Table of Contents

Part I: RHETORIC: COLLEGE STUDENT''S GUIDE TO WRITING.
Reading, Thinking, Viewing, and Writing.
1. Critical Thinking Through Reading, Viewing, and Writing.
2. Beginning the Writing Process.
3. Planning.
4. Drafting.
5. Revising.
6. Editing and Proofreading.
7. Submitting Writing and Creating Portfolios.
The College Essay.
8. One Writer''s Process.
Part II: READER: STRATEGIES AND SAMPLES.
9. Forms of College Writing.
Three Curricular Divisions. Writing in the Humanities. Writing in the Social Sciences. Writing in the Natural Sciences. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
10. Narration, Description, and Reflection.
Strategies for Personal Essays. Brief Narratives: Anecdotes. Sample Personal Essays. “The Entymology of Village Life,” by Robert Minto. “Spare Change,” by Teresa Zsuffa. “When Dreams Take Flight,” by Elizabeth Fuller. “Call Me Crazy, But I Have to Be Myself,” by Mary Seymour. “The Muscle Mystique,” by Barbara Kingsolver. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
11. Cause and Effect.
Strategies for Cause-Effect Essays. Sample Cause-Effect Essays. “The Slender Trap,” by Tina Rhys. “Dutch Discord,” by Brittany Korver. “If You Let Me Play,” by Mary Brophy Marcus. “Mind Over Mass Media,” by Steven Pinker. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
12. Comparison and Contrast.
Strategies for Comparison-Contrast Essays. Sample Comparison-Contrast Essays. “Sethe in Beloved and Orleanna in Poisonwood Bible,” by Rachel DeSmith. “Shrouded in Contradiction,” by Gelareh Asayesh. “Shades of Prejudice,” by Shankar Vedantam. “The Likeness Across the Atlantic,” by Peter Baldwin. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
13. Classification.
Strategies for Classification Essays. Sample Classification Essays. “Latin American Music,” by Kathleen Kropp. “Four Sides to Every Story,” by Stewart Brand. “The Lion, the Witch, and the Metaphor,” by Jessica Siegel. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
14. Process.
Strategies for Process Essays. Sample Process Essays. “Wayward Cells,” by Kerri Mertz. “The Emancipation of Abe Lincoln,” by Eric Foner. “Saint Caesar of Delano,” by Richard Rodriguez. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
15. Definition.
Strategies for Definition Essays. Sample Definition Essays. “Economic Disparities Fuel Human Trafficking,” by Shon Bogar. “Deft or Daft,” by David Schelhaas. “On Excellence,” by Cynthia Ozick. “Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth,” by Simon L. Garfinkle. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
16. Reading Literature: A Case Study in Analysis.
Strategies for Analyzing Literature and the Arts. Approaches to Literary Analysis. “Four Ways to Talk about Literature,” by John Van Rys. Analyzing a Poem. “The Time Around Scars,” by Michael Ondaatje. “The Stories Scars Hold: An Explication of Michael Ondaatje''s ''The Time Around Scars,''“ by Michael Doyle (Student). Analyzing a Short Story. “Good Country People,” by Flannery O''Connor. “''Good Country People'': Broken Body, Broken Soul,” by Anya Terekhina (Student). Analysis of a Novel. “Ah, the Power of Women: Louis Erdrich''s ''Love Medicine''“ by Aleah Stenberg. Literary Terms. Poetry Terms. Writing Guidelines. Critical-Thinking and Writing Activities. Learning-Objectives Checklist.
17. Strategies for Argumentation and Persuasion.
18. Taking a Position.
19. Persuading Readers to Act.
20. Proposing a Solution.
21. Taking Essay Tests.
Reviewing for Tests. Forming a Study Group. Consider the Testing Situation. Taking the Essay Test. Writing Under Pressure: The Essay Test Quick Guide. Taking an Objective Test. Tips for Coping with Test Anxiety.
22. Writing for the Workplace.
Writing the Business Letter. Writing Memos and E-mail. Applying for a Job.
23. Preparing Oral Presentations.
Organizing Your Presentation. Writing Your Presentation. “Save Now or Pay Later,” by Burnette Sawyer. Developing Computer Presentations. Overcoming Stage Fright Checklist.
Part III: RESEARCH AND WRITING.
24. Getting Started: From Planning Research to Evaluating Sources.
25. Conducting Research: Primary, Library, Web.
26. Building Credibility: Avoiding Plagiarism.
27. Drafting Papers with Documented Research.
28. MLA Style.
29. APA Style.
Part IV: HANDBOOK.
30. Marking Punctuation.
31. Checking Mechanics.
32. Using the Right Word.
33. Understanding Grammar.
34. Constructing Sentences.
35. Avoiding Sentence Errors.
36. Multilingual and ESL Guidelines.

About the Author

Dr. Verne Meyer is an educator and businessperson. For nine years, he taught English in high schools in Michigan and Wisconsin; and for fifteen years, he taught dramatic literature, theatre history, and composition at Dordt College in Iowa. In 1977, with Pat Sebranek, Dr. Meyer cofounded Write Source Educational Publishing House, now a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Supplemental. A graduate of Calvin College (B.A.), Marquette University (M.A.), and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D.), he has co-authored a number of texts for college students, including THE COLLEGE WRITER, THE COLLEGE WRITER'S HANDBOOK, COMP, THE BUSINESS WRITER, and WRITE FOR WORK. For students in grades 8 through 12, he co-authored WRITERS INC, SCHOOL TO WORK, WRITE FOR COLLEGE, and a number of Write Source textbooks. For businesspeople, he co-authored WRITE FOR BUSINESS and EFFECTIVE EMAIL MADE EZ. Dr. Meyer is currently a contributing editor for Write Source and UpWrite Press. He is also a featured speaker in the School Improvement Network's instructional videos, Writing Across the Curriculum. Patrick Sebranek (M.A. University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse) taught English, speech, and multimedia classes for 16 years at Union Grove High School in Wisconsin. During that time, he served as the English department chair and worked on several district-wide projects, including a writing-across-the-curriculum program and a K-12 writing sequence. He has studied the works of James Moffett, Ken Macrorie, Linda Reif, Nancie Atwell, and many other contemporary educators dealing with writing and learning. Mr. Sebranek is an author and editorial director for the Write Source Educational Publishing House and works closely with teachers and educators on all new and revised handbooks and sourcebooks. Randall VanderMey (Ph.D. University of Iowa, M.F.A. Iowa Writers' Workshop, M.A. University of Pennsylvania) is an associate professor in the Department of English at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. He also has taught composition, literature, and technical writing at Iowa State University, Dordt College, and the University of Iowa. He is a contributing editor and creative consultant for Write Source. Dr. VanderMey has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards for his teaching and poetry. He has published two books of poems, GROWING SOUL: A SONG CYCLE, GOD TALK, and CHARM SCHOOL: FIVE WOMEN OF THE ODYSSEY, as well as a commissioned biography, MERIZON: THE GREAT JOURNEY. Dr. John Van Rys (Ph.D. Dalhousie University, M.A./B.A. University of Western Ontario) has taught composition, business writing, creative writing, and literature courses to college students for more than 25 years at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. He has been teaching as a full professor in the English Department at Redeemer University College in Hamilton, Ontario, since 2005, where he also pursues scholarly work in Canadian literature. For over 20 years, he has worked on writing-across-the-curriculum theory and practice, on connections between workplace and academic writing, and on strategies for strengthening varied literacies in students (from reading to research to visual literacy). With Write Source Educational Publishing and Cengage Learning, he has co-authored writing handbooks for students from middle school to college. Dr. Van Rys also has co-authored an award-winning business-writing handbook for workplace professionals, WRITE FOR BUSINESS, with UpWrite Press.