Thinking and Writing by Design A Cross-disciplinary Rhetoric and Reader

Thinking and Writing by Design is both a cross-curricular rhetoric and reader. It not only introduces students to strategies of thinking and writing common to all disciplines, but includes cross-curricular readings that were chosen to prompt critical thinking. Beginning with chapters on summarizing, serializing, and defining, students learn how to use essential strategies to invent and write about subjects they will encounter throughout college. Subsequent chapters introduce the strategies of comparing and contrasting, classifying, stating causes and effects, and analyzing, among others, with the more advanced strategies of synthesizing and arguing. Most of the readings are drawn from texts from courses frequently taken in the freshman or sophomore years, such as psychology, biology, sociology, or economics. Like the readings, the instruction and writing assignments equip students with the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills crucial to success in college and beyond.