Grounded in current theory and research, yet practical and teachable.
Widely praised for its groundbreaking integration of composition research and a rhetorical perspective, The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing with MyWritingLab has set the standard for first-year composition courses in writing, reading, critical thinking, and inquiry.
Teachers and students value its clear and coherent explanations, engaging classroom activities, and flexible sequence of aims-based writing assignments that help writers produce effective, idea-rich essays in academic and civic genres. Numerous examples of student and professional writing accompany this thorough guide to the concepts and skills needed for writing, researching, and editing in college and beyond.
Table of Contents:
Part 1 A Rhetoric For Writers
1 Posing Problems: The Demands of College Writing
Why Take a Writing Course?
Concept 1.1 Subject matter problems are the heart of college writing. Shared Problems Unite Writers and Readers
Where Do Problems Come From?
Concept 1.2 Writers’ decisions are shaped by purpose, audience, and genre.
What Is Rhetoric?
How Writers Think about Purpose
How Writers Think about Audience
How Writers Think about Genre
Concept 1.3 The rules for “good writing” vary depending on rhetorical context. A Thought Exercise: Two Pieces of Good Writing That Follow Different “Rules”
David Rockwood, A Letter to the Editor
Thomas Merton, A Festival of Rain
Distinctions between Closed and Open Forms of Writing
Flexibility of “Rules” along the Continuum
Where to Place Your Writing along the Continuum
Chapter Summary
BRIEF WRITING PROJECT TWO MESSAGES FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES, AUDIENCES, AND GENRES
2 Exploring Problems, Making Claims
Concept 2.1 To determine their thesis, writers must often “wallow in complexity.” Learning to Wallow in Complexity
Seeing Each Academic Discipline as a Field of Inquiry and Argument
Using Exploratory Writing to Help You Wallow in Complexity
Believing and Doubting Paul Theroux’s Negative View of Sports Concept 2.2 A strong thesis statement surprises readers with something new or challenging.
Trying to Change Your Reader’s View of Your Subject
Giving Your Thesis Tension through “Surprising Reversal”
Concept 2.3 In closed-form prose, a typical introduction starts with the problem, not the thesis. A Typical Introduction
Features of an Effective Introduction
Chapter Summary
BRIEF WRITING PROJECT PLAYING THE BELIEVING AND DOUBTING GAME
3 How Messages Persuade
Concept 3.1 Messages persuade through their angle of vision.
Recognizing the Angle of Vision in a Text
Analyzing Angle of Vision
Concept 3.2 Messages persuade through appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos. Concept 3.3 Messages persuade through writers’ choices about style and document design.
Understanding Factors that Affect Style
Making Purposeful Choices about Document Design
Concept 3.4 Nonverbal messages persuade through visual strategies that can be analyzed rhetorically. Visual Rhetoric
The Rhetoric of Clothing and Other Consumer Items
Chapter Summary
BRIEF WRITING PROJECT TWO CONTRASTING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SAME SCENE
4 Multimodal and Online Communication
Concept 4.1 Composers of multimodal texts use words, images, and sounds rhetorically to move an audience. Hooking Audiences with Images and “Nutshell” Text
Holding Readers through Strong Content
Designing Video Narratives that Move Viewers
Concept 4.2 Online environments are rhetorically interactive with shifting audiences, purposes, genres, and authorial roles. Shifting and Evolving Rhetorical Contexts Online
Online Variations in Purposes, Genres, and Authorial Roles
Maintaining Appropriate Online Privacy
Concept 4.3 Responsible participation in online discourse requires understanding intellectual property rights and an ethical persona.
Understanding Issues of Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons Licenses
Using Images and Sound Ethically in Your Multimodal Projects
Creating an Ethical Online Persona
Chapter Summary
BRIEF WRITING PROJECT 1 DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON YOUR ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS BRIEF WRITING PROJECT 2 DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON YOUR CREATION OF A MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION
Part 2 Writing Projects
Writing To LEARN
5 Reading Rhetorically: The Writer As Strong Reader 82
Engaging Rhetorical Reading
Understanding Rhetorical Reading What Makes College-Level Reading Difficult?
Using the Reading Strategies of Experts
Reading with the Grain and Against the Grain
Understanding Summary Writing
Usefulness of Summaries
The Demands that Summary Writing Makes on Writers
Summary of “Why Bother?” Understanding Strong Response Writing
Strong Response as Rhetorical Critique
Strong Response as Ideas Critique
Strong Response as Reflection
Strong Response as a Blend
Kyle Madsen (student), Can a Green Thumb Save the Planet? A Response to Michael Pollan
WRITING PROJECT A SUMMARY Generating Ideas: Reading for Structure and Content
Drafting and Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT A SUMMARY/STRONG RESPONSE ESSAY
Exploring Ideas for Your Strong Response
Writing a Thesis for a Strong Response Essay
Shaping and Drafting
Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: BOOK REVIEW Reading
Michael Pollan, Why Bother?
Writing To EXPLORE
6 Writing An Exploratory Essay or Annotated Bibliography
Engaging Exploratory Writing
Understanding Exploratory Writing WRITING PROJECT AN EXPLORATORY ESSAY
Generating and Exploring Ideas
Taking “Double-Entry” Research Notes
Shaping and Drafting
Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY What Is an Annotated Bibliography?
Features of Annotated Bibliography Entries
Examples of Annotation Entries
Writing a Critical Preface for Your Annotated Bibliography
Shaping, Drafting, and Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: SPEECH WITH VISUAL AIDS
Readings
Kent Ansen (student), Should the United States Establish Mandatory Public Service for Young Adults?
Kent Ansen (student), Should the United States Establish Mandatory Public Service for Young Adults? An Annotated Bibliography
Writing To Analyze and Synthesize
7 Analyzing Images
Engaging Image Analysis Understanding Image Analysis: Documentary and News Photographs Angle of Vision and Credibility of Photographs
How to Analyze a Documentary Photograph
Sample Analysis of a Documentary Photograph
Understanding Image Analysis: Paintings
How to Analyze a Painting
Sample Analysis of a Painting
Understanding Image Analysis: Advertisements How Advertisers Think about Advertising
Mirrors and Windows: The Strategy of an Effective Advertisement
How to Analyze an Advertisement
Sample Analysis of an Advertisement
WRITING PROJECT ANALYSIS OF TWO VISUAL TEXTS
Exploring and Generating Ideas for Your Analysis
Shaping and Drafting Your Analysis
Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: PODCAST AND LECTURE SLIDES Reading
Lydia Wheeler (student), Two Photographs Capture Women’s Economic Misery
8 Analyzing and Synthesizing Ideas
Engaging Analysis and Synthesis
John Miley, Ground Rules for Boomerang Kids
Publishers Weekly, Review of The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition
Understanding Analysis and Synthesis Posing a Significant Synthesis Question
Synthesis Writing as an Extension of Summary/Strong Response Writing
WRITING PROJECT A SYNTHESIS ESSAY
Summarizing Your Texts to Explore Their Ideas
Rosie Evans (student), Summary of Robin Marantz Henig’s Article
Rosie Evans (student), Summary of Scammed Hard!’s Blog Post
Analyzing Your Texts
Rosie Evans (student), Rhetorical Analysis of Henig’s Article
Rosie Evans (student), Rhetorical Analysis of Scammed Hard!’s Blog Post
Analyzing the Main Themes and Similarities and Differences in Your Texts’ Ideas
Synthesizing Ideas from Your Texts
Rosie Evans (student) Exploration of Her Personal Connections to Her Texts and the Synthesis Question
Taking Your Position in the Conversation: Your Synthesis
Shaping and Drafting
Writing a Thesis for a Synthesis Essay
Organizing a Synthesis Essay
Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: DISCUSSION POST Reading
Rosie Evans (student), Boomerang Kids: What Are the Causes of Generation Y’s Growing Pains?
9 Writing A Classical Argument
Engaging Classical Argument
Understanding Classical Argument What Is Argument?
Stages of Development: Your Growth as an Arguer
Creating an Argument Frame: A Claim with Reasons
Articulating Reasons
Articulating Underlying Assumptions
Using Evidence Effectively
Evaluating Evidence: The STAR Criteria
Addressing Objections and Counterarguments
Responding to Objections, Counterarguments, and Alternative Views
Seeking Audience-Based Reasons
Appealing to Ethos and Pathos
A Brief Primer on Informal Fallacies
WRITING PROJECT A CLASSICAL ARGUMENT
Generating and Exploring Ideas
Shaping and Drafting
Questions for Peer Review
WriWRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: VIDEO, ADVOCACY AD, AND BUMPER STICKER Readings
Ross Taylor (student), Paintball
Claire Giordano (student), Virtual Promise: Why Online Courses Will Not Adequately Prepare Us for the Future (APA format research paper)
10 Proposing A Solution
Engaging Proposal Writing
Understanding Proposal Writing Special Challenges of Proposal Arguments
Developing an Effective Justification Section
Multimodal Proposal Arguments
WRITING PROJECT A PROPOSAL ARGUMENT Generating and Exploring Ideas
Shaping and Drafting
Revising
Questions for Peer Review
WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: ADVOCACY AD OR POSTER AND SPEECH WITH VISUAL AIDS
Readings
Lucy Morsen (student), A Proposal to Improve the Campus Learning Environment by Banning Laptops and Cell Phones from Class
Sam Rothchild (student), Reward Work Not Wealth (oral presentation with visual aids)
Kent Ansen (student), Engaging Young Adults to Meet America’s Challenges: A Proposal for Mandatory National Service (MLA format research paper)
Part 3 A Guide To Composing and Revising
11 Writing As A Problem-Solving Process
SKILL 11.1 F ollow the experts’ practice of using multiple drafts. Why Expert Writers Revise So Extensively
An Expert’s Writing Processes Are Recursive
SKILL 11.2 R evise globally as well as locally. SKILL 11.3 D evelop ten expert habits to improve your writing processes.
SKILL 11.4 Use peer reviews to help you think like an expert. Becoming a Helpful Reader of Classmates’ Drafts
Using a Generic Peer Review Guide
Participating in Peer Review Workshops
Responding to Peer Reviews
12 Strategies For Writing Closed-Form Prose
SKILL 12.1 Satisfy reader expectations by linking new material to old material.
The Principle of Old before New
How the Principle of Old Before New Creates Unified and Coherent Paragraphs
The Explanatory Power of the Principle of Old before New
SKILL 12.2 N utshell your argument and visualize its structure. Make a List of “Chunks” and a Scratch Outline Early in the Writing Process
To Achieve Focus, “Nutshell” Your Argument and Create a Working Thesis Statement
Visualizing Your Structure
SKILL 12.3 Start and end with the “big picture” through effective titles, introductions, and conclusions.
What Not to Do: “Topic Title” and the “Funnel Introduction”
Creating Effective Titles
Writing Good Closed-Form Introductions
Writing Effective Conclusions
SKILL 12.4 Create effective topic sentences for paragraphs. Placing Topic Sentences at the Beginning of Paragraphs
Revising Paragraphs for Unity
Adding Particulars to Support Points
SKILL 12.5 G uide your reader with transitions and other signposts.
Using Common Transition Words to Signal Relationships
Writing Major Transitions between Parts
Signaling Major Transitions with Headings
SKILL 12.6 Bind sentences together by placing old information before new information. The Old/New Contract in Sentences
How to Make Links to the “Old”
Avoiding Ambiguous Use of “This” to Fulfill the Old/New Contract
SKILL 12.7 Use effective tables, graphs, and charts to present numeric data.
How Tables Tell Many Stories
Using a Graphic to Tell a Story
Incorporating a Graphic into Your Essay
13 Strategies For Composing Multimodal Texts
SKILL 13.1 Consider a range of multimodal options for accomplishing your purpose. SKILL 13.2 D esign multimodal texts so that each mode contributes its own strengths to the message.
This Design Principle at Work In Successful Multimodal Texts
Using This Design Principle to Revise a Jumbled Multimodal Text
SKILL 13.3 D esign multimodal genres including posters, speeches with visual aids, podcasts, and videos. Informational or Advocacy Posters, Brochures, Flyers, and Ads
Speeches with Visual Aids (PowerPoint, Prezi, Pechakucha)
Scripted Speech (Podcasts, Video Voiceovers)
Videos
Part 4 A Rhetorical Guide To Research
14 Using Sources
SKILL 14.1 E valuate sources for reliability, credibility, angle of vision, and degree of advocacy.
Reliability
Credibility
Angle of Vision and Political Stance
Degree of Advocacy
Criteria for Evaluating a Web Source
SKILL 14.2 Know when and how to use summary, paraphrase, and quotation. Summarizing
Paraphrasing
Quoting
SKILL 14.3 Use attributive tags to distinguish your ideas from a source’s.
Attributive Tags Mark Where Source Material Starts and Ends
Attributive Tags Avoid Ambiguities that Can Arise with Parenthetical Citations
Attributive Tags Frame the Source Material Rhetorically
SKILL 14.4 Avoid plagiarism by following academic conventions for ethical use of sources. Why Some Kinds of Plagiarism May Occur Unwittingly
Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism
15 Citing and Documenting Sources
SKILL 15.1 Cite and document sources using MLA style.
In-Text Citations in MLA Style
Works Cited List in MLA Style
MLA Citation Models
MLA Format Research Paper
SKILL 15.2 Cite and document sources using APA style. In-Text Citations in APA Style
References List in APA Style
APA Citation Models
