PART 1. “THEY SAY” 

1. “THEY SAY”: Starting with What Others Are Saying

2. “HER POINT IS”: The Art of Summarizing 

3. “AS HE HIMSELF PUTS IT”: The Art of Quoting

4. “SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text 

5. NEW “THIS IMAGE SUGGESTS”: Analyzing and Responding to Images 

PART 2. “I SAY”

6. “YES / NO / OK, BUT”: Three Ways to Respond 

7. NEW “WHO’S TALKING HERE?”: Reading for the Conversation 

8. “AND YET”: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say 

9. “IN MY EXPERIENCE”: Using Personal Stories to Energize Your Argument 

10. “SO WHAT? WHO CARES?”: Saying Why It Matters 

PART 3. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

11. “AS A RESULT”: Connecting the Parts

12. YOU MEAN I CAN JUST SAY IT THAT WAY?”: Academic Writing Doesn’t Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice

13. “BUT DON’T GET ME WRONG”: The Art of Metacommentary

14. “WHAT I REALLY WANT TO SAY IS”: Revising Substantially

PART 4. IN SPECIFIC ACADEMIC CONTEXTS

15. “I TAKE YOUR POINT”: Entering Class Discussions

16. “BUT AS SEVERAL SOURCES SUGGEST”: Research as Conversation

17. “ON CLOSER EXAMINATION”: Entering Conversations about Literature

18. “THE DATA SUGGEST”: Writing in the Sciences

19. “ANALYZE THIS”: Writing in the Social Sciences

20. “HELP ME UNDERSTAND”: When AI Enters the Conversation

READINGS

GERALD GRAFF, Hidden Intellectualism

NEW ANGELINE THOMAS, Who Needs Literature?: Listen Up, Future Healthcare Providers

NEW TARA WESTOVER, I Am Not Proof of the American Dream

NEW ARTHUR C. BROOKS, How to Buy Happiness

NEW TALISSA PAYNE, Debt Isn’t Just Personal: A Proposal for Financial Literacy in K–12 Education

MATT RIDLEY, Going Nuclear

NEW TOM TORO, Yes, the Planet Got Destroyed (visual text)

NEW KAYLA SOTTUNG, Generative AI: The Future We’ve Been Waiting for, or Humanity’s Final Nightmare?

KENNETH GOLDSMITH, Go Ahead, Waste Time on the Internet

PART 1. “THEY SAY”

1. “THEY SAY”: Starting with What Others Are Saying 

2. “HER POINT IS”: The Art of Summarizing

3. “AS HE HIMSELF PUTS IT”: The Art of Quoting

4. “SKEPTICS MAY OBJECT”: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text

5. NEW “THIS IMAGE SUGGESTS”: Analyzing and Responding to Images

PART 2. “I SAY”

6. “YES / NO / OK, BUT”: Three Ways to Respond

7. NEW “WHO’S TALKING HERE?”: Reading for the Conversation

8. “AND YET”: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say

9. “IN MY EXPERIENCE”: Using Personal Stories to Energize Your Argument

10. “SO WHAT? WHO CARES?”: Saying Why It Matters

PART 3. TYING IT ALL TOGETHER

11. “AS A RESULT”: Connecting the Parts

12. YOU MEAN I CAN JUST SAY IT THAT WAY?”: Academic Writing Doesn’t Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice

13. “BUT DON’T GET ME WRONG”: The Art of Metacommentary

14. “WHAT I REALLY WANT TO SAY IS”: Revising Substantially

PART 4. IN SPECIFIC ACADEMIC CONTEXTS

15. “I TAKE YOUR POINT”: Entering Class Discussions

16. “BUT AS SEVERAL SOURCES SUGGEST”: Research as Conversation

17. “ON CLOSER EXAMINATION”: Entering Conversations about Literature

18. “THE DATA SUGGEST”: Writing in the Sciences

19. “ANALYZE THIS”: Writing in the Social Sciences

20. “HELP ME UNDERSTAND”: When AI Enters the Conversation

READINGS

21. What Makes a Good Life?

NEW AVI SCHIFFMANN, Friend Ad (visual text)

NEW TARA WESTOVER, I Am Not Proof of the American Dream

NEW ARTHUR C. BROOKS, How to Buy Happiness

NEW VERA BOCK, Work Pays America (visual text)

NEW RACHEL GRESZLER, Increasing the Minimum Wage Comes at Too High a Price for Workers

NEW JOHN DRISCOLL AND MORRIS PEARL, A Livable Wage Is Good for Business

NEW TALISSA PAYNE, Debt Isn’t Just Personal: A Proposal for Financial Literacy in K–12 Education

NEW ADAM CHANDLER, Worth

NEW LOLA MILHOLLAND, Living with Roommates Is Sorely Underrated

NEW ROBIN WALL KIMMERER, An Argument for the Gift Economy

22. How Is Technology Changing Us?

STANLEY KUBRICK, 2001: A Space Odyssey (visual text)

NEW WALT HANDELSMAN, Scrollboro (visual text)

CHRISTINE ROSEN, Keep Them Offline

KENNETH GOLDSMITH, Go Ahead: Waste Time on the Internet

NICHOLAS CARR, How Smartphones Hijack Our Minds 

NEW KATYA UNGERMAN, Your Phone Isn’t a Drug. It’s a Portal to the Otherworld.

JOE GARCIA, Left Behind: Internet Access for People behind Bars

NEW ZOË HITZIG, On the Grid: How Surveillance Became a Love Language

ANNA ROMINA GUEVARRA, Here Come the Robot Nurses

NEW DANIELA RUS AND GREGORY MONE, The Work of the Future

NEW KAYLA SOTTUNG, Generative AI: The Future We’ve Been Waiting for, or Humanity’s Final Nightmare?

23. Why Care about the Planet?

NEW ELAINE POOLE, Caprisun Backpack (visual text)

EMMA BARNES, The Fast and the Fashionable: How Your Closet Contributes to a Global Crisis

BEN ADLER, Banning Plastic Bags Is Great for the World, Right? Not So Fast

NEW TOM TORO, Yes, the Planet Got Destroyed (visual text)

NEW ALEXANDER CLAPP, Waste Wars

AYANA ELIZABETH JOHNSON, What I Know about the Ocean

NEW BENJI BACKER, I’m a Young Conservative, and I Want to Lead the Fight against Climate Change

ALICE CHEN AND VIVEK MURTHY, Should We Be More Optimistic about Fighting Climate Change?

NEW LEAH CARDAMORE STOKES, From Destruction to Abundance

MATT RIDLEY, Going Nuclear

SANDIS EDWARD WAIALAE WIGHTMAN, Mauna Kea: The Fight to Preserve Culture

24. What’s College For?

NEW ELLEN M. BANNER, Students Graduating (visual text)

CARINE M. FEYTEN, The Boys Are Doing Just Fine

RICHARD V. REEVES, No, the Boys Are Not Doing Just Fine

SYLVIA MATHEWS BURWELL, Generation Stress: The Mental Health Crisis on Campus

MIKE ROSE, Community College: The Great Equalizer

ANNA CLARK, Why We Need to Keep the “Community” in Community Colleges

NEW ANGELINE THOMAS, Who Needs Literature? Listen Up, Future Healthcare Providers

GERALD GRAFF, Hidden Intellectualism

CHARLES FAIN LEHMAN, The Student Loan Trap: When Debt Delays Life 

NEW SUZANNE KREITER, Graduation Cap (visual text)

25. How Can We Bridge the Differences That Divide Us?

NEW ADAM CVIJANOVIC, What’s So Funny about Peace, Love, and Understanding (visual text)

SEAN BLANDA, The “Other Side” Is Not Dumb

NEW MARIE ARANA, Growers

SUKETU MEHTA, Jobs, Crime, and Culture: The Threats That Aren’t

DAVID FRUM, How Much Immigration Is Too Much? The Wrong Debate

YAEL LENGA, Disability in Higher Education: Building Access and Building Futures

LUTICHA DOUCETTE, If You’re in a Wheelchair, Segregation Lives

NEW TIM FERGUSON SAUDER, BRIAN GLENNEY, AND SARA HENDREN, The Accessible Icon (visual text)

MICHELLE ALEXANDER, The New Jim Crow

JOHN PFAFF, A Response to the “Standard Story” about US Incarceration Rates