College Writing Skills

✍ Scribed by John Langan

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 814
• Edition: 8
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

College Writing Skills offers students a practical guide to becoming better writers. From mastering the traditional five-paragraph essay and its variations to learning about the finer points of grammar and punctuation, College Writing Skills empowers students to take control of their writing and put it to work for them. Now, with the new online writing program Connect Writing and the soon-to-come Connect Langan, an online interactive version of College Writing Skills, this new eighth edition brings writing closer to students and helps to take them where they need to go. Whether online or in class, College Writing Skills offers students the tools to succeed.

✦ Table of Contents

To the Instructor
Part 1: Essay Writing
1 An Introduction to Writing
Point and Support
Structure of the Traditional Essay
Benefits of Writing the Traditional Essay
Writing as a Skill
Writing as a Process of Discovery
Writing as a Way to Communicate with Others
Keeping a Journal
Tips on Using a Computer
Review Activities
Using This Text
2 The Writing Process
Prewriting
Writing a First Draft
Revising
Editing
Review Activities
3 The First and Second Steps in Essay Writing
Step 1: Begin with a Point, or Thesis
Step 2: Support the Thesis with Specific Evidence
Practice in Advancing and Supporting a Thesis
4 The Third Step in Essay Writing
Step 3: Organize and Connect the Specific Evidence
Introductions, Conclusions, and Titles
Practice in Organizing and Connecting Specific Evidence
5 The Fourth Step in Essay Writing
Revising Sentences
Editing Sentences
Practice in Revising Sentences
6 Four Bases for Revising Essays
Base 1: Unity
Base 2: Support
Base 3: Coherence
Base 4: Sentence Skills
Practice in Using the Four Bases
Part 2: Patterns of Essay Development
7 Introduction to Essay Development
Important Considerations in Essay Development
Patterns of Essay Development
8 Description
READING: Lou’s Place Beth Johnson
9 Narration
READING: The Yellow Ribbon Pete Hamill
10 Exemplification
READING: Dad Andrew H. Malcolm
11 Process
READING: How to Do Well on a Job Interview Glenda Davis
12 Cause and Effect
READING: Taming the Anger Monster Anne Davidson
13 Comparison or Contrast
READING: Born to Be Different? Camille Lewis
14 Definition
READING: Television Addiction Marie Winn
15 Division-Classification
READING: Wait Divisions Tom Bodett
16 Argument
READING: Ban the Things. Ban Them All. Molly Ivins
Part 3: Special Skills
17 Taking Essay Exams
18 Writing a Summary
19 Writing a Report
20 Writing a Résumé and Cover Letter
21 Using the Library and the Internet
22 Writing a Research Paper
Part 4: Handbook of Sentence Skills
SECTION 1: Grammar
23 Subjects and Verbs
24 Fragments
25 Run-Ons
26 Regular and Irregular Verbs
27 Subject-Verb Agreement
28 Additional Information about Verbs
29 Pronoun Agreement and Reference
30 Pronoun Types
31 Adjectives and Adverbs
32 Misplaced Modifiers
33 Dangling Modifiers
SECTION 2: Mechanics
34 Manuscript Form
35 Capital Letters
36 Numbers and Abbreviations
SECTION 3: Punctuation
37 Apostrophe
38 Quotation Marks
39 Comma
40 Other Punctuation Marks
SECTION 4: Word Use
41 Spelling Improvement
42 Commonly Confused Words
43 Effective Word Choice
44 Editing Tests
45 ESL Pointers
Correction Symbols
Credits
Index