English

For undergraduate Composition I and II courses.

 

From the first edition, The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers has focused on writing for a variety of purposes in a rhetorical situation.  Although audience, context, and writing situation are important, a writer’s purpose should be and has always been the focal point of the sequence of assignments.  The Prentice Hall Guide begins with observing and remembering, which are personally important to the writer.  It then turns to more reader-based, academic purposes, including critical reading, expository writing, and argumentative writing.  Each chapter in this sequence is self-contained, with introductions, guidelines, professional and student models, writing process advice, research tips, revising guidelines, peer review questions, and postscript reflections on the assignment.

 

This compact, efficient guide touches on all the critical aspects of college writing - both personal and academic - within rich, self-contained chapters - no more flipping back and forth between sections to find appropriate guidelines, models, and writing process information.

Comprehensive, self-contained chapters.

• Each chapter in The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers is self-contained, covering: 
• Introductions
• Rhetorical guidelines
• Professional and student models
• Writing process advice
• Research tips
• Revising guidelines
• Peer review questions
• Postscript reflections on the assignment
• All the writing process materials necessary for a particular assignment are contained within each chapter so instructors don’t have to assign readings from a variety of chapters.
• An emphasis on the Rhetorical Situation in every chapter.  This emphasis meets the goals as outlined by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. 
• Chapter 2, Situations, Purposes, and Processes for Writing, illustrates this rhetorical emphasis which continues throughout the text.
• Critical thinking and critical reading are key goals of the PHG. 
• Chapter 5, Reading, best illustrates these strategies for critical reading.
• Chapter 11, Arguing, best illustrates strategies for critical thinking.

Balanced approach between both personal and academic writing.

• The chapters in The Prentice Hall Guide are carefully sequenced, to move the student from personal writing to more reader-based, academic purposes.
• The Prentice Hall Guide begins with purposes that are important for the writer personally — observing and remembering — and then turns to critical reading, expository writing, and argumentative writing.   
• The Prentice Hall Guide has a sequence of writing assignments that build on the skills practiced in previous chapters. 
• Writing an effective arguing essay, for example, builds on the skills of observation and personal writing, on analytic and critical reading, and on expository writing. 
• Teachers may select the chapters most appropriate for their own syllabus without losing the benefits of the sequenced assignments.

Instructor and student friendly.

• The Prentice Hall Guide appeals to both students and teachers. 
• The PHG appeals to students through clear explanations, an accessible voice, and student writing in every chapter.  Students want concise, clear explanations, and student models representing interesting topics and style levels that they can achieve.  
• In its Annotated Instructor’s Edition, the PHG gives teachers tips in the margin about teaching strategies, critical reading activities, peer response ideas, ESL notes, and Write-to-Learn activities.  The annotations, combined with the clear sequence of chapters, gives teaching assistants, adjunct teachers, and experienced teachers ample guidance throughout the text.

• New! Chapter 6:  Analyzing and Designing Visuals. 
• The field of composition now emphasizes visual communication as complementary to text-only presentations.
• The focus of this chapter is not just on adding visual elements, but putting these elements in a rhetorical context. 

• New! Increased emphasis on writing for a variety of genres for both academic and public audiences.
• Students now have more models and more guidelines for writing public documents such as editorials, letters, blogs, and proposals – in addition to having guidelines for document preparation for academic and public audiences, including writing and designing brochures, pamphlets, and flyers.

• New! Introduction of a multi-genre casebook on Immigration Reform in the Arguing chapter.
• This chapter gives teachers and students a wider variety of kinds of argument and argumentative appeals by presenting the full range of genres represented in the current public debate about immigration.  
• This short casebook of readings contains examples of the essay, article, opinion piece, letters to the editor, blog entries, web pages, photographs, and cartoons.

• New! Research chapter has been revised to add more information about research, MLA and APA citation, as well as clearer illustration through visual presentations of research features.

• New! Over thirty new selections on contemporary topics to update the eighth edition with current topics such as immigration reform, global warming, food and diet, credit-card management, evaluating websites, and living with Facebook. Featured authors include Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Suze Orman, Adris Scharf, Jonathan Alter, Robert J. Samuelson, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Bordo.

 Detailed list of NEW Readings. 

• Chapter Four:  Remembering 
• Daniel Alejandrez, “Cesar Chavez Saved My Life,”  Sojourners, August 2006, pp. 28-31 
• Chapter Five:  Reading 
• “Global Warming:  Can It be Stopped?”  The Week, February 16, 2007,  p. 6.
• Four Responses to the United Nation’s Report on Climate Change:
• “Heating Up,” The Economist, February 10, 2007, p. 86.
• “Planet Gore,  The National Review, March 5, 2007, pp. 15-16.
• William K. Stevens, “On the Climate Change Beat,” The New York Times, February 6, 2007
• Robert J. Samuelson, “Global Warming and Hot Air,” The Washington Post, February 7, 2007, A17.
• Chapter Six:  Analyzing and Designing Visuals  [Listed in order of appearance in chapter]
• Jonathan Alter,  “Progress or Not,” Newsweek, October 25, 2006.
• Joe Rosenthal,  “Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945.
• Tania Ralli, “Who’s a Looter?”  New York Times, September 5, 2005.
• “Causes of Death,” [sidebar with chart] Time, Dec. 4, 2006, p. 68.
• James Twitchell,  “Miss Clairol’s “Does She . . . Or Doesn’t She?”:  How to Advertise a Dangerous Product.”
• Susan Bordo,  “Never Just Pictures,” Twilight Zones:  The Hidden Life of Cultural Images from Plato to O.J.  (1997)
• Ellen Goodman, “Out of the Picture on the Abortion Ban” Permission granted for PHG 7/e
• Charles Rosen and Henri Zerner, “Triple Self Portrait”  Permission granted for PHG, 7/e
• Ellen Goodman, “Out of the Picture on the Abortion Ban,” Boston Globe  [Permission granted in PHG, 7/e]
• Carolyn Kleiner Butler, “Coming Home,” Smithsonian, January 2005, pp. 22-23.
• Chapter Seven:  Investigating 
• Debra Bruno, “A Mother and her Daughter Face up to Facebook,  Christian Science Monitor, January 18, 2007.  
• Adria Scharf.  “Scripted Talk,”  from Dollars and Sense, (2002) 
• Chapter Eight :  Explaining 
• Suze Orman, “How to Take Control of Your Credit Cards,” Money Matters Column, Yahoo Finance, Posted Thursday, September 22, 2005.  
• William Falk, “Carbon Neutral” in The Week, Feb. 16, 2007, p. 5. 
• Chapter Nine:  Evaluating
• Manohla Dargis,  “To Ms. With Love:  A Teacher’s Heart Fords a Social Divide,”  The New York Times, January 5, 2007.
• Robin Williams and John Tollett, “Evaluating a Website”  Written by the authors for this text.  Permission granted.
• Image by Jamie Trueblood/Paramound Pictures.  Caption to picture:  “Ms. Swank plays Erin Gruwell in the film, which recounts Ms. Gruwell’s experience teaching at a high school in Long Beach, Calif.”
• Chapter Ten:  Problem-Solving
• Eric Schlosser, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Winona LaDuke, Peter Singer, Vandana Shiva, and Jim Hightower,  from “One thing to Do About Food, a forum edited by Alice Waters, in The Nation, September 11. 2006. 
• Chapter Eleven:  Arguing 
• Dudley Devlin, “Immigration Reform in America”  [Permission not needed–I am the ghost author]
• Ruben Navarrette, Jr., “Do Americans Really Want Jobs?”  The San Diego Union-Tribune, reprinted in The Denver Post, Feb 6, 2007.
• Barry Newman, Employers Have a Lot to Lose, The Wall Street Journal, April 11, 2006
• Khalil Bendib, “The Problem with Immigrants”  [Cartoon]
• Bruce Finley, “Raid Leave Families Fractured, The Denver Post, December 14, 2006.
• BBC News, “Viewpoints:  US Illegal Immigration”  23 May, 2006.
• Tom Briscoe, Small World, “Who to Blame for Illegals”  [Cartoon]
• SpeakOut.com,  “Immigration Forum, comments posted April, 2006.
• Web Page Shot:  IllegalAliens.US
• Web Page Shot:  United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)
• Photographs of Demonstrations 

Detailed list of NEW Visuals.

• Chapter One:  Myths and Rituals 
• Sipress, Cartoon  “Thank goodness you’re here”  New Yorker  Dec. 20, 2004 [Writing Myths]
• Chapter Two:  Situations, Purposes, and Processes
• Chapter Opening Art:  Mona Lisa Barn, Cornell Wisconsin, Layne Kennedy, Photographer, Corbis images.
• Chapter Three:  Observing 
• Chapter Opening Art:  John Gast, “American Progress,” available from ask/ART @ www.askart.com/askart/g/john_gast/john_gast.aspx.
• Chapter Four:  Remembering 
• Images of Cesar Chavez, to go with “Cesar Chavez Saved my Life”:
• Chapter Six:  Analyzing and Designing Visuals 
• Chapter Opening Art, Analyzing Visuals.  Guillaume de Machaut, Le Remede de Fortune, “The Lover Sings as his Lady Dances, Plate 24, in Francois Avril, Manuscript Painting at the Court of France,  George Braziller, Inc.,  New York, 1978., p. 87. 
• Dorothea Lange images, “Migrant Workers”
• Join American Red Cross, Corbis images  
• Jim Goldberg, USA, San Francisco, 1982.  “My Dream is to become a school teacher” 
• Image of Michael J. Fox,  “congress”  www.sfgate.com/blogs  
• Joe Rosenthal, “Marines Raising the Flag, Iwo Jima, 1945” 
• World War II Posters:  Rosie the Riveter, She’s a WPW, Join the WAC Now
• “Young man walks through water”  Associated Press, Aug 30, 2005; “Two Residents wade”  AFP/Getty Images, August 30, 2005. 
• Col. Debrza Lewis Image. 
• “Patriotism Means Silence,  Brad Roberts@ www.lowdiameter.com  
• Thomas McKay and Jonathan Moreno, The Denver Post.  “Storing the power of the wind” 
• Ralph Lauren Image
• “Absolute End,” Adbusters.
• “Big Mac Attack!” Adbusters.
• Mankoff Cartoon, The New Yorker,  “This Week’s Contest”  December, 2006 -  Winning Caption, “Well, then, it’s unanimous.” 
• Gordon Parks,  “American Gothic”
• Alfred Eisenstaadt,  Soldier Kissing Woman, New York, 1945, Time Life Image 
• Mueller, Cartoon, “I was Distracted for a moment.  Go on.”  The New Yorker.
• Global Warming Images–see individual sources.
• Cesar Chavez Images
• Polykoff images. 
• Bordo’s Images.
• “Triple Self Portrait” 
• “Out of the Picture”
• “A hero’s Welcome”
• Chapter Eleven:  Arguing 
• Leo Cullum, Cartoon, “No one is making you do anything you don’t want.”  The New Yorker, May 9, 2005.  [Arguing]
• Ziegler, cartoon, “You might want to save that for your blog.”  The New Yorker,  October 16, 2006

 

Thematic Contents       

Preface                        

Credits                       

 

Chapter One: Writing Myths and Rituals                                                   

Writing Fitness:  Rituals and Practice                                                                

Place, Time, and Tools                                                                        

Energy and Attitude                                                                                         

Keeping a Journal                                                                                            

Warming Up:  Journal Exercises                                                                       

“On Keeping a Journal” by Roy Hoffman                                                         

 

Chapter Two: Situations, Purposes, and Processes for Writing                 

Rhetorical Situations                                                                                        

Writer, Occasion, Purpose, Audience, Genre, Context                         

Purposes for Writing                                                                                        

Writer-Based Purposes                                                                                   

Subject- and Audience-Based Purposes                                                          

Combinations of Purposes                                                                               

Subject, Purpose, and Thesis                                                                           

Purpose and Audience                                                                                     

Audience Analysis                                                                                           

Purpose, Audience, and Genre                                                             

The Rhetorical Situation                                                                                   

Purpose, Audience, and Context in Two Essays                                               

“The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl” by Elizabeth Wong              

“I’m OK, but You’re Not” by Robert Zoellner                                     

Dimensions of the Writing Process                                                                   

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

The Whole Process                                                                                         

Writing with a Computer                                                                                  

Warming Up:  Journal Exercises                                                                       

A Writing Process at Work:  Collecting and Shaping                            

“Athletes and Education” by Neil H. Petrie                                                       

“On Writing “Athletes and Education” by Neil H. Petrie                        

A Writing Process at Work:  Drafting and Revising                                          

From “The Declaration of Independence”                                                         

 

 

Chapter Three: Observing                                                                           

Techniques for Writing About Observations                                                     

Observing People                                                                                            

Observing Places                                                                                             

From “Sierra” by John Muir                                                                             

Observing Objects                                                                                           

Warming Up: Journal Exercises                                                                            

“Take This Fish and Look at It” by Samuel H. Scudder                        

“Observing Wolves” by Farley Mowat                                                 

Observing: The Writing Process                                                                       

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Peer Response                                                                                               

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“Permanent Tracings” by Jennifer Macke                                                         

“Empty Windows” by Stephen White                                                   

 

Chapter Four: Remembering                                                                       

Techniques for Writing About Memories                                                          

Remembering People                                                                                       

Remembering Places                                                                                        

Remembering Events                                                                                       

Warming Up:  Journal Exercises                                                                       

“Lives on the Boundary” by Mike Rose                                                

“Beauty: When the Other Dancer Is the Self” by Alice Walker              

“César Chávez Saved My Life” by Daniel “Nene” Alejandrez               

Remembering: The Writing Process                                                                  

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“The Wind Catcher” by Todd Petry                                                                 

“The Red Chevy” by Juli Bovard                                                                      

 

Chapter Five: Reading                                                                                 

Techniques for Writing about Reading                                                  

Critical Reading Strategies                                                                               

Guidelines for Class Discussion                                                            

Summarizing and Responding to an Essay                                                         

“Teach Diversity—with a Smile” by Barbara Ehrenreich                                   

Summarizing                                                                                                    

Responding                                                                                                     

Warming Up: Journal Exercises                                                            

“Letter to America” by Margaret Atwood                                                        

“Vows” by Christopher Caldwell                                                                     

“Responses to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”                       

Reading and Writing Processes                                                            

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

“Teaching Tolerance in America” by Dudley Erskine Devlin                  

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Avoiding Plagiarism                                                                                         

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“Letter to Margaret Atwood” by Dean C. Swift                                               

“Two Responses to Deborah Tannen”

     by Jennifer Koester and Sonja H. Browe                                                    

 

Chapter Six: Analyzing & Designing Visuals                                              

Techniques for Analyzing Visuals                                                                      

Analyzing Visuals with Text                                                                              

Analyzing Visuals in Context                                                                            

“Progress or Not” by Jonathan Alter                                                                

“Flag Raising on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945” by Joe Rosenthal                     

“Who’s a Looter?” by Tania Ralli                                                                     

Analyzing the Genre of the Visual                                                                     

Rhetorical Appeals to the Audience                                                                  

Designing Visuals                                                                                             

Techniques for Designing Visuals                                                                      

Warming Up:  Journal Exercises                                                                       

“Miss Clairol’s ‘Does She . . . Or Doesn’t She?’: 

    How to Advertise a Dangerous Product” by James B. Twitchell                    

“Never Just Pictures,” by Susan Bordo                                                

Processes for Analyzing and Designing Visuals                                     

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Analysis Focused on the Visual                                                            

“Triple Self-Portrait” by Charles Rosen and Henri Zerner                                 

Analysis Focused on the Social Context                                                           

“Out of the Picture on the Abortion Ban” by Ellen Goodman                 

Analysis Focused on the Story                                                             

“Coming Home” by Carolyn Kleiner Butler                                                      

Peer Response                                                                                                

Writing Process Postscript                                                                    

“Some Don’t Like Their Blues at All” by Karyn M. Lewis                                

“Weight Loss 101 for the Adult Fitness Program” by Lawrence Fletcher           

 

Chapter Seven:  Investigating                                                                                 

Investigative Writing Techniques                                                                

Summary of a Book or Article                                                             

A Brief Report with Graphics                                                                           

“Gimme An A (I Insist!)” by Abigail Sullivan Moore

Investigation Using Multiple Sources                                                                

“That Parent-Child Conversation Is Becoming Instant, and Online"

     by John Schwartz                                                                                       

Profile of a Person                                                                                           

“Rick Steves’s Not-So-Lonely Planet” by Sara Corbett                                   

Extended Interview                                                                                          

“Reading Statistical Tea Leaves” by Karen Arenson                                         

Warming Up: Journal Exercises                                                            

“Surfin’ the Louvre” by Elizabeth Larsen                                                          

“Plotting a Net Gain” by Connie Koenenn                                                        

“The End of Cheap Oil” by Tim Appenzeller                                        

“The Homeless and Their Children” by Jonathan Kozol                        

Investigating:  The Writing Process                                                                   

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Community Service Learning                                                                            

Research Tips                                                                                                  

Doing Field Research                                                                                       

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“The Hollywood Indian “ by Lauren Strain                                                       

“My Friend, Michelle, An Alcoholic” by Bridgid Stone                         

 

Chapter Eight:  Explaining                                                                           

Techniques for Explaining                                                                                 

Explaining What                                                                                              

Explaining How                                                                                               

Explaining Why                                                                                    

Warming Up:  Journal Exercises                                                                       

“Multiracialness” by LaMer Stepptoe                                                   

“How to Take Control of Your Credit Cards” by Suze Orman             

“How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently”

     by Deborah Tannen                                                                        

Explaining:  The Writing Process                                                                      

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Tips for Integrating Images                                                                               

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“English Only” by Christine Bishop                                                                   

“Anorexia Nervosa” by Nancie Brosseau                                                         

 

Chapter Nine: Evaluating                                                                             

Techniques for Writing Evaluations                                                                   

Evaluating Commercial Products or Services                                                    

“The Hybrid Grows Up,” Consumer Reports                                      

Evaluating Works of Art                                                                                  

Evaluating Performances                                                                                  

“Peter Jackson’s Sorcery” by Richard Alleva                                       

Warming Up: Journal Exercises                                                            

“Evaluating a Website” by Robin Williams and John Tollett                   

“All’s Not Well in Land of  ‘The Lion King’” by Margaret Lazarus                   

“Today’s Special” by David Sedaris                                                                 

“Prime Time Art” by Kathyrn Hughes and Ben Rogers                         

“Watching the Eyewitless News” by Elayne Rapping                            

Evaluating:  The Writing Process                                                                      

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“Borrowers Can be Choosy” by Linda Meininger                                             

“The Big Chill” by Kent Y’Blood                                                                     

 

Chapter Ten: Problem Solving                                                                     

Problem Solving Techniques                                                                      

Demonstrating That a Problem Exists                                                   

Proposing a Solution and Convincing Your Readers                                         

Warming Up: Journal Exercises                                                            

“How to End Grade Inflation: 

     A Modest Proposal” by Michael Bérubé                                                     

“Solving for Pattern” by Wendell Berry                                                

“One Thing to Do About Food” by Eric Schlosser, Marion Nestle,

Michael Pollan, Troy Duster and Elizabeth Ransom, Peter Singer,

and Jim Hightower, edited by Alice Waters                                                      

“The Argument Culture” by Deborah Tannen                                        

Problem Solving: The Writing Process                                                  

Choosing a Subject                                                                                          

Collecting, Shaping, Drafting, Revising                                                  

Peer Response                                                                                                

Postscript on the Writing Process                                                                     

“No Parking” by Kristy Busch, Steve Krause, and Keith Wright                       

“New Regulations and You” by Jessica Cook                                      

 

Chapter Eleven: Arguing                                                                              

Techniques for Writing Argument                                                                     

Claims for Written Argument                                                                            

Appeals for Written Argument                                                             

Rogerian Argument                                                                                          

The Toulmin Method of Argument                                                                    

Analyzing Statistics