Writing without Formulas (with 2009 MLA Update Card)

by Thelin, William H.

• ISBN13: 9780495899556
• ISBN10: 0495899550
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-05-27
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Writing Without Formulas shows students how to write instead of telling them. A non-traditional rhetoric and reader intended for freshman-level composition courses, this book presents writing as an activity rather than a formula dictated by rules and learned by rote. This approach encourages students to make decisions about writing within a context of audience awareness and critical analysis. The pedagogy featured in the text lends itself to collaborative-based classrooms and demonstrates writing to be a process of discovery. The text contains diverse contemporary readings--both student and professional--that do not rigidly conform to rhetorical modes. A focus in many of the selections on popular culture and contemporary social and political issues helps maintain student interest and offers a refreshing change of pace from more traditional readers. Examples include a portrait of "crack babies" who have grown up to create their own literary magazine (challenging both political and social assumptions about the crack epidemic); educator Mike Rose on the class implications of standardized "intelligence" testing; former New York City police officer-turned-journalist Marcus Laffey on the strategy of drug busts; humorist David Sedaris on his tormented early relationship to music lessons; Joyce Carol Oates on the science of laughter; and Stephen L. Carter on ethics and honesty in American political discourse.

Table of Contents

KeyConcepts of Writing

Reasons for Writing

Reading: "Learning to Read"

Writing from Personal Inspiration

Reading: "Letter to a Restaurant Manager"

Writing as a Citizen

Reading: TrueMajority, "'Computer Ate My Vote' Scores

Coast to Coast Wins" (web page)

Writing in College Writing in the Workplace

Reading: "Norming Groups" (office memo/email)

Critical Analysis for Writing Student

Writing: "The Car Accident" (draft)

Student Writing: "The Car Accident"

Interrogating the Obvious

Reading: "Male Body Image in America"

Reading: From The Silent Takeover Investigating Assumptions

Reading: "The False Controversy of Stem Cells"

Seeing Patterns

Reading: From Limbo

Reading: "Curriculum Is a Political Statement" Avoiding Poor Reasoning

Awareness of Audience Student

Writing: "Sexuality Orientation"

Targeting Potential Readers

Reading: "Voices: The Damage Done: Crack Babies Talk Back"

Anticipating Reader Needs

Reading: "Death Penalty's False Promise"

Reading: "From Outside, In" Responding to Possible Objections

Student Writing, "Curse of the Ouija Board"

Using Real Readers in Peer Groups Revision

Strategies for Organizing Your Ideas

Student Writing: "Humor in Society"

Reading: "Tools for Research"

Reading: "The Problem with Being a Thing"

Introducing Your Subject

Transitioning from Ideas

Reading: "The Right Chemistry"

Placing Your Thesis

Reading: "The Same Difference"

Finishing Your Thoughts

Reading: "The Lottery"

Reading: "The Worst-Laid Plans: Why Was Emergency Planning So Awful?"

Reading: "Mommy, What Does 'Nigger' Mean?"

Language Choices in Writing Student

Writing: "Negative Cliques in Schools

Mediating Experiences

Reading: "I Have a Dream"

Describing and Shaping

Reading: From The Mind at Work

Reading: From The Lost Grizzlies Euphemisms

Reading: From Perfectly Legal

Reading: "Life Under the Chief Doublespeak Officer"

Finding Your Voice

Confronting Writing Tasks

Discovering Your Writing Process

Seeing Your Own Patterns Breaking

Through Writer's Block

Reading: From Lau's

Laws on Hitting Discovering Strategies for Drafting and Revision

Reading: From 'Indians': Textualism, Morality, and the Problem of History

Editing and Proofreading

Uses of Collaboration

Reading: "Inside Dope"

Beyond the In-Class Response Group

Assigning Tasks in Group Projects Student

Writing: "Jim's Progress Log" Synthesizing Ideas

Reading: "Nowhere to Roam"

Reading: "How to Live to Be 100"

Taking Responsibility

Purposes and Strategies for Reading

Reading: "Executive Pay in the U.S."

Knowledge, Safety, and Awareness as Consumers Social and Civic Engagement

Reading: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, "Smearing Anti-War Activists?

NY Times Op-Ed Laments Anti-War Funeral Protests"

Reading: Ohio Department of Public Safety, "Where to Ride on the Road" Information Retrieval

Reading: From The Vanishing Hitchhiker Academic Achievement Developing

Reading Strategies for College Student

Writing: "An Analysis of the Dietary Habits of a Known Bookworm"

Comprehension Student

Writing: "Molly Egan's Freewrite"

Writing with Evidence Student

Writing: "Sex and Religion" Student

Writing: "Instincts vs. Rules" (draft) Student

Writing: "Instincts vs. Rules" Examining Evidence

Reading: "To Hell with Lipitor"

Establishing Criteria for a Claim Checking Information

Integrating Sources

Reading: From Blackbeard and Other Pirates of the Atlantic Coast Student

Writing: "Extract from Claudia's Essay"

Reading: From The Tender Carnivore Student

Writing: "Extract from Sherry's Essay"

Writers and Research Locating

Critical Knowledge

Reading: Trish Boreta, and Project

Censored, "The Top Censored News Stories of 2005-2006"

Evaluating Online Sources

Reading: Green Party website: "2006 Green Party Candidate Spotlight"

When Sources Collide

Reading: "Questioned Marks"

Reading: "Statement to Judge Paul Benson" Giving Credit Where It Is Due

Topics for Writing

Holidays and Celebrations

Reading: "The Symbols of Halloween"

Reading: "The Reformation of Guy Fawkes Day"

Reading: "Festivals, Rites, and Presents"

Reading: "Thanksgiving"

Reading: "A History of Anglo-Saxon Wedding Customs"

Reading: "The Twentieth Anniversary of Earth Day"

Hobbies

Reading: "Risk"

Reading: "Leonard Lauder: The Beauty of Small Things"

Reading: "Con Games"

Reading: "Fantasy World"

Reading: "Giant Dreams, Midget Abilities"

Reading: "Indiana's Potato Chip

Lady: Myrtle Young of Seyfert Foods, Inc."

The Supernatural

Reading: "Whitman's Haunted Bed"

Reading: "UFO's, Skepticism, and Belief"

Reading: "Four Stops on a Bigfoot Hunt"

Reading: "Is God in Our Genes?"

Reading: Associated Press, "Courthouse Camera Captures a Ghost"

Reading: Associated Press, "Courthouse Ghost Identified as Insect"

Reading: "Talking to Heaven

Through Television: How the Mass Media Package and Sell Medium John Edward"

Humor

Reading: "Is Laughter Contagious?"

Reading: "The Darwin Awards"

Reading: "Me Talk Pretty One Day"

Reading: "Seriously, the Joke Is Dead"

Reading: "How Laughter Works"

Reading: "All I Think Is That It's Stupid: Dave Barry on Laughing at Very Big Government"

Honesty and Deception

Reading: "The Insufficiency of Honesty"

Reading: "I'm a Bad Liar"

Reading: "The Lightning Struck Lost Mine"

Reading: "The Big Lie"

Reading: "Censor or Victim of Censorship?"

Reading: "We Like Our Bad Guys to Be Honest About It"

Pets, Pests, and Beasts

Reading: "Face of a Spider"

Reading: "Women Like Men Who Like Cats"

Reading: "The Indian Dog"

Reading: "The Snake"

Reading: "Treat It Right"

Reading: "Drainage Ditch"

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