本书在教授修辞写作范式的同时强调了学习不同文体的功能，强调了学生完成写作行为的整个过程，有效地缓解了学生对于英语写作课的忧虑，增强了学生表达自我的愿望，并且切切实实学习了修辞写作，打下了扎实的英语写作基础。

本书把传统的修辞写作范式按其主要功能大致归纳为三大类：分享写作、认识写作和探研写作，提出大学阶段的英语写作集中攻克各类旨在阐述、描写或解释某人或某事的发生、发展、结果，或特征、状态、功能等的说明文体。分享写作的目的是与读者分享个人经验、感想或信息，通过叙述、描写、举例等修辞写作方法让学生学会如何选题，如何设置叙述细节，如何确定叙事人的角度，如何把握清楚的叙事脉络，等等。认识写作目的是分析认识各种主题。通过范文让学生了解如何提出主题，如何分析阐述因果，如何分析比较异同，如何归纳与分类，如何论证和阐明观点，等等。在习作这类文体的过程中，循序渐进地演示修辞写作方法和特别注重培养学生的批判性思维能力在教材中得到了有效的结合。探研写作讲解了怎样作文献批评，怎样作调查研究，怎样从图书馆或因特网查询资料，怎样立题，怎样论证，怎样引证等等，一步步有效地引导学生学习学术论文的写作。

Part I：Laying a Strong Foundation for Writing：

Composing Stages and Wrriting Standards

第一部分写作基础：写作步骤和写作标准

1．Introduction 

 1．1 The Importance of Essay Writing

 1．2 Levels of(American)College Student Essays

 1．3 Common College Essay Assignments

 1．4 The Aim and Organization of the Book 

2．How to Generate Ideas：Planning

 2．1 Find a Good Topic

 2．2 Understand a Given Topic 

 2．3 Generate Ideas for a Topic

 2．4 Get a Plan for Organization

 2．5 Use Criteria to Form Strong Main Points 

3．How to Organize Ideas：Drafting

 3．1 Drafting versus Planning

 3．2 Outlining before Drafting

 3．3 Writing the Introduction

 3．4 Writing Body Paragraphs

 3．5 Writing the Conclusion

4．How to Polish Ideas：Revising

 4．1 Be Willing to Make Changes

 4．2 Understand Writing Standards：Unity，Coherence and Support

 4．3 Revise for Better Focus and Organization

 4．4 Revise for Better Coherence

 4．5 Revise for Better Support

 4．6 Revise for Grammatical Correctness 

PartⅡ：wrua,~to Share

第二部分分享写作

5．Sharing Experiences：Narrating

 5．1 HOW to Plan for a Narrative

 5．2 How to Organize a Narrative：Narrative Structure

 5．3 How to Maintain a Clear Narrative Sequence

 5．4 How to Establish a Credible Narrator and Point Of View

 5．5 How to Tell a Compelling Story

 Student Essay The Kiss 

 Samuef H Scudder“Take This Fish and Look at It”

 Edgar Alan Poe The Tell—Tale Heart

6．Sharing Images and Impressions：Describing

 6．1 Using Objective and Subjective Description 

 6．2 Describing with Sensory Details

 6．3 Describing with Figurative Language

 6．4 Creating Physical Image and Character Image 

 6．5 Creating Images with Dialogue and Example

 William Spooner Donald Will Someone Please Hiccup My Pat?

 Stephen Leacock My Discovery of England

7．Sharing Examples：Illustrating

 7．1 Consider This Example

 7．2 Illustrate a Point with Specific Examples

 7．3 Illustrate a Point with Typical Examples

 7．4 Use Both Types of Examples

 John Leo No Books，Please；We’re Students

 Samuel Johnson On the Art of Advertising

 Stephen King Ever Et Raw Meat? 

8．Sharing Ideas：Informing

 8．1 Topics for an Informative Essay 

 8．2 How to Plan for an Informational Essay

 8．3 How to Organize an Informative Essay

 8．4 How to Make an Essay(More)Informative 

 Student Essay Attaining Success in College

 Sherry Sweetnam How to Organize Your Thoughts for Better

Communication

 Jeanine Barone Surprising Super Foods

Part Ⅲ：Writing to Understand

第三部分认识写作

9．Understanding Causes and Effects：Analyzing

 9．1 Understanding Analytical Skills：A Hypothetical Scenario

 9．2 Defining“Analysis”

 9．3 Analyzing for Effects

 9．4 Analyzing for Causes

 9．5 Writing about Both Effects and Causes

 Student Essay Study Habit Blues

 Jason Vest，Warren Cohen，and Mike Tharp Road Rage

10．Understanding Similarities and Differences：Comparing and Contrasting

 10．1 Comparing for Similarities 

 10．2 Contrast fhr Differences 

 10．3 Comparing and Contrasting for a Real Purpose

 Joseph Brant Indian Civilization VS．White Civilization

 Sydney Harris The Difference between Winners and Whiners

 Lewis Carroll Feeding the Mind

 Karen Heller Is He Husband Material or a Boyfriend Kind of Guy?

11．Understanding Types：Classifying

 11．1 How to Plan for a New Classification

 11．2 How to Formulate Clear Categories

 11．3 How to Use an Old Classification for a New Purpose 

 11．4 How to Organize a Classification Essay

 Student Essay Cat Categories

 Tom Bodett Dish Demeanor

 Sigmund Freud Libidinal Types

 Margot Mifflin The Ten Most Memorable Bores

12．Understanding Opinions：Arguing

 12．1 The Need to Argue

 12．2 How to Plan for an Argumentative Essay 

 12．3 How to Argue with a Credible Persona

 12．4 How to Argue with Aristotle’S Three Appeals

 12．5 How to Avoid Logic Fallacies when Arguing

 Student Esay Let’S Drive Fifty．five

 David Segal Excuuuse Me

 Oliver Goldsmith National Prejudices

Part IV：w,．ua,ng to Explore

第四部分探研写作

13．Exploring Literature 

 13．1 Understanding Literature

 13·2 Two Methods of Literary Criticism：ExplicatiOn and Analysis 

 13．3 Literary Forms：the Basics

 13．4 What to Focus on When Analyzing a Novel

 13．5 How to Organize an Essay on a Novel

 Virginia Woolf What the Novelist Gives Us

 D．H．wrence Why the Novel Matters 

 Mark Twain Extracts from Adam’S Diary

14．Exploring Research

 14．1 Understanding Research 

 14．2 Conducting Empirical Research

 14．3 Conducting Library and Intemet Research

 14．4 Writing the Research Paper

 A Self-Testing Exercise on Source Use and MLA Documentation  

 Laura Holupka The Sun Also Rises：

 A Glimpse into the Life of Ernest Hemingway

 Denise E．Macedo The Mysterious Love Life of Henry James

 Jennife Eriguel The Three Main Themes in Henry James，Works 

 Answers and Explanations on the Self-Testing Exercise

Appendix 附录

Credits 参考书目