Laurie Kirszner and Stephen Mandell, best-selling authors with more than twenty-five years' experience teaching college writing, know what works in the classroom. In Patterns for College Writing, they offer a balance of classic and contemporary essays by writers like Sandra Cisneros, Deborah Tannen, E. B.White, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., providing students with exemplary models for their writing--and instructors with excellent, class-tested selections. With extensive headnotes before each reading, abundant apparatus after, and more examples of student writing than any other reader, Patterns has always been an exceptional resource for students. In the tenth edition, a new chapter on editing and proofreading in Part One, "The Writing Process," gives students more help recognizing and correcting errors common in their writing, while Part Two, "Readings for Writers," offers a greater number of informative and argumentative essays, preparing students better than ever for the demands of college writing.

    n.b. Each chapter in Part I includes numbered exercises, checklists, and "A Student Writer" feature. For the sake of brevity, those subheadings are not repeated in this abridged table of contents.

    

    PREFACE

    Thematic Guide to the Contents

    

PART I: THE WRITING PROCESS

    

  1. READING TO WRITE: HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

    Highlighting and Annotating

    Reading the Essays in this Book

    Henry Louis Gates Jr., "What's in a Name?"

    Responding to an Essay

    

  2. INVENTION

     Understanding the Assignment

     Setting Limits

     Moving from Subject to Topic

     Finding Something to Say

     Grouping Ideas

     Understanding Thesis and Support

     Formulating A Thesis

    

  3. ARRANGEMENT

     Recognizing a Pattern

     Understanding the Parts of the Essay

     Constructing a Formal Outline

    

  4. DRAFTING AND REVISING

     Writing Your First Draft

     Revising Your Essay

     Points for Special Attention: First Draft

     Points for Special Attention: Second Draft

     SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Laura Bobnak, The Price of Silence

  *5. EDITING AND PROOFREADING

     Editing for Grammar

     Editing for Punctuation

     Editing for Sentence Style and Word Choice

     Proofread your Paper

     Manuscript Format

    

PART II. READINGS FOR WRITERS

    n.b. Each chapter in Part II follows the same basic structure highlighted below in Chapter 6. For the sake of brevity, these elements are not repeated after Chapter 6. However, because the Grammar in Context sections vary from chapter to chapter, we have included these headings in the contents for Chapters 6-15.

    

  6. NARRATION

    What is Narration?

    Using Narration

    Planning a Narrative Essay

       Including Enough Detail

       Varying Sentence Structure

       Maintaining Clear Narrative Order

    Structuring a Narrative Essay

    Revising a Narrative Essay

       REVISION CHECKLIST: Narration

    Editing a Narrative Essay

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Run-on Sentences

       EDITING CHECKLIST: Narration

       A STUDENT WRITER: NARRATION

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Tiffany Forte, My Field of Dreams

       Points for Special Attention

       Focus on Revision

      * PEER-EDITING WORKSHEET: Narration

       Visual Text: Marvel Comics, from Spider-Man (Cartoon)

       Sandra Cisneros, Only Daughter

       Maya Angelou, Finishing School

       Bonnie Smith-Yackel, My Mother Never Worked

      *Daniel Gross, Playing by the Rules

       Martin Gansberg, Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police

       George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant

       Sherman Alexie, Indian Education (Fiction)

       Writing Assignments for Narration

       Collaborative Activity for Narration

       Internet Assignment for Narration

    

    

  7. DESCRIPTION

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: James Greggs, Buidling and Learning

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Mary Lim, The Valley of the Windmills

       Visual Text: Vincent LaForet, Girls in Front of 911 Mural (Photo)

       Suzanne Berne, Ground Zero

       Leah Hager Cohen, Words Left Unspoken

      *Isabel Allende, The Amazon Queen

       N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain

       E. B. White, Once More to the Lake

       Kate Chopin, The Storm (Fiction)

    

  8. EXEMPLIFICATION

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Commas in a Series

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Kristy Bredin, Job Application Letter

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Grace Ku, Midnight

       Visual Texts: FOUR TATTOOS (Photos): Alex Williams, "Lisa Karen," Joel Gordon, "Rose," Bob Daemmrich, "Jiminy Cricket," Charles Gatewood, "Body Art"

       Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, The Peter Principle

       David J. Birnbaum, The Catbird Seat

       Phil Patton, Innovation

       Brent Staples, Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space

      *Dick Teresi, Star-Spangled Stupidity

       Jonathan Kozol, The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

       Grace Paley, Samuel (Fiction)

    

  9. PROCESS

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Unnecessary Shifts

      *SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Eric McGlade, The Search

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Melany Hunt, Medium Ash Brown

      *Visual Text: Nigel Holmes, How to Cover Scratches on Furniture (Illustration)

       Malcolm X, My First Conk

       Marcia Muller, Creating a Female Sleuth

       Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht, and Jennifer Worick, How to Escape from a Bad Date

      *Arthur Miller, Get it Right: Privatize Executions

       Jessica Mitford, The Embalming of Mr. Jones

       Shirley Jackson, The Lottery (Fiction)

    

  10. CAUSE AND EFFECT

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding Faulty Constructions; Affect and Effect

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Evelyn Pellicane, The Irish Famine, 1845-1849

       Visual Text: Louis Requena, Major League Baseball Brawl (Photo)

       Norman Cousins, Who Killed Benny Paret?

       Marie Winn, Television: The Plug-In Drug

       Katha Pollitt, Why Boys Don't Play with Dolls

       Lawrence Otis Graham, The "Black Table" Is Still There

       Linda M. Hasselstrom, A Peaceful Woman Explains Why She Carries a Gun

      *Robin Lakoff, The Power of Words in Wartime

       Janice Mirikitani, Suicide Note (Poetry)     

  11. COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Parallelism

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Mark Cotharn, Brains versus Brawn

      *SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Maria Tecson, A Comparison of Two Web Sites on Attention Deficit Disorder

       Visual Texts: Auguste Rodin, The Kiss and Robert Indiana, LOVE (Sculptures)

       Bruce Catton, Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts

       Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America

      *Yi-Fu Tuan, Chinese Space, American Space

      *John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor, Swollen Expectations

       Ian Frazier, Dearly Disconnected

       Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, and Conversation

       Gwendolyn Brooks, Sadie and Maud (Poetry)

    

  12. CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using a Colon to Introduce Your Categories

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Josie Martinez, What I Learned (and Didn't Learn) in College

      *Visual Text: Ellis Island Immigration Museum/NPS, Key to Chalk Marks Designating Medical Conditions of Immigrants, Ellis Island (Chart)

      *Visual Text: Office of the Public Health Service Historian Eye Exam Administered to Immigrants, Ellis Island, 191 (Photo)

       William Zinsser, College Pressures

      *Carolyn Foster Segal, The Dog Ate my Disk, and Other Tales of Woe

       Scott Russell Sanders, The Men We Carry in Our Minds

       Amy Tan, Mother Tongue

       Stephanie Ericsson, The Ways We Lie

       Edwin Brock, Five Ways to Kill a Man (Poetry)

    

  13. DEFINITION

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Avoiding is when and is where

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Ajoy Mahtab, The Untouchable

       Visual Text: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census form (Questionnaire)

       Judy Brady, I Want a Wife

       José Antonio Burciaga, Tortillas

       Gayle Rosenwald Smith, The Wife-Beater

      *Rebecca Blood, What Is a Weblog?

      *Paul Fussell, Stigmatic Uniforms

      *Phillip Levine, What Work Is (Poetry)

    

  14. ARGUMENTATION

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Using Coordinating and Subordinating Conjunctions

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Matt Daniels, An Argument Against the Anna Todd Jennings Scholarship

       Visual Text: American Civil Liberties Union, Thanks to Modern Science (Ad)

       Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

       Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions

       Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail

    

    DEBATE: SHOULD U.S. CITIZENS BE REQUIRED TO CARRY NATIONAL IDENTITY CARDS?

       William Safire, The Threat of National ID

       Alan M. Dershowitz, Why Fear National ID Cards?

    

    DEBATE: SHOULD GAY AND LESBIAN COUPLES BE ALLOWED TO ADOPT?

       Tom Adkins, Traditional Mother and Father: Still the Best Choice for Children

       Becky Birtha, Laws Should Support Loving Households, Straight or Not

   * DEBATE: SHOULD THE DRAFT BE REINSTATED IN THE UNITED STATES?

      * William Broyles Jr., A War for Us, Fought by Them

      * Rick Jahnkow, For Those who Believe we Need a Draft

    

   * DEBATE: IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR AMERICA?

      * Karen De Coster and Brad Edmonds, The Case for Wal-Mart

      * Liza Featherstone, Down and Out in Discount America

    

    DEBATE CASEBOOK: DOES MEDIA VIOLENCE CAUSE SOCIETAL VIOLENCE?

      * Sissela Bok, Sizing Up the Effects

      * Gerard Jones, Violent Media is Good for Kids

       Oliver Stone, Memo to John Grisham: What's Next--"A Movie Made Me Do It"?

       Michael Zimecki, Violent Films Cry "Fire" in Crowded Theaters

  15. COMBINING THE PATTERNS

       GRAMMAR IN CONTEXT: Agreement with Indefinite Pronouns

       SAMPLE STUDENT ESSAY: Michael Huu Truong, The Park

       Lars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving

       Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal

      * Virginia Woolf, The Death of the Moth

       Richard Rodriguez, Strange Tools

    

  APPENDIX: USING RESEARCH IN YOUR WRITING

    Step 1 : Choosing A Topic

    Step 2: Test Your Topic

    Step 3: Doing Research

    Step 4: Taking Notes

   *Step 5: Watching Out for Plagiarism

    Step 6: Drafting a Thesis Statement

    Step 7: Making an Outline

    Step 8: Writing Your Paper

    Step 9: Documenting Your Sources

    SAMPLE STUDENT RESEARCH ESSAY IN MLA STYLE: Caitlin Byrne, Airport Insecurity

  Glossary

  Index

    

    

   * new to this edition