The Writer's FAQ's: A Pocket Handbook

by Muriel Harris

For writers who want a clear, concise, user-friendly pocket guide beside them while they write, this book has it all. Its easy-to-navigate coverage offers a wide variety of traditional topics as well as the most current information on conducting online research, and using MLA, APA, Chicago Manual, and CSE citation formats. Writers will find valuable assistance with the writing process; argument reading and writing; all major areas of grammar and mechanics; conducting research in libraries and online; using the World Wide Web as a resource; and documenting and evaluating both print and electronic sources. Writers don't need to be familiar with grammatical terms because lists of frequently answered questions lead them to needed explanations offered in a friendly, informal tone and a highly readable style. For writers and others needing a compact, comprehensive writer's reference.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Spiral-bound

First published August 3, 1999

About the author

Muriel "Mickey" Harris was the director of the Purdue Writing Center where she worked elbow-to-elbow with students for over twenty-five years. Based on her experience assisting thousands of writing students, she authored the Prentice Hall Reference Guide.

She joined the Purdue faculty in 1976 as an assistant professor. Collaborating with several graduate students, she started the Purdue Writing Lab and began theorizing writing center scholarship and tutorial approaches, plus developing instructional materials for student and faculty use. Those materials were later revised and made available on the Purdue website as the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab). The Purdue OWL is currently visited annually by several million users across the globe.

Harris’ research focuses on tutorial collaboration in writing, differences in individual writing processes, writing center theory and practice, and political and public perception of writing centers. She initiated and continues to serve as editor of the first journal for writing center scholarship, now entitled WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship. Harris’ books include Teaching One-to-One: The Writing Conference, The Prentice Hall Reference Guide (9th ed.), and Writer’s FAQs (6th ed.)

Reviews

[Angie Fehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely a handy resource for writers of all ages and levels. I especially like the portion on how to cite web resources since I often forget the exact layout of that when putting together papers!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like how this book is laid out. It's definitely handy for my line of work.