The Language of Composition

Preface
1 Introducing Rhetoric: Using the “Available Means”
          Activity Understanding Civil Discourse 
The Rhetorical Situation 
Lou Gehrig, Farewell Speech 
          Occasion, Context, and Purpose
                    Activity  Analyzing a Rhetorical Situation  
          The Rhetorical Triangle 
                    Activity Mina Shahinfar, First Person

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Recognizing Rhetoric
          Frida Kahlo, Self-Portrait on the Borderline between Mexico and the United States (painting)
          Activity Newell Convers Wyeth, Covered Wagons Heading West (painting)

Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
          Ethos 
                    Automatic Ethos 
          King George VI, The King’s Speech (September 3, 1939) 
                    Building Ethos 
          J. D. Vance, from Hillbilly Elegy 
                    Activity  Establishing Ethos 
          Logos 
                    Conceding and Refuting
          Alice Waters, from Slow Food Nation 
                    Activity  Tim Wu, from Mother Nature Is Brought to You By… 
          Pathos 
          Richard Nixon, from The Checkers Speech  
                    Activity  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Order of the Day 
          Combining Ethos, Logos, and Pathos 
          Benjamin Banneker, from Letter to Thomas Jefferson
                    Activity  Appealing to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos 

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Identifying Rhetorical Appeals 
Tom Toles, Rosa Parks (cartoon) 
Activity  Nate Beeler, Government Is Watching (cartoon)
 
Taking Rhetorical Risks 
Anne Applebaum, If the Japanese Cant Build a Safe Reactor, Who Can? 
          Activity  Using Effective Rhetoric on Social Media
Humor and Satire in Rhetoric
Alexandra Petri, Barbie Is Past Saving
Broti Gupta, The Rules of United Airlines Fight or Flight Club
          Activity  The Onion, Girl Moved to Tears by "Of Mice and Men" Cliff’s Notes

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Taking Rhetorical Risks
Rolling Stone magazine, The Bomber (magazine cover)
Activity Taking Rhetorical Risks
Culminating Activity  Helen Keller, Letter to Mark

2 Close Reading: The Art and Craft of Rhetorical Analysis
Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies 
          A Model Analysis 
          Queen Elizabeth I, Speech to the Troops at Tilbury 
                    Activity  Looking at Rhetoric and Style 
                    Activity  Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Restoring Black History
Talking with the Text 
          Asking Questions 
          Geoffrey Nunberg, from The Decline of Grammar
                    Activity  Geoffrey Nunberg, from The Decline of Grammar
          Annotating 
          Florence Kelley, Speech on Child Labor
          Using a Graphic Organizer 
          From Close Reading to Rhetorical Analysis 
                    Activity Winston Churchill, Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Close Reading
Dodge, It’s a Big Fat Juicy Cheeseburger in a Land of Tofu (advertisement)
  Activity  Coach 1941, Spring 2016 (advertisement)

From Analysis to Essay: Writing a Rhetorical Analysis Essay 
Shirley Chisholm, from People and Peace, Not Profits and War 
          Preparing to Write
          Developing a Thesis Statement
          Organizing a Rhetorical Analysis Essay
          Integrating Quotations
          Documenting Sources
          A Sample Rhetorical Analysis Essay
         Culminating Activity  Hillary Clinton, 2016 Concession Speech

3 Analyzing Arguments: From Reading to Writing
What Is Argument? 
Tom Toles, Crazed Rhetoric (cartoon) 
Amy Domini, Why Investing in Fast Food May Be a Good Thing 
                    Activity  Finding Common Ground 
Staking a Claim 
                    Activity  Identifying Arguable Statements 
          Types of Claims 
                    Claims of Fact 
                    Claims of Value 
          Roger Ebert, Star Wars 
                    Activity  Analyzing a Review 
                    Claims of Policy 
          Anna Quindlen, from The C Word in the Hallways 
                    Activity New York Times Editorial Board, Felons and the Right to Vote

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Identifying Claims
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, Information is Ammunition (advertisement)
Activity  World Wildlife Fund, Tarzan (advertisement)

          From Claim to Thesis 
                    Closed Thesis Statements 
                    Open Thesis Statements 
                    Counterargument Thesis Statements 
Presenting Evidence 
          Relevant, Accurate, and Sufficient Evidence 
          Logical Fallacies 
                    Fallacies of Relevance 
                    Fallacies of Accuracy 
                    Fallacies of Insufficiency 
                    Activity  Francine Prose, from I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read

ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Identifying Fallacies
PETA, You Wouldn’t Let Your Child Smoke (advertisement)
Heap Analytics, Same Data, Different Y-Axis (graphs)
          Activity  Omega Watch, George Clooney’s Choice (advertisement)
          U.S. Department of Education, High School Graduation Rate (graph)    

          First-Hand Evidence 
                    Personal Experience 
Jennifer Oladipo, Why Can’t Environmentalism Be Colorblind? 
                    Anecdotes 
Fabiola Santiago, In College, These American Citizens Are Not Created Equal 
Current Events
Charles Camosy, from Trump Won Because College-Educated Americans Are Out of Touch
          Second-Hand Evidence 
                    Historical Information 
                    Expert Opinion 
                    Quantitative Evidence 
                    Activity  Nicholas Kristof, Do You Care More About a Dog Than a Refugee?  

Shaping Argument 
          Classical Oration 
          Sandra Day O’Connor and Roy Romer, Not by Math Alone 
          Induction and Deduction 
                    Induction 
                    Malcolm Gladwell, from Outliers 
                    Deduction  
                    Combining Induction and Deduction 
                    Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence   
          Using Rogerian Argument
          Using the Toulmin Model 
                    Activity Using Argument Templates 
          Analyzing Assumptions
                    Activity Identifying Assumptions
                    Activity  Michael Bloomberg, Ground Zero Mosque Speech
  
ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Examining Arguments
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother (photograph)
           Activity     The New Yorker, July 11 & 18, 2016 (magazine cover) 
ANALYZING VISUAL TEXTS
Evaluating Arguments
Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother (photograph)
          Activity  The New Yorker, July 11 & 18, 2016 (magazine cover)                    
          Activity Michael Bloomberg, Ground Zero Mosque Speech

From Reading to Writing: The Argumentative Essay
          Preparing to Write
          Establishing a Position
                     Considering Questions of Fact, Value, and Policy
          Crafting a Thesis
                    Activity Developing Thesis Statements
          Organizing Your Argument
                     Introducing Your Argument
                    Informing Your Audience
                    Supporting Your Argument
                     Acknowledging and Refuting the Counterargument
                    Concluding Your Argument 
          A Sample Argumentative Essay
Culminating Activity Writing an Argumentative Essay

4 Synthesizing Sources: Entering the Conversation
What Is Synthesis? 
Approaching Sources
          Activity Playing the Believing Game
Using Sources to Inform an Argument
Laura Hillenbrand, from Seabiscuit 
          Activity Gerald L. Early, from A Level Playing Field 
Using Sources to Appeal to an Audience 
Steven Pinker, from Words Don’t Mean What They Mean 
Steven Pinker, from The Stuff of Thought 
Steven Pinker, from The Evolutionary Social Psychology of Off-Record Indirect Speech Acts 
          Activity Examining a Columnist 
Conversation Is Technology Making Us Dumber?
          Activity Establishing a Position
1. Mark Bauerlein, from The Dumbest Generation
          Activity Mark Bauerlein, from The Dumbest Generation 
2. Alison Gopnik, Is “Screen Time” Dangerous for Children?
          Activity Examining Two Sources: Bauerlein and Gopnik 
3. R. Smith Simpson, from Are We Getting Our Share of the Best? 
4. Jacqueline Howard, This Is How the Internet Is Rewiring Your Brain 
          Activity Examining Two Sources: Simpson and Howard
5. Nicholas Carr, The Illusion of Knowledge  
6. Michael Agger, from Interview with Clive Thompsons Smarter Than You Think
          Activity Finding Common Ground
7.  Sherry Turkle, from Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
          Activity Sherry Turkle, from Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
8.  Pew Research Center, Americans Cell Phone Use During Social Activity (graph)
     Activity Identifying Key Conversation Issues 
Writing a Synthesis Essay 
Identifying the Issues: Recognizing Complexity 
Formulating Your Position 
          Activity Supporting a Thesis 
Framing Quotations 
Integrating Quotations 
          Activity Using Sources Effectively 
Citing Sources 
A Sample Synthesis Essay 
Culminating Conversation     Mandatory Community Service
1. Barack Obama, from  Commencement Address at Wesleyan University
2. Frank Bruni, from To Get to Harvard, Go to Haiti?
3. Lily Lou, The Downside of School Volunteer Requirements
4. Corporation for National and Community Service, Volunteering: A Pathway to Employment (infographic)
6. Detroit News, Volunteering Opens Teen’s Eyes to Nursing
7. Eliza McGraw, from With a Homeless Center on Campus, Students Have an Unusual Chance to Serve

5 Education
To what extent do our schools serve the goals of a true education?

Central Essay
          Fareed Zakaria, from In Defense of a Liberal Education 

Classic Essay
          Frederick Douglass, The Blessings of Liberty and Education

Other Voices
          Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Education
          James Baldwin, A Talk to Teachers 
          Lori Arviso Alvord, Walking the Path Between Worlds
          Francine Prose, I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read
          David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
          Barbara Oakley, Why Virtual Classes Can Be Better Than Real Ones
          Nicholas Kristof, My Friend, the Former Muslim Extremist
          Danielle Allen, What Is Education For? 
          Nikole Hannah-Jones, Have We Lost Sight of the Promise of Public Schools?

Visual Texts
          Cyril Edward Power, The Exam Room (linocut) 
          Roz Chast, What I Learned: A Sentimental Education from Nursery School through Twelfth Grade (cartoon) 

Conversation   The Future of High School 
1. Horace Mann, from Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education
2. Leon Botstein, Let Teenagers Try Adulthood
3. Meditation in Schools across America (infographic)
4. Nicholas Wyman, Why We Desperately Need to Bring Back Vocational Training In Schools
5. Amanda Ripley, What America Can Learn from Smart Schools in Other Countries
6. Leslie Nguyen-Okwu, How High Schools Are Demolishing the Classroom
7. Brentin Mock, from We Will Pay High School Students to Go to School. And We Will Like It.
8. Amy Rolph, This High School Wants to Revolutionize Learning with Technology

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions
          Fareed Zakaria, from In Defense of a Liberal Education
          Frederick Douglass, from The Blessings of Liberty and Education

Suggestions for Writing 
          Education 

6 Popular Culture 
To what extent does pop culture reflect our society’s values?

Central Essay
          James McBride, Hip Hop Planet 

Classic Essay
          Mark Twain, Corn-Pone Opinions 

Other Voices
          Ray Bradbury, The Affluence of Despair
          David Denby, High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies 
          Emily Nussbaum, The Price Is Right: What Advertising Does to TV
          Troy Patterson, How the Motorcycle Jacket Lost Its Cool and Found It Again
          Hua Hsu, How to Listen to Music
          Angelica Jade Bastién, Have Superheroes Killed the Movie Star? 
          Mark Greif, Get Off the Treadmill: The Art of Living Well in the Age of Plenty
          Justin Peters, The Ballad of Balloon Boy
          Bob Dylan, Nobel Prize Banquet Speech

Visual Texts
          John Singer Sargent, Mrs. Carl Meyer and Her Children (painting)
          Andy Warhol, Myths (painting)
          from Formation (photograph) 

Conversation    The Value of Celebrity Activism
1. C. Wright Mills, from The Power Elite
2. Dave Gilson, Dr. Clooney, I Presume? (illustration)
3. Brad Knickerbocker, West Memphis Three: Internet Campaign, Hollywood Drove Their Release
4. Andres Jimenez, Why Celebrity Activism Does More Harm Than Good
5. Jeffrey Kluger, Jim Carrey, Please Shut Up about Vaccines
6. Georgia Cole, Ben Radley, and Jean-Benoit Falîsse, Who Really Benefits from Celebrity Activism?
7. Joshua Ostroff, Beyoncé and Why Celebrity Activists Matter
8. Jay Caspian Kang, Should Athletes Stick to Sports?
 
AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          James McBride, from Hip-Hop Planet
          Mark Twain, from Corn Pone Opinions

Suggestions for Writing 
Popular Culture 

7 The Environment 
What is our responsibility to the natural environment?

Central Essay
          Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring 

Classic Essay
          Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature 

Other Voices
          Aldo Leopold, from The Land Ethic 
          Lewis Thomas, Natural Man 
          Terry Tempest Williams, The Clan of One-Breasted Women 
          Wangari Maathai, Nobel Prize Lecture
          Bill McKibben, A Moral Atmosphere
          Barry Yeoman, From Billions to None
          Joel Achenbach, Why Science Is So Hard to Believe
          Sarah Zhang, Save the Galapagos with GMO Rats. What Could Go Wrong?
          E. O. Wilson, A Biologist’s Manifesto for Preserving Life on Earth
          John Mooallem, Our Climate Future Is Actually Our Climate Present

Visual Texts
          Robert Crumb, A Short History of America (cartoon) 
          Royal Dutch/Shell, Let’s Go (advertisement) 

Conversation    Sustainable Eating 
1. Michael Pollan, from Unhappy Meals
2. James McWilliams, The Locavore Myth 
3. Nicolette Hahn Niman, The Carnivore’s Dilemma
4. Jonathan Safran Foer, Let Them Eat Dog: A Modest Proposal for Tossing Fido in the Oven 
5. Will Allen, A Good Food Manifesto for America
6. Aliza Eliazarov, from Waste Not (visual essay)
7. Emily Anthes, from Could Insects Be the Wonder Food of the Future?
8. Bahar Gholipour, Lab-Grown Meat May Save a Lot More Than Farm Animals’ Lives

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring 
          Ralph Waldo Emerson, from Nature

Suggestions for Writing 
          The Environment 

8 Community
What is the relationship of the individual to the community?

Central Essay
          Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail 

Classic Essay
          Henry David Thoreau, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For 

Other Voices
          Oliver Goldsmith, National Prejudices 
          Robert D. Putnam, Health and Happiness 
          Amy Tan, Mother Tongue
          Rebecca Solnit, from A Paradise Built in Hell
          Malcolm Gladwell, Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted
          Lee Smith, Raised to Leave: Some Thoughts on "Culture"
          David Brooks, How Covenants Make Us
          Sebastian Junger, from Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging
          J. D. Vance, Why I’m Moving Home
          Ted Closson, A GoFundMe Campaign Is Not Health Insurance (graphic essay)

Visual Texts
          Norman Rockwell, Freedom from Want (painting) 
          Nissan Motor Company, The Black Experience Is Everywhere (advertisement)

Conversation Building Online Communities
1. Laura Hudson, from Curbing Online Abuse Isn’t Impossible. Heres Where We Start.
2. Pew Research Center, Online Harassment (graphs)
3. Emma Sterland, Online Forums Are a Lifeline for Isolated Parents of Disabled Children
4. Sven Birkerts, from Changing the Subject: Art and Attention in the Internet Age
5. Dex Torricke-Barton, from How the Internet Is Uniting the World
6. Mallory Ortberg, from The Companions of My Heart: On Making Friends on the Internet
7. Jenna Wortham, from Is Social Media Disconnecting Us from the Big Picture?
8. Emerson Csorba, The Constant Sharing Is Making Us Competitive and Depressed

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Martin Luther King, Jr., from Letter from Birmingham Jail
          Henry David Thoreau, from Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

Suggestions for Writing 
          Community 

9 Sports
How do the values of sports affect the way we see ourselves?

Central Essay
          Gay Talese, The Silent Season of a Hero 

Classic Essay
          Frances Willard, from How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle: Reflection of an Influential Nineteenth-Century Woman

Other Voices
          Theodore Roosevelt, The Proper Place for Sports
          William Faulkner, An Innocent at Rinkside
          Joyce Carol Oates, The Cruelest Sport
          Jane Smiley, Barbaro, The Heart in the Winner’s Circle
          Malcolm Gladwell, Man and Superman 
          Claudia Rankine, The Meaning of Serena Williams 
          Michael Powell, Uprooted to Brooklyn, and Nourished by Cricket
          Rahawa Haile, How Black Books Lit My Way Along the Appalachian Trail

Visual Texts
          New York World, The Twelfth Player in Every Football Game (cartoon)
          Sports Illustrated, Yes! (magazine cover)

Conversation Paying College Athletes
1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, from College Athletes of the World, Unite
2. Rosalyn R. Ross, Paying Student Athletes Is More Than Just a Question of Compensation
3. Ekow N. Yankah, Why N.C.A.A. Athletes Shouldn’t Be Paid
4. Joe Nocera, A Way to Start Paying College Athletes
5. John R. Thelin, Here’s Why We Shouldn’t Pay College Athletes
6. Nigel Hayes, Broke College Athlete (photograph)
7. Shane Battier, from Let Athletes Be Students
8. Patrick Hruby, from Does Racial Resentment Fuel Opposition to Paying College Athletes?

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Gay Talese, from The Silent Season of a Hero
          Frances Willard, from How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle

Suggestions for Writing 
          Sports

10 Money
What is the role of money in our everyday lives?

Central Essay
          Barbara Ehrenreich, from Serving in Florida 

Classic Essay
          Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal 

Other Voices
          Andre Carnegie, from The Gospel of Wealth
          Booker T. Washington, The Atlanta Exposition Address
          Lars Eighner, On Dumpster Diving 
          Eric Schlosser, from In the Strawberry Fields 
          Peter Singer, The Singer Solution to World Poverty 
          Carmen Maria Machado, Luxury Shopping, from the Other Side of the Register
          Charles Murray, A Guaranteed Income for Every American 
          Jia Tolentino, The Gig Economy Celebrates Working Yourself to Death
          Matthew Desmond, from House Rules: How Homeownership Became the Engine of American Inequality

Visual Texts
          Diego Rivera, Night of the Rich (mural)
          Hazel Florez, Panama Papers (collage)

Conversation The Cost of College
1. Sara Goldrick-Rab and Nancy Kendall, Make the First Two Years of College Free
2. Matt Bruenig, The Case against Free College
3. Gallup, The Relationship between Student Debt, Experiences and Perceptions of College Worth (graphs)
4. Bernie Sanders, Make College Free for All
5. Keith Ellison, The Argument for Tuition-Free College
6. Thomas Sowell, No Way That Going to College Can, or Should Be, Free
7. Anya Kamenetz, Is Free College Really Free?

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Barbara Ehrenreich, from Serving in Florida 
          Jonathan Swift, from A Modest Proposal

Suggestions for Writing 
          Money 
 
11 Gender
What is the impact of the gender roles that society creates and enforces?

Central Essay
          Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mothers Gardens

Classic Essay
          Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women 

Other Voices
          John and Abigail Adams, Letters
          Charlotte Brontë, Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell
          Judy Brady, I Want a Wife
          Stephen Jay Gould, Women’s Brains
          Brent Staples, Just Walk on By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space
          Jimmy Carter, Losing My Religion for Equality
          Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Why Can’t a Smart Woman Love Fashion? 
          Jessa Crispin, from Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto
          Cristina Henríquez, Doubly Denied
          Zoe Williams, Why Wonder Woman Is a Masterpiece of Subversive Feminism
 
Visual Texts
          Charles Le Brun, Chancellor Séguier at the Entry of Louis XIV into Paris in 1660 (painting) & Kehinde Wiley, The Chancellor Séguier on Horseback (painting)
          J. Howard Miller, We Can Do It! (poster) & Abigail Gray Swartz, The March (magazine cover)

Conversation Defining Masculinity 
1. Leonard McCombe, Marlboro Man (photo)
2. Paul Theroux, Being a Man
3. Stephanie Coontz, from The Myth of Male Decline
4. Kali Holloway, from Toxic Masculinity Is Killing Men
5. Roberto A. Ferdman, The Perils of Being Manly
6. Frank Miniter, The Hard, Adrenaline-Soaked Truth about “Toxic Masculinity”
7. Emily Bobrow, from The Man Trap
8. Andrew Reiner, Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Alice Walker, from In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens
          Virginia Woolf, from Professions for Women

Suggestions for Writing 
          Gender 

12 Justice
To what extent do our laws and politics reflect the values of a just society?

Central Essay
          Ta-Nehisi Coates, from Between the World and Me

Classic Essay
          Henry David Thoreau, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience 

Other Voices
          Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address 
          Emmeline Pankhurst, from Freedom or Death
          George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
          Earl Warren, A Home for American Jurisprudence
          John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address 
          Ronald Reagan, Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy
          Robert C. Solomon, from Justice and the Passion for Vengeance
          Naomi Shihab Nye, To Any Would-Be Terrorists
          Atul Gawande, from Hellhole
          Barack Obama, Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches
          Jennifer Lackey, The Irrationality of Natural Life Sentences
          Mitch Landrieu, Truth: Remarks on the Removal of Confederate Monuments in New Orleans
          Bryan Stevenson, A Presumption of Guilt
          Patrick Radden Keefe, Why Corrupt Bankers Avoid Jail
  
Visual Texts
          George Biddle, Society Freed through Justice (mural) 
          Eugène Delacroix, Liberty Leading the People (painting) & Sandow Birk, Injustice Leading Greed and Opportunity (painting)

Conversation The Limits of Free Speech 
1. Thane Rosenbaum, Should Neo-Nazis Be Allowed Free Speech?
2. Eugene Volokh, No, There’s No “Hate Speech” Exception to the First Amendment
3. Sean Stevens and Nick Phillips, Free Speech is the Most Effective Antidote to Hate Speech
4. Lata Nott, Free Speech Isn’t Always Valuable. That’s Not the Point.
5. Laura Beth Nielsen, The Case for Restricting Hate Speech
6. Signe Wilkinson, Free Speech (cartoon)

AP®-Style Multiple-Choice Questions 
          Ta-Nehisi Coates, from Between the World and Me
          Henry David Thoreau, from The Duty of Civil Disobedience

Suggestions for Writing 
          Justice 

Appendix A: Grammar as Rhetoric and Style
         Part 1 Diction and Syntax
1. Appositives
2. Modifiers
3. Pronouns
4. Direct, Precise, and Active Verbs
5. Concise Diction

          Part 2 Syntax and Structure
6. Parallel Structures
7. Short Simple Sentences and Fragments
8. Cumulative, Periodic, and Inverted Sentences
9. Subordination in Complex Sentences

Appendix B: Argument Strategies
 Rogerian Argument
           E. O. Wilson, from Letter to a Southern Baptist Pastor
           Activity Mitch Landrieu, from Truth: Remarks on the Removal of
           Confederate Monuments in New Orleans

Appendix C: Practice AP® English Language and Composition Exam

Appendix D: MLA Guidelines for a List of Works Cited

Glossary

Acknowledgments 

Index