Bridges A Reader for Writers

by Holladay, Sylvia A.

• ISBN13: 9780131847606
• ISBN10: 0131847600
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-11
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

The purpose of this reader is to help readers build bridges among understanding and using the four communication skillslistening, speaking, reading, and writingand their interrelations, focusing on how the other three can help them improve their writing skills. Through this diverse presentation of readings and oral activities, readers discover something meaningful to write about, and through examples, practice, and feedback, they will develop both competence and confidence, improving their writing.A diverse collection of readings in Part IIContains selections on eight topics that are familiar and interesting: Home and Family; Youth and Age; Education; Gender Roles and Relationships; The World of Work; Dreams, Goals, Decisions; Popular Culture; and Science and Technology.For anyone wanting to improve their writing skills.

Table of Contents

Alternate Table of Contents for Part 2: Rhetorical Patterns	xvii
Alternate Table of Contents for Part 2: Sources of Ideas for Writing	xxi
Preface	xxiii
PART 1 COMMUNICATING AND WRITING IN COLLEGE	1	(50)
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Students	2	(8)
You Are a Writer	2	(1)
You Can Improve Your Writing	2	(2)
Lessening Writing Anxiety	3	(1)
Why Reading Is Important for Writers	4	(1)
You Can Be Successful in This Class	4	(1)
How to Use This Textbook	5	(5)
Tips for Using This Textbook	6	(4)
Studying Vocabulary	7	(1)
Reading for Comprehension	7	(1)
Discussing What You Read	7	(1)
Writing About What You Read	8	(2)
CHAPTER 2 Responding to What You Read and Hear	10	(10)
Communicating: Sending and Receiving	10	(1)
The Process of Communicating	10	(1)
Complexity of the Process of Communications	10	(1)
Taking Notes	11	(3)
Taking Notes as a Listener in Class	12	(1)
Taking Notes as a Reader in College	13	(1)
Annotating What You Read	14	(3)
Outlining What You Read	17	(1)
Summarizing What You Read	18	(2)
CHAPTER 3 Writing in College	20	(31)
The Journal	20	(3)
The Paraphrase	23	(2)
The Synopsis	25	(1)
The Academic Paragraph	26	(4)
The Academic Essay	30	(22)
Structure of the Academic Essay	30	(1)
Introduction	30	(1)
Body	30	(1)
Conclusion	31	(1)
Rhetorical Elements of the Academic Essay	31	(1)
Unity	31	(1)
Organization	31	(1)
Development	31	(1)
Coherence	31	(1)
The Process of Composing	32	(1)
Prewriting	32	(1)
Writing	33	(1)
Rewriting	33	(1)
Preparing to Write	33	(1)
Example of the Academic Essay	34	(3)
Annotated Drafts of a Student Academic Essay	37	(10)
Checklist for Revising and Editing	47	(4)
PART 2 READINGS FOR WRITERS	51	(296)
CHAPTER 4 Home and Family	52	(37)
One can never leave home. One carries the hopes and dreams of home eternally just under the skin.
MAYA ANGELOU
Li-Young Lee, The Gift	53	(2)
I did what a child does When he's given something to keep.
Linda Hogan, Heritage	55	(4)
From my family I have learned the secrets...
Helen Bottel, What Is a Family?	59	(3)
A family is a group of close relatives who go through all sorts of hectic things together.
Bronwen Dickey, He Caught the Dream	62	(6)
And my father's eyes, though they will not see my graduation, my marriage or my children, will always be somewhat strangely more than blue.
David Crary, Some Want Curbs on Military Moms	68	(5)
It's an issue that will have to be handled very carefully.
Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud, Blue Winds Dancing	73	(9)
[B]eyond the mountains there is home. Home, and peace, and the beat of drums, and blue winds dancing over snowfields.
David W. Lipscomb [Student], I Wish I'd Been There	82	(8)
As we come to terms with sudden change, it is then that second thoughts and regrets begin to assert themselves.
CHAPTER 5 Youth and Age	89	(37)
The complete life, the perfect pattern, includes old age as well as youth and maturity.
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
Anne Sexton, The Fury of Overshoes	90	(3)
Under your bed sat the wolf and he made a shadow when cars passed by at night.
Maya Angelou, On Aging	93	(2)
Understanding if you got it, Otherwise I'll do without it!
Gabriel Horn, White Deer of Autumn, The Door	95	(7)
Living in a childhood paradise with Mrs. Basic, I got to see every day how everything around my world rim was somehow connected.
Kitty Oliver, The Anxiety Button	102	(7)
Beneath the veneer of tranquility of the old days, about which people wax nostalgically today, lurked a message that was programmed into me early: the world was not safe for a female child.
Mike Males, Teenagers Are Not Becoming More Violent	109	(5)
The commentators who magnify a teenage gunman into a poster child for "youth culture" gone awry do not similarly portray a grown-up who commits atrocity as reflecting a diseased "middle-age culture."
Ernest Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place	114	(6)
I am one of those who like to stay late at the cafe,...With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night.
Katherine E. Zondlo [Student], It's Not Just a Phase	120	(7)
"It's just a phase" is a belittling and harmful remark, but one that adolescents hear almost every day to dismiss behavior that adults simply don't (want to) understand.
CHAPTER 6 Education	126	(31)
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
THOMAS JEFFERSON
Langston Hughes, Theme for English B	127	(3)
As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me
Sylvia Hicks, To Yrik	130	(3)
You came into my life searching Your sophisticated charm concealing Innocence
George McGovern, A Painful Bashfulness	133	(4)
I am convinced that good teachers may be as important in the development of a child as good parents.
From Time Magazine, Relationships 101	137	(4)
There is a great hunger for understanding relationships, not just body parts.
Clarence Page, To Educate One's Children in the Rules of Race	141	(5)
Children do not imbue race with much meaning, and they remind us, however, briefly, that we adults shouldn't either.
Shirley Jackson, Charles	146	(6)
Bound to be people like Charles in the world. Might as well meet them now as later.
Emily Rubino [Student], Advice to a High School Sophomore	152	(6)
High school can be an overwhelming and exciting time for students, especially sophomores.
CHAPTER 7 Gender Roles and Relationships	157	(40)
Everyone admits that love is wonderful and necessary, yet no one agrees on just what it is.
DIANE ACKERMAN
Kenneth Koch, Permanently	158	(2)
You have enchanted me with a single kiss Which can never be undone Until the destruction of language.
Thomas Hardy, Neutral Tones	160	(2)
And some words played between us to and fro On which lost the more by our love.
Judith Viorst, Friends, Good Friends-and Such Good Friends	162	(7)
The best of friends, I still believe, totally love and support and trust each other
Laura Ullman, Will You Go Out with Me?	169	(4)
More women, are inviting men out, and men say they are delighted
Leo Buscaglia, Love As A Learned Phenomenon	173	(13)
How man learns to love seems to be directly related to his ability to learn, those in his environment who will teach him as well as the type, extent and sophistication of his culture.
John Collier, The Chaser	186	(6)
Then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off and want more expensive things.
Lindy Cleland [Student], "Until Death Do Us Part," or "Until Our Feelings Change"	192	(6)
Society's increased tolerance and acceptance of divorce over recent decades has lessened the stigma attached to marriage dissolution.
CHAPTER 8 Dreams, Goals, Decisions	197	(37)
I love the challenge of doing things people say can't be done. The minute somebody says, "That can't be done," I respond by thinking it would be interesting, exciting, and fulfilling to prove it can be done.
RUDY GIULIANI
Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken	198	(3)
I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference
Anonymous Haiku, Dead My Old Fine Hopes	201	(2)
But still iris blue each spring.
Julia Alvarez, I Want to Be Miss América	203	(7)
We had already acquired the habit of doubting ourselves as well as the place we came from.
Bertice Berry, Changing the Tapes	210	(5)
By changing the emotions that are evoked, my humor tries to interrupt the tapes in people's heads
Frank Lalli, Guts, Grace, and Glory: Face to Face with Rudy Giuliani	215	(10)
The beautiful things in life have to go on.
Garrison Keillor, My Family	225	(5)
Of dreams postponed and finally lost, Which one of us can count the cost And not be filled with tears?
Joseph Geil [Student], The Loss of Dreams	230	(5)
Had the protagonists focused on reality and those things obtainable to bring true happiness, then their lives could have brought the greatness they desired.
CHAPTER 9 Popular Culture	234	(42)
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
ALBERT EINSTEIN
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Indian Movie, New Jersey	235	(3)
Here...we can trust in movie truths: sacrifice, success, love and luck
Robert Bly, Watching Television	238	(3)
The filaments of the soul slowly separate; The spirit breaks, a puff of dust floats up
Jaime Marcus, Sports Hero: MuhammedAli	241	(4)
Ali has shown that a sport can be more than entertainment; it can also be a cultural event with the power to change social values.
Michael Dorris, Crazy Horse Malt Liquor	245	(4)
For five hundred years flesh and blood Indians have been assigned the role of a popular culture metaphor.
Chiori Santiago, Families Should Attempt to Live Without Television	249	(6)
Television isn't so much bad as it is mindless. What bothers me is not the level of distasteful content, but the lack of content.
Elizabeth Thoman, Media Literacy Education Can Address the Problem of Media Violence	255	(7)
I believe that media literacy education is a fresh and valuable contribution to ultimately reducing the depiction of violence on television and in the media.
Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Portable Phonograph	262	(8)
We need the absolute if we are to keep a grasp on anything.
Nathan E. Florand [Student], Death by Video Game: Fact or Fiction?	270	(7)
...People now more than ever, use videogames as scapegoats for any and all unfortunate incidents that save.
CHAPTER 10 The World of Work	276	(34)
Man today lives a robot life, one in which he is deprived of his own being and becomes instead a mere role, occupation, or function.
CHARLES A. REICH
Marge Piercy, To be of use	277	(33)
The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real.
Layman P'ang, When the Mind Is At Peace	279	(2)
When the mind is at peace, the world too is at peace.
Katherine S. Newman, From No Shame in My Game	281	(8)
The hidden knowledge locked up inside what appears to surface observers (and to many employees themselves) as a job that requires no thinking, no planning, and no skill.
Susan Greenfield, Flexible Futures	289	(4)
Our jobs define who we are, but the blurring of work and home life could lead our sense of who we are to unravel at the seams.
Ellen Goodman, The Do-It-Yourself Economy	293	(4)
You and I, my fellow Americans, have become the unpaid laborers of a do-it-yourself economy.
John Updike, A & P	297	(8)
My stomach kind offal as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter.
Matthew Derek [Student], My Worst Job Ever	305	(6)
I got dropped off at work, worked 10 or more hours a day, got picked up from work, went home, went to bed, and did it again.
CHAPTER 11 Science and Technology	310	(37)
Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.
H.M. JONES
Alan P. Lightman, In Computers	311	(1)
Nothing will be lost. Nothing will be lost.
Sylvia Hicks, The Leading Edge	312	(3)
today we are on the brink of a new world of technology
Lewis Thomas, My Magical Metronome	315	(5)
What I thought, and then said, was that this was one of the things about which a man is not entitled to his own opinion.
John Naisbitt, From Forced Technology to High Tech/High Touch	320	(6)
We must learn to balance the material wonders of technology with the spiritual demands of our human nature.
Bruce Bower, Mind-Expanding Machines	326	(8)
It may be too hard to unravel the computational principles of intelligence by trying to build computers modeled on the processes of human thought.
Ian Frazier, Techno-Thriller	334	(5)
The numbers are moving, going backward to zero. The clock has about fifty-eight seconds on it.
Michael Caple [Student], What Happened to ATVs?	339	(8)
If society took responsibility for their actions, they would still be able to enjoy a lot of things they no longer have.
Literary Acknowledgments	347

Excerpts

In Bertice Berry's autobiographyBertice: The World According to Me,she writes that "By changing the emotions that are evoked, she tries to interrupt the tapes in people's heads" and adds "Herein lies the possibility to create change." When I first conceived the idea for this textbook, I had not read Berry's book, but I had a similar idea: I wanted to prepare a textbook that would change the emotions and attitudes as well as increase the knowledge and improve the competencies of students entering college writing courses. When I did read her book, I realized that what I hope to do is "change the tapes" in students' heads. I want students to hear positive, not negative, voices in their heads, voices that encourage, not discourage, them in their attempts to improve their writing abilities.Bridges: A Reader for Writersis a reader intended to provide positive activities and thoughts for students in beginning composition courses in college. Throughout the textbook, the cognitive is integrated with the affective to help students develop writing skills, build confidence, and cope with writing apprehension. The selections provide varied opportunities for students to read, discuss, and practice the processes and patterns of writing. The book encourages feedback from classmates as well as the instructor at all stages of the writing process. The study aids help students understand the bridges and interconnections among the four aspects of the communications process--speaking, listening, reading, and writing.It may be used with a handbook or rhetoric.The emphasis is on writing from experience and helping students to realize that they have a broad range of experience from which to find topics, to discover evidence for writing, to write for a variety of audiences, and to construct both expository and argumentative essays for adult readers. The selections in this anthology--essays (both professional and student), poems, short stories--are brief and on topics of easy access and high interest to entering students in order to stimulate their thought and discussion. Drawn from a variety of authors and sources, the selections are appropriate for students of diverse backgrounds, abilities, interests, and goals. They are arranged topically, but two alternate tables of contents--rhetorical patterns and sources of ideas for writers--are also included. The study aids at the end of each selection include not only questions for vocabulary study, comprehension, and discussion, but also suggestions for practice in effective word choice, grammatical patterns, sentence patterns, paragraphing, and essay construction to help students improve their writing.At the end of the course, I hope that the tapes in students' heads will be changed--that they will say, "I now understand better what I have to do to write more effectively" "I have improved my writing ability and want to continue to improve," and "I realize that although most writing is hard work, it can be fun and rewarding."Many people contribute to a project such as this one, and I would like to thank all of them. First, I want to thank my students and colleagues--past and present; much that I have learned from them is reflected in this book. A special thanks goes to Craig Campanella, Senior Editor for English at Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education, for his confidence in me and guidance in this project. Gail Linton, Prentice Hall Sales Representative in Florida, provided encouragement and liaison. Other important members of the Prentice Hall staf include Joan Polk, Editorial Assistant; Kate Stewart, Marketing Manager; and Marianne Peters-Riordan, Production Liaison. In addition, I want to thank Kelly Keeler, Production Editor at GGS Production Services, who worked closely and patiently with me on the copyediting and production of the final manuscript. Thanks also to others who worked on the preparation o