TL;DR
A Very Brief Guide to Reading and Writing in University
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You’ve just been assigned your very first university paper, but you don’t know how to begin. Stressed about failing? Worried that you’ll have to pull an all-nighter to get the work done on time? And what even is APA style? When you’re already dealing with information overload, how can you possibly craft a paper well so you get the results you need? If you feel uncertain, stuck, or overwhelmed, be encouraged, because this book has the tools you need to get that assignment done. TL;DR’s quick, simple chapters will help you identify your audience, create an outline, get a handle on grammar and sentence structure, correctly quote a source, and write a strong conclusion. Written with simplicity and flexibility in mind, TL;DR can be used as an alternative or supplement to a textbook, a self-study guide, and a quick reference for specific writing topics. If you want to know what professors expect you to write – and why – so you can get those grades with as little pain as possible, this is the book for you.
TL;DR (too long; didn’t read): This book will show you how to write better papers, and it’s short, so you should read it!
This book is for students planning to go to university or college or in their first or second-year of post-secondary. Writing instructors and other teachers will also appreciate its concise, accessible, no-nonsense approach that will help their students grasp writing essentials.
TL;DR is a short and smart survival guide on writing academic papers with years of office-hours wisdom to back it up. This book is a must-have for any first-years feeling lost in their writing courses. It demystifies the rules of academic writing and will save you hours of scrolling and scrambling on search engines.
TL;DR is the friendly insider giving you the real scoop on what to do when you write assignments. If you’re anxious about writing, this is the book for you!
In down-to-earth language, Joel Heng Hartse lets students in on the real secrets to successful college-level writing. I wish I'd had this book when I started my university studies.
Joel Heng Hartse is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to academic writing, literacy, and teaching English as an additional language. His other books include Perspectives on Teaching English at Colleges and Universities in China and Dancing about Architecture is a Reasonable Thing to Do. He is president of the Canadian Association for Studies in Discourse and Writing. He lives in Vancouver.
A Note for Students
A Note for Instructors
Preface
Introduction
1 Stuff You Should Know before You Start
Literacy
Language
Audience
Genre
2 Reading and Writing about Other Texts
Academic Reading
Summary
Attribution
Paraphrasing and Quotation
Response
Stance
Plagiarism
Citations
3 Writing “The Paper”
What “The Paper” Is
Structure
Topic
Sources
Thesis Statements
Introductions
Paragraphs
Conclusions
Flow
Making Changes
4 Other Stuff You Should Know
Feedback
Vocabulary
Grammar
Sentences
Further Reading
Instructor Appendix