Steps to Writing Well with Infotrac

by Wyrick,Jean

Edition:

9th

ISBN13:

9781413001082

ISBN10:

1413001084

Format:

Paperback

Pub. Date:

6/22/2004

Publisher(s):

Cengage Learning

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Summary

Writing well is just a step away! Join the thousands of students who have learned to write well with Jean Wyrick's helpful instruction. STEPS TO WRITING WELL, Tenth Edition, is the ultimate step-by-step guide to writing effective essays. With Wyrick's clear, practical advice and student-friendly tone, you'll find it easy to begin, organize, and revise your writing-from choosing a topic to developing your essay to polishing your prose. Interesting readings in a variety of styles offer useful examples of the types of essays you'll most often be assigned in your composition and other college classes.

List of Fine Art

xvi

To the Teacher

xvii

To the Student

xxiii

Part One The Basics of the Short Essay

(176)

Prewriting

(28)

Getting Started (or Soup-Can Labels Can Be Fascinating)

(1)

Selecting a Subject

(2)

Finding Your Essay's Purpose and Focus

(1)

Pump-Primer Techniques

(10)

After You've Found Your Focus

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Discovering Your Audience

(1)

How to Identify Your Readers

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Assignment

(3)

Keeping a Journal (Talking to Yourself Does Help)

(4)

Chapter 1 Summary

(2)

The Thesis Statement

(16)

What Is a Thesis? What Does a ``Working Thesis'' Do?

(1)

Can a ``Working Thesis'' Change?

(1)

Guidelines for Writing a Good Thesis

(4)

Avoiding Common Errors in Thesis Statements

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Assignment

(1)

Using the Essay Map

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Assignment

(2)

Chapter 2 Summary

(2)

The Body Paragraphs

(32)

Planning the Body of Your Essay

(3)

Composing the Body Paragraphs

(1)

The Topic Sentence

(5)

Focusing Your Topic Sentence

(1)

Placing Your Topic Sentence

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

(3)

Assignment

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

(1)

Paragraph Development

(3)

Paragraph Length

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Assignment

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

(1)

Paragraph Unity

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

(1)

Paragraph Coherence

(5)

Practicing What You've Learned

(3)

Paragraph Sequence

(1)

Transitions between Paragraphs

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

(1)

Chapter 3 Summary

(1)

Beginnings and Endings

(10)

How to Write a Good Lead-in

(2)

Avoiding Errors in Lead-ins

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

How to Write a Good Concluding Paragraph

(2)

Avoiding Errors in Conclusions

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

(1)

How to Write a Good Title

(1)

Assignment

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

(1)

Chapter 4 Summary

(2)

Drafting and Revising: Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking

(26)

What Is Revision?

(1)

When Does Revision Occur?

(1)

Myths about Revision

(1)

Can I Learn to Improve My Revision Skills?

(1)

Preparing to Draft: Some Time-Saving Hints

(3)

Additional Suggestions for Writers with Word Processors

(2)

Writing Centers, Computer Labs, and Computer Classrooms

(1)

A Revision Process for Your Drafts

(2)

What Is Critical Thinking?

(1)

Thinking Critically as a Writer

(6)

A Final Checklist for Your Essay

104

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

104

(2)

Benefiting from Revision Workshops

106

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

109

(1)

Assignment

110

(1)

Some Last Advice: How to Play with Your Mental Blocks

110

(3)

Chapter 5 Summary

113

(2)

Effective Sentences

115

(26)

Developing a Clear Style

116

(6)

Developing a Concise Style

122

(4)

Practicing What You've Learned

126

(2)

Assignment

128

(1)

Developing a Lively Style

128

(4)

Practicing What You've Learned

132

(1)

Assignment

132

(1)

Developing an Emphatic Style

133

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

136

(2)

Assignment

138

(1)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

139

(1)

Chapter 6 Summary

139

(2)

Word Logic

141

(24)

Selecting the Correct Words

141

(6)

Practicing What You've Learned

147

(2)

Selecting the Best Words

149

(10)

Practicing What You've Learned

159

(2)

Assignment

161

(2)

Applying What You've Learned to Your Writing

163

(1)

Chapter 7 Summary

164

(1)

The Reading-Writing Connection

165

(12)

How Can Reading Well Help Me Become a Better Writer?

165

(1)

How Can I Become an Analytical Reader?

166

(2)

Sample Annotated Essay: ``Our Youth Should Serve''

168

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

171

(1)

Assignment

171

(1)

Writing a Summary

171

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

173

(1)

Benefiting from Class Discussions

173

(2)

Chapter 8 Summary

175

(1)

Part One Summary: The Basics of the Short Essay

176

(1)

Part Two Purposes, Modes, and Strategies

177

(176)

Exposition

179

(94)

The Strategies of Exposition

179

(1)

Strategy One: Development by Example

180

(5)

Developing Your Essay

183

(1)

Problems to Avoid

184

(1)

Essay Topics

185

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

186

(1)

Sample Student Essay

187

(2)

Professional Essay: ``So What's So Bad about Being So-So?''

189

(3)

The drive for perfection is preventing too many people from enjoying sports and hobbies, says author Lisa Wilson Strick (who proudly plays the piano badly but with great pleasure)

A Revision Worksheet

192

(1)

Reviewing Your Progress

193

(1)

Strategy Two: Development by Process Analysis

193

(3)

Developing Your Essay

194

(2)

Problems to Avoid

196

(1)

Essay Topics

196

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

198

(1)

Sample Student Essay

198

(5)

Professional Essay (Informative Process): ``To Bid the World Farewell''

203

(5)

By describing the embalming process in vivid, step-by-step detail, social critic and author Jessica Mitford questions the value---and necessity---of the entire procedure

Professional Essay (Directional Process): ``Ditch Diving''

208

(2)

Humorist Tom Bodett offers precise instructions for achieving high scores in the winter sport of ditch diving, an unappreciated artistic activity that requires only a vehicle, a road, a ditch, and some snow

A Revision Worksheet

210

(1)

Reviewing Your Progress

211

(1)

Strategy Three: Development by Comparison and Contrast

211

(4)

Developing Your Essay

211

(2)

Which Pattern Should You Use?

213

(1)

Problems to Avoid

214

(1)

Essay Topics

215

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

217

(1)

Sample Student Essay (Point-by-Point Pattern)

217

(4)

Sample Student Essay (Block Pattern)

221

(2)

Professional Essay (Point-by-Point Pattern): ``Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts''

223

(4)

Noted historian Bruce Catton compares and contrasts the two great generals of the Civil War, concluding that their roles at Appomattox made possible ``a peace of reconciliation.''

Professional Essay (Block Pattern): ``Two Ways of Viewing the River''

227

(2)

One of the United States' most beloved writers, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), contrasts his earlier, romantic view of the Mississippi River to his later, more practical view as an experienced riverboat pilot

A Revision Worksheet

229

(3)

A Special Kind of Comparison: The Analogy

229

(3)

Reviewing Your Progress

232

(1)

Strategy Four: Development by Definition

232

(4)

Why Do We Define?

233

(1)

Developing Your Essay

233

(2)

Problems to Avoid

235

(1)

Essay Topics

236

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

237

(1)

Sample Student Essay

238

(3)

Professional Essay: ``The Munchausen Mystery''

241

(3)

A Harvard professor of psychiatry explains a perplexing ``medical madness'' in which patients use extreme and sophisticated measures to fake illnesses---in some cases, all the way to the operating room

A Revision Worksheet

244

(1)

Reviewing Your Progress

244

(1)

Strategy Five: Development by Division and Classification

245

(2)

Division

245

(1)

Classification

245

(1)

Developing Your Essay

246

(1)

Problems to Avoid

247

(1)

Essay Topics

247

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

249

(1)

Sample Student Essay

249

(3)

Professional Essay (Classification): ``The Plot against People''

252

(3)

According to well-known columnist Russell Baker, all inanimate objects may be classified into three categories: those that don't work, those that get lost, and those that break down

Professional Essay (Division): ``A Brush with Reality: Surprises in the Tube''

255

(3)

Do you really know what's in the toothpaste you use every day? In this unforgettable essay, science writer David Bodanis analyzes the surprising (and sometimes shocking) ingredients

A Revision Worksheet

258

(1)

Reviewing Your Progress

258

(1)

Strategy Six: Development by Causal Analysis

259

(3)

Developing Your Essay

259

(2)

Problems to Avoid

261

(1)

Essay Topics

262

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

263

(1)

Sample Student Essay

264

(3)

Professional Essay: ``How Mr. Dewey Decimal Saved My Life''

267

(3)

In this delightful essay recalling her teen years in rural Kentucky, award-winning novelist Barbara Kingsolver explains how books and a librarian with a hidden agenda rescued her from a dead-end life in a two-stop-light town

A Revision Worksheet

270

(3)

Reviewing Your Progress

270

(3)

Argumentation

273

(34)

Developing Your Essay

273

(9)

Problems to Avoid

282

(1)

Common Logical Fallacies

282

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

285

(2)

Assignment

287

(1)

Essay Topics

287

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

288

(1)

Sample Student Essay

289

(3)

Professional Essays (Pro/Con): ``Free Speech Zones''

292

(3)

Should demonstrators be restricted to ``protest zones'' far away from the speakers or sites they are protesting? No, says the editorial board of USA Today, an enforced confinement of citizens interferes with their basic right of free speech. Yes, says attorney Robert J. Scott, who argues that recent disruptive activity justifies such restrictions to maintain order

Analyzing Advertisements

295

(10)

Conflicting Positions: Gun Control

295

(4)

Competing Products: Sources of Energy

299

(3)

Popular Appeals: Spending Our Money

302

(3)

A Revision Worksheet

305

(2)

Reviewing Your Progress

305

(2)

Description

307

(18)

How to Write Effective Description

307

(5)

Problems to Avoid

311

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned: ``Aboard the Sleeper''

312

(1)

Verlyn Klinkenborg

Assignment: ``Nighthawks''

313

(1)

Edward Hopper

Essay Topics

313

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

315

(1)

Sample Student Essay

315

(4)

Professional Essay: ``Still Learning from My Mother''

319

(3)

Not only did Mom throw a mean fast ball in her younger days, at almost 80 she continues to achieve new goals with determination and spirit, as described by son Cliff Schneider in this charming tribute

A Revision Worksheet

322

(3)

Reviewing Your Progress

323

(2)

Narration

325

(16)

Writing the Effective Narrative Essay

326

(2)

Problems to Avoid

327

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned: ``Tornado Over Kansas''

328

(1)

John Steuart Curry

Essay Topics

329

(2)

A Topic Proposal for Your Essay

330

(1)

Sample Student Essay

331

(2)

Professional Essay: ``Sister Flowers''

333

(5)

Multi-talented writer and performer Maya Angelou remembers a special time in her life and shows how one person's kindness and respect can dramatically change a child's life for the better

A Revision Worksheet

338

(3)

Reviewing Your Progress

339

(2)

Writing Essays Using Multiple Strategies

341

(12)

Choosing the Best Strategies

342

(1)

Problems to Avoid

343

(1)

Sample Student Essay

343

(4)

Professional Essay: ``Don't Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments''

347

(4)

Are Gloria and Richard better looking than Bertha or Cuthbert? Do you vote for the candidate who looks like a winner? In this essay, Professor Robert L. Heilbroner addresses the complex issue of stereotyping, first by citing some fascinating experiments that illustrate the problem. He then analyzes the causes of type-casting, explains the harmful effects, and offers some steps for changing this negative behavior

A Revision Worksheet

351

(2)

Reviewing Your Progress

352

(1)

Part Three Special Assignments

353

(122)

Writing a Paper Using Research

355

(52)

Focusing Your Topic

355

(1)

Beginning Your Library Research

356

(7)

General Reference Works

357

(1)

Online Catalogs

357

(1)

Indexes

358

(1)

Databases

358

(3)

The Internet

361

(2)

Special Collections

363

(1)

Conducting the Personal Interview

363

(2)

Preparing a Working Bibliography

365

(3)

Choosing and Evaluating Your Sources

368

(2)

Preparing an Annotated Bibliography

370

(1)

Taking Notes

371

(3)

Distinguishing Paraphrase from Summary

373

(1)

Incorporating Your Source Material

374

(2)

Avoiding Plagiarism

376

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

378

(1)

Assignment

379

(1)

Choosing the Documentation Style for Your Essay

380

(16)

MLA Style

380

(11)

APA Style

391

(4)

Footnote and Bibliography Form

395

(1)

Using Supplementary Notes

396

(1)

Sample Student Paper Using MLA Style

397

(10)

Writing in Class: Exams and ``Response'' Essays

407

(14)

Steps to Writing Well under Pressure

407

(6)

Problems to Avoid

413

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

413

(1)

Assignment

414

(1)

Writing the Summary-and-Response Essay

414

(3)

Sample Student Essay

417

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

419

(1)

Assignment

419

(2)

Writing about Literature

421

(22)

Using Literature in the Composition Classroom

421

(1)

Suggestions for Close Reading of Literature

422

(1)

Steps to Reading a Story

423

(1)

Annotated Story: ``The Story of an Hour''

424

(4)

In this ironic story by Kate Chopin, a woman receives some bad news about her husband---not once, but twice

Sample Student Essay

428

(2)

Steps to Reading a Poem

430

(3)

Annotated Poem: ``When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer''

433

(1)

Poet Walt Whitman contrasts two ways of knowing and responding to the marvels of the night sky

Sample Student Essay

434

(3)

Guidelines for Writing about Literature

437

(2)

Problems to Avoid

438

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned: ``Snow'' by Julia Alverez and ``Those Winter Sundays'' by Robert Hayden

439

(2)

Suggestions for Writing

441

(2)

Writing about Film

443

(14)

Using Film in the Composition Classroom

443

(2)

Guidelines for Writing about Film

445

(3)

Problems to Avoid

448

(1)

Sample Student Essay

448

(4)

Practicing What You've Learned: ``Cat in the Hat Coughs Up Mayhem''

452

(1)

David Germain

Suggestions for Writing

453

(1)

Glossary of Film Terms

454

(3)

Writing in the World of Work

457

(18)

Composing Business Letters

458

(4)

Business Letter Format

459

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

462

(1)

Assignment

462

(1)

Sample Business Letter

463

(1)

Creating Memos

464

(1)

Sending Professional E-Mail

465

(2)

Designing Resumes

467

(4)

Critique Your Page Appeal

470

(1)

Problems to Avoid

470

(1)

Assignment

471

(1)

Sample Resumes

471

(3)

Writing Post-Interview Letters

474

(1)

Part Four A Concise Handbook

475

(54)

Major Errors in Grammar

477

(22)

Errors with Verbs

477

(4)

Practicing What You've Learned

481

(1)

Errors with Nouns

482

(1)

Errors with Pronouns

482

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

485

(1)

Errors with Adverbs and Adjectives

486

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

488

(1)

Errors in Modifying Phrases

488

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

489

(1)

Errors in Sentences

490

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

490

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

492

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

494

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

496

(3)

A Concise Guide to Punctuation

499

(22)

The Period

500

(1)

The Question Mark

500

(1)

The Exclamation Point

500

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

500

(1)

The Comma

501

(3)

Practicing What You've Learned

504

(1)

The Semicolon

505

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

506

(1)

The Colon

507

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

508

(1)

The Apostrophe

509

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

510

(1)

Quotation Marks

510

(2)

Practicing What You've Learned

512

(1)

Parentheses

512

(1)

Brackets

513

(1)

The Dash

514

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

515

(1)

The Hyphen

515

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

516

(1)

Underlining

517

(1)

Ellipsis Points

517

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

518

(3)

A Concise Guide to Mechanics

521

(8)

Capitalization

521

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

522

(1)

Abbreviations

523

(1)

Numbers

524

(1)

Practicing What You've Learned

524

(1)

Spelling

525

(4)

Credits

529

(2)

Index

531

Steps to Writing Well with Infotrac

9781413001082

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Table of Contents