Diana Hacker - A Writers Reference

The cover page shows the following information:

The title of the book is mentioned as A Writers Reference along with the edition as Ninth Edition. The names of the authors are mentioned as Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers.

Using LaunchPad for A Writers Reference

Students who use LaunchPad along with their handbook have access to the best reference book on the market and to resources that help them succeed in the course and boost their confidence as writers:

• Diagnostic tests that help each student personalize the handbooks instruction

• Interactive exercises with feedback and a convenient gradebook

• LearningCurve activities that adapt (get harder or easier) depending on the students progress

• Writing prompts that help students apply the handbooks lessons

• Current, engaging video tutorials on writing and research topics, all paired with practice activities

LaunchPad for A Writers Reference can be purchased on its own or packaged with the print book at a significant discount. An activation code is required.

Ninth Edition

Diana Hacker

Nancy Sommers

Harvard University

Contributing ESL Specialist

Kimberli Huster

Robert Morris University

For Bedford/St. Martins

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Copyright 2018, 2015, 2011, 2007 by Bedford/St. Martins.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.

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For information, write: Bedford/St. Martins, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116

ISBN 978-1-319-12284-3 (epub)

Acknowledgments

Gould, Stephen Jay, excerpt from Were Dinosaurs Dumb?, from Natural History, vol. 87, no. 5, May 1978, pp. 916. Copyright 1978 by Stephen Jay Gould. Reproduced with permission of Turbo, Inc.

Rudloe, Jack and Anne Rudloe, excerpt from Electric Warfare: The Fish That Kill with Thunderbolts, from Smithsonian, vol. 24, no. 5, August 1993, p. 94. Copyright 1993 by Jack and Anne Rudloe. Reproduced with permission of the authors.

Taylor, Betsy, excerpt from Big Box Stores Are Bad for Main Street, by David Masci, from CQ Researcher, vol. 9, no. 44, November 1999. Copyright 1999 by CQ Press. Reproduced with permission of CQ Press, an imprint of of Sage Publications, Inc.

Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as the art selections they cover; these acknowledgments and copyrights constitute an extension of the copyright page. It is a violation of the law to reproduce these selections by any means whatsoever without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the ninth edition of A Writers Reference. When you assign A Writers Reference, you send an important message to your students: Writing is worth studying and practicing. And you make it easy for students to find answers to their writing questions quickly and efficiently. The more comfortable students become using their handbook, the more confident and successful they become as college writers.

As I developed the ninth edition, I kept one central question in mind: What is the value of owning a handbook? We know that 79 percent of students surveyed by Bedford/St. Martins say that using a handbook makes them feel more confident as academic writers. Yet we know, too, that students can access free online materials about writing. How does owning a handbook help students succeed as college writers?

A Writers Reference is designed so that students can feel confident in their investment; they find what they need and understand what they find. In the handbook, they receive straightforward, trusted answers to their questions about every aspect of college writing, from drafting a thesis statement to formatting a paper. And in LaunchPad, the companion media, students have plenty of opportunities to practice and strengthen their skills. On the open Web, students might search for help and receive millions of results, including outdated and questionable information that is more confusing than illuminating. And free Web sites offer no practice tools that include feedback, scoring, and tracking.

A Writers Reference is designed for teachers, too, so that students in their classes are all on the same page, with access to the same trusted advice and to answers to common questions and solutions to specific writing problems. The value of the handbook, as I learn from fellow teachers, is that it provides a common vocabulary, both within the classroom and across a writing program, to meet a colleges learning outcomes.

A Writers Reference helps students succeed because it breaks down complex tasks and challenging concepts, providing step-by-step instruction, one lesson at a time. Take research, for example, one of the most challenging assignments for first-year writers. The ninth edition uses a how to approach both in the handbook and in LaunchPad to bring students into the research process, showing them how to ask a research question, enter a research conversation, go beyond a Google search, read and evaluate sources, avoid plagiarism, annotate bibliography entries, and more. The instruction and guidance students need to compose successful academic essays is all in one place, so when theyre writing their papers at 2 a.m., they have a trusted source to consult. And in that moment, when a student takes ownership of the writing experience, the handbook becomes My Writers Reference.

On the first day of class I tell my students,