About the Book
Is it possible that a book of readings can help you develop your writing skills and guide you to success in your composition course? It can when the book is OCCASIONS FOR WRITING, an exciting new collection of readings that helps you discover how everything you encounter in life is an occasion or reason to write! In addition to its large selection of untraditional, fascinating readings, this reader contains effective "Occasions for Writing" activities that help you to look closely at written text, photographs, other media-and literally everything in your life-guiding you in developing the fresh ideas that lead to strong, original essays. Students receive the most up-to-date information on MLA documentation with the enclosed tri-fold card providing NEW 2009 MLA Handbook formats.
Table of Contents:
Part I: A BRIEF GUIDE TO WRITING. 1. The Practice of Writing. Why Am I Writing Essays? An Occasion for Writing. Using Your Voice and Finding Your Character. Moving from Evidence to Idea to Essay. Evidence. Idea. Essay. How to Reveal the Discoveries? Analysis. Interpretation. Reflection and Meaning. Making Evidence and Discovery Work Together. 2. An Exploratory Essay: A Student"s Progress. Using Images and Experience as Evidence. 3. The Persuasive Essay: A Student"s Progress. Using Text and Experience as Evidence. 4. An Introduction to Visual Understanding. Keeping Your Eyes Open and Learning to See. A Strategy for Visual Understanding. Looking and Responding. Analyzing Images: Categorizing to Make Sense of What You See. Focal Point and Emphasis. Figure-Ground Contrast. Grouping: Proximity & Similarity. Color. Continuation. Line. Closure. Narration or Story. Context. The Whole Composition. Communicating What You See. A Sample Student Paper, Ryan Pollack, Visible Feelings. Part II: THEMES FOR WRITING. 5. Stories. Cluster 1: Mark Doty, Souls on Ice. Samuel Scudder, Look at Your Fish. John Berger, Steps Towards a Small Theory of the Visible. Cluster 2: Virginia Woolf, Portrait of a Londoner. Richard Rodriguez, Late Victorians. Jim Corder, Aching for a Self. Anthology Readings: Diane Ackerman, In the Memory Mines. Brian Doyle, Yes. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. Michael Paterniti, The Most Dangerous Beauty. 6. Identity. Cluster 1: Brent Staples, Just Walk on By. Zora Neale Hurston, How It Feels to Be Colored Me. Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Myth of the Latin Woman. Cluster 2: Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation. N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain. James Baldwin, Stranger in the Village. Anthology Readings: Jamaica Kincaid, On Seeing England for the First Time. Sojourner Truth, Ain"t I a Woman. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. 7. Gender. Cluster1: Susan Brownmiller, Femininity. Deborah Tannen, Men and Women Talking. Judy Ruiz, Oranges and Sweet Sister Boy. Cluster 2: Paul Fussell, Uniforms. Susan Sontag, A Woman"s Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source? Alice Walker, Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self. Anthology Readings: Bernard Cooper, Burl"s. Gretel Ehrlich, About Men. Paul Theroux, Being a Man. Sojourner Truth, Ain"t I a Woman. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. 8. Families. Cluster 1: Chang Rae Lee, Coming Home Again. Barbara Kingsolver, Stone Soup. Barbara Ehrenreich, Family Values. Cluster 2: David Sedaris, Cyclops. bell hooks, Inspired Eccentricity. Maxine Hong Kingston, No-Name Woman. Anthology Readings: Diane Ackerman, In the Memory Mines. Bernard Cooper, Burl"s. Brian Doyle, Yes. 9. Education. Cluster 1: Frederick Douglass: Learning to Read and Write. Maya Angelou, Graduation. Bernard Cooper, Labyrinthine. Cluster 2: Eudora Welty, Clamorous to Learn. Adrienne Rich, Claiming an Education. Paolo Freire, The Banking Concept of Education. Anthology Readings: Roland Barthes, Toys. E. M. Forster, On Not Looking at Pictures. Michael Lewis, The Curse of Talent. Plato, The Allegory of the Cave. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. 10. Nature and the Environment. Cluster 1: Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth. Roy Reed, Spring Comes to Hogeye. Annie Dillard, Transfiguration. Cluster 2: William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness. Ann Zwinger, The Desert World. Barry Lopez, The Stone Horse. Anthology Readings: Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. Jamaica Kincaid, On Seeing England for the First Time. Michael Paterniti, The Most Dangerous Beauty. Walker Percy, The Loss of the Creature. 11. Science and Technology. Cluster 1: Jacob Bronowski, The Nature of Scientific Reasoning. Alan Lightman, The Art of Science. E.O. Wilson, The Bird of Paradise. Cluster 2: Sven Birkerts, Into the Electronic Millennium. Terry Tempest Williams, A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness. Lewis Thomas, Crickets, Bats, Cats, and Chaos. Anthology Readings: Diane Ackerman, In the Memory Mines. Roland Barthes, Toys. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. Michael Paterniti, The Most Dangerous Beauty. 12. Language and Thought. Cluster 1: Richard Rodriguez, Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood. George Orwell, Politics and the English Language. Suzanne K. Langer, Signs and Symbols. Cluster 2: Ursula LeGuin: Where Do You Get Your Ideas? Edward de Bono, Logical and Lateral Thinking. Matthew Goulish, Criticism. Anthology Readings: Diane Ackerman, In the Memory Mines. Brian Doyle, Yes. E. M. Forster, On Not Looking at Pictures. Thomas Jefferson et al., The Declaration of Independence. Walker Percy, The Loss of the Creature. 13. Ethics and Values. Cluster 1: Joan Didion, On Self Respect. Henry David Thoreau, Why I Went Into the Woods. Sissela Bok, On Lying. Cluster 2: Langston Hughes, Salvation. Nancy Wilson Ross, An Introduction to Zen. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail. Anthology Readings: Thomas Jefferson et al., The Declaration of Independence. Plato, The Allegory of the Cave. Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal. Lawrence Weschler, Vermeer in Bosnia. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. 14. Work and Working. Cluster 1: Ellen Goodman, The Company Man. George Orwell, Hotel Kitchens. Donald Hall, Lifework. Cluster 2: Ellen Gilchrist, The Middle Way. Tom Friedman, The World Is Flat. Christopher Clausen, Against Work. Anthology Readings: Gretel Ehrlich, About Men. Michael Lewis, The Curse of Talent. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Part III: ANTHOLOGY FOR FURTHER READING. Diane Ackerman, In the Memory Mines. Roland Barthes, Toys. Bernard Cooper, Burl"s. Brian Doyle, Yes. Gretel Ehrlich, About Men. E. M. Forster, On Not Looking at Pictures. Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point. Thomas Jefferson et al., The Declaration of Independence. Jamaica Kincaid, On Seeing England for the First Time. Michael Lewis, The Curse of Talent. Michael Paterniti, The Most Dangerous Beauty. Walker Percy, The Loss of the Creature. Plato, The Allegory of the Cave. Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal. Paul Theroux, Being a Man. Sojourner Truth, Ain"t I a Woman. Lawrence Weschler, Vermeer in Bosnia. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
