27 essays new to this edition include the work of perennially popular authors on topics of contemporary relevance:
- In “Reading to Write,” Stephen King explains that reading is essential for writers at all levels because it helps them tell the difference between “what works and what just lies dying (or dead) on the page.”
- In “Eating Industrial Meat,” Michael Pollan reflects on the process of bringing beef to market by following that fate of one steer, Number 534, from feedlot to table.
- In “This Land Is Their Land,” Barbara Ehrenreich argues that America's wealthy are illegitimately appropriating our common heritage — the spectacular natural landscapes that surround us.
More coverage of writing with sources helps prepare students for this essential academic skill:
- A new “Writing with Sources” chapter features four new essays — two student and two professional — that illustrate the effective use of outside sources. Explanatory material, questions, and writing prompts help students understand how to avoid plagiarism and how to integrate quotations, summaries, and paraphrase.
- New source-based writing assignments.
- A fully revised, updated, and streamlined Chapter 15, “A Brief Guide to Researching and Documenting Essays,” offers advice on finding sources and on the mechanics of documentation.
More visuals and a new design engage students, reinforce learning, and address visual literacy:
- New visual chapter openers show rhetorical strategies at work in the everyday world, encouraging students to recognize them at work in ads, cartoons, graphic novels, and other image-based texts.
- A new section on reading images in Chapter 1 helps students analyze and understand what they see.
- Selections are presented in the style of their original publication — magazine, book, newspaper, and Web site — giving students context/genre clues as an aid to analysis.