Synopses & Reviews
Guided by the belief that students develop their own writing process as they become more experienced writers, The Confident Writer provides a wide range of opportunities to help students build their skills and confidence. The text's pedagogy promotes critical reading, thinking, and writing, underscoring the connection among the three. Students are asked to respond to high-interest professional and student essay selections and topical writing prompts; complete a variety of exercises, including collaborative and Internet exercises; and compose reflective journal entries. The Fifth Edition maintains the program's trademark four-part structure, allowing instructors flexibility in covering the writing process. New features include expanded coverage of grammar with group and individual activities and exercises to build skills, updated coverage of the research process, and a helpful four-color design.
About the Author
Carol C. Kanar is the author of several Cengage Learning writing, reading, and college success textbooks. Kanar is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she earned the Master of Arts in English, and of Rollins College, where she earned the Master of Education in reading. She has close to thirty years of teaching experience, twenty of which she spent at Valencia Community College teaching reading, writing, and study skills. A frequent conference presenter and speaker, Kanar has served on the Executive Board of the Florida Development Education Association and is an active member of the National Association of Developmental Educators.
Table of Contents
I. The Writing Process. 1. Becoming a Confident Writer. 2. Using Prewriting Strategies. 3. Improving Your Paragraph Skills. 4. Stating Your Thesis. 5. Supporting Your Thesis. 6. Revising Your Essays. 7. Editing Your Essays. 8. Researching for Writing. II. Patterns as Options. 9. Using Narration and Description. 10. Explaining a Process. 11. Choosing Classification or Division. 12. Comparing and Contrasting. 13. Explaining Causes and Effects. 14. Using Definition. 15. Arguing Persuasively. III. More Choices: A Collection of Readings. IV. The Selective Writer. Appendix A. Basic Choices: The Parts of Speech. Appendix B. Sentence Effectiveness Choices. Appendix C. Punctuation Choices. Appendix D. Choices for Special Problems. Appendix E. Word Choice.