Rules for Writers

Eleventh Edition

Publication Date: February 15, 2026

Spiral-Bound ISBN: 9781319476762

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...

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Rules for Writers

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Keep your book open while you write with spiral-bound texts.

Spiral-Bound

ISBN: 9781319476762
Rules for Writers

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£39.99

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Combine the printed textbook with the online course in Achieve for a blended learning experience. Includes access to e-book and iClicker Student.

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ISBN: 9781319618087
Rules for Writers 11e & Achieve for Rules for Writers 11e (2-Term Access; International Edition)

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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

Comprehensive coverage. Students have access to trustworthy, easy-to-understand advice and practical models for composing and revising, reading critically, developing arguments and analyses, conducting and integrating research and practising grammar and punctuation skills.
Step-by-step “How-to” guides. Students have access to trustworthy, easy-to-understand advice and practical models for composing and revising, reading critically, developing arguments and analyses, conducting and integrating research and practising grammar and punctuation skills.
Critical reading and academic writing instruction. Key instruction on reading and writing build skills that transfer assignment-to-assignment and course-to-course.
Research and citation help for multiple disciplines. Practical advice and detailed models guide students through the research process, from finding and evaluating sources to integrating and citing sources responsibly in MLA and APA styles.

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.

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.

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.

Achieve for Rules for Writers 10e is an online learning system backed by extensive development and research. Proven to increase student engagement and boost performance. Achieve offers:

Access to the ebook to download, read, and virtually annotate for a completely flexible experience.
Course and book-specific resources including adaptive quizzing to personalise the experience for students.
Interactive tutorials that help students understand the power of generative AI for writers and how to use AI tools responsibly and effectively.
A grade book, assignable assessments with targeted feedback, insights and reporting, instructor resources - all with seamless integration options.
Integrated with iClicker so that instructors and students can benefit in class and remotely from an industry leading student response system.

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About Achieve

Achieve is our online learning system backed by extensive development and research. Proven to increase student engagement and boost performance. Achieve offers:

Access to the ebook to download, read and virtually annotate for a completely flexible experience
Course and book-specific resources including adaptive quizzing (Learning Curve) to personalise the experience for students
A grade book, assignable assessments with targeted feedback, insights and reporting, instructor resources - all with seamless integration options.

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