Writing in college can be tricky. It can be difficult to know what qualities matter most, what ideas to develop or even how to deliver work that meets instructors’ expectations. Mauk/Metz's THE COMPOSITION OF EVERYDAY LIFE, 7th EDITION, was designed to help students like you with the most evasive but crucial aspects of college writing -- inventing fresh ideas and delivering them in compelling ways. Academic writing, after all, is not about getting it right but about making an intellectual impact -- changing minds, challenging ideas and exploring possibilities. Whatever topics you choose, whatever issues most define your life, this book will help you go beyond expectations, maximize intellectual possibilities and make real discoveries about the world around you. The sample essays throughout, written by both professional and student writers, were carefully selected to demonstrate the most impactful strategies writers can apply in academic settings.
Part I: INVENTION.
1. Inventing Ideas.
Introduction. Asking Questions. Re-Inventing Education. Reading for Rhetoric. How To Use The Composition Of Everyday Life. Inventing Ideas Assignment.
2. Remembering Who You Were.
Readings. "Selling Manure," Bonnie Jo Campbell. "How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant," Cindy Bosley. "The Thrill of Victory . . . The Agony of Parents," Jennifer Schwind-Pawlak (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
3. Explaining Relationships.
Readings. "Americans and the Land," John Steinbeck. "Mugged," Jim Crockett. "Tinder, You, and Me," Kellie Coppola (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
4. Observing.
Readings. "Living Like Weasels," Annie Dillard. "The Front Porch," Chester McCovey. "Red Raiders Fans," Taylor Perry (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Observing a Culture: Writing an Ethnography Essay. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
5. Analyzing Concepts.
Readings. "Why 'Natural' Doesn't Mean Anything Anymore," Michael Pollan. "Black Like I Thought I Was," Erin Aubrey Kaplan. “The Good Life,” Emrys Westacott. "The Real, The Bad, and The Ugly," Cassie Heidecker (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
6. Analyzing Texts.
Readings. "The Default Setting: An Analysis of David Foster Wallace," Adrienne Carr. “Seattle’s Rhetoric,” Andrew Buchner (Student Essay) “Vonnegut’s ‘The Noodle Factory,’” Clayton Taratino (Student Essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Caution: Four Common Pitfalls. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
7. Analyzing Images.
Readings. "Rise of the Image Culture: Re-Imagining the American Dream," Elizabeth Thoman. "An Imperfect Reality," Rebecca Hollingsworth. "Look on My Works: Breaking Bad's Final Season Trailer," Nick Fendinger. (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay.
8. Making Arguments.
Readings: “The Dog Delusion,” April Pedersen. “How ChatGPT Robs Students,” Naomi S. Baron. “Hive Talkin’: The Buzz around Town about Bees,” Teresa Scollon. “In Defense of Darkness,” Holly Wren Spaulding.
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: The Open Letter.
9. Responding to Arguments.
“For the Sake of Frenzy,” Kelly Smith. "AI Can Save Writing by Killing the College Essay," Steven D. Krause. “The Power of Failure: J. K. Rowlings’ 2008 Harvard Commencement Speech,” Liz Winhover (Student Essay). “Different Jobs,” Dana Stewart.
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Tattoo Design.
10. Evaluating.
Readings. "Talibanned," Benjamin Busch. "Important and Flawed," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "Star Trek: Where No Man Has Gone Before," Jaren Provo (Student essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Classroom Evaluations.
11. Searching for Causes.
Readings. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" Nicholas Carr. "Why We Binge-Watch Television," Kevin Fallon. “Why GenZers Are Using Digital Cameras, Tim Gorochanaz. “Why Americans Disagree,” James Steiner-Dillon
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Photo Essay.
12. Proposing Solutions.
Readings. "Hi, I'm a Digital Junkie and I Suffer from Infomania," Manoush Zomorodi. “Yelling at Referees,” Jordan Franco. “Every Teacher Grades Differently,” Laura Link. “Can Silent Retreats Solve Generation Z’s Problems?” Nicholas Punla Smith (Student Essay).
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Comic Strips and Other Media.
13. Thinking Radically: Re-Seeing the World.
Readings. “Build the Wall” Ed Bell. “Unemployed and Working Hard,” Simon Wykoff (Student Essay). “Warfare: Invention, not a Biological Necessity," Margaret Mead. “As the Global Music Phenom,” A.D. Carson, The Conversation.
Invention. Point of Contact. Analysis. Public Resonance. Thesis. Rhetorical Tools. Revision. Reflection. Beyond the Essay: Visual Essay / Collage / Poster.
Part II: RESEARCH.
14. Finding Sources.
Reading: “AI Information Retrieval,” Chirag Shah.
Using Catalogs and Databases. Online Catalogs. Periodical Databases. Conducting Interviews. Planning an Interview. Asking the Right Questions. Integrating Interviews into Your Writing. Creating Surveys. Generating Questions. Choosing Respondents. Recording and Using Responses.
15. Analyzing, Synthesizing, and Evaluating Sources.
Developing Critical Literacy. "Just the Facts, Please"--or Maybe Not. "Numbers Don't Lie"--or Do They? Summarizing and Analyzing Sources. Content. Context. Understanding Common Source Genres. Synthesizing Sources. Assignment: Summarizing, Analyzing, and Synthesizing Sources. Evaluating Sources. Relevance. Reliability. Credibility. Timeliness. Diversity. Evaluating Online Sources. Assignment: Evaluating a Source. Sample Source Evaluation.
16. Integrating and Documenting Sources.
Basic Concepts. Issues to Consider and Discuss. Why Get Information from Sources? When to Get Information from Sources. What Is Inventive Research? Where to Get Information from Sources. What Is Plagiarism? Why Document Sources? What's a Good Research Topic? Formal versus Informal Documentation. Integrating Ideas from Sources. Summary. Quotation. Special Conditions in Quoting. Organizing Sources. Blending in the Source Information. Documenting Sources. MLA Style. In-Text Citation. Works Cited. Sample Research Essay. APA Style. In-Text Citation. References. Sample Research Essay.
Sample Source Evaluation: Assessing Bond Pittman’s “Drink Earlier, Drink Less.”
Part III: ORGANIZATION AND DELIVERY.
17. Organizing Ideas.
Beginning. Changing Paragraphs. Integrating Outside Sources. Counterarguing. Separating Problems and Solutions. Concluding.
18. Developing Voice.
Establishing Presence. Building Credibility. Following Conventions.
19. Vitalizing Sentences.
Controlling the Pace. Getting Specific. Cleaning the Language. Experimenting with Patterns.
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John Mauk
John Mauk has a Ph.D. in rhetoric and writing from Bowling Green State University and a Masters in language and literature from the University of Toledo. Scholarship includes an article on critical geography and composition (COLLEGE ENGLISH, March 2003). Mauk now teaches composition and rhetoric courses at Northwestern Michigan College. In 2007, he served on the NCTE Nominating Committee.
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John Metz
John Metz has a B.A. in English from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (1983) and an M.A. in English from the University of Toledo (1985). He has taught first-year writing for over 20 years and currently teaches at Kent State University at Geauga in Twinsburg, Ohio.
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Coverage of the emergence of AI chatbot technology begins in this edition’s first chapter. Students will learn about AI technology, its implications, potential uses and perils for college writing.
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With 15 new readings, including a blog, and 27 previous readings, the chapters provide a variety of current, relevant topics for discussion. Most importantly, readings demonstrate the intellectual possibilities and rhetorical tools described in each chapter.
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The new edition has been revised to be even more concise in helping students read and think about the process of analyzing topics, inventing ideas and writing clearly.
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The research chapters of this edition explore new technologies and new challenges in retrieving information, presenting sound and adaptive skills and principles to manage a fast-changing environment.
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Chapter activities have been honed to make the invention process even more accessible and impactful.
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Unlike any other writing guide, THE COMPOSITION OF EVERYDAY LIFE, 7th EDITION, is focused on invention as a creative tool. Thirteen chapters on invention help students become inventive thinkers and writers.
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This edition returns to a larger trim size and its previous two-page spread design, which presents main ideas on two facing pages to help students focus on one topic at a time.
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Step-by-Step Invention Instruction includes Point of Contact sections that help students discover a topic from everyday life. Analysis sections launch them beyond initial thoughts and help them to explore all angles of a topic. Public Resonance sections help students extend their thinking outward to make their claims relevant to a community of readers. Thesis sections focus students' thinking and guide them toward revelatory claims. Rhetorical Tools sections help students support their claims with the most relevant strategies.
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Thorough coverage of Revision and Editing includes Peer Review activities specific to each chapter to help students re-see all the dimensions of their drafts. Adding an intensive editing step to the invention process, Chapter 19 (Vitalizing Sentences) illustrates particular strategies for pruning, weeding, trimming and giving life to writing.
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The Reflection sections help students transfer their ideas to a range of genres by prompting them to theorize about their own language and intellectual moves. These activities also help students identify areas for revision toward a course portfolio.