Getting Started

Part 1: How to Use This Book

Part 2: Using the Writing Process: A Tool for Discovery

The Writing Process: An Overview

Prewriting

Determining 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 Proofreading

Part 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 Draft

Part 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 Statement

Section One: Organization and Development

Chapter 1: The Central Idea

Identifying the Central Idea

Writing a Preliminary Topic Sentence or Thesis Statement

Controlling Unity and Development

Revising the Central Idea

Practicing Writing Central Ideas

Four 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 Lord

Each selection in A Reader for College Writers is supported by:

Preparing to Read

Vocabulary

Read More on the Web

Questions for Discussion

Thinking Critically

Suggestions for Journal Entries

Suffering 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. Annan

Echoes by Maria Cirilli (Student Essay)

Each chapter in A Reader for College Writers concludes with:

Suggestions for Sustained Writing

Writing to Learn: A Group Activity

Chapter 2: Unity and Coherence

Creating Unity

Maintaining Coherence

Use Transitional Devices

Make Reference to Material That Has Come Before

Visualizing Unity and Coherence

Revising to Improve Unity and Coherence

Practicing Unity and Coherence

*I Don't Know What God Wants by Bay Fang

Writing and Its Rewards by Richard Marius

Study Calculus! by William J. Bennett

Oma: Portrait of a Heroine by Maria Scamacca (Student Essay)

Chapter 3: Development

Determining How Much a Paragraph or Essay Should Contain

Choosing the Best Method of Development

Deciding How to Arrange the Ideas and Details in a Paragraph

Visualizing Paragraph Development

Revising to Improve Development

Practicing Methods of Development

The 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 Aronowitz

Chapter 4: Introductions and Conclusions

Writing 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 Paradox

Writing 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 Introduction

Visualizing Ways to Write Introductions and Conclusions

Revising Introductions and Conclusions

Practicing Writing Introductions

I Was Just Wondering by Robert Fulghum

A Prayer for the Days of Awe by Elie Wiesel

Code of Denial by Tena Moyer

The Transformation of Maria Fernandez by Anita DiPasquale (Student Essay)

Section Two: Word Choice and Sentence Patterns

Chapter 5: Word Choice: Using Concrete, Specific, and Vivid Language

Making Your Writing Concrete

Use Your Five Senses or Recall an Experience

Create a Concrete Image

Use Examples

Making Your Writing Specific

Making Your Writing Vivid

Visualizing Concrete Specific and Vivid Details

Revising to Include Concrete, Specific, and Vivid Language

Practicing Using Concrete, Specific, and Vivid Language

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden

Jeffrey Dahmer, Cannibal by Angie Cannon

*The Haunting Final Words: "It Doesn't Look Good, Babe” by James Glanz

The Mentally Ill and Human Experimentation: Perfect Together by Nancy J. Mundie (Student Essay)

Chapter 6: Word Choice: Using Figurative Language

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Visualizing Figurative Language

Revising to Include Figurative Language

Practicing Creating Simile, Metaphor and Personification

What the Gossips Saw by Leo Romero

Music by Louis Gonzalez (Student Essay)

*Uncommon Valor by Ken Ringle

Back from the Brink by Daniel Zanoza

Chapter 7: Sentence Structure: Creating Emphasis and Variety

Emphasis

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 Parallelism

Variety

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 Dash

Visualizing Sentence Structure

Revising to Create Variety and Emphasis

Practicing Combining Sentences

*Macho Girls and Vanishing Males by Suzanne Fields

A Longing by Alice Wnorowski (Student Essay)

The Buried Sound of Children Crying by Harrison Rainie

Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln

Section Three: Description and Narration

Knowing Your Subject

Using Language That Shows

Being Objective or Subjective

Chapter 8: Description

Techniques for Describing Places and Things

Using Proper Nouns

Using Effective Verbs

Including Action and People in the Description of a Place

Techniques for Describing People

Describing Your Subject’s Appearance and Speech

Revealing What You Know about Your Subject

Revealing What Others Say about Your Subject

Visualizing Details that Describe Places and Things

Visualizing Details that Describe People

Revising Descriptive Essays

Practicing Techniques That Describe

Watching the Reapers by Po Chu-i

Flavio's Home by Gordon Parks

If at First You Do Not See… by Jesse Sullivan (Student Essay)

*Josephine Baker: The Daring Diva by Samantha Levine

Two Gentlemen of the Pines by John McPhee

Charisma Fortified by ‘Chutzpah’ by Barry Shlachter

Joe DiMaggio: The Silent Superstar by Paul Simon

Chapter 9: Narration

Determining Purpose and Theme

Finding the Meaning in Your Story

Deciding What to Include

Showing the Passage of Time

Describing Setting and Developing Characters

Making Your Stories Lively, Interesting, and Believable

Writing About Ourselves and About Others: Point of View

Visualizing Narrative Elements

Revising Narrative Essays

Practicing Narrative Skills

Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney

The Day I Was Fat by Lois Diaz-Talty (Student Essay)

Child of the Romans by Carl Sandburg

The Colossus in the Kitchen by Adrienne Schwartz (Student Essay)

Frederick Douglass: the Path to Freedom by Carl Sagan

Faith of the Father by Sam Pickering

Section Four: Exposition

Explaining Through Illustration

Explaining Through Comparison and Contrast

Explaining Through Process Analysis

Chapter 10: Illustration

Specific Facts, Instances, and Occurrences

Statistics

Specific People, Places, or Things

Anecdotes

Visualizing Examples

Revising Illustration Essays

Practicing Illustration

Wolf 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. Howe

Chapter 11: Comparison and Contrast

Organizing Comparison/Contrast Papers

Visualizing Methods of Comparison

The Point-by-Point Method

The Subject-by-Subject Method

Revising Comparison/Contrast Papers

Practicing Comparison/Contrast

The Road from Ixopo by Alan Paton

New Blood for Old Cities by Stephen Moore

Temptations of Old Age by Malcolm Cowley

*High Anxiety: It Never Ends by Nancy Terranova (Student Essay)

Chapter 12: Process Analysis

How to Fight a Duel by Adam Goodheart

The Measure of Eratosthenes by Carl Sagan

*Florida’s Fire Ants Headed for Trouble by Dave Barry

How I Came Out to My Parents by Kenneth Kohler (Student Essay)

Section Five: Argumentation and Persuasion

Establishing Purpose: Choosing to Argue or Persuade

Appealing to Your Audience

Choosing a Thesis (Claim) That Is Debatable, Supportable, and Focused

Gathering Evidence to Support Your Thesis

Determining Tone and Content

Expressing a Voice

Being Fair, Accurate, and Logical

Read More on the Web

Chapter 13: Argument

Mastering Deduction and Induction

Reasoning Through the Use of Claims and Warrants

Developing Ides in an Argument

Establishing Your Authority

Anticipating and Addressing Opposing Opinions

Visualizing Strategies for Argument

Revising Argument Papers

Practicing Strategies for Argument

The Right to Be Let Alone by Barry Glazer (Student Essay)

*A Cool and Logical Analysis of the Bicycle Menace by P.J. O’Rourke

Free Speech on Campus by Nat Hentoff

Bilingual Education: Opposing Views

“Desperate to Learn English” by Alice Callaghan

“Melting Pot or Tossed Salad?” by Dudley Barlow

Exporting Democracy: Opposing Views

*"Republic or Empire?" by Joseph Wilson

*"Freedom: Our Best Export" by Lou Dobbs

Chapter 14: Persuasion

Appealing to the Reader's Values and Pride

Appealing to the Reader's Emotions

Appealing to the Reader's Self-Interest

Anticipating and Addressing Opposing Opinions

Establishing Your Authority

Visualizing Strategies for Persuasion

Considering Visuals That Persuade

*Some Presentations You Don’t Want Messed With. (ad for Adobe Acrobat)

*HELP (editorial cartoon)

*Prevent Child Abuse America (public service announcement)

*Which one really needs a heart? (editorial cartoon)

*We always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. (editorial cartoon)

Revising Persuasion Papers

Practicing Strategies for Persuasion

Education Is the Priority by Nicole Palmieri (Student Essay)

I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Government Reparations for Slavery: Opposing Views

*"US Needs to Pay Reparations for Slavery" by David A. Love

*"Reparations for Slavery?" by Walter Williams

Farming and Wearing Fur: Opposing Views

*"Fur Is Dead" by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

*"Fur Is Natural and Environmentally Sound" by Mark Schumacher

Appendix: Writing a Research Paper Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Style—Complete with Annotated Student Research Paper

Glossary