Patterns for College Writing
These helpful checklists will guide you through the process
of writing an essay.
Questions about Your Purpose 14
Questions for Critical Reading 22
Reading Visual Texts 25
Setting Limits 30
Questions for Probing 32
Stating Your Thesis 45
Recognizing a Pattern 50
What Not to Do in an Introduction 53
Effective Support 56
What Not to Do in a Conclusion 60
Constructing a Formal Outline 61
Drafting 63
Revising 66
Guidelines for Peer Editing 69
Editing for Grammar 83
Editing for Punctuation 86
Editing for Sentence Style and Word Choice 89
Proofreading 90
Checking Your Paper’s Format 91
A note about the cove
Artists use patterns to give shape to their art and to guide the eye through the
elements of a visual work. In the same way, patterns in composition help to
shape a writer’s work and to create pathways for understanding it.
FOURTEENTH EDITION
Patterns for College Writing
A Rhetorical Reader and Guide
Laurie G. Kirszne
University of the Sciences, Emeritus
Stephen R. Mandell
Drexel University
For Peter Phelps, 1936–1990, with thanks
For Bedford/St. Martin’s
Vice President, Editorial, Macmillan Learning Humanities: Edwin Hill
Director of Content Development: Jane Knetzge
Development Manager: Maura Shea
Senior Program Director: Leasa Burton
Program Manager for Readers and Literature: John E. Sullivan III
Developmental Editor: She
y Mooney
Senior Content Project Manager: Jessica Gould
Media Producer: Rand Thomas
Senior Content Workflow Manager: Jennifer Wetzel
Marketing Manager: Joy Fisher Williams
Associate Editor: Jennifer Prince
Copy Editor: Kathleen Lafferty
Senior Photo Editor: Martha Friedman
Photo Researcher: Sheri Blaney
Permissions Editor: Kalina Ingham
Senior Art Director: Anna Palchik
Text Design: Richard Kora
Cover Design: John Callahan
Cover Art: Autumn Interior, Wheatley, Jenny; Private Collection/Bridgeman Images
Opener Banner Photo: JonnyDrake/Shutterstock
Composition: Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Copyright © 2018, 2015, 2012, 2010 by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except as
may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.
2 1 0 9 8 7 f e d c b a
For information, write: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 75 Arlington Street, Boston, MA 02116
ISBN-13 XXXXXXXXXX (EPUB)
Acknowledgments
Text acknowledgments and copyrights appear at the back of the book on pages 786–90, which constitute
an extension of the copyright page. Art acknowledgments and copyrights appear on the same page as
the art selections they cover.
Preface
Since it was first published, Patterns for College Writing has been used by
millions of students at colleges and universities across the United States. We
have been delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response to the first
thirteen editions of Patterns, and we continue to be gratified by positive
feedback from the many instructors who find Patterns to be the most
accessible and the most pedagogically sound rhetoric-reader they have eve
used. In preparing this fourteenth edition, we have worked hard to fine-tune
the features that have made Patterns the most popular composition reade
available today and to develop new features to enhance the book’s usefulness
for both instructors and students.
What Instructors and Students Like about Patterns
for College Writing
An Emphasis on Critical Reading
The Introduction, “How to Use This Book,” and Chapter 1, “Reading to
Write: Becoming a Critical Reader,” prepare students to become analytical
eaders and writers by showing them how to apply critical reading strategies
to a typical selection and by providing sample responses to the various kinds
of writing prompts in the book. Not only does this material introduce students
to the book’s features, but it also prepares them to tackle reading and writing
assignments in their other courses.
Extensive Coverage of the Writing Process
The remaining chapters in Part One, “The Writing Process” (Chapters 2
through 5), comprise a “mini-rhetoric,” offering advice on drafting, writing,
evising, and editing as they introduce students to activities such as
freewriting,
ainstorming, clustering, and journal writing. These chapters
also include numerous writing exercises to give students opportunities fo
immediate practice.
Detailed Coverage of the Patterns of Development
In Part Two, “Readings for Writers,” Chapters 6 through 14 explain and
illustrate the patterns of development that students typically use in thei
college writing assignments: na
ation, description, exemplification, process,
cause and effect, comparison and contrast, classification and division,
definition, and argumentation. Each chapter begins with a comprehensive
introduction that presents a definition and a paragraph-length example of the
pattern to be discussed and then explains the particular writing strategies and
applications associated with it. Next, each chapter analyzes one or two
annotated student essays to show how the pattern can be used in particula
college writing situations. Chapter 15, “Combining the Patterns,” illustrates
how the various patterns of development discussed in Chapters 6 through 14
can work together in an essay.
A Diverse and Popular Selection of Readings
Varied in subject, style, and cultural perspective, the sixty-eight
professional selections engage students while providing them with
outstanding models for writing. We have tried to achieve a balance between
classic authors (George Orwell, Jessica Mitford, E. B. White, Martin Luthe
King Jr.) and newer voices (Bich Minh Nguyen, Zeynep Tufekci, Marina
Keegan) so that instructors have a
oad range of readings to choose from.
More Student Essays than Any Comparable Text
To provide students with realistic models for improving their own writing,
we include eighteen sample student essays.
Helpful Coverage of Grammar Issues
Grammar-in-Context boxes in chapter introductions offer specific advice
on how to identify and co
ect the grammar, mechanics, and punctuation
problems that students are likely to encounter when they work with particula
patterns of development.
Apparatus Designed to Help Students Learn
Each professional essay in the text is followed by three types of questions.
These questions are designed to help students assess their understanding of
the essay’s content and of the writer’s purpose and audience; to recognize the
stylistic and structural techniques used to shape the essay; and to become
sensitive to the nuances of language. Each essay is also accompanied by a
Journal Entry prompt, Writing Workshop topics (suggestions for full-length
writing assignments), and Thematic Connections that identify related readings
in the text. Also following each essay is a Combining the Patterns feature that
focuses on different patterns of development used in the essay and possible
alternatives to these patterns. Each chapter ends with a list of Writing
Assignments and a Collaborative Activity. Many of these assignments and
activities have been updated to reflect the most cu
ent topics and trends.
Extensive Cultural and Historical Background for All Readings
In addition to a biographical headnote, each reading is preceded by a
headnote containing essential background information to help students make
connections between the reading and the historical, social, and economic
forces that shaped it.
An Introduction to Visual Texts
Every rhetorical chapter includes a visual text — such as a photograph, a
piece of fine art, or panels from a graphic novel — that provides an accessible
introduction to each rhetorical pattern. Apparatus that helps students discuss
the pattern in its visual form follows each image.
Thorough Coverage of Working with Sources
Part Three, “Working with Sources,” takes students through the process of
writing a research paper and includes a model student paper in MLA style.
(The Appendix addresses APA style and includes a model APA paper.)
What’s New in This Edition
Engaging New Readings
The twenty-five new professional essays treat topics of cu
ent interest.
Isabel Wilkerson explores the history of “Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, Sons
of the Great Migration.” Josh Ba
o explains “Why Stealing Cars Went Out of
Fashion.” Karen Miller Pensiero shows us the “Photos That Change History.”
In all cases, readings have been carefully selected for their high-interest
subject matter as well as for their effectiveness as teachable models fo
student writing.
Argumentation Chapter Updated
The argument chapter has been revised to focus on issues of particula
importance to college students. It includes two new debates (“Should Public
Colleges Be Free?” and “Does It Pay to Study the Humanities?”) and one new
casebook (“Do College Students Need Trigger Warnings?”).
With Bedford/St. Martin’s, You Get More
At Bedford/St. Martin’s, providing support to teachers and their students
who use our books and digital tools is our top priority. The Bedford/St.
Martin’s English Community is now our home for professional resources,
including Bedford Bits, our popular blog with new ideas for the composition
classroom. Join us to connect with our authors and your colleagues at
community.macmillan.com, where you can download titles from ou
professional resource series, review projects in the pipeline, sign up fo
webinars, or start a discussion. In addition to this dynamic online community
and book-specific instructor resources, we offer digital tools, custom
solutions, and value packages to support both you and your students. We are
committed to delivering the quality and value that you’ve come to expect
from Bedford/St. Martin’s, supported as always by the power of Macmillan
Learning. To learn more about or to order any of the following products,
contact your Bedford/St. Martin’s sales representative or visit the website at
macmillanlearning.com.
LaunchPad for Patterns for College Writing: Where Students Learn
LaunchPad provides engaging content and new ways to get the most out
of your book. Get an interactive e-Book combined with assessment tools in a
fully customizable course space; then assign and mix our resources with
yours.
Interactive Peer Review Worksheets allow students to type thei
esponses into a form that is easy to share with fellow students and thei
instructor.
Reading Comprehension Quizzes for every selection in Patterns help
you quickly gauge your students’ understanding of the assigned
eading.
Diagnostics and Exercise Central provide opportunities to assess
areas for improvement and assign additional exercises based on
students’ needs. Eight diagnostic quizzes — pre- and post-tests on
sentence grammar, punctuation and mechanics, reading skills, and
http:
community.macmillan.com
http:
macmillanlearning.com
eading strategies — offer visual reports that show performance by
topic, class, and student as well as comparison reports that track
improvement over time. Use these reports to target additional practice
y assigning quizzes from the Exercise Central question bank.
Pre-built units — including readings, videos, quizzes, discussion
groups, and more — are easy to adapt and assign by adding your own
materials and mixing them with our high-quality multimedia content
and ready-made assessment options, such as LearningCurve adaptive
quizzing.
LaunchPad also provides access to a gradebook that offers a clea
window on the performance of your whole class, individual students,
and even results of individual assignments.
Use LaunchPad on its own or integrate it with your school’s learning
management system so that your class is always on the same page.
LaunchPad for Patterns for College Writing can be purchased on its own o
packaged with the print book at a significant discount. An activation code is
equired. To order LaunchPad for Patterns for College Writing with the print
ook, use ISBN XXXXXXXXXX. For more information, go to
launchpadworks.com.
Choose from Alternative Formats of Patterns for College Writing
Bedford/St. Martin’s offers a range of affordable formats, allowing
students to choose the one that works best for them.
Pape
ack To order the pape
ack edition, use ISBN XXXXXXXXXX-
3.
Popular e-Book formats For details of our e-Book partners, visit
macmillanlearning.com/ebooks.
Select Value Packages
Add value to your text by packaging one of the following resources with
Patterns for College Writing. To learn more about package options for any of
the following products, contact your Bedford/St. Martin’s sales representative
or visit macmillanlearning.com.
LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers allows students to work on
whatever they need help with the most. At home or in class, students learn at
their own pace, with instruction tailored to each student’s unique needs.
LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers features:
http:
launchpadworks.com
http:
macmillanlearning.com/ebooks
http:
macmillanlearning.com
Pre-built units that support a learning arc. Each easy-to-assign unit
is composed of a pre-test check, multimedia instruction and assessment,
and a post-test that assesses what students have learned about critical
eading, writing process, using sources, grammar, style, and mechanics.
Dedicated units also offer help for multilingual writers.
Diagnostics that help establish a baseline for instruction. Assign
diagnostics to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement on
topics related to grammar and reading and to help students plan a
course of study. Use visual reports to track performance by topic, class,
and student as well as comparison reports that track improvement ove
time.
A video introduction to many topics. Introductions offer an overview
of the unit’s topic, and many include a
ief, accessible video to
illustrate the concepts at hand.
Twenty-five reading selections with comprehension quizzes. Assign
a range of classic and contemporary essays, each of which includes a
label indicating Lexile level to help you scaffold instruction in critical
eading.
Adaptive quizzing for targeted learning. Most units include
LearningCurve, game-like adaptive quizzing that focuses on the areas
in which each student needs the most help.
The ability to monitor student progress. Use our gradebook to see
which students are on track and which need additional help with
specific topics.
Additional reading comprehension quizzes. Patterns for College
Writing includes multiple-choice quizzes, which help you quickly
gauge your students’ understanding of the assigned reading. These are
available in LaunchPad Solo for Readers and Writers.
Order ISBN XXXXXXXXXX to package LaunchPad Solo for Readers and
Writers with Patterns for College Writing at a significant discount. Students
who rent or buy a used book can purchase access, and instructors may request
free access at macmillanlearning.com
eadwrite.
Writer’s Help 2.0 is a powerful online writing resource that helps
students find answers whether they are searching for writing advice on thei
own or as part of an assignment.
Smart search. Built on research with more than 1,600 student writers,
http:
macmillanlearning.com
eadwrite
the smart search in Writer’s Help provides reliable results even when
students use novice terms, such as flow and unstuck.
Trusted content from our best-selling handbooks. Choose Writer’s
Help 2.0, Hacker Version, or Writer’s Help 2.0, Lunsford Version, and
ensure that students have clear advice and examples for all of thei
writing questions.
Diagnostics that help establish a baseline for instruction. Assign
diagnostics to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement on
topics related to grammar and reading and to help students plan a
course of study. Use visual reports to track performance by topic, class,
and student as well as comparison reports that track improvement ove
time.
Adaptive exercises that engage students. Writer’s Help 2.0 includes
LearningCurve, game-like online quizzing that adapts to what students
already know and helps them focus on what they need to learn.
Reading comprehension quizzes. Patterns for College Writing
includes multiple-choice quizzes, which help you quickly gauge you
students’ understanding of the assigned reading. These are available in
Writer’s Help 2.0.
Writer’s Help 2.0 can be packaged with Patterns for College Writing at a
significant discount. For more information, contact your sales representative
or visit macmillanlearning.com/writershelp2.
Macmillan Learning Cu
iculum Solutions
Cu
iculum Solutions
ings together the quality of Bedford/St. Martin’s
content with our expertise in publishing original custom print and digital
products. Developed especially for writing courses, our ForeWords fo
English program contains a li
ary of the most popular, requested content in
easy-to-use modules to help you build the best possible text. Whether you are
considering creating a custom version of Patterns for College Writing o
incorporating our content with your own, we can adapt and combine the
esources that work best for your course or program. Some enrollment
minimums apply. Contact your sales representative for more information.
Instructor Resources
You have a lot to do in your course. Bedford/St. Martin’s wants to make it
easy for you to find the support you need — and to get it quickly.
http:
macmillanlearning.com/writershelp2
Resources for Instructors Using Patterns for College Writing is available
as a PDF that can be downloaded from macmillanlearning.com. Visit the
instructor resources tab for Patterns for College Writing. In addition to
chapter overviews and teaching tips, the instructor’s manual includes sample
syllabi, suggestions for classroom discussion, and possible responses fo
every question in the book.
NEW! A Student’s Companion for Patterns for College Writing
If your students need a little extra support, consider ordering A Student’s
Companion for Patterns for College Writing (ISBN XXXXXXXXXX). This
text reinforces the most foundational elements in academic writing. While
ecognizing and respecting students’ abilities, this supplement
eaks down
the steps necessary to excel in college writing, tackling time management;
critical reading skills across print, digital and professional genres; the essay-
drafting process; and the essentials of grammar. This companion, meant to
supplement the coverage in Patterns for College Writing, gives students the
additional support they need to get or stay on-level in the composition
classroom. It is an ideal solution for accelerated learning programs or co-
equisite courses, while the deep integration with Patterns makes it an ideal
esource for any instructor who wants students to build a strong foundation in
academic writing.
Acknowledgments
As always, friends, colleagues, students, and family all helped this project
along. Of particular value were the responses to the questionnaires sent to the
following instructors, who provided frank and helpful advice: Amelia
Magallanes Arguijo, Laredo Community College; Victoria Bryan, Cleveland
State Community College; Thomas Chester, Ivy Tech Community College;
Anne Dearing, Hudson Valley Community College; Jennifer Eble, Cleveland
State Community College; Marcus Em
y, University of Northern Colorado;
Ulanda Fo
ess, North Lake College; Jan Geyer, Hudson Valley Community
College; Priscilla Glanville, State College of Florida; Scott Hathaway,
Hudson Valley Community College; Josh Miller, Cape Fear Community
College; Janet Minc, University of Akron Wayne College; Jennifer Ravey,
Lamar University; Cheryl Saba, Cape Fear Community College; Ana
Schnellmann, Lindenwood University; Dhipinder Walia, Lehman College;
and Coreen Wees, Iowa Western Community College. Additional thanks to
Cedric Bu
oughs at Marquette University for his valuable suggestions.
http:
macmillanlearning.com
Special thanks go to Jeff Ousborne for his help with some of the apparatus
and for revising the headnotes and the Resources for Instructors.
Through fourteen editions of Patterns for College Writing, we have
enjoyed a wonderful working relationship with Bedford/St. Martin’s. We have
always found the editorial and production staff to be efficient, cooperative,
and generous with their time and advice. As always, we appreciate the
encouragement and advice of our longtime friend, Nancy Pe
y. In addition,
we thank Joan Feinberg, past president of Bedford/St. Martin’s, for he
support for this project and for her trust in us. During our work on this
edition, we have benefited from our productive relationship with John
Sullivan, Program Manager, Readers and Literature, who helped us make this
edition of Patterns the best it could be. We have been especially lucky to
work on this edition with our talented developmental editor, She
y Mooney, a
eal star. We are also grateful to Jessica Gould, senior content project
manager, and Lisa Kinne, managing editor, for their work overseeing the
production of this edition; John Callahan for the attractive new cover; and
associate editor Jennifer Prince for her invaluable help with tasks large and
small. We are fortunate to have enjoyed our long and fulfilling collaboration;
we know how rare a successful partnership like ours is. We also know how
lucky we are to have our families to help keep us in touch with the things that
eally matter.
Laurie G. Kirszne
Stephen R. Mandell
Contents
Preface
Thematic Guide to the Contents
Introduction: How to Use This Book
Henry Louis Gates Jr., “What’s in a Name?”
Responding to an Essay
Responding to Other Kinds of Texts
PART ONE: The Writing Process
1 Reading to Write: Becoming a Critical Reade
Understanding Critical Reading
Determining Your Purpose
CHECKLIST: Questions about Your Purpose
Previewing
Highlighting
Brent Staples, Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis by (Insert Name)
Moisés Naím, The YouTube Effect
“Although international news operations employ thousands of
professional journalists, they will never be as omnipresent as millions
of people ca
ying cellphones that can record video.”
Annotating
CHECKLIST: Questions for Critical Reading
Brent Staples, Cutting and Pasting: A Senior Thesis by (Insert Name)
(with sample annotations)
Reading Visual Texts
CHECKLIST: Reading Visual Texts
2 Invention
Understanding Your Assignment
Setting Limits
Length
Purpose
Audience
Occasion
Knowledge
CHECKLIST: Setting Limits
Moving from Subject to Topic
Questions for Probing
CHECKLIST: Questions for Probing
Freewriting
A Student Writer: Freewriting
Finding Something to Say
Brainstorming
A Student Writer: Brainstorming
Journal Writing
A Student Writer: Journal Writing
Grouping Ideas
Clustering
A Student Writer: Clustering
Making an Informal Outline
A Student Writer: Making an Informal Outline
Understanding Thesis and Support
Developing a Thesis
Defining the Thesis Statement
Deciding on a Thesis
Stating Your Thesis
Implying a Thesis
A Student Writer: Developing a Thesis
CHECKLIST: Stating Your Thesis
3 A
angement
Recognizing a Pattern
CHECKLIST: Recognizing a Pattern
Understanding the Parts of the Essay
The Introduction
CHECKLIST: What Not to Do in an Introduction
The Body Paragraphs
CHECKLIST: Effective Support
The Conclusion
CHECKLIST: What Not to Do in a Conclusion
Constructing a Formal Outline
CHECKLIST: Constructing a Formal Outline
A Student Writer: Constructing a Formal Outline
4 Drafting and Revising
Writing Your First Draft
CHECKLIST: Drafting
A Student Writer: Writing a First Draft
Revising Your Essay
Revising with an Outline
Revising with a Checklist
CHECKLIST: Revising
Revising with Your Instructor’s Written Comments
Revising in a Conference
Revising in a Peer-Editing Group
CHECKLIST: Guidelines for Peer Editing
Strategies for Revising
A Student Writer: Revising a First Draft
Peer Editing Worksheet
Points for Special Attention: First Draft
The Introduction
The Body Paragraphs
The Conclusion
A Student Writer: Revising a Second Draft
Points for Special Attention: Second Draft
The Introduction
The Body Paragraphs
The Conclusion
Working with Sources
The Title
A Student Writer: Preparing a Final Draft
SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Laura Bobnak, The Price of Silence
(Student Essay)
5 Editing and Proofreading
Editing for Gramma
Be Sure Subjects and Ve
s Agree
Be Sure Ve
Tenses Are Accurate and Consistent
Be Sure Pronoun References Are Clea
Be Sure Sentences Are Complete
Be Careful Not to Run Sentences Together without Prope
Punctuation
Be Careful to Avoid Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
Be Sure Sentence Elements Are Parallel
CHECKLIST: Editing for Gramma
Editing for Punctuation
Learn When to Use Commas — and When Not to Use Them
Learn When to Use Semicolons
Learn When to Use Apostrophes
Learn When to Use Quotation Marks
Learn When to Use Dashes and Colons
CHECKLIST: Editing for Punctuation
Editing for Sentence Style and Word Choice
Eliminate Awkward Phrasing
Be Sure Your Sentences Are Concise
Be Sure Your Sentences Are Varied
Choose Your Words Carefully
CHECKLIST: Editing for Sentence Style and Word Choice
Proofreading Your Essay
Check for Commonly Confused Words
Check for Misspellings and Faulty Capitalization
Check for Typos
CHECKLIST: Proofreading
Checking Your Paper’s Format
CHECKLIST: Checking Your Paper’s Format
PART TWO: Readings for Writers
6 Na
ation
What Is Na
ation?
Using Na
ation
Planning a Na
ative Essay
Developing a Thesis Statement
Including Enough Detail
Varying Sentence Structure
Maintaining Clear Na
ative Orde
Structuring a Na
ative Essay
Revising a Na
ative Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Na
ation
Editing a Na
ative Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Run-Ons
EDITING CHECKLIST: Na
ation
A Student Writer: Literacy Na
ative
Erica Sarno, Becoming a Writer (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
A Student Writer: Na
ation
Tiffany Forte, My Field of Dreams (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER EDITING WORKSHEET: NARRATION
Visual Text: Marjane Satrapi, from Persepolis II (Graphic Fiction)
Junot Díaz, The Money
“The summer I was twelve, my family went away on a ‘vacation’ —
one of my father’s half-baked get-to-know-our-country-better-by-
sleeping-in-the-van extravaganzas — and when we returned to Jersey,
exhausted, battered, we found our front door unlocked… . The
thieves had kept it simple; they’d snatched a portable radio, some of
my Dungeons & Dragons hardcovers, and, of course, Mami’s
emittances.”
Ocean Vuong, Su
endering
“The task allowed me to camouflage myself; as long as I looked as
though I were doing something smart, my shame and failure were
hidden. The trouble began when I decided to be dangerously
ambitious. Which is to say, I decided to write a poem.”
Bonnie Smith-Yackel, My Mother Never Worked
“From her wheelchair she canned pickles, baked
ead, ironed
clothes, wrote dozens of letters weekly to her friends and her ‘half
dozen or more kids,’ and made three patchwork housecoats and one
quilt.”
Martin Gansberg, Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the
Police
“For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding
citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three
separate attacks… . Not one person telephoned the police during the
assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.”
George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant
“But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his
unch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly
air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to
shoot him.”
Sherman Alexie, Indian Education (Fiction)
“The farm town high school I play for is nicknamed the ‘Indians,’ and
I’m probably the only actual Indian ever to play for a team with such
a mascot.”
Writing Assignments for Na
ation
Collaborative Activity for Na
ation
7 Description
What Is Description?
Using Description
Understanding Objective Description
CHECKLIST: Using Visuals Effectively
Understanding Subjective Description
Using Objective and Subjective Language
Selecting Details
Planning a Descriptive Essay
Developing a Thesis Statement
Organizing Details
Using Transitions
Structuring a Descriptive Essay
Revising a Descriptive Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Description
Editing a Descriptive Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
EDITING CHECKLIST: Description
A Student Writer: Objective Description
Mallory Cogan, My Grandfather’s Globe (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
A Student Writer: Subjective Description
Mary Lim, The Valley of Windmills (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: DESCRIPTION
Visual Text: Ansel Adams,Jackson Lake (Photo)
Bich Minh Nguyen, Goodbye to My Twinkie Days
“For me, a child of Vietnamese immigrants growing up in Michigan
in the 1980s, Twinkies were a ticket to assimilation: the golden cake,
more golden than the hair I wished I had, filled with sweet white
cream. Back then, junk foods seemed to represent an ideal of
American indulgence.”
Suzanne Berne, Ground Zero
“Like me, perhaps, the people around me had in mind images from
television and newspaper pictures: the collapsing buildings, the
unning office workers, the black plume of smoke against a
ight
lue sky. Like me, they were probably trying to superimpose those
te
ible images onto the industrious emptiness right in front of them.”
Marina Keegan, Stability in Motion
“My car was not gross; it was occupied, cluttered, cramped. It
ecame an extension of my bedroom, and thus an extension of
myself.”
Heather Rogers, The Hidden Life of Ga
age
“There’s a reason landfills are tucked away, on the edge of town, in
otherwise untraveled te
ain, camouflaged by hydroseeded, neatly
tiered slopes. If people saw what happened to their waste, lived with
the stench, witnessed the scale of destruction, they might start asking
difficult questions.”
E. B. White, Once More to the Lake
“Summertime, oh summertime, pattern of life indelible, the fade-
proof lake, the woods unshatterable, the pasture with the sweetfern
and the juniper forever and ever …”
Kate Chopin, The Storm (Fiction)
“They did not hear the crashing to
ents, and the roar of the elements
made her laugh as she lay in his arms. She was a revelation in that
dim, mysterious chamber; as white as the couch she lay upon.”
Writing Assignments for Description
Collaborative Activity for Description
8 Exemplification
What Is Exemplification?
Using Exemplification
Using Examples to Explain and Clarify
Using Examples to Add Interest
Using Examples to Persuade
Planning an Exemplification Essay
Developing a Thesis Statement
Providing Enough Examples
Choosing a Fair Range of Examples
Using Transitions
Structuring an Exemplification Essay
Revising an Exemplification Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Exemplification
Editing an Exemplification Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Commas in a Series
EDITING CHECKLIST: Exemplification
A Student Writer: Exemplification
Kristy Bredin, Job Application Letter (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
A Student Writer: Exemplification
Grace Ku, Midnight (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: EXEMPLIFICATION
Visual Texts: Four Tattoos: Charles Thatcher,“Alisha, Loretta”;
Ca
ie Villines, “Positive Outlook”; Anthony Bradshaw, “Ba
Code”; Guido Koppes, “Owl” (Photos)
Zeynep Tufekci, Why the Post Office Makes America Great
“Yes, I was told, in the United States, mail gets picked up from you
house, six days a week, free of charge. I told my friends in Turkey
about all this. They shook their heads in disbelief, wondering how
easily I had been recruited as a C.I.A. agent, saying implausibly
flattering things about my new country.”
Judith Ortiz Cofer, The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl
Named Maria
“[Y]ou can leave the island, master the English language, and travel
as far as you can, but if you are a Latina, especially one like me who
so obviously belongs to Rita Moreno’s gene pool, the island travels
with you.”
Brent Staples, Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to
Alter Public Space
“It was in the echo of that te
ified woman’s footfalls that I first
egan to know the unwieldy inheritance I’d come into — the ability
to alter public space in ugly ways.”
Deborah L. Rhode, Why Looks Are the Last Bastion of
Discrimination
“Among the key findings of a quarter-century’s worth of research:
Unattractive people are less likely to be hired and promoted, and they
earn lower salaries, even in fields in which looks have no obvious
elationship to professional duties.”
Maia Szalavitz, Ten Ways We Get the Odds Wrong
“And though emotions are themselves critical to making rational
decisions, they were designed for a world in which dangers took the
form of predators, not pollutants. Our emotions push us to make snap
judgments that once were sensible — but may not be anymore.”
Jamaica Kincaid, “Girl” (Fiction)
“[T]his is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is
how to love a man, and if this doesn’t work there are other ways, and
if they don’t work don’t feel too bad about giving up… .”
Writing Assignments for Exemplification
Collaborative Activity for Exemplification
9 Process
What Is Process?
Understanding Instructions
Understanding Process Explanations
Using Process
Planning a Process Essay
Accommodating Your Audience
Developing a Thesis Statement
Using Transitions
Structuring a Process Essay
Revising a Process Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Process
Editing a Process Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Unnecessary Shifts
EDITING CHECKLIST: Process
A Student Writer: Instructions
Eric McGlade, The Search (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
A Student Writer: Process Explanation
Melany Hunt, Medium Ash Brown (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER EDITING WORKSHEET: PROCESS
Visual Text: National Geographic,Yellowstone Fires, Past and Future
(Illustrations)
Naomi Rosenberg, How to Tell a Mother Her Child Is Dead
“You don’t make a phone call, you do not talk to the medical student,
you do not put in an order. You never make her wait. She is his
mother.”
Stanley Fish, Getting Coffee Is Hard to Do
“You will face a coordination problem if you are a general deploying
troops, tanks, helicopters, food, tents, and medical supplies, or if you
are the CEO of a large company juggling the demands of design,
personnel, inventory, and productions… . And these days, you will
face a coordination problem if you want to get a cup of coffee.”
Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht, How to Build a Monster from
Spare Parts
“Wait for a lightning bolt to strike the rod, sending electricity surging
through the wires and galvanizing the creature’s nervous system into
first reflexive and then sustainable activity. That is: life. Life!”
Arthur Miller, Get It Right: Privatize Executions
“People can be executed in places like Shea Stadium before immense
paying audiences… . As with all sports events, a certain ritual would
seem inevitable and would quickly become an expected part of the
occasion.”
Jessica Mitford, The Embalming of Mr. Jones
“For those who have the stomach for it, let us part the formaldehyde
curtain.”
Shirley Jackson, The Lottery (Fiction)
“There was a great deal of fussing to be done before Mr. Summers
declared the lottery open. There were the lists to make up — of heads
of families, heads of households in each family, members of each
household in each family.”
Writing Assignments for Process
Collaborative Activity for Process
10 Cause and Effect
What Is Cause and Effect?
Using Cause and Effect
Understanding Main and Contributory Causes
Understanding Immediate and Remote Causes
Understanding Causal Chains
Avoiding Post Hoc Reasoning
Planning a Cause-and-Effect Essay
Developing a Thesis Statement
A
anging Causes and Effects
Using Transitions
Structuring a Cause-and-Effect Essay
Finding Causes
Describing or Predicting Effects
Revising a Cause-and-Effect Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Cause and Effect
Editing a Cause-and-Effect Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding “The reason is because”; Using
Affect and Effect Co
ectly
EDITING CHECKLIST: Cause and Effect
A Student Writer: Cause and Effect
Evelyn Pellicane, The Irish Famine, 1845–1849 (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: CAUSE AND EFFECT
Visual Text: Jeffrey Coolidge,Rube Goldberg Machine (Photo)
Josh Ba
o, Why Stealing Cars Went Out of Fashion
“Old cars are easier to steal, and there are plenty of them still on the
oad. But there’s an obvious problem with stealing them: They’re not
worth very much.”
Maggie Koerth-Baker, Why Rational People Buy into Conspiracy
Theories
“Perfectly sane minds possess an incredible capacity for developing
na
atives, and even some of the wildest conspiracy theories can be
grounded in rational thinking, which makes them that much more
pernicious.”
Simon Cottee, What Motivates Te
orists?
“Sometimes people do what they do for the reasons they profess.
Sometimes not, because what they do is motivated by reasons that are
too dark, shameful, or biza
e to be openly acknowledged. Sometimes
people do things that are so morally contentious that when called to
account they are liable to excuse or justify, rather than to explain,
their actions. Te
orists unquestionably fall into this category.”
Linda M. Hasselstrom, A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Ca
ies
a Gun
“People who have not grown up with the idea that they are capable of
protecting themselves — in other words, most women — might have
to work hard to convince themselves of their ability, and of the
necessity. Handgun ownership need not turn us into gunslingers, but
it can be part of believing in, and relying on, ourselves fo
protection.”
Karen Miller Pensiero, Photos That Change History
“Though the issues have varied greatly over the decades, historians
point to other eras when photographs have resonated in the same
transformative way, creating new social awareness and spu
ing
changes in policy.”
Janice Mirikitani, Suicide Note (Poetry)
“I apologize.
Tasks do not come easily.
Each failure, a glacier.
Each disapproval, a bootprint.
Each disappointment,
Ice above my river.”
Writing Assignments for Cause and Effect
Collaborative Activity for Cause and Effect
11 Comparison and Contrast
What Is Comparison and Contrast?
Using Comparison and Contrast
Planning a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
Recognizing Comparison-and-Contrast Assignments
Establishing a Basis for Comparison
Selecting Points for Discussion
Developing a Thesis Statement
Structuring a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
Using Subject-by-Subject Comparison
Using Point-by-Point Comparison
Using Transitions
Revising a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Comparison and Contrast
Editing a Comparison-and-Contrast Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Parallelism
EDITING CHECKLIST: Comparison and Contrast
A Student Writer: Subject-by-Subject Comparison
Mark Cotharn, Brains versus Brawn (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
A Student Writer: Point-by-Point Comparison
Maria Tecson, A Comparison of Two Websites on Attention Deficit
Disorder (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: COMPARISON AND CONTRAST
Visual Texts: Auguste Rodin,The Kiss, and Robert Indiana , LOVE
(Sculptures)
Bruce Catton, Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
“When Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee met in the parlor of a
modest house at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9,
1865, to work out the terms for the su
ender of Lee’s Army of
Northern Virginia, a great chapter in American life came to a close,
and a great new chapter began.”
Juan Williams, Songs of the Summer of 1963 … and Today
“The emotional uplift of the monumental march is a universe of time
away from today’s degrading rap music … that confuses and
depresses race relations in America now.”
Amy Chua, Why Chinese Mothers Are Superio
“Chinese parents can order their kids to get straight As. Western
parents can only ask their kids to try their best. Chinese parents can
say, “You’re lazy. All your classmates are getting ahead of you.” By
contrast, Western parents have to struggle with their own conflicted
feelings about achievement, and try to persuade themselves that
they’re not disappointed about how their kids turned out.”
Ellen Laird, I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provide
“The honeymoon is over. My romance with distance teaching is
losing its spark.”
Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, and Conversation
“How can women and men have such different impressions of
communication in ma
iage? Why the widespread imbalance in thei
interests and expectations?”
Isabel Wilkerson, Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, Sons of the Great
Migration
“Consider the story of two mothers whose lives bookend the
migration and whose family lines would meet similar, unimaginable
fates. The ho
ors they were fleeing would follow them in freedom
and into the cu
ent day.”
William Shakespeare, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
(Poetry)
“But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death
ag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st”
Writing Assignments for Comparison and Contrast
Collaborative Activity for Comparison and Contrast
12 Classification and Division
What Is Classification and Division?
Understanding Classification
Understanding Division
Using Classification and Division
Planning a Classification-and-Division Essay
Selecting and A
anging Categories
Developing a Thesis Statement
CHECKLIST: Establishing Categories
Using Transitions
Structuring a Classification-and-Division Essay
Revising a Classification-and-Division Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Classification and Division
Editing a Classification-and-Division Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using a Colon to Introduce Your Categories
EDITING CHECKLIST: Classification and Division
A Student Writer: Classification and Division
Josie Martinez, What I Learned (and Didn’t Learn) in College
(Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION
Visual Text: Coffee Types (Chart)
Olga Khazan, The Three Types of Happiness
“Minimalism is hot, culturally, and for years science has assured us
that it was also the path to maximal bliss.”
Carolyn Foster Segal, The Dog Ate My Tablet, and Other Tales of
Woe
“With a show of energy and creativity that would be admirable if
applied to the (missing) assignments in question, my students persist,
week after week, semester after semester, year after year, in offering
excuses about why their work is not ready. Those reasons fall into
several
oad categories: the family, the best friend, the evils of dorm
life, the evils of technology, and the totally biza
e.”
Amy Tan, Mother Tongue
“I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of
language — the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a
complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade.
And I use them all — all the Englishes I grew up with.”
Stephanie Ericsson, The Ways We Lie
“We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid
confrontation, we spare people’s feelings, we conveniently forget, we
keep secrets, we justify lying to the big-guy institutions.”
Henry Reed, Naming of Parts (Poetry)
“And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the
eech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.”
Writing Assignments for Classification and Division
Collaborative Activity for Classification and Division
13 Definition
What Is Definition?
Understanding Formal Definitions
Understanding Extended Definitions
Using Definition
Planning a Definition Essay
Developing a Thesis Statement
Deciding on a Pattern of Development
Structuring a Definition Essay
Revising a Definition Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Definition
Editing a Definition Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding is when and is where
EDITING CHECKLIST: Definition
A Student Writer: Definition
Ajoy Mahtab, The Untouchable (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: DEFINITION
Visual Text: U.S. Census Bureau,U.S. Census 2010 Form
(Questionnaire)
Judy Brady, I Want a Wife
“My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?”
José Antonio Burciaga, Tortillas
“My earliest memory of tortillas is my Mamá telling me not to play
with them. I had bitten eyeholes in one and was wearing it as a mask
at the dinner table.”
Amy Wilentz, A Zombie Is a Slave Foreve
“The zombie is a dead person who cannot get across to lan guinée.
This final rest — in green, leafy, heavenly Africa, with no sugarcane
to cut and no master to appease or serve — is unavailable to the
zombie. To become a zombie was the slave’s worst nightmare: to be
dead and still a slave, an eternal field hand.”
Richard Posner, On Plagiarism
“The public wants a good read, a good show, and the fact that a book
or a play may be the work of many hands — as, in truth, most art and
entertainment are — is of no consequence to it. The harm is not to the
eader but to those writers whose work does not glitter with stolen
gold.”
Emily Dickinson, “Hope” is the thing with feathers (Poetry)
“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all — ”
Writing Assignments for Definition
Collaborative Activity for Definition
14 Argumentation
What Is Argumentation?
Understanding Argumentation and Persuasion
Planning an Argumentative Essay
Choosing a Topic
Developing a Thesis
Analyzing Your Audience
Gathering and Documenting Evidence
Dealing with the Opposition
Understanding Rogerian Argument
CHECKLIST: Guidelines for Using Rogerian Argument
Using Deductive and Inductive Arguments
Using Deductive Arguments
Using Inductive Arguments
Using Toulmin Logic
Recognizing Fallacies
Using Transitions
Structuring an Argumentative Essay
Revising an Argumentative Essay
REVISION CHECKLIST: Argumentation
Editing an Argumentative Essay
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Coordinating and Subordinating
Conjunctions
EDITING CHECKLIST: Argumentation
A Student Writer: Argumentation
Marta Ramos, Just Say No (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: ARGUMENTATION
Visual Text: StopTextsStopWrecks.org,You Don’t Want Them
Responding to Your Text (Ad)
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
ights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.”
Rachel Carson, The Obligation to Endure
“The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the
contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even
lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part i
ecoverable; the
chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life
ut in living tissues is for the most part i
eversible.”
Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
“For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of
every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always
meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished
jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.’”
◾ DEBATE: Should Public Colleges and Universities Be Free?
Aaron Bady, Public Universities Should Be Free
“Public education should be free. If it isn’t free, it isn’t public
education.”
Matt Bruenig, The Case against Free College
“Without a dramatic overhaul of how we understand student benefits,
making college more or entirely free would most likely boost the
wealth of college attendees without securing any important
egalitarian gains.”
◾ DEBATE: Does It Pay to Study the Humanities?
Leon Wieseltier, Perhaps Culture Is Now the Counterculture: A
Defense of the Humanities
“The technological mentality that has become the American
worldview instructs us to prefer practical questions to questions of
meaning — to ask of things not if they are true or false, or good o
evil, but how they work.”
Vinod Khosla, Is Majoring in Liberal Arts a Mistake for Students?
“[L]iberal arts education in the United States is a minor evolution of
eighteenth century European education. The world needs something
more than that.”
◾ CASEBOOK: Do College Students Need Trigger Warnings?
Geoffrey R. Stone, Free Expression in Peril
“Universities must educate our students to understand that academic
freedom is not a law of nature. It is not something to be taken fo
granted. It is, rather, a hard-won acquisition in a lengthy struggle fo
academic integrity.”
Sophie Downes, Trigger Warnings, Safe Spaces, and Free Speech,
Too
“Civic discourse in this country has become pretty ugly, so maybe it’s
not surprising that students are trying to create ways to have
compassionate, civil dialogue.”
Jennifer Medina, Warning: The Literary Canon Could Make Students
Squirm
“Colleges across the country this spring have been wrestling with
student requests for what are known as ‘trigger warnings.’”
Soraya Chemaly, What’s Really Important about “Trigger Warnings”
“Conversations about trigger warnings, however, seem more and
more like superficial proxies for ones about deeper problems on
campuses regarding diversity, equity, the corporatization of
education, and, the dreaded word, privilege.”
◾ CASEBOOK: Do Guns Have a Place on College Campuses?
Andrew Wilson, Why I Wouldn’t Go to the University of Texas Law
School
“How can professors teach courses or assign grades with the
possibility of violent retaliation one pull of the trigger away? How
can students engage one another if the fear of offense is now
informed by the fear of safety?”
Students for Gun-Free Schools, Why Our Campuses Are Safe
without Concealed Handguns
“The safest policy to limit potential violence is to prohibit students
and faculty from keeping handguns on campus and allow trained law
enforcement officers to provide for campus security.”
Students for Concealed Ca
y, Why Our Campuses Are Not Safe
without Concealed Handguns
“There is absolutely no verifiable evidence to suggest that allowing
concealed ca
y on college campuses makes campuses any less safe;
therefore, reason dictates that cu
ent school policies and state laws
against concealed ca
y on campus serve only to stack the odds in
favor of dangerous criminals who have no regard for school policy o
state law.”
Timothy Wheeler, There’s a Reason They Choose Schools
“School officials typically base violence-prevention policies on
i
ational fears more than real-world analysis of what works. But
which is more ho
ible, the massacre that timid bureaucrats fea
might happen when a few good guys (and gals) ca
y guns on
campus, or the one that actually did happen despite Virginia Tech’s
progressive violence-prevention policy? Can there really be any more
debate?”
Writing Assignments for Argumentation
Collaborative Activity for Argumentation
15 Combining the Patterns
Structuring an Essay by Combining the Patterns
Combining the Patterns: Revising and Editing
GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Agreement with Indefinite Pronouns
A Student Writer: Combining the Patterns
Michael Huu Truong, The Park (Student Essay)
Points for Special Attention
Focus on Revision
PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: COMBINING THE PATTERNS
Lars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving
“I have learned much as a scavenger. I mean to put some of what I
have learned down here, beginning with the practical art of Dumpste
diving and proceeding to the abstract.”
David Ki
y, Inked Well
“I used to think tattoos were for either lowlifes or those who wanted
to pretend they were, but my mind now stands changed by the
thoughtful, articulate people I talked to and the spectacular designs
that had been inked into their bodies. In a word, tattoos are now
officially OK by me.”
Donald Kagan, On Patriotism
“For Americans, as for citizens of any free country, there really is a
social contract like those imagined by the political philosophers, and
that contract provides legitimacy. People who tacitly accept that
contract have the moral obligation to defend and support the country
they have chosen as their own — that is, to be patriotic.”
Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my
acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a
year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whethe
stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will
equally serve in fricassee or a ragout.”
Writing Assignments for Combining the Patterns
Collaborative Activity for Combining the Patterns
PART THREE: Working with Sources
16 Finding and Evaluating Sources
Finding Information in the Li
ary
Finding Information on the Internet
Finding Useful Information
Evaluating Sources
17 Integrating Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism
Paraphrasing
Summarizing
Quoting
Integrating Source Material into Your Writing
Synthesizing
Avoiding Plagiarism
Avoiding Common E
ors That Lead to Plagiarism
Avoiding Plagiarism with Online Sources
18 Documenting Sources: MLA
Parenthetical References in the Text
The Works-Cited List
Articles
Books
Internet Sources
Other Internet Sources
Other Nonprint Sources
Model Student Research Paper in MLA Style
Philip Lau, The Limitations of Wikipedia (Student Essay in MLA
Style)
Appendix: Documenting Sources: APA
Using Parenthetical References
Examples of APA Citations
Periodicals
Books
Internet Sources
Model Student Paper in APA Style
Philip Lau, The Limitations of Wikipedia (Student Essay in APA
Style)
Glossary
Index
Thematic Guide to the Contents
Family Relationships
Junot Díaz, The Money 111
Marina Keegan, Stability in Motion 178