English Skills with Readings » (7th Edition)

John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Community College near Atlantic City, New Jersey, for over twenty years. The author of a popular series of college textbooks on both reading and writing, he enjoys the challenge of developing materials that teach skills in an especially clear and lively way. Before teaching, he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Glassboro State Collee. He also spent a year writing fiction.

The new seventh edition of English Skills with Readings features John Langan's trademark crystal-clear explanations, along with his range of motivating activities and writing assignments that reinforce the four bases of effective writing: unity, support, coherence, and sentence skills. This edition of the book adds a variety of exciting new features to John Langan's proven approach, and reinstates much-requested materials from previous editions.

To the Instructor
PART ONE: Basic Principles of Effective Writing

Chapter 1: An Introduction to Writing

Understanding Point and Support

An Overview: How the Book is Organized

Benefits of Paragraph Writing

Writing as a Skill

Writing as a Process of Discovery

Keeping a Journal

Using This Text

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Prewriting

Writing a First Draft

Revising

Editing

Review Activities

Chapter 3: The First and Second Steps in Writing

Step 1: Begin With a Point

Step 2: Support the Point with Specific Evidence

Reinforcing Point and Support

The Importance of Specific Details
The Importance of Adequate Details
Practice in Making and Supporting a Point

Chapter 4: The Third Step in Writing

Step 3: Organize and Connect the Specific Evidence

Practice in Organizing and Connecting Specific Evidence

Chapter 5: The Fourth Step in Writing

Step 4: Write Clear, Error-Free Sentences

Revising Sentences

Editing Sentences

Practice in Revising Sentences

Chapter 6: Four Bases for Revising Writing

Base 1: Unity

Base 2: Support

Base 3: Coherence

Base 4: Sentence Skills

Practice in Using the Four Bases

PART TWO: Paragraph Development

Chapter 7: Introduction to Paragraph Development

Nine Patterns of Paragraph Development

Important Considerations in Paragraph Development

Using a Computer

Using Peer Review

Doing a Personal Review

Chapter 8: Exemplification

Chapter 9: Process

Chapter 10: Cause and Effect

Chapter 11: Comparison and Contrast

Chapter 12: Definition

Chapter 13: Division and Classification

Chapter 14: Description

Chapter 15: Narration

Chapter 16: Argument

Chapter 17: Additional Paragraph Assignments

PART THREE: Essay Development

Chapter 18: Writing the Essay

What Is an Essay?

Important Points About the Essay

Essays to Consider

Planning the Essay

Practice in Writing the Essay
Essay Writing Assignments

PART FOUR: Research Skills

Chapter 19: Using the Library and the Internet

Chapter 20: Writing a Research Paper

PART FIVE: Handbook of Sentence Skills

Preview

Sentence-Skills Diagnostic Test

Section I: GRAMMAR

Chapter 21: Subjects and Verbs

Chapter 22: Sentence Sense

Chapter 23: Fragments

Chapter 24: Run-Ons

Chapter 25: Standard English Verbs

Chapter 26: Irregular Verbs

Chapter 27: Subject-Verb Agreement

Chapter 28: Pronoun Agreement and Reference

Chapter 29: Pronoun Types

Chapter 30: Adjectives and Adverbs

Chapter 31: Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers

Section II: MECHANICS

Chapter 32: Paper Format

Chapter 33: Capital Letters

Chapter 34: Numbers and Abbreviations

Section III: PUNCTUATION

Chapter 35: Apostrophe

Chapter 36: Quotation Marks

Chapter 37: Comma

Chapter 38: Other Punctuation Marks

Section IV: WORD USE

Chapter 39: Using the Dictionary

Chapter 40: Improving Spelling

Chapter 41: Vocabulary Development

Chapter 42: Commonly Confused Words

Chapter 43: Effective Word Choice

Chapter 44: ESL Pointers

Section V: PRACTICE

Chapter 45: Combined Mastery Tests

Chapter 46: Editing Tests

Sentence-Skills Achievement Test

PART SIX: Readings for Writers

Introduction to the Readings

Goals and Values

All the Good Things by Sister Helen Mrosla

Rowing the Bus by Paul Logan

The Scholarship Jacket by Marta Salnas

Joe Davis: A Cool Man by Beth Johnson

The First, the Clay, and the Rock by Donald Holland

What Good Families Are Doing Right by Delores Curran

Education and Self-Improvement

Do It Better! by Ben Carson, M.D. with Cecil Murphey

Anxiety: Challenge by Another Name by James Lincoln Collier

Let's Really Reform Our Schools by Anita Garland

How They Get You to Do That by Janny Scott

Dealing with Feelings by Rudolph F. Verderber

Extra-Large, Please by Diane Urbina

Human Groups and Society

The Most Hateful Words by Amy Tan

The Storyteller by H. H. Munro (Saki)

Rudeness at the Movies by Bill Wine

Bullies in School by Kathleen Berger

From Father to Son, Last Words to Live By by Dana Canedy

A Drunken Ride, a Tragic Aftermath by Theresa Conroy and Christine M. Johnson

Reading Comprehension Chart

Appendix A: Answers and Charts

Preview
Answers to Sentence Skills Diagnostic Test and Introductory Projects

Charts

Appendix B: A Writer's Journal

Acknowledgments

Index