English 1301 - Reading Assignments

To: English 1301 students From: Mr. Hall, Mhall46184@aol.com Via: Mr. Gillis and angryverbs.blogspot.com Subject: Assigned reading for English 1301 Date: 9 August 2014 Your assigned textbook is: The Bedford Handbook 9th edition Diana Hacker and Nancy Sommers Bedford-St. Martin’s In the past I encouraged second-hand textbooks as an economy but this year the changes in the 9th edition are more than cosmetic. You will need this edition. Happily, the book will serve you well for some years as a professional desk reference. While we will work in the MLA format, the Bedford also covers the APA format and the Chicago Manual of Style. This is a reference book, not a chapter-and-assignment book, and so sharing a copy with a friend in order to split the expense is an excellent idea. No matter what you hear from Rumor Control & Gossip Central you need not buy any other books, CDs, DVDs, partridges in pear trees, or other informational materials for this class. You will need paper and several pens (in Kirbyville we call them “inkpens”) in black or blue ink each day. 1. Read the entire book. Okay, not really, but you should be familiar with most of the book pretty quickly. If I allude to something in the book, you should read it or review it before the next class. Here are some parts of the book in which you should spend lots of time before and during term: 2. Brief Menu – inside the covers. I suppose “menu” is a sop to fashion. 3. Table of Contents, pp. xix – xxxii. Do you find the use of Roman numerals as annoying as I do? 4. Index – Index-1 – Index-52. This is another separate pagination scheme. One wishes the publishers would number simply from 1 to whatever. 5. Becoming a College Writer, pp. 1-8. Note how many times the writer uses “engage,” “engaging,” “engagement,” and “engaged.” 6. Part II, Academic Reading and Writing, pp. 107-198. Despite some of the leftover 1970s-speak (“Engage with the texts you read”), this is probably the most important part of the book. It helps you to learn to think, read, and write professionally, and avoid following emotional scripts. 7. Part X, Researched Writing, pp. 513-555. 8. Part X, continued, Writing MLA papers, pp. 556 – 661. The model research paper on pp. 656 - 661 is especially useful. 9. Part XI, Writing in the Disciplines, pp. 789-817. This is the “why” of formatted writing.