaching with the handbook. Finally, integrated digital content is easily assignable and helps students practice and apply the handbook’s lessons.

Table of Contents

Part I: The Writing Process
Chapter 1. Exploring, Planning, and Drafting
Chapter 2. Revising, Editing, and Reflecting
Chapter 3. Building Effective Paragraphs

Part II: Academic Reading and Writing
Chapter 4. Reading and Writing Critically
Chapter 5. Reading and Writing About Images and Multimodal Texts
Chapter 6. Reading and Writing Arguments
Chapter 7. Reading and Writing About Literature

Part III: Clear Sentences
Chapter 8. Prefer Active Verbs
Chapter 9. Balance Parallel Ideas
Chapter 10. Add Needed Words
Chapter 11. Untangle Mixed Constructions
Chapter 12. Repair Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Chapter 13. Eliminate Distracting Shifts
Chapter 14. Emphasize Key Ideas
Chapter 15. Provide Some Variety

Part IV: Word Choice
Chapter 16. Tighten Wordy Sentences
Chapter 17. Choose Appropriate Language
Chapter 18. Find the Exact Words

Part V: Grammatical Sentences
Chapter 19. Repair Sentence Fragments
Chapter 20. Revise Run-On Sentences
Chapter 21. Make Subjects and Verbs Agree
Chapter 22. Make Pronouns and Antecedents Agree
Chapter 23. Make Pronoun References Clear
Chapter 24. Distinguish between Pronouns Such as I and me
Chapter 25. Distinguish between who and whom
Chapter 26. Choose Adjectives and Adverbs with Care
Chapter 27. Choose Appropriate Verb Forms, Tenses, and Moods in Standard English

Part VI: Multilingual Writers and ESL Challenges
Chapter 28. Verbs
Chapter 29. Articles (a, an, the)
Chapter 30. Sentence Structure
Chapter 31. Prepositions and Idiomatic Expressions

Part VII: Punctuation
Chapter 32. The Comma
Chapter 33. Unnecessary Commas
Chapter 34. The Semicolon
Chapter 35. The Colon
Chapter 36. The Apostrophe
Chapter 37. Quotation Marks
Chapter 38. End Punctuation
Chapter 39. Other Punctuation Marks

Part VIII: Mechanics
Chapter 40. Abbreviations
Chapter 41. Numbers
Chapter 42. Italics
Chapter 43. Spelling
Chapter 44. The Hyphen
Chapter 45. Capitalization

Part IX: Grammar Basics
Chapter 46. Parts of Speech
Chapter 47. Sentence Patterns
Chapter 48. Subordinate Word Groups
Chapter 49. Sentence Types

Part X: Researched Writing
Chapter 50. Thinking Like a Researcher; Gathering Sources
Chapter 51. Managing Information; Taking Notes Responsibly
Chapter 52. Evaluating Sources
Chapter 53. Supporting a Thesis
Chapter 54. Citing Sources; Avoiding Plagiarism
Chapter 55. Integrating Sources
Chapter 56. MLA Documentation Style
Chapter 57. MLA Manuscript Format; Sample Research Paper
Chapter 58. Supporting a Thesis
Chapter 59. Citing Sources; Avoiding Plagiarism
Chapter 60. Integrating Sources
Chapter 61. APA Documentation Style
Chapter 62. APA Manuscript Format; Sample Research Paper
Chapter 63. Chicago Papers

Part XI: Writing in the Disciplines
Chapter 64. Learning to Write in a Discipline
Chapter 65. Approaching Writing Assignments in the Disciplines

Appendix: A Document Design Gallery