Summary
This rhetorically organized reader leads beginning student writers from the elements of good writing through the patterns of development, including a range of excellent models throughout and coverage of the research process.
Table of Contents
An asterisk indicates each of the 22 new selections.Getting StartedPart 1: How to Use This BookPart 2: Using the Writing Process: A Tool for Discovery The Writing Process: An Overview PrewritingDetermining Your Audience, Purpose, and Style Gathering Information Listing Focused Freewriting Clustering Drawing a Subject Tree Brainstorming Interviewing Summarizing Outlining Writing a Scratch Outline Writing a Formal Outline Writing Other Kinds of Outlines for Special Purposes Drafting and Revising Editing and ProofreadingPart 3: The Making of a Student Essay: From Prewriting to Proofreading Prewriting to Gather Information Making a Scratch Outline Writing a Working Draft Revising the Working Draft Editing the Final DraftPart 4: Becoming an Active College Reader Preparing to Read: Survey Reading and Taking Notes: Engage the Text Writing an Informal Outline: Strengthen Your Grasp of the Text Conversing with the Text: Read it Again Summarizing: Make What You Have Read Your Own Responding and Critiquing: Evaluate What You Have Read Synthesizing: Bring Ideas Together in a New StatementSection One: Organization and DevelopmentChapter 1: The Central IdeaIdentifying the Central IdeaWriting a Preliminary Topic Sentence or Thesis StatementControlling Unity and DevelopmentRevising the Central IdeaPracticing Writing Central IdeasFour Paragraphs for Analysis The Girls of Gen X by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead The Example of Jackie Robinson by Stephen Fox. Sawdust by Ernest Albrecht The Way We Were by Lewis LordEach selection in A Reader for College Writers is supported by:Preparing to ReadVocabularyRead More on the WebQuestions for DiscussionThinking CriticallySuggestions for Journal EntriesSuffering by Siu Chan (Student Essay)Three Passions I Have Lived For by Bertrand Russell*In Africa, AIDS Has a Woman's Face by Kofi A. AnnanEchoes by Maria Cirilli (Student Essay)Each chapter in A Reader for College Writers concludes with:Suggestions for Sustained WritingWriting to Learn: A Group ActivityChapter 2: Unity and CoherenceCreating UnityMaintaining Coherence Use Transitional Devices Make Reference to Material That Has Come BeforeVisualizing Unity and CoherenceRevising to Improve Unity and CoherencePracticing Unity and Coherence*I Don't Know What God Wants by Bay FangWriting and Its Rewards by Richard MariusStudy Calculus! by William J. BennettOma: Portrait of a Heroine by Maria Scamacca (Student Essay)Chapter 3: DevelopmentDetermining How Much a Paragraph or Essay Should ContainChoosing the Best Method of DevelopmentDeciding How to Arrange the Ideas and Details in a ParagraphVisualizing Paragraph DevelopmentRevising to Improve DevelopmentPracticing Methods of DevelopmentThe Last Safe Haven by Joannie M. Schrof'Exile and Return by James Keller (Student Essay)Burger Queen by Erin Sharp (Student Essay)A Brother's Dreams by Paul AronowitzChapter 4: Introductions and ConclusionsWriting Introductions Use a Startling Remark or Statistic Ask a Question or Present a Problem Challenge a Widely Held Assumption or Opinion Use a Comparison, Contrast, or Analogy Tell an Anecdote or Describe a Scene Use a Quotation Define an Important Term or Concept Address Your Readers Directly Open with a ParadoxWriting Conclusions Rephrase or Make Reference to Your Thesis Summarize or Rephrase Your Main Points Offer Advice: Make a Call to Action Look to the Future Explain How a Problem Was Resolved Ask a Rhetorical Question Close with a Statement or Quotation Readers Will Remember Respond to a Question in Your IntroductionVisualizing Ways to Write Introductions and ConclusionsRevising Introductions and ConclusionsPracticing Writing IntroductionsI Was Just Wondering by Robert FulghumA Prayer for the Days of Awe by Elie WieselCode of Denial by Tena MoyerThe Transformation of Maria Fernandez by Anita DiPasquale (Student Essay)Section Two: Word Choice and Sentence PatternsChapter 5: Word Choice: Using Concrete, Specific, and Vivid LanguageMaking Your Writing Concrete Use Your Five Senses or Recall an Experience Create a Concrete Image Use ExamplesMaking Your Writing SpecificMaking Your Writing VividVisualizing Concrete Specific and Vivid DetailsRevising to Include Concrete, Specific, and Vivid LanguagePracticing Using Concrete, Specific, and Vivid LanguageThose Winter Sundays by Robert HaydenJeffrey Dahmer, Cannibal by Angie Cannon*The Haunting Final Words: "It Doesn't Look Good, Babe” by James GlanzThe Mentally Ill and Human Experimentation: Perfect Together by Nancy J. Mundie (Student Essay)Chapter 6: Word Choice: Using Figurative LanguageSimileMetaphorPersonificationVisualizing Figurative LanguageRevising to Include Figurative LanguagePracticing Creating Simile, Metaphor and PersonificationWhat the Gossips Saw by Leo RomeroMusic by Louis Gonzalez (Student Essay)*Uncommon Valor by Ken RingleBack from the Brink by Daniel ZanozaChapter 7: Sentence Structure: Creating Emphasis and VarietyEmphasis Create Emphasis Through Coordination Create Emphasis Through Subordination Create Emphasis by Using Periodic Sentences Create Emphasis by Using a Colon Create Emphasis by Using the Active or Passive Voice Create Emphasis by Repeating Key Words and Phrases Create Emphasis Through ParallelismVariety Create Variety by Changing Sentence Length Create Variety by Changing Sentence Patterns Create Variety by Using a Colon Create Variety by Using Parentheses Create Variety by Using a DashVisualizing Sentence StructureRevising to Create Variety and EmphasisPracticing Combining Sentences*Macho Girls and Vanishing Males by Suzanne FieldsA Longing by Alice Wnorowski (Student Essay)The Buried Sound of Children Crying by Harrison RainieGettysburg Address by Abraham LincolnSection Three: Description and NarrationKnowing Your SubjectUsing Language That ShowsBeing Objective or SubjectiveChapter 8: DescriptionTechniques for Describing Places and Things Using Proper Nouns Using Effective Verbs Including Action and People in the Description of a PlaceTechniques for Describing People Describing Your Subject’s Appearance and Speech Revealing What You Know about Your Subject Revealing What Others Say about Your SubjectVisualizing Details that Describe Places and ThingsVisualizing Details that Describe PeopleRevising Descriptive EssaysPracticing Techniques That DescribeWatching the Reapers by Po Chu-iFlavio's Home by Gordon ParksIf at First You Do Not See… by Jesse Sullivan (Student Essay)*Josephine Baker: The Daring Diva by Samantha LevineTwo Gentlemen of the Pines by John McPheeCharisma Fortified by ‘Chutzpah’ by Barry ShlachterJoe DiMaggio: The Silent Superstar by Paul SimonChapter 9: NarrationDetermining Purpose and ThemeFinding the Meaning in Your StoryDeciding What to IncludeShowing the Passage of TimeDescribing Setting and Developing CharactersMaking Your Stories Lively, Interesting, and BelievableWriting About Ourselves and About Others: Point of ViewVisualizing Narrative ElementsRevising Narrative EssaysPracticing Narrative SkillsMid-Term Break by Seamus HeaneyThe Day I Was Fat by Lois Diaz-Talty (Student Essay)Child of the Romans by Carl SandburgThe Colossus in the Kitchen by Adrienne Schwartz (Student Essay)Frederick Douglass: the Path to Freedom by Carl SaganFaith of the Father by Sam PickeringSection Four: ExpositionExplaining Through IllustrationExplaining Through Comparison and ContrastExplaining Through Process AnalysisChapter 10: IllustrationSpecific Facts, Instances, and OccurrencesStatisticsSpecific People, Places, or ThingsAnecdotesVisualizing ExamplesRevising Illustration EssaysPracticing IllustrationWolf by Grace Lukawska (Student Essay)Growing Up in Rumania by Irina Groza (Student Essay)The Death of Common Sense by Philip K. Howard*Names by Jonathan Kozol*Covert Force by Robert F. HoweChapter 11: Comparison and ContrastOrganizing Comparison/Contrast PapersVisualizing Methods of Comparison The Point-by-Point Method The Subject-by-Subject MethodRevising Comparison/Contrast PapersPracticing Comparison/ContrastThe Road from Ixopo by Alan PatonNew Blood for Old Cities by Stephen MooreTemptations of Old Age by Malcolm Cowley*High Anxiety: It Never Ends by Nancy Terranova (Student Essay)Chapter 12: Process AnalysisHow to Fight a Duel by Adam GoodheartThe Measure of Eratosthenes by Carl Sagan*Florida’s Fire Ants Headed for Trouble by Dave BarryHow I Came Out to My Parents by Kenneth Kohler (Student Essay)Section Five: Argumentation and PersuasionEstablishing Purpose: Choosing to Argue or PersuadeAppealing to Your AudienceChoosing a Thesis (Claim) That Is Debatable, Supportable, and FocusedGathering Evidence to Support Your ThesisDetermining Tone and ContentExpressing a VoiceBeing Fair, Accurate, and LogicalRead More on the WebChapter 13: ArgumentMastering Deduction and InductionReasoning Through the Use of Claims and WarrantsDeveloping Ides in an ArgumentEstablishing Your AuthorityAnticipating and Addressing Opposing OpinionsVisualizing Strategies for Argument
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