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Blueprints: A Guide to Correct Writing is a task-based tool that breaks down the essentials of writing - Context, Coherence and Clarity - into easy-to-identify components. Aimed at developmental English and at students from various language backgrounds, Blueprints helps students map out their academic and professional writing with a user-friendly feature, Blueprint templates. Students can check at a glance whether essays, reports and letters meet real-world requirements. From topic sentences to well-organized comparisons, Blueprints provides students with a quick way to visualize how to build a clear and coherent text.

Features
Blueprint templates show at a glance what students need to edit to ensure that their text can be built on a clear and coherent structure.
User-friendly headings identify the components of writing.
Easy-to use correction codes let learners focus on the common problems in their writing.
Models of appropriate writing and real-life examples provide meaningful contexts for learning." (Book Cover)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: CONTEXT

Task

Cover every element required by the task

Respect the topic
Blueprint for task

Format

Use Consistent Format

Letter format
Letter content
Blueprint for letters

E-email format
Short subject lines

Job résumé
Blueprint for Job Résumé

Report Format - features
Cover page
Abstract or executive summary
Blueprint for executive summary
Introduction
Body
Headings
Blueprint for business-style reports
Visuals
Conclusion
Recommendations
Appendix

Essay format

Essays requiring an organised response to reading
Blueprint for techniques and devices
Blueprint for literary essays

Argumentative essays

PART 2: COHERENCE
Content

Relevance

Keep only ideas that can be developed

Choose ideas related to task, purpose and topic
Blueprint: Ideas relevant for task, purpose and topic

Logic

Keep your focus
contraindication
lack of new information
disconnected comment
confusion in cause and effect relationships
jumping to conclusions

Accuracy
Check accuracy

Effectiveness

Choose effective ideas
Source not credible
Opinion, claim vs. Fact
Insufficient data
Anecdote vs. Analysis
Collage of Quotations with No Analysis
Prejudice or cliché
Analogy does not always work

Structure
Blueprint for structure

Introductory elements
Give background information or context
state task and purpose
give a general idea of text context
Blueprint for introduction

Thesis statement

Work on your thesis statement
characteristics of a thesis statement
Developing a thesis statement

Paragraph

Start a new paragraph
Blueprint for starting new paragraph
Paragraph length

Check paragraph unity
Blueprint for paragraph unity

Topic sentence

Identify the topic and the focus (controlling idea)
Blueprints for topic sentence

Support

Office credible support
Blueprint for support in paragraphs

Referencing

Quote properly
Direct quotation
Indirect quotation

APA and MLA Models for Referencing
American Psychological Association
Modern Languages Association

Transitions

Use a helpful transition
Transition between clauses or sentences
Transitions between paragraphs

Conclusion

End with a conclusion

Confirm your thinking

Point out what the reader should remember

Restrict or expand
limitations - restrict
Questions that remain - expand
Blueprint for conclusions

Organization

Check appropriateness to task and purpose

Definitions
Blueprint for definitions

Comparison
Getting started on a comparison
Blueprint for comparison

Process
Blueprint for explaining a process

Cause and effect
Blueprint for cause and effect

PART 3: LANGUAGE USE AND EXPRESSION

Clarity

Check the meaning of key terms

Choose terminology appropriate to the situation or context
Context
Ambiguity
Collocation
Blueprint for choosing terms

Add nuances

Check unclear grammar
Correct pronoun reference
Verb tenses and types of information

Check problems in sentence construction
Omission
Negatives
Phrases and clauses
Length of sentences
Blueprint for constructing a sentence

Reader Friendliness
Adjust to readership
Use appropriate tone - connotation, E-mail tone vs letter style
Be as short as possible (and as long as necessary)
Use varied sentence types

Appendix: Models