Table of Contents
Part 1 BECOMING MORE FAMILIAR
WITH ACADEMIC CULTURE
Reading a Syllabus
Sample Syllabus
English Idioms
Academic Integrity: Guidelines for Avoiding Plagiarism
Using a Dictionary
Using the Writing Process
Reading, Writing, and Speaking in an Academic Setting
“Some Thoughts on the Lost Art of Reading Aloud” by Verlyn Klinkenborg
WRITING BASICS
Steps for a Thoughtful Reading of an Essay
“Sibling Rivalry” by Kelsey O’Neill
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop
Your Ideas for Writing a Response
Summary and Paraphrase
Analysis
A Suggested Structure for an Essay That Responds to Another
Writer’s Essay
“Television: The Great Unifier” by Allan Von Niks
Writing an Introduction to an Argument Essay
Guidelines for Writing a Directed Summary
Advice on Writing a Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
A Rubric for Evaluating Student Essays
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
Assignment 1
“How I Discovered Words: A Homemade Education” by Malcolm X
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “How I Discovered Words: A Homemade
Education”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “How I Discovered Words:
A Homemade Education”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop
Your Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“Going Home” by Pak Muhammad Sukma
from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
Assignment 2
“Accepting or Rejecting Innovation” by Jared Diamond
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “Accepting or Rejecting Innovation”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “Accepting or Rejecting
Innovation”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“Cars and Their Enemies” by James Q. Wilson
“The Record Industry’s Slow Fade” by Brian Hiatt and Evan Serpick
“In Touch Too Much?” by Mary MacVean
“My Question” by Kevin Kelly
Student Essay 1
Student Essay 2
Assignment 3
“Staying Put” by Scott Russell Sanders
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “Staying Put”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “Staying Put”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“Why Staying Put Matters and Why It’s So Hard” by Gracy Olmstead
“Stay Put?” by Sarah Skwire
“The States That College Graduates Are Most Likely to Leave”
by Quoctrung Bui
Assignment 4
“Learning Responsibility on City Sidewalks” by Jane Jacobs
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “Learning Responsibility on City Sidewalks”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “Learning Responsibility
on City Sidewalks”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a Child. Igbo and Yoruba (Nigeria)
Proverb” by Rev. Joseph G. Healey
“Why We Need to Talk to Strangers” by Claire McCarthy, MD
“Actually, It Doesn’t Take a Village” by Diane Swanbrow
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” by Peter Lovenheim
Assignment 5
“The Iks” by Lewis Thomas
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “The Iks”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “The Iks”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Student Essay 1
Student Essay 2
Supplemental Reading
“A World Not Neatly Divided” by Amartya Sen
from The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan
“I Believe in Empathy” by Azar Nafisi
“It Takes a Tribe” by David Berreby
Assignment 6
“Mirror for Man” by Clyde Kluckhohn
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “Mirror for Man”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “Mirror for Man”
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“Body Ritual among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner
“DNA as Destiny” by David Ewing Duncan
“A Bamboo Grows in China: A Chinese-American Novelist Discovers Just
How Deep Her Roots Go” by Lisa See
Assignment 7
“Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “Mother Tongue”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “Mother Tongue”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“The Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez”
by Richard Rodriguez
“Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public” by Myriam Marquez
Student Essay 1
Student Essay 2
Assignment 8
“What’s in a Name?” by Richard Crasta
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “What’s in a Name?”
Questions to Review Your Understanding of “What’s in a Name?”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Supplemental Reading
“‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans” by Richard Rodriguez
“Two Ways to Belong in America” by Bharati Mukherjee
Student Essay 1
Student Essay 2
Student Essay 3
Assignment 9
“No Name Woman” by Maxine Hong Kingston
Writing Topic
Vocabulary and Dictionary Practice
Doing a Careful Reading of “No Name Woman”
Some Questions to Deepen Your Understanding of “No Name Woman”
Responding to the Writing Topic
Strategies to Help You Analyze a Reading Selection and Develop Your
Ideas for Writing a Response
Shaping Your Ideas into a Rough Draft
Drafting Your Directed Summary
Developing Your Thesis Statement
Developing Body Paragraphs for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
A Basic Outline Form for an Essay That Presents a Thesis
Drafting Your Essay
Glossary
Index
