Writing Today, 4th edition

Published by Pearson (August 1, 2021) © 2019

  • Richard Johnson-Sheehan Purdue University
  • Charles Paine University of New Mexico
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Title overview

Writing Today provides you with practical writing skills for composing in the real world. This is an accessible text created with today's students in mind. It's chunked writing style, eye-catching design and focus on writing genres, strategies, and processes sets you up for success. You'll gain knowledge you can utilize in your college courses, your career, and your civic life.

The 4th Edition marks a turning point in this highly successful series. Authors Richard Johnson-Sheehan and Charles Paine have made reflection, or discovering why we think the way we do, one of the central concepts of the revision. As you explore this theme, you'll build your intellect, become more aware, versatile, and resilient.

Table of contents

PART 1: GETTING STARTED

  1. Writing and Genres
  2. Topic, Angle, Purpose
  3. Readers, Contexts, and Rhetorical Situations
  4. Reading Critically, Thinking Analytically
  5. Reflecting Critically, Starting Your Portfolio

PART 2: USING GENRES TO EXPRESS IDEAS

  1. Memoirs
  2. Profiles
  3. Reviews
  4. Literary Analyses
  5. Rhetorical Analyses
  6. Commentaries (Argument)
  7. Arguments (Argument)
  8. Proposals (Argument)
  9. Formal Reports
  10. Research Papers

PART 3: DEVELOPING A WRITING PROCESS

  1. Inventing Ideas and Prewriting
  2. Organizing and Drafting
  3. Choosing a Style
  4. Designing
  5. Revising and Editing

PART 4: STRATEGIES FOR SHAPING IDEAS

  1. Developing Paragraphs and Sections
  2. Using Basic Rhetorical Patterns
  3. Using Argumentative Strategies (Argument)
  4. Collaborating and Peer Response

PART 5: DOING RESEARCH

  1. Starting Your Research
  2. Finding Sources and Collecting Evidence
  3. Citing, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Sources
  4. Using MLA Style
  5. Using APA Style

PART 6: GETTING YOUR IDEAS OUT THERE

  1. Writing with Social Networking
  2. Succeeding on Written Exams and Assessments
  3. Presenting Your Work

PART 7: THEMATIC ANTHOLOGY OF READINGS

  1. College and a New Life
  2. Identity and Human Nature
  3. Culture and Entertainment
  4. Place and Environment
  5. Health and Safety
  6. Science and Technology

PART 8: HANDBOOK

  1. Sentences
  2. Verbs
  3. Pronouns
  4. Style
  5. Punctuation, Mechanics, and Spelling

Appendix: Readings Arranged by Theme

The Edge for Writing Today

Workshop 1: Getting Your Edge

  • 1.0 Why Do People Succeed in College (And Some Don't)?
  • 1.1 Managing Your Time
  • 1.2 Reading Smarter for Classes
  • 1.3 Taking Good Notes in Class
  • 1.4 Coping with Stress in College
  • 1.5 Starting a Study Group
  • 1.6 Talking to Your Instructors
  • 1.7 Getting Help on Campus
  • 1.8 Succeeding in Online and Hybrid Writing Courses

Workshop 2: Reading to Strengthen Your Writing

  • 2.0 What is Different About College Reading?
  • 2.1 Previewing a Text
  • 2.2 Reading
  • 2.3 Highlighting and Annotating
  • 2.4 Playing the Believing and Doubting Game
  • 2.5 Analyzing the Reliability of an Author's Evidence
  • 2.6 Evaluating the Validity of an Author's Reasoning
  • 2.7 Responding to a Text by Reflecting on Your Reading Process

Workshop 3: Inventing Ideas Before You Write

  • 3.0 What's Your Writing Process?
  • 3.1 Analyzing Your Rhetorical Situation
  • 3.2 Using Prewriting to Get Ideas Out of Your Head
  • 3.3 Concept Mapping (or Mind Mapping)
  • 3.4 Freewriting
  • 3.5 Brainstorming Lists of Ideas
  • 3.6 Using the "Five-W and How" Questions

Workshop 4: Writing a College Paper

  • 4.0 How Should You Put Your Paper Together?
  • 4.1 Writing Your Introduction (Tell Them What You're Going to Tell Them!)
  • 4.2 Writing Your Thesis Statement
  • 4.3 Organizing the Body of Your Paper (Tell Them)
  • 4.4 Writing Your Conclusion Paragraph (Tell Them What You Told Them)
  • 4.5 Using Effective Headings in Your Papers

Workshop 5: Writing Stronger Sentences

  • 5.0 Why is This Sentence So Hard to Read?
  • 5.1 Finding the Doer and the Main Action of the Sentence
  • 5.2 Putting the Doer of the Main Action in the Subject of the Sentence
  • 5.3 Stating the Main Action of the Sentence as a Verb
  • 5.4 Turning Passive Sentences into Active Sentences
  • 5.5 Making Sentences Breathing Length
  • 5.6 Combining Sentences

Workshop 6: Revising Paragraphs

  • 6.0 What Do Paragraphs Do?
  • 6.1 Identifying the Topic Sentence of a Paragraph
  • 6.2 Using Support Sentences in Paragraphs
  • 6.3 Using Transitional Words and Phrases to Bridge Sentences
  • 6.4 Bridging Two Paragraphs with Transitions
  • 6.5 Types of Paragraphs

Workshop 7: Doing Research and Citing It

  • 7.0 Why Do Research?
  • 7.1 Is This Real News or Fake News?
  • 7.2 Focusing a Research Question
  • 7.3 Turning a Research Question into a Working Thesis or Hypothesis
  • 7.4 Triangulating Sources
  • 7.5 Using an In-Text Citation
  • 7.6 Creating a List of Works Cited or References

Workshop 8: Fixing the Dirty Dozen Grammar Errors

  • 8.0 Why is Grammar Important Anyway?
  • 8.1 Comma Splice
  • 8.2 Fused Sentence
  • 8.3 Sentence Fragment
  • 8.4 Subject-Verb Disagreement
  • 8.5 Pronoun-Antecedent Disagreement
  • 8.6 Apostrophe Errors
  • 8.7 Misused Commas
  • 8.8 Dangling Modifiers
  • 8.9 Faulty Parallelism
  • 8.10 Pronoun-Case Error
  • 8.11 Shifted Tense
  • 8.12 Vague Pronouns

Workshop 9: Punctuating Correctly

  • 9.0 What Does Punctuation Do, and Why Is It Important?
  • 9.1 The Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Mark
  • 9.2 The Comma
  • 9.3 The Apostrophe
  • 9.4 The Semicolon and Colon
  • 9.5 Quotation Marks and Italics
  • 9.6 Dashes and Hyphens
  • 9.7 Parentheses, Brackets, and Ellipsis Dots

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