Steps to Writing Well

A STRAIGHTFORWARD APPROACH makes STEPS TO WRITING WELL easy for instructors of all experience levels and backgrounds to deliver quality instruction.

THE AUTHOR'S CLEAR GUIDELINES help students develop the kinds of essays that are frequently assigned in composition classes and other college courses.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICING CRITICAL THINKING is emphasized in this edition with expanded suggestions for developing students' analytical skills as both perceptive readers and effective writers.

SKILL-BUILDING EXERCISES, CLASSROOM GROUP ACTIVITIES, AND WRITING ASSIGNMENTS give students repeated opportunities to practice, apply, and review what they have learned. In addition to a variety of new assignments, over two dozen collaborative classroom activities appear in this text, as well as over seventy photographs, paintings, and advertisements, many offered as exercises and writing prompts for today's visually oriented students.

THE MANY STUDENT AND PROFESSIONAL SAMPLES throughout illustrate topics under discussion, giving students clear models that expand their understanding of rhetorical and stylistic choices. Professional essays in Parts Two and Three are now introduced by "Pre-reading Thoughts," brief questions promoting active connections between readers and writers.

READINGS include selections by both classic and contemporary authors Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, Roger Ebert, and the editorial board of the USA Today newspaper.

CHAPTER 14, "Writing a Paper Using Research" traces a student's process from topic through various kinds of updated library and online research to a completed essay. This new edition also contains updated and expanded sections containing the very latest guidelines for both MLA and APA documentation formats, including citations for a variety of electronic sources. In addition, this chapter includes practical advice for collecting material through interviews and questionnaires and concludes with a student essay presented in two forms, illustrating both MLA and APA styles.

THIS EDITION'S MANY NEW EXERCISES AND ASSIGNMENTS include one or more collaborative classroom activities in each chapter of Parts One through Four that help students throughout the writing process; some chapters contain team assignments that give students experience with coauthored writing tasks common in today's workplace.

PART ONE: THE ESSAY BASICS guides students through the process of writing the short essay. Chapter 5 now includes an expanded section on critical thinking and visual literacy that encourages students to analyze and evaluate their ideas and those of others as they read, write, and select evidence for any writing assignment.

PART TWO: PURPOSES, MODES, AND STRATEGIES discusses the most useful organizational patterns, or strategies, for short essays whose primary purposes are exposition, argument, description, and narration. Chapter 10 includes a new pair of professional essays with opposing views and a series of advertisements, all selected to help students improve critical thinking skills through analysis of logic, evidence, and rhetorical appeals. Chapter 13 also contains both a student essay and a new professional article to illustrate different uses of multiple strategies to accomplish the writer's purpose.

PART THREE, SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS, allows instructors to design their composition courses in a variety of ways, perhaps by adding a research paper, a literary analysis, an in-class essay, a classroom presentation, a review of an artwork or movie, or a business-writing assignment.

PART FOUR, HANDBOOK, presents a concise handbook with accessible explanations and examples showing how to correct the most common errors in grammar, punctuation, and mechanics. Each chapter now begins with a diagnostic test for students to self-score.

A diamond-shaped reference symbol [+] often appears within discussions, alerting readers to related information or exercises in other parts of the book.

In response to teachers' requests, this new edition also includes tips for time-management in Chapter 5, advice for writing and delivering a variety of classroom presentations in Chapter 15, updated information on research methods and documentation styles in Chapter 14, and diagnostic grammar and punctuation tests in the Part Four Handbook.

NEW CRITICAL THINKING EMPHASIS. Throughout the book, students will see an increased emphasis on critical thinking skills to help them develop into both perceptive readers and effective writers. Chapter 5 now includes expanded discussions focused on the analysis and evaluation of information, especially from Internet and other media sources, showing students how to select reliable evidence that best illustrates, supports, or shapes their ideas. A new section, also in Chapter 5, on visual literacy adds to the discussion of trustworthy sources, as students are reminded of the problems posed by altered images.

NEW DIGITAL RESOURCES. The twelfth edition will be available with the most advanced new products for student and instructor choice, engagement, and outcomes. Through diagnostic tests, clear and succinct instruction, engaging assignments, and integrated eBook, Aplia for STEPS TO WRITING WELL helps students build the confidence they need to master essential reading, writing, research, and grammar skills.

NEW SECTION ON PROCRASTINATION. A new section in Chapter 5, Procrastination: Enemy of Critical Thinking, Thief of Time, added in response to teachers' requests, addresses the problem of procrastination, with emphasis on its interference with critical thinking. To help students improve their time-management skills, this section offers practical advice for overcoming this enemy of good writing.

NEW DIAGNOSTIC TESTS. A new diagnostic test introduces each chapter in the text's Handbook. Students may test their knowledge of grammar and punctuation by comparing their answers to those provided at the end of each chapter, a self-scoring activity to guide them in their review of Handbook material.

NEW READINGS. Parts One-Three contain 20% new professional essays, retaining a mix of classic and contemporary authors, including the diverse styles of Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, Roger Ebert, and the editorial board of the USA Today newspaper.

NEW PRE-READING THOUGHTS. To help students receive the most benefit from the many professional essays in Parts Two and Three of the book, a new feature called "Pre-reading Thoughts" has been introduced. Before reading, students will find one or more brief questions designed to engage their thinking about the essay's subject matter or the author's point of view. Teachers may find the questions useful as discussion prompts, prewriting exercises, or essay topics.