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Table of Contents

*indicates new to the 15th edition

CONTENTS

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS    

CONTENTS BY THEME AND DISCIPLINE    

  HOW (AND WHY) TO USE THIS BOOK    
THE SELECTIONS    
Readings • Student examples • Visuals
THE METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT    
THE PRACTICAL GUIDANCE    
Overviews of reading, writing, and research • Reading questions and writing prompts • Glossary and index
THE WRITERS ON WRITING    

PART ONE

ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING    

 1  CRITICAL READING: Learning from Other Writers    
READING ACTIVELY    
Previewing • Annotating
NANCY MAIRS  Disability (annotated essay)    
DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING    
Summarizing • Thinking critically
Checklist for critical reading    
ANALYZING WRITTEN WORKS    
Meaning • Writing strategy • Language
Checklist for analyzing a written work    
EXAMINING VISUAL IMAGES    
Checklist for examining an image    
*Visual Image: from “A Marathon Survivor Starts Over,” photo essay by Josh Haner
Seeing the big picture • Taking a critical look

 2  THE WRITING PROCESS: Discovery and Drafting    
ASSESSING THE WRITING SITUATION    
Subject • Audience • Purpose • Genre
DISCOVERING IDEAS    
Keeping a journal • Freewriting • Exploring the methods of development • Responding to a text
DRAFTING    
Focusing on a thesis • Developing ideas • Organizing the evidence • Shaping the introduction and conclusion
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS    
Journal notes on reading • First draft • Next steps

 3 THE WRITING PROCESS: Reviewing and Revising    
REVIEWING A DRAFT    
REVISING IN STAGES    
Checklist for peer review and revision    
Purpose and genre • Thesis • Unity • Development • Coherence
INTEGRATING EVIDENCE    
Exercising caution • Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting • Synthesizing ideas
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS    
Peer responses to first draft • Journal notes on peer review • Revised draft • Next steps

 4 THE WRITING PROCESS: Editing    
USING EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE    
Checklist for editing    
CRAFTING CLEAR AND ENGAGING SENTENCES    
Emphasis • Parallelism • Sentence variety
FIXING COMMON ERRORS    
Sentence fragments • Run-on sentences and comma splices • Subject-verb agreement • Pronouns • Misplaced and dangling modifiers • Shifts
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS    
Edited paragraph • Final draft
ROSIE ANAYA  Mental Illness on Television (annotated student essay)  

PART TWO

THE METHODS    

 5  NARRATION: Telling a Story    
Visual Image: Proposal, drawing by Demetri Martin    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
Purpose and shape • The thesis • The narrator in the story • What to emphasize • Organization
Focus on verbs    
How to organize a narrative    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a narrative    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A POLICE LOG    
Scott Beltran from Ride-Along Report (annotated student writing)    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*Healthcare    
*OLIVER SACKS  Cold Storage    
*Oliver Sacks on Writing    
JONATHAN BETHARDS  Code Three (student essay)    
An emergency medical technician responds to a 911 call, and a stand-off ensues.    
AMY TAN  Fish Cheeks    
*Amy Tan on Writing
MAYA ANGELOU  Champion of the World    
Maya Angelou on Writing    
*DAVID TREUER  22 Vision    
SHIRLEY JACKSON  The Lottery (short story)    
Shirley Jackson on Writing    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

 6  DESCRIPTION: Writing with Your Senses    
*Visual Image: Busy Day, photograph by Serena Pallaro    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
Purpose and audience • Dominant impression and thesis • Organization • Details
How to organize a description    
Focus on specific and concrete language    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a description    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A FIELD OBSERVATION    
Nick Fiorelli  from Teaching Methodologies at Child’s Play Preschool (annotated student writing)    
SHONDA RHIMES My Summer of Scooping Ice Cream    
*CLINT SMITH  Red Hat Cell Block    
*Clint Smith on Writing    
*BARRY LOPEZ  The Cape Crozier Penguins    
*Barry Lopez on Writing    
JOYCE CAROL OATES  Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942 (poem)    
Visual Image: Nighthawks, painting by Edward Hopper    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FATHERS    
BRAD MANNING  Arm Wrestling with My Father (student essay)    
Brad Manning on Writing    
E. B. WHITE  Once More to the Lake    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

 7 EXAMPLE: Pointing to Instances    
Visual Image: Costumes to Scare Millennials, cartoon by Sarah Andersen    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
The generalization and the thesis • The examples • Organization
Focus on sentence variety    
How to organize examples    
Checklist for reviewing and revising an example essay    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A JOB-APPLICATION LETTER    
Susan Churchill E-mail to Exeter Hospital (annotated student writing)    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*RACISM    
BRENT STAPLES  Black Men and Public Space    
Brent Staples on Writing    
*GRACE TALUSAN  Yellow Children    
*Visual Image: Grace’s High School Senior Portrait, photograph of the author    
ANNA QUINDLEN  Homeless    
Anna Quindlen on Writing    
ZANE RASSLER  Looking Back (student essay)    
Zane Rassler on Writing    
*CRISTINA HENRÍQUEZ  Everything Is Far from Here (short story)    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

 8  COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: Setting Things Side by Side    
Visual Image: Excerpt from Fun Home, graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel    
THE METHOD    
Uses of comparison and contrast • Purposes
THE PROCESS    
Subjects for comparison • Basis for comparison and thesis • Organization • Balance and flexibility
How to organize a comparison-and-contrast essay    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a comparison-and-contrast essay    
Focus on parallelism    
*STUDENT CASE STUDY: AN EVALUATION    
*Clarissa del Re  Zoom Classes Are Inherently More Challenging (annotated student writing)    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

ENDANGERED SPECIES    
JOURDAN IMANI KEITH  At Risk    
Jourdan Imani Keith on Writing    
TED CHIANG  The Great Silence (short story)    
Visual Images: from The Great Silence, video installation by Allora & Calzadilla    
SUZANNE BRITT  Neat People vs. Sloppy People    
Suzanne Britt on Writing    
DAVID SEDARIS  Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa    
David Sedaris on Writing    
*J. OWEN MURPHY   Climate Change: Pole Pole (documented student essay)    
*J. Owen Murphy on Writing    
FATEMA MERNISSI  Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

 9  PROCESS ANALYSIS: Explaining Step by Step    
*Visual Image: Fabulous Monggo!, illustration by Malaka Gharib    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
How to organize a process analysis    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a process analysis    
Focus on consistency    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A LAB REPORT   
Victor Khoury from DNA Extraction (annotated student writing)    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

WRITING    
ANNE LAMOTT  Shitty First Drafts    
KOJI FRAHM  How to Write an A Paper (student essay)    
Koji Frahm on Writing    
*MARY ROACH  When Animals Attack    
*Mary Roach on Writing    
*JUSTIN TORRES  The Way We Read Now (short story)    
JESSICA MITFORD  Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain    
Jessica Mitford on Writing    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

10  DIVISION OR ANALYSIS: Slicing into Parts    
Visual Image: Deconstructing Lunch, cartoon by Roz Chast    
THE METHOD    
Kinds of division or analysis • Analysis and critical thinking
THE PROCESS    
Subject and purpose • Principle of analysis and thesis • Evidence
How to organize a division or analysis essay    
Focus on source material    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a division or analysis essay    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A CRITICAL READING    
Rachel O’Connor from A Question of Fairness: “The Lottery” as Social Commentary (annotated student writing)    
*JESSE WARD  What PTSD Looks Like (documented student essay)    
*Visual Image: Brian Scott Ostrom, photograph by Craig F. Walker
*NATALIE DIAZ  They Don’t Love You Like I Love You (poem)    
BARBARA B. PARSONS  Whistling in the Dark    
Barbara B. Parsons on Writing    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*CONSUMER CULTURE    
*JOHN GREEN  Piggly Wiggly    
*John Green on Writing    
ZADIE SMITH  Find Your Beach    
Visual Image: Find Your Beach, advertisement by Corona    
Zadie Smith on Writing    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

11  CLASSIFICATION: Sorting into Kinds    
*Visual Image: from They Called Us Enemy, graphic memoir by George Takei    
THE METHOD    
Subjects and reasons for classification • Kinds of classification
THE PROCESS    
Purposes and theses • Categories
Focus on paragraph development    
How to organize a classification    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a classification    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: A RÉSUMÉ    
Susan Churchill Résumé (annotated student writing)    
SANDRA CISNEROS  And Some More (short story)    
Sandra Cisneros on Writing    
*JULIET CORWIN  The Lonely World between the Hearing and the Deaf (student essay)    
*JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS  Not Black, Not White    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FAILURES TO COMMUNICATE    
DEBORAH TANNEN  But What Do You Mean?    
Deborah Tannen on Writing    
WILLIAM LUTZ  The World of Doublespeak    
William Lutz on Writing    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

12  CAUSE AND EFFECT: Asking Why    
*Visual Image: Bright Nights, infographic by Lucy Conklin    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
Subject and purpose • Thesis • Causal relations • Discovery of causes • Educated guesses
How to organize a cause-and-effect analysis    
Focus on clarity and conciseness    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a cause-and-effect essay    
*STUDENT CASE STUDY: AN OPINION COLUMN    
*Adya Mohapatra The Warped Transformation of Cancel Culture (annotated student writing)    
LANGSTON HUGHES  Harlem (poem)    
*Langston Hughes on Writing       
*Visual Image: First Draft with Hand-written Revisions, photograph by the Langston Hughes Papers Digital Collections
*MARY KILLEEN McCANS   Signing Their Lives Away (documented student essay)    
*Mary Killeen McCans on Writing    
DEREK THOMPSON  What Makes Things Cool    
Visual Image: Raymond Loewy, illustration by Mark Weaver, with photographs by Bernard Hoffman, Jack Garofalo, and Sherman Oaks Antique Mall    
MALCOLM GLADWELL  Little Fish in a Big Pond    
Malcolm Gladwell on Writing    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

GLOBALIZATION    
CHITRA DIVAKARUNI  Live Free and Starve    
  
Chitra Divakaruni on Writing    
*JARED DIAMOND The Global Perils of Inequality    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

13  DEFINITION: Tracing Boundaries    
*Visual Image: Friend, artwork by Jonny Sun    
THE METHOD    
THE PROCESS    
Discovery of meanings • Methods of development • Thesis • Evidence
How to organize a definition    
Focus on unity    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a definition    
STUDENT CASE STUDY: AN ESSAY EXAM    
Martin Ward  Civil Liberties (annotated student writing)    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

PRIVILEGE    
TAL FORTGANG  Checking My Privilege (student essay)    
Tal Fortgang on Writing    
ROXANE GAY  Peculiar Benefits    
Roxane Gay on Writing    
EMILY DICKINSON  “Hope” is the thing with feathers (poem)    
*RICHARD RODRIGUEZ  X: The Neutering of the Spanish Tongue    
*N. SCOTT MOMADAY   The Sacred Spell of Words    
*Visual Images: Emily Spear; Carnegie, Oklahoma; photographs by Maddie McGarvey
N. Scott Momaday on Writing       
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

14  ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION: Stating Opinions and Proposals    
Visual Image: Corporate America Flag, image from Adbusters Media Foundation    
THE METHOD    
Audience and common ground • Elements of argument • Reasoning
Focus on tone    
THE PROCESS    
Finding a subject • Organizing
How to organize an argument    
Checklist for reviewing and revising an argument    
*STUDENT CASE STUDY: A PROPOSAL     
*Natalie Dowzicky Don’t Leave White Colleges, Pay Your Elite Student Athletes (annotated student writing)    
*ELLY VINTIADIS   Mass Shootings and the Myth of the Violent Mentally Ill (annotated essay)       
 *Elly Vintiadis on Writing    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

HOW CAN FAMILY IMMIGRATION POLICY BE REFORMED?    
LINDA CHAVEZ  Supporting Family Values    
Linda Chavez on Writing    
*MARIE MYUNG-OK LEE   I Was an Anchor Baby    
GROUPED SELECTIONS
IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY DEFENSIBLE?    
DAVID B. MUHLHAUSEN  How the Death Penalty Saves Lives    
SEMON FRANK THOMPSON  What I Learned from Executing Two Men    
JESSICA BLANK AND ERIK JENSEN   from The Exonerated (documentary play)    
Visual Image: The Exonerated, poster for the Secret Theater    
Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen on Writing    
GROUPED SELECTIONS
SHOULD FREEDOM OF SPEECH BE LIMITED?    
SARAH HEMPHILL   What Happened to Free Speech on College Campuses? (documented student essay)    
Sarah Hemphill on Writing    
*AZIZ HUQ  The Conservative Case against Banning Critical Race Theory    
*JULIA SERANO  Free Speech and the Paradox of Tolerance    
*Julia Serano on Writing    
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS    

*15 MIXING THE METHODS: Combining the Patterns of Development
*Visual Image: Not Milk, advertisement by Oatly    
THE METHODS    
THE PROCESS    
Subject and Purpose • Thesis • Organization
Focus on coherence    
How to organize an essay using multiple methods    
Checklist for reviewing and revising a mixed-methods essay    
*STUDENT CASE STUDY: AN OPEN LETTER    
*Angela Dziuba  A Response to Tal Fortgang (annotated student writing)    
JOAN DIDION  Earthquakes (annotated essay)    
Joan Didion on Writing    

PAIRED SELECTIONS

TRANSCENDENTALISM    
HENRY DAVID THOREAU  What I Lived For    
Henry David Thoreau on Writing    
LUIS ALBERTO URREA  Barrio Walden    
Luis Alberto Urrea on Writing    
*ISABELLA LOH  The Blue Death (documented student essay)    
LOUISE ERDRICH  The Crest (short story)    
Louise Erdrich on Writing    
JONATHAN SWIFT  A Modest Proposal    

*PART THREE

RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION    

16 RESEARCH: Finding and Using Sources
CONDUCTING RESEARCH    
Using the library • Evaluating sources • Preparing an annotated bibliography
Checklist for evaluating sources    
WRITING WITH SOURCES    
Building knowledge • Integrating source material • Synthesizing multiple sources • Avoiding plagiarism

17 MLA STYLE: Documenting Sources in the Humanities
SOURCE CITATION USING MLA STYLE       
MLA parenthetical citations • MLA list of works cited
A SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER IN MLA STYLE       
MARGARET LUNDBERG  Eating Green (annotated student essay)       

18 APA STYLE: Documenting Sources in the Social Sciences
SOURCE CITATION USING APA STYLE    
APA parenthetical citations • APA reference list
A SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER IN APA STYLE       
ERIC KIM  The Brain That Changes (annotated student essay)    

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS    

DIRECTORY TO THE WRITERS ON WRITING    

INDEX  

Authors

X. J. Kennedy

X. J. Kennedy is an acclaimed poet, children’s author, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Tufts University. More than 2 million students have used his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Reader, now in its fourteenth edition.

Dorothy M. Kennedy

Dorothy M. Kennedy was a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, was the recipient of the NCTE Teacher's Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Child's Introduction to Poetry.

Jane E. Aaron

Jane E. Aaron is a professional writer and editor as well as an experienced teacher. She is the author of the best-selling Little, Brown Handbook and The Compact Reader. She has served as consultant, editor, or writer on more than a dozen other textbooks for the first-year composition.

Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Ellen Kuhl Repetto is an editor and writer who has contributed to more than twenty composition readers, handbooks, and rhetorics. She is the author of The Bedford Reader and The Compact Reader.

Related Titles

The Brief Bedford Reader

X.J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane E. Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto | Fifteenth Edition | 2023 | ISBN:9781319332860

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