Grounded in current theory and research, yet practical and teachable.

Widely praised for its groundbreaking integration of composition research and a rhetorical perspective, The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing with MyWritingLab has set the standard for first-year composition courses in writing, reading, critical thinking, and inquiry.

Teachers and students value its clear and coherent explanations, engaging classroom activities, and flexible sequence of aims-based writing assignments that help writers produce effective, idea-rich essays in academic and civic genres. Numerous examples of student and professional writing accompany this thorough guide to the concepts and skills needed for writing, researching, and editing in college and beyond.

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Part 1 A Rhetoric For Writers

1 Posing Problems: The Demands of College Writing

Why Take a Writing Course?

Concept 1.1 Subject matter problems are the heart of college writing.

Shared Problems Unite Writers and Readers

Where Do Problems Come From?

Concept 1.2 Writers’ decisions are shaped by purpose, audience, and genre.

What Is Rhetoric?

How Writers Think about Purpose

How Writers Think about Audience

How Writers Think about Genre

Concept 1.3 The rules for “good writing” vary depending on rhetorical context.

A Thought Exercise: Two Pieces of Good Writing That Follow Different “Rules”

David Rockwood, A Letter to the Editor

Thomas Merton, A Festival of Rain

Distinctions between Closed and Open Forms of Writing

Flexibility of “Rules” along the Continuum

Where to Place Your Writing along the Continuum

Chapter Summary

BRIEF WRITING PROJECT TWO MESSAGES FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES, AUDIENCES, AND GENRES

2 Exploring Problems, Making Claims

Concept 2.1 To determine their thesis, writers must often “wallow in complexity.”

Learning to Wallow in Complexity

Seeing Each Academic Discipline as a Field of Inquiry and Argument

Using Exploratory Writing to Help You Wallow in Complexity

Believing and Doubting Paul Theroux’s Negative View of Sports

Concept 2.2 A strong thesis statement surprises readers with something new or challenging.

Trying to Change Your Reader’s View of Your Subject

Giving Your Thesis Tension through “Surprising Reversal”

Concept 2.3 In closed-form prose, a typical introduction starts with the problem, not the thesis.

A Typical Introduction

Features of an Effective Introduction

Chapter Summary

BRIEF WRITING PROJECT PLAYING THE BELIEVING AND DOUBTING GAME

3 How Messages Persuade

Concept 3.1 Messages persuade through their angle of vision.

Recognizing the Angle of Vision in a Text

Analyzing Angle of Vision

Concept 3.2 Messages persuade through appeals to logos, ethos, and pathos.

Concept 3.3 Messages persuade through writers’ choices about style and document design.

Understanding Factors that Affect Style

Making Purposeful Choices about Document Design

Concept 3.4 Nonverbal messages persuade through visual strategies that can be analyzed rhetorically.

Visual Rhetoric

The Rhetoric of Clothing and Other Consumer Items

Chapter Summary

BRIEF WRITING PROJECT TWO CONTRASTING DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SAME SCENE

4 Multimodal and Online Communication

Concept 4.1 Composers of multimodal texts use words, images, and sounds rhetorically to move an audience.

Hooking Audiences with Images and “Nutshell” Text

Holding Readers through Strong Content

Designing Video Narratives that Move Viewers

Concept 4.2 Online environments are rhetorically interactive with shifting audiences, purposes, genres, and authorial roles.

Shifting and Evolving Rhetorical Contexts Online

Online Variations in Purposes, Genres, and Authorial Roles

Maintaining Appropriate Online Privacy

Concept 4.3 Responsible participation in online discourse requires understanding intellectual property rights and an ethical persona.

Understanding Issues of Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons Licenses

Using Images and Sound Ethically in Your Multimodal Projects

Creating an Ethical Online Persona

Chapter Summary

BRIEF WRITING PROJECT 1 DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON YOUR ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS

BRIEF WRITING PROJECT 2 DESCRIPTION AND REFLECTION ON YOUR CREATION OF A MULTIMODAL COMPOSITION

Part 2 Writing Projects

Writing To LEARN

5 Reading Rhetorically: The Writer As Strong Reader 82

Engaging Rhetorical Reading

Understanding Rhetorical Reading

What Makes College-Level Reading Difficult?

Using the Reading Strategies of Experts

Reading with the Grain and Against the Grain

Understanding Summary Writing

Usefulness of Summaries

The Demands that Summary Writing Makes on Writers

Summary of “Why Bother?”

Understanding Strong Response Writing

Strong Response as Rhetorical Critique

Strong Response as Ideas Critique

Strong Response as Reflection

Strong Response as a Blend

Kyle Madsen (student), Can a Green Thumb Save the Planet? A Response to Michael Pollan

WRITING PROJECT A SUMMARY

Generating Ideas: Reading for Structure and Content

Drafting and Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT A SUMMARY/STRONG RESPONSE ESSAY

Exploring Ideas for Your Strong Response

Writing a Thesis for a Strong Response Essay

Shaping and Drafting

Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: BOOK REVIEW

Reading

Michael Pollan, Why Bother?

Writing To EXPLORE

6 Writing An Exploratory Essay or Annotated Bibliography

Engaging Exploratory Writing

Understanding Exploratory Writing

WRITING PROJECT AN EXPLORATORY ESSAY

Generating and Exploring Ideas

Taking “Double-Entry” Research Notes

Shaping and Drafting

Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

What Is an Annotated Bibliography?

Features of Annotated Bibliography Entries

Examples of Annotation Entries

Writing a Critical Preface for Your Annotated Bibliography

Shaping, Drafting, and Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: SPEECH WITH VISUAL AIDS

Readings

Kent Ansen (student), Should the United States Establish Mandatory Public Service for Young Adults?

Kent Ansen (student), Should the United States Establish Mandatory Public Service for Young Adults? An Annotated Bibliography

Writing To Analyze and Synthesize

7 Analyzing Images

Engaging Image Analysis

Understanding Image Analysis: Documentary and News Photographs

Angle of Vision and Credibility of Photographs

How to Analyze a Documentary Photograph

Sample Analysis of a Documentary Photograph

Understanding Image Analysis: Paintings

How to Analyze a Painting

Sample Analysis of a Painting

Understanding Image Analysis: Advertisements

How Advertisers Think about Advertising

Mirrors and Windows: The Strategy of an Effective Advertisement

How to Analyze an Advertisement

Sample Analysis of an Advertisement

WRITING PROJECT ANALYSIS OF TWO VISUAL TEXTS

Exploring and Generating Ideas for Your Analysis

Shaping and Drafting Your Analysis

Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: PODCAST AND LECTURE SLIDES

Reading

Lydia Wheeler (student), Two Photographs Capture Women’s Economic Misery

8 Analyzing and Synthesizing Ideas

Engaging Analysis and Synthesis

John Miley, Ground Rules for Boomerang Kids

Publishers Weekly, Review of The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition

Understanding Analysis and Synthesis

Posing a Significant Synthesis Question

Synthesis Writing as an Extension of Summary/Strong Response Writing

WRITING PROJECT A SYNTHESIS ESSAY

Summarizing Your Texts to Explore Their Ideas

Rosie Evans (student), Summary of Robin Marantz Henig’s Article

Rosie Evans (student), Summary of Scammed Hard!’s Blog Post

Analyzing Your Texts

Rosie Evans (student), Rhetorical Analysis of Henig’s Article

Rosie Evans (student), Rhetorical Analysis of Scammed Hard!’s Blog Post

Analyzing the Main Themes and Similarities and Differences in Your Texts’ Ideas

Synthesizing Ideas from Your Texts

Rosie Evans (student) Exploration of Her Personal Connections to Her Texts and the Synthesis Question

Taking Your Position in the Conversation: Your Synthesis

Shaping and Drafting

Writing a Thesis for a Synthesis Essay

Organizing a Synthesis Essay

Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTION: DISCUSSION POST

Reading

Rosie Evans (student), Boomerang Kids: What Are the Causes of Generation Y’s Growing Pains?

9 Writing A Classical Argument

Engaging Classical Argument

Understanding Classical Argument

What Is Argument?

Stages of Development: Your Growth as an Arguer

Creating an Argument Frame: A Claim with Reasons

Articulating Reasons

Articulating Underlying Assumptions

Using Evidence Effectively

Evaluating Evidence: The STAR Criteria

Addressing Objections and Counterarguments

Responding to Objections, Counterarguments, and Alternative Views

Seeking Audience-Based Reasons

Appealing to Ethos and Pathos

A Brief Primer on Informal Fallacies

WRITING PROJECT A CLASSICAL ARGUMENT

Generating and Exploring Ideas

Shaping and Drafting

Questions for Peer Review

WriWRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: VIDEO, ADVOCACY AD, AND BUMPER STICKER

Readings

Ross Taylor (student), Paintball

Claire Giordano (student), Virtual Promise: Why Online Courses Will Not Adequately Prepare Us for the Future (APA format research paper)

10 Proposing A Solution

Engaging Proposal Writing

Understanding Proposal Writing

Special Challenges of Proposal Arguments

Developing an Effective Justification Section

Multimodal Proposal Arguments

WRITING PROJECT A PROPOSAL ARGUMENT

Generating and Exploring Ideas

Shaping and Drafting

Revising

Questions for Peer Review

WRITING PROJECT MULTIMODAL OR ONLINE OPTIONS: ADVOCACY AD OR POSTER AND SPEECH WITH VISUAL AIDS

Readings

Lucy Morsen (student), A Proposal to Improve the Campus Learning Environment by Banning Laptops and Cell Phones from Class

Sam Rothchild (student), Reward Work Not Wealth (oral presentation with visual aids)

Kent Ansen (student), Engaging Young Adults to Meet America’s Challenges: A Proposal for Mandatory National Service (MLA format research paper)

Part 3 A Guide To Composing and Revising

11 Writing As A Problem-Solving Process

SKILL 11.1 F ollow the experts’ practice of using multiple drafts.

Why Expert Writers Revise So Extensively

An Expert’s Writing Processes Are Recursive

SKILL 11.2 R evise globally as well as locally.

SKILL 11.3 D evelop ten expert habits to improve your writing processes.

SKILL 11.4 Use peer reviews to help you think like an expert.

Becoming a Helpful Reader of Classmates’ Drafts

Using a Generic Peer Review Guide

Participating in Peer Review Workshops

Responding to Peer Reviews

12 Strategies For Writing Closed-Form Prose

SKILL 12.1 Satisfy reader expectations by linking new material to old material.

The Principle of Old before New

How the Principle of Old Before New Creates Unified and Coherent Paragraphs

The Explanatory Power of the Principle of Old before New

SKILL 12.2 N utshell your argument and visualize its structure.

Make a List of “Chunks” and a Scratch Outline Early in the Writing Process

To Achieve Focus, “Nutshell” Your Argument and Create a Working Thesis Statement

Visualizing Your Structure

SKILL 12.3 Start and end with the “big picture” through effective titles, introductions, and conclusions.

What Not to Do: “Topic Title” and the “Funnel Introduction”

Creating Effective Titles

Writing Good Closed-Form Introductions

Writing Effective Conclusions

SKILL 12.4 Create effective topic sentences for paragraphs.

Placing Topic Sentences at the Beginning of Paragraphs

Revising Paragraphs for Unity

Adding Particulars to Support Points

SKILL 12.5 G uide your reader with transitions and other signposts.

Using Common Transition Words to Signal Relationships

Writing Major Transitions between Parts

Signaling Major Transitions with Headings

SKILL 12.6 Bind sentences together by placing old information before new information.

The Old/New Contract in Sentences

How to Make Links to the “Old”

Avoiding Ambiguous Use of “This” to Fulfill the Old/New Contract

SKILL 12.7 Use effective tables, graphs, and charts to present numeric data.

How Tables Tell Many Stories

Using a Graphic to Tell a Story

Incorporating a Graphic into Your Essay

13 Strategies For Composing Multimodal Texts

SKILL 13.1 Consider a range of multimodal options for accomplishing your purpose.

SKILL 13.2 D esign multimodal texts so that each mode contributes its own strengths to the message.

This Design Principle at Work In Successful Multimodal Texts

Using This Design Principle to Revise a Jumbled Multimodal Text

SKILL 13.3 D esign multimodal genres including posters, speeches with visual aids, podcasts, and videos.

Informational or Advocacy Posters, Brochures, Flyers, and Ads

Speeches with Visual Aids (PowerPoint, Prezi, Pechakucha)

Scripted Speech (Podcasts, Video Voiceovers)

Videos

Part 4 A Rhetorical Guide To Research

14 Using Sources

SKILL 14.1 E valuate sources for reliability, credibility, angle of vision, and degree of advocacy.

Reliability

Credibility

Angle of Vision and Political Stance

Degree of Advocacy

Criteria for Evaluating a Web Source

SKILL 14.2 Know when and how to use summary, paraphrase, and quotation.

Summarizing

Paraphrasing

Quoting

SKILL 14.3 Use attributive tags to distinguish your ideas from a source’s.

Attributive Tags Mark Where Source Material Starts and Ends

Attributive Tags Avoid Ambiguities that Can Arise with Parenthetical Citations

Attributive Tags Frame the Source Material Rhetorically

SKILL 14.4 Avoid plagiarism by following academic conventions for ethical use of sources.

Why Some Kinds of Plagiarism May Occur Unwittingly

Strategies for Avoiding Plagiarism

15 Citing and Documenting Sources

SKILL 15.1 Cite and document sources using MLA style.

In-Text Citations in MLA Style

Works Cited List in MLA Style

MLA Citation Models

MLA Format Research Paper

SKILL 15.2 Cite and document sources using APA style.

In-Text Citations in APA Style

References List in APA Style

APA Citation Models

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