Writing Today, Brief Edition

With a clear and easy-to-read presentation, visual instruction, and pedagogical suppor, Writing Todayis a practical and useful guide to writing for college and beyond. Students need to learn to write successfully for their college courses, but they also want to learn how to transfer their writing skills outside of college and in their careers. By teachingkindsof writing (analyses, reports, proposals, etc.),strategiesfor writing (narration, comparison, argumentation, etc.), andprocessesfor writing (planning, drafting, revising, etc.),Writing Todayprovides students with tools they can mix and match as needed to respond effectively to many writing situations.

Part 1: Getting Started

 

Chapter 1:  Writing and Genres

    A Working Definition of Genres

    Using Genres to Write Successfully

    Genre and the Writing Process

    Using Genres in College and Your Career

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 2: Topic, Angle, Purpose

    Topic: What Am I Writing About?

    Angle: What is New or Has Changed Recently About the Topic?

    Purpose: What Do I Want to Accomplish?

    Choosing the Appropriate Genre

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 3: Readers, Contexts, and Rhetorical Situations

    Profiling Readers

    Analyzing the Context

    Using Genres to Analyze the Rhetorical Situation

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

      

Part 2: Using Genres to Express Ideas

 

Chapter 4: Memoirs

    Overview

    A Student’s Memoir: “Binky and Toodles: A Frontier Saga” by Alisa Harris

    Inventing Your Memoir’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Memoir

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Memoir

    Revising and Editing Your Memoir

    MicroGenre: The Literacy Narrative

        Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Wang Ping, “Book War”

         Joe Mackall,  “Words of My Youth”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 5: Profiles

    Overview

    A Student’s Profile: “Brother, Life Coach, Friend: Troubled Kids Turn Their Lives Around” by Katie Koch

    Inventing You Profile’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Profile

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Profile

    Revising and Editing Your Profile

    MicroGenre: The Resume

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Jody Ipsen, “Prudencia”

        Jennifer Senior, “The Near-Fame Experience”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 6: Reviews

    Overview

    A Student’s Review: “Review of AC/DC’s Black Ice” by Kim Sanders

    Inventing Your Review’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Review

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Review

    Revising and Editing Your Review

    MicroGenre: The Rave

        Tom Charity, "Review: Star Trek is Exhilarating.”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Carina Chocano, “Long Overdue: Review of Movie Juno”

        Gerard Jones, “Violent Media is Good for Kids”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 7: Evaluations

    Overview

    A Student’s Evaluation: “Evaluation of Spring Break Options” by Danielle Cordaro

    Inventing Your Evaluation’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Evaluation

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Evaluation

    Revising and Editing Your Evaluation

    MicroGenre: The Slam

        Mark Vaughn, “The Worst Car I Ever Owned”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Tony Swan, “2008 Mini Cooper Clubman–Road Test”

         Jeff Hemmel, “There’s Something About Breckenridge”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 8: Literary Analysis

    Overview

    A Student’s Literary Analysis: “Doing the Right Thing in Edwidge Danticat’s ‘A Wall of Fire Rising’”

    Inventing Your Literary Analysis’ Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Literary Analysis

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Literary Analysis

    Revising and Editing Your Literary Analysis

    MicroGenre: The Reading Response

        Student Reading Response to Langston Hughes’ “I, Too”

    Quick Start Guide

    Readings :

        A Casebook on Edwidge Danticat

        Edwidge Danticat, “A Wall of Fire Rising”

        Renée H. Shea, “An Interview with Edwidge Danticat”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

 Chapter 9: Rhetorical Analysis

    Overview

    A Student’s Rhetorical Analysis: “Rhetorical Analysis of the Keep America Beautiful Public Service Announcement (1971)” by Wes Rodenburg

    Inventing Your Rhetorical Analysis’ Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Rhetorical Analysis

    Choosing an Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Rhetorical Analysis

    Revising and Editing Your Rhetorical Analysis

    MicroGenre: The Ad Critique

        Seth Stevens, “Salesjerk”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Jack Shafer, “How Obama Does That Thing He Does”

        Liza Featherstone, “What’s a Girl to Read?”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

  Chapter 10: Commentaries

    Overview

    A Student’s Commentary: “Why My Generation Doesn’t Care About Performance Enhancement” by David Meany

    Inventing You Commentary’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Commentary

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Commentary

    Revising and Editing Your Commentary

    MicroGenre: The Letter to the Editor

        Michael Spatz, “Why I’m Against the Statewide Smoking Ban”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Benedict Carey, “Brain Enhancement is Wrong, Right?”

        James Bowman, “Oops! I’ll Do It Again. And Again. And Again.”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 11: Position Papers

    Overview

    A Student’s Position Paper: “Allowing Guns on Campus will Prevent Shootings, Rape” by Tyler Ohmann

    Inventing Your Position Paper’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Position Paper

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Position Paper

    Revising and Editing Your Position Paper

    MicroGenre: The Rebuttal

        Russ Walker and David Roberts, “Letter to the Editor on Climate Story”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Sam Harris, “In Defense of Torture”

        Kate Dailey, "Friends with Benefits: Do Facebook Friends Provide The Same Support As Those In Real Life?"

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 12: Proposals

    Overview

    A Student Group’s Proposal: “Changing the Campus Climate” by Fahmida Ahmed, Jeff Brown, David Felix, Todd Haurin, and Better Seto

    Inventing Your Proposal’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Proposal

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Proposal

    Revising and Editing Your Proposal

    MicroGenre: The Pitch

        One Page Genealogy, “One Page Genealogy”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Robert Sullivan, “The Wild Bunch”

        Alfie Kohn, “From Degrading to De-Grading”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

     

Chapter 13: Reports

    Overview

    A Student’s Report: Scott Walker, “Gender Stereotypes and Toys: Is it Nature or Nurture?”

    Inventing Your Report’s Content

    Organizing and Drafting Your Report

    Choosing An Appropriate Style

    Designing Your Report

    Revising and Editing Your Report

    MicroGenre: The Brief

        Amanda Lenhart and Susannah Fox, “Twitter and Status Updating”

    Quick Start Guide

   Readings

        Dave Johns, “My Own Private B.O.”

        American Psychological Association (APA), “Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls.”

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

 

Part 3: Developing  A Writing Process

 

Chapter 14: Inventing Ideas and Pre-Writing

    Pre-Writing

    Using Heuristics

    Exploratory Writing

    Giving Yourself Time to Invent and Prewrite

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 15: Organizing and Drafting

    Using Genres to Organize Your Ideas

    Sketching an Outline

    Drafting and Overcoming Writer’s Block

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 16: Choosing A Style

    Writing in Plain Style

    Establishing a Persona

    Writing Visually with Detail

    Writing Visually with Figurative Language

    Writing with Sound

    Improving Your Writing Style

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 17: Designing

    Before You Begin Designing

    Five Basic Principles of Design

    Design Principle 1: Balance

    Design Principle 2: Alignment

    Design Principle 3: Grouping

    Design Principle 4: Consistency

    Design Principle 5: Contrast

    Using Photography and Images

    Using Graphs and Charts

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 18: Revising and Editing

    Level 1: Global Revision

    Level 2: Substantive Editing

    Level 3: Copyediting

    Level 4: Proofreading

    Peer Review: Asking For and Giving Advice

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Part 4: Strategies for Shaping Ideas

 

Chapter 19: Drafting Introductions and Conclusions

    Beginnings, Middles, and Endings

    Drafting Introductions: Tell Them What You’re Going to Tell Them

    Drafting Conclusions: Tell Them What You Told Them

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 20: Developing Paragraphs and Sections

    Creating a Basic Paragraph

    Getting Paragraphs to Flow

    Deciding on Paragraph Length

    Organizing a Section

    Using Sections and Paragraphs Together

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 21: Using Basic Rhetorical Patterns

    Narrative

    Description

    Definition

    Classification

    Comparison and Contrast

    Combining Rhetorical Patterns

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 22: Using Argument Strategies to Persuade

    What is Arguable?

    Using Reason, Authority, and Emotion

    Countering or Disarming Your Opponents

    Avoiding Logical Fallacies

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 23: Working Collaboratively with Other Writers

Working with a Group of Other Writers

    Choosing Group Roles

    Figuring Out What the Group Needs to Do

    Getting the Work Done

    Editing and Proofreading Each Other’s Work

Working with a Team

    Forming: Planning a Project

    Storming: Overcoming Differences

    Norming: Getting Down to Work

    Performing: Working as a Team

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

 

Part 5: Doing Research

 

Chapter 24: Starting Your Research

    Why Do Research in the First Place?

    Following a Reliable Research Process

    Starting Your Research Process

    Doing Start-Up Research

    Assessing the Reliability of Your Sources

    Managing Your Research Process

    Following and Modifying Your Research Plan

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 25: Finding Sources and Collecting Information

    Using Primary and Secondary Sources

    Finding Electronic Sources

    Using the Internet Critically: A Word of Caution

    Finding Print Sources

    Finding Empirical Sources

    Developing an Annotated Bibliography

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 26: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Citing Sources

    Quoting Sources

    Paraphrasing and Summarizes Sources

    Framing Quotes, Paraphrases, and Summaries

    Avoiding Plagiarism

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 27: Using MLA Style

    Parenthetical Citations

    Preparing the List of Works Cited

    Citing Sources in the List of Works Cited

    A Student’s MLA Research Paper: Katelyn Turnbow, “Lives Not Worth the Money?”

 

Chapter 28: Using APA Style

    Parenthetical Citations

    Preparing the List of References

    Citing Sources in the List of References

    A Student’s APA Research Paper: Austin Duus, “Assortative Mating and Income Inequality”

 

Part 6: Getting Your Ideas Out There

 

Chapter 29: Using the Internet

    Creating a Social Networking Site

    Starting Your Own Blog

    Joining a Virtual World

    Putting Videos and Podcasts on the Internet

    Is This Writing?

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 30: Creating A Portfolio

    Two Basic Kinds of Portfolios

    Getting Started on Your Portfolio

    Step One: Collecting Your Work into an Archive

    Step Two: Selecting the Appropriate Artifacts

    Step Three: Reflecting on Your Work and Abilities

    Step Four: Presenting Your Materials

    Keeping Your Portfolio Up to Date

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 31: Succeeding on Essay Exams

    Preparing for an Essay Exam

    Starting Your Essay Exam

    Answering an Essay-Exam Question

    Finishing Your Essay Exam

    An Example Essay Exam

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Chapter 32: Presenting Your Work 

    Getting Started

    Organizing the Content of Your Presentation

    Designing Your Visual Aids

    Delivering Your Presentation

    Practicing and Rehearsing

    Quick Start Guide

    Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

 

Part 7: Handbook