Readings for Writers

PART I: READING AND WRITING: FROM READING TO WRITING. 1. Reading Critically. Kinds of Reading. Steps to Critical Reading. Read Actively. Demystify the Writer. Understand What You Read. Imagine an Opposing Point of View for All Opinions. Look for Biases and Hidden Assumptions. Separate Emotion from Fact. If the Issue Is New to You, Look up the Facts. Use Insights from One Subject to Illuminate or Correct Another. Evaluate the Evidence. Ponder the Values behind a Claim. Recognize Logical Fallacies. Don't Be Seduced by Bogus Claims. Annotate Your Reading. Finally, Be Sure You Understand the Writer's Opening Context. Answers to Critical Reading Questions on Andy Rooney. 2. Rhetoric: The Art of Persuasion. Road Map to Rhetoric. Grammar and Rhetoric. The Importance of Good Grammar. Letting the Habits of Literate Writers Be the Final Referee. Exercises. The Importance of Rhetoric. Audience and Purpose. The Internal Reader/Editor. Levels of English. Writing as a Process. Writing about Visual Images. Writing on Social Networks. Advice. What--and How--to Write When You Have No Time to Write / Donald Murray. Examples. Ain't I a Woman? / Sojourner Truth. MindTap Only: I Have a Dream / Martin Luther King, Jr. Chapter Writing Assignments. Pointer from a Pro: Write Often. Real-Life Student Writing. Email from Samoa. 3. Synthesis: Incorporating Outside Sources. Road Map to Synthesis. Building Blocks of Incorporating Outside Sources. Paraphrase. Exercises. Summary. Exercises. Quotation. Exercises. Guidelines for Effectively Synthesizing Outside Sources. Guidelines for Thinking and Reading Critically. Guidelines for Improving Your Use of Outside Sources. Writers at Work: Strategies for Incorporating Outside Sources. Writers at Work: Using Paraphrase and Summary. Writers at Work: Using Quotation. Chapter Writing Assignment: Writing a Synthesis Essay. Sources. The American Dream Is Dead: Here's Where It Went / Adele Peters. By Our Own Bootstraps / W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm. Long Live the American Dream / Shikha Dalmia. Essay Prompts. Suggestions for Additional Reading. 4. The Writer's Voice. Road Map to Writer's Voice. Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road? Vocabulary. Syntax. Attitude. Exercises. Advice. Tone: The Writers' Voice in the Reader's Mind / Mort Castle. Examples. Salvation / Langston Hughes. Mother Tongue / Amy Tan. Chapter Writing Assignments. Real-Life Student Writing. A Thank-You Note to an Aunt. 5. The Writer's Thesis. Road Map to Thesis. Finding Your Thesis. Key Words in the Thesis. Characteristics of a Good Thesis. Nine Errors to Avoid in Composing a Thesis. The Explicit Versus the Implicit Thesis. Exercises. Advice. The Thesis / Sheridan Baker. Examples. Is Texting Killing the English Language? / John McWhorter. The Median Isn't the Message / Stephen Jay Gould. Chapter Writing Assignments. Real-Life Student Writing. A Eulogy to a Friend Killed in a Car Wreck. 6. Organizing Ideas. Road Map to Organizing. Organizing the Short Essay. Organizing the Long Essay. Planning by Listing Supporting Materials. Organizing with a Formal Outline. Exercises. Advice. Write to Be Understood / Jim Staylor. Examples. Rules for Aging / Roger Rosenblatt. That Time of Year (Sonnet 73) / William Shakespeare. Chapter Writing Assignments. Real-Life Student Writing. Note from a Graduate Student to a Department Secretary. 7. Developing Good Paragraphs. Road Map to Paragraphs. Parts of the Paragraph. Supporting Details. Topic Sentence Developed over More Than One Paragraph. Position of the Topic Sentence. Paragraph Patterns. Characteristics of a Well-designed Paragraph. Writing Your Own Paragraphs. Exercises. Advice. Writing Successful Paragraphs / A. M. Tibbetts and Charlene Tibbetts. Examples. Paragraphs with the Topic Sentence at the Beginning. From the Lessons of the Past / Edith Hamilton. Paragraphs with the Topic Sentence at the End. The 'Loser Edit' That Awaits Us All / Colin Whitehead. Chapter Writing Assignments. Real-Life Student Writing. Letter of Application to an