Connections: a guide to on-line writing deals with how to write effectively using the Internet. It's a classroom manual for students, with advice on everything from email to writing your own web pages. Allyn and Bacon specialise in these cheap and user-friendly guides which are designed to support writing labs. The emphasis here is on the Net rather than writing, but the appendices include a bibliography of Net resources; MLA guidelines for citing Internet references; notes on copyright and fair use; a list of HTML tags; and a glossary. Suitable for beginners.
Full review HERE
Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science is a best-selling UK guide which covers planning and record-keeping, interviewing, reviewing 'the literature', questionnaires, and writing the final report. Even if you are studying a subject other than education or social science, this is a wonderfully helpful guide on organising your ideas and your writing at research level. It's a model of clarity and good sense. Now in its third edition - and deservedly so. Highly recommended.
Full review HERE
Writing your Doctoral Dissertation: Invisible Rules for Success
is a US guide to writing at post-graduate level which uses practical examples, is strong on planning, and offers advice on negotiating the process of research - from making an application to submitting a dissertation. It's also good on the issue of selecting a research topic and developing it into a feasible project. One of the features which has made this a popular choice is that it offers tips from former students on the problems they have faced in doing research - and how they have overcome them.
Full review HERE
If you have any serious intention of preparing text for publication, then
Copy-Editing: The Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Authors and Publishers is your encyclopedia on typography, style, and presentation. It has become the classic UK guide and major source of reference for all aspects of editing and text-presentation, covering every possible bibliographic detail. It also covers a wide range of subjects - from languages to mathematics and music - as well as offering tips on copyright and preparing text for electronic publication.
Full review HERE
Stylewriter is a software program which offers help with writing skills such as summarising, editing, and proof-reading your work. It also offers a selection of writing styles to choose from - academic writing, journalism, formal prose, and so on. Mistakes and suggestions for improvement are highlighted and implemented with a click of the button. Immediate download. Very popular.
Writing at University: a guide for students is a popular UK guide to understanding questions, planning assignments, reading and note-taking, and developing arguments. It puts a lot of emphasis on the process which leads up to the act of writing, and tries to show you how to develop more confidence. Different types of writing are discussed, as well as the important skill of matching your writing to the conventions of the discipline you are studying. The approach is like that of a sympathetic counsellor.
Full review HERE
The Classic Guide to Better Writing is more-or-less what its title suggests. It's a best-selling US guide with emphasis on how to generate, plan, and structure your ideas. It also covers basic grammar, good style, and common mistakes. The approach is step-by-step explanations on each topic, plenty of good advice on how to avoid common mistakes, and tips on how to gain a reader's attention. Suitable for all types of writing, it well deserves its good reputation.
Full review HERE
If you need just one book which will answer all your questions on writing - from punctuation to publication - then this is it. The Little, Brown Handbook is an encyclopaedic US guide to all aspects of writing. It includes vocabulary, punctuation, grammar, style, document design, MLA conventions, editing, bibliography, and the Internet. All topics are profusely illustrated and cross-indexed, and some of the longer entries are virtually short essays. It also has self-assessment exercises so that you can check that you have understood the contents of each chapter. The Swiss army penknife of writing guides. Highly recommended.
Full review HERE
If you are interested in 'electronic writing', WIRED Style: Principles of English Usage in the Digital Age deals with the developments in language, typography, and text-presentation thrown up by information technology. It's a cheerful and stylish guide to writing and editing based on the practice developed at WIRED magazine. Do we write word processor, word-processor, or wordprocessor? [They go for one word.] It offers conventions for showing email addresses and web page URLs, plus such tricky issues as the plural of a [computer] mouse - in which they opt for mouses.
Full review HERE
Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources
will be the answer to the prayers of anyone wondering how to represent digital sources in academic writing. The focus of this excellent little guide is on bibliographic citation. It shows how to represent references to sources from emails and CD-ROMs to web sites and even MOOs and MUDs. But it also includes handy Net tips and even how to create and publish your own web pages. It's an elegantly designed book which also includes lists of resources for writers which are available online - including graphics.
Full review HERE
Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University
Press Oxford
This is a UK classic guide to the finer points of editing and print preparation, spelling and typography. It was first written as the style guide for OUP, but quickly established a reputation well beyond. There's no hand-holding here. Everything is pared to the bone. the centre of the book deals with 'difficult' and irregular spellings. A masterpiece of compression, it is now in its thirty-ninth edition. This is one for professionals rather than student writers.
Full review HERE
Improve your Writing Skills is a guide to enhancing your existing writing skills by careful planning and avoiding common mistakes. It is written in non-technical language and makes a feature of showing you how to improve without learning the rules of traditional grammar. The emphasis is on preparation, editing, structure, and writing for maximum clarity. It also includes chapters on using computers, electronic writing, and overcoming writer's block.
Details HERE
MHRA Style Book: Notes for authors, editors, and writers of theses
This is a collection of detailed guidance notes on the presentation of academic writing prior to publication. The standard is that of the Modern Humanities Research Association. It includes referencing, citation, and page layout, footnotes, and even proof-correction. Clearly written and well structured, it actually manages to give you the impression you are a serious writer, just on the verge of breaking into print.
Full review HERE
The Oxford Dictionary for Writers & Editors . This is a specialist dictionary for writers, journalists, and text-editors. It deals with problematic and foreign words, offering correct spellings and consistent usage in the OUP house style. By concentrating on difficult cases, it saves you a lot of time. The latest edition also includes American spellings. Strongly recommended.
Full review HERE
Writing with a Computer deals with how to use word-processors to increase the effectiveness of your writing. It also includes time-saving tips on the use of templates, short-cuts, and outliners. This has been written for the classroom, but can equally well be used outside it. Contains plenty of screenshots, exercises, a glossary, and a bibliography. Particularly suitable for beginners.
Full review HERE
The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking. This is a brisk guide to various forms of writing and verbal presentations. It deals with academic work in the form of essays, reports, research, and dissertations - but also includes writing and speaking for business purposes, using faxes and email. There are plenty of examples and self-assessment exercises. Pitched at beginners' level.
Full review HERE
The Elements of Style. This is an old favourite - a 'bare bones' guidance manual which cuts out everything except the essential answers to the most common writing problems. It covers the elements of good usage, how to write clearly, commonly misued words and expressions, and advice on good style. The emergency first-aid kit of writing guides. It's very popular, not least because it's amazingly cheap. Suitable for beginners.
Full review HERE
A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. This is a modern American classic guidance manual for academic writing. It covers everything from abbreviations and numbers to referencing and page layout. It also includes sections showing how to lay out tables and statistics; lots on bibliographic referencing; and how to deal with public and government documents. The latest edition also includes advice on word-processing.
Full review HERE
Waterhouse on Newspaper Style. Keith Waterhouse is an English journalist and an enthusiast for good prose. This is an amusing tour through the abuse of language by UK newspaper journalists - exposing bad writing as a way of promoting clarity and precision. He takes an A-to-Z approach - from adjectives and alliteration, through cliches and journalese, to 'What is style?'. This is a very popular book. It rather annoyingly goes in and out of print - but it's well worth tracking down a copy.
Full review HERE
Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace. This is a popular guide - particularly amongst creative writing enthusiasts. It offers advice for improving your writing - by putting its emphasis on editing for clarity, creating structure, and keeping the audience in mind. These lessons are useful for all types of writing however. It has plenty of illustrative examples and exercises, an appendix with advice on punctuation, and a good glossary. Recommended.
Full review HERE
Successful Writing for Qualitative Researchers. This is one for specialist academic writing at post-graduate level. It covers all the stages of creating a scholarly piece of work - from the preparation of a project through to the completion and possible publication of the finished article. Includes sections on style, editing, and collaborative writing. It takes a positive and encouraging tone - which will be welcome to those embarking on such tasks for the first time.
Full review HERE
On Writing Well. This is a best-selling title, now in its sixth edition. It offers reassuring guidance from an experienced journalist on writing more effectively in a number of genres. He covers interviews, travel writing, memoirs, sport, humour, science and technology, and business writing. The approach is to take a passage and analyse it, showing how and why it works, or where it might be improved. It is particularly good on editing and re-writing.
Full review HERE
Improve your Writing Skills shows you how to develop the quality and effectiveness of your writing. Packed with good examples and handy hints, it features clear advice written in non-technical language, and quick solutions to common problems. Suitable for anybody writing reports, business proposals, memos, or academic documents. This will help you to clarify and sharpen your written communication skills.
