Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers,
7th ed.

Buy Now!

Silverman, Hughes, & Wienbroer.
New York : McGraw-Hill, 2008.

(Includes access to McGraw-Hill's online support for college students. In college bookstores now.)

A survival guide for college students at all levels, Rules of Thumb: A Guide for Writers covers all the basics in an easy format, with emphasis on what to do when a paper is due. Here you'll find

detailed help for writing, researching, formatting and polishing your college assignments.

Further help with Rules of Thumb is available in several formats. The authors have written Good Measures: A Practice Book to Accompany Rules of Thumb which contains both exercises and writing activities keyed to each chapter of Rules of Thumb. In addition, as a purchaser of Rules of Thumb you have access to Catalyst, the Premier Online Tool for Writing & Research, where tailored links guide students online to specific grammar and usage exercises, writing assignments, a source evaluation tutorial, and documentation help (Bibliomaker software that teaches students how to format information in five documentation styles—including MLA and APA).
 

Praise for Rules of Thumb:

 
"Rules of Thumb is the finest example of a compact handbook/rhetoric that I have ever seen . . . for writers of all skill levels."
-Suzanne Crawford, Saddleback College

"Impressive. An inexpensive, user-friendly book which covers the vast majority of problems college writers are likely to experience."
- Randolph Cauthen, Bloomsburg University

"This is the only handbook I suggest to writing instructors . . . thorough, yet concise and accessible. Rules of Thumb skips the gimmicks, skips the inflated teacher talk, and establishes its difference by being a truly student-friendly reference tool."
-Georgina Hill, Western Michigan University

"This book fills a need in a way no other text I've seen has, based on its brevity, clear prose, and sensible format . . . I would recommend this book to colleagues who are teaching writing-intensive courses in any discipline."
-Gwendolyn James, Columbia Basin College

"Rules is by far the most accessible grammar handbook that I've found so far, and this statement is made after many years of teaching freshman composition."
-Janet K. Stadulis, Lakeland Community College

"Rules of Thumb is direct, unpretentious, and student-friendly. Its virtues are its brevity and its attempt to reach out to writers in accessible, helpful language."
-Deborah Mutnick, Long Island University

 

The Meaning of "Rule of Thumb"

 
"Rule of Thumb"

A method or procedure derived entirely from practice or experience, without any basis in scientific knowledge; a roughly practical method. Also, a particular stated rule that is based on practice or experience. [First recorded usage 1692]

- "Rule of Thumb." The Oxford English Dictionary 2nd ed. 1989.

 
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