Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum, MLA Update Edition, 13th Edition

For courses in Writing across the Curriculum or Writing in the Disciplines. This version of Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum has been updated to reflect the 8th Edition of the MLA Handbook (April 2016)*

Effective writing skills for students of all majors and interests

One of the best-selling interdisciplinary composition texts for over twenty-five years, Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum guides readers through the essential college-level writing skills of summary, critique, synthesis, analysis, and research.

The 13th Edition is divided into three parts. Part one, “Structures and Strategies,” takes readers step by step through the process of writing papers based on source material, explaining and demonstrating how summaries, critiques, syntheses, and analyses can be generated from the kinds of readings individuals will encounter later in the book–and throughout their academic careers. Part two, “Brief Takes,” bridges the gap between writing instruction and readings with a series of step-by-step exercises. The anthology in part three provides a wide range of carefully selected, cross-disciplinary readings, including two new chapters on rumor and advertising. Topics are engaging and students will appreciate how these topics correspond to their interests in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences.

* The 8th Edition introduces sweeping changes to the philosophy and details of MLA works cited entries. Responding to the “increasing mobility of texts,” MLA now encourages writers to focus on the process of crafting the citation, beginning with the same questions for any source. These changes, then, align with current best practices in the teaching of writing which privilege inquiry and critical thinking over rote recall and rule-following.

Table of Contents

Part I: Structures and Strategies
Chapter 1 Summary, Paraphrase, and Quotation
Chapter 2 Critical Reading and Critique
Chapter 3 Thesis, Introduction, and Conclusion
Chapter 4 Explanatory Synthesis
Chapter 5 Argument Synthesis
Chapter 6 Analysis
Chapter 7 Locating, Mining, and Citing Sources

Part II: Brief Takes
Chapter 8 “Stormy Weather” and the Art of the Musical Cover
Chapter 9 Ethical Dilemmas in Everyday Life
Chapter 10 The Roar of the Tiger Mom

Part III: An Anthology of Readings
Chapter 11 First impressions: The Art and Craft of Storytelling
Chapter 13 have You heard This? The Latest on Rumor
Chapter 14 happiness and Its Discontents
Chapter 15 Obedience to Authority