Longman / Prentice Hall

English

Browse available resources for Composition:



Real Texts: Reading and Writing across the Disciplines
Dean Ward, Calvin College
Elizabeth Vander Lei, Calvin College

ISBN-10: 0321317432
ISBN-13: 9780321317438

Publisher: Longman
Copyright: 2008
Format: Paper; 528 pp
Published: 12/28/2007

Suggested retail price: $46.67
Buy from myPearsonStore

Real Texts is a new kind of reader for freshman composition–a collection of texts by academic, professional, and student writers that model the very best practices of writing within and across disciplines, from communication to chemistry, from nursing to education. 

 

The consistently organized chapters in this unique reader demonstrate how good writing practice can transfer from college to the wider world.  Each chapter provides models of academic, student, and public writing that follow the rhetorical conventions of a discipline and underline how each discipline has developed its particular writing conventions to respond to real-world questions. 

  • A rhetorical lesson opens each chapter, showing students how particular aspects of the chapter’s readings demonstrate strategies to be used across disciplines (for example, how writers disrupt reader expectations to accomplish a rhetorical goal, Ch. 11).
  • Student writing selections are introduced by comments from each student writer about the assignment–how she or he approached it–and the specific strategies used in writing in that particular discipline.
  • To Think About activities precede each chapter’s readings and engage students in the “habits of mind” they will encounter in the readings.
  • Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric in each chapter link large-scale and sentence-level rhetorical practices within each set of disciplinary conventions.
  • Reading Tips focus students on important elements of each reading.
  • Marginal annotations point out the way in which writers are making arguments, using research, or following disciplinary conventions, helping students understand how writers work.
  • Reading responses follow each reading, and longer writing assignments end each chapter, asking students to both conduct research in the discipline and make connections across disciplines.

 

Preface

 

Section One: Reading, Writing, and Rhetorical Choice

Ch.1: Understanding What A Writer Says

Ch.2: Understanding How A Writer Persuades Readers

 

Section Two: Analyzing People and Culture

Chapter 3.  Speech Communication: Analyzing Audiences

Writing in Speech Communication: Speech to the Annual White House Prayer Breakfast, September 11, 1998, President William Clinton.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Sentence Subjects”

Student Writing: “Apologizing to Friends, Enemies, and Everyone in between: Analyzing Clinton's Rhetoric,” Laura McGiness.

Public Writing: Post-Katrina Speech from Jackson Square, New Orleans, September 15, 2005, President George W. Bush.

More Writing in Speech Communication: “Rhetoric to Forestall Impeachment,” Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 4. Religion and Society: Analyzing Cultural Assumptions

Writing in Religion: “Civil Religion in America,” Robert Bellah. 

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “First-Person Pronouns”

Student Writing: “Peter Berger and the Study of Religion: An Examination of Sociological Method,” Philip Park.

Public Writing: “Letter to the Editor,” Bruce Lincoln, et. al.

More Writing in Religion: “Beyond Belief,” Hana Rosen.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 5. Chemistry: Summarizing Research

Writing in Chemistry: “Aging, Bioavailability, and Overestimation of Risk from Environmental Pollutants,” Martin Alexander.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Uses of Old Information”

Student Writing: “Introduction,” to “Bioremediation of Pentachlorophenol,” Arianne Folkema.

Public Writing: “Realms of the Soil,” in Silent Spring, Rachel Carson.

More Writing in Chemistry: “Health and Environmental Consequences of the World Trade Center Disaster,” Philip J. Landrigan, et. al.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 6. Art History: Interpreting Culture

Writing in Art History: “Bloodletting and the Vision Quest,” Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Assertiveness and Honesty in Interpretation”

Student Writing: “Images of the Oba: A Study in the Paradoxical Nature of Benin Kingship,” Rebecca Merz.

Public Writing: “Pieter Breugel the Elder, ‘Beekeepers.’” Michiele C. Plomp.

More Writing in Art History: “Profile: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,” Craig McDaniel and Jean Robertson.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

 

Section Three: Reporting Knowledge

Chapter 7.  Political Science: Building Knowledgeable Arguments

Writing in Political Science: “Kant or Cant: The Myth of Democratic Peace,” Christopher Layne.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Textual Coherence”

Student Writing: “Democratic Consolidation in Israel?” Robin King.

Public Writing: “Bowling for Democracy,” Orlando Patterson and Jason Kaufman.

More Writing in Political Science: “Iraq and the Democratic Peace: Who Says Democracies Don't Fight?” John M. Owen IV

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 8.  Biology: Describing Nature

Writing in Biology: “Influence of training and match intensity on injuries in rugby league,” Tim J. Gabbett.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Passive Verbs”

Student Writing: “Lab Report: Linkage between 3 genes in Drosophila,” Stephanie McElroy.

Public Writing: “The Female Hurt,” Marguerite Holloway.

More Writing in Biology: “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids,” Watson, J. D. & Crick, F. H. C.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 9.  Sociology: Searching for Causes of Social Problems

Writing in Sociology: “Gender and the career choice process: the role of biased self-assessments,” Shelley J. Correll.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Noun Phrases”

Student Writing: “The Politics of Cohabitation,” Joy Van Marion.

Public Writing: “Why marriage today takes more love, work—from both partners,” Stephanie Coontz.

More Writing in Sociology: “Unmarried with Children,” Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 10.  Biotechnology: Building Consensus with Knowledge

Writing in Biotechnology: “Feeding the world in the twenty-first century,” Gordon Conway and Gary Toenniessen.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Hedges in Persuasive Writing”

Student Writing: “The Insurance Industry and Adult Preventative Genetic Screening: An evil beast using awesome powers for harm?” Meghan Sheehan.

Public Writing: “Stem Cell Research,” Richard O. Lempert and Jack E. Dixon.

More Writing in Biotechnology: “The tragedy of the commoners: biotechnology and its publics,”Ambuj Sagar, Arthur Daemmrich, and Mona Ashiya.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

 

 

Section Four: Recommending Action

Chapter 11.  English Education: Challenging Conventions

Writing in English Education: “Of Color, Classes, and Classrooms,” in Bootstraps, Victor Villanueva.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Sentence Fragments and Special Effects.”

Student Writing: “Analysis and Application of Victor Villanueva’s Bootstraps,” Cherilyn Dudley.

Public Writing: “Introduction” to The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, E. D. Hirsch.

More Writing in English Education: Chapter  2, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Friere.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 12.  Nursing: Observing to Improve Practice

Writing in Nursing: “A Phenomenologic Study of Chronic Pain,” Sandra P Thomas.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Appeals to the General and Particular.”

Student Writing: “Nursing Care Plan,” Curtis Gritters; “Reflection Paper,” Megan Nyenhuis.

Public Writing: “Why Isn’t All Care ‘Palliative’ Care?” Diana Mason, Nessa Coyle, and Betty R. Ferrell.

More Writing in Nursing: “Development and testing of a Faces Scale for the assessment of anxiety in critically ill patients,” Sharon McKinley, Katherine Coote, and Jane Stein-Parbury.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 13.  Psychology: Listening and Recommending Care Plans

Writing in Psychology: “‘Initial Assessment,’ ‘Progress Notes,’ and ‘Clinical Report’: A Case History in Clinical Psychology,” Mary Vander Goot.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “Source Attributors.”

Student Writing: “Letter of Referral,” Benjamin Fiet; “Memo Requesting Consultation,” Janette Curtis.

Public Writing: “First-Year College Students Who Feel Lonely Have a Weaker Immune Response to the Flu Shot,” press release, American Psychological Association.

More Writing in Psychology: “Focused Expressive Writing as Self-Help for Stress and Trauma.” Joshua Smyth and Rebecca Helm.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

Chapter 14.  Marketing: Motivating Action

Writing in Marketing: One Common Purpose, company-wide marketing plan, Steelcase Corporation.

Notes on Grammar, Style, and Rhetoric: “The Language of Motivation.”

Student Writing: “Safe Haven Marketing Plan,” Sarah Steen.

Public Writing: “Leap Chair” Advertisement.

More Writing in Marketing: “Leap [Chair] Productivity and Health Impact Study,” Ben Amick and Kelly Durango.

Writing Assignments: Applications, Connections, Research

For First-Year Composition - Reader


Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students, contact your Pearson Higher Education representative for pricing and ordering information.

Pearson Higher Education offers special pricing when you choose to package your text with other student resources. If you're interested in creating a cost-saving package for your students, browse our available packages below, or contact your Pearson Higher Education representative to create your own package.



Copyright ©2008 Pearson Education. All rights reserved. Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Permissions