New chapter on inequality asks "How Do We Define 'Inequality' in America?" From the Tea Party to Occupy Wall Street, Americans are engaged in real-life discussions about opportunity, inequality, and the American Dream. A new chapter illustrates the stakes of this broad-ranging cultural argument for students. 50 new readings engage students on a broad range of topics relevant to their lives as citizens and scholars: Jennifer Conlin reports that social networking is expanding how gender identity is classified online.
Student newspaper The Daily Californian live blogs an unfolding real-time argument as conservative students at UC Berkeley host a bake sale designed to protest affirmative action.
In e-Pages: The White House makes its partisan case that the proposed Buffet Rule would help combat an unfair tax system.
A revised and expanded section on Research and Arguments guides students logically and step-by-step through the research process. With a clear explanation the conventions of academic arguments, with thorough discussions of finding and evaluating sources in the information age, academic integrity, and plagiarism, this section provides students with a thorough introduction to entering into academic conversations.
11 new model essays for specific types of argument include new definitions of "friendship" in the era of social networking and a proposal to institute affirmative action policies for those who don't conform to society's beauty standard.
Additional projects engage students in practicing academic and real-life writing strategies, with a variety of brief and long writing assignments designed to help them construct original arguments, including more assignments centered on writing Rogerian and invitational arguments.