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Cover: Rules for Writers, 11th Edition by Diana Hacker; Nancy Sommers

Rules for Writers

Eleventh Edition  ©2026 Diana Hacker; Nancy Sommers Formats: Achieve, E-book, Print

Authors

  • Headshot of Diana Hacker

    Diana Hacker

    Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over thirty-five years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include A Writer's Reference, Eleventh Edition (2025); A Pocket Style Manual, Tenth Edition (2025); The Bedford Handbook, Twelfth Edition (2023); Rules for Writers, Tenth Edition (2022); and Writer’s Help 2.0, Hacker Version.

  • Headshot of Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and editor of Tiny Teaching Stories on Macmillan Learning's Bits Blog.

Table of Contents

A Process for Writing
1  Exploring, planning, and drafting
2  Writing paragraphs
3  Revising, editing, and reflecting
4  AI and the writing process

Academic Reading and Writing
5  Reading and writing critically
6  Reading and writing about multimodal texts
7  Reading arguments
8  Writing arguments
9  Writing about literature

Clarity
10  Verbs
11  Parallelism
12  Needed words
13  Mixed constructions
14  Misplaced and dangling modifiers
15  Shifts
16  Emphasis
17  Variety
18  Wordy sentences
19  Appropriate language
20  Exact words; glossary of usage

Grammar
21  Sentence fragments
22  Run-on sentences
23  Subject-verb agreement (is or are etc.)
24  Pronoun-antecedent agreement (singular or plural)
25  Pronoun reference
26  Pronoun case (I vs. me etc.)
27  who and whom
28  Adjectives and adverbs
29  Verb forms, tenses, and moods

Multilingual Writers and ESL Topics
30  Verbs
31  Articles (a, an, the)
32  Sentence structure
33  Prepositions and idiomatic expressions
34  Paraphrasing sources effectively

Punctuation
35  The comma
36  Unnecessary commas
37  The semicolon
38  The colon
39  The apostrophe
40  Quotation marks
41  End punctuation
42  Other punctuation marks

Mechanics
43  Abbreviations
44  Numbers
45  Italics
46  Spelling
47  Hyphenation
48  Capitalization

Grammar Basics
49  Parts of speech
50  Sentence patterns
51  Subordinate word groups
52  Sentence types

Research
53  Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources
54  Managing information; taking notes responsibly
55  Evaluating sources

Writing Essays in MLA Style
56  Supporting a thesis
57  Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
58  Integrating sources
59  Documenting sources in MLA style
60  MLA format; sample research essay

Writing Papers in APA Style
61  Supporting a thesis
62  Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
63  Integrating sources
64  Documenting sources in APA style
65  APA format; sample research paper

Answers to lettered exercises

Index

Glossary of editing terms

Menu for multilingual writers

Detailed menu

Product Updates

New section on AI and the writing process; integrated AI coverage throughout 
An entire section devoted to generative AI helps students use these tools effectively and ethically, with guidance on prompting, evaluating output, experimenting during drafting, and acknowledging AI use. Beyond this section, in relevant contexts such as research and documentation, ethical and responsible use is encouraged.

Interactive AI tutorials in Achieve
Online activities help students build AI literacy and apply best practices in an engaging, self-paced environment. New section on writing about literature Now part of the “academic reading and writing” coverage, this section offers guidance on interpreting texts, drafting literary analyses, and following conventions, with two student sample essays (one with secondary sources).

New model APA student paper 
“Safeguarding Teens from Cyberbullying: A Review of the Literature” joins an expanded collection of model papers across genres and styles.

More support for corequisite courses 
Designed for teachers who are new to Achieve as well as experienced users, the Corequisite Resource Manual for Rules for Writers is a handy guide to the wealth of skill-building activities in Achieve, with tips on best practices for each activity type and a sample syllabus. 

Authors

  • Headshot of Diana Hacker

    Diana Hacker

    Diana Hacker personally class-tested her handbooks with nearly four thousand students over thirty-five years at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, where she was a member of the English faculty. Hacker handbooks, built on innovation and on a keen understanding of the challenges facing student writers, are the most widely adopted in America. Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin's, include A Writer's Reference, Eleventh Edition (2025); A Pocket Style Manual, Tenth Edition (2025); The Bedford Handbook, Twelfth Edition (2023); Rules for Writers, Tenth Edition (2022); and Writer’s Help 2.0, Hacker Version.

  • Headshot of Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers

    Nancy Sommers, who has taught composition and directed composition programs for thirty years, now teaches in Harvard's Graduate School of Education. She led Harvard's Expository Writing Program for twenty years, directing the first-year writing program and establishing Harvard's WAC program. A two-time Braddock Award winner, Sommers is well known for her research and publications on student writing. Her articles “Revision Strategies of Student and Experienced Writers” and “Responding to Student Writing” are two of the most widely read and anthologized articles in the field of composition. Recently she has been exploring different audiences through publishing in popular media. Sommers is the lead author on Hacker handbooks, all published by Bedford/St. Martin’s, and editor of Tiny Teaching Stories on Macmillan Learning's Bits Blog.

Table of Contents

A Process for Writing
1  Exploring, planning, and drafting
2  Writing paragraphs
3  Revising, editing, and reflecting
4  AI and the writing process

Academic Reading and Writing
5  Reading and writing critically
6  Reading and writing about multimodal texts
7  Reading arguments
8  Writing arguments
9  Writing about literature

Clarity
10  Verbs
11  Parallelism
12  Needed words
13  Mixed constructions
14  Misplaced and dangling modifiers
15  Shifts
16  Emphasis
17  Variety
18  Wordy sentences
19  Appropriate language
20  Exact words; glossary of usage

Grammar
21  Sentence fragments
22  Run-on sentences
23  Subject-verb agreement (is or are etc.)
24  Pronoun-antecedent agreement (singular or plural)
25  Pronoun reference
26  Pronoun case (I vs. me etc.)
27  who and whom
28  Adjectives and adverbs
29  Verb forms, tenses, and moods

Multilingual Writers and ESL Topics
30  Verbs
31  Articles (a, an, the)
32  Sentence structure
33  Prepositions and idiomatic expressions
34  Paraphrasing sources effectively

Punctuation
35  The comma
36  Unnecessary commas
37  The semicolon
38  The colon
39  The apostrophe
40  Quotation marks
41  End punctuation
42  Other punctuation marks

Mechanics
43  Abbreviations
44  Numbers
45  Italics
46  Spelling
47  Hyphenation
48  Capitalization

Grammar Basics
49  Parts of speech
50  Sentence patterns
51  Subordinate word groups
52  Sentence types

Research
53  Thinking like a researcher; gathering sources
54  Managing information; taking notes responsibly
55  Evaluating sources

Writing Essays in MLA Style
56  Supporting a thesis
57  Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
58  Integrating sources
59  Documenting sources in MLA style
60  MLA format; sample research essay

Writing Papers in APA Style
61  Supporting a thesis
62  Citing sources; avoiding plagiarism
63  Integrating sources
64  Documenting sources in APA style
65  APA format; sample research paper

Answers to lettered exercises

Index

Glossary of editing terms

Menu for multilingual writers

Detailed menu

Product Updates

New section on AI and the writing process; integrated AI coverage throughout 
An entire section devoted to generative AI helps students use these tools effectively and ethically, with guidance on prompting, evaluating output, experimenting during drafting, and acknowledging AI use. Beyond this section, in relevant contexts such as research and documentation, ethical and responsible use is encouraged.

Interactive AI tutorials in Achieve
Online activities help students build AI literacy and apply best practices in an engaging, self-paced environment. New section on writing about literature Now part of the “academic reading and writing” coverage, this section offers guidance on interpreting texts, drafting literary analyses, and following conventions, with two student sample essays (one with secondary sources).

New model APA student paper 
“Safeguarding Teens from Cyberbullying: A Review of the Literature” joins an expanded collection of model papers across genres and styles.

More support for corequisite courses 
Designed for teachers who are new to Achieve as well as experienced users, the Corequisite Resource Manual for Rules for Writers is a handy guide to the wealth of skill-building activities in Achieve, with tips on best practices for each activity type and a sample syllabus. 

Complete support for beginning college writers–now with AI help.

Rules for Writers has long supported students in becoming confident academic writers—whether they’re entering research conversations, revising with feedback, or polishing a final draft. The eleventh edition builds on that mission with a new “AI and the Writing Process” section that helps students understand how to use generative AI tools effectively, ethically, and critically.

Author Nancy Sommers draws on decades of research and teaching to offer trusted, accessible guidance. Clear examples, checklists, and updated models support every stage of writing. A detailed menu and glossary help students find answers fast, while exercises help them build skills that stick.

Achieve with Rules for Writers includes the e-book, personalized study plans and LearningCurve adaptive quizzes, AI literacy tutorials, student success tutorials, animated videos on academic writing topics, goal-setting and reflection questions, and an online writing space linked to handbook advice.

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