I am asked this quite often. I refuse to give the stock answer: Strunk & White's Elements of Style. If I could remember the name of my Seventh Grade grammar textbook, I'd tell you; that little hardcover handbook covered everything you'd need to know, and then some. The problem with most grammar books is that they are boring. And I don't want to put you to sleep before you can fully grasp the proper placement of the predicate.

So, with the goal of finding something new and mildly entertaining that might also serve as a good grammar reference, I drove to Barnes & Noble this weekend. I plunked myself down on the floor in front of the Reference section and started pulling books with "grammar" in their titles. And I knew, the moment I started giggling over grammar books, I'd found what I was looking for – just for you.

Despite the convenience of the Internet and the wealth of information – sometimes disinformation – to be found there, it is not the ideal tool for scholarly research at any grade level. It's tempting to sit in front of the PC and cite sources secondhand, rather than venture out to the library or into the field, but most teachers, professors, and employers will not accept those sources in research papers and reports. It's not only lazy, it's unreliable.

The strongest source material comes from primary sources. Primary sources include original documents or audiovisual materials (e.g., Declaration of Independence), tape recordings or video of speeches (e.g., Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech), eyewitness accounts (e.g., Life and Death in Shanghai, by Nien Cheng); trial evidence; original creative writings – when they are the subject of the paper; photographs – the subject matter itself.

Secondary sources are a sort of hearsay; a biography, for example, would be a secondary source. A historian's analysis of the Revolutionary War, based on letters written by soldiers, eyewitness accounts, and other primary source documents would be considered a secondary source. A critical analysis of a James Joyce's Ulysses would be a secondary source.

Although encyclopedias, textbooks, dictionaries, and such are secondary sources, they are occasionally referred to as tertiary sources (since they, themselves, may be based on a mix of primary and secondary sources) and are often considered unacceptable as reference material for a paper. These sources may provide a good starting point for gathering a broad range of background information and ideas, but should not form the basis for your work.

It is important to cite source material in a consistent way that makes it easy for readers to locate and study the material to which you refer in your paper. There are several widely accepted style guides that prescribe a method for citing sources; if you are writing an assignment, you'll need to know which format your teacher, professor, or publisher requires you to follow. The "big three" are described below:

The style recommended by the association for preparing scholarly manuscripts and student research papers concerns itself with the mechanics of writing, such as punctuation, quotation, and documentation of sources. MLA style has been widely adopted by schools, academic departments, and instructors for nearly half a century.
from http://www.mla.org/style

In addition to providing clear guidance on grammar, the mechanics of writing, and APA style, the Publication Manual offers an authoritative and easy-to-use reference and citation system and comprehensive coverage of the treatment of numbers, metrication, statistical and mathematical data, tables, and figures for use in writing, reports, or presentations.
from http://www.apa.org/books/4200060.html

Clear, concise, and replete with commonsense advice, the fifteenth edition of The Chicago Manual of Style offers the wisdom of a hundred years of editorial practice while including a wealth of new topics and updated perspectives. For anyone who works with words, in any medium, this continues to be the one reference book you simply must have.
from http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/

If you do include Internet sources in your paper, be sure to cite them correctly. Here's a quick reference guide to several methods of citing sources found online:

A company may have its own style guide, or it may rely on several guides that are known to address different issues of style. Where I work, we have several style guides: an in-house style guide developed by the corporation, covering branding issues, standard naming conventions for our products, and preferred usage for special scenarios; Chicago Manual of Style, for ordinary questions regarding Standard English usage; and Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, which sets forth the proper usage of technical terms, especially those related to software and the Web. Law students and lawyers are typically required to cite sources according to the rules set forth in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation: For generations, law students, lawyers, scholars, judges, and other legal professionals have relied on the Bluebook system of citation. In a diverse and rapidly changing legal profession, The Bluebook continues to provide a systematic method by which members of the profession communicate important information about the sources and legal authorities upon which they rely in their work. (See http://www.legalbluebook.com/ for more information.)

One of the first questions you should ask, when writing for someone else, is: Do you have a preferred style guide I should follow?

And some examples of research papers, posted for feedback on Writing.com:

serena writes:

While I appreciate your enlightening piece on grammar, some of what you wrote is incorrect. In the first paragraph of examples you used the plural pronoun "They" as an example of a collective noun. "They" is and always shall be a plural pronoun.

Ooops. I take it you're referring to "They are planning to stay in a log cabin near the shore"? Part of my brain just refused to go along with the repetition of "the family" in those two sentences. I really have to remember to distinguish between examples and normal edits.

In the fourth paragraph of examples, It is very wrong to say "A group of children are playing." What you actually did was make the verb agree with the object of the preposition. It's a mistake that quite a few of my students consistently make. " A group of chidren is playing" would be correct. Also, "children is a plural irregular noun. It is not collective.

In the last paragraph of examples, you stated that the word "number" is plural when preceded by a noun. The word "number" is collective and considered singular whether preceded by the article "a" or "the".

Just a few hints from an English instructor. Sometimes, even I make mistakes. I am always glad when my students catch me and correct me.

No problem! I appreciate it when readers keep me on my toes. And where else am I going to find a lively debate on grammar?? Holly Jahangiri

DB Cooper writes:

In the legal profession why does the Master's degree LLM come after the Juris Doctor? Because the Juris Doctor used to be called Bachelor of Law and although they conveted it to a graduate degree its not a terminal degree.

I'm living proof it's not terminal! Someone once told me that a bunch of law students got together to petition for the degree name change because, they argued, they worked as long and as hard as med students did to earn their M.D. I don't know about that, but here's a fuller explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor

Strange Wulf writes:

ACK!! It's elementary school grammar all over again! O.o;; What'd we do to deserve this?!?

Just kidding. =P It's always nice to have a refresher so we remember some of the basic rules. I really don't care what all the different words are called; I just need to know what goes where and why.

Of course, you do know that this only applies to prose. When writing dialogue, there's no telling when your characters are gonna reject yer hi-falooting cityslicker grammer and tell ya jest where ya can put it! =P But it's still nice to know what the rules are, if only so you can break 'em. ^_^

That's always been my motto: You've got to know the rules before you're allowed to break them. In writing, you may break the rules, provided you do it purposefully and effectively. Holly Jahangiri

AuntyNelly writes:

Thanks Jessiebell, as always yr NL is very interesting and helpful. I think we always need to brush up our grammer.

Thanks for sharing, Take care AuntieNelly

Thanks, AuntieNelly! Holly Jahangiri

Jay writes:

This newsletter is exceptional. It offers so much to writers, old and new, who really want to get serious and hone their work. Thanks, Jay

Thank you, Jay! I try. Holly Jahangiri

Alimohkon writes:

I learned that in English we must try to, at least, avoid prepositional phrases, or have an economy of words. What do you say about this?

Thanks for a newsletter that teaches.

Use whatever words are necessary to communicate exactly what you want to communicate. Eliminate all the ones that don't add to that. I believe in following the rules of good grammar, but not so rigidly that it hampers good communication. We have prepositional phrases in English for a reason, just as we have the passive voice for a reason. It's when these things are misused or overused that they become "wrong." Holly Jahangiri

scribbler writes:

wow, so much grammer I feel like I'm in english class! (not to mention my head hurts hehe) but aside from that a very informative newsletter. THank you for doing that. :]

I'm starting to sense a theme; do you think I should preface my next issue with "grab an ice bag and put it on your head before reading"? Holly Jahangiri (the utterly unapologetic)

billwilcox writes:

Jessiebelle!

Wow! I feel a collective noun coming on--OOPS--sorry, it was just gas . Great newsletter as always

Erm, I'm so glad we cleared that up, Bill. Holly Jahangiri

spazmom writes:

ugh - english! I am the worst when it comes to prepositions and nouns and verbs...which probably is telling in my writing....sigh. I figure that's what an editor is for if it gets really bad...right? I realize it will help my writing, but - I get too caught up in the story to worry about particulars like sentence structure...I love the little feature on my word processor that has grammar check!!

Sure, but here's the deal: You can't expect a publisher's editor to do extensive editing of sloppy work. It's just too easy to toss your manuscript into the trash, instead; there are plenty of unsolicited manuscripts coming in over the transom – never mind the ones that actually have agency representation. You can hire an editor, but they don't come cheap. Wouldn't it be easier, and serve you better in the long run, to learn and practice the basic rules of good writing? Holly Jahangiri

shaara writes:

This was wonderfully informative. I hope you don't mind my copying it for reference. It has all the problems I run into due to my current hole in the brain/leakage problem. LOL

Thanks!
Shaara

That sounds…painful? Not to mention messy. Of course you may copy my newsletters for your own reference. Holly Jahangiri

Melissa is fashionably late! writes:

Hello Jessie Thank you for the grammar lesson! I know there are a lot of people who get confused about which is which, so this has surely helped them out!

I hope so! Thanks, Mel. Holly Jahangiri

StephBee - House Targaryen writes:

Awesome newsletter. It's not the writing that does me in, its the editing. I think writing is 10% actual writing and 90% editing and polishing off.

Editing can seem like tedious work, but when it all starts to come together and look polished, you just know it's worth the effort. Holly Jahangiri

writing4him writes:

Oh, I love people and papers that occasionally touch up on good ol' grammar and spelling - two of my pet peeves. Thanks SO much for this newsletter's reminder and 'refresher course' on subject/verb agreement. We might have had it pounded into us since the sixth grade, but a little kick to the seat of opur pants never hurt!

I love this newsletter anyways, because it's always full of good ideas. Thank you very sincerely for that!

Thanks! Yeah, I don't know about you, but it's been a while since I left sixth grade. It never hurts to go back to the basics and review. Holly Jahangiri