The Bedford Reader

* indicates new to the 14e

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS

CONTENTS BY THEME AND DISCIPLINE

HOW (AND WHY) TO USE THIS BOOK

THE SELECTIONS

THE METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT

THE PRACTICAL GUIDANCE

THE WRITERS ON WRITING

READING ACTIVELY

NANCY MAIRS Disability (annotated essay)

DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING

Checklist for critical reading

ANALYZING WRITTEN WORKS

EXAMINING VISUAL IMAGES

Questions for examining an image

Visual Image: Man Fishing by A Power Plant, photograph By Robin Nelson

ASSESSING THE WRITING SITUATION

DISCOVERING IDEAS

DRAFTING

A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS

*REVIEWING A DRAFT

REVISING IN STAGES

*Questions for peer review and revision

INTEGRATING EVIDENCE

A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS

USING EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE

CRAFTING CLEAR AND ENGAGING SENTENCES

FIXING COMMON ERRORS

A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS

ROSIE ANAYA Mental Illness on Television (annotated student essay)

PART TWO

Visual Image: Proposal, drawing by Demetri Martin

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a narrative

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A POLICE LOG

Scott Beltran from Ride-Along Report (annotated student writing)

EMBARRASSMENT

AMY TAN Fish Cheeks

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE Museum

JONATHAN BETHARDS Code Three (student essay)

*KUNAL NAYYAR Kumar Ran a Car

MAYA ANGELOU Champion of the World

SHIRLEY JACKSON The Lottery (short story)

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

*Visual Image: Under the Passaic Falls, photograph by Todd R. Darling

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a description

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A FIELD OBSERVATION

Nick Fiorelli from Teaching Methodologies at Child’s Play Preschool (annotated student writing)

*FATHERS

BRAD MANNING Arm Wrestling with My Father (student essay)

*SCAACHI KOUL Impatiently Waiting for the Horror of Death

*SHONDA RHIMES My Summer of Scooping Ice Cream

N. SCOTT MOMADAY The Way to Rainy Mountain

JOYCE CAROL OATES Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, 1942 (poem)

Visual Image: Nighthawks, painting by Edward Hopper

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

*Visual Image: Costumes to Scare Millennials, cartoon by Sarah Andersen

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize examples

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A JOB-APPLICATION LETTER

*Susan Churchill E-mail to Exeter Hospital (annotated student writing)

MISPERCEPTIONS

BRENT STAPLES Black Men and Public Space

ISSA RAE The Struggle

ANNA QUINDLEN Homeless

*ZANE RASSLER Looking Back (student essay)

*BRIAN DOYLE Three Basketball Stories (short story)

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: Excerpt from Fun Home, graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a comparison-and-contrast essay

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A REVIEW

Charlotte Pak from Beyoncé Knowles: Soloist (annotated student writing)

*ENDANGERED SPECIES

*JOURDAN IMANI KEITH At Risk

*TED CHIANG The Great Silence (short story)

*Visual Images: from The Great Silence, video installation by Allora & Calzadilla

SUZANNE BRITT Neat People vs. Sloppy People

*CAITLIN McDOUGALL So Enid and Dorothy from West Covina Can Hear You (student essay)

DAVID SEDARIS Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa

FATEMA MERNISSI Size 6: The Western Woman’s Harem

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: Workers Making Dolls, photograph by Wally McNamee

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a process analysis

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A LAB REPORT

Victor Khoury from DNA Extraction (annotated student writing)

WRITING

ANNE LAMOTT Shitty First Drafts

KOJI FRAHM How to Write an A Paper (student essay)

FIROOZEH DUMAS Sweet, Sour, and Resentful

*DANIEL OROZCO Orientation (short story)

JESSICA MITFORD Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: Deconstructing Lunch, cartoon by Roz Chast

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a division or analysis essay

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A CRITICAL READING

Rachel O’Connor, from A Question of Fairness: "The Lottery" as Social Commentary (annotated student writing)

*SPORTS AND LEISURE

*PAUL THEROUX Football Matters

*ZADIE SMITH Find Your Beach

*Visual Image: Find Your Beach, advertisement by Corona

*GARY SOTO The Elements of San Joaquin (poem)

BARBARA B. PARSONS Whistling in the Dark

Laila Ayad The Capricious Camera (documented student essay)

Visual Image: Mounted Nazi Troops on the Lookout for Likely Polish Children, photograph

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: How the Poor, the Middle Class, and the Rich Spend Their Money, table by National Public Radio

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a classification

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A RÉSUMÉ

*Susan Churchill Résumé (annotated student writing)

*SANDRA CISNEROS And Some More (short story)

*LEO BRAUDY Where Our Monsters Come From

JEAN-PIERRE DE BEER Stars of Life (documented student essay)

FAILURES TO COMMUNICATE

DEBORAH TANNEN But What Do You Mean?

WILLIAM LUTZ The World of Doublespeak

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: Wild Weather, bar graph by National Geographic

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a cause-and-effect analysis

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Kate Krueger Letter to the Weekly (annotated student writing)

*LANGSTON HUGHES Harlem (poem)

*BEN HEALY Gossip Is Good

*DEREK THOMPSON What Makes Things Cool

*Visual Image: Raymond Loewy, illustration by Mark Weaver, with photographs by Bernard Hoffman, Jack Garofalo, and Sherman Oaks Antique Mall

MALCOLM GLADWELL Little Fish in a Big Pond

GLOBALIZATION

CHITRA DIVAKARUNI Live Free and Starve

MARIE JAVDANI Plata o Plomo: Silver or Lead (documented student essay)

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

*Visual Image: This Expedition Called Life, advertisement by Outward Bound

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize a definition

STUDENT CASE STUDY: AN ESSAY EXAM

Martin Ward Civil Liberties (annotated student writing)

PRIVILEGE

TAL FORTGANG Checking My Privilege (student essay)

ROXANE GAY Peculiar Benefits

*EMILY DICKINSON "Hope" is the thing with feathers (poem)

DAGOBERTO GILB Pride

AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS How to Identify Love by Knowing What It’s Not

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

Visual Image: Corporate America Flag, image from Adbusters Media Foundation

THE METHOD

THE PROCESS

*How to organize an argument

STUDENT CASE STUDY: A POLICY PROPOSAL

Adrianne Silver from Bullying Law Proposal (annotated student writing)

LINDA CHAVEZ Supporting Family Values (annotated essay)

HAVE POLITICS RUINED COMIC BOOKS?

CHUCK DIXON AND PAUL RIVOCHE How Liberalism Became Kryptonite for Superman

Visual Image: Sink the Japanazis with Bonds and Stamps, cover illustration for World’s Finest Comics

JANELLE ASSELIN Superhuman Error: What Dixon and Rivoche Get Wrong

*IS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT MORALLY DEFENSIBLE?

*DAVID B. MUHLHAUSEN How the Death Penalty Saves Lives

*SEMON FRANK THOMPSON What I Learned from Executing Two Men

*JESSICA BLANK AND ERIK JENSEN from The Exonerated (documentary play)

*Visual Image: The Exonerated, poster for the Secret Theater

*SHOULD COLLEGES OFFER SAFE SPACES FOR STUDENTS?

*DAWN LUNDY MARTIN Weary Oracle

*THOMAS CHATTERTON WILLIAMS Blanket Security

*SARAH HEMPHILL What Happened to Free Speech on College Campuses? (documented student essay)

ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

PART THREE

JOAN DIDION Earthquakes (annotated essay)

*LOUISE ERDRICH The Crest (short story)

MAXINE HONG KINGSTON No Name Woman

*REBECCA SOLNIT Division Street

*Visual Images: from Division Street, photographs by Robert Gumpert

JONATHAN SWIFT A Modest Proposal

TRANSCENDENTALISM

HENRY DAVID THOREAU What I Lived For

LUIS ALBERTO URREA Barrio Walden

E. B. WHITE Once More to the Lake

CONDUCTING RESEARCH

Questions for evaluating sources

WRITING WITH SOURCES

SOURCE CITATION USING MLA STYLE

MARGARET LUNDBERG Eating Green (annotated student essay)

SOURCE CITATION USING APA STYLE

ERIC KIM The Brain that Changes (annotated student essay)

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS