An Insider's Guide to Academic Writing: A Rhetoric and Reader
, by Miller-Cochran, Susan; Stamper, Roy; Cochran, Stacey- ISBN: 9781319103996 | 1319103995
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 9/14/2018
Praised for its accessible approach to teaching disciplinary writing, the first edition of An Insider’s Guide to Academic Writing was embraced by instructors and students at two-year and four-year schools alike.
With its flexible, transferable frameworks and unique Insiders video interviews with scholars and peers, the text enables students -- and their instructors -- to adapt to a variety of writing situations in different disciplinary discourse communities.In the second edition, the authors build on that proven pedagogy with additional support for the writing process, critical reading, and reflection, to give students even more help with academic writing, no matter the discipline. Featuring two books in one, an innovative rhetoric for academic writing (available as its own book) and a thematic reader with readings from the disciplines, An Insider’s Guide to Academic Writing is based on the best practices of a first-year composition program that has trained hundreds of teachers who have instructed thousands of students. Also new to the second edition: a Launchpad with a complete e-textbook, in addition to modules about writing in applied fields.
PART ONE: A GUIDE TO COLLEGE AND COLLEGE WRITING
1. Inside Colleges and Universities
What is Higher Education?
How do Colleges and Universities Differ from One Another?
Inside Work: Choosing a College
What is the Purpose of College?
Inside Work: Writing about College
What are Academic Disciplines?
How Many Different Academic Disciplines Are There?
Inside Work: Understanding Disciplinarity
Why Do Academics Write?
Insider’s View: Undergraduate Students on Academic Writing
Inside Work: Thinking about What Academics Write
How Does Writing in College Compare with Writing in Other Contexts?
Insider’s View; Karen Keaton Jackson, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Understanding the Goals of Your Writing Course
What Do You Already Know about Writing in Different Contexts?
WRITING PROJECT: Composing a Literacy Narrative
WRITING PROJECT: Interviewing a Scholar
Insider Example: Student Interview with a Faculty Member
Tip Sheet: Inside Colleges and Universities
2. Reading and Writing Rhetorically
Understanding Rhetorical Context
Insider’s View: Karen Keaton Jackson, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Identifying Rhetorical Context
Understanding Genres
Insider’s Link
Reading Rhetorically
Reading Visuals Rhetorically
Inside Work: Reading Rhetorically
Writing Rhetorically
Inside Work: Analyzing Rhetorical Context
Rhetorical Writing Processes
Insider’s View: Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris, Political Science
Insider’s View: Patrick Bahls, Mathematics
Writing a Rhetorical Analysis
George H.W. Bush, Letter to Saddam Hussein
Insider Example: Student Rhetorical Analysis
Sofia Lopez, The Multiple Audiences of George H.W. Bush’s Letter to Saddam Hussein
WRITING PROJECT: Analyzing the Rhetorical Features of a Text
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing Rhetorically
3. Developing Arguments
Understanding Proofs and Appeals
Inside Work: Writing About Arguments
Making Claims
Thesis versus Hypothesis
Developing Reasons
Inside Work: Constructing Thesis Statements
Supporting Reasons with Evidence
Insider’s View: Moriah McCracken, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Analyzing Audience Expectations
Understanding Assumptions
Inside Work: Considering Assumptions and Audience
Anticipating Counterarguments
Insider’s View: Mike Brotherton, Astronomy
Inside Work: Dealing with Counterarguments
Analyzing Arguments
Insider Example: Professional Analysis of an Advertisement
Jack Solomon, from “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising”
Insider Example: Student Analysis of an Advertisement
Timothy Holtzhauser, Rhetoric of a 1943 War Bonds Ad
WRITING PROJECT: Composing a Rhetorical Analysis of an Advertisement
Tip Sheet: Developing Arguments
4. Academic Research
Conducting Research
Developing a Research Question
Inside Work: Writing a Research Question
Choosing Primary and Secondary Sources
Insider’s Link
Insider’s View: Moriah McCracken, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Collecting Primary Evidence
Inside Work: Using Primary and Secondary Sources
Searching for Sources
Identifying Search Terms
Inside Work: Generating Search Terms
Using Journal Databases
Searching for Journal Articles by Discipline
Evaluating Sources
Distinguishing between Scholarly and Popular Sources
Insider’s View: Jonathan Morris, Political Science
Inside Work: Evaluating Sources
Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Quoting from Sources
Summary
Paraphrase
Quotation
Inside Work: Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting from Sources
Avoiding Plagiarism
Insider’s View: Karen Keaton Jackson, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Understanding Plagiarism
Understanding Documentation Systems
WRITING PROJECT: Writing an Annotated Bibliography
WRITING PROJECT: Developing a Supported Argument on a Controversial Issue
Insider Example: Student Researched Argument on a Controversial Issue
Ashlyn Sims, “Condom Distribution in High School”
Tip Sheet: Academic Research
PART TWO: INSIDE ACADEMIC WRITING
5. Reading and Writing in Academic Disciplines
Research in the Disciplines
Conventions of Writing in the Disciplines
Genres in the Disciplines
Insider’s View: Karen Keaton Jackson, Writing Studies
Analyzing Genres and Conventions of Academic Writing
Insider’s View: Moriah McCracken, Writing Studies
Adapting to Different Rhetorical Contexts: An Academic Writer at Work
Insider’s View: Mike Brotherton, Astronomy
Inside Work: Reflecting on a Discipline
Using Rhetorical Context to Analyze Writing for a Non-Academic Audience
Mike Brotherton, from “Hubble Space Telescope Spies Galaxy/Black Hole Evolution in Action”
Insider’s View: Mike Brotherton, Astronomy
Inside Work: Reflecting on Rhetorical Context
Using Structure, Language, and Reference to Analyze Academic Writing
M. S. Brotherton, Wil van Breughel, S. A. Stanford, R. J. Smith, B. J. Boyle, Lance Miller, T.
Shanks, S. M. Croom, and Alexie V. Filipenko, From, A Spectacular Poststarburst Quasar
Insider’s View: Mike Brotherton, Astronomy
Inside Work: Reflecting on Disciplinary Writing
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Rhetorical Analysis of an Academic Article
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Comparative Rhetorical Analysis
WRITING PROJECT: Comparing Scholarly and Popular Articles
Translating Scholarly Writing for Different Rhetorical Contexts
Insider Example: Student Translation of a Scholarly Article
Jonathan Nastasi, Life May Be Possible on Other Planets
WRITING PROJECT: Translating a Scholarly Article for a Public Audience
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing in Academic Disciplines
6. Reading and Writing in the Humanities
Introduction to the Humanities
Insider’s View: John McCurdy, History
Texts and Meaning
Inside Work: Thinking about Texts
Observation and Interpretation
Inside Work: Observing and Asking Questions
Research in the Humanities
Inside Work: Observing and Interpreting Images
The Role of Theory in the Humanities
Close Reading in the Humanities
Insider Example: Professional Close Reading
Dale Jacobs, “More than Words: Comics as a Means of Teaching Multiple Literacies”
Strategies for Close Reading and Observation
Kate Chopin, from “The Story of an Hour
Inside Work: Annotating a Text
Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”
Inside Work: Preparing a Content/Form-Response Grid
Responding to the Interpretations of Others
Conventions of Writing in the Humanities
Insider’s View: Shelley Garrigan, Spanish Language and Literature
Structural Conventions
Developing Research Questions and Thesis Statements
Insider’s View: Karen Keaton Jackson, Writing Studies
Inside Work: Developing Why, What, and How Questions
Developing Effective Thesis Statements
Inside Work: Drafting Thesis Statements
Five-Paragraph Essays and Other Thesis-Driven Templates
Other Structural Conventions in the Humanities
Language Conventions in the Humanities
Reference Conventions in the Humanities
Documentation
Inside Work: Analyzing Scholarly Writing in the Humanities
Genres of Writing in the Humanities
Insider’s View: Shelley Garrigan, Spanish Language and Literature
Textual Interpretation
WRITING PROJECT: Interpreting a Text
Insider Example: Student Interpretation of a Text
Sarah Ray, “ ‘Til Death Do Us Part’: An Analysis of Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Artistic Texts
WRITING PROJECT: Creating an Artistic Text
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing in the Humanities
7. Reading and Writing in the Social Sciences
Introduction to the Social Sciences
Insider’s View: Kevin Rathunde, Social Science
Inside Work: Observing Behavior
Research in the Social Sciences
The Role of Theory
Insider Example: Exploring Social Science Theory
Kalervo Oberg, from “Culture Shock: Adjustments to New Cultural Environments”
Inside Work: Tracing a Theory’s Development
Research Questions and Hypotheses
Inside Work: Developing Hypotheses
Methods
Insider’s View: Kevin Rathunde, Social Science
Quantitative Methods
Qualitative Methods
Mixed Methods
Inside Work: Considering Research Methods
The IRB Process and Use of Human Subjects
Conventions of Writing in the Social Sciences
Insider’s View: Aya Matsuda, Linguistics
Structural Conventions and IMRAD Format
Other Structural Conventions
Inside Work: Observing Structural Conventions
Language Conventions
Inside Work: Observing Language Features
Reference Conventions
Inside Work: Observing Reference Features
Genres of Writing in the Social Sciences
Insider’s View: Aya Matsuda, Linguistics
The Literature Review
Insider Example: An Embedded Literature Review
Writing a Literature Review
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Literature Review
Insider Example: Student Literature Review
William O’Brien, “Effects of Sleep Deprivation: A Literature Review”
Theory Response Essay
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Theory Response
Insider’s Example: Student Theory Response Paper
Matt Kapadia, “Evaluation of the Attribution Theory”
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing in the Social Sciences
8. Reading and Writing in the Natural Sciences
Introduction to the Natural Sciences
Insider’s View: Sian Proctor, Geology
Research in the Natural Sciences
Insider’s View: Page Geiger, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
Inside Work: Considering a Natural Science Topic
Observation and Description in the Natural Sciences
Inside Work: Thinking about Systematic Observation in the Sciences
Moving from Description to Speculation
Inside Work: Practicing Description and Speculation
Inside Work: Developing Research Questions and a Hypothesis
Designing a Research Study in the Natural Sciences
Insider’s View: Michelle LaRue, Conservation Biologist
Inside Work: Freewriting about an Experiment
Conventions of Writing in the Natural Sciences
Insider’s View: Michelle LaRue, Conservation Biology
Objectivity
Inside Work: Looking for Conventions of Objectivity
Replicability
Recency
Inside Work: Looking for Conventions of Replicability and Recency
Collaboration and Cooperation
Genres of Writing in the Natural Sciences
Insider’s View: Page Geiger, Molecular and Integrative Physiology
An Observation Logbook
WRITING PROJECT: An Observation Logbook
Insider Example: Student Observation Logbook
Kedric Lemon, “Comparing Efficiency of Various Batteries Being Used Over Time”
Research Proposal
WRITING PROJECT: Research Proposal
Insider Example: Research Proposal
Gary Ritchison, “Hunting Behavior, Territory Quality, and Individual Quality of American
Kestrels”
Lab Report
WRITING PROJECT: Composing a Lab Report
Insider Example: Student Lab Report
Kedric Lemon, “Which type of battery is the most effective when energy is being drawn from the
battery rapidly?”
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing in the Natural Sciences
9. Reading and Writing in the Applied Fields
Introduction to the Applied Fields
What Are Applied Fields?
Inside Work: Defining and Solving Problems
Inside Work: Considering Applied Fields
Rhetoric and the Applied Fields
Genres in Selected Applied Fields
Nursing
Insider’s View: Janna Dieckman, Nursing
Insider Example: Professional Research Report in Nursing
Margaret Shandor, Diane Holditch-Davis, Suzanne Thoyre, and Linda Beeber, from “Rural
African-American Mothers Parenting Prematurely Born Infants: An Ecological Systems
Perspective
Insider Example: Discharge Instructions
“Discharge Instructions for Heart Attack”
Inside Work: Nurse for a Day
Education
Insider Example: Student Lesson Plan
Myra Moses, “Lesson Plan”
Insider Example: Student IEP
Myra Moses, “Student Individualized Example”
Inside Work: Teacher for a Day
Business
Insider Example: Student Memorandum
James Blackwell, “Investigative Report on Hazen and Sawyer”
Insider Example: Student Business Plan
Daniel Chase Mills, “A Business Plan for the Electricity Monitor Company”
Inside Work: CFO for a Day
Law
Insider Example: Professional Legal Brief
From “Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin et al”
Insider Example: E-Mail Correspondence from Attorney
Joseph E. Miller, Jr., “Re: Proposed gift to the XYZ Foundation”
Inside Work: Lawyer for a Day
WRITING PROJECT: Discovering Genres of Writing in an Applied Field
Tip Sheet: Reading and Writing in the Applied Fields
PART THREE: READINGS AND ACADEMIC CASE STUDIES
10. Love, Marriage, and Family
Andrew Cherlin, How American Family Life Is Different
“Both pictures, contradictory as they may be, are part of the way that Americans live their family
lives. Together they spin the American merry-go-round of intimate partnerships.”
Susan Krauss Whitbourne,. “The Myth of the Helicopter Parent.”
“The findings lead to a new understanding of parent-child support in the years of emerging
adulthood.”
Brian Powell, Catherine Bolzehnhahl, Claudia Geist and Lala Carr Steelman,. “Change Counts,
Counting Change”
“The United States includes a rich diversity of families whether or not they are officially recognized
as such. In fact, “the family,” although still invoked far too often in public and scholarly venues, is an
increasingly untenable and obsolete concept.”
Susan Saulny, “In Strangers’ Glances at Family, Tensions Linger.”
“Many mixed-race youths say they feel wider acceptance than past generations, particularly on
college campuses and in pop culture. . . .when they are alone, the family strives to be colorblind.
But what they face outside their home is another story.”
Academic Case Study: Perspectives on Love
Humanities: Warren E Milteer, Jr., “The Strategies of Forbidden Love: Families across Racial
Boundaries in Nineteenth-Century North Carolina”
Social Sciences: Marissa A. Harrison and Jennifer C. Shortall. “Women and Men in Love: Who
Really Feels It and Says It First?
Natural Sciences: Donatella Marazzitia and Domenico Canale. “Hormonal changes when falling in
love.”
Applied Fields: Cara O. Peters, Jane B. Thomas, and Richard Morris, “Looking for Love on
Craigslist: An Examination of Gender Differences in Self-Marketing Online”
WRITING PROJECT: Contributing to a Scholarly Conversation
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Comparative Analysis of Research Methodologies
11. Crime, Punishment, and Justice
Barbara Bradley Hagerty, “Inside a Psychopath’s Brain: The Sentencing Debate
“Neuroscience and neuroimaging is going to change the whole philosophy about how we punish
and how we decide who to incapacitate and how we decide how to deal with people.”
Sophia Kerby, “The Top 10 Most Startling Facts about People of Color and Criminal Justice in the
United States: A Look at the Racial Disparities Inherent in Our Nation’s Criminal-Justice System.”
“It is imperative that criminal-justice reform evolves as the civil rights issue of the twenty-first
century.”
Clark Merrefield, “Should Juvenile Criminals Be Sentenced Like Adults?”
“While some teenagers can be astonishingly mature and others inconceivably childish, middle
adolescence—roughly, ages 14 to 18—might be the worst time in a person’s life for rational
decision making.”
Jennifer Wilkov, as reported to Abigail Pesta, “I Survived Prison: What Really Happens Behind
Bars”
“I’m about to become a prisoner in a massive penitentiary, and I feel an overwhelming sense of
dread. I’m surrounded by people who have been here before, who know the system, who know
how to work the guards. But I know nothing.”
Academic Case Study: Capital Punishment
Humanities: Michael Owen Jones “Dining on Death Row: Last Meals and the Crutch of Ritual”
Social Sciences: Benedikt Till and Peter Vitouch, “Capital Punishment in Films: The Impact of
Death Penalty Portrayals on Viewers’ Mood and Attitude Toward Capital Punishment.”
Natural Sciences: Teresa A. Zimmers, Jonathan Sheldon, David A. Lubarsky, Francesco Lopez-
Munoz, Linda Wateman, Richard Weisman, Leonidas G. Koniaris., “Lethal Injection for
Execution: Chemical Asphyxiation?”
Applied Fields: Cyndy Caravelis Hughes and Matthew Robinson, “Perceptions of Law
Enforcement Officers on Capital Punishment in the United States”
WRITING PROJECT: Preparing a Brief Annotated Bibliography
WRITING PROJECT: Composing an Evaluative Rhetorical Analysis
12. Food, Sustainability, and Social Class
Gustavo Arellano, “Taco U.S.A.: How Mexican Food Became More American Than Apple Pie”
“Food is a natural conduit of change, evolution, and innovation. Wishing for a foodstuff to remain
static, uncorrupted by outside influence—especially in these United States—is as ludicrous an idea
as barring new immigrants from entering the country.”
Brent Cunningham, “Pastoral Romance”
“The reality of America’s food past is far more complicated, and troubling, than is suggested by the
romantic image at the heart of our foodie nostalgia.”
Dana Goodyear, “Grub”
“Standing before a plate of brownies fortified with a mash of the sautéed mealworms, he said
despondently, ‘This is the future! You’ll eat worms and like it. You gotta eat something.’”
Michael Pollan, “Why Cook?”
“Cooking has the power to transform more than plants and animals: It transforms us, too, from
mere consumers into producers.”
Academic Case Study: Genetically Modified Food
Humanities: Daniel Gregorowius, Petra Lindemann-Matthies, and Markus Huppenbauer,
“Ethical Discourse on the Use of Genetically Modified Crops: A Review of Academic Publications
in the Fields of Ecology and Environmental Ethics"
Social Sciences: John C. Bernard, Katie Gifford, Kristin Santora, and Daria J. Bernard,
“Willingness to Pay for Foods with Varying Production Traits and Levels of Genetically Modified
Content”
Natural Sciences: Aziz Aris and Samuel Leblanc, “Maternal and fetal exposure to pesticides
associated to genetically modified foods in Eastern Townships in Quebec, Canada”
Applied Fields: Sherry Seethaler and Marcia Linn, “Genetically Modified Food in Perspective: An
Inquiry-Based Curriculum to Help Make Sense of Tradeoffs”
WRITING PROJECT: Crafting a Persuasive Narrative
WRITING PROJECT: Translating a Scholarly Work for a Popular Audience
13. Global Climate Change and Natural Catastrophes
Sharon Begley, “Are You Ready for More?”
“From these and other extreme-weather events, one lesson is sinking in with terrifying certainty. The
stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone.”
Daniel Sarewitz and Roger A. Pielke Jr. “Rising Tide.”
“Global climate change is real, and developing alternative energy sources and reducing global
carbon-dioxide emission is essential. But the claim that action to slow climate change is justified by
the rising toll of natural disasters . . . is both scientifically and morally insupportable.”
John Broome, “The Ethics of Climate Change.”
How should we—all of us living today—evaluate the well-being of future generations? . . . How
should we respond to the small but real chance that climate change could lead to worldwide
catastrophe?
Ted Steinberg, “Disasters and Deregulation.”
“From a statistical perspective, our nation’s recent hurricane problem comes down to a case of bad
luck. . . . But we can help load the dice in our favor by understanding what has gone wrong with the
federal government’s approach to natural hazards.”
Academic Case Study: Hurricane Katrina
Humanities: Zenia Kish, “My FEMA People: Hip-Hop as Disaster Recovery in the Katrina
Diaspora.”
Social Sciences: Barbara L Allen, “Environmental justice, local knowledge, and after-disaster
planning in New Orleans”
Natural Sciences: Tingzhi Su, Shi Shu, Honglan Shi, Jianmin Wang, Craig Adams, and Emitt C.
Witt, “Distribution of toxic trace elements in soil/sediment in post-Katrina New Orleans and
Louisiana Delta.”
Applied Fields: Jacqueline Rhoads, Fave Mitchell, and Susan Rick, “Posttraumatic Stress
Disorder After Hurricane Katrina”
WRITING PROJECT: Composing a Research Proposal
WRITING PROJECT: Writing a Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Popular and Academic Sources
Appendix: Introduction to Documentation Styles
Index
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