Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition

by Penfield, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9780321072238
• ISBN10: 0321072235
• Edition: 7th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-01
• Publisher: Longman

Summary

This lively collection of fifty-eight short, readable essays provides useful models of the rhetorical modes. Along with familiar names like Maya Angelou and Russell Baker, the text features many new voices such as Bharati Mukherjee, Humberto Fontova, and Bjorn Skogquist. Detailed chapter openers discuss the writing process and introduce each rhetorical mode; headnotes for each essay give a brief biography of its author and explains its context. The introductory section "Freeze Frame" establishes the reading and writing connection, a concept reinforced throughout the text. For those interested in improving their critical thinking, reading and writing skills.

Table of Contents

Thematic Guide.

Preface.

Freeze Frame: Reading and Writing.

1. On Using Description.

The Mute Sense, Diane Ackerman.
The Bridge, Jason Holland.
El Hoyo, Mario Suarez.
Frightened by Loss, J. Merrill Foster.
Left Sink, Ellery Akers.

2. On Using Narration.

Designer of Audio CD Packaging Enters Hell, Steve Martin.
The Night of Oranges, Flavius Stan.
The Good Daughter, Caroline Hwang.
The Pie, Gary Soto.
I Have a Gun, Tania Nyman.

3. On Using Definition.

In All Ways a Woman, Maya Angelou.
I Was a Member of the Kung Fu Crew, Henry Han Xi Lau.
The Handicap of Definition, William Raspberry.
The Myth of the Matriarch, Gloria Naylor.
Waiting, Edna O'Brien.

4. On Using Example.

Sweatin' for Nothin', Michael Barlow.
Stop Ordering Me Around, Stacey Wilkens.
A Black Fan Of Country Music Finally Tells All, Lena Williams.
Bananas for Rent, Michiko Kakutami.
Electronic Intimacies, Peter Steinhard.

5. On Using Division and Classification.

Always, Always, Always, Bill Rohde.
The New York Walk: Survival of the Fiercest, Caryn James.
Intense!, Richard Brookhiser.
The Plot Against People, Russell Baker.
The Bench, Mary Ruefle.

6. On Using Comparison and Contrast.

The Two Fundamental Kinds of Pasta, Marcella Hazan.
Lost in a Forrest, Scott Harpt.
Of Prophets and Protestors, Robert C. Maynard.
Two Ways to Belong in America, Bharati Mukherjee.
The Raven, Barry Lopez.

7. On Using Process.

Runner, Laura Carlson.
How to Swat a Fly, Will Cuppy.
A Woman's Place, Naomi Wolf.
You Sure You Want to do This?, Maneka Gandhi.
Inspiration? Head Down the Back Road, and Stop for the Yard Sales, Annie Proulx.

8. On Using Cause and Effect.

Still a Mystery, Edna Buchman.
Tiffany Stephenson-An Apology, Bjorn Skogquist.
Wrestling with Myself, George Felton.
Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples.
Why Don't We Like the Human Body?, Barbara Ehrenreich.

9. On Using Argument.

Last Rites for Indian Dead, Suzan Shown Harjo.
Gay Marriages: Make Them Legal, Thomas B. Stoddard.
But Is It Art? Daniel Slate.
America Needs Its Nerds, Leonid Fridman.
Responses to Fridman, David Lessing and David Herne, Keith W. Frome.
High School, an Institution Whose Time Has Passed, Leon Botstein.
One Internet, Two Nations, Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

10. For Further Reading: Pro and Con On Home Schooling.

Many Exploring the Option, Angela Cortez.
Public Setting Still the Best, Evie Hudak.
One-on-One Environment Is Beneficial, Kevin Swanson.
On Legalized Gambling.
Let's See Where Gambling Is Going, Rep. Frank R. Wolf.
The Washington Insiders Are at It Again, Frank Fahrenkopf.
On Hunting.
Why I Hunt, Dan Sisson.
Why I Don't Hunt, Steve Ruggieri.
Why We Hunt, Humberto Fontova.
On Film.
“Witch Project” a Mock Doc That Really Can Shock", Kevin Thomas.
“Of Witches and Muses” , John Simon.

11. Additional Writing Prompts.
Writing Prompts by Mode.
Writing Prompts by Theme.

Credits.

Index of Authors, Essays, and Terms.