Preface From Reading to Writing
On Reading Well
Reading Actively
Getting the Most Out of Your Reading
Respond to Your Reading: Making Marginal Notes
Ask Yourself Questions as You Read
An Example: Annotating Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s "What's in a Name"
Practice Reading and Annotating Laurence Perrine's "Coming to Terms with Paradox"
Using Your Reading in the Writing Process
On Writing Well
The Writing Process
Prewriting
Understand Your Writing Assignment
Determine Your Purpose
Know Your Audience
Find a Subject and Topic
Use Discovery Techniques
Formulate a Thesis Statement
Use One or More Strategies of Development
Determine Your Organization
Writing Your First Draft
Revising
Editing and Proofreading
A Sample Student Essay: Rebekah Sandlin, "The Negro Revolt' in Me"
1. Coming to an Awareness of Language
Malcolm X, Discovering the Power of Language
Language-in-Action: Reader's Digest, It Pays to Enrich Your Word Power [quiz]
Picturing Language -- Hellen Keller Pointing to Braille Chart [photograph]
Helen Keller, The Day Language Came into My Life
Language-in-Action: Rich Hall, Sniglets [humor]
*David Raymond, On Being 17, Bright, and Unable to Read
Language-in-Action: from Dyslexia Teacher [web site]
Susanne K. Langer, Language and Thought
Language-in-Action: Signs and Symbols? [graphics]
Paul Roberts, A Brief History of English
Language-in-Action: Frances Mayes, from Under the Tuscan Sun [memoir]
*Nedra Newkirk Lamar, Does a Finger Fing?
Language-in-Action: Joseph Jacob, Master of All Masters [folktale]
2. Writers on Writing
Maxine Hairston, What Happens When People Write?
A respected teacher of writing offers an overview of how professional writers work and then examines two basic types of writing.
Language-in-Action: Stan Hunt, No Wonder You Can't Write [cartoon]
Picturing Language -- Helvetica Grassroots [graphic design]
Linda Flower, Writing for an Audience
Language-in-Action: Corporate Systems Center, Clone, Test, or Repair Any Hard Drive [advertisement]
William Zinsser, Simplicity
Language-in-Action: William Zinsser, draft of Simplicity [editing]
Donald M. Murray, The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts
Language-in-Action: Annie Dillard, from Living Like Weasels [nonfiction]
*Anne Lamott, Shitty First Drafts
Language-in-Action: Richard Lederer, Play of Words [nonfiction]
*Pico Iyer,In Praise of the Humble Comma
Language-in-Action: Charles R. Larson, Its Academic, or Is it? [excerpt]
*Marjorie Agosin, Always Living in Spanish
Language-in-Action: Archived Humorous Translations [web site]
3. Politics, Propaganda, and Doublespeak
Donna Woolfolk Cross, Propaganda: How Not to Be Bamboozled
Language-in-Action: U.S. Postal Service, Help Stamp Out Breast Cancer and University of Vermont, Women Helping Battered Women [advertisements]
Picturing Language -- American Flag Draped over Saddam Statue [photograph]
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
Language-in-Action: Robert Yoakum, Everyspeech [parody]
William Lutz, The World of Doublespeak
Picturing