Cover: Successful College Writing, 9th Edition by Kathleen T. McWhorter

Successful College Writing

Ninth  Edition©2025  Kathleen T. McWhorter

About

Successful College Writing’s graphic organizers, annotated readings, and revision flowcharts all help you see at a glance how writing works. The Guided Writing Assignments, with hands-on writing activities, offer practical, step-by-step guidance for drafting and revising. Join these with extra support to help you meet college-level expectations for reading and writing, and you have the tools you need to succeed in college.

Table of Contents

Part 1 An Introduction to Reading, Writing and Learning in College
1 Reading and Writing for College Success
2 Active Reading and Responding
3 Thinking, Reading, and Writing Critically
Quick Help Guide to Reading
 
Part 2 Strategies for Writing Essays
4 Prewriting: How to Find and Focus Ideas
5 Developing and Supporting a Thesis
6 Writing Effective Paragraphs
7 Drafting an Essay
8 Revising Content and Organization
9    Editing Sentences and Words
 
Part 3 Patterns of Development
10 An Introduction to Patterns of Development
11 Narration: Recounting Events
12 Description: Portraying People, Places, and Things
13 Illustration: Explaining with Examples
14 Process Analysis: Explaining How Something Works or Is Done
15 Comparison and Contrast: Showing Similarities and Differences
16 Classification and Division: Explaining Categories and Parts
17 Definition: Explaining What You Mean
18 Cause and Effect: Using Reasons and Results to Explain

Part 4 Reading and Writing Arguments
19 Reading Arguments
20 Writing Arguments

Part 5 Writing with Sources
21 Planning a Research Project and Evaluating Sources
22 Finding Sources, Taking Notes, and Synthesizing Ideas
23 Drafting, Revising, and Formatting a Research Project

Part 6 Academic and Business Applications
24 Reading and Writing about Literature
25 Essay Examinations and Portfolios
26 Multimedia Presentations and Business Writing

Part 7 Handbook: Sentence Grammar, Punctuation, and Mechanics

Kathleen T. McWhorter

Kathleen T. McWhorter is professor emerita of humanities and former director of the Learning Skills Center at Niagara County Community College. She has also been on the faculty of the State University College at Buffalo. She is the author of a number of books on writing for freshmen-level students, including the popular guide Successful College Writing, Seventh Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2018), and the composition reader Reflections: Patterns for Reading and Writing, Second Edition (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2017). She has also written a number of textbooks on reading and writing for developmental students, including In Concert: Reading and Writing, Second Edition (2016); In Harmony: Reading and Writing, Second Edition (2016); Reading Across the Disciplines: College Reading and Beyond, Sixth Edition (2015); Academic Reading, Eighth Edition (2014); and Efficient and Flexible Reading, Tenth Edition (2014).