Quick Access is truly a reference for any writer whether they are just beginning to write or have been published. I have found the content to be searchable and user-friendly as a reference for a college student, and I plan to keep the book as an aid for writing papers for school or job reports.

The information is organized in a concise, logical format starting with tips on how to begin writing and later concluding using the Modern Language Association's (MLA) approved format for citing sources. However, even if I did not need advice on how to begin writing or citing sources, I would still find this guide useful. Included in the guide are explanations about sentence structure, paragraph structure, and even basic word usage (for example, the difference between accept and except is defined). Quick Access covers the slight differences which can make a writer stronger and proficient.

Quick Access is designed to be read as a reference book and not cover-to-cover. The table of contents located in the front of the book helps to locate general information quickly and the index in the back helps to locate specific information. No matter which topic you have questions about, there is a corresponding section which can be found with ease.

There are several sections which can be of use to certain writers with various skill levels. For students, reference to MLA format is extremely useful. But students not only find MLA format useful, but also the section about writing a research paper. For the beginning writer, thesis structure along with sentence and paragraph composition provides insight about where to begin and how to continue. And for the experienced writer attempting to hone their skills, the sections regarding punctuation and mechanics, and document design would further develop their writing. No matter which level you consider yourself, Quick Access provides references to improve your talent as a writer.

For the business professional, the Document Design segment contains helpful suggestions and guidelines for creating professional writings that are not research papers or essays. Electronic email and memorandums have become a readily used form of communication in today's information age. Although there is no set standard format, Quick Access guides writers in writing a clear, logical, and professional document which can impress any reader whether they are a boss or a client.

Among the many sections, one is devoted to suggestions for multilingual writers. This section advises speakers of foreign languages on the technical aspect of the English language. The book continues in the same logical order by stating the rule and then proving and exemplifying its use. While this does provide some insight into how to develop skills for writing in English, Quick Access does not dedicate itself to instructing multilingual writers in the English language. It is primarily a reference, which severely limits the depth in which it is able to explain the fundamentals. A writer of another language may find the guide too brief in the multilingual section and therefore, find Quick Access not as useful as English speakers.

In today's information age, writing is important. Expressing ideas can be difficult and tedious, but Quick Access has the information to guide and direct any writer in the direction of an expert. I recommend this book to all those student, business, and professional writers who wish to enhance their abilities.

Lynn Quitman Troyka's Quick Access is a useful and accurate guide to many elements of good writing for high school and college students. As a college student, I found that the book was a straightforward tool that I could turn to for any type of assignment to critique and improve my own writing. It is very well organized and covers many relevant topics in a concise, but in-depth form.
The color-coded dividers and table of contents outline everything that is covered in the book in a way that makes things very easy to find. The dividers mark chapters and writing tactics such as sentence and word structure, research, documentation techniques, and many grammar basic and advanced rules.
The examples used by the book ranged from simple to complex and were all labeled clearly and had comments about the examples nearby in bold.
There are two parts of the book that stand out in my mind as being the most helpful; chapters 26-28 and the "Punctuation and Mechanics" section. Chapters 26-28 summarizes the most important techniques covered in the MLA Handbook in approximately forty pages. The "Punctuation and Mechanics" section is quite helpful, too. It not only discussed some basic grammar rules, but also detailed etiquette regarding when to use capitals, italics, and abbreviations that I was unaware of.
The book works well with its companion website, which I thought supported many of the book's concepts very well with additional examples and explanations. The site was not functioning every time I tried to use it, but that has nothing to do with content.
I would recommend the book for any student or writer, for that matter, who is trying to learn to achieve their best writing possible, both in style and in form.

Ignoring all of the aesthetic appeals that writing possesses, a writer must think about the proper format of the paper as part of the presentation of the writing. In particular, students as writers, such as me, must follow certain guidelines for writing assignments. The requirements for proper format, though, are constantly changing and are often difficult to attain. However, Lynn Quitman Troyka has composed the Quick Access (QA), a reference book that provides student writers with guidelines to the writing process and proper formation techniques. Because it presents the technicalities of the writing process in a user-friendly fashion, the Quick Access aids student writers in writing mechanically accurate compositions.
In outlining the actual format of the QA, the writer is able to see that the QA takes its readers through the entire writing process. The first section of the QA, entitled "Thinking and Reading Reflectively" discusses the way in which readers turn themselves into writers by extracting something meaningful from the text that they read into something even more profound on paper. I found this section particularly useful with eliminating writer's block. Troyka encourages her readers in this section to actively read by taking notes along the margins of the book. This technique helps to later trigger the mind of thoughts that were derived from the reading that can later be reflected on in writing.
Continuing on to the next section of the QA, the writer is introduced to the "Writing Process", which includes instructions on processes such as brainstorming, outlining, thesis and body composition, transitional topic sentences, and formatting conclusions. By applying all of these techniques to my writing, I was able to compose much more organized papers with coherent ideas that weren't lost in my overall message.
The next two sections of the QA, "Sentences" and "Words", continue to discuss the details of the writing process. The following sections of the QA elude into the mechanics of writing. Research techniques are noted along with the proper methods of citing and composing bibliographies. For instance, in dealing with bibliographical citations, Troyka provides a list of all of the possibilities of bibliography entries on pg. 139 and then continues on to offer an example of each possibility, a reference technique that has proven to be extremely helpful to me in particular. I am currently a freshman at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. In living in D.C., I have been introduced to several new sources for research, including the Library of Congress where I was required to research an article from 1837. Upon having to cite this source in my bibliography, I was able to find an example of how to do so in the QA without having to look at any other resources. The final sections of the QA are pure reference that center on grammar rules.
While this appears to be an abundance of information, the QA is easy for writers to direct through. Each section of the QA is labeled and contains a list of contents on the inside cover of the information in each section. The actual information in the QA is broken down into sections that highlight specific points that Troyka wants to emphasize. After explaining certain techniques, Troyka always includes random examples of what she was just explaining. For example, after explaining transitional sentences, Troyka includes a list of words that aid in using this method on pg. 36 of the QA. By doing this, I was better able to understand the concepts that Troyka was discussing and more easily apply them to my own papers.
Quick Access is an extremely useful source for college students. I have been able to use the QA as a guide that has helped me transfer from "high school writing mode" to "college writing mode" in which writing is more of a thinking process. The QA is also a reference book that applies to any subject for any paper. I've used the QA for both History and English papers, and I will most likely continue using the QA as a source for further writing assignments that I'll encounter in the future.

I am a community college English instructor. I have used this handbook in my classes from the 3rd edition to the new 5th edition. I find that it is an extremely useful, well organized, and useful guide for students in all levels of composition courses (pre-college through college sophmore level) and for students writing reports or research papers in other disciplines as well. I highly recommend the text.

This is pretty nice reference book, although some of the stuff in it are really obvious. The menu on the first page makes it really easy to find what you're looking for. I didn't like the way the MLA documentation section was designed; it had only a few exmaples.

An excellent reference book for writers, those studying for an English CLEP, or to help all grade levels with English assignments. This book contains information on essay, business and research writing. And it helps you to understand the mechanics of grammar, sentence & paragraph structure, punctuation, etc..

This is simply the best handbook available. You will know exactly what to use, and what to avoid, with the help of this manual. I have made use of my third edition more times than I can count. The pages are torn, dog-eared, and some are even faded. This is what prompted me to purchase this latest edition. Use this book and you will indeed become a better writer.

Although I do not have this new edition of the book, I do have the first, and I can say this much about it: it is the best grammar reference that I have ever used. Its easy-to-use index allows one to thumb through the pages and effortlessly find what he or she wants. Moreover, I find its grammar explanations impeccable (though the subjunctive section [8i] is a bit vague). Its "Essay Tests" section (Appendix A) is incredibly useful to every writer, novice or veteran. In conclusion, this book is the very best resource that one can buy when it comes to grammar, mechanics, and writing.

I disagree strongly with the earlier hostile review of this book. The review, I assert, is seriously misinformed, presumes that those who might want to use this book are "aspiring writers" looking for a quick reference. In fact, quick references are inadequate to the task for which this book was designed. If you are looking for a quick reference, do not buy a handbook at all: go to the Purdue On-line Writing Lab and download their free, handy quick reference sheets for writers. On the other hand, if you are looking for an excellent handbook for Composition I or Composition II courses that you are teaching, this is a good choice.

Specifically, it has a nifty on-line search engine (to save you time in searching through the Index of the handbook), and it comes with an access code for turnitin.com, the ultimate contemporary resource for quelching Web-oriented plagiarism and recycling of papers within an institution, such as recycling of fraternity/sorority file papers. The folks at "Animal House" hate turnitin.com, as well they should.

Regarding the contents of the book, it is well indexed, the coverage of key distinctions in development of argument, revision, and principles of organization receive coverage sufficient to most first-year English courses. Further, the "MLA" section and the section on the research paper are more than sufficient, offer much helpful advice on conducting and documenting academic research, including use of the World-Wide Web.

Lastly, let me add that for over five years, I was a tutor in a university writing center and for over seven years, I have been a university professor teaching Composition I and Composition II. For six of these seven years, this text, in its various versions, has proven to be a trusted friend. I highly recommennd it to those considering a text for Composition I or Composition II.

I was given this book on the first day of classes by my division head at my community college. In the past, we had always used the "Simon and Schuster Handbook for Writiers" Fifth Edition, which is a far better text.

If your students are needing a text that will help them understand and learn grammar, punctuation, style, and referencing, Quick Access is not the text for them. The afore mentioned handbook, however, is. Once they have mastered the handbook, the Quick Access is perfect for someone who has knowledge of all the rules but might just occasionally need to check the odd thing or two. Keep this in mind when considering this text for either your classes or yourself.

On the inside flap of this book it says, "This edition was designed to help you quickly find answers to all kinds of questions you may have about writing." The QA, by Lynn Troyka does just that. The Quick Access Reference for Writers is an excellent resource book for all writers, especially students.

My college English teacher assigned the QA for our class. While I haven't read the entire book, I found all of the sections I have used to be beneficial in every aspect of my writing. The exercises that my teacher had us complete from the "Writing Process" section were very useful. I think completing these exercises helps to strengthen ones writing. In particular, the exercises keep an individual familiar with the writing process so that when they do have to write something, they can hopefully delve right into it.

I also used the book for grammatical questions and guidance on MLA documentation. Both sections easily explain the subject in what I will refer to as "laymen's terms." Most other writing books I have referenced seem to be written in a hoity fashion. This, to me isn't very beneficial, especially considering I wouldn't be looking in a writing reference book if I did not need something to be simply explained to me. I find MLA to be very confusing (and utterly annoying!). The QA was able to answer and explain my questions on documentation straightforwardly and made completely in the bibliography section of my papers a breeze.

The organization of the book is what makes it so wonderful and useful. The actual format of the text and its arrangement is unlike most writing books that I have sought reference in. Instead of having to search for the table of contents to find the part you are looking for, the book uses divider-tabs to separate the major sections. Examples of these sections include, "Thinking and Reading Reflectively," "Research," "MLA Documentation," "Grammar Basics," and "Tips for Multilingual Writers." This format makes it extremely easy to find the information you need. Also, the table of contents itself is excellently organized. It completely outlines each section of the book, making it very easy to find the one you need. The QA was so useful, that I found myself using it not only for the assigned class, but also for my own research in personal writing and for other college classes.

For those who need instant gratification, I recommend this book highly. Almost any question you may have concerning writing, you will be able to find it in this book quickly and easily. The Quick Access Reference for Writers lives up to its name entirely.

It's a worthwhile addition to any writer or editors reference materials. Clear, concise, and easy to use. Particularly liked the editor's marks reference right in the front.

I have taught comp. for several years, and -- through happy and not-so-happy experiences with textbooks -- have come to select this as my all-time favorite. Its 6th edition is familiar to me, and now I'm going on with the 7th. The only thing lacking in this book is a truly thorough introduction to the ins and outs of the persuasive essay.