COMING SOON FALL 2024

Models for Writers

Models for Writers

Fifteenth Edition  ©2025 Alfred Rosa; Paul Eschholz Formats: Digital & Print

Authors

  • Photo of Betsey Stevenson

    Alfred Rosa

    Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa are professors emeriti of English at the University of Vermont. They have directed statewide writing programs and conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on writing and the teaching of writing. Eschholz and Rosa have collaborated on a number of best-selling texts for Bedford/St. Martins, including Subject & Strategy; Outlooks and Insights: A Reader for College Writers; Models for Writers; with Virginia Clark, Language Awareness; and, with Virginia Clark and Beth Simon, Language: Readings in Language.

  • Photo of Betsey Stevenson

    Paul Eschholz

    Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa are professors emeriti of English at the University of Vermont. They have directed statewide writing programs and conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on writing and the teaching of writing. Eschholz and Rosa have collaborated on a number of best-selling texts for Bedford/St. Martins, including Subject & Strategy; Outlooks and Insights: A Reader for College Writers; Models for Writers; with Virginia Clark, Language Awareness; and, with Virginia Clark and Beth Simon, Language: Readings in Language.

Table of Contents

* 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
      • Helen Keller, The Most Important Day
      • Julie Zhuo, Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt
    • Chapter 4: Unity
      • Jonah Berger, How to Make People Feel Heard*
      • Dick Gregory, Shame
      • Thomas L. Friedman, My Favorite Teacher
    • Chapter 5: Organization
      • Cherokee Paul McDonald, A View from the Bridge
      • Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America
      • Dan M. Kahan, Shame Is Worth a Try
    • Chapter 6: Beginnings and Endings
      • Sona Charaipotra, Flipping the Script: Finding the Love of My Life While Writing the Book of My Heart*
      • Jancee Dunn, Fighting with Your Partner? Use These 4 Phrases*
      • Omar Akram, Can Music Bridge Cultures and Promote Peace?
    • Chapter 7: Paragraphs
      • Judith Ortiz Cofer, My Rosetta
      • Susan Cheever, Johnny Appleseed and America’s Drinking History*
      • Joni Whitworth, Pipe Dream*
    • Chapter 8: Transitions
      • Dan Shaughnessy, Teammates Forever Have a Special Connection
      • Eduardo Porter, What Happiness Is
      • Jonathan Safran Foer, Against Meat
    • Chapter 9: Effective Sentences
      • Erin Murphy, White Lies
      • Jhumpa Lahiri, My Life’s Sentences*
      • Langston Hughes, Salvation
    • Chapter 10: Writing with Sources
      • Use Outside Sources in Your Writing
      • Learn to Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote from Your Sources
      • Integrate Borrowed Material into Your Text
      • Synthesize Several Sources to Deepen Your Discussion
      • Avoid Plagiarism
      • Write Authentically and With Integrity: Use AI Tools Responsibly*
      • Tara Haelle, How to Teach Children That Failure Is the Secret to Success
      • Aviva Chomsky, Is Immigration Bad for the Environment?*
      • Donna Hicks, Activate Empathy*
  • Part Three: The Language of the Essay
    • Chapter 11: Voice
      • Brooklyn White, A Pleasure to Burn: One Family's Hot-Sauce Heirloom
      • Sloane Crosley, Wheels Up*
      • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
    • Chapter 12: Diction and Tone
      • N. Scott Momaday, Flight of the Eagles*
      • Abby Wambach, Wolfpack*
      • Robert G. Lake-Thom (Medicine Grizzly Bear), An Indian Father's Plea
    • Chapter 13: Figurative Language
      • Robert Ramirez, The Barrio
      • Lauren Groff, Swimming: A Plan B Essay*
      • Hannah Gadsby, Whirl, Interrupted*
  • Part Four: Types of Essays
    • Chapter 14: Illustration
      • Natalie Goldberg, Be Specific
      • Mehdi Hasan, The Rule of Three*
      • Richard Lederer, The Case for Short Words
    • Chapter 15: Narration
      • Henry Louis Gates Jr., What's in a Name?
      • Misty Copeland, Life in Motion
      • Josh Bond, Call Me Charlie*
    • Chapter 16: Description
      • Eudora Welty, The Corner Store
      • Lee Skallerup Bessette, Chlorine*
      • Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart*
    • Chapter 17: Process Analysis
      • Marie Kondo, Designate a Place for Each Thing
      • Alice Wong, Tiger Tips on Interviewing*
      • Helen Czerski, Spiders' Legs Are Hydraulic Masterpieces*
    • Chapter 18: Definition
      • Catherine Pearson, I Love You, Now Leave Me Alone: What Friendship Means to an Introvert*
      • Akemi Johnson, Who Gets to Be "Hapa"?
      • Saadia Faruqi, Cut from the Same Cloth*
    • 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
      • Brené Brown, Stressed and Overwhelmed*
      • J.D. Vance, Appalachia’s White Working Class*
    • Chapter 21: Cause and Effect
      • Rosie Perez, When a Teacher Sees You, Everything Opens Up*
      • Brent Staples, Black Men and Public Space
      • Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies
    • Chapter 22: Argument
      • Thinking Critically About Argument
      • Writing Arguments
      • Taking a Stand
      • Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Becoming Disabled
      • Mary Sherry, In Praise of the F Word
      • Pamela Paul, Let Children Get Bored Again
      • Should the Government Restrict Social Media for Children and Youth?*
      • Josh Hawley, Congress Must Act to Keep Kids Off Social Media*
      • Trevor Burrus, Nicole Saad Bembridge, The Government Cracking Down on Social Media Won’t Make Kids Less Sad*
      • Is College Worth the Cost?
      • Logan Smith, Think for Yourself and Question the Benefits of Higher Education
      • Peter Cappelli, Will College Pay Off?
      • Should Restorative Justice Programs Be Expanded?*
      • Emma Brown, The Potential for Another Way: Restorative Justice*
      • Martha Minow, When Should Law Forgive?*
  • Part Five: Guides to Research and Editing
    • Chapter 23: A Brief Guide to Writing a Research Paper
      • Establishing a Realistic Schedule
      • Strategies for Supporting Time Management and Focus*
      • 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

Product Updates

Fifteenth Edition Updates (c2025)

27 Engaging, informative, and diverse new readings serve as models to engage students and spur discussion and writing. The new selections feature topical themes and a diverse range of perspectives from writers such as:
  • Abby Wambach on recognizing one’s own power to effect change in “Wolfpack.”
  • Michelle Zauner on finding comfort and solace in the traditional food of her Korean heritage in a selection from Crying in H Mart.
  • J.D. Vance on straddling two worlds with distinct values among the white working class of Appalachia in a selection from Hillbilly Elegy.

New coverage of important writing situations includes using conversation and rehearsal to develop ideas about a topic (Chapter 1), using AI tools for research (Chapter 10), and strategies to support the research process (Chapter 23).

New clusters of paired arguments present opposing views on compelling topics. Chapter 22, Argument, features two new clusters of paired arguments that explore the following questions:
  • “Should the Government Restrict Social Media for Children and Youth?”  
  • “Should Restorative Justice Programs Be Expanded?”

New features in Achieve include reading comprehension quizzes and writing assignments to support the readings, as well as an interactive Student Success Toolkit covering time management, study skills, and growth mindset.

Authors

  • Photo of Betsey Stevenson

    Alfred Rosa

    Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa are professors emeriti of English at the University of Vermont. They have directed statewide writing programs and conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on writing and the teaching of writing. Eschholz and Rosa have collaborated on a number of best-selling texts for Bedford/St. Martins, including Subject & Strategy; Outlooks and Insights: A Reader for College Writers; Models for Writers; with Virginia Clark, Language Awareness; and, with Virginia Clark and Beth Simon, Language: Readings in Language.

  • Photo of Betsey Stevenson

    Paul Eschholz

    Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa are professors emeriti of English at the University of Vermont. They have directed statewide writing programs and conducted numerous workshops throughout the country on writing and the teaching of writing. Eschholz and Rosa have collaborated on a number of best-selling texts for Bedford/St. Martins, including Subject & Strategy; Outlooks and Insights: A Reader for College Writers; Models for Writers; with Virginia Clark, Language Awareness; and, with Virginia Clark and Beth Simon, Language: Readings in Language.

Table of Contents

* 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
      • Helen Keller, The Most Important Day
      • Julie Zhuo, Where Anonymity Breeds Contempt
    • Chapter 4: Unity
      • Jonah Berger, How to Make People Feel Heard*
      • Dick Gregory, Shame
      • Thomas L. Friedman, My Favorite Teacher
    • Chapter 5: Organization
      • Cherokee Paul McDonald, A View from the Bridge
      • Bharati Mukherjee, Two Ways to Belong in America
      • Dan M. Kahan, Shame Is Worth a Try
    • Chapter 6: Beginnings and Endings
      • Sona Charaipotra, Flipping the Script: Finding the Love of My Life While Writing the Book of My Heart*
      • Jancee Dunn, Fighting with Your Partner? Use These 4 Phrases*
      • Omar Akram, Can Music Bridge Cultures and Promote Peace?
    • Chapter 7: Paragraphs
      • Judith Ortiz Cofer, My Rosetta
      • Susan Cheever, Johnny Appleseed and America’s Drinking History*
      • Joni Whitworth, Pipe Dream*
    • Chapter 8: Transitions
      • Dan Shaughnessy, Teammates Forever Have a Special Connection
      • Eduardo Porter, What Happiness Is
      • Jonathan Safran Foer, Against Meat
    • Chapter 9: Effective Sentences
      • Erin Murphy, White Lies
      • Jhumpa Lahiri, My Life’s Sentences*
      • Langston Hughes, Salvation
    • Chapter 10: Writing with Sources
      • Use Outside Sources in Your Writing
      • Learn to Summarize, Paraphrase, and Quote from Your Sources
      • Integrate Borrowed Material into Your Text
      • Synthesize Several Sources to Deepen Your Discussion
      • Avoid Plagiarism
      • Write Authentically and With Integrity: Use AI Tools Responsibly*
      • Tara Haelle, How to Teach Children That Failure Is the Secret to Success
      • Aviva Chomsky, Is Immigration Bad for the Environment?*
      • Donna Hicks, Activate Empathy*
  • Part Three: The Language of the Essay
    • Chapter 11: Voice
      • Brooklyn White, A Pleasure to Burn: One Family's Hot-Sauce Heirloom
      • Sloane Crosley, Wheels Up*
      • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists
    • Chapter 12: Diction and Tone
      • N. Scott Momaday, Flight of the Eagles*
      • Abby Wambach, Wolfpack*
      • Robert G. Lake-Thom (Medicine Grizzly Bear), An Indian Father's Plea
    • Chapter 13: Figurative Language
      • Robert Ramirez, The Barrio
      • Lauren Groff, Swimming: A Plan B Essay*
      • Hannah Gadsby, Whirl, Interrupted*
  • Part Four: Types of Essays
    • Chapter 14: Illustration
      • Natalie Goldberg, Be Specific
      • Mehdi Hasan, The Rule of Three*
      • Richard Lederer, The Case for Short Words
    • Chapter 15: Narration
      • Henry Louis Gates Jr., What's in a Name?
      • Misty Copeland, Life in Motion
      • Josh Bond, Call Me Charlie*
    • Chapter 16: Description
      • Eudora Welty, The Corner Store
      • Lee Skallerup Bessette, Chlorine*
      • Michelle Zauner, Crying in H Mart*
    • Chapter 17: Process Analysis
      • Marie Kondo, Designate a Place for Each Thing
      • Alice Wong, Tiger Tips on Interviewing*
      • Helen Czerski, Spiders' Legs Are Hydraulic Masterpieces*
    • Chapter 18: Definition
      • Catherine Pearson, I Love You, Now Leave Me Alone: What Friendship Means to an Introvert*
      • Akemi Johnson, Who Gets to Be "Hapa"?
      • Saadia Faruqi, Cut from the Same Cloth*
    • 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
      • Brené Brown, Stressed and Overwhelmed*
      • J.D. Vance, Appalachia’s White Working Class*
    • Chapter 21: Cause and Effect
      • Rosie Perez, When a Teacher Sees You, Everything Opens Up*
      • Brent Staples, Black Men and Public Space
      • Stephen King, Why We Crave Horror Movies
    • Chapter 22: Argument
      • Thinking Critically About Argument
      • Writing Arguments
      • Taking a Stand
      • Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Becoming Disabled
      • Mary Sherry, In Praise of the F Word
      • Pamela Paul, Let Children Get Bored Again
      • Should the Government Restrict Social Media for Children and Youth?*
      • Josh Hawley, Congress Must Act to Keep Kids Off Social Media*
      • Trevor Burrus, Nicole Saad Bembridge, The Government Cracking Down on Social Media Won’t Make Kids Less Sad*
      • Is College Worth the Cost?
      • Logan Smith, Think for Yourself and Question the Benefits of Higher Education
      • Peter Cappelli, Will College Pay Off?
      • Should Restorative Justice Programs Be Expanded?*
      • Emma Brown, The Potential for Another Way: Restorative Justice*
      • Martha Minow, When Should Law Forgive?*
  • Part Five: Guides to Research and Editing
    • Chapter 23: A Brief Guide to Writing a Research Paper
      • Establishing a Realistic Schedule
      • Strategies for Supporting Time Management and Focus*
      • 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

Product Updates

Fifteenth Edition Updates (c2025)

27 Engaging, informative, and diverse new readings serve as models to engage students and spur discussion and writing. The new selections feature topical themes and a diverse range of perspectives from writers such as:
  • Abby Wambach on recognizing one’s own power to effect change in “Wolfpack.”
  • Michelle Zauner on finding comfort and solace in the traditional food of her Korean heritage in a selection from Crying in H Mart.
  • J.D. Vance on straddling two worlds with distinct values among the white working class of Appalachia in a selection from Hillbilly Elegy.

New coverage of important writing situations includes using conversation and rehearsal to develop ideas about a topic (Chapter 1), using AI tools for research (Chapter 10), and strategies to support the research process (Chapter 23).

New clusters of paired arguments present opposing views on compelling topics. Chapter 22, Argument, features two new clusters of paired arguments that explore the following questions:
  • “Should the Government Restrict Social Media for Children and Youth?”  
  • “Should Restorative Justice Programs Be Expanded?”

New features in Achieve include reading comprehension quizzes and writing assignments to support the readings, as well as an interactive Student Success Toolkit covering time management, study skills, and growth mindset.

Strong support and short essays help students become model writers

Models for Writers offers short, accessible, and diverse readings that mirror the length and subject matter of essays students typically write in college. Suitable for a range of courses and levels, the fifteenth edition includes new readings from a range of voices and perspectives, with expanded coverage of writing situations that students are likely to encounter.

Models for Writers with Achieve expands on the strengths of the book and includes the complete e-book, auto-scored reading comprehension quizzes, adaptive quizzing, and fully customizable pre-built writing assignments.

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Prof. Kiandra Johnson, Spelman College

See how the resources in Achieve help you engage students before, during, and after class.

Prof. Jennifer Duncan

Use diagnostics in Achieve for a snapshot into cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may impact your students’ preparedness.

Prof. Ryan Elsenpeter

Here’s why educators who use Achieve would recommend it to their peers.

Looking for instructor resources like Test Banks, Lecture Slides, and Clicker Questions? Request access to Achieve to explore the full suite of instructor resources.

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