Thank God I Don’t Have to Write Research Papers Anymore: A Review of The Bedford Handbook

It should come as no surprise to hear that this was the most useful book I have read so far along this journey. Words for the sake of words was an interesting way to start my reading quest but it wasn’t very useful. I will admit that the dictionary’s usage notes provided some worthwhile commentary and highlighted the importance of selecting the right word to convey what you wish to express. The thesaurus and my word roots dictionary contained few, if any, insights. Assessing The Bedford Handbook required the most thought to date, both while reading it and while sitting down to write this review.

Toolbox Level 1: A
Much of The Bedford Handbook’s focus is on honing and perfecting the structural elements of writing that fall under Toolbox Level 1. For that reason alone, it should come as no surprise that this book scores as high as possible. I didn’t note any spelling errors or any odd grammatical turns. This has me thinking that I may want to reevaluate how this category is weighted compared to the others. Perhaps not every book will score so high. If they do, however, then I may have to do a little fine-tuning.

Toolbox Level 2: B
I wasn’t able to dock my previous reads for their style and structural elements. Form and function are very basic for dictionaries and thesauri. While a B may not seem like taking a book to task, I feel it is a harsh but deserved score. The author’s style isn’t suspect but I feel that the organization of this book leaves something to be desired. It’s filled with great content but the chapters are not arranged in a manner that benefits the readers in the greatest need of assistance. Parts I and II are fine where they are but I am still baffled by the decision to stick the grammar section in Part XI. I think a more natural and logical progression was missed, resulting in far too much page turning.

Fulfillment of Purpose: B+
If I wanted to be nasty, I could punish this book for how dated some of its research guidelines now seem. I suspect that more research is done online now than in physical books. I could also rail against the fact that the website supplements this book points readers to no longer exist. In fact, Ms. Hacker’s website, the backbone of The Bedford Handbook’s online presence, is no longer in operation- not even by the publisher. This is almost to be expected, however, for a reference book that’s old enough to drive. For this section, I chose to focus on the strengths this book has to offer.

While the organization of the book could be better, the content is excellent. The MLA, APA, and Chicago reference and works cited sections will come up big for you if you are writing a research paper. The only way it could fail you is if MLA, APA, or Chicago style rules have changed, so it would be best to pick up something more current. It is 2019 after all.

The value of this book extends well beyond research papers. Even if you think you are a good writer, there at least two or three chapters in this book that will make you realize that you still struggle with something. I plan on coming back to this well of information as I start to write more. Heck, I’ve already used it to assess and correct some of my reading posts.

Reading Experience: B-
Given that I am neither writing research papers anymore nor struggling with ESL issues, this book was hit-or-miss as a cover-to-cover read. The chapters that I could relate to or gain help from kept my attention. Chapters focusing on areas I don’t think I struggle with were easy to read less intently. Those chapters that I had no interest or stake in were chores to read.

This is probably how most reference books covering a broad range of topics feel though. I’ve been sheltered by my first three books because they have very narrow foci. This is the first book I’ve read with more than just a few pages containing paragraphs, making it hard to compare to the dictionary, thesaurus, and word roots guide. It reads like a true book and yet it reads quite differently from non-reference material.

Overall Score: 3.25 out of 4 (solid B)
The Fulfillment of Purpose section is easily more important for a reference book than Reading Experience. The purpose of this book helped me get a better sense of the kinds of things I should look for when evaluating a book’s Toolbox Level 1 ingredients. This is precisely why I read this book when I did. It will help me evaluate both my own writing and the writing of others. It’s foundational stuff that may be easy to ignore as a reading-worthy subject, but it is also the kind of foundational stuff that separates the wheat from the chaff if we only choose to focus on it.

While I wouldn’t call this an enjoyable book, I have no regret calling it a worthwhile book. That may lose me points with the anti-prescriptivism crowd, but I believe that a fair amount of prescriptivism is necessary in written works. In face-to-face conversation, you can ask for clarification. Written communication is an all-or-nothing pursuit. You are either understood or you are not. If you follow the rules for grammar, usage, and mechanics laid out in this book, then you will have a better chance of having your written words understood. On some level, we all just want to be understood, don’t we?

READING UPDATE: The Bedford Handbook- Part XI – Index

Excited as I was to move past the MLA, APA, and Chicago drudgery, I made a point to slow down while reading the four grammar chapters. The Bedford Handbook loses points for relegating these chapters to the tail end of the book. Some of the terminology presented in these chapters is necessary to understand the guidance offered in earlier chapters. These four chapters aren’t even that dense, so I think it is more logical to put the grammar refresher chapters right before the chapters advising how to punctuate clauses and sentences described in the grammar refresher. Doing so would have spared me a lot of awkward back-and-forth page flipping.

Because I just can’t get away from dictionary-esque things it seems, this book also contains a glossary of usage. It was a nice way to wrap up the useful content of the book. After that was the answers section for all the mid- and end-chapter exercises that readers can partake in. Since I used the exercises to test myself while reading, I had already read over the answers section once, allowing me to skip it.

I admit that I skimmed over the index rather than read it in earnest. I kept an eye out for any terms or topics that I either didn’t remember or wanted to take a second peak at. They were few and far between.

It is a relief to be done with another book. I finished this one in 100 days. Blasting out a reference book in that short a span of time feels good but my page-per-day count is still on the low end. Perhaps my next book or two will lift that up some more. I’ll post a review in a few days.


Page Count: 928/928 (100.00%)
Countdown to my next update: 0 pages

READING UPDATE: The Bedford Handbook- Part IX – Part X

This latest section I finished off was the most useful to me as a college student. As an adult who no longer writes research papers with works cited pages, this section was about as riveting as watching paint dry. There was one snippet, however, that provided much needed advice for all communication, not just the written word:

“People believe that intelligence and decency support their side of an argument. To change sides, they must continue to feel intelligent and decent. Otherwise they will persist in their opposition.”

Aside from this gem of a quote, there wasn’t a lot to see. This portion of the book contains a few chapters about how to approach researching for a paper, avoiding plagiarism, and structuring an effective argument. The research chapters show their age, with broad warnings against using the internet pretty much at all. It also provides a small, clunky list of search engines trusted by the author. About half of those listed no longer exist.

One of the biggest affronts to all that is good and decent (at least in my silly mind) came in the form of a list of over 21 different reference and documentation styles that the book suggests are common. It seems as if every other academic or scientific discipline has come up with its own style guide for research documentation. It all just seemed a little too much. I’m not opposed to different disciplines being unique in certain ways, but this overabundance of style guides seems like it has to be intentional out of misplaced pride or arrogance- having your own system just to have your own system if you will. Perhaps some of the style guides listed have vanished over the last 17 years. I hope so, because it was hard enough in college to bounce back and forth between MLA and APA style depending on the professor.

The rest (and majority) of this section was split into three documentation guides for MLA, APA, and Chicago formats. This is where The Bedford Handbook was worth its weight in gold when I was in college. In the end, it probably only saved me a few percentage points per paper, but those extra points helped me graduate cum laude.

The final stretch of this book is upon us. After a few chapters on grammar, a usage glossary, and the index, I will be done and on to one last reference book. I admit that I got fidgety several times during this last section, so it seems my tolerance for reference material is waning fast. It’s a good thing my next book is a short one.

Page Count: 811/928 (87.39%)
Countdown to my next update: 117 pages

READING UPDATE: The Bedford Handbook #3- Part VI – Part VIII

I can’t lie- I lost some steam through this latest section. Maybe there was too many chapters about familiar topics, or maybe I’m just rowing tired of reading reference books. Whatever the cause(s), progress is slowing down and that doesn’t bode well for the next oversized chunk I get to read next.

Part VI of this book contained three chapters about things that trip up people who do not speak or write primarily in English. My wife is an elementary school teacher, so I have heard many stories about ESL students (and parents for that matter) and the difficulties they have in a school setting. Overall, this section was a nice reminder that we all need to keep a broad perspective when communicating with other people. Otherwise, there wasn’t much there that intrigued me.

Part VII focused on standard punctuation. I was pleased to learn that I already follow all the rules for when to use a comma. The chapter on when not to use a comma, however, showed me that I’ve still got some things to work on. The same goes for when to use question marks or italics for emphasis. Those, along with using dashes, parentheses, and/or commas to separate sidebar supplemental information, seem more flexible than the rules for commas. The chapter covering end punctuation cast shade on almost any use of exclamation points, yet it failed to even mention an amusing punctuation mark I discovered while reading the dictionary- the interrobang.

Part VIII covered mechanics- the first component of my rating system for books. The rules put forth regarding abbreviations, numbers, and spelling were all obvious to me already, as were most of the rules for capital letters. The guidelines on hyphens were a nice refresher and showed me a few things I either never learned or just forgot about. I will have to come back to the chapter on italics as I go forward on my reading journey. The rules may have changed since 2002, but I found a few things I wasn’t aware that should be italicized.

While it may be a little disheartening at times to find that my writing skills have a few rough edges, I’d rather be shown where to improve than let pride make me think I’m better than I am. This is the very reason I chose to read something like this so early on in Project Bookshelf. All these chapters that highlight trouble spots and areas of potential confusion for me will be worth revisiting as I write these entries, future book reviews, and other blog posts. Correcting those problems during these practice sessions will better prepare me for actually trying to write some of the stories that swarm around inside my brain.

The next section is a doozy, so you might not see another post for quite some time. One big reason I lost momentum, which I did not mention earlier, is that it’s Stanley Cup playoffs time. Unless hockey action gets boring, I’ll be less inclined to read as much until the Cup has been claimed.

Page Count: 522/928 (56.25%)
Countdown to my next update: 288 pages

READING UPDATE: The Bedford Handbook #2- Part III – Part V

For a while there I had a nice, one-chapter-a-night reading pace. As seems to be typical for me, such productive paces are short-lived. I finished the latest section of The Bedford Handbook over a week behind schedule but it proved to be a good read.

Part III is subtitled Clear Sentences, and contains eight chapters about non-grammatical pitfalls to avoid when writing sentences. Some chapters cover concepts and skills that I consider writing basics, such as avoiding passive voice, maintaining proper point of view, and utilizing a variety of sentence structures. I did appreciate getting a refresher on parallelism, mixed constructions, and misplaced/dangling modifiers. Those chapters may be worth returning to when I set out to write more than just these update posts.

Part IV’s topic is word choice. Nothing in these three chapters served as a wake-up call to me. I already try to avoid wordy sentences, and I understand the need to adjust tone and language depending on the intended audience of a piece of writing. I did appreciate Chapter 18’s emphasis on using a dictionary for finding exact words, and an admonition against misusing a thesaurus.

I found the most meat to chew on in Part V. In 10 chapters focusing on grammatical sentences, I recognized a few personal growth areas as a writer. I struggled to correct a few of the example and exercise sentences dealing with comma splices, coordinating conjunctions, pronoun case, and subjunctive mood’s impact on verb tenses. While other chapters in Part V were easier for me to work through, I think that all 10 are worth reading again.

My biggest takeaway from this portion of The Bedford Handbook is also a qualm against it. During Part V, I found myself lost at times in a sea of grammatical terminology. Some of those terms I hadn’t seen since high school, while others may never have been taught to me by name. Later in the book, there are four chapters covering grammar basics. The chapters in Part V refer to this future section quite a bit. Considering the extensiveness of these references, why not put grammar basics earlier in the book? Perhaps I’ll find justification for this when I reach Part XI.

Page Count: 390/928 (42.03%)
Countdown to my next update: 132 pages

READING UPDATE: The Bedford Handbook #1- Preface – Part II

What a difference full sentences and paragraphs make. I haven’t even been reading this book for a month yet and my page-per-day count has skyrocketed. In fact, I’ve read more pages in the last three weeks than there are in the last book I read, which took me almost two months to work through. I do sense a hunger inside me. Whether it’s a craving to tackle some meaty fiction in another few books or the long-repressed desire to write, I can’t say. What I can say is that this book hasn’t been too boring yet.

Rather than monthly reading updates like I planned, I sectioned this book off in my mind into groupings of its parts. In my mind, these clusters fit together well enough to break up my reading updates accordingly. This first update covers my thoughts on the introductory sections and the first two parts (seven chapters) of The Bedford Handbook.

Diana Hacker gets most of the credit but there are a lot of people involved in the writing, layout, and editing of this book. Boy, does she ever make sure they get thanked. The preface serves as a hybrid introduction to educators using the book for their students and thank you section. It comes in at a staggering 20 pages. This precedes a nine-page introduction for student users of the book. Then, at long last, comes the contents section. By the time you reach the first section of composition guideline content, 46 pages of roman-numeral fluff stands between you and the book’s cover. Perhaps long-winded introductory sections are standard in these kinds of academic texts but it seems like a bit much to me.

Part 1 contains four chapters covering the writing process. Perhaps it’s a sign that my middle and high school teachers did a good job, because much of these pages struck me as the kind of thing a college student should already know how to do. It’s been a long time since I thought about how to write an essay or a research paper, but the refresher didn’t reveal any secrets that I’ve been missing out on all these years. The author does make a unique distinction between revising (for effectiveness) and editing (for correctness). I don’t recall ever hearing a teacher or professor make that argument before. Then again, many of my final college papers were either really good first drafts or labors of love that I edited while writing.

Part 2 shifts gears and covers document design. Margins, headings, fonts, charts- all of these get some focus with the caveat to incorporate them based on the preferred format for the end reader (academic versus business). I snickered at the chapter covering the differences between paper and web résumé formats, a section that dates this book without question. There was also a chapter on writing website content that is of little use now. Most of Part 2, in fact, is outdated but a few nuggets of wisdom still hold true.

This has been an easy read so far. Some evenings I set out to only read a section or two but I blast through a whole chapter. I’m trying not to read too quickly though, because I want to give this book a chance to reeducate me on any good writing practices I may have forgotten after my work life shifted from word-focused to number-focused. One point in Hacker’s opening sections made me chuckle though. In her introduction for student users, she writes, “…it is unlikely that you will want to study all of the chapters in this book in detail.” She doesn’t know me very well, now does she?


Page Count: 180/928 (19.40%)
Countdown to my next update: 201 pages

NOW READING: The Bedford Handbook, Sixth Edition (2002)

After reading three reference books focused on individual words, it’s time for a change. My next book is a reference work that focuses on what to do with all those words. I think this fits my logical progression. The Bedford Handbook will serve as a refresher to a lot of writing basics, some of which I may take for granted and some of which I may have forgotten.

I picked this book up in 2002. It was a required purchase upon starting my freshman year at Lebanon Valley College. The current edition retails for around $96 but I can only imagine what the overpriced college bookstore charged for it back in the day. I recall largely ignoring this book except for the works cited guidelines.

When I went back for a second bachelor’s years later, I poked around a few of the other sections while working on papers. In some ways, I feel bad about ignoring a pricey buy. Then again, the first half of this book appears to cover a lot of writing basics that I already learned in high school. Perhaps that’s why I ignored so much of it at first. Now, I’m going to put my preconceived notions and hubris aside and actually read the whole thing.

Given the different structure of this book (sentences, paragraphs, and chapters!), I have no idea how long it will take me to read. I don’t want to read this book just to cross it off the list. I want to read it with an open mind and try to learn from it if has anything to teach me. It’s been years since I last studied grammar, so I’m sure I will get some refreshers. I just hope that I’m not breaking too many rigid rules (even though there are plenty of writing rules that can be broken).

Monthly update posts will still be the goal, but I suspect I will go a little deeper this time around. I know a few people who teach or have backgrounds in the English language arts. I may pose questions to them (and Facebook friends at large) at various times, whether it be at the end of each chapter or section of chapters. A dose of interaction may be the spice I’ve been missing all this time with Project Bookshelf.