Part I: THE BASICS OF THE SHORT ESSAY.
1. Prewriting.
2. The Thesis Statement.
3. The Body Paragraphs.
4. Beginnings and Endings.
5. Drafting and Revision: Creative Thinking, Critical Thinking.
6. Effective Sentences.
7. Word Logic.
8. The Reading-Writing Connection.
Part II: PURPOSES, MODES, AND STRATEGIES.
9. Exposition.
Strategy One: Development by Example. Student Essay: "River Rafting Teaches Worthwhile Lessons." Professional Essay: Lisa Wilson Strick, "What's So Bad about Being So-So?" Strategy Two: Development by Process Analysis. Student Essay: "Catching Garage Sale Fever." Professional Essay: Jessica Mitford , "To Bid the World Farewell." Professional Essay: Tom Bodett , "Ditch Diving." Strategy Three: Development by Comparison and Contrast. Student Essay: Point-by-Point Method: "Bringing Back the Joy of Market Day." Student Essay: Block Method: "Backyards: Old and New." Professional Essay: Bruce Catton, "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts." Professional Essay: Mark Twain, "Two Ways of Viewing the River." Strategy Four: Development by Definition. Student Essay: "Blind Paces." Professional Essay: Don R. Lipsitt, "The Munchausen Mystery." Strategy Five: Development by Division and Classification. Student Essay: "The Indian Era at Mesa Verde." Professional Essay: Division: David Bodanis, "A Brush with Reality: Surprises in the Tube." Professional Essay: Classification: Russell Baker, "The Plot against People." Strategy Six: Development by Causal Analysis. Student Essay: "It's Simply Not Worth It." Professional Essay: Nicholas Meyer, "Mystery!"
10. Argumentation.
Student Essay: "Students, Take Note!"Pro/Con Professional Essays: Robert J. Scott, "Free Speech 'Zones'" from USA Today.
11. Description.
Student Essay: "Treeclimbing." Professional Essay: Describing a Person: Cliff Schneider, "Still Learning from My Mother." Professional Essay: Describing a Place: Verlyn Klinkenborg, "Aboard the Sleeper."
12. Narration.
Student Essay: "Never Underestimate the Little Things." Professional Essay: Maya Angelou, "Sister Flowers."
13. Writing Essays Using Multiple Strategies.
Student Essay: "Pass the Broccoli--Please!" Professional Essay: Robert L Heinbroner, "Don't Let Stereotypes Warp Your Judgments."
Part III: SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS.
14. Writing a Paper Using Research.
Student Paper Using MLA Style: "A Possibility of Survival: The Mysterious Fate of Anastasia and Alexei."
15. Writing in Class: Exams and "Response" Essays.
Student Essay: "Youth Service: An Idea Whose Time Has Come."
16. Writing about Literature.
Fiction: Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour." Student Essay: "A Breath of Fresh Air." Poetry: Walt Whitman, "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer." Student Essay: "Two Ways of Knowing." Poetry: Robert Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays." Fiction: Julia Alvarez, "Snow."
17. Writing About Film.
Student Essay: "Catch the Black Bird." Glossary of Film Terms.
18. Writing in the World of Work.
Sample Student Business Letter. Sample Student Resume.
Part IV: A CONCISE HANDBOOK.
19. Major Errors in Grammar.
Verbs. Nouns. Adverbs and Adjectives. Modifying Phrases. Sentences.
20. A Concise Guide to Punctuation.
Period. Question Mark. Exclamation Point. Comma. Semicolon. Colon. Apostrophe. Quotation Marks. Parentheses. Brackets. Dash. Hyphen. Underlining. Ellipses.
21. A Concise Guide to Mechanics.
Capitalization. Abbreviations. Numbers. Spelling. Professional Essay: William Safire, from On Language.
Part V: ADDITIONAL READINGS.
22. Exposition: Development by Example.
Harold Krents, "Darkness at Noon." Brent Staples, "Black Men and Public Space." T. R. Reid, "Yobbish Prat Whinges On."
23. Exposition: Process Analysis.
Carin C. Quinn, "The Jeaning of America." Mona Melanson, "Beat the Butterflies." Diane Ackerman, "Autumn Leaves."
24. Exposition: Comparison/Contrast.
Bailey White, "My Real Car." Ian Frazier, "Dearly Disconnected." E. B. White, "Once More to the Lake."
25. Exposition: Definition.
Stephen M. Wolf, "The Heroes Among Us." Tom Rogers, "Celebrating Nerdiness." Jo Goodwin Parker, "What Is Poverty?"
26. Exposition: Division/Classification.
Garrison Keillor, "Hoppers." Richard Grossman, "Party Manners." William Zinsser, "College Pressures."
27. Exposition: Causal Analysis.
Seth Shostak, "You Call This Progress?" L. W. Warren and J. E. Ostrom, "They've Gotta Keep It: People Who Save Everything." Nicholas Gage, "The Teacher Who Changed My Life."
28. Argumentation.
Ron Kline, "A Scientist: 'I Am the Enemy'." Allen Barra, "Sack Athletic Scholarships." Bonny Gainley, "Judging by the Cover."
29. Description.
W. Bruce Cameron, "A Day at the Theme Park." Kurt Anderson, "Hush, Timmy--This Is Like a Church." William Least Heat-Moon, "In the Land of 'Coke-Cola'."
30. Narration.
Martin Gansberg, "38 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police." Andrew Merton, "When Father Doesn't Know Best." James Lileks "The Talkies."
31. Essays for Further Analysis: Multiple Strategies and Styles.
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream." Peter Fish, "Crossing the Great Divide." Alice Walker, "Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self."
32. Literature.
Aurora Levin Morales, "Child of the Americas." Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias" Stephen Crane, "A Mystery of Heroism."
33. Writing and Language.
Gretel Ehrlich, "Life at Close Range." Lewis Thomas, "Notes on Punctuation." William Zinsser "On Simplicity."
