Pretexts for Writing
Edition: 4
Copyright: 2023
Pages: 190
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The third edition of Pretexts for Writing retains the emphasis of previous editions on teaching writing as a subject. Drawing on a Writing Studies approach, each chapter challenges students to go deeper in understanding their own writing process. New material includes a new chapter on revision, with practical steps to make this most confusing process clear, and new examples of student writing in several genres, from personal writing as exemplified in the literacy narrative, to arguments dealing with opinions, and research writing.
Pretext
Chapter One
What Matters about Writing Processes
Chapter Overview
First Thoughts
“You Will Write a Paper That Has a Thesis...”
Assume That Writing Is a Subject We Should Study . . .
Writing as Making a Free Throw or Hitting a Baseball
Rotten Apples, Cigarettes, Mozart, and Beethoven
Mozart and Beethoven on the Research Essay
But Real Writers Don’t Plan. They’re Like Mozart.
A List of Strategies
Pretext: On Invention
Chapter Summary
Questions for Writing and Discussion
Writing Assignment 1
Thinking About Invention
Grammar Interlude 1: Nouns
Chapter Two
Pretexts on Organization
Chapter Overview
Mozart and Beethoven on Form
Building on the Lessons of the Five Paragraph Theme
Taking on Beethoven’s Apprenticeship: Various Patterns for Ideas
Writing the 5+-Paragraph Theme
Concerning Organization and Aims of Discourse: Chunks, Not Paragraphs
Other Forms, Other Purposes, Other Genres
Grammar Interlude 2: Verbs
Chapter Three
Writing from Personal Experience
Chapter Overview
Can Storytelling Be a Form of Inquiry?
Beginning with the Personal and Moving to the Social
Writing the Personal Narrative
Scene and Summary: Focusing on a Narrative
Narrative and Reflection
The Literacy Narrative
For Starters
Observation: One Important Skill Gained from Personal Reflection
Starters: Dealing with Crowds, People, Ourselves as Observers
Writing the Essay
The Thesis Statement in Personal Narrative
Profiles
The Personal Essay and Concepts
Exercises
Reading: Lisa Louie, Prelude and Fugue
Reading: Katelyn Crombie, Shuo Yingyu!
Reading: Brooke Beitz, A Literacy Narrative
Grammar Interlude 3: Knowing a Phrase from a Clause
Chapter Four
Writing the Evaluation and Opinion Essay
Chapter Overview
Why Opinion Matters
Opinions Matter I: Evaluations and Reviews
Group Discussion
Writing Your Essay: What Is “What You Know”?
Writing the Opinion Essay
Grammar Interlude 4: Direct Objects
Chapter Five
Writing Arguments in Community II: Engaging in Argument
Chapter Overview
Why People Might Resist Argument
Details of Argument: Thesis, Opposing Views, and Supporting Evidence
Thesis Statements
The Commonplace as a Source of Argument
Writing as Social
What is Rhetoric? Differing Definitions
Finding “Available Means”
Artistic Proofs: Alive, Well, and Interrelated
Types of Argument
Starting Invention
The Structure Most Arguments Take, and Why
A Sample Argument
Reading: Dalia Velasco, Crime Shows on Television
Practice with Rhetoric—Rehearsing for Paper One
Ethos Considered
Grammar Interlude 5: Modifiers
Chapter Six
Inquiry, Invention, and Research
Chapter Overview
Inquiry and Questions
Research A: High School Objectivity
Research for College Courses
Writing, Research, and Community
One Research Model
Research Starts with the Right Questions
Primary Sources
Other Voices Joining the Conversation
Three Ways to Gain Authority for Writing by Including Sources in Your Writing
Using Direct Quotes
Paraphrasing Others’ Voices
An Unfortunate Paraphrase Example: On Not Using the Signal Phrase
When Do I Paraphrase? Quote?
Using Summary Writing to Report Your Research
Gaining Authority for Writing
Writing about Your Research: Interview Questions
Other Arguments to Research and Explore
Reading: Libby Cha, Asian Stereotypes in the Media
Grammar Interlude 6: Commas
Chapter Seven
Steps to Revision
Chapter Overview
Revision: Where Writers Develop
Don’t Wince; Read Your Work
Reverse Outlining
The Process of Good Writing: Subtracting
Revision as Recursive, Not Linear
Introductions
Strategies for Revision
Writers on Revision
How Titles Can Help with Revision
Chapter Eight
What We Talk about When We Talk about Style
Chapter Overview
Matters of Style and Content
A Definition: Clarity about Style
Style: Beginnings in Grammatical Sentence Patterns
Simple Sentences
Compound Sentences
Complex Sentences
Compound-Complex Sentences
Doing a Remix
Tone, Irony, and Variation: Style Comparisons
Levels of Style
Levels of Style II: E-mail
Defining a Good Style
How to Develop an Appropriate and Effective Style
Exercises
Reading: Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
Discussion Questions
Grammar Interlude 7: Comma Splice, Semicolon, and Colon