Reading Selections
peggy.porter
Authentic Voices
The Writing Process
The four stages of the writing process
Writing Descriptions
Written descriptions often follow a specific direction: near to far, top to bottom, bottom to top and vice versa.
Introductions and Conclusions
Multiple strategies to introduce and conclude your essays
On Natural Death
An article that illustrates the importance of organization and emphasis
Roseanne
Paragraph development and support
Model Essay: Comparison and Contrast
My English Grandmother
Why Small Businesses Fail
Mindfulness, Self-Compassion and Resilience
Model Essay: Cause and Effect
Model Essay: Argument (PDF)
Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women
The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
Youtube: The Story of an Hour
Langston Hughes, "Salvation"
Joseph M. Williams, Style: Toward Clarity and Grace
My Wood
Mary Rowlanson's Capitivity Narrative
Charlotte Perkins Stetson, "The Yellow Wall-paper"
Plato, The Allegory of the Cave
Scott Russell Sanders, "Under the Influence"
N. Scott Momaday, "Way to Rainy Mountain"
Nancy Mairs, "On Being a Cripple"
Michael Pollan, "An Animal's Place"
Eudora Welty, "One Writer's Beginning"
Bouncing Back
They Say I Say
Short Process Essay
Toni Morrison's Nobel Lecture in Literature (1993)
Read and listen to Morrison's speech.
'Idiot,' 'Yahoo,' 'Original Gorilla': How Lincoln Was Dissed in His Day
Benjamin Franklin, "Learning to Write"
Summary of "My Wood"
"The Yellow Wall-paper" The Rest Cure
Silas Weir Mitchel, inventor of the rest cure.
Credits:Wellcome Library, London
Influential American neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell developed the rest cure in the late 1800s for the treatment of hysteria, neurasthenia and other nervous illnesses. It became widely used in the US and UK, but was prescribed more often for women than men. It was frequently used to treat anorexia nervosa. The treatment kept some patients alive and others out of asylums, though some patients and doctors considered the cure worse than the disease.
More on "The Rest Cure"
Both Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins Gilman were prescribed the rest cure.
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language
Listen to Orwell's "Politics and the English Language"
Shakespeare's Sister
Anaphora: A Definition with Examples
Epistrophe: A Definition with Examples
George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant"
MLK's Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Rhetorical Appeals in Letter from a Birmingham Jail (Color Coded)
Bruce Catton, "Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts"
Toni Morrison, "Strangers"
Interrogating Texts
From Harvard Library: Reading Critically
Francis Bacon, "Of Studies"
The Essays of Francis Bacon
These essays are searchable for key words.
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
PDF of Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture on Literature, 1993
Use this file for your annotation.
PDF of George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," 1946
Use this PDF for your annotation.
Shakespearw's Sister PDF
Use this copy for annotation assignment.
George Moore, Esther Waters
Notes on George Moore's Ester Waters
The Victorian Web
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
The Death of Socrates
Why and How Socrates Died
The Trial and Death of Socrates
PDF of The Trial and Death of Socrates
Rhetorical Analysis of The Declaration of Independence
College Composition
Elizabeth Johnston, OER
Rhetoric and Composition
This book is written as a practical guide for students struggling to improve their writing to meet the standards expected of them by their professors, instructors, employers and co-workers. We have avoided complicated "textbook language" and jargon in favor of plain, easily understood language. Instead of complex theories of composition or linguistics, we have simply passed on what has worked well for us in our own experiences as college writers and instructors. This book is largely written by real college writers who know what it takes to earn an A on their writing projects.'
Leyna Krow, "Sinkhole"
Ernest Hemmingway, "Hills Like White Elephants"
James Baldwin, Stranger in the Village
James Baldwin (1924–1987) was an influential African American writer and cultural critic who explored ideas of race and identity in mid-twentieth century America and Europe. Baldwin grew up in Harlem, New York and left America for Paris in 1948 as a result of the tensions he experienced due to his race and homosexuality in his native country. Though he lived in France for the rest of his adult life, he was highly active in the United States and became one of the intellectual leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
Tips for Writing Summaries
Feancis Bacon
Crito by Plato