The Composition of Everyday Life - Softcover

1. Inventing Ideas. Asking Questions. Re-Inventing Education. Considering The Essay. Reading for Intellectual Agility and Rhetoric. Applying Rhetoric To Your Own Writing. How To Use The Composition Of Everyday Life. Sample Essays. Writing Topics. Invention. Inventing Ideas Assignment. 2. Remembering Who You Were. Readings. "Selling Manure," Bonnie Jo Campbell. "How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant," Cindy Bosley. "The Thrill of Victory ... The Agony of Parents," Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Common Thesis Problems. Rhetorical Tools. Narration. Allusions. Dialogue. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Peer Review Truisms. Reflection. 3. Explaining Relationships. Readings. "Americans and the Land," John Steinbeck. Mugged," Jim Crockett. "Delicate Friend," Lauren Jackson [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Using Narration. Using Description. Using Figurative Language. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. Beyond the Essay. 4. Observing. Readings. "Heart of Sand," Anne-Marie Oomen. "The Front Porch," Chester McCovey. "Corpse Colloquy," Justin Scott [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Using Details. Using Narrative. Using Allusions. Using Figurative Language. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. 5. Analyzing Concepts. Readings. "Black Like I Thought I Was," Erin Aubry Kaplan. "World Gone Mad," Derrick Jensen. "'Have It Your Way': Consumerism Invades Education," Simon Benlow. "The Real, The Bad, and The Ugly," Cassie Heidecker [Student essay]. "What Is Education?" Petra Pepellashi [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Examples and Contrary Examples. Definitions and References. Outside Sources. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Conceptual Mapping. 6. Analyzing Images. Readings. "Rise of the Image Culture: Re-Imagining the American Dream,"Elizabeth Thoman. "The Mighty Image," Cameron Johnson. "An Imperfect Reality," Rebecca Hollingsworth [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Image. Text. Subtext. Context. Thinking Further. Thesis. Common Thesis Problems. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Using Details from the Image. Using Other Evidence. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. 7. Making Arguments. Readings. "The Dog Delusion," April Pedersen. "Cruelty, Civility, and Other Weighty Matters," Ann Marie Paulin. "Floppy Disk Fallacies," Elizabeth Bohnhorst [Student Essay]. "Whales R Us," Jayme Stayer. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Common Thesis Problems. Rhetorical Tools. Support. Counterargument. Concession and Qualifier. Caution: Logical Fallacies Ahead. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: The Open Letter. 8. Responding to Arguments. Readings. "What Orwell Didn't Know," George Lakoff. "Entitlement Education," Daniel Bruno. "Reality Check," Allison Hester [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. The First Layer: The Four Elements of Argument. The Second Layer: Warranting Assumptions. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Thinking Further. Rhetorical Tools. Using Support. Counterarguing. Conceding and Qualifying Points. Remembering Logical Fallacies. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Rogerian Argument. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. 9. Evaluating. Readings. "Talibanned," Benjamin Busch. "The Andy Griffith Show: Return to Normal," Ed Bell. "Star Trek," Jaren Provo. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Discovering the Purpose of the Subject. Applying Criteria to the Subject. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Common Thesis Problems. Rhetorical Tools. Using Support. Counterarguments and Concessions. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Classroom Evaluations. 10. Searching for Causes. Readings. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Nicholas Carr. "Throwing Up Childhood," Leonard Kress. "American Consumerism," Jamie Bentley [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Common Thesis Problems. Rhetorical Tools. Integrating Authorities (Outside Sources). Counterarguing. Conceding. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. 11. Proposing Solutions. Readings. "Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt," Julie Zhuo. "Attending to the Word," Deirdre Mahoney. "Reverence for Food," Rachel Scofield [Student essay]. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Problems. Solutions. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Discovering Counterargument and Alternative Solutions. Avoiding Logical Fallacies. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. 12. Thinking Radically: Re-Seeing the World. Readings. "An Apology to Future Generations," Simon Benlow. "Unemployed, and Working Hard," Simon Wykoff [Student essay]. "Celibate Passion," Kathleen Norris. Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thinking Further. Public Resonance. Thesis. Evolution of a Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Using Narration. Using Description. Using Figurative Language. Using Definitions. Argumentative Support. Counterargument. Concession. Toulminian Analysis. Outside Sources. Organizational Strategies. Writer's Voice. Vitality. Revision. Peer Review. Reflection. Beyond the Essay. 13. Finding Sources. Using Catalogs and Databases. Online Catalogs. Periodical Databases. Conducting Interviews. Planning an Interview. Asking the Right Questions. Integrating Interviews into Your Writing. Creating Surveys. Generating Questions. Choosing Respondents. Recording and Using Responses. 14. Analyzing, Synthesizing, and Evaluating Sources. Developing Critical Literacy. "Just the Facts, Please"--or Maybe Not. "Numbers Don't Lie"--or Do They? Summarizing and Analyzing Sources. Content. Context. Understanding Common Source Genres. Synthesizing Sources. Assignment: Summarizing, Analyzing, and Synthesizing Sources. Sample Synthesis: Exploring Caffeine Views, by Jim Crockett. Evaluating Sources. Relevance. Reliability. Credibility. Timeliness. Diversity. Assignment: Evaluating a Source. Sample Source Evaluation, by Janet Lively. 15. Integrating and Documenting Sources. Basic Concepts. Issues to Consider and Discuss. Why Get Information from Sources? When to Get Information from Sources. What Is Inventive Research? Where to Get Information from Sources. What Is Plagiarism? Why Document Sources? What's a Good Research Topic? Formal versus Informal Documentation. Integrating Ideas from Sources. Summary. Quotation. Special Conditions in Quoting. Organizing Sources. Blending in the Source Information. Documenting Sources. MLA Style. In-Text Citation. Works Cited. Sample Research Essay. APA Style. In-Text Citation. References. Sample Research Essay.

Showing students that the act of writing is connected to everyday living, THE COMPOSITION OF EVERYDAY LIFE emphasizes invention while helping student writers rediscover concepts, uncover meaning, and rethink the world around them.