With more critical reading coverage than any other composition reader, Reading Critically, Writing Well helps students read for meaning and read like a writer, and it guides them to use what they've learned in their writing. Each of the book’s 8 assignment chapters includes a specific guide to reading that challenges students to analyze the authors’ techniques as well as a step-by-step guide to writing and revising that helps them apply these techniques to their own essays.

Now with more readings in each chapter, including 17 provocative new professional selections and student models covering a range of disciplines, this new edition features hands-on activities for critical analysis and invention, helpful reading and research strategies (including 2016 MLA coverage), and multiple opportunities for summary and synthesis. Accessible instruction, engaging readings, and effective writing assignments make Reading Critically, Writing Well ideal for instructors who want the support and readings to demonstrate effective rhetorical choices that students can make in their own writing.

Contents by Theme

Contents by Discipline

CHAPTER 1 ACADEMIC HABITS OF MIND: FROM READING CRITICALLY TO WRITING WELL
Joining the Academic Conversation

Developing Curiosity

Analyzing Ideas

Developing Rhetorical Sensitivity

Exploring the Rhetorical Situation

From Reading Critically to Writing Well

The Writing Process

CHAPTER 2 A CATALOG OF READING STRATEGIES
Annotating

Martin Luther King Jr., "An Annotated Sample from "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

Taking Inventory

Outlining

Summarizing

Paraphrasing

Synthesizing

Analyzing Assumptions

Contextualizing

Exploring the Significance of Figurative Language

Analyzing Visuals

Looking for Patterns of Opposition

Reflecting on Challenges to Your Beliefs and Values

Comparing and Contrasting Related Readings

Lewis H. Van Dusen Jr., "Legitimate Pressures and Illegitimate Results"

Evaluating the Logic of an Argument

Recognizing Logical Fallacies

Recognizing Emotional Manipulation

Judging the Writer’s Credibility

CHAPTER 3 AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Rhetorical Situations for Autobiographies
A GUIDE TO READING AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Annie Dillard, "An American Childhood"

*David Sedaris, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" (Annotated Essay)

Tom Ruprecht, "In Too Deep"

Saira Shah, "Longing to Belong"

Jenée Desmond-Harris, "Tupac and My Non-Thug Life"

Brad Benioff, "Rick" (Student Essay)
A GUIDE TO WRITING AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 4 OBSERVATION

Rhetorical Situations for Observations
A GUIDE TO READING OBSERVATIONS

The New Yorker, "Soup"

*Leslie Jamison, "The Immortal Horizon" (Annotated Essay)

John T. Edge, "I’m Not Leaving Until I Eat This Thing"

Gabriel Thompson, "A Gringo in the Lettuce Fields"

Amanda Coyne, "The Long Goodbye: Mother's Day in Federal Prison"

Brian Cable, "The Last Stop" (Student Essay)
A GUIDE TO WRITING OBSERVATIONAL ESSAYS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 5 REFLECTION

Rhetorical Situations for Reflections
A GUIDE TO READING REFLECTIVE ESSAYS

Brent Staples, "Black Men and Public Space"

Dana Jennings, "Our Scars Tell the Stories of Our Lives" (Annotated Essay)

*Marina Keegan, "Stability in Motion"

*Jacqueline Woodson, "The Pain of the Watermelon Joke"

*Manuel Muñoz, "Leave Your Name at the Border"

Katherine Haines, "Whose Body Is This?" (Student Essay)
A GUIDE TO WRITING REFLECTIVE ESSAYS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 6 EXPLAINING CONCEPTS

Rhetorical Situations for Concept Explanations
A GUIDE TO READING ESSAYS EXPLAINING CONCEPTS

Susan Cain, "Shyness: Evolutionary Tactic?"

*John Tierney, "Do You Suffer from Decision Fatigue?" (Annotated Essay)

*Alexis C. Madrigal, "The Machine Zone"

*Melanie Tannenbaum, "The Problem When Sexism Just Sounds So Darn Friendly"

*Michael Pollan, "Altered State: Why 'Natural' Doesn't Mean Anything"

Linh Kieu Ngo, "Cannibalism: It Still Exists" (Student Essay)
A GUIDE TO WRITING ESSAYS EXPLAINING CONCEPTS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 7 EVALUATION

Rhetorical Situations for Evaluations

A GUIDE TO READING EVALUATIONS

Amitai Etzioni, "Working at McDonald’s"

*Molly McHugh, "This App Digitally Curates Your Messiest Relationships. Yay?" (Annotated Essay)

*Emily Nussbaum, "The Aristocrats: The Graphic Arts of Game of Thrones"

Malcolm Gladwell, "What College Rankings Really Tell Us"

Christine Rosen, "The Myth of Multitasking"

Christine Romano, "Jessica Statsky’s ‘Children Need to Play, Not Compete’: An Evaluation" (Student Essay)
A GUIDE TO WRITING EVALUATIONS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 8 ARGUING FOR A POSITION

Rhetorical Situations for Position Arguments
A GUIDE TO READING ESSAYS ARGUING FOR A POSITION

Brian Greene, "Put a Little Science in Your Life"

*David Z. Hambrick and Christopher Chabris, "Yes, IQ Really Matters" (Annotated Essay)

Sherry Turkle, "The Flight from Conversation"

Daniel J. Solove, "Why Privacy Matters Even If You Have ‘Nothing to Hide’"

*Miya Tokumitsu, "In the Name of Love"

Jessica Statsky, "Children Need to Play, Not Compete" (Student Essay)

A GUIDE TO WRITING ESSAYS ARGUING FOR A POSITION

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 9 SPECULATING ABOUT CAUSES OR EFFECTS

Rhetorical Situations for Speculating about Causes or Effects

A GUIDE TO READING ESSAYS SPECULATING ABOUT CAUSES OR EFFECTS

Stephen King, "Why We Crave Horror Movies"

*Eve Fairbanks, "How Did Sleep Become So Nightmarish?" (Annotated Essay)

Shankar Vedantam, "The Telescope Effect"

Nicholas Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

*Sendhil Mullainathan, "The Mental Strain of Making Do with Less"

*Clayton Pangelinan, #socialnetworking: Why It’s Really So Popular" (Student Essay)

A GUIDE TO WRITING ESSAYS SPECULATING ABOUT CAUSES OR EFFECTS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

CHAPTER 10 PROPOSAL TO SOLVE A PROBLEM

Rhetorical Situations for Proposals

A GUIDE TO READING PROPOSALS

David Bornstein, "Fighting Bullying with Babies"

*Harold Meyerson, "How to Raise Americans’ Wages" (Annotated Essay)

*Naomi Rose, "Captivity Kills Orcas"

William F. Shughart II, "Why Not a Football Degree?"

Kelly D. Brownell and Thomas R. Frieden, "Ounces of Prevention—The Public Policy Case for Taxes on Sugared Beverages"

Patrick O’Malley, "More Testing, More Learning" (Student Essay)

A GUIDE TO WRITING PROPOSALS

Writing Your Draft

Reviewing and Improving the Draft

APPENDIX: STRATEGIES FOR RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION
Planning a Research Project

Analyzing Your Rhetorical Situation and Setting a Schedule

Choosing a Topic and Getting an Overview

Focusing Your Topic and Drafting Research Questions

Establishing a Research Log

Creating a Working Bibliography

Annotating Your Working Bibliography

Taking Notes on Your Sources

Finding Sources

Searching Library Catalogs and Databases

Searching for Government Documents and Statistical Information

Searching for Websites and Interactive Sources

Conducting Field Research

Conducting Observational Studies

Conducting Interviews

Conducting Surveys

Evaluating Sources

Choosing Relevant Sources

Choosing Reliable Sources

Using Sources to Support Your Ideas

Synthesizing Sources

Acknowledging Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

Using Information from Sources to Support Your Claims

Citing and Documenting Sources in MLA Style

Using In-Text Citations

Creating a List of Works Cited

Citing and Documenting Sources in APA Style

Using In-Text Citations

Creating a List of References

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