The Little, Brown Essential Handbook, Eighth Edition, is a brief and accessible pocket-sized handbook that answers questions about writing in the disciplines, the writing process, grammar and usage, research writing, and documentation.
· A revised Chapter 4 on presenting writing covers designing for print and electronic documents, creating and using visuals and other media, and making oral presentations.
· A new Chapter 36 on tracking sources emphasizes accurate record keeping and offers practical tips for handling sources responsibly.
· A revised Chapter 40 on avoiding plagiarism gives more examples of deliberate and careless plagiarism, new examples of material that must be cited, and updated advice about avoiding plagiarism with online sources.
· A new Chapter 41 on documenting sources discusses principles of documentation as well as bibliography software.
· New coverage of genre in Chapter 1 joins subject, purpose, and audience as a key element in every writing situation.
· Expanded coverage of revising in Chapter 1 emphasizes whole-essay concerns.
· Academic integrity, including responsible use of sources, receives stress as a feature of general academic writing in Chapter 1, as well as in research writing.
· A new student paper in Chapter 2, a proposal argument, provides an example of academic writing documented in MLA style.
· Updated advice on using the library’s Web portal in Chapter 37 covers research guides and centralized search engines and also updates the material on databases.
· Expanded discussions of finding and evaluating Web sources in Chapters 37 and 38—Web sites, social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, multimedia—help students discern purposes and distinguish reliable from unreliable sources.
· Updated and extensive Chapters 42-45 cover documentation in MLA, APA, Chicago, and CSE styles, with new models for how to cite posts on social-networking sites, tweets, and electronic books.
· Updated, annotated samples of key source types in Chapters 42 and 43 show students how to find the bibliographical information to cite each type.
· “Essential” learning objectives opening each of the handbook’s six parts give students an overview of key content.