Models for Writers with 2021 MLA Update

* indicates a chapter, section, or reading selection that is new to this edition.

Thematic Clusters
Introduction for Students

Part One: On Reading and Writing Well

Chapter 1: The Writing Process
       Prewriting
       Writing the First Draft
        Revising
        Editing
        Proofreading
        Writing a Narrative Essay: A Student Essay in Progress
        *Mya Nunnally, Mixed Results (student essay)

Chapter 2: Reading Actively and Critically
       Reading Actively: Getting a Basic Understanding of the Essay
       *Celeste Headlee, Get Off the Soapbox
       *Reading Critically: Taking Your Analysis to the Next Level
       From Reading to Writing
       Writing from Reading: A Sample Student Essay
       Zoe Ockenga, The Excuse "Not To" (student essay)

Part Two: The Elements of the Essay

Chapter 3: Thesis
       James Lincoln Collier, Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name
       David Pogue, The End of Passwords
       Julie Zhuo, Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt

Chapter 4: Unity
       Thomas L. Friedman, My Favorite Teacher
       Helen Keller, The Most Important Day
       Jonathan Safran Foer, Against Meat

Chapter 5: Organization
       Cherokee Paul McDonald, A View from the Bridge
       *Tim Parks, Do We Write Differently on a Screen?
       Dan M. Kahan, Shame Is Worth a Try

Chapter 6: Beginnings and Endings
       Dick Gregory, Shame
       Sean McElwee, The Case for Censoring Hate Speech
       Omar Akram, Can Music Bridge Cultures and Promote Peace?

Chapter 7: Paragraphs
       Judith Ortiz Cofer, My Rosetta
       Donna Hicks, Independence
       *Sarah Smarsh, Heartland

Chapter 8: Transitions
       Dan Shaughnessy, Teammates Forever Have a Special Connection
       *Pamela Paul, Let Children Get Bored Again
       Richard Lederer, The Case for Short Words

Chapter 9: Effective Sentences
       Erin Murphy, White Lies
       *Pablo Casals, San Salvador
       Langston Hughes, Salvation

Chapter 10: Writing with Sources
       Tara Haelle, How to Teach Children That Failure Is the Secret to Success
       *Markham Heid, We Need to Talk About Kids and Smartphones
       Jake Jamieson, The English-Only Movement: Can America Proscribe Language with a Clear Conscience?

Part Three: The Language of the Essay

*Chapter 11: Voice
       *Brooklyn White, A Pleasure to Burn: One Familys Hot-Sauce Heirloom
       *Wilfred McClay, Curate
       Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists

Chapter 12: Diction and Tone
       David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
       Maya Angelou, Momma, the Dentist, and Me
       Robert G. Lake-Thom (Medicine Grizzly Bear), An Indian Fathers Plea

Chapter 13: Figurative Language
       Robert Ramirez, The Barrio
       *Trish OKane, Of Fledglings and Freshmen
       Audrey Schulman, Fahrenheit 59: What a Childs Fever Might Tell Us about Climate Change

Part Four: Types of Essays

Chapter 14: Illustration
       Natalie Goldberg, Be Specific
       Michael Gardner, Adventures of the Dork Police
       *Priscilla Long, Old Things, Used Things

Chapter 15: Narration
       Henry Louis Gates Jr., Whats in a Name?
       Misty Copeland, Life in Motion
       *Grace Talusan, The Gentle Tasaday

Chapter 16: Description
       Eudora Welty, The Corner Store
       *David Jenemann, The Gloves of Summer
       *Mia Schon, Look It Up!

Chapter 17: Process Analysis
       Paul Merrill, The Principles of Poor Writing
       Marie Kondo, Designate a Place for Each Thing
       *Helen Czerski, Spiders Legs Are Hydraulic Masterpieces

Chapter 18: Definition
       *Brené Brown, What Is Shame?
       Akemi Johnson, Who Gets to Be "Hapa"?
       Eduardo Porter, What Happiness Is

Chapter 19: Division and Classification
       Martin Luther King Jr., The Ways of Meeting Oppression
       Mia Consalvo, Cheating Is Good for You
       Amy Tan, Mother Tongue

Chapter 20: Comparison and Contrast
       Toby Morris, On a Plate
       Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America
       *Tara Westover, Pygmalion

Chapter 21: Cause and Effect
       Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies
       Brent Staples, Black Men and Public Space
       *Melinda Wenner Moyer, Sexism Starts in Childhood

Chapter 22: Argument
       Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Becoming Disabled
       Mary Sherry, In Praise of the F Word
       *Farhad Manjoo, Its Time for "They"
       *Is College Worth the Cost?
       *Ellen Ruppel Shell, College May Not Be Worth It Anymore
       *Logan Smith, Think for Yourself and Question the Benefits of Higher Education
       *Peter Cappelli, Will College Pay Off?
       *How Real Is the Automation Threat?
       *Alissa Quart, Automation Is a Real Threat
       *Lawrence Whittle, I, For One, Welcome Our Robot Overlords
       *Hettie OBrien, The Automation Delusion

Part Five: Guides to Research and Editing

Chapter 23: A Brief Guide to Writing a Research Paper
       Establishing a Realistic Schedule
       Finding and Using Sources
       Conducting Keyword Searches
       Evaluating Sources
       Analyzing Sources for Position and Bias
       Developing a Working Bibliography
       Taking Notes
       Documenting Sources
       MLA-Style Documentation
       APA-Style Documentation

Chapter 24: Editing for Grammar, Punctuation, and Sentence Style
       Run-Ons: Fused Sentences and Comma Splices
       Sentence Fragments
       Subject-Verb Agreement
       Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
       Verb Tense Shifts
       Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
       Faulty Parallelism
       Weak Nouns and Verbs
       Academic Diction and Tone
       ESL Concerns (Articles and Nouns)

Glossary of Useful Terms
Acknowledgments
Index