This engaging reader provides brief, readable selections organized by both rhetorical pattern and theme.
Table of Contents:
NEW CONTENTS ARE IDENTIFIED WITH AN ASTERISK
Preface
1. On Reading and Writing
The Challenges and Rewards of Writing
Good Reasons for Reading
Guidelines for Active Reading
* Guided Reading: Andrew Sullivan, “Society Is Dead; We Have Retreated into the IWorld”
Writing Focus: Using Summary, Analysis, and Synthesis
Getting Started
Richard Wilbur, “The Writer”
Gail Godwin, “The Watcher at the Gates”
Terry McMillan, “On Reading and Becoming a Writer”
Kurt Vonnegut, “How to Write with Style”
* Communicating with Instructors and Peers: In Person and Online
* Participating in Peer Evaluations
* The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students
Making Connections
Topics for WritingabitH
2. Using Narration: Growing Up, Growing Wiser
When to Use Narration
How to Use Narration
Writing Focus: Preparing Your Essay for Readers
Getting Started: Reflections on Growing Up or Growing Wiser
N. Scott Momaday, “The End of My Childhood”
Luis J. Rodriguez, “Always Running”
* Sandra Cisneros, “Only Daughter”
* Mansour Al-Nogardian, “Losing My Jihadism”
* Bob Kerr, “The Best Story Turned Out to Be No Story At All”
* Gaye Wagner, “Death of an Officer”
* Jeanne Marie Laskas, “Inconspicuous Consumption”
Making Connections
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Narration Essays
3. Using Description: Reflecting on People and Places
When to Use Description
How to Use Description
Writing Focus: It’s All About Words
Getting Started: Reflections on a Painting
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, The Third of May, 1808
Edgar Degas, The Dance Class
* Pablo Picasso, Three Dancers
* Mary Cassatt, Two Women Seated by a Woodland Stream
* Edward Hopper, Room in New York
Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory
Tracy Kidder, “Mrs. Zajac”
Amy Tan, “Lost Lives of Women”
Pat Mora, “Remembering Lobo”
* Josh Tyrangiel, “Trouble Woman”
Lance Morrow, “Africa”
* David Montgomery, “Snow: A Prism of More Than Frozen Water”
Jonathan Schell, “Ground Zero”
Student Essay–Description: Alexa Skandar, “Time’s Trophy”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Description Essays
4. Using Comparison and Contrast: Ways of Learning
When to Use Comparison and Contrast
How to Use Comparison and Contrast
Writing Focus: Coherence Is Crucial
Getting Started: Reflecting on Expectations of College or Work
Nancy Masterson Sakamoto, “Conversational Ballgames”
Judith Viorst, “Boys and Girls: Anatomy and Destiny”
Amanda Ripley, “Who Says a Woman Can’t Be Einstein?”
* David Sadker, “Gender Games”
* Robin McKie, “Bring Back Stinks and Bangs!”
Colbert King, “Surveying the Damage on Campus USA”
Linda Pastan, “Marks”
Student Essay–Contrast: Denisse M. Bonilla, “The Faded Stain”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Comparison and Contrast Essays
5. Explaining and Illustrating: Examining Media Images
When to Use Examples
How to Use Examples
Writing Focus: Vary your Sentences
Getting Started: Thinking about Advertising
Four Ads: Fila, Got Milk?, Council for Biotechnology Information, expedia.com
Jack McGarvey, “To Be or Not to Be As Defined by TV”
* Dimitri A. Christakis, “Smarter Kids, Brought to You by the Letter T and V”
* Jonetta Rose Barras, “We’re Our Own Worst Imuses”
* Shelby Steele, “Notes from the Hip-Hop Underground”
* Markus Prior, “The Real Media Divide”
Vincent P. Bzdek, “More Powerful Than . . . Ever: On Screen and Off, Superheroes Are a Force to Reckon With”
Lisa Mundy, “A Date to Remember”
Student Essay–Explaining and Illustrating: Michael King, “Rap’s Refusal of Injustice”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Essays Using Examples
6. Using Process Analysis: How We Work and Play
When to Use Process Analysis
How to Use Process Analysis
Writing Focus: Punctuating Properly
Getting Started: Reflections on Your Favorite Game
John P. Aigner, “Putting Your Job Interview into Rehearsal”
Suzette Elgin, “Improving Your Body Language Skills”
Gail Saltz, “How to Get Unstuck Now”
* Jack Welch, “Five Stages of Crisis Management”
Carol Krucoff, “Restoring Recess”
Ernest Hemingway, “Camping Out”
* Tiffany Sharples, “Learning to Love”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Process Essays
7. Using Division and Classification: Understanding Human Connections
When to Use Division and Classification
How to Use Division and Classification
Writing Focus: Words to Live Without
Getting Started: Classifying Recent Reading or Viewing
Judith Martin, “The Roles of Manners”
Franklin E. Zimring, “Hot Boxes for Ex-Smokers”
Curt Suplee, “The Science and Secrets of Personal Space”
Stephanie Ericsson, “The Ways We Lie”
Ralph Whitehead, Jr., “Class Acts”
* David Brooks, “Human Capital”
* Carolyn Foster Segal, “The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe”
Student Essay–Division and Classification: Garrett Berger, “Buying Time”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Division and Classification Essays
8. Using Definition; Explaining Ideas and Values
When to Use Definition
How to Develop and Extended Definition
Writing Focus: Using Metaphors, Avoiding Cliches
Getting Started: Reflections on E. B. White’s Ideas of Democracy
John Ciardi, “Is Everybody Happy?”
Robert K. Miller, “Discrimination Is a Virtue”
Andrew Vachss, “The Difference Between ‘Sick’ and ‘Evil’”
David Hackett Fischer, “Freedom’s Not Just Another Word”
* Charles Krauthammer, “The Greatness Gap”
* Robin Givhan, “Glamour, That Certain Something”
Alastair Reid, “Curiosity”
Student Essay–Definition: Laura Mullins, “Paragon or Parasite?”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Definition Essays
9. Using Causal Analysis: Analyzing Family and Community Conflicts
When to Use Causal Analysis
How to Use Causal Analysis
Writing Focus: References to Authors, Works, and the Words of Others
Getting Started: Reflections on Why You Are in College or Why You Have a Particular Trait/Interest
Keith Ablow, “When Parents Are Toxic to Children”
Linda J. Waite, “Social Science Finds: ‘Marriage Matters’”
Amitai Etzioni, “Part-Time Fast-Food Jobs Do Teens More Harm Than Good”
* Patricia Dalton, “The Don’t Blame Me Generation”
* Ray Fisman, “Cos and Effect”
Judith D. Auerbach, “The Overlooked Victims of AIDS”
Langston Hughes, “Dream Deferred”
Making Connections: Among the Writers and Online
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Causal Analysis Essays
10. Using Argument and Persuasion: Supporting and Fair and Safe World
The Characteristics of Argument
How to Use Argument and Persuasion
Writing Focus: Logical Fallacies
Getting Started: Reflections on the Challenges Facing Our World
* Jack Ohman, King Cartoon
ElizabethCady Stanton, “Declaration of Sentiments
Linda J. Collier, “Adult Crime, Adult Time”
Richard Cohen, “Kids Who Kill Are Still Kids”
John Borneman and Laurie Kain Hart, “An Elastic Institution”
Michael Kinsley, “Abolish Marriage”
* Anne Applebaum, “The Torture Myth”
* Mark Bowden, “Waterboarding: A Clarification”
* Joel Achenbach, “When Size Really Mattered”
* Tom Toles, Cartoon on Global Warming
Student Essay–Refutation: David M. Ouellette, “Blame It on the Media and Other Ways to Dress a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”
Making Connections
Topics for Writing
A Checklist for Argument Essays
Glossary
Credits
Index
