Keys for Writers: A Brief Handbook

by Ann Raimes

Book Overview

This concise composition handbook offers innovative design features that make it the most accessible tabbed handbook available: moveable KeyTabs that allow students to personalize the book, a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Ring-bound
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395920647
• ISBN13: 9780395920640
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 470 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Keys for College Student Writers

This is the most quickly referenced guide for MLA, APA, CBE, Chicago and CGOS documentation! A must have for all college students!

Great writing reference

It is a good handbook for writing. It is brief, to the point and easy to follow. Great tips for research and becoming an improved writer.

A Gift to Students

Ann Raimes has successfully blended grammatical construction, error correction methods, and easy usage into a 6x8 ring-bound writer's handbook. It is fascinating how, in one book, entry level college writers, graduate writers, and even multilingual writers can learn to write with poise, insight and comfort, successfully. Everything from writer's block to punctuation is addressed. In fact, if a writer doesn't know 'how to address,' Keys for Writers addresses that also. The book begins by detailing the writing process. The most important steps in any successful paper are to: Define your purpose, Assess your audience, Choose your topic, and Generate a thesis. Generating a thesis is one of the most important steps. A weak thesis will not define the purpose of the paper, a broad thesis will take away from the main facts. Keys for Writers walks the writer through the processes. The next section of the text explains the writing procedure. Creating an argument and taking a stand is vital. If an argument is not present the writer may be less formal, writing figurative language, essays, oral reports or poetry. I am a lover of poetry and Keys for Writers really spoke to my passion. Common errors are remedied in the sentence structuring section. Sentence fragments, run-on sentences, and subject-verb agreement errors are conquered. It is quite helpful for a beginner. Even a graduate, at times, may have trouble. The book is very careful to address the learning student's needs. It clearly identifies all of the key in the writing process. It also points out the importance of revision. Proofing and revising a paper before submitting it may further remedy and errors. During revision a writer can add any last minute changes, rephrase, and even outline. Outlining the paper may help the student decide if the ideas in the paper flow. The most amazing fact about Keys for Writers is it's section for multilingual writers. Few other books address these student's needs. Anne Raimes' effort to help each student is commendable. This may even make it possible for multilingual students to engage in learning together at equal levels. One of the facts that has been pointed out is the cost of the book. Some think that it is too expensive. I do agree to some extent that it is very expensive, but when 'what is learned' is weighed against 'cost' the purpose is obvious. This book is a must have. Every student should have a copy of Keys for Writers. The book is great for English speaking students, Multilingual students, students unfamiliar with the writing process and even professionals. Ann Raimes has done an excellent job in preparing this resource. The money for the book will be well spent. It is the perfect gift for a student and with Christmas right around the corner the time to buy is now.

Excellent Writing Handbook

I have used many writing textbooks through all of my years of schooling, but none have been like Keys for Writers. This book is significantly different than any other writing handbook that I have ever read. The organization, content, and language make this book easy to use. Of all the writing handbooks that I have encountered, this is by far the most useful I have ever used.Whether you are a beginner to writing, or an expert, this book is for you. The content of this book is outstanding. The explanation of the writing process and grammar is very impressive. The first section of the book details the writing process. It starts by giving many good ideas as to how to start your paper. The book explains that it is necessary to define your purpose, assess your audience, find a topic, and then generate a thesis. The book provides brilliant examples of how to overcome writers block. One of the main ideas discussed is to map your topic. I have tried this in some of my papers and found this to be an excellent way to generate ideas to write about.The text then goes on explaining how to write, edit, and create an argument. The book lays down a key foundation to support any level writer. One thing that I especially like about the book is that it gives ideas of how to write for many different purposes such as: prose works, poetry, essay, oral reports and figurative language.After the writing process, the book explains how to evaluate a source, a necessity for writing a research paper. The book not only explains how to evaluate books, but also tells of online articles. Keys for Writers also shows how to document sources. Though the documentation list may be brief, focusing on text and electronic media, it provides many pages of examples that anybody can use to figure out how to follow MLA format. The book also touches other documentation styles, like APA, CBE, Chicago, and CGOS styles.The section on grammar is particularly helpful. This section begins with sentence construction, explaining what fragments are and how to correct them. The book provides a list of the top ten sentence problems on pages 282-284. These problems include such troubles as fragments, run-on sentences, subject-verb agreement, and pronouns. In addition to listing the problems, the book even provides a few examples for each topic. Within the sentence construction section, there is a whole sector devoted to passive voice. This section is very helpful.The sentence section continues on, defining nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, relative clauses, and relative pronouns. Numerous examples are given throughout the discussion of these topics.The punctuation and mechanics section is very thorough. It addresses my most common grammatical error of how and when to use commas. There is a chart telling when to use a comma and another chart telling when not to use them. Following the charts are about six pages of examples and an in depth explanation of the key points mention

Why every writer /teacher needs this book!

I'm a professional technical writer and editor, specilaizing in online documents. Consequently, I have a library of about 50 reference books regarding style, usage, grammar, etc.I use this book more than any other because it is the ONLY book with a section for Multilingual writers or for people who speak / write English as a second language. Ann Raimes has masterfully crafted a chart of common transfer errors from the foreign language into English. Though I use this chart infrequently, the fact that Keys HAS such a chart is indicitave of the in-depth treatment that Ms. Raimes accords each topic.In addition, I like the tabbed references in the spiral-bound edition. I also bought this book on CD for ready-reference on my compuyuter desktop.