Read, Write, Connect provides integrated instruction in reading and writing paragraphs and essays, complete coverage of research and grammar, and a thematic reader full of high-interest selections students will want to both read and write about. The text begins with a walk-through of the reading and writing processes and then moves on to a series of reading and writing workshop chapters providing in-depth coverage of key topics like finding main ideas and drafting and organizing an essay.

Throughout, the text demonstrates that academic processes are recursive—for example, drafting is not a phase or stage a writer finishes or completes; drafting continues as the writer revises, based on reading and reflection. The structure of the text reflects this recursivity: as students move from the early chapters to later chapters, they reinforce and expand upon earlier learning, digging deeper into the material and their own ideas and building confidence along the way.

Kathleen Green is an Associate Professor of English at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California, where she has taught integrated reading and writing courses since 2001. She earned her Ph.D. in English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and served as Assistant Professor of English at Purdue University-Calumet before moving to California.  She has taught a wide variety of courses--including film history, film theory, women's literature, African-American literature, and children's literature--as well as the entire range of English composition courses, from basic skills to developmental to advanced composition.  She has published scholarly articles on women's history and popular culture, but prefers working with students just beginning their journeys into higher education.  She has served as a faculty tutor in the Pasadena City College Writing Center, has been involved with Writing Across the Curriculum, and has developed online curricula to help students with basic writing and reading skills across many disciplines.  Currently, she teaches in the Veterans Learning Collaborative at PCC, a cohort-based program that helps U.S. military veterans make the transition to college learning.

Amy Lawlor is a Professor of English at City College of San Francisco where she has been teaching integrated reading/writing and creative writing since 2008.  She earned her M.A. in English as well as a Composition Certificate from San Francisco State University and a Post-Secondary Reading Certificate from Cal State Fullerton.  In the 15 years that she has  been teaching college, she has enjoyed working at a number of Bay Area community colleges as well as Pasadena City College where she was exposed to a wide variety of composition curricula and experience teaching integrated reading/writing, reading, composition, Filipino-American literature, Latino-American literature, and other courses, including learning community courses and writing-across-the-curriculum courses. At Pasadena City College, in addition to teaching composition and literature, she worked as a faculty tutor in the Pasadena City College Writing Center and collaborated with Kathy Green in developing online curricula for reading and writing.  She is currently co-lead faculty for one of City College of San Francisco’s accelerated courses and calls curriculum and faculty development her primary professional interests outside the classroom.

Part One: Getting into a College Mindset

Chapter 1: Reading and Responding to College Texts

How to Approach a Text: Pre-Reading Strategies in Brief

     Take Stock of What You Know about a Topic

     Preview the Text

Annotating While You Read

     Active Readers Annotate

     Record Your Thoughts about the Text

     Ask Questions about the Text

     Identify New Words

Finding Main Ideas and Supporting Evidence

     What is the Main Idea?

     What is Support?

     How Do You Find the Main Idea and Support in an Essay or Article?

Writing A Summary

Reading Textbooks Effectively

Chapter Review

Part Two: From Pre-Reading to Proofreading: The Reading and Writing Processes

Chapter 2: Active and Critical Reading

Reading Critically

     Reading with and against the Grain

          Read with the Grain

          Read against the Grain

          Compare Your Notes

     Reading Sherie Holder and Kenneth Meeks, "Teach Your Children the Building Blocks of Finance" with and against the Grain

Readings on Money, Wealth, and Financial Literacy

     Sherie Holder and Kenneth Meeks, "Teach Your Children the Building Blocks of Finance"

     Olivia Mellan, "Men, Women, and Money"

     Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Education Pays" (Chart)

     Mark Schug and Eric Hagedorn, "Milwaukee’s Youth Enterprise Academy"

     Paul Taylor, Richard Fry, and Rakesh Kochhar, "Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics" (Pew Research Report Executive Summary)

     Pam Fessler, "Making It in the U.S.: More Than Just Hard Work"

Working with Multiple Sources

Additional Online and Media Sources

Chapter Review

Chapter 3: Putting Ideas into Writing

What Is An Essay and How Do You Write One?

     The Essay

     The Writing Process

How to Read an Essay Prompt

Essay Writing Time Management

PreWriting for Your Essay

     Freewriting

     Listing

Thesis Statements

Outlining Your Ideas

Generating Evidence to Support Your Ideas

Topic Sentences

Putting It All Together: Drafting a Rough Essay

Introductions and Conclusions

Finishing the Rough Draft

Essay Prompts

Chapter Review

Chapter 4: Revising, Editing and Proofreading

Revising as Re-Seeing Your Work

Practicing Peer Review

Revision Strategies

     Revising to Make Your Audience and Purpose Clear

     Revising to Focus Your Topic or Strengthen Your Thesis

     Revising to Improve Your Organization

          Organizing the Entire Essay

          Organizing a Paragraph

     Revising to Develop Your Paragraphs

     Revising to Integrate Sources

          Introduce a Quotation

          Explain What the Quotation Means

          Explain How the Quotation Supports Your Point

Editing Strategies

     Reading Your Essay Out Loud

     Reading Backwards

Proofreading Strategies

Chapter Review　

Part Three: Reading and Writing Workshops

Chapter 5: Additional Reading Comprehension Strategies

Reading Comprehension Strategies

     SQ3R

     KWL+

     Mapping

Reading Textbooks

     SQ3R

     Annotating

     Outlining or Mapping

     Muscle Reading

Reading Fiction

     Elements of Fiction

     Annotating

     Note Taking

     Story Maps

Chapter Review

Chapter 6: Workshop on Topic, Audience, and Purpose

Audience and Purpose

     Determining the Audience and Purpose in a Reading

     Reading for Audience and Purpose

Topics

     Finding Something to Say and Caring About It

     Making a Broad Topic More Specific

          Peer Review

          Questions

Crafting Your Paper’s Audience, Purpose, and Tone

     Writing for a Particular Audience

     Writing with a Purpose

     Writing in a Particular Tone

     Sharpening Your Topic with a Title

     Titles of Academic Articles

Chapter Review

Chapter 7: Workshop on Rhetorical Modes in Reading and Writing

What is a Rhetorical Pattern?

A Detailed Look at the Patterns

     Example or Illustration

     Definition

     Classification

     Narration

     Description

     Process

     Comparison and Contrast

     Cause and Effect

Using Rhetorical Patterns

Chapter Review

Chapter 8: Workshop on Vocabulary Building

Strategies for Discovering the Meaning of Words

     Using Context Clues

     Using a Dictionary

Understanding Word Parts

     Prefixes

     Roots

     Suffixes

Committing New Words to Memory

Using a Thesaurus

Using New Vocabulary

Chapter 9: Workshop on Pre-Writing

Freewriting

Clustering

Listing

Questioning

Chapter Review

Chapter 10: Workshop on Thesis and Main Idea

The Purpose of a Thesis

The Explicit Thesis or Main Idea

The Implied Thesis or Main Idea

Finding the Main Point in a Reading

Shaping Your Thesis

     How DoYou Know what Claim You Want to Make?

Drafting Your Thesis, Step by Step

     Sharpening Your Thesis

     Improving Weak Thesis Statements

Chapter Review

Chapter 11: Workshop on Taking a Stance

What Is an Argument

Taking A Position

Evidence

     Evidence Versus Opinion

     Kinds of Evidence

Counter Arguments and Rebuttals

     Concession Words

Making Inferences

Chapter Review　

Chapter 12: Workshop on Topic Sentences and Paragraphs

Topic Sentences

     Identifying Topic Sentences

     The Topic Sentence and The Thesis

     Writing Topic Sentences

Paragraphs

     Understand Paragraph Structure

     Strengthen Your Paragraphs

     Developing Paragraph Support

          Ask Questions to Develop Support

          Using a Variety of Types of Support

Chapter Review

Chapter 13: Workshop on Essay Organization and Outlining

Outlining as a Reader

     Outlining Another Writer’s Work

     Outlining Your Own Rough Draft

Outlining as a Writer

     Formal Outlines

     Informal Outlines

From Informal Outline to Topic Sentence Outline

Two Commonly Assigned Essay Structures

From Outline to Draft

Transitions

     Transitional Words and Expressions

     Transitions from Paragraph to Paragraph

     Sequencing Transitions

Chapter Review

Chapter 14: Workshop on Drafting

Writing the Very Rough Draft

     Exploratory Drafts

     Evidence Drafts

     Conversation Drafts

Writing the Public First Draft

Chapter Review

Chapter 15: Workshop on Introductions and Conclusions

Introductions

     Hook

     Topic

     Background Information

     Thesis

Conclusions

     Summing Up Your Essay

     Providing Context

     Strategies for Writing Strong Conclusions

Chapter Review

Chapter 16: Workshop on Quotation and Paraphrase

When to Use a Quotation in Writing

When to Use Paraphrase in Writing

Introducing a Quotation or Paraphrase

Connecting Your Evidence to Your Claim

Chapter Review

Chapter 17: Workshop on Giving and Receiving Feedback from Instructors and Peers

All Writers Seek Input: Why Feedback is Essential

Guidelines for Peer Review

How to Use a Rubric

Interpreting and Applying Instructors’ Comments on Your Writing

When You Need to Meet with an Instructor or Tutor

Chapter Review

Chapter 18: Workshop on Note Taking

Cornell Notes Simplified

Note-Taking in Different Situations: Lecture Classes, Discussions, Films, and Interviews

Being Organized in Note-Taking to Prevent Plagiarism

Chapter Review

Chapter 19: Workshop on Research

Different Types of Sources

Using an Academic Library

The Role of the Internet in Academic Research

Keeping Track of Source Material in an Organized Way

Chapter Review

Chapter 20: Workshop on MLA Documentation

Why Citing Sources Well Increases Your Credibility

The Three Parts of MLA Format: Document Format, the Works Cited page, and Parenthetical Citation (with Sample Student Paper on Facing Pages as Illustration)

Creating a Template for Correct Document Format

Doing your Works Cited Page

When to Use Parentheses and What to Put in Them

Chapter Review　

Part Four: Thematic Readings and Sources

Chapter 21: Siblings

Theme Overview

Pre-Reading Questions and Activities

Reading Selection (with Comprehension Questions, Discussion Questions, and Vocabulary Building Activities)

• Jane Mersky Leder, excerpt from "Close Encounters of a Special Kind" from Brothers and Sisters: How They Shape Our Lives
• Jeffrey Kluger, "The New Science of Siblings"
• Jeffrey Kluger, "The Power of Birth Order"
• Lauren Sandler, "The Only Child: Debunking the Myths"
• Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, "The Sibling Effect" from NurtureShock: New Thinking about Children

Additional Multi-Media Text Suggestions
Sample Writing Prompts in a Variety of Rhetorical Modes
Detailed Sample Argument Essay Assignment with Suggested Scaffolding for Students
Chapter 22: Public Art
Theme Overview
Pre-Reading Questions and Activities
Reading Selection (with Comprehension Questions, Discussion Questions, and Vocabulary Building Activities)
• Jack Becker, "Public Art: An Essential Component of Creating Communities"
• Patrick Frank, "Public Art and Street Art" [textbook excerpt]
• Annick Treguer, "Chicanos Paint Their Way Back"
• Will Shank, "Whose Art is this Anyway?" from Street Art San Francisco
• Koon-Hwee Kan, "Adolescents and Graffiti"
• Los Angeles Police Department, "What Graffiti Means to a Community"
• James Gaddy, "Nowhere Man"
• Rosanna Xia, "Lighthearted Street Art Delights (and Confuses) Downtown L.A. Visitors"
• Buffalo Law Journal, "Battles Over Yard Art Sometimes Turn Ugly"

Additional Multi-Media Text Suggestions
Sample Writing Prompts in a Variety of Rhetorical Modes
Detailed Sample Argument Essay Assignment with Suggested Scaffolding for Students
Chapter 23: Fame and Celebrity
Theme Overview
Pre-Reading Questions and Activities
Reading Selection (with Comprehension Questions, Discussion Questions, and Vocabulary Building Activities)
• Andrea Chang, "Kashing In"
• Flora Carlin, "Seeing By Starlight"
• Mary Loftus, "The Other Side of Fame"
• Jake Halpern, "The Desire to Belong: Why Everyone Wants to Have Dinner with Paris Hilton and 50 Cent" from Fame Junkies
• Drew Pinsky, "Broadcasting Yourself" from The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America

Additional Multi-Media Text Suggestions
Sample Writing Prompts in a Variety of Rhetorical Modes
Detailed Sample Argument Essay Assignment with Suggested Scaffolding for Students]
Part Five: Grammar, Style, and Mechanics
Chapter 24: How to Learn the Rules and Apply What You’ve Learned to Your Own Writing
Chapter 25: Parts of Speech that Matter (and a Few that Don’t!)
Chapter 26: Basic Sentence Components
Chapter 27: Verbs
Chapter 28: Fragments
Chapter 29: Run-ons/Fused Sentences and Comma Splices
Chapter 30: Pronouns
Chapter 31: Commas
Chapter 32: Parallelism
Chapter 33: How to Fix Common Sentence Structure Problems
Chapter 34: Writing Clear and Focused Sentences
Chapter 35: Apostrophes
Chapter 36: Spelling, Commonly Confused Words, and Capitalization
Part Six: Online Materials
Online Chapter A: Workshop on Taking Essay Exams
Preparing Mentally and Physically for an Essay Exam
Understanding Expectations
Dissecting the Question
Making and Sticking to a Plan of Attack
Online Chapter B: Workshop on Portfolios
Why Create Writing Portfolios
Selecting Work for Revision
Self-Reflection
Online Chapter C: Workshop on Time Management and Avoiding Procrastination
Your Typical Weekly Schedule
When Life Isn’t Typical: How to Handle Personal Crises and Still Get Your Work Done
Keeping Organized Computer Files
How to Stop Procrastinating
Online Chapter D: Education
Theme Overview
Pre-Reading Questions and Activities
Reading Selection (with Comprehension Questions, Discussion Questions, and Vocabulary-building Activities)
• Opposing Viewpoints, "Education"
• Lucinda Rosenfeld, "How Charter Schools Can Hurt"
• Diane Ravitch, "Stop the Madness"
• Gerard Robinson and Edwin Chang, "The Color of Success: Black Student Achievement in Public Charter Schools"
• Robert Maranto and James V. Shuls, "Lessons from KIPP Delta"

Additional Multi-Media Text Suggestions
Sample Writing Prompts in a Variety of Rhetorical Modes
Detailed Sample Argument Essay Assignment with Suggested Scaffolding for Students