Finally, a writer's handbook that goes from high school into college!

Need to know how to create a topic outline for an essay?
Wondering whether to put punctuation inside or outside the quotation marks?
Looking for a handy guide to written arguments, paragraph structure, and basic mechanics?
You need the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers!

This 420-page writer's handbook has two primary sections. The first section provides detailed instructions and models (samples) for constructing arguments and writing essays, and the second part covers mechanics, including style and usage. This reference book answers the questions your student will face in high school and college classes, and it can help you as you evaluate your student's writing. It is an ideal writer's handbook to use with the Excellence in Literature curriculum.

A few highlights:

— How to construct a logical, interesting argument (focus) for an essay, debate, or research paper

— How to structure different types of essays, paragraph by paragraph

— How to use inductive and deductive reasoning

— How read thoughtfully and write about literature, including short stories, full-length classics, and poetry

— Topic sentence outline examples for papers in literature, social studies, public policy, and more

The Handbook for Writers is a collaborative effort — think Strunk and White, except this one is Johnston and Campbell. Mr. Johnston is a retired college professor who generously granted me permission to adapt two of his wonderful handbooks to fit the needs of Excellence in Literature students. This is mostly his work, but I have added a few things, updated examples, and converted Canadian styles to standard, current American usage.
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I think you will find the Handbook for Writers a very useful part of your homeschool. It's helpful in English, classes, of course, but it's also useful for other writing and speaking your student will need to do through high school and college. If your student studies debate, the chapters on constructing an argument are very helpful. In the essay section, the sample topic sentence outlines are like a blueprint for writing success. You can even use the Handbook as you evaluate your student's papers. This is truly a one-of-a-kind book.
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No handbook covers every single thing, but the Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers covers a lot of ground. At risk of making this an absurdly long page, I'll paste the table of contents below, with a few of my favorite sections highlighted. It's a lot of information!