Patterns for College Writing: A Comprehensive Guide
This article provides a comprehensive overview of "Patterns for College Writing," a resource designed to enhance the writing skills of college students. It draws upon various reviews and descriptions of the textbook to offer a structured summary of its contents and value. The resources listed in this guide are intended to accompany the Patterns for College Writing textbook. Many of the writing samples found in this text are available through SC4 library or are freely available on the web. When accessing library resources from an off campus location, you may be prompted to log in using your SC4 Portal username and password. Note that not all content contained in the Patterns for College Writing textbook is found on this site, and that this is a working document.
Introduction to Critical Reading and Writing
The book opens with a chapter on “reading to write” and the essence of being a critical reader, which is a valuable skill for all students. "Patterns for College Writing" explores the relationship between reading and thinking and then planning one’s ideas in the writing process. The text provides helpful and valuable tips, such as those for determining an author’s purpose. It also offers ideas on prewriting, establishing a thesis statement, and outlining.
Rhetoric and Essay Development
The book launches into tips on editing and proofreading and then gives various chapters that focus more specifically on rhetoric, with various passages covering a wide range of ground and topics. The questions within these sections are helpful in drawing a focus on the readings, and the readings are by some established and various writers. The essence of these reads is to not only generate analysis, but argumentation and discussion for important life issues and topics.
While some of the exercises are as rudimentary as writing a thesis sentence or writing a few ideas about a given topic, these are included for a greater purpose. It offers help with developing essay ideas, brainstorming, clear thesis information, and paragraph explanations. This book, literally, is a wealth of higher range skills centered around thoughtful topics and writing pieces. There are many nuggets of wisdom and advice for beginning writers to more polished writers. Sometimes to a struggling student writer one of the best skills to keep in mind is to simplify ideas first, then expound on this idea to create a much more thoughtful piece of writing. Tips are included here that take you through this process.
Diverse Readings and Authors
Readings are predominantly essays, but they do come from a diverse set of authors and they explore current debates (albeit more mainstream debates such as gun control, immigration, etc). The readings are by some established and various writers (Kate Chopin, Sandra Cisneros, Malcolm X, Amy Tan, Aristotle, Jonathan Swift, to name a few).
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Some notable works and authors whose writings are suitable for analysis and argumentation include:
- Gates, Jr., Henry Louis. Loose Canons : Notes on the Culture Wars, Oxford University Press, 1989.
- Diaz, Junot. "THE MONEY." The New Yorker, vol. 87, no. 17, Jun, 2011, pp. 76+.
- VUONG OCEAN (AKA, VINH). "Surrendering." The New Yorker, vol. 92, no. 17, Jun 06, 2016, pp. 82-n/a.
- Martin G. "37 Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police." New York Times (1923-Current file), Mar 27, 1964, pp. 1. by George Orwell.
- Alexie, Sherman. "Indian Education", The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven : Stories, Open Road Media, 2013.
- Nguyen, Bich M. Berne, Suzanne. Rogers, Heather, and Christian Parenti. "The Hidden Life of Garbage." Utne, no. 114, Nov, 2002, pp. 44-48. Scroll down to the link entitled "read E.B. White's 'Once More to the Lake'" to view PDF. Kate Chopin, and Pamela Knights. "The Awakening : And Other Stories." OUP Oxford, 2000.
- Tufekci, Zeynep. "Why the Post Office Makes America Great." New York Times, Jan 03, 2016. Ortiz Cofer, Judith. "The Myth of the Latin Woman: I just met a girl named Maria" in Latin Deli : Prose and Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 2008.
- Szalavitz, Maia. "10 ways we get the odds wrong." Psychology Today, vol. 41, no. 1, Jan, 2008, pp. 96-100,102,8. aka "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Rhode, Deborah L. "Don't Hate Me because I'm Beautiful. just Promote Me." The Washington Post, May 23, 2010. Kincaid, Jamaica.
- Rosenberg, Naomi. "How to Tell a Mother Her Child is Dead." New York Times, Sep 04, 2016. Fish, Stanley. "Getting Coffee is Hard to do." New York Times, Aug 05, 2007. "Get It Right. Miller, Arthur. "Get it Right. Privatize Executions." New York Times, May 08, 1992.
- Barro, Josh. "Here's Why Stealing Cars Went Out of Fashion." New York Times, Aug 12, 2014. Koerth-Baker, Maggie. "SURE YOU SAW A FLYING SAUCER." New York Times Magazine, May 26, 2013, pp. 15-16. Cottee, Simon. "What motivates terrorists". Hasselstrom, Linda M.. "Why one peaceful woman carries a pistol". Land Circle, Anniversary Edition : Writings Collected from the Land, Fulcrum Publishing, 2008.
- Karen, Miller P. "Aylan Kurdi and the Photos that Change History; the Devastating Images of a Dead Syrian Boy were Preceded by Pictures from the Depression, the Civil Rights Movement and the Moon." Wall Street Journal (Online), Sep 11, 2015.
- Williams, Juan. "Songs of the Summer of 1963…and 2013." Wall Street Journal, Aug 27, 2013. Chua, Amy. "REVIEW --- Why Chinese Mothers are Superior --- can a Regimen of no Playdates, no TV, no Computer Games and Hours of Music Practice Create Happy Kids? and what Happens when they Fight Back?" Wall Street Journal, Jan 08, 2011. Laird, Ellen. "I'm Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider." The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 3, 2003. Accessed 14 Nov. Tannen, Deborah. ""Sex, lies, and conversation"." The Washington Post, 24 June 1990. Accessed 14 Nov. SEX, LIES & CONVERSATION MEN NEVER LISTEN AND WOMEN ALWAYS INTERRUPT. Tannen, Deborah. "SEX, LIES & CONVERSATION MEN NEVER LISTEN AND WOMEN ALWAYS INTERRUPT. OR SO IT MAY SEEM.: [SUN-SENTINEL EDITION]." Sun Sentinel, Jul 23, 1990, pp. 1D.
- Wilkerson, Isabel. "Where did the Great Migration Get Us?" New York Times, Feb 14, 2016. Folger Shakespeare Library. Sonnet 18 from Folger Digital Texts. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, 26 November, 2018.
- Khazan, Olga. "The Three Types of Happiness." The Atlantic, 18 Apr. 2016. Accessed 26 Nov. Foster Segal, Carolyn. ""The Dog Ate My Disk, and Other Tales of Woe"." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11 Aug. 2000. Accessed 26 Nov. Tan, Amy. “Mother Tongue.” Read, vol. 56, no. 4, Oct. 2006, pp. 20-23. Reed, Henry. "Naming of Parts." New Statesman & Society, vol. 4, no. 162, Aug 02, 1991, pp. 27.
- Wilentz, Amy. "A zombie is a slave forever." New York Times, 30 Oct. 2012, p. na(L). Global Issues in Context, 1. Accessed 27 Nov. Posner, Richard A. "On Plagiarism." The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 289, no. 4, 04, 2002, pp. 23. Dickinson, Emily, et al. "Hope". Poems. The Floating Press, 2009.
- Ad Council. "You Don't Want Them Responding to Your Text". Citizen Voice & Times, July 2, 2015, p. Jefferson, Thomas. Declaration of Independence: A Transcription. National Archives, 2018, www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript. Accessed 27 Nov. 2018. Rpt. of Declaration of Independence. Carson, Rachel. “Silent Spring: The Obligation to Endure.” International Wildlife, vol. 26, no. 2, Mar. 1996, p. 58. King, Martin Luther, Jr. "Letter from Birmingham Jail". Apr. 16, 1963. The Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Bruenig, Matt. "The Case Against Free College." Dissent, vol. 62, no. 4, Fall, 2015, pp. 112-114. Wieseltier, Leon. Khosla, Vinod. "Is Majoring in Liberal Arts a Mistake for Students?" Medium. Stone, Geoffrey R. "Free Expression in Peril." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2016. Downes, Sophie. Medina, Jennifer. "Warning: The Literary Canon could make Students Squirm." New York Times, May 18, 2014. Chemaly, Soraya. "What’s Really Important About ‘Trigger Warnings'." HuffPost. Wilson, Andrew. "Why I wouldn't go to the University of Texas Law School." The Nation. Wheeler, Timothy. "There's a reason they choose schools." National Review. Oct. 15.
- Eighner, Lars. “On Dumpster Diving.” New England Journal of Public Policy, vol. 24, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 87-95. Kirby, David. “Inked Well.” American Interest, vol. 2, no. 2, Nov. 2006, pp. 50-57. Kagan, D."On Patriotism." The Yale Review, vol. 99, Sept 13, 2011, pp. 23-31. Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal. Project Gutenberg, 1997. Accessed 29 Nov.
Range of Writing Types
This resource offers advice to a wide range of writing-research, expository, persuasive, analysis, etc. It is a good source for writing in academic modes. "Patterns for College Writing" ambitiously attempts to spell out the writing process behind non-fiction.
Target Audience and Utility
This is a helpful resource book for any beginning college student. This book works as a valuable tool for any high school student taking an AP style class or any college student who must write about rhetoric, language, style or take on research projects of some type. It is a valuable book just to have in your back pocket (not literally, though, as it is nearly 900 pages long). Good resource for college students, one worth a look.
Strengths of the Textbook
- Comprehensive Coverage: It provides a wealth of information for the very beginning writer, more than likely in college.
- Varied Readings: The selected readings are varied and the chapters are short and to the point.
- Structured Approach: Good for someone who wants/needs the structure of a text book for their class but does not want to necessarily teach from a book.
- Practical Advice: It offers many nuggets of wisdom and advice for beginning writers to more polished writers.
- Demonstration of Concepts: Professionally written essays demonstrate concepts.
Potential Weaknesses
- Dry Beginning: The beginning was pretty dry/boring.
- Limited Scope: Readings explore more mainstream debates.
- May Need Supplementation: I will likely be choosing a different text or eliminating the text altogether for the spring semester as I would like to include more fiction.
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