Full Description
COMPOSING TO COMMUNICATE: A STUDENT'S GUIDE takes a conversational, "how to" approach to show you how writing connects to your academic and career goals. The textbook's jargon-free instruction provides you with accessible strategies that can be applied to all of your college writing tasks. The textbook focuses on teaching you how you can use writing and communicating to solve real problems and address issues that matter to you. It supports this theme by presenting student writing samples that demonstrate how writing for class can be more than just an academic exercise. Learning objectives open each chapter so you can focus on the most important points. The variety of writing projects, readings, and interviews with student writers aim to make your composition course more interesting than you may have imagined it could be. This edition has been updated to reflect guidelines from the 2016 MLA HANDBOOK, Eighth Edition.
Contents
Part I: WRITING TO COMMUNICATE AND SOLVE PROBLEMS.
1.The Relevance of Writing.
Writing as Communication.
Communication Situations and Goals.
The Basics of Problem Solving.
Brian Lawrence, Video Games as Art?
Becoming a Good Writer.
Leon Botstein, High School, an Institution Whose Time Has Passed: Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood.
Joining the Conversation.
Academic Writing and Academic Style.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
2Pac Shakur, "Unconditional Love" Lyrics.
Charles Bukowski, Fifth Grade Was a Little Better, from Ham on Rye.
2. Planning Essays as Communication.
Understanding Communication Goals.
Communication to Inform.
Communication to Solve Problems.
How to Plan.
Planning Different Kinds of Essays.
Ellen Goodman, When Big Father/Big Mother Spy on the Children.
LL Cool J, Impotent Demon.
Organization.
Naomi Wolf, The Porn Myth.
Jon Kerstetter, Triage.
Gerald W. Lynch and Roberta Blotner, Legalizing Drugs Would Not Lead to a Reduction in Crime.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
Tibor R. Machan, Humans Ought to Use Nature to Serve Their Own Needs.
3. An Overview of the Writing Process.
A Process of Discovery.
Developing a Revision Process.
Planning and Invention.
The Rough Draft.
Writing the Opening.
Thesis Statements.
Revision and Rewriting.
Editing for a Professional Presentation.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
William Zinsser, Simplicity, from On Writing Well.
Donald M. Murray, The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts.
Brent Staples, Black Men and Public Space.
Chuck Palahniuk, My Life As a Dog.
Part II: WRITING PROJECTS AND ESSAYS.
4. Narrative Essays.
Writing Narratives to Communicate and Solve Problems.
Basic Elements of Narratives.
A Student's Essay Proposal.
Interview with the Student Writer.
Narrative Essays and Communication Goals.
James Baldwin, from Notes of a Native Son.
Coming Up with Ideas.
Diane Thiel, Crossing the Border, from The White Horse: A Colombian Journey.
Evaluating Ideas.
Writing a Proposal.
Writing a Rough Draft.
Your Essay Checklist.
Peer Review.
Student Essay: Final Draft.
Kierstin Koppel, An Experiment in Romantic Gamesmanship.
Interview with the Student Writer.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
Karla Pereira, Roommates from Hell.
5. Profiles.
Portraits in Words.
Profiles That Communicate and Solve Problems.
Sarah Max, A Rude Experience Inspires a "Good" Brand.
A Student's Essay Proposal.
Profiles and Communication Goals: Tracing a Theme.
E. B. White, Old Dameron.
Profiling a Person: The Human Factor.
Profiling a Place.
Family Man, Bizarro World.
R. L. Huffstutter, Some Thoughts about the Venice Beach of Fifty Years Ago and Writing "The Great American Novel".
Profiling an Event.
Associated Press, Ultra Music Festival Brings Reveling Masses to Miami.
Writing a Proposal.
Writing a Rough Draft.
Special Considerations of the Essay.
Your Essay Checklist.
Peer Review.
Student Essay: Final Draft.
Kierstin Koppel, Humanizing Morticians.
Interview with the Student Writer.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
Steven M. Fernandez, A Cuban Christmas.
Scott Russell Sanders, Under the Influence (MindTap edition only).
6. Evaluations and Reviews.
Communicating Meaningful Judgments.
A Student's Essay Proposal.
Interview with the Student Writer.
Beyond Opinion and Taste.
Del F. Cowie, Review of good kid, m.A.A.d. city by Kendrick Lamar.
Clive Thompson, In Defense of Pinterest.
Grant McCracken, Why Reality TV Doesn't Suck, and May Even Make Us Smarter.
Considering Subjects and Communication Goals.
Writing a Proposal.
Writing a Rough Draft.
Your Essay Checklist.
Peer Review.
Student Essay: Final Draft.
Thais Torquez, From the Street to Your Heart.
Interview with the Student Writer.
Evaluate Your Learning.
Additional Readings.
Zadie Smith, Generation Why (MindTap edition only).
Gerard Jones, Violent Media Is Good for Kids (MindTap edition only).
7. Arguments That Matter.
Arguments and Communication.
Arguments and Persuasion.
Arguments as a Genre.
Recogn
