From Idea to Essay

Respected and relied upon, "From Idea to Essay" is a rhetorically arranged rhetoric/ reader/research paper guide/handbook that systematically leads students through the complex process of writing an essay.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to Cognitive Psychology. 2. Cognition and the Brain: Basic Principles. 3. Perception. 4. Attention. 5. Short-Term and Working Memory. 6. Long-Term Memory: Basic Principles. 7. Everyday Memory and Memory Errors. 8. Knowledge. 9. Visual Imagery. 10. Language. 11. Problem Solving. 12. Reasoning and Decision Making.

About the Author :
Born in Belgium, the daughter of an American minister, Jo Ray McCuen-Metherell had moved from Brussels to Paris to Bern, Switzerland, by the time she was seven years old. In Bern, she attended the Freies Gymnasium and spoke not only fluent French and German but also English, which was the language spoken to her by her American parents. After World War II, Dr. McCuen-Metherell's parents sent her and her brother to Pacific Union College (in California's Napa Valley), where she received a B. A. in English. She taught English and French in high school for several years and then took night classes at the University of Southern California, where she earned an M.A. and Ph.D. While working on her doctorate, she was hired to teach English at Glendale Community College and later to serve as Dean of the Evening College. A chance meeting in 1973 with Anthony C. Winkler, a successful novelist, led to a literary partnership that has produced 15 coauthored textbooks used at colleges and universities across the United States. Born February 25, 1942, in Kingston, Jamaica West Indies. Educated in Jamaica at Excelsior College, Mount Alvernia Academy and Cornwall College, the last two being in Montego Bay. Educated in the United States at Citrus Community College, Glendora California (AA degree 1965). Taught briefly at Pasadena City College and for a year Moneague Teachers College in Saint Anne, Jamaica, an experience chronicled in Going Home to Teach (1995.) From 1968 to 1975 Winkler had a sales territory as a bookman, covering Southern California, Las Vegas and Utah for Appleton Century Crofts textbook publishers, and later Southern California and Arizona for Scots Foresman. In 1969 he decided he could write textbooks as well as anyone and through a chance meeting with the sales representative of another company, he submitted the manuscript POETRY AS SYSTEM and was offered a contract for its publication. Eventually, he met Jo Ray McCuen and the two became textbook writers and collaborators. Over the years they have produced more than a dozen textbooks, most on rhetoric and writing, which have survived through multiple editions. In 1975, Winkler quit his job as a bookman and became a full-time freelance writer. In addition to his textbooks, his body of work include the following: �The Painted Canoe� (novel 1983), �The Lunatic� (novel 1987), �The Great Yacht Race� (novel 1992), �Going Home to Teach� (autobiography 1995), �The Duppy� (novel 1997), �The Annihilation of Fish and other stories� (short story collection 2004), �Dog War� (novel 2006), �Trust the Darkness: My Life As a Writer� (autobiography 2008); Plays: �The Hippopotamus Card� (produced by WDR German radio network), �The Burglary� (premiered in Toronto July 7, 2005); Movies: �The Lunatic� (1991), �The Annihilation of Fish� (1999), �Biography Bob Marley, an Intimate Portrait by His Mother� (1996, with Cedella Booker, Marley�s mother)

Review :
�I really like the idea of having the handbook inside the reader.� �Several years ago, while searching for a text that included the elements which I had found over the years were best for teaching composition, I discovered FROM IDEA TO ESSAY, 11e. It proved to be an excellent text, which I appreciated more during the successive years that I used it to teach my introductory classes. I was pleased to discover the elements I so appreciated in that text were kept in the current edition: an organization that began with an overview of the process of writing, a review of classic rhetorical structure, and grammar.� �The overall organization of the book is effective. All important topics are covered quite thoroughly.� �The student essays are a strength. I really like to see an illustrated example or model of a paper as it evolves from draft to draft. I like the line by line editing notes. The emphasis on rhetorical devices is another strength. It�s good to see so much of the book dedicated to so many devices of rhetoric. Also, when the book uses outlines, graphs, and charts, it succeeds tremendously.�