For use as a reader in any Developmental Writing or Introduction to Writing courses in English departments.   Bridges provides students with high interest readings and instruction.   The purpose of this reader is to help students build bridges among understanding and using the four communication skills–listening, speaking, reading, and writing–and their interrelations, focusing on how the other three can help students improve their writing skills. Through this diverse presentation of readings and oral activities, students discover something meaningful to write about, and through examples, practice, and feedback, they will develop both competence and confidence, improving their writing.

Table of Contents:
PART 1. COMMUNICATING AND WRITING IN COLLEGE.     1. Introduction to Students.   You Are a Writer. You Can Improve Your Writing. Lessening Writing Anxiety. Why Reading Is Important for Writers. You Can Be Successful in This Class. How to Use This Textbook.     2. Responding to What You Read and Hear.   Communicating: Sending and Receiving. The Process of Communication. Sending: Speaking and Writing. Receiving: Listening and Reading. Complexity of the Process of Communicating. Taking Notes. Taking Notes as a Listener in Class. Taking Notes as a Reader in College. Annotating What You Read. Outlining What You Read. Summarizing What You Read.     3. Writing in College.   The Journal. Reflective Journal Entry. Reader Response Journal Entry. The Paraphrase. The Synopsis. The Academic Paragraph. The Academic Essay. Structure of the Academic Essay. Rhetorical Elements of the Academic Essay. The Process of Composing. Preparing to Write. Annotated Examples. Professional Essay. Student Essay.     PART 2. READINGS FOR WRITERS.     4. Home and Family.   Li-Young Lee, The Gift. Linda Hogan, Heritage. Helen Bottel, The Family. Bronwen Dickey, He Caught the Dream. David Crary, Some Want Curb on Military Moms. Thomas St. Germain Whitecloud, Blue Winds Dancing. David W. Lipscomb [Student], I Wish I’d Been There.     5. Youth and Age.   Anne Sexton, The Fury of Overshoes. Maya Angelou, On Aging. Gabriel Horn, White Deer of Autumn, The Door. Kitty Oliver, The Anxiety Button. Mike Males, Teenagers Are Not Becoming More Violent. Earnest Hemingway, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place. Katherine E. Zondlo [Student], It’s Not Just a Phase.     6. Education.   Langston Hughes, Theme for English B. Sylvia Hicks, To Yrik. George McGovern, A Painful Bashfulness. Clarence Page, To Educate One’s Children in the Rules of Race. Shirley Jackson, Charles. Emily Rubino [Student], Advice to High School Sophomores.     7. Gender Roles and Relationships.   Kenneth Koch, Permanently. Thomas Hardy, Neutral Tones. Judith Viorst, Friends, Good Friends—And Such Good Friends. Time Magazine, Relationships 101. Laura Ullman, Will You Go Out With Me? Leo Buscagalia, Love As a Learned Phenomenon. John Collier, The Chaser. Lindy Cleland [Student], Until Death Do Us Part, or Until Our Feelings Change.     8. Dreams, Goals, Decisions.   Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken. Anonymous Haiku, Dead My Old Fine Hopes. Julia Alvarez, I Want to Be Miss America. Sherman G. Finesliver, The Day I Flunked Out of Law School. Bertice Berry, Changing the Tapes. Frank Lalli, Guts, Grace, and Glory: Face to Face with Rudy Guiliani. Garrison Keillor, My Family. Joseph Geil [Student], The Loss of Dreams.     9. Popular Culture.   Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Indian Movie, New Jersey. Robert Bly, Watching Television. Jamie Marcus, Muhammed Ali, Sports Hero. Michael Dorris, Crazy Horse Malt Liquor. Chiori Santiago, Families Should Attempt to Live Without Television. Elizabeth Thoman, Media Literacy Education. Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Portable Phonograph. Nathan E. Florand [Student], Death by Video Game: Fact or Fiction?    10. The World of Work. Marge Piercy, To Be of Use. Layman P’ang, When the Mind Is at Peace. Katherine S. Newman, No Shame in My Game. Susan Greenfield, Flexible Futures. Ellen Goodman, The Do-It-Yourself Economy. John Updike, A & P. Matthew Derek [Student], My Worst Job Ever.     11. Science and Technology.   Alan P. Lightman, In Computers. Sylvia Hicks, The Leading Edge. Lewis Thomas, My Magical Metronome. John Naisbitt, From Forced Technology to High Tech/High Touch. Bruce Bower, Mind-Expanding Machines. Ian Frazier, Techno-Thriller. Michael Caple [Student], What Happened to ATVs.