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TAB 6 MLA Documentation TAB 10 Editing for Grammar
Style Conventions

pages 451–496
pages 261–316
finding source information 51 Sentence Fragments
and documenting sources in 52 Comma Splices and Run-­on Sentences
mla style
26 MLA Style: In-­Text Citations 53 Subject-­Verb Agreement
27 MLA Style: List of Works Cited 54 Problems with Verbs
28 MLA Style: Explanatory Notes and 55 Problems with Pronouns
Acknowledgments 56 Problems with Adjectives and Adverbs
29 MLA Style: Format
30 sample research project
in mla style
TAB 11 Editing for Correctness:
Punctuation, Mechanics,

pages 497–548
and Spelling
TAB 7 APA Documentation Style
57 Commas
finding source information
pages 317–364
58 Semicolons
and identifying and 59 Colons
documenting sources
in apa style 60 Apostrophes
31 APA Style: In-­Text Citations 61 Quotation Marks
32 APA Style: References 62 Other Punctuation Marks
33 APA Style: Format 63 Capitalization
34 sample research project 64 Abbreviations and Symbols
in apa style 65 Numbers
66 Italics (Underlining)
67 Hyphens
68 Spelling
TAB 8 Chicago and CSE
pages 365–400

Documentation Styles
35 Chicago Documentation Style: Elements TAB 12 Basic Grammar Review with
36 sample from a student

pages 549–582
Tips for Multilingual Writers
research project in
chicago style 69 Parts of Speech
37 CSE Documentation Style 70 Parts of Sentences
71 Phrases and Dependent Clauses
72 Types of Sentences

TAB 9 Editing for Clarity

pages 401–450

identifying and editing TAB 13 Further Resources for

common problems and quick
reference for multilingual Learning
writers
38 Wordy Sentences Selected Terms from across the Curriculum
39 Missing Words Discipline-­Specific Resources
40 Mixed Constructions Timeline of World History
41 Confusing Shifts World Map
42 Faulty Parallelism Index
43 Misplaced/Dangling Modifiers Index for Multilingual Writers
44 Coordination and Subordination Quick Guide to Key Resources
45 Sentence Variety Abbreviations and Symbols for Editing and
46 Active Verbs Proofreading
47 Appropriate Language
48 Exact Language
49 The Dictionary and the Thesaurus
50 Glossary of Usage
This page intentionally left blank
A Writer’s Resource
A Handbook for Writing
and Research
Sixth Edition

©Anton Khrupin/Shutterstock

Elaine P. Maimon
Governors State University

Kathleen Blake Yancey

Florida State University
A WRITER’S RESOURCE: A HANDBOOK FOR WRITING AND RESEARCH,
SIXTH EDITION

Published by McGraw-­H ill Education, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. Copyright © 2020 by
McGraw-­H ill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Previous
editions © 2016, 2012, and 2007. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in
any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
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Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers
outside the United States.

This book is printed on acid-­free paper.

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ISBN 978-1-260-08784-0
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Library of Congress Cataloging-­i n-­Publication Data

Names: Maimon, Elaine P., author. | Yancey, Kathleen Blake, 1950- author.
Title: A writer’s resource: a handbook for writing and research / Elaine P.
Maimon, Kathleen Blake Yancey Florida State University.
Description: Sixth edition. | New York, NY: McGraw-­H ill Education, [2016]
Identifiers: LCCN 2018020896 (print) | LCCN 2018022431 (ebook) | ISBN
9781260494365 (online) | ISBN 9781260087840 (softcover: acid-­free paper) |
ISBN 9780078036187 (acid-­free paper) | ISBN 0078036186 (acid-­free paper)
Subjects: LCSH: English language—­R hetoric—­Handbooks, manuals, etc. |
English language—­G rammar—­Handbooks, manuals, etc. | Report
writing—­Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC PE1408 (ebook) | LCC PE1408 .M3366 2016b (print) | DDC
808/.042—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018020896

The Internet addresses listed in the text were accurate at the time of publication. The inclusion
of a website does not indicate an endorsement by the authors or McGraw-­H ill Education, and
McGraw-­H ill Education does not guarantee the accuracy of the information presented at these sites.

mheducation.com/highered
 Preface v

About the Authors

Elaine P. Maimon is president of Governors State University (GSU),
a public university in suburban Chicago, where she is also professor
of English. At GSU she has presided over transformative change, real-
locating resources to support full-­time faculty members in freshman

©Elaine P. Maimon
composition; infusion rather than proliferation of courses; and navi-
gable pathways from community college to the university. Previously
she was chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage, provost
(chief campus officer) at Arizona State University West, and vice pres-
ident of Arizona State University as a whole. In the mid-1970s, she ini-
tiated and then directed the Beaver College (now Arcadia University)
writing-­across-­the-­curriculum program, one of the first WAC programs in the nation. A founding
executive board member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (CWPA), she has
directed national institutes to improve the teaching of writing and to disseminate the principles
of writing across the curriculum. With a PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania,
where she later helped to create the Writing Across the ­University (WATU) program, she has
also taught and served as an academic administrator at Haverford College, Brown University, and
Queens College (CUNY). In 2018, she published a book on higher education reform, Leading
Academic Change: Vision, Strategy, Transformation (Stylus, 2018).

Kathleen Blake Yancey, Kellogg W. Hunt Professor of English and

Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University, has
served as President of the National Council of Teachers of English;
Chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communica-
tion; President of the Council of Writing Program Administrators;

©Kathleen Blake Yancey

and President of the South Atlantic Modern Language Association.
Co-­founder of the journal Assessing Writing, she is immediate Past
Editor of College Composition and Communication. Currently, she
leads an 8-site “Transfer of Transfer” research project on students’
transfer of writing knowledge and practice, funded by both CCCC
and CWPA, that includes faculty from community colleges and pri-
vate and public four-­year schools researching together. Author, edi-
tor, or co-­editor of 14 scholarly books—­among them the 2014 Writing Across Contexts: Transfer,
Composition, and Sites of Writing; the 2016 A Rhetoric of Reflection; and the 2017 Assembling
Composition—­she has two additional edited collections in press: Rhetoric, Composition, and Dis-
ciplinarity; and ePortfolio-­as-­Curriculum: Diverse Models and Practices. Author or co-­author of
over 100 articles and book chapters, she is the recipient of several awards, including the CCCC
Research Impact Award; the Purdue Distinguished Woman Scholar, the best book award from
the Council of Writing Program Administrators; and the FSU Graduate Teaching and Mentor
Awards.
 A Resource
A Writer’s Resource helps writers identify the fundamental elements of any
writing situation—­from academic assignments to blog and social media
posts—­and teaches innovative, transferable strategies that build confidence
for composing across various genres, media, and the academic curriculum.
With its numerous examples from a rich cross-­section of disciplines,
A Writer’s Resource foregrounds the transfer of skills learned in the writing
course to demonstrate that every major, every field of study, and every
potential career path depends on written communication. Throughout the
chapters, a comprehensive set of features supports this approach:
●● New coverage of transfer. Transfer strategies are highlighted throughout,
including an entirely new section in Chapter 1 that answers the question
“Why study composition?” by describing the transferable skills students
will learn in the writing course. Special emphasis is also given to
writing situations beyond college, including writing for social media
and drafting emails for professional purposes.
●● New and revised student sample assignments. Three new sample
papers on contemporary topics demonstrate successful informative
and persuasive strategies, and two revised examples feature updated
research and citations that students can learn from and model. An
expanded and updated section on portfolio creation includes a new
annotated sample ePortfolio geared toward outcomes.
●● Greater emphasis on multimodal assignments. Six assignment chapters
offer guidelines for writing that informs, analyzes, and argues in
different settings, including expanded coverage of multimodal writing.
A Writer’s Resource now also provides instruction for repurposing
material created for a formal assignment, including how to present
the same material to multiple audiences.
●● Updated box features. Throughout the sixth edition, the following
practice boxes highlight the skills students gain in the composition
course:
●● The Evolving Situation provides guidance on navigating a range
of writing situations, such as those introduced by new media and
technologies;
●● Navigating through College and Beyond supports the transfer of
writing practices to situations across the disciplines and outside the
classroom;
●● Know the Situation and Consider Your Situation provide opportunities
for practice in identifying and responding to different writing situations;
●● Checklists on topics ranging from editing a paper to planning a Web
site help students apply what they have learned to their own writing
assignments.

vi
 for Transferring Skills Confirming Pages

156
to Any Writing Situation
12a COMMON ASSIGNMENTS Other Kinds of Assignments

the EVOLVING SITUATION

Personal Writing and Social Media Web Sites
In addition to writing personal essays for class, you may use social media
sites like Facebook or Twitter for personal expression and autobiographical
writing. Since these sites are networked, it’s important to remember that
strangers, including prospective employers, may have access to your pro-
files and comments.

witch’s child says she doesn’t like having a working mom but
she can’t picture her mom any other way. I didn’t love it. I’m
sure the two men who wrote this book had the absolute best
intentions, but this leads me to my point. The topic of working
moms is a tap-dance in a minefield.

3. Structuring your essay for

●● Opportunities like practice.
a story Connect Composition offers
ample
There are three common ways to narrate events and reflections:
opportunities for students to practice the skills they learn in class.
● Chronological sequence: uses an order determined by clock
Power
time;
● ● whatof Processfisupports
happened critical
rst is presented first,reading, thinking,
followed by what and writing
happened second, then
development third,reading
through and so on.assignments that instructors can
Emphatic sequence: uses an order determined by the point
customize to their course needs.
●

you want to make; for emphasis, events and reflections are

arranged from either least to most or most to least important.
● Suspenseful sequence: uses an order determined by the
emotional effect the writer wants the essay to have on read-
ers. To keep readers engaged, the essay may begin in the
middle with a puzzling event, then flash back or go forward.
Some essays may even begin with the end and then flash back
to recount how the writer came to that insight.

4. Letting details tell your story

It is through the details that the story takes shape. The details you
emphasize, the words you choose, and the characters you create com-
municate the point of your essay.
Consider, for example, the following passage by Gloria Ladson-
Billings:
Mrs. Harris, my third-grade teacher, was quite a sharp
dresser. She wore beautiful high-heeled shoes. Sometimes
she switched to flats in the afternoon if her feet got tired, but
every morning began with the click, click, click of her high
heels as she greeted us up and down the rows. I wanted to
dress the way Mrs. Harris did. I didn’t want to wear old-lady

●● Access to the Connect Composition eReader, enhanced with over

75 readings that are easily uploaded to Power of Process, allows students to
engage
mai36186_tab03_Chs09-14_107-186.indd 156with examples that demonstrate a variety of8/23/14
genres10:58and
AM purposes.

●● LearnSmart Achieve assignments, including writing process coverage

and grammar tests, helps students practice their skills with an
adaptive tool that responds to their individual levels.

vii
 A Resource
A Writer’s Resource teaches students to read, write, and think critically.
Numerous topical examples throughout the text engage student interest
and demonstrate how such skills apply to all phases of the writing
process.
●● Critical reading and writing instruction. Using the writing situation
as a framework, Chapter 4, Reading and Writing: The Critical
Connection, introduces techniques of critical reading and thinking,
while connecting students to resources for argument writing. This
chapter shows students how to read actively, summarize texts, and
respond to others’ work as a precursor to creating their own.
●● Expanded research coverage. The research chapters in Tab 5 provide
up-­to-­date guidelines for critically evaluating and drawing on digital
sources, including new instruction for identifying and eradicating
fake news sources from research papers and social media posts. With
readings uploaded to Power of Process students can put into practice the
source evaluation strategies they’ve learned.
●● Updated documentation chapters. Documentation chapters include
coverage that aligns with the latest updates to the 8th edition of the
MLA Handbook and the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Connect Composition offers interactive documentation guides that help
students understand and practice research and writing standards in
MLA and APA styles.
●● Enhanced coverage of writing situations. Entirely updated for this
edition, Start Smart and Source Smart guides demonstrate guidelines
for working through common writing situations, reinforcing the idea
that there are recognizable landmarks in every writing assignment.
Online, in Connect Composition, this interactive feature guides students
through the eBook based on their specific writing situations.

Connect Composition
Connect Composition helps instructors use class time to focus on the highest
course expectations, by offering their students meaningful, independent, and
personalized learning, and an easy, efficient way to track and document student
performance and engagement.
Connect Composition offers adaptable assignments for instructors to choose
from, including study modules in LearnSmart Achieve, Discussion Board activi-
ties, and Power of Process assignments that provide students with plenty of prac-
tice in critical reading and writing as well as style, grammar, and punctuation.

viii
for Thinking Critically
about Writing
Feature Description Instructional Value
Simple LMS ■■ Seamlessly integrates with every ■■ Students have automatic single
Integration learning management system. sign-­on.
■■ Connect assignment results sync to
LMS’s gradebook.
LearnSmart ■■ Continuously adapts to a student’s ■■ Students independently study the
Achieve strengths and weaknesses, to fundamental topics across
create a personalized learning composition in an adaptive
environment. environment.
■■ Covers The Writing Process, ■■ Metacognitive component supports
Critical Reading, The Research knowledge transfer.
Process, Reasoning and ■■ Students track their own
Argument, Multilingual Writers, understanding and mastery and
Grammar and Common discover where their gaps are.
Sentence Problems, Punctuation
and Mechanics, and Style and
Word Choice.
■■ Provides instructors with reports
that include data on student and
class performance.
A Writer’s ■■ Provides comprehensive course ■■ The eBook allows instructors and
Resource content, exceeding what is students to access their course
eBook offered in print. materials anytime and anywhere,
■■ Supports annotation and including four years of handbook
bookmarking. access.
Connect ■■ Provides access to more than 60 ■■ Sample essays provide models for
eReader readings that are assignable via students as well as interesting topics
Connect Composition. to consider for discussion and
writing. Can replace a costly stand-­
alone reader.
Power of ■■ Guides students through the ■■ Students demonstrate understanding
Process critical reading and writing and develop critical thinking skills
processes step-­by-­step. for reading, writing, and evaluating
sources by responding to short-­
answer and annotation questions.
Students are also prompted to
reflect on their own processes.
■■ Instructors or students can choose
from a preloaded set of readings or
upload their own.
■■ Students can use the guidelines to
consider a potential source critically.
Writing ■■ Allows instructors to assign and ■■ This online tool makes grading
Assignments grade writing assignments online. writing assignments more efficient,
with Peer ■■ Gives instructors the option of saving time for instructors.
Review easily and efficiently setting up ■■ Students import their Word
and managing online peer document(s), and instructors can
review assignments for the entire comment and annotate submissions.
class. ■■ Frequently used comments are
automatically saved so instructors do
not have to type the same feedback
over and over.

ix
Feature Description
Writing ■■ Allows instructors or course ■■ This tool provides assessment
Assignments administrators to assess student
with writing around specific learning
Outcomes-­ outcomes.
Based ■■ Generates easy-­to-­read reports ■■ Reports allow a program or instructor
Assessment around program-­specific learning
outcomes.
■■ Includes the most up-­to-­date
Writing Program Administrators
learning outcomes, but also
gives instructors the option of
creating their own.
Insight ■■ Provides a quick view of student ■■ Instructors can quickly check on and
and class performance and
engagement with a series of
visual data displays that answer
the following questions:
1. How are my students doing?
2. How is this student doing?
3. How is my section doing?
4. How is this assignment working?
5. How are my assignments
working?
Instructor ■■ Allow instructors to review the
Reports performance of an individual
student or an entire section.
■■ Allow instructors or course
administrators to review multiple
sections to gauge progress in
attaining course, department, or
institutional goals.
Student ■■ Allow students to review their
Reports performance for specific
assignments or the course.
Pre-­ and ■■ Precreated non-­adaptive
Post-­Tests assessments for pre-­and
post-­testing.
Tegrity ■■ Allows instructors to capture
course material or lectures on
video.
■■ Allows students to watch videos
recorded by their instructor and
learn course material at their
own pace.
x
Instructional Value
transparency to students. They can
see why a “B” is a “B” and what it
will take to improve to an “A.”
to demonstrate progress in attaining
section, course, or program goals.
analyze student and class
performance and engagement.
■■ Instructors can identify struggling
students early and intervene to
ensure retention.
■■ Instructors can identify challenging
topics and/or assignments and adjust
instruction accordingly.
■■ Reports can be generated for an
accreditation process or a program
evaluation.
■■ Students can keep track of their
performance and identify areas they
are struggling with.
■■ Pre-­tests provide a static benchmark
for student knowledge at the
beginning of the program. Post-­tests
offer a concluding assessment of
student progress.
■■ Instructors can keep track of which
students have watched the videos
they post.
■■ Students can watch and review
lectures from their instructor.
■■ Students can search each lecture for
specific bits of information.
New to the Sixth Edition
The sixth edition of A Writer’s Resource continues to focus on the most common
writing assignments and situations students will encounter and uses the writ-
ing situation as its framework for instruction. This new edition also includes
three new sample student papers (two research projects and a literary analysis)
and two revised student papers that feature updated content, research, citations,
and annotations. Here is a quick look at just a few of the other changes you will
find within the chapters:
Chapter 1, Writing across the Curriculum and beyond College
●● New section introduces students to the concept of transfer and explains
how the skills they gain in the composition course can be applied to
other disciplines and other areas of their lives

Chapter 2, Writing Situations

●● Updated coverage of the core outcomes of successful writing
●● Updated coverage of multimodal assignments in addition to a broader
discussion of, and genres that benefit from, multimedia elements
●● New guidelines for writing e-­mail for academic and professional
purposes
●● Updated explanation of virtual classrooms and course management
software

Chapter 5, Planning and Shaping

●● Expanded coverage of assessing writing situations
●● Additional practice for applying multimodal elements in professional
scenarios

Chapter 6, Drafting Text and Visuals

●● New examples of photos and illustrations and updated example of
a visual that compares and contrasts

Chapter 8, Designing Academic Texts and Portfolios

●● Updated instruction around portfolio creation emphasizes ePortfolios
and the importance of the introductory reflective text
●● New annotated student example of an ePortfolio geared toward
outcomes

Chapter 9, Informative Reports

●● New sample informative report on Olympic doping by a health and
human performance major

xi
 Chapter 10, Interpretive Analyses and Writing about Literature
●● New sample student interpretive analysis of Iranian poet Mohsen
Emadi’s poem “Losses”

Chapter 11, Arguments

●● New example of an argument posed by a public-­service image on the
topic of violence against women
●● Revised sample student proposal on the topic of cyberbullying includes
updated research and citations

Chapter 12, Other Kinds of Assignments

●● New examples demonstrate using a conversational tone in an essay and
connecting your experience to a larger issue
Chapter 13, Oral Presentations
●● New sample PowerPoint slides for a presentation on the topic of
cyberbullying
Chapter 15, Service Learning and Community-­Service Writing
●● New example of a well-­designed newsletter
Chapter 18, Understanding Research
●● Updated coverage for researching using online sources
Chapter 19, Finding and Managing Print and Online Sources
●● Updated discussion of exploring online communication
Chapter 20, Finding and Creating Effective Visuals, Audio Clips, and Videos
●● Updated coverage of selecting the appropriate graphics for displaying
data accurately, including new examples of effective and ineffective use
of graphs and charts
●● Searching from appropriate images in online and print sources

Chapter 21, Evaluating Sources

●● Entirely new section on identifying and eradicating fake news from
academic research and social media posts

Chapter 24, Working with Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism

●● New sample bibliography notecards and annotated bibliography
●● New sample annotated Web page printout
●● New examples of taking notes on a research journal
●● New section on paraphrasing for multiple audiences

xii
 ●● New examples of integrating quotations and summarizing information
from sources

MLA Documentation Style

●● Updated examples of in-­text citations
●● Brief introduction to the container concept as presented in the
8th edition of the MLA Handbook
●● In keeping with the 8th edition, specific citation examples are
reorganized by types of sources
●● New student sample informative research paper on the topic of
fake news

APA Documentation Style

●● Updated examples of in-­text citations
●● Reorganization of specific citation examples by source type
●● New student sample research paper informs on the use of performance-­
enhancing drugs by Olympic athletes

Chicago and CSE Documentation Styles

●● Updated examples of in-­text citations
●● Reorganization of specific citation examples by source type
●● New excerpt from a research paper on the topic of fake news

Grammar
●● Updated examples throughout, including updates to the Grammar
Checker feature
©vectorfusionart/Shutterstock

xiii
xiv Preface

WPA Outcomes Statement for First-­Year Composition

Introduction
This Statement identifies outcomes for first-­year composition programs
in U.S. postsecondary education. It describes the writing knowledge,
practices, and attitudes that undergraduate students develop in first-­
year composition, which at most schools is a required general education
course or sequence of courses. This Statement therefore attempts to
both represent and regularize writing programs’ priorities for first-­year
composition, which often takes the form of one or more required general
education courses. To this end it is not merely a compilation or summary
of what currently takes place. Rather, this Statement articulates what
composition teachers nationwide have learned from practice, research,
and theory.1 It intentionally defines only “outcomes,” or types of results,
and not “standards,” or precise levels of achievement. The setting of
standards to measure ­students’ achievement of these Outcomes has
deliberately been left to local writing programs and their institutions.
In this Statement “composing” refers broadly to complex writing
processes that are increasingly reliant on the use of digital technologies.
Writers also attend to elements of design, incorporating images and
graphical elements into texts intended for screens as well as printed
pages. ­Writers’ composing activities have always been shaped by the
technologies available to them, and digital technologies are changing
writers’ relationships to their texts and audiences in evolving ways.
These outcomes are supported by a large body of research demonstrating
that the process of learning to write in any medium is complex: it is both
individual and social and demands continued practice and informed
guidance. Programmatic decisions about helping students demonstrate
these outcomes should be informed by an understanding of this research.
As students move beyond first-­year composition, their writing abilities do
not merely improve. Rather, their abilities will diversify along disciplinary,
professional, and civic lines as these writers move into new settings
where expected outcomes expand, multiply, and diverge. Therefore, this
document advises faculty in all disciplines about how to help students
build on what they learn in introductory writing courses.

Rhetorical Knowledge
Rhetorical knowledge is the ability to analyze contexts and audiences
and then to act on that analysis in comprehending and creating texts.
­Rhetorical knowledge is the basis of composing. Writers develop rhetorical
­knowledge by negotiating purpose, audience, context, and conventions as
they compose a variety of texts for different situations.

1
This Statement is aligned with the Framework for Success in Postsecondary Writing,
an articulation of the skills and habits of mind essential for success in college, and is
intended to help establish a continuum of valued practice from high school through to
the college major.
 Preface xv

By the end of first-­year composition, students should

●● Learn and use key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and

composing a variety of texts

●● Gain experience reading and composing in several genres to

understand how genre conventions shape and are shaped by readers’

and writers’ practices and purposes
●● Develop facility in responding to a variety of situations and contexts

calling for purposeful shifts in voice, tone, level of formality, design,

medium, and/or structure
●● Understand and use a variety of technologies to address a range of

audiences
●● Match the capacities of different environments (e.g., print and electronic)

to varying rhetorical situations

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by
helping students learn
●● The expectations of readers in their fields

●● The main features of genres in their fields

●● The main purposes of composing in their fields

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, and
evaluate ideas, information, situations, and texts. When writers think
critically about the materials they use—­whether print texts, photographs,
data sets, videos, or other materials—­they separate assertion from
evidence, evaluate sources and evidence, recognize and evaluate
underlying assumptions, read across texts for connections and patterns,
identify and evaluate chains of reasoning, and compose appropriately
qualified and developed claims and generalizations. These practices are
foundational for advanced academic writing.
By the end of first-­year composition, students should
●● Use composing and reading for inquiry, learning, critical thinking, and

communicating in various rhetorical contexts

●● Read a diverse range of texts, attending especially to relationships

between assertion and evidence, to patterns of organization, to the

interplay between verbal and nonverbal elements, and to how these
features function for different audiences and situations
●● Locate and evaluate (for credibility, sufficiency, accuracy, timeliness,

bias and so on) primary and secondary research materials, including

journal articles and essays, books, scholarly and professionally
established and maintained databases or archives, and informal
electronic networks and internet sources
●● Use strategies—­such as interpretation, synthesis, response, critique,

and design/redesign—­to compose texts that integrate the writer’s ideas

with those from appropriate sources
●● Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation

by helping students learn

●● The kinds of critical thinking important in their disciplines
xvi Preface

●● The kinds of questions, problems, and evidence that define their

disciplines
●● Strategies for reading a range of texts in their fields

Processes
Writers use multiple strategies, or composing processes, to conceptualize,
develop, and finalize projects. Composing processes are seldom linear:
a writer may research a topic before drafting, then conduct additional
research while revising or after consulting a colleague. Composing
processes are also flexible: successful writers can adapt their composing
processes to different contexts and occasions.
By the end of first-­year composition, students should
●● Develop a writing project through multiple drafts

●● Develop flexible strategies for reading, drafting, reviewing,

collaborating, revising, rewriting, rereading, and editing

●● Use composing processes and tools as a means to discover and

reconsider ideas
●● Experience the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes

●● Learn to give and to act on productive feedback to works in progress

●● Adapt composing processes for a variety of technologies and

modalities
●● Reflect on the development of composing practices and how those

practices influence their work

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by
helping students learn
●● To employ the methods and technologies commonly used for research

and communication within their fields

●● To develop projects using the characteristic processes of their fields

●● To review work-­in-­progress for the purpose of developing ideas before

surface-­level editing
●● To participate effectively in collaborative processes typical of their field

Knowledge of Conventions
Conventions are the formal rules and informal guidelines that define
genres, and in so doing, shape readers’ and writers’ perceptions of
correctness or appropriateness. Most obviously, conventions govern
such things as mechanics, usage, spelling, and citation practices.
But they also influence content, style, organization, graphics, and
document design.
Conventions arise from a history of use and facilitate reading by invoking
common expectations between writers and readers. These expectations
are not universal; they vary by genre (conventions for lab notebooks and
discussion-­board exchanges differ), by discipline (conventional moves
in literature reviews in Psychology differ from those in English), and
by occasion (meeting minutes and executive summaries use different
registers). A writer’s grasp of conventions in one context does not mean
 Preface xvii

a firm grasp in another. Successful writers understand, analyze, and

negotiate conventions for purpose, audience, and genre, understanding
that genres evolve in response to changes in material conditions
and composing technologies and attending carefully to emergent
conventions.
By the end of first-­year composition, students should
●● Develop knowledge of linguistic structures, including grammar,

punctuation, and spelling, through practice in composing and revising

●● Understand why genre conventions for structure, paragraphing, tone,

and mechanics vary

●● Gain experience negotiating variations in genre conventions

●● Learn common formats and/or design features for different kinds

of texts
●● Explore the concepts of intellectual property (such as fair use and

copyright) that motivate documentation conventions

●● Practice applying citation conventions systematically in their own work

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by

helping students learn
●● The reasons behind conventions of usage, specialized vocabulary,

format, and citation systems in their fields or disciplines

●● Strategies for controlling conventions in their fields or disciplines

●● Factors that influence the ways work is designed, documented, and

disseminated in their fields

●● Ways to make informed decisions about intellectual property issues

connected to common genres and modalities in their fields.

WPA Outcomes Statement for First-­Year Composition (3.0), approved July 7, 2014.
Copyright ©2014 by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. Reprinted by
permission.
xviii Preface

Acknowledgments
A Writer’s Resource is built on the premise that it takes a campus to teach a writer.
It is also true that it takes a community to write a handbook. This text has been
a major collaborative effort. And over the years, that ever-­widening circle of
collaboration has included reviewers, editors, librarians, faculty colleagues, and
family members. We would like to give special thanks to Janice Peritz, one of the
original authors, who created a foundation for the many subsequent revisions.
Mort Maimon brought to this project his years of insight and experience
as a writer and as a secondary and post-­secondary English teacher. Gillian
­Maimon, Ph.D., elementary school teacher, University of Pennsylvania part-­
time professor, and writing workshop leader is a constant motivation. She has
miraculously applied principles inherent in this text successfully to the first-­
grade classroom. Alan Maimon, investigative researcher, journalist, and author,
continues to be a source of encouragement. Elaine also drew inspiration from her
granddaughters, Dasia and Madison Stewart, Annabelle Elaine Maimon, and
Lisette Rose Maimon, who already show promise of becoming writers.
David Yancey, Genevieve Yancey, Sui Wong, Matthew Yancey, and Kelly Yancey—­
whose combined writing experience includes the fields of biology, psychology,
medicine, computer engineering, mathematics, industrial engineering, information
technology, graphic design, and user experience—­helped with examples as well as
with accounts of their writing practices as they completed many kinds of classroom
assignments, as they applied to medical and graduate schools, as they wrote for
internships and currently write on the job. And as the younger Yanceys delight
in learning language and ways of communicating, they—­ Calder Yancey-­Wong,
Clara Yancey, and Amelie Yancey-­Wong—­have reminded us of the importance of
communication of all kinds.
At Governors State University (GSU), Penny Perdue, who is herself an
exemplary writer, provided research and expert editorial support. We also welcome
the opportunity to thank Penny for her outstanding work in managing administrative
operations in the Office of the GSU President, thereby freeing Elaine to pursue her
career-­long passion for helping students become independent writers and thinkers.
Dr. Lydia Morrow Ruetten provided up-­to-­date information on the GSU library.
From Florida State University, we thank the Rhetoric and Composition
program and the many good ideas that come from students and faculty alike.
Specifically, we thank Liane Robertson—­now at William Paterson University of
New Jersey—­and Kara Taczak—­now at the University of Denver—­who have brought
their experiences as excellent teachers of writing to many pages of this book.
We are grateful to Harvey Wiener and the late Richard Marius for their
permission to draw on their explanations of grammatical points in A Writer’s
Resource. We also appreciate the work of Maria Zlateva of Boston University; Karen
Batchelor of City College of San Francisco; and Daria Ruzicka, who prepared
the ESL materials. Thanks also go to librarians Debora Person, University of
Wyoming, and Ronelle K. H. Thompson, Augustana College. Our colleague Don
McQuade has inspired us, advised us, and encouraged us throughout the years of
this project. We thank Lisa Moore and Christopher Bennem for orchestrating our
work on early editions.
 Preface xix

Within the McGraw-­ Hill Education organization, many wonderful

people have been our true teammates on this sixth edition. We appreciate Kelly
Villella-­Canton’s excellent work as director and Penina Braffman Greenfield’s as
portfolio manager for English. We are grateful to Kelly and Penina for helping
us to concentrate on what only the authors could do, while they took care of so
much else. Crucial support came from David Patterson, managing director for
English and Mary Ellen Curley, product development manager. Thanks to Janet
Smith, Andrea Pasquarelli, Paula Kepos, and Michael O’Loughlin, all of whom
worked diligently on Connect Composition. Lisa Bruflodt, content project manager,
monitored every detail of production; Debra Kubiak and Jessica Cuevas, designers,
supervised every aspect of the striking text design and cover; and designer Robin
Mouat was responsible for the stunning visuals that appear throughout the book.
Thanks to Brianna Kirschbaum, DeAnna Dausener, and Mark Schaefer for their
help in clearing text permissions for this edition.
This book has benefited enormously from three extraordinary product
developers: David Chodoff, the remarkable Carla Samodulski, and the incredibly
talented Elizabeth Murphy. Elizabeth joined the team to shepherd us through
the fifth edition and it has been a pleasure working with her. Carla and Elizabeth
worked together to strengthen and refine the digital tools available in Connect
for A Writer’s Resource.
Finally, many, many thanks go to the reviewers who read chapters from the
new edition of one of our handbooks, generously offered their perceptions and
reactions to our plans, and had confidence in us as we shaped our texts to address
the needs of their students. We wish to thank the following instructors:

Content Consultants and Reviewers

Arizona Western College, Yuma Leigh Kolb
Jennifer M. Hewerdine Patsy Watts
Stephen Moore Eastern Illinois University
Baton Rouge Community College Melissa Caldwell
Shelisa Theus Dalva Markelis
Bridgewater State University Front Range Community
Deborah Barshay College
Cumberland County College Donna Craine
Joshua Austin Glendale Community College
Delaware Technical Community Alisa Cooper
College Hawaii Pacific University
Rob Rector Robert Wilson
Durham Technical Community College Howard University
Jonathan Cook David Green
Dyersburg State Community College Husson University
Linda Weeks Maria Cahill
East Central College Idaho State University
Sue Henderson Harold Hellwig
xx Preface

Illinois Central College Quinnipiac University

Michael Boud Glenda Pritchett
James Dekcer St. Louis Community College,
Isothermal Community College Florissant Valley
Jeremy Burris Lonetta Oliver
Ivy Tech Community College, Columbus Santa Fe College
John Roberts Akilah Brown
Ivy Tech Community College, Southern Illinois University
Central Indiana Tara Hembrough
Judith LaFourest Southwestern Assemblies of
Brenda Spencer God University
Jacksonville State University Diane Lewis
Don Bennett Southwestern Illinois College
Christy Burns Judi Quimby
Deborah Prickett
Tarrant County College, Southeast
West Kentucky Community and Campus
Technical College Elizabeth Joseph
Kimberly Russell
Texas Christian University
Lane College Brad Lucas
Unoma Azuah
Tidewater Community College,
Lees-­McRae College Virginia Beach Campus
Kathy H. Olson Doris Jellig
Lincoln College Tulsa Community College,
Judy Cortelloni Metro Campus
Lincoln Land Community College Greg Stone
Jason Dockter Jeanne Urie
McNeese State University Tulsa Community College
Corliss Badeaux Ken Clane
Rita D. Costello The University of Arkansas at
Mercer University Pine Bluff
Jonathan Glance Janice Brantley
Michigan State University, East Union University
Lansing David Malone
Nancy Dejoy University of Alabama
Northwest Arkansas Community College Karen Gardiner
Audley Hall Jessica Kidd
Megan Looney University of Hartford
Palm Beach State College, Lake Worth Susan M. Aliberti
Susan Aguila The University of Missouri,
Palm Beach State College Kansas City
Patrick Tierney Daniel Mahala
Porterville College University of Montana
Melissa Black Amy Ratto-­Parks
 Preface xxi

The University of Toledo Wayne County Community College

Anthony Edgington District
The University of West Georgia Bakkah Rasheed- ­Shabazz
Kevin Casper Sharon Wallace

University of Wisconsin-­Stout Western Technical College

Andrea Deacon Pamela Solberg
William Paterson University
Mark Arnowitz

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 Students—study more efficiently, retain more
and achieve better outcomes. Instructors—focus
on what you love—teaching.

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Adaptive study resources like SmartBook® help your
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Connect helps you be more productive with your
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xxiv Preface

How to Find the Help You need in A Writer’s Resource

A Writer’s Resource is a reference for all writers and researchers. When you are writing in
any situation, you are bound to come across questions about writing and research. A Writ-
er’s Resource provides you with answers to your questions.
Begin with Start Smart. If you are responding to an assignment, go to the Start Smart
feature at the beginning of Tab 1 to determine the type of writing the assignment requires,
along with the steps involved in constructing it and one or more examples. A brief Start
Smart box opens each subsequent tab, posing questions aligned with the WPA outcomes;
this feature will guide you to the sections of the text that answer these questions. These
features give you an easy means of accessing the many resources available to you within
A Writer’s Resource, from help with finding a thesis to advice on documenting your sources.
Check the table of contents. If you know the topic you are looking for, try scanning the
complete contents on the last page and inside back cover, which includes the tab and
chapter titles as well as each section number and title in the book. If you are looking for
specific information within a general topic (how to correct an unclear pronoun reference,
for example), scanning the table of contents will help you find the section you need.
Look up your topic in the index. The comprehensive index at the end of A Writer’s
Resource (pp. I-1–I-43) includes all of the topics covered in the book. For example, if you
are not sure whether to use I or me in a sentence, you can look up “I vs. me” in the index.
Check the documentation resources. By looking at the examples of different types of
sources and the documentation models displayed at the opening of each documentation
tab, you can determine where to find the information you need to document a source. By
answering the questions posed in the charts provided (for MLA style at the beginning of
Tab 6 and for APA style at the beginning of Tab 7), you can usually find the model you
are looking for.
Look in the grammar tab-­opening pages for errors similar to the ones you typically make.
Tab 9 opens with a chart of the most common errors students make. Each error includes
an example and a reference to the section and page number where you can find a more
detailed explanation and examples. Flip through these pages to find a quick reference
guide for multilingual writers.
Look up a word in the Glossary of Usage. If you are not sure that you are using a partic-
ular word such as farther or further correctly, try looking it up in the Glossary of Usage,
available in the ebook in Connect.
Refer to Tab 12 if you are a multilingual writer. Chapters 69–72 provide tips on the use
of articles, helping verbs, and other problem areas for multilingual writers.
Check the list of Discipline-­Specific Resources. Further Resources for Learning, avail-
able in the ebook in Connect, includes a comprehensive list of sources that have already
been checked for relevance and reliability.
 Preface xxv

The running head and section

number give the topic covered on the page 550 69a BASIC GRAMMAR REVIEW Parts of Speech

as well as the number of the chapter and

section letter in which the topic is discussed. tip FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS: Recognizing
language differences
The standard structures of sentences in languages other than English
can be very different from those in English. In other languages, the form
of a verb can indicate its grammatical function more powerfully than can
its placement in the sentence. Also, in languages other than English,
Tips for Multilingual Writers adjectives may take on the function that articles (a, an, the) perform,

boxes provide useful tips and or articles may be absent.

If your first language is not English, try to pinpoint the areas of difficulty
helpful information. you have in English. See whether you are attempting to translate the
structures of your native language into English. If so, you will need to learn
more about English sentence structure.

CHAPTER 69
Parts of Speech
English has eight primary parts of speech: verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
The main heading adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. All English words belong
to one or more of these categories. Particular words can belong to different
includes the chapter categories, depending on the role they play in a sentence. For example, the word
button can be a noun (the button on a coat) or a verb (button your jacket now).
number and section
69a
letter (for example, 51d) Verbs
Verbs carry a lot of information. They report action (run, write), condition
as well as the title of the (bloom, sit), or state of being (be, seem). Verbs also change form to indicate
person, number, tense, voice, and mood. To do all this, a main verb is often
section. preceded by one or more helping verbs, thereby becoming a verb phrase.
mv
► The play begins at eight.
Examples, many hv mv hv mv
► I may change seats after the play has begun.
of them with hand
1. Main verbs
corrections, illustrate Main verbs change form (tense) to indicate when something has happened. If

typical errors and how a word does not indicate tense, it is not a main verb. All main verbs have five
forms, except for be, which has eight.
to correct them. BASE FORM (talk, sing)
PAST TENSE Yesterday I (talked, sang).

420 42c EDITING FOR CLARITY Faulty Parallelism Running head and
section number
IDENTIFY AND EDIT
//
Faulty Parallelism The Identify and
To avoid faulty parallelism, ask yourself these questions:
Edit boxes help you
? 1. Are the items in a series in parallel form?
recognize and correct
glanced angrily at
• The senator stepped to the podium, an angry glance shooting
^
errors and problems
toward her challenger, and began to refute his charges.
with grammar, style,
and punctuation.
? 2. Are paired items in parallel form?

had
• Her challenger, she claimed, had not only accused her
^
falsely of accepting illegal campaign contributions, but
had accepted illegal contributions himself.
his contributions were from illegal sources.
^

? 3. Are the items in outlines and lists in parallel form?

FAULTY She listed four reasons for voters to send her

PARALLELISM back to Washington:
1. Ability to protect the state’s interests
2. Her seniority on important committees
3. Works with members of both parties to
get things done
4. Has a close working relationship with the
President
REVISED She listed four reasons for voters to send her
back to Washington:
1. Her ability to protect the state’s interests
2. Her seniority on important committees
3. Her ability to work with members of both
parties to get things done
4. Her close working relationship with the
President

Design Elements: (butterfly/computer): ©Visual Generation/Shutterstock; (other design icons):

©McGraw-Hill Education
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 1

1 | Writing Today
Writing Today
The adequate study of culture, our own and those on the opposite side of the
globe, can press on to fulfillment only as we learn today from the humanities
as well as from the scientists.
–Ruth Benedict
©Peerayot/Shutterstock

The compass has long been a tool for explorers and mapmakers. This book
was designed to be a compass for writing in any discipline.
 1 Writing Today
1 | Writing Today

START SMART Addressing 3. Audience and Academic

1–28

the Writing Situation 1 English 24

a. Becoming aware of your
1. Writing across the Curriculum audience 26
and beyond College 10 b. Using reading, writing, and
a. Learning to transfer composition speaking to learn more about
skills 11 Academic English 27
b. Studying the world through c. Using learning tools that
a range of academic are available for multilingual
disciplines 11 students 28
c. Using writing as a tool for
learning 12
d. Taking responsibility
for reading, writing, and
research 13
e. Recognizing that writing
improves with practice 14
f. Achieving the core outcomes of
successful writing 14

2. Writing Situations 16
a. Viewing the situation as the
framework for approaching any
writing task 16
b. Deciding on the best
medium 18
c. Making effective use of
multimodal elements and
genres 18
d. Becoming aware of the
persuasive power of
images 20
e. Taking advantage of online and
other electronic tools for writing
and for learning 20

Section dealing with visual rhetoric. For a complete listing, see the Quick Guide to Key
Resources in Connect.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
robbery. The princes of the church thought it below their dignity to
walk afoot, and kept sedan-bearers to transport them to church and
back. They kept writing and reading clerks, and now and then fought
a duel by proxy, or sent a vicar to lay the corner-stone of a new
court-house, in order to convey the impression that their spiritual
duties left them no time for secular concerns.

That sort of other-worldliness still seems to bias our plans of

education. Colleges that would fear to lose prestige by devoting a
few minutes a week to technical work or horticulture, surrender
dozens of hours to the bullying propaganda of a clerical miracle-
monger. Mechanical mastership (after all, the basis of all science) is
denied a place among the honorable “faculties” of our high-schools.
Fashionable parents would be shocked at the vulgar taste of a boy
who should visit joiner-shops and smithies, instead of following his
aristocratic friends to the club-house. They would bewail the
profanation of his social rank, if he should accept an invitation to
impart his skill to the pupils of a mechanical training-school; but
would connive at the mental prostitution of a young sneak who
should try to reëstablish a sanctimonious reputation by volunteering
his assistance to the managers of a mythology-school.

[Contents]

D.—PENALTIES OF NEGLECT.

Neglected development, either of physical or mental faculties,

avenges itself in ennui, modified, for the benefit of the poor, by the
less monotonous [81]afflictions of care. There is no doubt that the
feeling of emptiness that seeks refuge in the fever of passion or
intoxication, is a wholly abnormal condition, as unknown to the
children of the wilderness, who never feel the craving of unemployed
faculties, as to the truly civilized man, who finds means to satisfy that
craving. Unemployed muscles, like idle talents, rebel against
continued neglect and goad the sluggard to seek relief in the morbid
excitement of vice, and the father who thinks it a waste of money to
invest a dollar in a tool-box may have to spend hundreds for the
settlement of rum bills and gambling debts.

Both the effect and the cause of such excesses were rather rare in
the prime of the North American republic, when nearly every colonist
was a farmer, and every farm a polytechnicum of home-taught
trades; but European luxuries introduced European habits, and our
cities now abound with plutocrats who are ashamed of the toil by
which their forefathers laid the foundation of their wealth. Our cities
have bred the vices faster than the refinements of wealth, and have
become acquainted with ennui—

We lack the word but have the thing;

and thousands who would fail to find relief on the classical hunting-
grounds of Peter Bayle might imitate his landlord, who practiced
sharp-shooting with a medieval hunting-bow till he could challenge
the best pistol shots of the neighboring garrison. In a choice of evils
the most puerile game of skill is, indeed, clearly preferable to games
of chance; but [82]to that last resort of inanity the traditional aversion
to manual employments has actually driven thousands of city idlers.
Yet our American towns have never sunk to the abject effeminacy of
European cities, where physical apathy has become a test of good
breeding and a taste for mechanical accomplishments a stigma of
eccentricity, and where, consequently, social prestige has to be
purchased at the price of practical helplessness, of dependence in
all mechanical questions of life on the aid and the judgment of
hirelings.

Life-endangering accident may now and then illustrate the

disadvantages of physical incapacity; a drowning bather may be
inclined to admit that the saving influence of a swimming-school
might compare favorably with that of the baptismal miracle tank; but
the survivors will persist in relying on the vicarious omnipotence of
coin, ignoring the clearest illustrations of the truth that physical
incapacity avenges itself in every waking hour, even of the wealthiest
weakling, while the guardian-spirit of Skill accompanies its wards
from the workshop to the playground and follows them over
mountains and seas.

[Contents]

E.—REFORM.

The growing impatience with the dead-language system of our

monkish school-plan will soon lead to a radical reform of college
education, and a fair portion of the time gained should be devoted to
the culture of mechanical arts. For boys in their teens the “instinct of
constructiveness” would still prove to retain enough of its native
energy to make the change [83]a decidedly popular one, as
demonstrated by the success of the mechanical training schools that
have attracted many pupils who have to find the requisite leisure by
stinting themselves in their recreations. “Applied gymnastics” (riding,
swimming, etc.) would be still more popular, and greatly lessen the
yearly list of accidents from the neglect of such training.
The bias of fashion would soon be modified by the precedence of its
leaders, as in Prussia, where the royal family set a good example by
educating their princes (in addition to the inevitable military training)
in the by-trade of some mechanical accomplishment (carpentry,
sculpture, bookbinding, etc.), the choice of handicraft being optional
with the pupil. No model residence should be deemed complete
without a polytechnic workshop, furnished with a panoply of
apparatus for the practice of all sorts of amateur chemical and
mechanical pursuits—a plan by which the Hungarian statesman-
author, Maurus Jockar, has banished the specter of ennui from his
hospitable country seat. His private hobby is Black Art, as he calls
his experiments in recondite chemistry, but any one of his guests is
welcome to try his hand at wood-carving, glass-painting, metallurgy,
or any of the more primitive crafts, for which the laboratory furnishes
an abundance of apparatus. Private taste might, of course, modify
the details of that plan, and even without regard to eventual results,
its proximate benefits if once known would alone insure its general
adoption in the homes of the ennui-stricken classes. The educational
advantages [84]of mechanical training, though, can, indeed, hardly be
overrated. A scholar with nerveless arms and undextrous hands is
as far from being a complete man as a nimble savage with an
undeveloped brain. [85]
 II.—MENTAL MAXIMS.

[Contents]
CHAPTER VI.
 KNOWLEDGE.

[Contents]

A.—LESSONS OF INSTINCT.

In the arena of life animal instinct triumphs over the elemental forces
of Nature, as human intelligence triumphs over instinct, and the
secret of that superiority is knowledge. Skill is well-directed force.
Prudence is well-applied reason. The efficiency of that directing
faculty depends on experience, as we call the accumulation of
recollected facts. Knowledge is stored light, as helpful in the
narrowest as in the widest sphere of conscious activity, and the
instinctive appreciation of that advantage manifests itself in the
lowest species of vertebrate animals, nay, perhaps even in the
winged insects that swarm in from near and far to explore the
mystery of a flickering torch. Curiosity, rather than the supposed love
of rhythm, tempts the serpent to leave its den at the sound of the
conjurer’s flute. Dolphins are thus attracted by the din of a
kettledrum, river-fish by the glare of a moving light. Where deer
abound, a pitchwood fire, kindled in a moonless night, is sure to
allure them from all parts of the forest. Antelope hunters can entice
their game within rifle-shot by [86]fastening a red kerchief to a bush
and letting it flutter in the breeze. When the first telegraph lines
crossed the plateau of the Rocky Mountains, herds of bighorn sheep
were often seen trotting along the singing wires as if anxious to
ascertain the meaning of the curious innovation. Every abnormal
change in the features of a primitive landscape—the erection of a
lookout-tower, a clearing in the midst of a primeval forest—attracts
swarms of inquisitive birds, even crows and shy hawks, who seem to
recognize the advantage of reconnoitering the topography of their
hunting-grounds. In some of the higher animals inquisitiveness
becomes too marked to mistake its motive, as when a troop of colts
gathers about a new dog, or a pet monkey pokes his head into a
cellar-hole, and wears out his finger-nails to ascertain the contents of
a brass rattle.

For the intelligence of children, too, inquisitiveness is a pretty sure

test. Infants of ten months may be seen turning their eyes toward a
new piece of furniture in their nursery. Kindergarten pets of three
years have been known to pick up a gilded pebble from the gravel
road and call their teacher’s attention to the color of the abnormal
specimen. With a little encouragement that faculty of observation
may develop surprising results. The wife of a Mexican missionary of
my acquaintance, who had taken charge of an Indian orphan boy,
and made a point of answering every pertinent question of the bright-
eyed youngster, was one day surprised to hear him usher in a
stranger and invite him to a seat in the parlor. “How could you know
it was not a tramp?” she asked her little [87]chamberlain after the
visitor had left. “Oh, I could tell by his clean finger-nails,” said Master
Five-years, “and also by his straight shoes. Tramps always get their
heels crooked!”

The shrewd remarks of boy naturalists and girl satirists often almost
confirm the opinion of Goethe that every child has the innate gifts of
genius, and that subsequent differences are only the result of more
or less propitious educational influences. And in spite of most
discouraging circumstances, the love of knowledge sometimes
revives in after years with the energy almost of a passionate instinct.
On the veranda of a new hotel in a railroad town of southern Texas, I
once noticed the expression of rapt interest on the face of a young
hunter, a lad of eighteen or nineteen, who here for the first time
came in contact with the representatives of a higher civilization and
with breathless attention drank in the conversation of two far-traveled
strangers. “If they would hire me for a dog-robber (a low menial), I
would do it for a dime a day,” he muttered, “just for the chance to
hear them talk.”

“But if they should take you to some smoky, crowded, big city?”

“I don’t care,” said he, with an oath, “I would let them lock me up in a
jail, if I could get an education like theirs.”

It would, indeed, be a mistake to suppose that the thirst for mental

development is the exclusive product of advanced culture. In the
thinly settled highlands of our western territories, miners and herders
have been known to travel ten miles a day [88]over rough mountain
roads to get the rudiments of a school education. Missionaries who
have mastered the language of a barbarous tribe have more than
once been followed by converts whom the charm of general
knowledge (far more than any special theological motive) impelled to
forsake the home of their fathers and follow the white stranger to the
land of his omniscient countrymen.

[Contents]

B.—REWARDS OF CONFORMITY.

Knowledge is power, even in the contests of brutes. Superior

topographical knowledge enables the chasing wolf to intercept the
flight of his game; a well-chosen ambush makes the tiger the master
of his would-be slayer. Familiarity with the habits of enemies and
rivals decides success in the struggle for existence.
The advantage of superior knowledge is not limited to the prestige of
superlative scholarship, but asserts itself in the chances of every
competitive pursuit, so infallibly, indeed, as to justify Diderot’s
paradox that there is no need of any such thing as love of science for
its own sake, since all knowledge repays its acquisition by collateral
benefits. A farmer’s boy studying statute law, a lawyer collecting
market reports, will sooner or later find a chance to profit by their
study. The infinite interaction of human affairs connects the interests
of all branches of human knowledge, and makes the humblest
handicraft amenable to scientific improvement. Knowledge has never
hindered the successful pursuit of any manual vocation. Fifty years
ago several states of the [89]American Union made it a penal offense
to teach a slave reading and writing; and if the planter valued his
laborers in proportion to their canine submissiveness, he was
perhaps right that “education spoils a nigger.” It qualified his servility,
and by making him a better man, made him perhaps a less available
dog. But with that single exception, ignorance is a disadvantage, and
knowledge an advantage, both to its possessor and his employers.
In the solitudes of the Australian bush-land, Frederick Gerstäcker
found a herdsman reading Aristophanes in the original. Neither the
sheep nor their owners were any the worse for that incidental
accomplishment of the poor shepherd, who found his study a
sufficient source of pastime, while his comrades were apt to drown
their ennui in bad rum. James Cook, the greatest of modern maritime
discoverers, served his apprenticeship on board of a coal-barge and
employed his leisure in studying works on geography and general
history. The knowledge thus acquired might seem of no direct
advantage, but three years after, on board of the Eagle frigate, the
erudition of the brawny young sailor soon attracted the attention of
two intelligent officers whose recommendations proved the stepping-
stones of his successful career. Mohammed Baber Khan, the
emperor of the Mogul empire, owed his triumphs to his topographical
studies of a region which afterward became the battleground of his
great campaigns. Mohammed the Prophet gained the confidence of
his first employer by his familiarity with the commercial customs of
neighboring nations. Superior knowledge [90]compels even an
unwilling recognition of its prestige. In the Middle Ages, when
Moslems and Trinitarians were at daggers drawn, Christian kings
sent respectful embassies to solicit the professional advice of Ibn
Rushd (“Averroes”), the Moorish physician. During the progress of
the life-and-death struggle of France and Great Britain, the
discoveries of Sir Humphrey Davy impelled the Academie Française
to send their chief prize to England. The benefits of great inventions
are too international to leave room for that envy that pursues the
glory of military heroes, and the triumphs of science have often
united nations whom a unity of religion had failed to reconcile.

[Contents]

C.—PERVERSION.

There is a tradition that a year before the conversion of Constantine

the son of the prophetess Sospitra was praying in the temple of
Serapis, when the spirit of his mother came over him and the veil of
the future was withdrawn. “Woe to our children!” he exclaimed, when
he awakened from his trance, “I see a cloud approaching, a great
darkness is going to spread over the face of the world.” That
darkness proved a thirteen hundred years’ eclipse of common sense
and reason. There is a doubt if the total destruction of all cities of the
civilized world could have struck a more cruel blow to Science than
the dogma of salvation by faith and abstinence from the pursuit of
free inquiry. The ethics of the world-renouncing fanatic condemned
the love of secular knowledge as they condemned the love of health
and the pursuit of physical prosperity, and the children [91]of the next
fifty generations were systematically trained to despise the highest
attribute of the human spirit. Spiritual poverty became a test of moral
worth; philosophers and free inquirers were banished, while mental
castrates were fattened at the expense of toiling rustics and
mechanics; science was dreaded as an ally of skepticism, if not of
the arch-fiend in person; the suspicion of sorcery attached to the
cultivation of almost any intellectual pursuit, and the Emperor
Justinian actually passed a law for the “suppression of
mathematicians.”

When the tyranny of the church reached the zenith of its power,
natural science became almost a tradition of the past. The pedants
of the convent schools divided their time between the forgery of
miracle legends and the elaboration of insane dogmas. The most
extravagant absurdities were propagated under the name of
historical records; medleys of nursery-tales and ghost-stories which
the poorest village school-teacher of pagan Rome would have
rejected with disgust were gravely discussed by so-called scholars.
Buckle, in his “History of Civilization,” quotes samples of such
chronicles which might be mistaken for products of satire, if
abundant evidence of contemporary writers did not prove them to
have been the current staple of medieval science.

When the gloom of the dreadful night was broken by the first gleam
of modern science, every torch-bearer was persecuted as an
incendiary. Astronomers were forced to recant their heresies on their
bended knees. Philosophers were caged like wild beasts. Religious
skeptics were burnt at the stake, as [92]enemies of God and the
human race. It was, indeed, almost impossible to enunciate any
scientific axiom that did not conflict with the dogmas of the
revelation-mongers who had for centuries subordinated the evidence
of their own senses to the rant of epileptic monks and maniacs. And
when the sun of Reason rose visibly above the horizon of the
intellectual world, its rays struggled distorted through the dense mist
of superstition which continued to brood over the face of the earth,
and was only partially dispersed even by the storms of the Protestant
revolt.

The light of modern science has brought its blessings only to the
habitants of the social highlands; the valley dwellers still grope their
way through the gloom of inveterate superstitions and prejudices,
and centuries may pass before the world has entirely emerged from
the shadow of the life-blighting cloud which the son of Sospitra
recognized in the rise of the Galilean delusion.

[Contents]

D.—PENALTIES OF NEGLECT.

Of all the sins of Antinaturalism, the suppression of human reason

has brought down the curse of the direst retribution. It is the
unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit. The actual extinction of
their local sunshine could hardly have entailed greater misery upon
the slaves of the Christian church. The victims of a permanent
Egyptian darkness might have taken refuge in the Goshen of their
neighbors, in the sunny garden-homes of the Parsees and Spanish
Moriscos, but the jealousy of the clerical tyrants closed every [93]gate
of escape, and for thirteen centuries the nations of Christian Europe
suffered all the horrors of enforced ignorance and superstition. The
history of that dismal night is, indeed, the darkest page in the records
of the human race, and its horrors bind the duties of every sane
survivor to a war of extermination upon the dogmas of the insane
fanatic whose priests turned the paradise of southern Europe into a
hell of misery and barbarism.

The battle against the demon of darkness became a struggle for

existence, in which the powers of Nature at last prevailed, but for
millions of our fellow-men the day of deliverance has dawned too
late; spring-time and morning returned in vain for many a once fertile
land where the soil itself had lost its reproductive power, where the
outrages of Antinaturalism had turned gardens into deserts and
freemen into callous slaves. The storm that awakened the nations of
northern Europe from the dreams of their poison-fever could not
break the spell of a deeper slumber, and the moral desert of the
Mediterranean coast-lands remains to warn the nations of the future,
as the bleaching bones of a perished caravan remain to warn the
traveler from the track of the simoom.

The religion of Mohammed, with its health-laws and encouragements

to martial prowess, has produced no ruinous results of physical
degeneration, but the entire neglect of mental culture has not failed
to avenge itself in the loss of national prestige. For after the northern
nations of Christendom had broken the yoke of their spiritual tyrants,
the children [94]of Islam remained faithful to the task-masters of their
less grievous bondage, but also to its total indifference to secular
science, and from that day the crescent of the prophet became a
waning moon.

[Contents]

E.—REFORM.
The experience of the Middle Ages has made the separation of
church and state the watchword of all true Liberals. But the divorce
of church and school is a duty of hardly less urgent importance.
While many of our best Freethinkers waste their time in hair-splitting
metaphysics, Catholic and Protestant Jesuits coöperate for a
purpose which they have shrewdly recognized as the main hope of
obscurantism: The perversion of primary education by its re-
subjection to the control of the clergy. The definite defeat of those
intrigues should be considered the only permanent guarantee
against the revival of spiritual feudalism. A perhaps less imminent,
but hardly less serious, danger to the cause of Science is the
stealthy revival of mysticism. Under all sorts of nomenclatural
modifications, the specter-creed of the ancient Gnostics is again
rearing its head, and menacing reason by an appeal to the hysterical
and sensational proclivities of ignorance.

In the third place, there is no doubt that under the present

circumstances of educational limitations the adoption of female
suffrage would prove a death-blow to intellectual progress and re-
doom mankind to the tutelage of a clerical Inquisition; but rather than
perpetuate a twofold system of oppression, we should complete the
work of emancipation by admitting [95]our sisters to all available
social and educational advantages, as well as to the privilege of the
polls. From the suffrage of educated women we have nothing to fear
and much to hope.

It has long been a mooted question if the progress of knowledge can

be promoted by arbitrary encouragement, such as prize offers and
sinecures, but the preponderance of logic seems on the side of
those who hold that science should be left to its normal rewards, and
that the proper sphere of legislation does not extend beyond the duty
of securing the full benefit of those rewards by the removal of absurd
disabilities and unfair discriminations in support of worm-eaten
dogmas. Reason may be safely left to fight its own battle, if the arms
of Un-reason cease to be strengthened by statutes which enable
every village ghost-monger to silence the exponents of science by
an appeal to medieval heretic-laws.

[Contents]
CHAPTER VII.
 INDEPENDENCE.

[Contents]

A.—LESSONS OF INSTINCT.

If the scale of precedence in the mental development of our fellow-

creatures can be determined by any single test, that test is the
instinctive love of Independence. Many of the lower animals may
surprise us by constructive achievements that rival the products of
human science, but their instinct of freedom is quite imperfectly
developed. The caterpillar [96]of the silk-moth will spin its satin
winter-gown in a box full of mulberry leaves as skilfully as in the
freedom of the tropical forests. In the hive of their captor a swarm of
wild bees will continue to build hexagons and store up honey as
diligently as in the rocks or hollow trees of the wilderness. Captive
river-fish will eat and pair a day after their transfer to a fishpond.
Birds, on the other hand, mourn their lost liberty for weeks. During
the first half-month of its captivity, a caged hawk rarely accepts any
food; sea-birds and eagles starve with a persistence as if they were
thus trying to end an affliction from which they see no other way of
escape. Wild cows can be domesticated in a month; wild elephants
hardly in a year. Several species of the larger carnivora can be
trained only if caught in their cub-hood, as in after years they
become almost wholly untamable. The lower varieties of
quadrumana, the Brazilian capuchin monkeys and East Indian
macaques, seem almost to invite capture by the frequency of their
visits to the neighborhood of human dwellings, while the apes proper
are, without any exception, the shyest creatures of the virgin woods.
The gorilla is so rarely seen in the vicinity of human settlements that
its very existence was long considered doubtful. Sir Stamford Raffles
asserts that at the distant sound of an ax the orang of Sumatra at
once abandons its favorite haunts in the coast jungles. On the west
coast of Borneo a large orang was once surprised by the crew of an
English trading-vessel, but fought with a desperation that obliged its
would-be captors to riddle it with rifle-balls, though they knew that a
[97]living specimen of that size would be worth its weight in silver.

That same resolution in defense of their liberties has always

distinguished the nobler from the baser tribes of the human race.
The natives of the Gambia Valley have no hesitation in selling their
relatives to the Portuguese slave-traders, while the liberation of a
single countryman (whom the enemy had determined to hold as a
hostage) impelled the Circassian highlanders to risk their lives in a
series of desperate assaults upon the ramparts of a Russian frontier
post. The hope of covering the retreat of their fleeing wives and
children inspired the heroes of Thermopylæ to make a stand against
six-thousandfold odds. The crimps of the Christian church-despots
found no difficulty in foisting their yoke upon the former vassals of
the Roman empire, but when they attempted to cross the border of
the Saxon Landmark, the kidnappers were slain like rabid wolves;
and when the neighboring ruffian-counts, and at last Charlemagne in
person, marched to the support of the clerical slave-hunters, they
met with a resistance the record of which will forever remain the
proudest page in the chronicle of the Germanic races. Cornfields
were burnt, villages were leveled with the ground; for hundreds of
miles the means of human subsistence were utterly destroyed; but
the council of the Saxon chieftains refused to submit, and when the
homes of their forefathers were devastated, they carried their
children to the inaccessible wilds of the Harz highlands, where they
grimly welcomed the aid of the winter snows, and defied frost [98]and
starvation, rather than crawl to cross (zu Kreuze kriechen), as their
vernacular stigmatized the cowardice of their crucifix-kissing
neighbors. And when the Frankish autocrat had shackled their land
with a chain of forts, they thrice rebelled with persistent disregard of
consequences; nay, after the loss of the last murderous battle, the
prisoners of war refused to accept the ultimatum of the conqueror,
and rather than crawl to cross four thousand of their captive
noblemen mounted the scaffold of the executioner on the market-
square of Quedlinburg. The bodies of the heroes were thrown to the
birds of the wilderness; but their deathless spirits revived in the
philippics of Martin Luther and the battle-shout of Lützen and
Oudenaarde, and will yet ride the storm destined to hurl the last
cross from the temples of the Germanic nations.

[Contents]

B.—REWARDS OF CONFORMITY.

Since the dawn of history the lands of freedom have produced fruits
and flowers that refused to thrive on any other soil. For several
centuries civilization was confined to a small country of republics:
Attic and Theban Greece. “Study the wonders of that age,” says
Byron to his friend Trelawney, “and compare them with the best ever
done under masters.” Switzerland, in spite of its rocky soil, has for
centuries been the happiest, as well as the freest, country of Europe.
The prosperity of the United States of America, since the
establishment of their independence, stands unparalleled in the
history of the last eighteen hundred years; and, moreover, the
degree of that [99]prosperity has been locally proportioned to the
degree of social freedom, and has begun to become general only
since the general abolition of slavery. Freedom blesses the poorest
soil, as despotism blights the most fertile, and it is only an apparent