English Skills with Readings: Text, Student CD, OLC Bind-In Card

by Langan, John; Rogers, Bruce

• ISBN13: 9780073215174
• ISBN10: 0073215171
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-09
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages

Summary

One of the most comprehensive and well-respected books of its kind, this best-selling rhetoric/reader/handbook is designed for developmental writing courses that focus on paragraph writing skills in preparation for essay writing.English Skills with Readings features John Langan's crystal-clear explanations and his wide range of motivating activities and writing assingments that effectively reinforce the Four Bases of Effective Writing: Unity, Support, Coherence, and Sentence Skills.

Table of Contents

Readings Listed by Rhetorical Mode

To the Instructor

PART ONE: BASIC PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WRITING

Preview

1. An Introduction to Writing

Understanding Point and Support

An Overview: How the Book is Organized

Benefits of Paragraph Writing

Writing as a Skill

Writing as a Process of Discovery

Keeping a Journal

Using This Text

2. The Writing Process

Prewriting

Writing a First Draft

Revising

Editing

Review Activities

3. The First and Second Steps in Writing

Step 1: Begin with a Point

Step 2: Support the Point with Specific Evidence

Reinforcing Point and Support

The Importance of Specific Details

The Importance of Adequate Details

Practice in Making and Supporting a Point

4. The Third Step in Writing

Step 3: Organize and Connect the Specific Evidence

Practice in Organizing and Connecting Specific Evidence

5. The Fourth Step in Writing

Step 4: Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences

Revising Sentences

Editing Sentences

Practice in Revising Sentences

6.Four Bases for Revising Writing

Base 1: Unity

Base 2: Support

Base 3: Coherence

Base 4: Sentence Skills

Practice in Using the Four Bases

PART TWO: PARAGRAPH DEVELOPMENT

Preview

7. Introduction to Paragraph Development

Nine Patterns of Paragraph Development

Important Considerations in Paragraph Development

Using a Computer

Using Peer Review

Doing a Personal Review

8. Providing Examples

9. Explaining a Process

10. Examining Cause and Effect

11. Comparing or Contrasting

12. Defining a Term

13. Dividing and Classifying

14. Describing a Scene or Person

15. Narrating an Event

16. Arguing a Position

PART THREE: ESSAY DEVELOPMENT

Preview

17. Additional Paragraph Assignments

18. Writing the Essay

What Is an Essay?

Important Points about the Essay

Essays to Consider

Planning the Essay

Practice in Writing the Essay

Essay Assignments

PART FOUR: A QUICK GUIDE TO RESEARCH

Preview

19. A Quick Guide to Research

PART FIVE: HANDBOOK OF SENTENCE SKILLS

Preview

Sentence-Skills Diagnostic Test

Grammar

20. Subjects and Verbs

21. Sentence Sense

22. Fragments

23. Run-Ons

24. Standard English Verbs

25. Irregular Verbs

26. Subject-Verb Agreement

27. Pronoun Agreement and Reference

28. Pronoun Types

29. Adjectives and Adverbs

30. Misplaced Modifiers

31. Dangling Modifiers

Mechanics

32. Paper Format

33. Capital Letters

34. Numbers and Abbreviations

Punctuation

35. Apostrophe

36. Quotation Marks

37. Comma

38. Other Punctuation Marks

Word Use

39. Using the Dictionary

40. Improving Spelling

41. Vocabulary Development

43. Commonly Confused Words

44. Effective Word Choice

45. ESL Pointers

Practice

46. Combined Mastery Tests

47. Editing Tests

Sentence-Skills Achievement Test

PART SIX: SEVENTEEN READING SELECTIONS

Preview

Introduction to the Readings

Goals and Values

All the Good Things by Sister Helen Mrosla

Rowing the Bus by Paul Logan

The Scholarship Jacket by Marta Salinas

Joe Davis: A Cool Man by Beth Johnson

Tickets to Nowhere by Andy Rooney

What Good Families Are Doing Right by Delores Curran

Education and Self-Improvement

Do It Better! by Ben Carson, M.D. with Cecil Murphey

Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name by James Lincoln Collier

Old Before Her Time by Katherine Barrett

Let's Really Reform Our Schools by Anita Garland

How They Get You to Do That by Janny Scott

Dealing with Feelings by Rudolph F. Verderber

Human Groups and Society

The Most Hateful Words by Amy Tan

The Storyteller, Adapted from H.H. Munro ("Saki")

Rudeness at the Movies by Bill Wine

Bullies in School by Kathleen Berger

A Drunken Ride, a Tragic Aftermath by Theresa Conroy and Christine M. Johnson

Appendix: Answers and Charts

Preview

Answers to Sentence Skills Diagnostic Test and Introductory Projects

Charts

Acknowledgments

Index