Bryson, B. (2004). Bryson's dictionary of troublesome words. New York, NY: Broadway Books.
"Perhaps better known for his light-hearted travel tales (A Walk in the Woods, In a Sunburned Country, etc.), author Bill Bryson has also written several books relating to the quirky and 'troublesome' use of the English language. Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, touted on the cover as 'a writer's guide to getting it right', is his latest effort at helping us understand the foibles, quirks, and charm of this crazy language."
~ Tom Hess
Retrieved from http://www.lasalle.edu/~beatty/310/ACES_CD/reference/books/Brysonwords…
Gordon, K. E. (1993). The deluxe transitive vampire: The ultimate handbook of grammar for the innocent, the eager and the doomed. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
"Playful and practical, this is the style book you can't wait to use, a guide that addresses classic questions of English usage with wit and the blackest of humor."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Transitive-Vampire-Ultimate-Handbook/dp/0679418601
O'Conner, P. T. (2003). Woe is I: The grammarphobe's guide to better English in plain English. New York, NY: Riverhead Books.
"In this new edition of Woe Is I, Patricia T. O'Conner unties the knottiest grammar tangles and displays the same lively humor that has charmed and enlightened grateful readers for years. With new chapters on spelling and punctuation, and fresh insights into the rights, wrongs, and maybes of English grammar and usage, Woe Is I offers down-to-earth explanations and plain-English solutions to the language mysteries that bedevil all of us."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Woe-Grammarphobes-Guide-Better-English/dp/157322331X
Punctuation
Gordon, K. E. (2003). The new well-tempered sentence: A punctuation handbook for the innocent, the eager, and the doomed. New York, NY: Mariner Books.
Editorial Review: "Gordon manages to make the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, and semicolon sound friendly instead of forbidding."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/New-Well-Tempered-Sentence-Punctuation-Handbook/dp/0618382011
Lederer, R., & Shore, J. (2005). Comma sense: A fun-damental guide to punctuation. New York, NY: St. Martin's.
"Are you confounded by commas, addled by apostrophes, or queasy about quotation marks? Do you believe a bracket is just a support for a wall shelf, a dash is something you make for the bathroom, and a colon and semicolon are large and small intestines? If so, language humorists Richard Lederer and John Shore (with the sprightly aid of illustrator Jim McLean), have written the perfect book to help make your written words perfectly precise and punctuationally profound."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Comma-Sense-Fun-damental-Guide-Punctuation/dp/0312342551
Truss, L. (2006). Eats, shoots and leaves: The zero tolerance approach to punctuation. New York, NY: Gotham Books.
"In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss, gravely concerned about our current grammatical state, boldly defends proper punctuation. She proclaims, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. Using examples from literature, history, neighborhood signage, and her own imagination, Truss shows how meaning is shaped by commas and apostrophes, and the hilarious consequences of punctuation gone awry."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Tolerance-Punctuation/dp/1592402038
Style
Williams, J. M., & Colomb, G. G. (2010). Style: The basics of clarity and grace (4th ed.). New York, NY: Longman.
This is a handy and useful reference book for anyone interested in good writing.
Social Change Writing
Dunlap, L. (2007). Undoing the silence: Six tools for social change writing. New York, NY: New Village Press.
Editorial Review: There are many more wonderful suggestions and tips for strengthening writing in this book. I believe every writer can benefit from reading it and trying them out. With the help of Louise Dunlap, may we all use our voices more effectively to change our communities for the better!"
~ Nancy McKinney, Gustavus Myers Center
Pipher, M. (2007). Writing to change the world. New York, NY: Riverhead.
"[Pipher] offers useful advice…[This] will encourage idealistic aspiring writers, who will surely find inspiration in her assertion that writing can change the world."
~ Publishers Weekly
Thesis, Dissertation, and Doctoral Study Writing
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008) The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
"The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, "So what?""
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Research-Chicago-Writing-Editing-Publishing/dp/0226065669
Clark, I. L. (2006). Writing the successful thesis and dissertation: Entering the conversation. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
From the back cover: "A complete, step-by-step, practical overview of the process of writing successful theses and dissertations."
Retrieved from http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Successful-Thesis-Dissertation-Conversation/dp/0131735330
Krathwohl, D. R., & Smith, N. L. (2005). How to prepare a dissertation proposal: Suggestions for students in education and the social and behavioral sciences. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
"A crucial and effective manual for mastering the essentials for drafting a persuasive and successful dissertation proposal."
Retrieved from http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/fall-2004-catalog/prepare-dissertation.html
Thomas, G. (2013). How to do your research project: A guide for students in education and applied social sciences (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
"Direct, informative and accessible the new edition of Gary Thomas's bestselling title is essential reading for anyone doing a research project. Packed full of relevant advice and real world examples the book guides you through the complete research process. Using refreshingly jargon-free language and anecdotal evidence it is a witty, easy to follow introduction that will answer your questions, set out best practice and walk you through every stage of your project step-by-step."
Retrieved from https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/how-to-do-your-research-project/book23… - description