The Little, Brown Compact Handbook with Exercises packages the authority and currency of its best-selling parent, The Little, Brown Handbook, in a briefer book with spiral binding, tabbed dividers, and more than 150 exercises.   Concise and accessible, The Little, Brown Compact Handbook helps writing students find what they need and then use what they find. It provides clear explanations of the writing process, grammar, usage, critical thinking, and argument. Its thorough, up-to-date coverage of research writing stresses the library as Web gateway, evaluation and synthesis of print and online sources, and intellectual honesty. It provides the latest documentation guidelines in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles.

Table of Contents:
Preface for Students   Preface for Instructors            I. WRITING PROCESS 1. The Writing Situation   a.  Assessment b. Subject c. Purpose d. Audience 2. Invention   a. Journal keeping b. Observing c. Freewriting d. Brainstorming e. Clustering f. Asking questions 3. Thesis and Organization    a. Thesis statement b. Organization 4. Drafting   a. Starting to draft b. Maintaining momentum c. Sample first draft 5. Revising and Editing   a. Revising the whole essay b. Sample revision c. Editing the revised draft d. Formatting and proofreading e. Sample final draft f. Collaborating g. Preparing a writing portfolio 6. Paragraphs   a. Unity b. Coherence c. Development d. Introductions and conclusions 7. Document Design   a. Academic papers b. Principles of design c. Elements of design d. Illustrations e. Readers with vision loss II. WRITING IN AND OUT OF COLLEGE 8. Academic Skills   a. Listening and note taking b. Reading c. Becoming an academic writer d. Exams 9. Critical Thinking and Reading   a. Techniques of critical reading b. Critical response c. Viewing images critically 10. Academic Writing   a. Responding to texts b. Purpose c. Audience d. Structure and content e. Language 11. Argument   a. Elements of argument b. Reasonableness c. Organization d. Visual arguments e. Sample argument  12. Online Writing   a. E-mail b. Online collaboration c. Web compositions 13. Oral Presentations   a. Organization b. Delivery 14. Public Writing   a. Business letters and résumés Sample letter and résumés b. Memos, reports, and proposals Sample memo and report   c. Community work Sample flyer, newsletter, and brochure   III. CLARITY AND STYLE 15. Emphasis   a. Effective subjects and verbs b. Sentence beginnings and endings c. Coordination d. Subordination 16. Parallelism   a. With and, but, or, nor, yet b. With both . . . and, not . . . but, etc. c. In comparisons d. With lists, headings, and outlines 17. Variety and Details  a. Sentence length b. Sentence structure c. Details 18. Appropriate and Exact Language   a. Appropriate language b. Exact language 19. Completeness   a. Compounds b. Needed words 20. Conciseness  a. Focusing on subject and verb b. Cutting empty words c. Cutting repetition d. Reducing clauses and phrases e. Revising there is, here is, it is f . Combining sentences g. Rewriting jargon IV. SENTENCE PARTS AND PATTERNS Basic grammar 21. Parts of Speech   a. Nouns b. Pronouns c. Verbs d. Adjectives and adverbs e. Prepositions and conjunctions f. Interjections 22. The Sentence   a. Subjects and predicates b. Predicate patterns 23. Phrases and Subordinate Clauses   a. Phrases b. Subordinate clauses 24. Sentence Types   a. Simple sentences b. Compound sentences c. Complex sentences d. Compound-complex sentences Verbs 25. Forms   a. Sing/sang/sung and other irregular verbs b. Sit/set, lie/lay, rise/raise c. -s and -ed forms d. Be, have, and other helping verbs e. Verb + gerund or infinitive: stop eating vs. stop to eat f. Verb + participle: look up, look over, etc. 26. Tenses   a. Present tense: sing b. Perfect tenses: have/had/will have sung c. Progressive tenses: is/was/will be singing d. Consistency e. Sequence 27. Mood   a. Subjunctive: I wish I were b. Consistency 28. Voice   a. She wrote it (active) vs.It was written (passive) b. Consistency 29. Subject-Verb Agreement   a. -s and -es endings b. Intervening words c. Subjects with and d. Subjects with or or nor e. Everyone and other indefinite pronouns f. Team and other collective nouns g. Who, which, that h. News and other singular nouns ending in -s i. Verb preceding subject j. Is, are, and other linking verbs k. Titles and words being defined Pronouns 30. Case   a. She and I vs. her and me b. It was she vs. It was her c. Who vs. whom d. Other constructions 31. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement a. Antecedents with and b. Antecedents with or or nor c. Everyone, person, and other indefinite words d. Team and other collective nouns 32. Pronoun Reference   a. Clear reference b. Close reference c. Specific reference d. Appropriate you e. Consistency Modifiers 33. Adjectives and Adverbs   a. Adjective vs. adverb b. Adjective with linking verb: felt bad c. Bigger, most talented, and other comparisons d. Double negatives e. Present and past participles: boring vs. bored f. A, an, the and other determiners 34. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers   a. Misplaced modifiers b. Dangling modifiers Sentence faults 35. Fragments   a. Tests b. Revision c. Acceptable fragments 36. Comma Splices and Fused Sentences   a. Main clauses without and, but, etc. b. Main clauses with however, for example, etc. 37. Mixed Sentences   a. Reason is because and other mixed meanings b. Tangled grammar c. Repeated subjects and other parts V. PUNCTUATION 38. End Punctuation   a. Period b. Question mark c. Exclamation point 39. Comma   a. Main clauses with and, but, etc. b. Introductory elements c. Nonessential elements d. Items in a series e. Two or more adjectives f. Dates, addresses, place names, numbers g. With quotations h. Misuses  40. Semicolon   a. Main clauses without and, but, etc. b. Main clauses with however, for example, etc. c. Main clauses or series items with commas d. Misuses   41. Colon   a. Concluding explanation, series, etc. b. Salutation; title and subtitle; time c. Misuses 42. Apostrophe   a. Possession b. Misuses c. Contractions d. Plural abbreviations, etc. 43. Quotations Marks   a. Direct quotations b. Within quotations c. Dialog d. Titles of works e. Words used in a special sense f. Misuses g. With other punctuation 44. Other Marks   a. Dash or dashes b. Parentheses c. Ellipsis mark d. Brackets e. Slash VI. SPELLING AND MECHANICS 45. Spelling and the Hyphen   a. Typical spelling problems b. Spelling rules c. The hyphen 46. Capital Letters   a. First word of sentence  b. Proper nouns and adjectives c. Titles of works d. Online communication 47. Italics or Underlining a. Titles of works b. Names of vehicles c. Foreign words d. Words or characters named as words e. Emphasis f. Online communication 48. Abbreviations   a. Titles with proper names b. Familiar abbreviations c. BC, BCE, AD, CE, AM, PM, no., $ d. Latin abbreviations e. Inc., Bros., Co., &  f. Units of measurement, names, etc. 49. Numbers   a. Numerals vs. words b. Dates, addresses, etc. c. Beginning sentences VII. RESEARCH WRITING 50. Research Strategy   a. Planning b. Research journal c. Researchable subject and question d. Goals for sources e. Working, annotated bibliography 51. Finding Sources   a. Your library’s Web site b. Searching electronically c. Reference works d. Books e. Periodicals f. The Web g. Other online sources h. Government publications i. Images, audio, video j. Your own sources 52. Working with Sources   a. Evaluating sources b. Synthesizing sources c. Gathering information d. Using summary, paraphrase, quotation e. Integrating sources 53. Avoiding Plagiarism and Documenting Sources   a. Plagiarism on the Internet b. What not to acknowledge c. What must be acknowledged d. Online sources e. Documenting sources 54. Writing the Paper   a. Focusing and organizing b. Drafting, revising, and formatting VIII. WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES 55. Goals and Requirements of the Disciplines   a. Methods and evidence b. Writing assignments c. Tools and language d. Documentation and format 56. Reading and Writing About Literature   a. Methods and evidence b. Writing assignments c. Tools and language d. Documentation and format e. Sample literary analysis   57. Writing in Other Disciplines   a. Humanities b. Social sciences c. Natural and applied sciences 58. MLA Documentation and Format   Indexes to models   a. Parenthetical text citations b. List of works cited c. Format of paper d. Sample MLA paper 59. APA Documentation and Format   Indexes to models    a. Parenthetical text citations b. List of  references c. Format of paper d. Sample APA paper   60. Chicago Documentation   Index to models   a. Notes and works-cited entries b. Models 61. CSE Documentation   Index to models   a. Name-year citations b. Numbered text citations c. List of references Glossary of Usage Index