Letting The Habits of Literate Writers Be The Final Referee 14
The Importance of Rhetoric 15
Audience and Purpose 16
The Internal Reader/Editor 16
Levels of English 17
Formal English 18
Informal English 18
Technical English 18
Writing as a Process 20
Writing about Visual Images 21
Writing about Artwork 21
Writing about News Photographs 23
Writing about Cartoons 25
Writing about Advertisements 27
Writing on the Social Networks 29 Advice 37
v
3
• What—and How—to Write When You Have No Time to Write / Donald Murray 37
Examples 40
• I Have a Dream / Martin Luther King, Jr 40
• Letter to Horace Greeley / Abraham Lincoln 45
Real-Life Student Writing 48
• Email from Samoa 48
Synthesis: Incorporating Outside Sources 51
Road Map to Synthesis 51
• Gettysburg Address / Abraham Lincoln 51
Paraphrase 52
Summary 53
Quotations 54
Guidelines for Effectively Synthesizing Outside Sources 55
First, allow space for your thoughts 55
Second, initiate a dialogue with the material 55
Third, think, revise, rewrite 55
Repeat all of the above 55
Guidelines for Improving Your Use of Outside Sources 56
Always keep your argument in the foreground 56
Weave the sources into your argument 56
Consider form as well as function 56
Writers at Work: Strategies for Incorporating Outside Sources 57
Writers at Work: Using Paraphrase and Summary 57
Writers at Work: Using Quotation 58
Sources 62
• e Death of Horatio Alger / Paul Krugman 62
• By Our Own Bootstraps / W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm 64
• Long Live the American Dream / Shikha Dalmia 66
Road Map to Writer’s Voice 72
Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? 73
Vocabulary 74
Syntax 75
Attitude 75
Advice 77
• Tone: e Writer’s Voice in the Reader’s Mind / Mort Castle 77
Examples 82
• Salvation / Langston Hughes 82
• Parkinson’s Disease and the Dream Bear / Anthony C. Winkler 86
Real-Life Student Writing 90
• A ank-You Note to an Aunt 90
5 The Writer’s Thesis 91
Road Map to Thesis 91
Finding Your Thesis 91
Key Words in the Thesis 93
Characteristics of a Good Thesis 93
The Thesis Predicts 93
The Thesis Controls 94
The Thesis Obligates 95
Nine Errors to Avoid in Composing a Thesis 96
The Explicit versus the Implicit Thesis 98
Advice 101
• e esis / Sheridan Baker 101
Examples 104
• Remarks on the Life of Sacco and on His Own Life and Execution / Bartolomeo Vanzetti 104
• A Good Man Is Hard To Find / Flannery O’Connor 106
Real-Life Student Writing 120
• A Eulogy to a Friend Killed in a Car Wreck 120
6 Organizing Ideas 121
Road Map to Organizing 121
Organizing the Short Essay 121
Make a Jot List 121
Sketch out Your Paragraphs 122
Make a Flowchart 122
Organizing the Long Essay 123
Planning by Listing Supporting Materials 124
Organizing with a Formal Outline 125
7
Temperatures and Mountain Climbers 125
Creating the Outline 126
Guidelines for Outlining 127
Outlining by Topic/Outlining by Sentence 127
The Future of Our Cities 127
The Future of Our Cities Thesis 128
Advice 131
• Write to Be Understood / Jim Staylor 131
Examples 134
• Rules for Aging / Roger Rosenblatt 134
• at Time of Year (Sonnet 73) / William Shakespeare 137
Real-Life Student Writing 139
• Note from a Graduate Student to a Department Secretary 139
Developing Good Paragraphs 141
Road Map to Paragraphs 141
Parts of the Paragraph 142
The Topic Sentence 142
Implied Topic Sentences 143
Supporting Details 143
Paragraphs with a Final Summing-up Sentence 144
Topic Sentence Developed over More Than One Paragraph 145
Position of the Topic Sentence 145
Paragraph Patterns 146
Characteristics of a Well-Designed Paragraph 147
Unity 147
Coherence 147
Completeness 149
Writing Your Own Paragraphs 150
Advice 154
• Writing Successful Paragraphs / A. M. Tibbetts and Charlene Tibbetts 154
Examples 157
Paragraph with the Topic Sentence at the Beginning 157
• From the Lessons of the Past / Edith Hamilton 157
Paragraph with the Topic Sentence at the End 158
• Man against Darkness / W. T. Stace 158
Real-Life Student Writing 161
• Letter of Application to an Honors Program 161 P AR T T W O
Patterns of Development 163
8 Narration 167
Road Map to Narration 167
What Narration Does 167
When to Use Narration 167
How to Write a Narrative 167
Have a Point 167
Pace the Story 168
Tell the Story from a Consistent Point of View 168
Insert Appropriate Details 170
Warming Up to Write a Narrative 170
Examples 171
• My Name Is Margaret / Maya Angelou 171
• Shame / Dick Gregory 176
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Terrorism 180
Punctuation Workshop: The Period (.) 185
Student Corner 186
• Terrorism: America in Fear / Jeffrey Metherell 186
• How I Write 188
• My Writing Tip 188
To the Point 188
Chapter Writing Assignments 189
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 189
Pointer from a Pro: Be Concise 189
9 Description 190
Road Map to Description 190
What Description Does 190
When to Use Description 191
How to Write a Description 191
Focus on a Dominant Impression 191
Use Images in Your Descriptions 192
Appeal to All of Your Reader’s Senses 193
Warming Up to Write a Description 193
Examples 194
• e Libido for the Ugly / H. L. Mencken 194
• Hell / James Joyce 199
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Self-Image 203
Punctuation Workshop: The Comma (,) 208
Student Corner 209
• Body Modi cation: ink about It! / Shelley Taylor 209
• How I Write 214
• My Writing Tips 214
To the Point 214
Chapter Writing Assignments 215
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 215
Pointer from a Pro: Write about the Familiar 215
10
Process Analysis 216
Road Map to Process Analysis 216
What Process Analysis Does 216
When to Use Process Analysis 217
How to Write a Process Analysis 217
State Your Purpose in a Clear Thesis 217
Organize the Sequence of Steps Logically 217
Explain Everything 218
Warming Up to Write a Process Analysis 218
Examples 219
• My Strangled Speech / Dan Slater 219
• Hunting Octopus in the Gilbert Islands / Sir Arthur Grimble 225
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Bullying 229
Punctuation Workshop: The Semicolon (;) 234
Student Corner 235
• Bullied / Gunnar Neuman 235
11
• How I Write 237
• My Writing Tip 238
To the Point 238
Chapter Writing Assignments 238
Writing Assignments for a Speci c Audience 238
Pointer from a Pro: Be Sincere 239
Illustration/Exemplification 240
Road Map to Illustration/Exemplification 240
What Illustration/Exemplification Does 240
When to Use Illustration 241
How to Use Illustration 242
Warming Up to Write an Illustration 244
Examples 245
• e Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria / Judith Ortiz Cofer 245
• “Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall . . .” / John Leo 251
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Drugs and Society 254
Punctuation Workshop: The Dash (—) 259
Student Corner 260
• Solving the Drug Problem in the United States / Jordan Dubini 260
• How I Write 262
• My Writing Tip 262
To the Point 262
Chapter Writing Assignments 262
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 263
Pointer from a Pro: Be Clear 263
12 Definition 264
Road Map to Definition 264
What Definition Does 264
When to Use Definition 264
How to Use Definition 265
Warming Up to Write a Definition 267
Examples 269
• Entropy / K. C. Cole 269
• Invisibly Wounded / David Finkel 273
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Immigration 278
Punctuation Workshop: The Apostrophe (’) 283
Student Corner 284
• Immigrants in America / Dave Herman 284
• How I Write 286
• My Writing Tip 286
To the Point 286
Chapter Writing Assignments 287
Writing Assignments for a Speci c Audience 287
Pointer from a Pro: Let Your Writing Percolate 287
13
Comparison/Contrast 288
Road Map to Comparison/Contrast 288
What Comparison/Contrast Does 288
When to Use Comparison/Contrast 289
How to Use Comparison/Contrast 289
Warming Up to Write a Comparison/Contrast 294
Examples 295
• Real Work / Rick Bragg 295
• Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts / Bruce Catton 300
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Online Dating 304
Punctuation Workshop: The Question Mark (?) 309
Student Corner 310
• “OMGILY2!!” Online Dating Is at Your Own Risk / Kindra M. Neuman 310
• How I Write 313
• My Writing Tip 313
To the Point 313
Chapter Writing Assignments 314
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 314
Pointer from a Pro: Conquer Writer’s Block 315
14 Division/Classification 316
Road Map to Division/Classification 316
What Division/Classification Does 316
When to Use Division/Classification 317
How to Use Division/Classification 317
Warming Up to Write a Division/Classification 319
Examples 320
• e Six Stages of E-Mail / Nora Ephron 320
• Kinds of Discipline / John Holt 324
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Racism 327
Punctuation Workshop: The Colon (:) 332
Student Corner 333
• Color of eir Skin AND Content of eir Character / Carrie Moore 333
• How I Write 336
• My Writing Tip 336
To the Point 336
Chapter Writing Assignments 337
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 337
Pointer from a Pro: Use Definite, Specific, Concrete Language 337
15 Causal Analysis 338
Road Map to Causal Analysis 338
What Causal Analysis Does 338
When to Use Causal Analysis 339
How to Use Causal Analysis 339
Know the Differences among Necessary, Sufficient, and Contributory Cause 339
Make Your Purpose Clear 340
Be Modest in Your Choice of Subject 340
Concentrate on Immediate Rather Than Remote Cause 340
Don’t Be Dogmatic about Cause 340
Use Common Sense in Asserting Cause 341
Warming Up to Write a Causal Analysis 342
16
Examples 342
• A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun / Linda M. Hasselstrom 342
• Bricklayer’s Boy / Alfred Lubrano 347
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: The Status of Women 353
Punctuation Workshop: The Exclamation Point (!) 359
Student Corner 360
• “Woman” Is a Noun / Paula Rewa 360
• How I Write 362
• My Writing Tip 362
To the Point 362
Chapter Writing Assignments 363
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 363
Pointer from a Pro: Scrap Adverbs and Adjectives 363
Argumentation and Persuasion 364
Road Map to Argumentation and Persuasion 364 What Argumentation and Persuasion Do 364
When to Use Argumentation and Persuasion 364
How to Use Argumentation and Persuasion 365
Warming Up to Write an Argument 370
Examples 371
• Why Don’t We Complain? / William F. Buckley, Jr. 371
• A Modest Proposal / Jonathan Swift 377
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: Homelessness 384
Punctuation Workshop: Quotation Marks (“”) 389
Student Corner 390
• People Out on a Limb / Antoinette Poodt 390
• How I Write 392
• My Writing Tip 393
To the Point 393
Chapter Writing Assignments 393
Term Paper Suggestions 393
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 394
Pointer from a Pro: Read Well, Write Well 394
17 Combining the Modes 395
Road Map to the Modes 395
What Combining the Modes Does 395
When to Combine the Modes 396
How to Use Combined Modes 396
Examples 398
• Shrew— e Littlest Mammal / Alan DeVoe 398
• Once More to the Lake / E. B. White 402
Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate: The New Technology 408
Punctuation Workshop: Using Other Punctuation with Quotation Marks 414
Student Corner 415
• oughts about the Internet / Charlie Sorensen
• How I Write 416
• My Writing Tip 417
To the Point 417
Chapter Writing Assignments 417
Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience 417
Pointer from a Pro: Avoid Noun Clusters (NOUN+NOUN+NOUN) 418
PAR T T HREE
Rewriting Your Writing 419
The Editing Booth 419
Revising 420
The Exploitation of Endangered Wildlife 422
Editing 423
Rule 1: Make Your Title Descriptive 423
Rule 2: Begin with a Simple Sentence 423
Rule 3: Prune Deadwood 424
Rule 4: Do Not Overexplain 427
Rule 5: Be Specific 427
Rule 6: Avoid Trite Expressions 428
Rule 7: Use the Active Voice 428
Rule 8: Make Your Statements Positive 429
Rule 9: Keep to One Tense 430
Rule 10: Place Key Words at the Beginning or End of a Sentence 430
Rule 11: Prune Multiple Ofs 430
Rule 12: Break Up Noun Clusters 431
Rule 13: Use Exclamation Points Sparingly 431
Rule 14: Vary Your Sentences 432
Rule 15: Keep Your Point of View Consistent 432
Rule 16: Use Standard Words 433
Rule 17: End with Impact 433
Editing an Actual Essay 434
PAR T F O UR
Special Writing Projects 441
Why English Instructors Assign Research Papers 441
How to Choose Your Topic 441
How to Narrow Your Subject 442
The Process of Writing the Paper 443
Using In-Text Citation 446
Preparing “Works Cited” or “References” 447
Writing the Final Copy 450
Annotated Student Research Paper: Modern Language Association (MLA) Style 451
• A Victory for Readers? Copyright Law and Google Book Search / Nick Penaranda 457
Annotated Student Research Paper: American Psychological Association (APA) Style 473
• Development of a Scale to Detect Sexual Harassers: e Potential Harasser Scale (PHS) / Leanne M. Masden and Rebecca B. Winkler 475
Exercises to help you learn how to synthesize someone else’s work into your own writing 506
Suggestions for Writing 507
Glossary 511
Index 517
Thematic Table of Contents
● American Values
By Our Own Bootstraps, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm 64
Long Live the American Dream, Shikha Dalmia 66
A Good Man Is Hard to Find, Flannery O’Connor (story) 106
Rules for Aging, Roger Rosenblatt (essay) 134
Shame, Dick Gregory (essay) 176
Body Modification—Think about It!, Shelley Taylor (student essay) 209
“Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall . . .” John Leo (essay) 251
Why Don’t We Complain?, William F. Buckley (essay) 371
● Education
Kinds of Discipline, John Holt (essay) 324
● Language
What—and How—to Write When You Have No Time to Write, Donald Murray (book excerpt) 37
Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln 51
Tone: The Writer’s Voice in the Reader’s Mind, Mort Castle (essay) 77
The Thesis, Sheridan Baker (essay) 101
Write to Be Understood, Jim Staylor (essay) 131
Writing Successful Paragraphs, A. M. Tibbetts and Charlene Tibbetts (book excerpt) 154
● Literature and the Arts
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, Judith Ortiz Cofer 245
● Man and Woman
That Time of Year (Sonnet 73), William Shakespeare (poem) 137
“Woman” Is a Noun, Paula Rewa (student essay) 360
● Philosophy and Religion
Salvation, Langston Hughes (book excerpt) 82
From the Lessons of the Past, Edith Hamilton (paragraph) 157
Man against Darkness, W. T. Stace (paragraph) 158
Hell, James Joyce (book excerpt) 199
● Portrait of the Individual
Remarks on the Life of Sacco and on His Own Life and Execution, Bartolomeo Vanzetti (notes from a speech) 104
My Name Is Margaret, Maya Angelou (autobiography) 171
My Strangled Speech, Dan Slater 219
Hunting Octopus in the Gilbert Islands, Sir Arthur Grimble (autobiography) 225
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts, Bruce Catton (essay) 300
A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun, Linda M. Hasselstrom (essay) 342
Bricklayer’s Boy, Alfred Lubrano (essay) 347
Once More to the Lake, E. B. White (essay) 402
● Science
Entropy, K. C. Cole 269
Shrew—The Littlest Mammal, Alan Devoe (essay) 398
Development of a Scale to Detect Sexual Harassers: The Potential Harasser Scale (PHS), Leanne M. Masden and Rebecca B. Winkler (APA-style student research paper) 475
● Social Problems
I Have a Dream, Martin Luther King, Jr. (speech) 40
Letter to Horace Greeley, Abraham Lincoln (essay) 45
The Death of Horatio Alger, Paul Krugman 62
Terrorism: America in Fear (student essay), Jeffrey Metherell 186
The Libido for the Ugly, H. L. Mencken (essay) 194
Immigrants in America, Dave Herman (student essay) 284
“OMGILY2!!” Online Dating Is at Your Own Risk (student essay), Kindra M. Neuman 310
Color of Their Skin AND Content of Their Character (student essay), Carrie Moore 333
A Modest Proposal, Jonathan Swift (essay) 377
People Out on a Limb, Antoinette Poodt (student essay) 390
● Thinking
Thoughts about the Internet (student essay), Charlie Sorensen 415
Issues for Critical Thinking and Debate
In Print and Online in MindTap for Readings for Writers 15th Edition
Readings, images, and videos in blue are accompanied by questions.
The American Dream (Chapter 3) in print and mindtap
• e Death of Horatio Alger / Paul Krugman
• By Our Own Bootstraps / W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm
• Long Live the American Dream / Shikha Dalmia only in mindtap
• Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War / Jack Estes
• Farewell, Bu alo / Julia Burke
• Crumbling American Dreams / Robert D. Putnam
• e American Dream / Martin C. Jischke
• e American Dream / Richard Todd
• Niall Ferguson on the End of the American Dream / Niall Ferguson
Terrorism (Chapter 8) in print and mindtap
• Terrorism: America in Fear / Je rey Metherell (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• My Accidental Jihad / Krista Bremer
• e Real War / omas L. Friedman
• Violence in the Name of Allah? (video)
• How America Made ISIS / Tom Engelhardt
• American Extremist Reveals His Quest to Join ISIS / Richard Engel, James Novogrod and Michele Neubert
xix
• Senior British Imams Response to ISIS Recruitment Videos (video)
• Does Believing in Evil Make Us More Violent and Less Tolerant? / Jesse Singal
Self-Image (Chapter 9) in print and mindtap
• Body Modi cation— ink about It! / Shelley Taylor 323 (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• Body Image / Cindy Maynard
• Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self / Alice Walker
• One Woman’s Battle with Anorexia / Sanjay Gupta (video)
• How I’ve Learnt to Accept Feeling Ugly / Shona Sibary
• What Do Strangers ink of You? (video)
Bullying (Chapter 10) in print and mindtap
• Bullied / Gunnar Neuman (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• In Defeat of Bullies: Awareness Is Power / Joyce Plage
• e ree Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf / Anonymous
• A Case of Cyberbullying (video)
• e Origins of Bullying / Hogan Sherrow
• We Live in the United States of Bullies / Chris Wallace
• Are You a Language Bully? / Matthew J.X. Malady
Drugs and Society (Chapter 11) in print and mindtap
• Solving the Drug Problem in the United States / Jordan Dubini (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• How We Get Addicted / Michael D. Lemonick
• Have We Lost the War on Drugs? / Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy
• A Life Sentence for Possession of Marijuana? (video)
• e Economic Case for the US to Legalize All Drugs / Allison Schrager
• e Great Marijuana Experiment: A Tale of Two Drug Wars / Bruce Barcott
Immigration (Chapter 12) in print and mindtap
• Immigrants in America / Dave Herman (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security with Billions / Eduardo Porter
• Wide-open Spaces / Bill Bryson
• Immigration Protest (video)
• ree Cheers for Pluralism Over Separatism / omas Friedman
• My Immigration Story / Raul Ramos y Sanchez (Website)
• “Making” in America, Changing the World: An Immigrant Maker’s Story / Doug Rand and Bess Evans
Online Dating (Chapter 13)
in print and mindtap
• “OMGILY2!!” Online Dating Is at Your Own Risk / Kindra M. Neuman (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• e Truth about Online Dating / Robert Epstein
• Evaluating Internet Dating / Tim Daughtry
• Looking for Love (video)
• A Million First Dates: How Online Romance is reatening Monogamy / Dan Slater
• Playing the Numbers in Digital Dating / Leah Reich
Racism (Chapter 14) in print and mindtap
• Color of eir Skin AND Content of eir Character / Carrie Moore (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• Warriors Don’t Cry / Melba Patillo Beals
• Incidents with White People / Sarah L. and A. Elizabeth Delany
• Protesters in Support of Darren Wilson (video)
• Black Dog Syndrome / Katy Waldman
• When Slang Becomes a Slur / Geo rey Nunberg
The Status of Women (Chapter 15)
in print and mindtap
• “Woman” Is a Noun / Paula Rewa (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• e New Feminism / Kate Gubata
• e Farce of Feminism / Rebecca E. Rubins
• Hillary and Her Campaign for Women (video)
• e Gender Wage Gap Lie / Hanna Rosin
Homelessness (Chapter
16)
in print and mindtap
• People Out on a Limb / Antoinette Poodt (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery only in mindtap
• Homeless / Anna Quindlen
• e Homeless Lack a Political Voice, But Not American Ideals / Matt Lynch
• oughts about the Internet / Charlie Sorensen (Student Corner essay)
• Image Gallery ONLY IN MINDTAP
• No Technology? No Problem / Eric Brende
• Beware the Apps! / Lacreta Scott
• Digital Detox (video)
• Too Much Technology Is Bad for the Brain / Steve Nelson
• e Problem with Easy Technology / Tim Wu
Preface
Do textbooks have a tendency to gain weight as they age? This might seem a preposterous question to ask about an inanimate object made of cellulose, cardboard, paper, and glue. But Readings for Writers is a spectacularly different book from others like it, having sold over a million copies and been used by hundreds of thousands of students as their basic freshman composition reader. Chances are good that it was your English teacher’s first composition reader many years ago. It is also an incontrovertible fact that over the years it has grown bigger and fatter. It made its debut as a freshman composition text in 1974 at a girth of 530 pages. Now on the verge of its fifteenth edition, it weighs in at a colossal 820 pages—a gain of 290 pages. The time had come, we decided, to put the porker on a strict diet. There are practical reasons for doing so. An inescapable fact about textbooks is they have a distressing tendency to not only get fatter with age but to get more expensive with every added page.
Over the years, Readings for Writers has kept pace with the themes, times and technology, some of which have perished and disappeared. For example, we have bounded from slow research in library carrels to instant research on the Internet. Although many of the issues we debated decades ago remain unresolved, we have moved on to more current topics such as terrorism and online dating. Nonetheless, we continue to teach writing as a skill that combines clarity and precision. Best of all, we immerse students in a mixture of classical masterpieces as well as progressive prize winners, which we encourage them to use as intellectual models. Moreover, realizing that indeed “one picture is worth a thousand words,” we have taken the Art Gallery and distributed its images throughout the Part 2 chapters.
Readings for Writers provides a taste of all kinds of brilliant writing—literary classics, poems, speeches, narratives, and philosophy. Here William Shakespeare and Abraham Lincoln mingle with Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou. The aristocrat Sir Arthur Grimble mixes with common laborer Rick Bragg. We respect and challenge each one of them. All of the anthologized material is brought together and ordered under the headings of either advice or examples, giving students, as well as instructors, an idea of the practical emphasis of each selection. It is this unique structure, range of readings, and multifaceted appeal to every conceivable taste that have endowed Readings for Writers with its remarkable longevity.
New to This Edition—Online and in Print
The most significant change in this fifteenth edition is that the book is now online as well as in print.
MindTap for Readings for Writers, 15th Edition
The new MindTap for Readings for Writers allows you to personalize your teaching through a Learning Path built with key student objectives and the syllabus in mind. The MindTap includes an ebook exactly like the print book, plus multimedia “Issues for Critical Thinking and Debate” casebooks for each Part 2 chapter designed for students to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize sources and ideas. Chapter 3 on synthesis is also accompanied by a range of readings on the American dream that expand the print book’s selections. Autogradable vocabulary activities for each reading help ensure that students have grasped essential meanings as they read.
The course is as flexible as you want it to be: you can add your own activities, PowerPoints, videos, and Google docs or simply select from the available content, and you can rearrange the parts to suit the needs of the course. Analytics and reports provide a snapshot of class progress, time in course, engagement, and completion rates.
The Insite App in MindTap provides students with an easy way to upload papers for peer review, teacher comments, and if desired, an originality check. You can comment on student papers using prepopulated comments or write your own; create your own library of comments that can then be reused; or respond to student papers in a video, which is especially useful in an online course to personalize your interaction with students. The Aplia App has a variety of grammar activities that you can assign if the class needs them, and these activities are autogradable.
Writing on Social Networks
In print and online, we’ve added material to take advantage of students’ eagerness to write to friends and acquaintances on social networking sites:
• A new section in Chapter 2 on “Writing on the Social Networks” provides recommendations for becoming a better writer while writing for online communities and websites.
• A new feature in Part 2 chapters called “To the Point” asks students to write tweets on particular topics as a way to encourage them to be pithy within the 140-character count limit of Twitter posts.
Writing about Images
We’ve responded to reviewers’ suggestions by moving the images previously located in the Image Gallery to each Part 2 chapter in a new section titled “Image Gallery for Critical Thinking and Debate.” The images—13 of them new to this edition—are accompanied there by analysis questions and writing suggestions. The readings on that issue can now be found in the MindTap online, expanded with multimedia and links to other readings for an even richer immersion in the issue.
Updated MLA Coverage
Part Four, Special Writing Assignments, now includes the updated documentation guidelines put forth in the eighth edition of the MLA Handbook (2016). The style has been simplified to emphasize a common approach to a wide variety of source types, and the updated sections introduce the new approach and offer helpful citation examples.
A New Issue
The issue now addressed in Chapter 10’s images (in the print book) and readings and media (in the MindTap) is bullying.
Vocabulary in Print and Online
Vocabulary words are now highlighted where they appear in a reading so that students can focus on them in context. In the MindTap, vocabulary activities for each word provide ways for students to work with words so they become part of their own usable lexicon.
New Readings
Nine new readings offer fresh perspectives on topics as diverse as bullying, Middle East ideologies, soldiers with PTSD, and the value of construction work. Two new student essays round out the new readings in the fifteenth edition, one on drugs in America and the other on bullying.
A Beautiful New Four-Color Design
A new four-color design throughout helps students pick out important information on the page and generally makes for a more aesthetically pleasing reading experience.
Unchanged in This Edition
For longtime users of Readings for Writers, let us reassure you that the basic structure and intent of the book remain unchanged.
• In Part I, Chapter 3, “Synthesis: Incorporating Outside Sources,” gets students ample practice and instruction in effectively synthesizing outside sources. Numerous models and exercises as well as an extensive synthesis essay assignment engage students with a range of source materials. This chapter introduces students to the concepts and skills they will need to do well on the synthesis question of the AP® exam. Along with the rhetoric chapter in Part I and the argumentation chapter in Part II, these three chapters cover the concepts that students need for the three AP® essays on the exam.
• The unique labeling system identifies the intended function of every anthologized piece as either giving advice about some fundamental principle of writing or as serving as examples of it.
• The included works offer a broad sweep of topics, styles, and arguments.
• The popular “Student Corner” showcases the essays of real students, along with their commentary on how they learned to write and the personal tips they offer composition students.
• The “Punctuation Workshop” drills students in the use of the most common punctuation marks, such as the comma, semicolon, dash, and colon.
• The “Rhetorical Thumbnail” sketches out the major considerations that went into writing the selections.
• Quirky little prompts send students to the popular Editing Booth with its checklist of fundamental rules for editing.
• Each anthologized piece is still followed by questions about the Facts, Strategies, and Issues explored, and is bolstered by suggestions for writing.
• Each chapter still ends with Chapter Writing Assignments and Writing Assignments for a Specific Audience.
All of the changes in this fifteenth edition have one unmistakable aim: to make Readings for Writers even easier and more practical to use than before. Combining the advice of its anthologized experts with the authors’ commentary, Readings for Writers can still be used unaccompanied by any other book.
Ancillaries
• The Heinle Original Film Series in Literature DVD—This DVD includes three short films. The first film, Eudora Welty’s A Worn Path, includes an interview with Eudora Welty conducted by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Beth Henley. The second film, John Updike’s A&P, includes an interview with John Updike conducted by Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Donald Murray. The final film, Raymond Carver’s Cathedral, includes an interview with Raymond Carver’s widow, Tess Gallagher, conducted by Carver scholars William Stull and Maureen P. Carroll.
• Online Instructor’s Manual—Explore different literary interpretations and prepare for class more quickly and effectively with our online instructor’s manual, which provides possible answers to the questions posed at the end of the readings and the Image Gallery images.
• Resources for Writers—Resources for Writers offers a variety of online activities for students to practice and refine their understanding of key concepts via interactive grammar and proofreading exercises, anti-plagiarism tutorials, writing and research modules, multimedia activities, and downloadable grammar podcasts.
• “Salvation” by Langston Hughes (DVD): The Wadsworth Original Film Series in Literature—Based on a chapter from Langston Hughes’s autobiography, The Big Sea, Salvation stars Lou Beatty, Jr., and Ella Joyce. The video also includes interviews with Alice Walker and Arnold Rampersad, the foremost authority on Langston Hughes.
• Fast Track to a 5: Preparing for the AP® English Language and Composition Examination—This test-preparation guide includes an introduction on taking the exam, a vocabulary of literary terms, detailed preparation guidelines for each type of question found on the exam, and two complete practice exams. Written by Steve Olsen and Eveline Bailey, both of La Porte High School, La Porte, Texas.
Please contact your National Geographic/Cengage sales representative for more information, to evaluate examination copies of any of these teacher or student resources, or for product demonstrations.
The
Journey Ahead
Learning to write well is comparable to taking a journey. Students travel from topic to topic— picking up tips and techniques as they go, meeting new writers whose art they can study and perhaps try to imitate. If there were a metaphorical equivalent for this book, it would be a field trip, where students learn by observing and by practicing what they have learned. Along the way, we send students to some editing workshops and guide their steps along various road signs, indicating the directions they are to follow. Think of this book, then, not merely as a text with the usual implications of dryness that the word suggests, but as a road map that will rush students off to far-flung destinations and then take them back to their own backyards as better writers than when they began.
Acknowledgments
A textbook is always a collaborative work. Many people—including editors, proofreaders, fact checkers, and various supporting personnel—contribute their skills and insights into making a book of this sort what it finally becomes. We thank them all for sharing their minds and talents with us and for making themselves available to us any time we needed them. Specifically, we would like to thank our editor, Karen Mauk, for encouraging us to keep to our time line and for her careful attention to detail, which often included helping us find material we needed and keeping us organized. We also wish to thank the following strong advisors at Cengage Learning: Kate Derrick, Product Manager; Leslie Taggart, Senior Content Developer; Dan Saaybe, Content Project Manager; Stacey Purviance, Marketing Director; Erin Parkins, Marketing Manager; Kathleen Walsh, Product Assistant; and Rachel Smith, Assistant Content Developer.
We would like to also gratefully acknowledge those reviewers who helped shape this fifteenth edition:
Belinda Adams, Navarro College
John Bennett, Lake Land College
Patricia Cain, Pasadena Memorial High School
Anthony Cavaluzzi, SUNY Adirondack
Susan Dawson, University of Louisville
Erwin Ford, Albany State University
Jane Gamber, Hutchinson Community College
Pat Herb, North Central State College
Terri Hilgendorf, Lewis and Clark Community College
Amelia Keel, Lone Star College — Kingwood
Howard Kerner, Polk State College
Laura La Flair, Belmont Abbey College
Christine Long, Bellbrook High School
Julie Long, College of the Albemarle
Alexis Moore, Xavier University of Louisiana
Jamie Pickering, Paradise Valley High School
Andrew Preslar, Lamar State College — Orange
Maria Rankin-Brown, Pacific Union College
Paula Rash, Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute
LeJeanna Raymond, Richard Bland College
Donald Richardson, Phoenix College
Nancy Risch, Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute
Nina Scaringello, Suffolk County Community College
Jennifer Schoch, Southwestern Middle/High School
Jasna Shannon, Coker College
James Suderman, Northwest Florida State College
Jason Thibodeaux, Westminster Christian Academy
Amy Towne, Florida Gulf Coast University
Victor Uszerowicz, Miami-Dade College
Bradley Waltman, College of Southern Nevada
Lewis Whitaker, University of Connecticut
We would also like to thank reviewers of previous editions:
Roseanna Almaee, Darton College
Daniel Bartlett, Lamar University
David Beveridge, Butte College
Shelley Bingham, Darton College
Rob Blain, Houston Community College
Gricelle Cano, Houston Community College, Southeast
Helen Ceraldi, North Lake Community College
Constance Christophersen, Homestead High School
Linda Cohen, Bridgewater State University
Eric Decker, John Marshall High School
Jane Gamber, Hutchinson Community College
Amy Habberstad, South Anchorage High School
Mark Howland, Tabor Academy
Ferdinand Hunter, Gateway Community College
Erica Lara, Southwest Texas Junior College
Christine Long, Bellbrook High School
Julie Long, College of the Albemarle
Caroline Mains, Palo Alto College
Deborah Manson, Georgia Perimeter College
Shawn Miller, Francis Marion University
Vicki Moulson, College of the Albemarle
Maureen O’Bryan, Effingham County High School
Erika Olsen, NHTI
Jamie Pickering, Pinnacle High School
Maria Rankin-Brown, Pacific Union College
Suzanna Riordan, Baruch College
Jill Silos, Hesser College
Tina Smith, West High School
Michael Sollars, Texas Southern University
Valerie Stevenson, Patrick Henry High School
Mary Ann Sullivan, Hesser College
Andrew Tomko, Bergen Community College
Kamana Tshibengabo, Georgia Perimeter College, Newton
Victor Uszerowicz, Miami-Dade College
Bradley Waltman, Community College of Southern Nevada
Bradley Waltman, Darton College
Mark Weber, Buffalo State College
Lewis Whitaker, Georgia Perimeter College
John Williamson, Highlands High School
Theodore Worozbyt, Georgia Perimeter College, Newton
Anita Wyman, Hillsborough Community College
Diana Yeager, Hillsborough Community College
Finally, we thank the members of our Advanced Placement advisory board, who offered valuable input:
Patricia Bond, Shonomish High School
John Brassil, Mt. Ararat High School
Patricia Cain, Pasadena Memorial High School
Debbie Engler, Llano High School
Steve Klinge, Archmere Academy
Joanne Krajeck, Canton South High School
Tania K. Lyon, Mankato West High School
Jason P. Thibodeaux, Westminster Christian Academy
