The Confident Writer

Guided by the belief that students develop their own writing process as they become more experienced writers, The Confident Writer provides a wide range of opportunities to help students build their skills and confidence. The text's pedagogy promotes critical reading, thinking, and writing, underscoring the connection among the three. Students are asked to respond to high-interest professional and student essay selections and topical writing prompts; complete a variety of exercises, including collaborative and Internet exercises; and compose reflective journal entries. The Fifth Edition maintains the program's trademark four-part structure, allowing instructors flexibility in covering the writing process. New features include expanded coverage of grammar with group and individual activities and exercises to build skills, updated coverage of the research process, and a helpful four-color design.

I. The Writing Process 1. Understanding the Essay: An Overview 2. Using Prewriting Strategies 3. Improving Your Paragraph Skills 4. Stating Your Thesis 5. Supporting Your Thesis 6. Revising Your Essays 7. Editing Your Essays 8. Researching for Writing II. Patterns as Options 9. Using Narration and Description 10. Explaining a Process 11. Choosing Classification or Division 12. Comparing and Contrasting 13. Explaining Causes and Effects 14. Using Definition 15. Arguing Persuasively III. More Choices: A Collection of Readings IV. The Selective Writer Appendix A. Basic Choices: The Parts of Speech Appendix B. Sentence Effectiveness Choices Appendix C. Punctuation Choices Appendix D. Choices for Special Problems Appendix E. Word Choice