A greater variety of readings for analysis, most of them recent and on current, high-interest topics. In response to instructor requests, the number of readings has increased overall, from 20 to 30, for more teaching options. More than half of the readings are new, and almost all of them were written in the past five years and deal with issues that engage and inspire students, such as grade inflation, online writing and literacy (including blogging, texting, and tweeting), community service, and sustainability.
New model readings — many of them annotated — exemplify key academic writing tasks and assignments. New professional examples include literacy narratives by Richard Rodriguez and Gerald Graff. New student essays — all of them annotated to call out rhetorical and intellectual strategies — range from a short personal argument to a long, researched argument that synthesizes sources.
Attention to the visual. In keeping with WPA guidelines on visual literacy, Chapter 9 on rhetorical appeals now uses advertisements to explain elements of visual rhetoric.