This assignment is due 2/7/13. Please forward your response to me via Angel in the drop box labeled “Works Cited 2/7/13”
Tutorials for A Writer’s Reference
The following tutorials will give you practice using the book’s menus, index, glossary of usage, and MLA directory.
Tutorial 1: Using the menus
Each of the following “rules” violates the principle it expresses. Using the main menu inside the front cover or the detailed menu inside the back cover, find the section in A Writer’s Reference that explains the principle. Then fix the problem. Tell where you found the information also.
Example:
Tutors in * In the writing center[,] they say that vague pronoun reference is unacceptable. G3-b ^ 1. A verb have to agree with its subject. 2. About sentence fragments. You should avoid them. 3. Its important to use apostrophe’s correctly. 4. If your sentence begins with a long introductory word group use a comma to separate the word group from the rest of the sentence.
Tutorial 2: Using the index
Assume that you have written the following sentences and want to know the answers to the questions in brackets. Use the index at the back of the book to locate the information you need, and edit the sentences if necessary. Tell where you found the information also. 1. Each of the candidates have decided to participate in tonight’s debate. [Should the verb be has or have to agree with Each?] 2. We had intended to go surfing but spent most of our vacation lying on the beach. [Should I use lying or laying?] 3. In some cultures, it is considered ill mannered for you to accept a gift. [Is it OK to use you to mean “anyone in general”?] 4. In Canada, Joanne picked up several bottles of maple syrup for her sister and me. [Should I write for her sister and I?]
Tutorial 3: Using the menus or the index
Imagine that you are in the following situations. Using either the menus or the index, find the information you need. Tell where you found the information also. 1. You are a student studying health administration, and you’re editing a report you’ve just written on the benefits of community-based urgent care clinics. You recall learning to put a comma between all items in a series except the last two. But you have noticed that most writers use a comma between all items. You’re curious about the rule. Which section of A Writer’s Reference will you consult? 2. You are tutoring in your university’s writing center. A composition student comes to you for help with her first college essay. She is revising a draft and struggling with her use of articles [a, an, and the]. You know how to use articles, but you aren’t able to explain the complicated rules on their correct use. Which section in A Writer’s Reference will you and the student, a multilingual writer, consult? 3. You have been assigned to write a response to an essay you read for your composition class. Your instructor has asked that you use at least three quotations from the text in your response, which must be written in MLA style. You aren’t quite sure how to integrate words from another source in your own writing. Which section in A Writer’s Reference will help? 4. You supervise interns at a housing agency. Two of your intern have trouble with the –s endings on verbs. One tends to drop –s endings; the other tends to add them where they don’t belong. You suspect that both problems stem from dialects spoken at home. The interns are in danger of losing their jobs because your boss thinks that anyone who writes “the tenant refuse…” or “the landlords insists…” is beyond hope. You disagree. Where can you direct your interns for help in A Writer’s Reference?

Tutorial 4: Using the glossary of usage
Consult the glossary of usage to see if the italicized words are used correctly. Then edit any sentences containing incorrect usage. Example an * The pediatrician gave my daughter a injection for her allergy. 1. Changing attitudes toward alcohol have effected the beer industry. 2. It is mankind’s nature to think wisely and act foolishly. 3. Our goal this year is to grow our profits by 9 percent. 4. Most sleds are pulled by no less than two dogs and no more than ten.
Tutorial 5: Using the directory to MLA works cited models
Let’s say that you have written a short research essay on the origins of hip-hop music. You have cited the following four sources in our essay, using MLA style, and you are ready to type your list of works cited. Turn to pages 371-72 and use the MLA directory to locate the appropriate models. Then write a correct entry for each source and arrange the entries in a properly formatted list of works cited. 1. A book by Jeff Chang title Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop; A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. The book was published in New York by St. Martin’s Press in 2005 2. An online article by Kay Randall called “Studying a Hip-Hop Nation.” The article appeared on the University of Texas at Austin Web site. The title of the site is University of Texas at Austin. You accessed the site on April 13, 2010; the last update was October 9, 2008. 3. A sound recording entitled “Rapper’s Delight” performed by the Sugarhill Gang on the CD Sugarhill Gang. The CD was released in 2008 by DBK Works. 4. A magazine article online through the database Expanded Academic ASAP. The article, “The Roots Redefine Hip-Hops Past,” was written by Kimberly Davis and published in Ebony magazine in June 2003. The article appears on pages 162-164. You found this article on April 13, 2010.