Answer:
A Topic Proposal for Your Essay 202
Sample Student Essay 203
Professional Essay: “So What’s So Bad about Being So-So?”205
The drive for perfection is preventing too many people from enjoying sports and
hobbies, says author Lisa Wilson Strick (who proudly plays the piano badly but with
great pleasure).
• A Revision Worksheet 208
Reviewing Your Progress 209
Strategy Two: Development by Process Analysis 209
Developing Your Essay 210
Problems to Avoid 212
• Essay Topics 212
A Topic Proposal for Your Essay 214
Sample Student Essay 214
Professional Essay (Informative Process): “To Bid the World Farewell”218
By describing the embalming process in vivid, step-by-step detail, social critic
and author Jessica Mitford questions the value—and necessity—of the entire
procedure.
Professional Essay (Directional Process): “Preparing for the Job Interview:
Know Thyself”224
Career-search consultant Katy Piotrowski offers a thoughtful six-step procedure to
help job-seekers plan for successful interviews.
• A Revision Worksheet 226
Reviewing Your Progress 227
Strategy Three: Development by Comparison and Contrast 227
Developing Your Essay 228
Which Pattern Should You Use? 229
Problems to Avoid 230
• Essay Topics 231
A Topic Proposal for Your Essay 233
Sample Student Essay (Point-by-Point Pattern) 233
Sample Student Essay (Block Pattern) 236
Professional Essay (Point-by-Point Pattern): “Grant and Lee: A Study in
Contrasts”239
Noted historian Bruce Catton compares and contrasts the two great generals of
the Civil War, concluding that their roles at Appomattox made possible “a peace of
reconciliation.”
Professional Essay (Block Pattern): “Two Ways of Viewing the River”243
One of America’s most beloved writers, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), contrasts
his earlier, romantic view of the Mississippi River with his later, more practical view
as an experienced riverboat pilot.
• A Revision Worksheet 245
A Special Kind of Comparison: The Analogy 245
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Reviewing Your Progress 248
Strategy Four: Development by Definition 248
Why Do We Define? 249
Developing Your Essay 249
Problems to Avoid 251
• Essay Topics 252
A Topic Proposal for Your Essay 253
Sample Student Essay 254
Professional Essay: “The Munchausen Mystery”257
A Harvard professor of psychiatry explains a perplexing “medical madness” in
which patients use extreme and sophisticated measures to fake illnesses—in some
cases, all the way to the operating room.
• A Revision Worksheet 260
Reviewing Your Progress 260
Strategy Five: Development by Division and Classification 261
Division 261
Classification 261
Developing Your Essay 262
Problems to Avoid 263
• Essay Topics 263
A Topic Proposal for Your Essay 264
Sample Student Essay 265
Professional Essay (Classification): “The Plot against People”268
According to well-known columnist Russell Baker, all inanimate objects may be
classified into three categories: those that don’t work, those that get lost, and
those that break down.
Professional Essay (Division): “What Is REALLY in a Hot Dog?”270
Americans consume millions of hot dogs each year, but not all of us know what we
may be eating—and which ingredients we might want to avoid.
• A Revision Worksheet 273
Reviewing Your Progress 273
Strategy Six: Development by Causal Analysis 274
Developing Your Essay 274