Models for Writers Short Essays for Composition

by Rosa, Alfred; Eschholz, Paul

• ISBN13: 9780312552015
• ISBN10: 0312552017
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-05
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

It's a simple, best-selling combination that has worked for thousands of students short, accessible essays and helpful, thorough writing instruction. Models for Writerscontinues to offer thought-provoking selections organized to demonstrate not only the rhetorical patterns that students will use in their own essays but also the elements and language that will make those essays effective. This edition offers more coverage of the key elements of academic writing, including new strategies for writing a research paper and a section on writing a reflective essay.

Author Biography

Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa are professors emeriti of English at the University of Vermont. They have directed statewide writing programs and conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on writing and the teaching of writing.  Eschholz and Rosa have collaborated on a number of best-selling texts for Bedford/St. Martin's, including Subject & Strategy, Twelfth Edition; with Virginia Clark, Language Awareness, Tenth Edition; with Virginia Clark and Beth Simon, Language: Readings in Language and Culture, Seventh Edition; and Outlooks and Insights: A Reader for College Writers, Fourth Edition. Eschholz and Rosa have one of the longest-running writing partnerships in college textbook publishing, extending back to 1971.

Table of Contents

* new to this edition

 

Part One: On Reading and Writing Well

1 The Writing Process   
Prewriting 
Writing the First Draft
Revising
Editing
Proofreading
Writing an Expository Essay: A Student Essay in Progress
Jeffrey Olesky, “Golf: A Character Builder”

 

2 From Reading to Writing  
Getting the Most Out of Your Reading
Rachel Carson, “Fable for Tomorrow”
Using Your Reading in the Writing Process
Writing from Reading: Four Sample Student Essays
* A Narrative Essay: Trena Isley, “On the Sidelines” (student essay)
A Response Essay: Zoe Ockenga, “The Excuse ‘Not To’” (student essay)
* A Reflective Essay: Jennifer Chu, “A Bowl of Noodles” (student essay)
* An Argumentative Essay: James Duffy, “One Dying Wish” (student essay)

 

Part Two: The Elements of the Essay

Note: Readings in Chapters 3-22 follow the same structure as listed here for Helen Keller, “The Most Important Day.” For brevity, the apparatus subheadings are not repeated.

 

3 Thesis             
Helen Keller, “The Most Important Day”
Reflecting on What You Know
Thinking Critically about This Reading
Questions for Study and Discussion
Classroom Activity Using Thesis
Suggested Writing Assignments

Natalie Goldberg, Be Specific

James Lincoln Collier, “Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name”

 

4 Unity   
Thomas L. Friedman, “My Favorite Teacher”
Sandra Cisneros, “My Name”
Gloria Naylor, The Meanings of a Word

 

5  Organization   
Cherokee Paul McDonald, “A View from the Bridge”  
Audrey Schulman, “Fahrenheit 59: What a Child’s Fever Might Tell Us about Climate
Change”   
* Sean Prentiss, “Buying a House”

 

6 Beginnings and Endings    
Michael T. Kaufman, “Of My Friend Hector and My Achilles Heel”
Richard Lederer, “The Case for Short Words”  
Carl T. Rowan, “Unforgettable Miss Bessie”

 

7 Paragraphs   
William Zinsser, “Simplicity”
Mike Rose, “I Just Wanna Be Average”
* Tobias Wolff, “The Last Shot”

 

8 Transitions   
David Raymond, “On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read”
Russell Baker, “Becoming a Writer”
Nancy Gibbs, “The Magic of the Family Meal”

 

9 Effective Sentences   
Alice Walker, “Childhood”
Langston Hughes, “Salvation”
* Judith Ortiz Cofer, “Volar”

 

10 Writing with Sources
Sharon Begley, “Praise the Humble Dung Beetle”
Jake Jamieson, “The English-Only Movement: Can America Proscribe Language with a Clear Conscience?”
* Terry Tempest Williams, “The Clan of One-Breasted Women”

 

Part Three: The Language of the Essay

 

11 Diction and Tone  
Dick Gregory, “Shame”
David Sedaris, “Me Talk Pretty One Day”
* Tina McElroy Ansa, “The Center of the Universe”
* Brian Doyle, “Irreconcilable Dissonance”

 

12 Figurative Language  
Robert Ramirez, “The Barrio”
Anne Lamott, “Polaroids”
* Benjamin Percy, Invasion

 

Part Four: Types of Essays

13 Illustration   
Barbara Huttmann, “A Crime of Compassion”
Gregory Pence, “Let’s Think Outside the Box of Bad Clichés”
* Verlyn Klinkenborg, “Our Vanishing Night”
Steven Pinker, “In Defense of Dangerous Ideas” 

 

14 Narration   
Henry Louis Gates Jr., “What’s in a Name?”
* Erin Murphy, “White Lies”
Maya Angelou, “Momma, the Dentist, and Me
Kate Chopin, The Story of an Hour

 

15 Description      
Eudora Welty, “The Corner Store”
* Joanne Lipman, “And the Orchestra Played On”
* Kyoko Mori, “Yarn”
* Salman Rushdie, “The Taj Majal”

 

16  Process Analysis   
Paul Merrill, “The Principles of Poor Writing”
* Nicholson Baker, “How to Make Chocolate Sauce”  
* Diane Ackerman, “Why Leaves Turn Color”

 

17 Definition    
Lawrence M. Friedman, “What Is Crime?”
Ellen Goodman, “The Company Man”
* Eduardo Porter, “What Happiness Is”

 

18 Division and Classification   
Martin Luther King Jr., “The Ways of Meeting Oppression”
* Marion Winik, “What Are Friends For?”
William Lutz, “Doubts about Doublespeak”

 

19 Comparison and Contrast    
Mark Twain, “Two Ways of Seeing a River”
* Suzanne Britt, “That Lean and Hungry Look”
 Bharati Mukherjee, “Two Ways to Belong in America”
* Amanda Ripley, “Who Says a Woman Can’t Be Einstein?”

 

20 Cause and Effect   
* Gita Mehta, “The Famine of Bengal”
Stephen King, “Why We Crave Horror Movies”
Myriam Marquez, “Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public”
Sanjay Gupta, “Stuck on the Couch”  

             

21 Argument       
Thomas Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”
Martin Luther King Jr., “I Have a Dream”
* Dave Zirin, “What Pro Sports Owners Owe Us”
Mary Sherry, “In Praise of the F Word”
Crime: What Constitutes an Effective Punishment?
June Tangney, “Condemn the Crime, Not the Person”
Dan M. Kahan, “Shame Is Worth a Try”
* Carl M. Cannon, “Petty Crime, Outrageous Punishment”
Advertising: How Does It Affect Our Lives?
* Allen D. Kanner, “The Piracy of Privacy”
* Terry O’Reilly, “Marketing Ate Our Culture–But It Doesn’t Have To”
* Ruth La Ferla, “Generation E.A.: Ethnically Ambiguous”
Critical Thinking: Advertisements for Analysis
* Hugh Rank, “Intensify/Downplay”
 Torture:  Are We For or Against It?    
 * Charles Krauthammer, “The Truth about Torture”
 * Andrew Sullivan, “The Abolition of Torture”

 

22 Brief Guide to Writing a Research Paper    
An Annotated Student Research Paper:  Cori Schmidtbauer, “To Facebook or Not” (student essay)