Do you want to raise your grades? Is your lack of proofreading skills affecting the quality of your work? Have you seen the charge per 1000 words of a professional proofreader? Are you unsure of the difference between a colon and a semicolon? Can you never remember which there/their/they’re to use or when you should use ‘practise’ or ‘practice’? Do you regularly find you have exceeded your word count but are not sure how you can prune it? Do you need help writing in a more academic style?If you answer ‘yes’ to any of these questions, this book is definitely for you! It should turn you into a wizard at proofreading, grammar and punctuation, full stop. (Pardon the pun!)Students who have used Clare’s book have invariably raised their grades and greatly improved their punctuation and grammar, not to mention their vocabulary, their ability to proofread their own work, and their overall confidence in academic writing. This guide aims to bring quality, grammatical accuracy and a degree of finesse to your work.
Clare has been teaching from the tender age of four, when she set up a school for friends, giving them sums to compute and poems to compose! She gained an Honours degree in English at Durham University and later a Master’s degree in Educational Studies at York St. John. After beginning her ‘adult’ teaching career in a primary school, she ran a unit for pupils with specific learning difficulties in a secondary school and then went on to work with dyslexic students in further and higher education. Her first book, Spelling Made Magic, distilled all the tips and tricks she had taught her younger pupils, while Punctuation Matters! is aimed at students from GCSE level through to university and beyond. Clare has two daughters and two granddaughters, and lives with her partner in West Yorkshire.
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3 reviews
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This book is an invaluable resource, not only for students with a diagnosis of dyslexia but for all students who want to improve their writing skills. Tutors can use the teaching pages as the basis for discussion regarding essential linguistic and syntactical rules, and the proofreading exercises will be excellent for embedding skills. In fact, the book is for anyone who feels they might benefit from some clear, straightforward support for spelling, grammar, punctuation and appropriate structuring of their writing.
As a SpLD support tutor working in the field of Higher Education, I am very aware that when writing, students must learn to wear two hats, firstly as the writer and then as the reader. As the author says in the introduction to this unique book, writers are often so emotionally invested in the content of their writing that they fail to step back and consider what has been written from the reader’s perspective. Punctuation Matters! is a very accessible resource that can be used by tutors at various levels to support individual needs, or students can use the exercises and reflections independently. Either way, engagement with the material in this book will enable students to hone their writing skills and develop greater confidence.
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Helen Redman, Managing Director, OpenED
Punctuation Matters! is a well-structured and practical resource for students and tutors alike. Written in an accessible format, it provides off-the-shelf activities to improve proofreading and grammar, as well as guidance on establishing a sound academic writing style.
Using excellent visual aids, symbols, and colour-coding to navigate each exercise, it covers a vast range of common errors and misunderstandings of the English language. Explanations are clear and concise, giving the reader a thorough understanding of each concept and its application. Examples are based on themes from further and higher education, making it easy for users to transfer new skills into their own work.
Inspired by years of experience, Clare Winstanley has provided an exceptional guide for students wishing strong literacy and writing skills. This is an invaluable and informative workbook, which provides an innovative approach to the teaching and learning of academic skills.
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Punctuation Matters! is an accessible guide to the student who wants to improve his/her proof-reading. Clare Winstanley has distilled the experience of many years' teaching into an inviting book, full of tips and guidance, exercises and explanatory answers. The exercises are prose passages chosen from many different sources giving the student the opportunity to measure his or her improvement over the weeks. In addition, there are handy break-out boxes containing "Bright Ideas" on everything from simplicity of style to overall essay structure. In my own teaching I have found that students daunted by an upcoming assignment can benefit greatly from such guidance on planning, cohesive style and proof-reading. Automated proofing-checkers miss many semantic errors. Clare Winstanley's book will help students understand for themselves why they have made mistakes in their writing and how to get it right next time.
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