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Simon & Schuster
Quick Access Reference for Writers
Second Edition
by Lynn Quitman Troyka
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Welcome to the second edition of the Simon & Schuster Quick Access Reference for Writers. It has a jaunty nickname, the result of the first edition's becoming so popular and widely used. The nickname is Quick Access. (Some people have even shortened it to two letters: QA). This nickname pleases me greatly because the words quick access precisely capture my intent as I was writing the book for you.
My goal is to help you as a writer find information you need fast and easily. Each element in Quick Access works toward that goal. Also, I hope you hear in this book, as in my comprehensive Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers, a supportive voice that expresses how strongly I respect and admire students. Quick Access gives you answers for questions about writing that students ask most often.
Here's a preview of Quick Access:
QUICK ACCESS TO CONTENTS
Open the front cover for the Divider Directory, a listing of the book's twelve parts.
New for this edition: You can see the entire Divider Directory immediately upon opening the front cover. This makes it easy to glance over the contents of all twelve major parts of your book.
Also, when you open the back fold-out cover, the Capsule Contents displays the book's contents in greater detail so you can scan it by looking over one large sheet. The standard table of contents begins on page vii.
QUICK ACCESS TO EACH MAJOR PART
Quick Access's twelve dividers correspond to its twelve major parts.
New for this edition: Four new parts give easier access to ESL issues and add much more about basic grammar; an entirely new part on reading, thinking, and synthesizing; and an entirely new part on how to use Quick Access successfully. Also, to help you find your way quickly, a letter tied to each part's content identifies the part (for example, W for Writing Process, G for Grammar Basics) and is very visible on the dividers-front, back, and tab.
QUICK ACCESS TO EVERY CHAPTER AND ITS SECTIONS
Each part's chapters and sections are listed on the back of that part's divider, so that you can locate what you want instantly.
New for this edition: The letter identifying a part combines with a number to identify each chapter in that part. For example, C Correct Sentences has as its first chapter C1 Sentence Fragments, and its second chapter is C2 Comma Splices and Fused Sentences. Each section in a chapter has an identifying letter-number-letter code. For example, the first section in C1 is C1.a, and the second section is C1.b. For more about using codes for quick access to information, see H How to Use Your Quick Access.
QUICK ACCESS TO EVERY PAGE
The spiral binding allows Quick Access to open flat, fold over flat, and stay open at any page.
New for this edition: Each divider tab lists inclusive page numbers for that part, so that locating information by page numbers is now as easy as locating information by codes.
QUICK ACCESS TO EVERY ELEMENT ON EACH PAGE
New for this edition: At the upper outside corner of each page, a "data cluster" contains all location information. In the blue block, you can find the codes for the sections on each page. Beside the blue block, you can find titles-on left pages the letter and title of the part, and on right pages the letter-number and title of the chapter. Under the titles, you can find the page number.
In the "access area" at the edge of each page, you can find the code for each section starting on the page; blue flags with the numbers of QA Boxes; and large exclamation points to alert you to Alerts-special reminders so that you do not forget smaller, related details in context.
QUICK ACCESS TO QA BOXES
QA Boxes summarize and distill important information, giving quick answers and clear models. A list of all 64 QA Boxes appears on the first two pages after the Divider Directory.
QUICK ACCESS TO LEARNING ABOUT QUICK ACCESS
New for this edition: The book's first part, H How to Use Your Quick Access, explains how to use this book, with 10 pages to familiarize you with strategies for finding information. To cement your learning, exercises, and activities give you valuable practice.
QUICK ACCESS TO MLA, APA, CM, AND CBE DOCUMENTATION
Thorough coverage of four major styles of documentation includes MLA, APA, CM, and CBE styles. At divider M MLA Documentation, Quick Access has 24 in-text citations and 71 Works Cited models. At divider A APA, CM, CBE Documentation, Quick Access has 18 in-text citations and 54 References models in APA style; 54 bibliographic note models for Chicago Manual (CM) style; and 27 References models for Council of Biology Editors (CBE) style. Detailed instructions for laying out the information needed to tell your reader about your sources appear in QA Boxes, one for each of the four documentation styles.
QUICK ACCESS TO ESL INFORMATION
New for this edition: ESL information is easy to find because it now has its own divider. F Focus on ESL is based on the highly praised ESL chapters in the fourth edition of my Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers.
QUICK ACCESS TO HELP WITH USAGE RULES AND WITH GRAMMATICAL TERMS
The extensive Usage Glossary lists words and terms to use and to avoid, with many examples of preferred usage. The Terms Glossary provides definitions of all terms shown in small capital letters-for example, gerund-throughout Quick Access.
I hope that while you are using this book you will realize that you, the student, were in my mind's eye as I wrote and revised. The controlling conviction behind Quick Access is that knowledge empowers students, for it frees us all to enjoy the pleasures of language and to fulfill, with energy and joy, our potentials as writers.
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