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With a clear and easy-to-read presentation, visual instruction and pedagogical support, Writing Today is a practical and useful guide to writing for college and beyond.

This text teaches how to transfer their writing skills to careers. By teaching kinds of writing (analyses, reports, proposals, etc.), strategies for writing (narration, comparison, argumentation, etc.), and processes for writing (planning, drafting, revising, etc.), Writing Today provides the writer with tools they can mix and match as needed to respond effectively to many writing situations.

Part 1: Getting Started

Chapter 1: Writing and Genres

What Are Genres?

Using Genres to Write Successfully

Genre and the Writing Process

Using Genres in College and Your Career

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 2: Topic, Angle, Purpose

Topic: What Am I Writing About?

Angle: What is New About the Topic?

Purpose: What Do I Want to Accomplish?

Choosing the Appropriate Genre

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 3: Readers, Contexts, and Rhetorical Situations

Profiling Readers

Analyzing the Context

Genres and the Rhetorical Situation

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Part 2: Using Genres to Express Ideas

Chapter 4: Memoirs

Overview

*One Student’s Work: “Diving In” by Helen Sanderson

Inventing Your Memoir’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Memoir

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Memoir

Revising and Editing Your Memoir

MicroGenre: The Literacy Narrative

Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read and Write”from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Quick Start Guide

Readings

Wang Ping, “Book War”

Joe Mackall, “Words of My Youth”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 5: Profiles

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Brother, Life Coach, Friend: Troubled Kids Turn Their Lives Around” by Katie Koch

Inventing You Profile’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Profile

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Profile

Revising and Editing Your Profile

MicroGenre: The Bio

*About John Charles Cook

Quick Start Guide

Readings

Jennifer Senior, “The Near-Fame Experience”

*Walter Kirn, “The Grand Canyon: A Whole New World”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, MicroGenre: The Resume

Chapter 6: Reviews

Overview

*One Student’s Work: “’Toy Story 3’ Is An Adult’s Film for Children” by Yair Rosenberg

Inventing Your Review’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Review

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Review

Revising and Editing Your Review

MicroGenre: The Rave

*Francois Marchand, "Review: The Black Keys shake up the Orpheum in Vancouver”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

Carina Chocano, “Long Overdue: Review of Movie Juno”

Gerard Jones, “Violent Media is Good for Kids”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 7: Literary Analyses

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Doing the Right Thing in Edwidge Danticat’s ‘A Wall of Fire Rising’”by Nick Baca

Inventing Your Literary Analysis’ Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Literary Analysis

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Literary Analysis

Revising and Editing Your Literary Analysis

MicroGenre: The Reading Response

*Student Reading Response to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask”

Quick Start Guide

Readings :

A Casebook on Edwidge Danticat

Edwidge Danticat, “A Wall of Fire Rising”

*Corine Milano, “Edwidge Danticat: Return to Haiti”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 8: Rhetorical Analyses

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Rhetorical Analysis of the Keep America Beautiful Public Service Announcement (1971)” by Wes Rodenburg

Inventing Your Rhetorical Analysis’ Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Rhetorical Analysis

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Rhetorical Analysis

Revising and Editing Your Rhetorical Analysis

MicroGenre: The Ad Critique

*Theo Keith, “Chrysler’s Super Bowl ad sells Detroit”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

Jack Shafer, “How Obama Does That Thing He Does”

Liza Featherstone, “What’s a Girl to Read?”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 9: Commentaries

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Why My Generation Doesn’t Care About Performance Enhancement” by David Meany

Inventing You Commentary’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Commentary

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Commentary

Revising and Editing Your Commentary

MicroGenre: The Letter to the Editor

Michael Spatz, “Why I’m Against the Statewide Smoking Ban”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

*Douglas Rushkoff, “Are Jobs Obselete?”

*Tony Blair, “Faith in a Globalized Age.”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 10: Arguments

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Allowing Guns on Campus will Prevent Shootings, Rape” by Tyler Ohmann

Inventing Your Argument’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Argument

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Argument

Revising and Editing Your Argument

MicroGenre: The Rebuttal

Russ Walker and David Roberts, “Letter to the Editor on Climate Story”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

Sam Harris, “In Defense of Torture”

Kate Dailey, "Friends with Benefits: Do Facebook Friends Provide The Same Support As Those In Real Life?"

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 11: Proposals

Overview

*One Student Group’s Work: “SCC Café Proposal” by The Associated Students of the University of Washington (Seattle Campus)

Inventing Your Proposal’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Proposal

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Proposal

Revising and Editing Your Proposal

MicroGenre: The Pitch

*Dave Chenell and Eric Cleckner, “Elevator Pitch: graFighters”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

*John R. Gerdy, “For True Reform, Athletic Scholarships Must Go”

Alfie Kohn, “From Degrading to De-Grading”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 12: Reports

Overview

One Student’s Work: Scott Walker, “Gender Stereotypes and Toys: Is it Nature or Nurture?”

Inventing Your Report’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Report

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Report

Revising and Editing Your Report

MicroGenre: The Explainer

*“Planking: What is it and Why it is Popular”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

*Andrew Gelman and George A. Romero, “How Many Zombies Do You Know? Using Indirect Survey Methods to Measure Alien Attacks and Outbreaks of the Undead”

American Psychological Association (APA), “Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls.”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Chapter 13: Research Papers

Overview

One Student’s Work: “Lives Not Worth the Money?” by Katelyn Turnbow

Inventing Your Research Paper’s Content

Organizing and Drafting Your Research Paper

Choosing an Appropriate Style

Designing Your Research Paper

Revising and Editing Your Research Paper

MicroGenre: The Annotated Bibliography

*Sara Rodriguez, “Annotated Bibliography: The Fog of Revolution”

Quick Start Guide

Readings

*Taylor Clark, “Nervous Nellies”

*James Knoll, “Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective”

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This, Exploring Other Microgenres

Part 3: Developing A Writing Process

Chapter 14: Inventing Ideas and Pre-Writing

Pre-Writing

Using Heuristics

Exploratory Writing

Taking Time to Invent and Prewrite

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 15: Organizing and Drafting

Using Genres to Organize Your Ideas

Sketching an Outline

Drafting Through Writer’s Block

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 16: Choosing A Style

Writing in Plain Style

Establishing Your Voice

Writing Descriptively with Tropes

Improving Your Writing Style

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 17: Designing

Before You Begin Designing

Five Basic Principles of Design

Design Principle 1: Balance

Design Principle 2: Alignment

Design Principle 3: Grouping

Design Principle 4: Consistency

Design Principle 5: Contrast

Using Photography and Images

Using Graphs and Charts

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 18: Revising and Editing

Level 1: Global Revision

Level 2: Substantive Editing

Level 3: Copyediting

Level 4: Proofreading

Peer Review: Asking For Advice

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Part 4: Strategies for Shaping Ideas

Chapter 19: Drafting Introductions and Conclusions

Drafting Introductions

Drafting Conclusions

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 20: Developing Paragraphs and Sections

Creating a Basic Paragraph

Getting Paragraphs to Flow (Cohesion)

Organizing a Section

Using Sections and Paragraphs Together

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 21: Using Basic Rhetorical Patterns

Narrative

Description

Definition

Classification

Cause and Effect

Comparison and Contrast

Combining Rhetorical Patterns

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 22: Using Argumentative Strategies

What is Arguable?

Using Reason, Authority, and Emotion

Avoiding Logical Fallacies

Rebuttals and Refutations

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 23: Working Collaboratively with Other Writers

Working with a Group of Other Writers

Working with a Team

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Part 5: Doing Research

Chapter 24: Starting Research

Starting Your Research Process

Doing Start-Up Research

Assessing a Source’s Reliability

Managing Your Research Process

Following and Modifying Your Research Plan

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 25: Finding Sources and Collecting Information

Using Primary and Secondary Sources

Finding Electronic and Online Sources

Finding Print Sources

Using Empirical Sources

Developing an Annotated Bibliography

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 26: Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Citing Sources

Common Knowledge: What You Don’t Need to Cite

Paraphrasing and Summarizes Sources

Framing Quotes, Paraphrases, and Summaries

Avoiding Plagiarism

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 27: Using MLA Style

Parenthetical Citations

Preparing the List of Works Cited

Citing Sources in the List of Works Cited

A Student’s MLA Research Paper: Brian Naidus, “A Whole New World: A Background on the Life of the Freshwater Shark”

Chapter 28: Using APA Style

Parenthetical Citations

Preparing the List of References

Citing Sources in the List of References

A Student’s APA Research Paper: Austin Duus, “Assortative Mating and Income Inequality”

Part 6: Getting Your Ideas Out There

Chapter 29: Using the Internet

Is This Writing?

Creating a Social Networking Site

Starting Your Own Blog

Writing Articles for Wikis

Putting Videos and Podcasts on the Internet

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 30: Creating A Portfolio

Two Basic Kinds of Portfolios

Getting Started on Your Portfolio

Step One: Collecting Your Work

Step Two: Selecting the Appropriate Artifacts

Step Three: Reflecting on Your Work

Step Four: Presenting Your Materials

Creating an E-Portfolio

Keeping Your Portfolio Up to Date

Creating a Starter Resume

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 31: Succeeding on Essay Exams

Preparing for an Essay Exam

Starting Your Essay Exam

Answering an Essay Exam Question

Finishing Your Essay Exam

One Student’s Essay Exam

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Chapter 32: Presenting Your Work

Getting Started

Organizing Your Presentation’s Content

Designing Your Visual Aids

Delivering Your Presentation

Practicing and Rehearsing

Quick Start Guide

Talk About This, Try This Out, Write This

Part 7: Handbook

Credits

Index

* Denotes readings new to this edition

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