Steps to Writing Well (with 2009 MLA Update Card)
by Wyrick, JeanEdition: 10th
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2009-05-13
Publisher(s): Wadsworth Publishing
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Summary
Writing well is just a step away! Join the thousands of students who have learned to write well with Jean Wyrick's helpful instruction. STEPS TO WRITING WELL, Tenth Edition, is the ultimate step-by-step guide to writing effective essays. With Wyrick's clear, practical advice and student-friendly tone, you'll find it easy to begin, organize, and revise your writing-from choosing a topic to developing your essay to polishing your prose. Interesting readings in a variety of styles offer useful examples of the types of essays you'll most often be assigned in your composition and other college classes. Students receive the most up-to-date information on MLA documentation with the enclosed tri-fold card providing NEW 2009 MLA Handbook formats.
Table of Contents
| *Denotes new reading | |
| The Basics Of The Short Essay | |
| Prewriting | |
| Getting Started (or Soup-Can Labels Can Be Fascinating) | |
| Selecting a Subject | |
| Finding Your Essay's Purpose and Focus | |
| Pump Primer Techniques | |
| After You've Found Your Focus | |
| Discovering Your Audience | |
| How to Identify Your Readers | |
| Keeping a Journal (Talking to Yourself Does Help) | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| The Thesis Statement | |
| What Is a Thesis | |
| What Does a "Working Thesis" Do | |
| Can a "Working Thesis" Change | |
| Guidelines for Writing a Good Thesis | |
| Avoiding Common Errors in Thesis Statements | |
| Using the Essay Map | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| The Body Paragraphs | |
| Planning the Body of Your Essay | |
| Composing the Body Paragraphs | |
| The Topic Sentence | |
| Paragraph Development | |
| Paragraph Length | |
| Paragraph Unity | |
| Paragraph Coherence | |
| Paragraph Sequence | |
| Transitions between Paragraphs | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| Beginnings and Endings | |
| How to Write a Good Lead-in | |
| Avoiding Errors in Lead-ins | |
| How to Write a Good Concluding Paragraph | |
| Avoiding Errors in Conclusions | |
| How to Write a Good Title | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| Drafting and Revision: Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking | |
| What Is Revision | |
| When Does Revision Occur | |
| Myths about Revision | |
| Can I Learn to Improve My Revision Skills | |
| Preparing to Draft: Some Time-Saving Hints | |
| Writing Centers, Computer Labs, and Computer Classrooms | |
| A Revision Process for Your Drafts | |
| What Is Critical Thinking | |
| Thinking Critically as a Writer | |
| Benefiting from Revision Workshops | |
| Some Last Advice: How to Play with Your Mental Blocks | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| Effective Sentences | |
| Developing a Clear Style | |
| Developing a Concise Style | |
| Developing a Lively Style | |
| Developing an Emphatic Style | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| Word Logic | |
| Selecting the Correct Words | |
| Selecting the Best Words | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| The Reading-Writing Connection | |
| How Can Reading Well Help Me Become a Better Writer | |
| How Can I Become an Analytical Reader | |
| Sample Annotated Essay: "Our Youth Should Serve" by Steven Muller | |
| Writing a Summary | |
| Benefiting from Class Discussions | |
| Chapter Summary | |
| Summary: The Basics of the Short Essay | |
| Purposes, Modes, and Strategies | |
| Exposition | |
| The Strategies of Exposition | |
| Strategy One: Development by Example | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "River Rafting Teaches Worthwhile Lessons" | |
| Professional Essay: "What's So Bad about Being So-So?" | |
| Strategy Two: Development by Process Analysis | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Catching Garage Sale Fever." | |
| Professional Essay: "To Bid the World Farewell" | |
| Professional Essay: *"Preparing for the Job Interview: Know Thyself" | |
| Strategy Three: Development by Comparison and Contrast | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: Point-by-Point Pattern: "Bringing Back the Joy of Market Day." | |
| Student Essay: Block Pattern: "Backyard: Old and New." | |
| Professional Essay: Point-by-Point Pattern: "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts" | |
| Professional Essay: Block Pattern: "Two Ways of Viewing the River" | |
| Strategy Four: Development by Definition | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Blind Paces." Professional Essay: "The Munchausen Mystery" | |
| Strategy Five: Development by Division and Classification | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "The Native American Era at Mesa Verde." | |
| Professional Essay: "The Plot against People" | |
| Professional Essay: Division: "A Brush with Reality: Surprises in the Tube" | |
| Strategy Six: Development by Causal Analysis | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "It's Simply Not Worth It." | |
| *Professional Essay: "Some Lessons from the Assembly Line" | |
| Argumentation | |
| Developing Your Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Common Logical Fallacies | |
| Student Essay: "Students, Take Note!" | |
| Professional Pro/Con Essays: School Schedules | |
| *"High Schools, Wake Up!" from USA Today | |
| *"Reform No Child's Play" | |
| Conflicting Positions: Gun Control (ads) | |
| Competing Products: Energy Sources (ads) | |
| Popular Appeals: Spending Our Money (ads) | |
| Description | |
| How to write Effective Description | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Treeclimbing." | |
| Narration | |
| Writing the Effective Narrative Essay | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Never Underestimate the Little Things." | |
| Professional Essay: "Sister Flowers" | |
| Writing Essays Using Multiple Strategies | |
| Choosing the Best Strategies | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Pass the Broccoli--Please!" | |
| Professional Essay: "Don't Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments" | |
| Special Assignments | |
| Writing a Paper Using Research | |
| Focusing Your Topic | |
| Beginning Your Library Research | |
| Conducting Primary Research | |
| The Personal Interview | |
| The Questionnaire | |
| Preparing a Working Bibliography | |
| Choosing and Evaluating Your Sources | |
| Preparing an Annotated Bibliography | |
| Taking Notes | |
| Avoiding Plagiarism | |
| Choosing the Documentation Style for Your Essay | |
| MLA Style | |
| APA Style | |
| Using Supplementary Notes | |
| Student Paper Using MLA Style: "A Possibility of Survival: The Mysterious Fate of Anastasia and Alexei" | |
| *Student Sample Using APA Style | |
| Writing in Class: Exams and 'Response' Essays | |
| Steps to Writing Well under Pressure | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Writing the Summary-and-Response Essay | |
| Student Essay "Youth Service: An Idea Whose Time Has Come." | |
| Writing about Literature | |
| Using Literature in the Composition Classroom | |
| Suggestions for Close Reading of Literature | |
| Steps to Reading a Story | |
| Annotated Fiction: "The Story of an Hour" by Kate Chopin | |
| Student Essay: "A Breath of Fresh Air." Steps to Reading a Poem | |
| Annotated Poetry: "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" | |
| Student Essay: "Two Ways of Knowing." | |
| *Fiction: "Gerald No Last Name" | |
| *Fiction: "The Cask of Amontillado" | |
| Poetry: "Those Winter Sundays" | |
| *Poetry: "The Road Not Taken" | |
| Writing about Visual Arts | |
| Using Visual Arts in the Composition Classroom | |
| Suggestions for Analyzing Paintings | |
| Additional Advice about Sculpture and Photography | |
| Guidelines for Writing about Art Works | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| *Annotated painting: Nighthawks | |
| *Student Essay "Night in the City and Psyche" | |
| Writing about Film | |
| Using Film in the Composition Classroom | |
| Guidelines for Writing about Film | |
| Problems to Avoid | |
| Student Essay: "Catch the Black Bird." | |
| Professional Film Review: "Cat in the Hat Coughs Up Mayhem" | |
| Glossary of Film Terms | |
| Writing in the World of Work | |
| Composing Business Letters | |
| Sample Student Business Letter | |
| Creating Memos | |
| Sending Professional E-Mail | |
| Designing Resumes | |
| Sample Resume # | |
| Sample Resume #2 | |
| Preparing Interview Notes and Post-Interview Letters | |
| A Concise Handbook | |
| Major Errors in Grammar | |
| Verbs | |
| Nouns | |
| Pronouns | |
| Adverbs and Adjectives | |
| Modifying Phrases | |
| Sentences | |
| A Concise Guide to Punctuation | |
| Period | |
| Question Mark | |
| Exclamation Point | |
| Comma | |
| Semicolon | |
| Colon | |
| Apostrophe | |
| Quotation Marks | |
| Parentheses | |
| Brackets | |
| Dash | |
| Hyphen | |
| Underlining | |
| Ellipsis Points | |
| A Concise Guide to Mechanics | |
| Capitalization | |
| Abbreviations | |
| Numbers | |
| Spelling | |
| "Grammar's Gremlins" from On Language | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
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