Preface. I. THE WRITING PROCESS. 1. Developing Ideas. Starting.Focusing.Developing Ideas.2. Drafting and Revising. Reading Drafts. Peer Review: The Benefits of Having a Real Audience.SUKI HUDSON, Two Sides of a Story (Student Essay). 3. Shaping Paragraphs. Paragraph Form and Substance.Paragraph Unity: Topic Sentences, Topic Ideas.Unity in Paragraphs.Organization in Paragraphs.Coherence in Paragraphs.Linking Paragraphs Together.CHERYL LEE, The Story Behind the Gestures (Student Essay). Paragraph Length.Introductory Paragraphs.Concluding Paragraphs.Checklist for Revising Paragraphs. 4. Revising for Conciseness. Instant Prose.Extra Words and Empty Words.Extra Sentences, Extra Clauses: Subordination.It Is, This Is, There Are.Some Concluding Remarks About Conciseness.Checklist for Revising for Conciseness. 5. Revising for Clarity. Clarity.Clarity and Exactness: Using the Right Word.Clarity and Coherence.Clarity and Sentence Structure: Parallelism.Checklist for Revising for Clarity. 6. Writing with Style. Academic Styles, Academic Audiences.Defining Style.Style and Tone.Acquiring Style.II. COLLEGE WRITING. 7. Analyzing Texts. Analyzing a Drawing.Analyzing Texts.Analysis Versus Summary and Paraphrase.The Gettysburg Address: Summary, Paraphrase, Analysis.ABRAHAM LINCOLN, The Gettysburg Address. Paraphrasing and Summarizing Literary Texts.A Note on the Use of Summary in the Analytic Essay.Classifying and Thinking.Cause and Effect.DOLORES HAYDEN, Advertisements, Pornography, and Public Space. Analysis and Description.Comparing.Checklist for Revising Comparisons. Process Analysis.ANNE HEBALD MANDELBAUM, It's the Portly Penguin That Gets the Girl, French Biologist Claims. Explaining an Analysis.8. Persuading Readers. Emotional Appeals.Making Reasonable Arguments.Claims and Evidence.Three Kinds of Claims: Claims of Fact, Value, and Policy.Three Kinds of Evidence: Examples, Testimony, Statistics.A Note on Definition in the Persuasive Essay.LENA FLORA, The Plight of the Politically Correct (Student Essay). How Much Evidence Is Enough?Two Kinds of Reasoning: Induction and Deduction.Avoiding Fallacies.Wit.Tone and Ethical Appeal.Organizing an Argument.Checklist for Revising Drafts of Persuasive Essays. Persuasion at Work: Two Writers Consider the Death Penalty.EDWARD KOCH, Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life. DAVID BRUCK, The Death Penalty. Persuasion at Work: Two Writers Consider Music Filesharing.GARY SHAPIRO, Lasting Impression-Downloading is Illegal. CARY SHERMAN, Perspective: Honest Talk about Downloads. An Analysis of Sherman's Response to Shapiro.9. Using Sources. Why Use Sources?What Is a Source? Primary and Secondary Materials.Developing a Research Topic.The Library's Central Information System.Using the Internet.Checklist for Evaluating Websites. Reading and Taking Notes on Secondary Sources.Acknowledging Sources.10. Writing the Research Essay. Writing the Essay.Checklist for Reading Drafts of Research Essays. A Sample Research Essay (MLA Format).BEATRICE CODY, Politics and Psychology in The Awakening (Student Essay). A Sample Research Essay (APA Format).JACOB ALEXANDER, Nitrite: Preservative or Carcinogen? (Student Essay). III. A WRITER'S HANDBOOK. 11. Punctuating Sentences. Three Common Errors: Fragments, Comma Splices, and Run-On Sentences. Run-On Sentences. The Period. The Question Mark. The Colon. The Semicolon. The Comma. The Dash. Parentheses. Italics. Capital Letters. The Hyphen. The Apostrophe. Abbreviations.Numbers.12. Using the Right Word. A Note on Idioms. A Writers Glossary.13. Documenting Sources. Documentation. MLA Format.APA Format.A Note on Other Systems of Documentation.14. Preparing the Manuscript. Basic Manuscript Form. Using Quotations (and Punctuating Them Correctly).Corrections in the Final Copy.Last Words. Credits. Index.

Presents an authoritative brief rhetoric that emphasizes analysis, argument, and research in academic writing. This book offers practical advice on writing college essays from the beginning of the process to the end. It advices on matters such as choosing a topic, writing an analysis, constructing a paragraph, documenting sources, and punctuating.