Full Description
This student-friendly Sixth Edition of Composing with Confidence focuses on the writing of paragraphs and essays within the composing process. Students are guided step-by-step through the composing process, but are provided with options in prewriting, discovery, outlining, and predicting. Each chapter in the unit on the rhetorical modes offers student model paragraphs and essays, as well as professional models. Each chapter in this unit includes a well-wrought paragraph assignment, an optional essay writing assignment, and at least five alternative assignments-several of them in response to readings-to allow for maximum instructional flexibility. Original contributions from well-known authors, textbook writers, professors, and editors offer students advice and insights into the composing practices of professionals. And a full unit of fifteen readings from professional as well as student writers establishes the reading/writing connection, while providing students with additional models and prompts for writing.A full unit on sentence-level issues of grammar and mechanics offers students instruction in only those skills that they need to master to make their writing clear and grammatically correct.Each chapter in the unit ends with two "Editing for Mastery" exercises, in which students must find and correct errors in extended prose passage. The answers to the first exercise are provided in an appendix. "Tips" boxes and "If Your First Language Is Not English" boxes also provide short, specific, and practical advice to students. Above all, however, Composing with Confidence retains its most popular feature: fast-paced, high-interest, continuous discourse materials that make the book fun to read and work with.
Contents
The Writing Process. Hints and Help for Writers. Preface. I. WRITING AS A COMPOSING-PROCESS I. 1. The Reasons for Writing Writing as Communication. Writing as a Process. Composing with Confidence. Discovering the Right Way to Write. Writing for Every Reason. Getting a Head Start. 2. The Composing Process. Composing as a Process. Step 1: Exploring Your Ideas. Step 2: Prewriting. Step 3: Organizing Your Ideas. Step 4: Writing the First Draft. Step 5: Revising the Draft. Step 6: Producing the Final Copy. 3. Composing a Powerful Paragraph What Is a Paragraph? The Topic. The Topic Sentence. The Body. The Conclusion. Revising for Unity. Writing for Mastery. 4. Composing an Effective Essay. What Is an Essay? A Closer Look at the Essay. Composing an Essay. Revising for Coherence. A Student Model Essay. Writing for Mastery. Blueprints for Success. II. STRENGTHENING WRITING. 5. Developing Ideas. Support for General Statements. Two Ways to Develop Ideas. Facts and Figures. Writing for Mastery. Additional Writings. 6. Achieving Coherence What Is Coherence? Parallelism. Repeated Words and Ideas. Transitions. Writing for Mastery. Additional Writings. 7. Writing Directly and Vividly. What Is Strong Writing? Eliminating Weak Verbs. Eliminating Vague Expressions. Eliminating Wordiness. Eliminating Unnecessary Repetition. Eliminating Tired Comparisons. Writing for Mastery. Additional Writings. 8. Creating Sentence Variety. Why Work for Sentence Variety? Varying Sentence Length. Varying Sentence Beginnings. Using Special Types of Sentences. Joining Sentences. Blueprints for Success. III. COMPOSING Paragraph: Description. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Description. A Student Model Essay: Description. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 10. Composing Narratives. A Model Paragraph: Narration. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Student Model Essay: Narration. An Additional Student Model: Narration. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 11. Explaining a Process. Model Paragraphs: Process Analysis. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Process Analysis. A Student Model Essay: Process Analysis. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 12. Drawing Comparisons and Contrasts. Model Paragraphs: Comparison and Contrast. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Comparison-Contrast. A Student Model Essay: Comparison-Contrast. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 13. Making Classifications. A Model Paragraph: Classification. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Classification. A Student Model Essay: Classification. Writing for Mastery: Essays. Writing from Source Material. 14. Composing Definitions. Model Paragraphs: Definition. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignments. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Definition. A Student Model Essay: Definition. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 15. Examining Causes or Effects. Model Paragraphs: Causes or Effects. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Student Model Essay: Examining Causes. A Student Model Essay: Examining Effects. Writing for Mastery: Essays. Writing from Source Material. Additional Writings. 16. Persuading an Audience. Models of Persuasion. Getting Ready to Write. Paragraph Writing Assignment. Writing for Mastery: Paragraphs. From Paragraph to Essay. A Model Essay: Persuasion. A Student Model Essay: Persuasion. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 17. Writing Essay Exams. A Model Essay: An Essay Exam. Preparing for an Essay Examination. Writing the Essay Answer. Writing for Mastery: Essays. 18. Writing on the Job. IV. TROUBLESHOOTING 285. 19. Writing Complete Sentences. What Is a Sentence? Simple Fragments. Complex Fragments. Editing for Mastery. 20. Joining Sentences Through Coordination and Subordination. Combining Equals. Combining Unequals. Editing for Mastery. 21. Checking Subject-Verb Agreement and Noun Plurals. What Is Subject-Verb Agreement? Agreement with Noun Subjects. Agreement with Pronoun Subjects. Subjects Joined with and. Irregular Present-Tense Verbs. Special Problems with Subject-Verb Agreement. Editing for Mastery. 22. Checking Past-Tense and Past-Participle Forms. The Past Tense of Regular Verbs. The Past Tense of Irregular Verbs. The Perfect Tenses. The Other Roles of the Past Participle. Editing for Mastery. 23. Achieving Consistency. Pronouns. Tense. Sentence Structure. Quotations and Reported Speech. Editing for Mastery. 24. Using Pronouns. Choosing the Right Pronoun. Special Pronouns. Editing for Mastery. 25. Strengthening Modifiers. What Is a Modifier? Condensing Clauses to Phrases. Adjective Clauses. Adverb Clauses. Placing Modifiers with Precision. Misplaced Modifiers. Dangling Modifiers. Editing for Mastery. Mastery Exercise I. Mastery Exercise 2. 26. Using Apostrophes, Hyphens, and Capital Letters. Apostrophes. Hyphens. Between Words. Between Syllables. Capitalization. Editing for Mastery. Mastery Exercise I. Mastery Exercise 2. 27. Checking Punctuation. The Comma. The Period. The Question Mark. The Exclamation Point. The Semicolon. The Colon. The Dash. Parentheses. Quotation Marks. Editing for Mastery. 28. Checking Sound-Alike and Look-Alike Words. Contraction Confusion. The -D Dilemma. The of Offense. Other Commonly Confused Words. Editing for Mastery. Reading Selections. Bailey White, "Buzzard." Maya Angelou, from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Gloria Uduando, "Reflections." Jo Goodwin Parker, "What Is Poverty?" Bob Greene, "From a Grandfather, Above and Beyond" and "Love Finds a Way" (abridged version from Reader's Digest). Karen P. Bellitto, "A Tale of Two Gravies." Gale Lawrence, "Baby Birds." Suzanne Britt, "Neat People vs. Sloppy People" Annie Dillard, "Death of a Moth." Marcus Marbry, "Living in Two Worlds." Judith Ortiz Cofer, "The Myth of the Latin Woman." Amy Tan, "Mother Tongue." Susan Jacoby, "When Bright Girls Decide That Math Is 'A Waste of Time."' Judith Viorst, "Friends, Good Friends-and Such Good Friends." N. Scott Momaday, from The Way to Rainy Mountain. Glossary. Credits. Index.
