PART I. YOU AND YOUR WRITING. 1. What this book assumes about you and your writing -- 2. The qualities of effective writing -- 3. How writing happens: an overview of the process / PART TWO. Discovering your experiences and your ideas. 4. Prewriting strategies: discovering what you have to say -- 5. Your subject and your dominant idea / PART III. REVISING YOUR WORK. 6. Thinking about your audience -- Focusing your reader's attention -- Openings and closings -- Style, voice, and language / PART IV. STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZING YOUR IDEAS. 10. Description: Using imagery to put your audience in the place -- 11. Narration, plot, and character: involving your reader in time and conflict -- 12. Describing a process: showing how something is done -- 13. Comparing and contrasting: showing likenesses and differences -- 14. Classification and analysis: grouping and dismantling -- 15. Cause and effect: showing the connections between events -- 16. Definition: making meanings for your reader / PART V. MAKING A LOGICAL POINT. 17. Argument and persuasion. / PART VI. USING SOURCES. 18. The research paper.