The Brief Bedford Reader

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Authors

X. J. Kennedy

X. J. Kennedy is an acclaimed poet, children’s author, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Tufts University. More than 2 million students have used his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Reader, now in its fourteenth edition.

Dorothy M. Kennedy

Dorothy M. Kennedy was a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, was the recipient of the NCTE Teachers Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Childs Introduction to Poetry.

Jane E. Aaron

Jane E. Aaron is a professional writer and editor as well as an experienced teacher. She is the author of the best-selling Little, Brown Handbook and The Compact Reader. She has served as consultant, editor, or writer on more than a dozen other textbooks for the first-year composition.

Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Ellen Kuhl Repetto is an editor and writer who has contributed to more than twenty composition readers, handbooks, and rhetorics. She is the author of The Bedford Reader and The Compact Reader.

*indicates new to the 15th edition

CONTENTS

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS

CONTENTS BY THEME AND DISCIPLINE

HOW (AND WHY) TO USE THIS BOOK

THE SELECTIONS
Readings • Student examples • Visuals
THE METHODS OF DEVELOPMENT
THE PRACTICAL GUIDANCE
Overviews of reading, writing, and research • Reading questions and writing prompts • Glossary and index
THE WRITERS ON WRITING

PART ONE

ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING

1 CRITICAL READING: Learning from Other Writers
READING ACTIVELY
Previewing • Annotating
NANCY MAIRS Disability (annotated essay)
DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING
Summarizing • Thinking critically
Checklist for critical reading
ANALYZING WRITTEN WORKS
Meaning • Writing strategy • Language
Checklist for analyzing a written work
EXAMINING VISUAL IMAGES
Checklist for examining an image
*Visual Image: from “A Marathon Survivor Starts Over,” photo essay by Josh Haner
Seeing the big picture • Taking a critical look

2 THE WRITING PROCESS: Discovery and Drafting
ASSESSING THE WRITING SITUATION
Subject • Audience • Purpose • Genre
DISCOVERING IDEAS
Keeping a journal • Freewriting • Exploring the methods of development • Responding to a text
DRAFTING
Focusing on a thesis • Developing ideas • Organizing the evidence • Shaping the introduction and conclusion
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS
Journal notes on reading • First draft • Next steps

3 THE WRITING PROCESS: Reviewing and Revising
REVIEWING A DRAFT
REVISING IN STAGES
Checklist for peer review and revision
Purpose and genre • Thesis • Unity • Development • Coherence
INTEGRATING EVIDENCE
Exercising caution • Summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting • Synthesizing ideas
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS
Peer responses to first draft • Journal notes on peer review • Revised draft • Next steps

4 THE WRITING PROCESS: Editing
USING EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE
Checklist for editing
CRAFTING CLEAR AND ENGAGING SENTENCES
Emphasis • Parallelism • Sentence variety
FIXING COMMON ERRORS
Sentence fragments • Run-on sentences and comma splices • Subject-verb agreement • Pronouns • Misplaced and dangling modifiers • Shifts
A STUDENT ESSAY-IN-PROGRESS
Edited paragraph • Final draft
ROSIE ANAYA Mental Illness on Television (annotated student essay)
PART TWO
THE METHODS

5 NARRATION: Telling a Story
Visual Image: Proposal, drawing by Demetri Martin
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
Purpose and shape • The thesis • The narrator in the story • What to emphasize • Organization
Focus on verbs
How to organize a narrative
Checklist for reviewing and revising a narrative

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*Healthcare
*OLIVER SACKS Cold Storage
*Oliver Sacks on Writing
JONATHAN BETHARDS Code Three (student essay)
An emergency medical technician responds to a 911 call, and a stand-off ensues.
AMY TAN Fish Cheeks
MAYA ANGELOU Champion of the World
Maya Angelou on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

6 DESCRIPTION: Writing with Your Senses
*Visual Image: Busy Day, photograph by Serena Pallaro
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
Purpose and audience • Dominant impression and thesis • Organization • Details
How to organize a description
Focus on specific and concrete language
Checklist for reviewing and revising a description
SHONDA RHIMES My Summer of Scooping Ice Cream
*BARRY LOPEZ The Cape Crozier Penguins
*Barry Lopez on Writing

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FATHERS
BRAD MANNING Arm Wrestling with My Father (student essay)
Brad Manning on Writing
E. B. WHITE Once More to the Lake
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

7 EXAMPLE: Pointing to Instances
Visual Image: Costumes to Scare Millennials, cartoon by Sarah Andersen
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
The generalization and the thesis • The examples • Organization
Focus on sentence variety
How to organize examples
Checklist for reviewing and revising an example essay

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*RACISM
BRENT STAPLES Black Men and Public Space
Brent Staples on Writing
*GRACE TALUSAN Yellow Children
*Visual Image: Grace’s High School Senior Portrait, photograph of the author
ANNA QUINDLEN Homeless
Anna Quindlen on Writing
ZANE RASSLER Looking Back (student essay)
Zane Rassler on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

8 COMPARISON AND CONTRAST: Setting Things Side by Side
Visual Image: Excerpt from Fun Home, graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel
THE METHOD
Uses of comparison and contrast • Purposes
THE PROCESS
Subjects for comparison • Basis for comparison and thesis • Organization • Balance and flexibility
How to organize a comparison-and-contrast essay
Checklist for reviewing and revising a comparison-and-contrast essay
Focus on parallelism

PAIRED SELECTIONS

ENDANGERED SPECIES
JOURDAN IMANI KEITH At Risk
Jourdan Imani Keith on Writing
TED CHIANG The Great Silence (short story)
Visual Images: from The Great Silence, video installation by Allora & Calzadilla
DAVID SEDARIS Remembering My Childhood on the Continent of Africa
David Sedaris on Writing
*J. OWEN MURPHY Climate Change: Pole Pole (documented student essay)
*J. Owen Murphy on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

9 PROCESS ANALYSIS: Explaining Step by Step
*Visual Image: Fabulous Monggo!, illustration by Malaka Gharib
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
How to organize a process analysis
Checklist for reviewing and revising a process analysis
Focus on consistency

PAIRED SELECTIONS

WRITING
ANNE LAMOTT Shitty First Drafts
KOJI FRAHM How to Write an A Paper (student essay)
Koji Frahm on Writing
*MARY ROACH When Animals Attack
*Mary Roach on Writing
JESSICA MITFORD Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

10 DIVISION OR ANALYSIS: Slicing into Parts
Visual Image: Deconstructing Lunch, cartoon by Roz Chast
THE METHOD
Kinds of division or analysis • Analysis and critical thinking
THE PROCESS
Subject and purpose • Principle of analysis and thesis • Evidence
How to organize a division or analysis essay
Focus on source material
Checklist for reviewing and revising a division or analysis essay
*JESSE WARD What PTSD Looks Like (documented student essay)
*Visual Image: Brian Scott Ostrom, photograph by Craig F. Walker

PAIRED SELECTIONS

*CONSUMER CULTURE
*JOHN GREEN Piggly Wiggly
*John Green on Writing
ZADIE SMITH Find Your Beach
Visual Image: Find Your Beach, advertisement by Corona
Zadie Smith on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

11 CLASSIFICATION: Sorting into Kinds
*Visual Image: from They Called Us Enemy, graphic memoir by George Takei
THE METHOD
Subjects and reasons for classification • Kinds of classification
THE PROCESS
Purposes and theses • Categories
Focus on paragraph development
How to organize a classification
Checklist for reviewing and revising a classification
*JULIET CORWIN The Lonely World between the Hearing and the Deaf (student essay)

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FAILURES TO COMMUNICATE
DEBORAH TANNEN But What Do You Mean?
Deborah Tannen on Writing
WILLIAM LUTZ The World of Doublespeak
William Lutz on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

12 CAUSE AND EFFECT: Asking Why
*Visual Image: Bright Nights, infographic by Lucy Conklin
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
Subject and purpose • Thesis • Causal relations • Discovery of causes • Educated guesses
How to organize a cause-and-effect analysis
Focus on clarity and conciseness
Checklist for reviewing and revising a cause-and-effect essay
*MARY KILLEEN McCANS Signing Their Lives Away (documented student essay)
*Mary Killeen McCans on Writing
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

PAIRED SELECTIONS

GLOBALIZATION
CHITRA DIVAKARUNI Live Free and Starve
Chitra Divakaruni on Writing
*JARED DIAMOND The Global Perils of Inequality
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

13 DEFINITION: Tracing Boundaries
*Visual Image: Friend, artwork by Jonny Sun
THE METHOD
THE PROCESS
Discovery of meanings • Methods of development • Thesis • Evidence
How to organize a definition
Focus on unity
Checklist for reviewing and revising a definition

PAIRED SELECTIONS

PRIVILEGE
TAL FORTGANG Checking My Privilege (student essay)
Tal Fortgang on Writing
ROXANE GAY Peculiar Benefits
Roxane Gay on Writing
*RICHARD RODRIGUEZ X: The Neutering of the Spanish Tongue
*N. SCOTT MOMADAY The Sacred Spell of Words
*Visual Images: Emily Spear; Carnegie, Oklahoma; photographs by Maddie McGarvey
N. Scott Momaday on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

14 ARGUMENT AND PERSUASION: Stating Opinions and Proposals
Visual Image: Corporate America Flag, image from Adbusters Media Foundation
THE METHOD
Audience and common ground • Elements of argument • Reasoning
Focus on tone
THE PROCESS
Finding a subject • Organizing
How to organize an argument
Checklist for reviewing and revising an argument
*ELLY VINTIADIS Mass Shootings and the Myth of the Violent Mentally Ill (annotated essay)
*Elly Vintiadis on Writing

PAIRED SELECTIONS

HOW CAN FAMILY IMMIGRATION POLICY BE REFORMED?
LINDA CHAVEZ Supporting Family Values
Linda Chavez on Writing
*MARIE MYUNG-OK LEE I Was an Anchor Baby

GROUPED SELECTIONS

SHOULD FREEDOM OF SPEECH BE LIMITED?
SARAH HEMPHILL What Happened to Free Speech on College Campuses? (documented student essay)
Sarah Hemphill on Writing
*AZIZ HUQ The Conservative Case against Banning Critical Race Theory
*JULIA SERANO Free Speech and the Paradox of Tolerance
*Julia Serano on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

*15 MIXING THE METHODS: Combining the Patterns of Development
*Visual Image: Not Milk, advertisement by Oatly
THE METHODS
THE PROCESS
Subject and Purpose • Thesis • Organization
Focus on coherence
How to organize an essay using multiple methods
Checklist for reviewing and revising a mixed-methods essay
JOAN DIDION Earthquakes (annotated essay)
Joan Didion on Writing

PAIRED SELECTIONS

TRANSCENDENTALISM
HENRY DAVID THOREAU What I Lived For
LUIS ALBERTO URREA Barrio Walden
Luis Alberto Urrea on Writing
*ISABELLA LOH The Blue Death (documented student essay)

*PART THREE

RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

16 RESEARCH: Finding and Using Sources
CONDUCTING RESEARCH
Using the library • Evaluating sources • Preparing an annotated bibliography
Checklist for evaluating sources
WRITING WITH SOURCES
Building knowledge • Integrating source material • Synthesizing multiple sources • Avoiding plagiarism

17 MLA STYLE: Documenting Sources in the Humanities
SOURCE CITATION USING MLA STYLE
MLA parenthetical citations • MLA list of works cited
A SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER IN MLA STYLE
MARGARET LUNDBERG Eating Green (annotated student essay)

18 APA STYLE: Documenting Sources in the Social Sciences
SOURCE CITATION USING APA STYLE
APA parenthetical citations • APA reference list
A SAMPLE RESEARCH PAPER IN APA STYLE
ERIC KIM The Brain That Changes (annotated student essay)

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS

DIRECTORY TO THE WRITERS ON WRITING

INDEX

Product Updates

17 current and compelling new readings. Rising stars along with favorite authors explore topics that are relevant to students. Highlights include:

Mary Roach, "When Animals Attack," a humorous analysis of what a person should do when faced with a bear or some other deadly predator.
N. Scott Momaday, "The sacred Spell of Words,” a Kiowa writer finds power in the oral tradition.
Grace Talusan, “Yellow Children,” a Filipina immigrant recounts some unsettling experiences with microaggressions.

Chapter 15: Mixed Methods presents well known essays that show how the best writers mix the methods to achieve their purposes. This chapter also includes a documented student essay.

Chapters 16-18 on researching and documenting sources include dozens of up-to-date models for documenting sources in MLA and APA style. In addition to an annotated student research paper for each style, the book includes eight additional examples of documented writing, five of them new.

Authors

X. J. Kennedy

X. J. Kennedy is an acclaimed poet, children’s author, college teacher, and textbook author. He has taught freshman composition at the University of Michigan; the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Tufts University. More than 2 million students have used his introductory literature texts and The Bedford Reader, now in its fourteenth edition.

Dorothy M. Kennedy

Dorothy M. Kennedy was a writer and editor whose articles and reviews have appeared in both professional and academic journals. She taught composition at the University of Michigan and Ohio University and, with X. J. Kennedy, was the recipient of the NCTE Teachers Choice Award for Knock at a Star: A Childs Introduction to Poetry.

Jane E. Aaron

Jane E. Aaron is a professional writer and editor as well as an experienced teacher. She is the author of the best-selling Little, Brown Handbook and The Compact Reader. She has served as consultant, editor, or writer on more than a dozen other textbooks for the first-year composition.

Ellen Kuhl Repetto

Ellen Kuhl Repetto is an editor and writer who has contributed to more than twenty composition readers, handbooks, and rhetorics. She is the author of The Bedford Reader and The Compact Reader.

*indicates new to the 15th edition

CONTENTS

PREFACE FOR INSTRUCTORS

CONTENTS BY THEME AND DISCIPLINE

HOW (AND WHY) TO USE THIS BOOK

PART ONE

ACADEMIC READING AND WRITING

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FATHERS
BRAD MANNING Arm Wrestling with My Father (student essay)
Brad Manning on Writing
E. B. WHITE Once More to the Lake
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

PAIRED SELECTIONS

FAILURES TO COMMUNICATE
DEBORAH TANNEN But What Do You Mean?
Deborah Tannen on Writing
WILLIAM LUTZ The World of Doublespeak
William Lutz on Writing
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

PAIRED SELECTIONS

GLOBALIZATION
CHITRA DIVAKARUNI Live Free and Starve
Chitra Divakaruni on Writing
*JARED DIAMOND The Global Perils of Inequality
ADDITIONAL WRITING TOPICS

PAIRED SELECTIONS

HOW CAN FAMILY IMMIGRATION POLICY BE REFORMED?
LINDA CHAVEZ Supporting Family Values
Linda Chavez on Writing
*MARIE MYUNG-OK LEE I Was an Anchor Baby

GROUPED SELECTIONS

PAIRED SELECTIONS

TRANSCENDENTALISM
HENRY DAVID THOREAU What I Lived For
LUIS ALBERTO URREA Barrio Walden
Luis Alberto Urrea on Writing
*ISABELLA LOH The Blue Death (documented student essay)

*PART THREE

RESEARCH AND DOCUMENTATION

GLOSSARY OF USEFUL TERMS

DIRECTORY TO THE WRITERS ON WRITING

INDEX

Product Updates

17 current and compelling new readings. Rising stars along with favorite authors explore topics that are relevant to students. Highlights include:

Mary Roach, "When Animals Attack," a humorous analysis of what a person should do when faced with a bear or some other deadly predator.
N. Scott Momaday, "The sacred Spell of Words,” a Kiowa writer finds power in the oral tradition.
Grace Talusan, “Yellow Children,” a Filipina immigrant recounts some unsettling experiences with microaggressions.

Chapter 15: Mixed Methods presents well known essays that show how the best writers mix the methods to achieve their purposes. This chapter also includes a documented student essay.

Writers worth reading

The concise version of the first Bedford title ever published, The Brief Bedford Reader offers high quality readings from favorite writers and emerging voices. This popular composition reader takes a practical and flexible approach to the rhetorical methods, focusing on their uses in varied writing situations. The “Writers on Writing” feature offers advice from professional writers to student writers, and the Kennedys proven approach to instruction helps students connect critical reading to academic writing. The new edition has been thoroughly revised with engaging new readings by diverse writers, and an even stronger foundation in reading and writing. Paired with Achieve, an engaging and powerful digital platform (see Related Titles for more details).

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Related Titles

The Bedford Reader

X.J. Kennedy; Dorothy M. Kennedy; Jane Aaron; Ellen Kuhl Repetto

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