Longman Reader, The, 12th edition

Published by Pearson (February 19, 2018) © 2019

  • Judith Nadell
  • John Langan
  • Deborah A Coxwell-Teague

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For courses in first-year composition.

The acclaimed rhetorical modes reader, with detailed writing guidance

The Longman Reader combines celebrated pedagogy with a wealth of readings to help students develop sound writing skills. The opening chapters focus on reading critically and the writing process, while subsequent chapters provide detailed writing instruction. The text presents professional essays ranging in approach and subject matter, from the humorous to the informative, and from personal meditation to argument.

The 12th Edition includes 23 new professional selections, a new visual composition and additional coverage of how to critically assess both words and images.

Hallmark features of this title

  • Writing instruction and practice opportunities in pattern-of-development chapters include the composition model; discussion of audience and purpose; strategies for composing and revising; checklists for prewriting, revision and peer review; an annotated student paper; and writing activities.
  • Instructional features follow professional essays (e.g., “Writing Assignments Using This Pattern of Development,” and “Writing Assignments Combining Patterns of Development”).
  • Purpose, audience, tone and point of view: are covered in initial chapters and emphasized throughout.
  • Argument and persuasion coverage includes audience analysis, refutation strategies, detecting bias, maintaining objectivity, establishing common ground, and Toulmin logic and Rogerian argument.
  • Free download: The Pearson Guide to the 2021 MLA Handbook.

New and updated features of this title

  • EXPANDED: 23 of the 58 professional selections are new, including 9 new visual texts and 14 new readings (e.g., Daniel “Nene” Alejandrez's “César Chávez Changed My Life,” and Anna Brones' “Should the Government Be Responsible for Regulating Obesity?”)
  • NEW: Chpts. 3-12 end with visual readings, ranging from Dorothea Lange's classic photograph “Migrant Mother,” to the infographic “The Best Careers for Your Personality Type,” and chapts. 3-11 include at least one “Composition with Visuals” writing assignment following professional selections.
  • NEW: Ch. 1 includes a new model annotated reading: Larry Rosen's “Our Obsessive Relationship with Technology,” which inspired the student essay by Caylah Francis in Ch. 2.
  • EXPANDED: Appendix A, “A Guide to Using Sources,” now helps students differentiate between primary and secondary research, explains advantages and limitations of the library and Web, and helps prepare an annotated bibliography.
  • NEW: Emphasizes critical reading and thinking throughout in reference to asking questions while reading or viewing images; judging a reading's effectiveness; reading, annotating, and evaluating visuals; and evaluating essay sources.
  • UPDATED: Ch. 1 includes additional coverage of how to critically evaluate words and visuals to gauge their effectiveness.

BRIEF CONTENTS

  1. Becoming a Critical Reader and Thinker
  2. The Writing Process
  3. Description
  4. Narration
  5. Illustration
  6. Division-Classification
  7. Process Analysis
  8. Comparison-Contrast
  9. Cause-Effect
  10. Definition
  11. Argumentation-Persuasion
  12. Combining the Patterns

FULL CONTENTS

  • Thematic Contents
  • Overview of Checklists
  • Revision/Peer Review Checklist
  • Preface
  1. Becoming a Critical Reader and Thinker
    • Critical Reading: An Introduction
    • Stage 1: Get an Overview of the Selection
      • First Reading: A Checklist
    • Stage 2: Deepen Your Sense of the Selection
      • Second Reading: A Checklist
    • Stage 3: Critically Evaluate the Selection
      • Critically Evaluating a Selection: A Checklist
    • Critically Assess Visuals in a Reading
      • Critically Assessing an Image: An Example
      • Critically Assessing a Graph: An Example
    • A Model Annotated Reading
      • Larry Rosen, “Our Obsessive Relationship with Technology”
  2. The Writing Process
    • The Steps in the Writing Process
    • Stage 1: Using Prewriting to Get Started
      • Keep a Journal
      • Understand the Boundaries of the Assignment
      • Determine Your Purpose, Audience, and Tone
      • Analyzing Your Audience: A Checklist
      • Discover Your Essay’s Limited Subject
      • Generate Raw Material About Your Limited Subject
      • Conduct Research
      • Organize the Raw Material
      • Activity Set 1: Prewrite
    • Stage 2: Identify the Thesis
      • Writing an Effective Thesis
      • Avoiding Thesis Pitfalls
      • Activity Set 2: Identify The Thesis
    • Stage 3: Support the Thesis with Evidence
      • What Is Evidence?
      • Where Do You Find Evidence?
      • How the Patterns of Development Help Generate Evidence
      • Characteristics of Evidence
      • Activity Set 3: Support the Thesis with Evidence
    • Stage 4: Organize the Evidence
      • Use the Patterns of Development
      • Select an Organizational Approach
      • Prepare an Outline
      • Outlining: A Checklist
      • Activity Set 4: Organize the Evidence
    • Stage 5: Write the First Draft
      • How to Proceed
      • Turning an Outline into a First Draft: A Checklist
      • Write the Supporting Paragraphs
      • Connect Ideas in the Supporting Paragraphs
      • Write the Introduction
      • Write the Conclusion
      • Create the Title
      • Pull It All Together
      • Sample First Draft by Caylah Francis
      • Commentary
      • Activity Set 5: Write the First Draft
    • Stage 6: Revise the Essay
      • Five Revision Strategies
      • Peer Review: An Additional Revision Strategy
      • Revision/Peer Review Checklist
      • Peer Review Worksheet
    • Stage 7: Edit and Proofread
      • Student Essay: Final Edited and Proofread Draft by Caylah Francis
      • Commentary
      • Activity Set 6: Revise the Essay
  3. Description
    • What Is Description?
    • How Description Fits Your Purpose and Audience
      • Objective and Subjective Description
      • Tone and Language
    • Strategies for Using Description in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Description: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Leanna Stoufer
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Description
    • Professional Selections: Description
    • Mario Suárez, “El Hoyo”
    • Cherokee Paul McDonald, “A View from the Bridge”
    • Judith Ortiz Cofer, “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood”
    • Patricia Smith, “Talking Wrong”
    • Michael Johnston, “The Human Eye”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  4. Narration
    • What Is Narration?
    • How Narration Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Narration in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Narration: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Laura Rose Dunn
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Narration
    • Professional Selections: Narration
    • Audre Lorde, “The Fourth of July”
    • Lynda Barry, “The Sanctuary of School”
    • Daniel “Nane” Alejandrez, “César Chávez Changed My Life”
    • David Bardeen, “Lives; Not Close Enough for Comfort”
    • Dorothea Lange, “Migrant Mother”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  5. Illustration
    • What Is Illustration?
    • How Illustration Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Illustration in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Illustration: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Charlene Adams
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Illustration
    • Professional Selections: Illustration
    • Kay S. Hymowitz, “Tweens: Ten Going On Sixteen”
    • Casey Cavanaugh, “Why We Still Need Feminism”
    • Stuart Rojstaczer, “GradeInflation.com: Grade Inflation at American Colleges and Universities”
    • Beth Johnson,”Bombs Bursting in Air”
    • Emmy Blotnick, “A Visual History of Shoes”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  6. Division-Classification
    • What Is Division-Classification?
    • How Division-Classification Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Division-Classification in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Division-Classification: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Catherine Gispert
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Division-Classification
    • Professional Selections: Division-Classification
    • Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue”
    • David Brooks, “Harmony and the Dream”
    • Francis Gilbert, “What Makes a Great Teacher?”
    • Todd Kliman, “Coding and Decoding Dinner”
    • Truity Psychometrics, “The Best Careers for Your Personality Type”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  7. Process Analysis
    • What Is Process Analysis?
    • How Process Analysis Fits Your Purpose and Audience
      • Problem Solving
      • Process Analysis Combined with Other Strategies
    • Strategies for Using Process Analysis in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Process Analysis: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Jared Mosley
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Process Analysis
    • Professional Selections: Process Analysis
    • Amy Sutherland, “What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage”
    • Alex Horton, “On Getting By”
    • Caroline Rego, “The Fine Art of Complaining”
    • Werner Gundersheimer, “A Mother’s Secret”
    • Antonia C. Novello, “First Aid for Choking”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  8. Comparison-Contrast
    • What Is Comparison-Contrast?
    • How Comparison-Contrast Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Comparison-Contrast in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Comparison-Contrast: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Blake Norman
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Comparison-Contrast
    • Professional Selections: Comparison-Contrast
    • Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization”
    • Pico Iyer, “Chapels: On the Rewards of Being Quiet”
    • Stefany Anne Golberg, “You Can Take It with You”
    • Savita Iyer, “The Pros and Cons of Going Vegan”
    • Fatima Alissa, “Aleppo: Before and After the Syrian Civil War”
    • Additional Writing Topics 326
  9. Cause-Effect
    • What Is Cause-Effect?
    • How Cause-Effect Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Cause-Effect in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Cause-Effect: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Erica Zwieg
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Cause-Effect
    • Professional Selections: Cause-Effect
    • Jane S. Shaw, “Nature in the Suburbs”
    • Leila Ahmed, “Reinventing the Veil”
    • Jacques D’Amboise, “Showing What Is Possible”
    • Juan Williams, “The Ruling That Changed America”
    • DecideToDrive, “OMG”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  10. Definition
    • What Is Definition?
    • How Definition Fits Your Purpose and Audience
    • Strategies for Using Definition in an Essay
    • Revision Strategies
    • Definition: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Olivia Fletcher
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Definition
    • Professional Selections: Definition
    • Jhumpa Lahiri, “My Two Lives”
    • Laura Fraser, “The Inner Corset”
    • Lillian Comas-Díaz, “Hispanics, Latinos, or Americanos: The Evolution of Identity”
    • Josie Appleton, “The Body Piercing Project”
    • Quinn Mathews, “Global Warming Brochure”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  11. Argumentation-Persuasion
    • What Is Argumentation-Persuasion?
    • How Argumentation-Persuasion Fits Your Purpose and Audience
      • Logos, or Soundness of the Argument
      • Pathos, or the Emotional Power of Language
      • Ethos, or Credibility and Reliability
      • Analyzing Your Audience
    • Strategies for Using Argumentation-Persuasion in an Essay
    • Using Rogerian Strategy: A Checklist
    • Questions for Using Toulmin Logic: A Checklist
    • Revision Strategies
    • Argumentation-Persuasion: A Revision/Peer Review Checklist
    • Student Essay by Lydia Gumm
    • Commentary
    • Activities: Argumentation-Persuasion
    • Professional Selections: Argumentation-Persuasion
    • Stanley Fish, “Free-Speech Follies”
    • Mary Sherry, “In Praise of the ‘F’ Word”
    • Wendell Berry, “Farming and the Global Economy”
    • Mike Rose, “Blue-Collar Brilliance”
    • Paired Readings: Obesity in America
    • Michael Marlow & Sherzod Abdukadirov, “Government Intervention Will Not Solve Our Obesity Problem”
    • Anna Brones, “Should the Government Be Responsible for Regulating Obesity?”
    • Paired Readings: Gender in the Classroom
    • Gerry Garibaldi, “How the Schools Shortchange Boys”
    • Michael Kimmel, “A War Against Boys?”
    • Paired Readings: Selling Human Organs
    • Alexander T. Tabarrok, “A Moral Solution to the Organ Shortage”
    • Virginia Postrel, “Need Transplant Donors? Pay Them”
    • Tami Luhby, Tal Yellin, and Caroline Matthews, “Just How Much Better Off Are College Grads Anyway?”
    • Additional Writing Topics
  12. Combining the Patterns
    • The Patterns in Action: During the Writing Process
    • The Patterns in Action
    • Student Essay by Houston Barber
    • Professional Selections: Combining the Patterns
    • Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Remarks to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women Plenary Session”
    • Alice Steinbach, “The Miss Dennis School of Writing”
    • Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal”
    • Paramount Pictures, “Selma”

Appendix A: A Guide To Using Sources

  • Understanding Primary Versus Secondary Research
  • Conducting Primary Research
    • Conducting Interviews
    • Gathering Information with Surveys
  • Conducting Secondary Research
    • Finding Books on Your Subject
    • Finding Periodicals on Your Subject
    • Finding Sources on the Internet
    • Learning More About the Advantages and Limitations of the Library and the Web
  • Preparing an Annotated Bibliography
    • Recording Information About the Source
  • Critically Evaluating Sources
    • Relevance
    • Timeliness
    • Seriousness of Approach
    • Objectivity
  • Critically Evaluating Articles and Books: A Checklist
  • Critically Evaluating Internet Materials: A Checklist
  • Analyzing and Synthesizing Source Material
    • Analyzing Source Material
    • Synthesizing Source Materials
  • Analyzing and Synthesizing Source Material: A Checklist
  • Effectively Using Quotation, Summary, and Paraphrase
    • Quotation
    • Summary
    • Paraphrase
  • Using Quotation, Summary, and Paraphrase: A Checklist
    • Avoiding Plagiarism
  • Integrating Sources into Your Writing
    • Using Sources Effectively
    • Awkward Use of a Quotation
    • Effective Use of a Source
    • Introducing a Source
    • Using Variety in Attributions
    • Shortening or Clarifying Quotations
    • Capitalizing and Punctuating Short Quotations
    • Presenting Statistics
  • Integrating Sources into Your Writing: A Checklist
  • Documenting Sources to Avoid Plagiarism
    • What Needs to Be Documented?
    • What Does Not Need to Be Documented?
  • Creating In-Text References: MLA Format
  • Preparing the Works Cited List: MLA Format
    • General Instructions for the MLA Works Cited List
    • Citation Examples
  • Preparing the References List: APA Format
    • Parenthetic Citations in the Text
    • General Instructions for the APA References List
    • Citing Print Sources–Periodicals
    • Citing Print Sources–Books
    • Citing Sources Found on a Website
    • Citing Sources Found Through an Online Database or Scholarly Project
    • Citing Other Common Sources
  • Examining How Sources Are Used Correctly in Both MLA and APA Formats in a Student-Authored Research Essay
    • MLA Style Documentation
    • APA Style Documentation

Appendix B: Avoiding Ten Common Writing Errors

  1. Fragments
  2. Comma Splices and Run-ons
  3. Faulty Subject—Verb Agreement
  4. Faulty Pronoun Agreement
  5. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
  6. Faulty Parallelism
  7. Comma Misuse
  8. Apostrophe Misuse
  9. Confusing Homonyms
  10. Misuse of Italics and Underlining

Acknowledgments

Index

About our authors

Judith Nadell was Associate Professor of Communication at Rowan University (New Jersey). During her 18 years at Rowan, she coordinated the introductory course in the Freshman Writing Sequence and served as Director of the Writing Lab. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Tufts University, she received a doctorate from Columbia University. With a special commitment to grassroots literacy, she founded and designed an adult literacy program, a children's reading enrichment initiative and a family literacy project. She is the author of Becoming a Read-Aloud Coach and Vocabulary Basics (both Townsend Press); the creator of The King School Series (also Townsend Press); and the coauthor of Doing Well in College (McGraw-Hill), The Longman Reader, and The Longman Writer. The recipient of a New Jersey award for excellence in teaching writing, Judith Nadell lives with her coauthor husband, John Langan, near Philadelphia.

John Langan taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Community College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, for more than 25 years. Before teaching, he graduated magna cum laude from LaSalle University and earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. Coauthor of The Longman Reader and author of a series of college textbooks on both reading and writing, he has published widely with McGraw-Hill Book Company, Townsend Press, and Longman. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit “Townsend Library,” a collection of more than 100 new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age.

Deborah Coxwell-Teague currently serves as director of Florida State University's College Composition Program. In this capacity, she is involved in the training and supervision of close to 150 graduate teaching assistants who teach approximately 425 sections of College Composition annually. She has also served as director of FSU's Reading/Writing Center and has taught composition at both the high school and community college levels. Her research interests focus on teacher training and composition.

Deborah's publications include Finding Our Way: A Writing Teacher's Sourcebook, coauthored with the late Wendy Bishop; Everything's a Text, a composition textbook coauthored with Dan Melzer; First-Year Composition: From Theory to Practice, coauthored with Ronald Lunsford and recent editions of both The Longman Writer and The Longman Reader.

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