PART ONE: ADVICE ON WRITING 1
CHAPTER ONE: Paragraphs—What Makes Them Successful? 3
CHAPTER TWO: Successful Essays—Classic and Organic Essay Structures 18
CHAPTER THREE: Successful Essays—Major Kinds of Essays 29
CHAPTER FOUR: Successful Essays—The Rhetorical Modes 58
PART TWO: READINGS FOR WRITING 67
CHAPTER FIVE: Place—Where Do We Call Home? 69
1. Robert Wrigley, "The Swing, the Snow, the Skull of a Hare" 70
2. Barry Holstun Lopez, "Landscape and Narrative" 76
3. Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ship Ahoy" 82
4. Maggie Anderson, "A Place with Promise" 91
5. Roberta Hill Whiteman, "Nett Lake, Minnesota" 93
CHAPTER SIX: Work—What Labors Occupy Us? 111
1. Mother Jones, "UMWA Convention Speech, 1902" 112
2. Richard Rodriguez, "Complexion and Labor" 119
3. Sheila Ballantyne, "They Call Me Mummy" 126
4. Jim Daniels, "Still Lives in Detroit, #1, #2, and #3" 137
CHAPTER SEVEN: Reading/Seeing—What Does This Meant 154
1. Virginia Woolf, "How Should One Read a Book?" 155
2. Mark Twain, "Perplexing Lessons" and "Continued Perplexities" 160
3. Raymond Carver, "Cathedral" 170
4. Robert Frost, "Birches" 182
5. Tu Fu, "Ballad of a Hundred Worries" 184
CHAPTER EIGHT: Teaching/Learning—What's Gained or Lost in This Process? 198
1. Robert B. Heilman, "The Great-Teacher Myth" 199
2. David A. Fryxell, "Blackboard Immortality" 206
3. Robley Wilson, Jr., "Wasps" 213
4. Lola Haskins, "The Amateur" 221
5. Li-Young Lee, "Persimmons" 223
CHAPTER NINE: Science—What and How Do We Discover? 243
1. Harold J. Morowitz, "The Olive in the Martini" and "The Thermodynamics of Pizza" 244
2. Lewis Thomas, "The Music of This Sphere" 250
3. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "The Manned Missiles" 255
4. Allison Funk, "August: A Lunar Eclipse" 264
5. Al Young, "Chemistry" 266
CHAPTER TEN: Politics—What and How Do We Control? 283
1. George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant" 284
2. James Baldwin, "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem" 291
3. Toni Cade Bambara, "My Man Bovanne" 299
4. W. H. Auden, "If on Account of the Political Situation" 305
Narration 160
1. Mark Twain, "Perplexing Lessons" and "Continued Perplexities" 160
2. George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant" 284
3. Raymond Carver, "Cathedral" 170
4. Lola Haskins, "The Amateur" 221
Comparison and Contrast 250
1. Lewis Thomas, "The Music of This Sphere" 250
2. James Baldwin, "Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter from Harlem" 291
3. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., "The Manned Missiles" 255
4. Roberta Hill Whiteman, "Nett Lake, Minnesota" 93
Process Analysis 155
1. Virginia Woolf, "How Should One Read a Book?" 155
2. Harold J. Morowitz, 'The Olive in the Martini" and "The Thermodynamics of Pizza" 244
3. Sheila Ballantyne, 'They Call Me Mummy" 126
4. Robert Frost, "Birches" 182
5. Tu Fu, "Ballad of a Hundred Worries" 184
Cause and Effect 284
1. George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant" 284
2. Mark Twain, "Perplexing Lessons" and "Continued Perplexities" 160
3. Robley Wilson, Jr., "Wasps" 213
4. Jim Daniels, "Still Lives in Detroit, #1, #2, and #3" 137
Definition 76
1. Barry Holstun Lopez, "Landscape and Narrative" 76
2. Richard Rodriguez, "Complexion and Labor" 119
3. Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ship Ahoy" 82
4. Al Young, "Chemistry" 266
5. Li-Young Lee, "Persimmons" 223
Argument 112
1. Mother Jones, "UMWA Convention Speech, 1902" 112
2. Robert B. Heilman, "The Great-Teacher Myth" 199
3. Toni Cade Bambara, "My Man Bovanne" 299
4. W. H. Auden, "If on Account of the Political Situation" 305