This rhetorically organized reader leads beginning student writers from the elements of good writing through the patterns of development, including a range of excellent models throughout and - new in the fifth edition - coverage of the research process.

GETTING STARTED

How to Use This Book

Making the Most of Your Reading

Taking Notes

Learning the Writing Process

Writing an Outline

Gathering Information

The Making of a Student Essay: From Prewriting to Proofreading.

SECTION I: ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: The Central Idea

Identifying the Central Idea

Writing a Preliminary Topic Sentence or Thesis Statement

Some Tips on Writing Topic Sentences and Thesis Statements

Controlling Unity and Development

Revising the Central Idea

Practice Writing Central Ideas

Four Paragraphs for Analysis

"Still on the Point" by George Bush

"Three Passions I Have Lived For" by Bertrand Russell

"Echoes" by Maria Cirilli (Student Essay)

CHAPTER 2: Unity and Coherence

Creating Unity

Maintaining Coherence

Visualizing Unity and Coherence

Revising to Improve Unity and Coherence

Practicing Unity and Coherence

From "Waste" by Wendell Berry

"Writing and Its Rewards" by Richard Marius

"Study Calculus!" by William J. Bennett

"Is Justice Served?" by Gina K. Louis-Ferdinand (Student Essay)

CHAPTER 3: Development

Determining How Much a Paragraph or Essay Should Contain

Choosing the Best Method of Development

Deciding How to Arrange the Ideas and Details in a Paragraph

Visualizing Paragraph Development

"The Last Safe Haven" by Joannie Schrof

"Exile and Return" by James Keller (Student Essay)

CHAPTER 4: Introductions and Conclusions

Writing Introductions; Writing Conclusions

Visualizing Ways to Write Introduction and Conclusions

Revising Introductions and Conclusions

"How to Keep Air Clean" by Sydney Harris

"I Was Just Wondering" by Robert Fulghum

"A Prayer for the Days of Awe" by Elie Wiesel

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

SECTION II: WORD CHOICE AND SENTENCE PATTERNS

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

Making Your Writing Concrete

Making Your Writing Specific

Making Your Writing Vivid

Visualizing Concrete, Specific, and Vivid Details

Revising to Include Concrete, Specific, and Vivid Language

"Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden

"The San Francisco Earthquake" by Jack London

"Of Famine and Green Beer" by John Leo

"The Mentally Ill and Human Experimentation: Perfect Together" by Nancy J. Mundie

CHAPTER 6: Word Choice: Using Figurative Language

Simile

Metaphor

Personification

Visualizing Figurative Language

Revising to Include Figurative Language

Practicing Creating Simile, Metaphor, and Personification

"January Wind" by Hal Borland

"Joy of an Immigrant, A Thanksgiving" and "Old Man Timochenko" by Emanuel di Pasquale

"Back from the Brink" by Daniel Zanoza

"The Gift" by Li-Young Lee

"Music" by Louis Gonzalez (Student Essay)

CHAPTER 7: Sentence Structure: Creating Emphasis and Variety

Emphasis

Variety

Visualizing Sentence Structure

Revising to Create Variety and Emphasis

Practicing Combining Sentences

"The Vices of Age" by Malcom Cowley

"Why We Celebrate Father's Day: Two Short Essays" by Gary L. Bower and Steve Forbes

"A Longing" by Alice Wnorowski (Student Essay)

"The Buried Sounds of Children Crying" by Harrison Rainie

"The Band from Hell" by Cal Thomas

SECTION III: DESCRIPTION

CHAPTER 8: Describing Places and Things

Using Proper Nouns

Using Effective Verbs

Including Action and People in the Description of a Place

Visualizing Details that Describe Places and Things

Revising Descriptive Essays

Practicing Techniques that Describe Places and Things

"Watching the Reapers" by Po Chu-i

From "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin

"Subway Station" by Gilbert Highet

"If at First You Do Not See..." by Jessie Sullivan (Student Essay)

"A Deathly Call of the Wild" by Mary Ann Gwinn

CHAPTER 9: Describing People

Describing Your Subject's Appearance and Speech

Revealing What You Know About Your Subject

Revealing What Others Say About Your Subject

Visualizing Details That Describe People

Revising Descriptive Essays

Practicing Techniques That Describe People

"Photograph of My Father in His Twenty-second Year" by Raymond Carver

From "Mothers and Fathers" by Phyllis Rose

"Two Gentlemen of the Pines" by John McPhee

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

"Charisma Fortified by 'Chutzpah'" by Barry Shlachter

SECTION IV: NARRATION

CHAPTER 10: Personal Reflection and Autobiography

Visualizing Details and Techniques Important to Personal Reflection and Autobiography

Revising Autobiographical Essays

Practicing Skills of Personal Reflection and Autobiography

"Cry: The Story of a Comfort Woman" by Razel Ariz Florento (Student Poem)

From "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters

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

"Death of an Officer" by Gaye Wagner

"Wanderlust" by Charles Kuralt

CHAPTER 11: Reporting Events

Visualizing Narrative Elements

Revising Narrative Skills

Practicing Narrative Skills

"Child of the Romans" by Carl Sandburg

"What the Gossips Saw" by Leo Romero

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

From "Faith of the Father" by Sam Pickering

"Frederick Douglass: The Path to Freedom" by Carl Sagan

CHAPTER 12: The Short Story

Visualizing Narrative Elements in Fiction

"House Opposite" by R.K. Narayan

"The Hammon and the Beans" by America Paredes

"The Son from America" by Isaac Bashevis Singer

"A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty

SECTION V: EXPOSITION AND PERSUASION

Explaining Through Illustration

Explaining Through Comparison and Contrast

Explaining Through Process Analysis

Persuading

CHAPTER 13: Illustration

Specific Facts, Instances, or Occurrences

Statistics

Specific People, Places, or Things

Anecdotes

Visualizing Examples

Revising Illustration Essays

Practicing Illustration

"Why Not Real Awards for Real Achievements?" by Ben Stein

"On the Home Front" by Jim Carnes

"Wolf" by Grace Lukawaska (Student Essay)

"Growing Up in Rumania" by Irina Groza (Student Essay)

"The Death of Common Sense" by Philip K. Howard

CHAPTER 14: Comparison/Contrast

Organizing Comparison/Contrast Papers

Visualizing Methods of Comparison

Revising Comparison/Contrast Papers

Practicing Comparison and Contrast

"The Road from Ixopo" by Alan Paton

"New Blood for Cities" by Stephen Moore

"Temptations of Old Age" by Malcolm Cowley

"The Militiaman, the Yuppie, and Me" by Carolyn Swalina

"Columbus and the Moon" by Tom Wolfe

CHAPTER 15: Process Analysis

Organization, Purpose, and Thesis

Clarity and Directness

Visualizing Process Analysis

Revising Process Analysis Papers

Practicing Process Analysis

"Drawing Electricity from Clouds" by Benjamin Franklin

"How to Fight a Duel" by Adam Goodheart

"The Measure of Eratosthenes" by Carl Sagan

"How I Came Out to My Parents" by Kenneth Kohler

CHAPTER 16: Persuasion

Beginning with an Argument

Developing Ideas in an Argument

Going Beyond Argument

Addressing Opposing Arguments

Visualizing Strategies for Persuasion

Revising Persuasion Papers

Practicing Strategies for Persuasion

"Desperate to Learn English" by Alice Callaghan

"The Right to Be Let Alone" by Barry Glazer

"The Media's Image of Arabs" by Jack G. Shaheen

"What's Wrong with this Picture" by Gloria Steinem

Glossary

Index

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