Composing a Life¿s Work will motivate readers to use reading and writing to look at their strengths and interests and ultimately to choose a career. The book uses the concept of Occupational Inquiry help readers produce richer, more informed writing.

Table of Contents:
Preface. Introduction. I. WRITING TO INQUIRE. 1. Discovering and Presenting Yourself in Writing. Ethos and Rhetorical Situation. Ethos and Community. Establishing Ethos and Authority. Occupational Ethos. A Rhetorical Approach to Writing. 2. Strategies for Discovering and Developing Your Ideas. Developing a Writer's Notebook. Setting Up a Writer's Notebook. Getting Started on Your Writer's Notebook. Cultivating Inventive Thinking. Freewriting. Exploring Implications. Three Invention Strategies. Imagining an Uninformed Audience. Using Patterns of Development. Collaborative Invention. Reading and Writing Applications 1: Finding Meaningful Work. Case 1: Violence or Joy? What Does Work Make of Us? Studs Terkel, Introduction to Working. Richard Reeves, “The Joy of Work.” Case 2: What Is a “Career?” Real People at Work. Maureen Bradley, Writer/Social Worker. Jodi Heller, High School Teacher. Jane Whitaker, Senior Systems Architect. Robert Collelouri, Owner, Marketing and Advertising Agency. Eric Engle, Geologist. Case 3: Reflecting on Interests and Talents. Richard Feynman, “The Amateur Scientist.” Student Essays. Emylee McFarland, “Science: Choosing a Life of Reasoning.” Christina Jaffe, “Beyond the Wardrobe and Above the Bar.” James Bowman, “Thought and Innocence.” Case 4: Imagining Occupational Ethos through Job Descriptions. 3. Investigating the Worlds of Work. What Are Commonplaces? Commonplaces as Shared Values. Commonplaces as Community Ethos. Commonplaces and Occupational Ethos. Inquiring Further into an Occupation's Commonplaces. Ethos and Professional Communities. The Writer's Notebook as Commonplace Book. Reading and Writing Applications 2: Work and Community. Case 1: Interviewing/Interrogating Professional Ethos through Its People. Kristin Lease, “Taking the Challenge to Become ‘Good’.” Case 2: Web Site Discoveries. Case 3: Academic-Occupational Connections. Case 4: Community Connections. “The Community Pharmacy.” 4. Drafting and Arranging Ideas for Your Readers. Changing a Reader's Mind. Drafting as Discovery. Mining for Coherence. The Conversant Outline. Arranging Arguments and Gauging Reader Reactions. What Types of Readers Do We Create? Sarah C. Threnhauser, “Could Home Schooling Be Right for Your Family?” Why Order Matters. Paragraphs as Micro-Units of Argument. Arranging Paragraphs into Larger Arguments. Chad Chadwick, “Brave New World.” Creating Emphasis through Sentence Structure and Style. Revealing the Arrangement Pattern through Transitions. Reading and Writing Applications 3: Practicing Patterns of Arrangement. Description. Narration. Analysis. Patrick Healy, “School-to-Career Programs Help Students Focus on Future.” Ivan Charter, “Study of School-to-Work Initiatives: Studies of Education Reform.” Evaluation 1: Developing Criteria. Evaluation 2: Confirming and Refuting. Virginia Miller, “School-to-Work Education Shortchanges Academic Knowledge.” Academic and Occupational Writing. II. READING AND WRITING IN ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL COMMUNITIES. 5. Reading Actively and Critically. Topic Analysis as Active Reading. Questions of Past, Present, or Future Facts. Questions of Size or Value. Questions of Possibility. The Topics Approach: An Example. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, “Student Assessment and Testing.” More Approaches to Active Reading. The Reading/Writing Connection. Reading and Writing Applications 4: Reading Actively. Case 1: Identifying Points of Disagreement. Case 2: Writing Summaries. Sarah Ryan, “Management by Stress.” Jenny Earle, “Family-Friendly Workplaces.” Case 3: The Occupations and the Civic Conversation. John Allen Paulos, from A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper. 6. Reading in Academic Disciplines. Academic Discourse Communities. Active Reading in Specialized Fields. Reading Arguments in Academic Disciplines. The Humanities. Martha C. Nussbaum, “The Narrative Imagination.” The Natural Sciences. Carl Sagan, “Science and Hope.” The Social Sciences. Juliet B. Schor, from The Overspent American. Business. Tom Kelley, from The Art of Innovation. Exigency in Professional and Academic Fields. Jason Kidwell, “Racial Profiling.” Reading and Writing Applications 5: Exploring Academic and Professional Journals. Case 1: The Mission and Editorial Policies of Journals. Case 2: Analyzing Journal Articles. Case 3: Interdisciplinary Connections. Social Sciences. Lynette C. Zelezny, Poh-Pheng Chua, and Christina Aldrich, “Elaborating on Gender Differences in Environmentalism.” Natural Sciences. Thomas S. Reid and Dennis Murphy, “Providing a Regional Context for Local Conservation Action.” The Humanities. Roger G. Kennedy, “The Fish That Will Not Take Our Hooks.” III. THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH. 7. Research as Inquiry. Research as a Means, Not an End. Focusing Research Goals. Fayneese Miller, Xae Alicia Reyes, and Elizabeth Shaffer, “The Contextualization of Affirmative Action.” Writing a Research Proposal. Audra Shearer, “Can She Do It?: My Reality and a Proposal.” Memory, Technology, and the Organization of Information. 8. Building Credibility and Confidence through Researched Writing. Inventing Ethos through Expertise. Dowell Myers, “Putting the Future in Planning.” Assessing Audience Level. Eric Moore, “Network Security.” Anthony Adshead, “How Effective Are Gigabit Intrusion Detection Systems?” Bruce Berkowitz and Robert W. Hahn, “Cybersecurity: Who's Watching the Store?” Constructing a Dialogue. Analyzing Decorum and Tone. Acknowledging the Ideas of Others. Writing Multiple Introductions. Writing a Working Abstract. Finding Common Ground. Reading and Writing Applications 6: Inquiry and the Research Process. Case 1: Focusing a Topic and Finding Search Terms. Tracy Hanegraaf, “Inquiring into the Gender-Wage Gap.” Case 2: Writing a Formal Proposal and Annotated Bibliography. Tracy Hanegraaf, “Exploration of the Gender-Wage Gap.” Case 3: Writing a Review of the Literature. Social Sciences (Social Psychology). Pieternel Dijkstra and Bram P. Buunk, “Jealousy as a Function of Rival Characteristics.” Natural Sciences (Genetics). Mary Mahowald, Dana Levinson, and Christine Cassel, “The New Genetics and Women.” Humanities (History). Stephen Brooke, “Gender and Working Class Identity in Britain during the 1950s.” Case 4: Proposals in the Workplace and Community. Memo: Proposed Major in Professional Writing. 9. Developing Researched Arguments. Ethos Revisited. Establishing a Thesis. Writing a Skeletal Draft. Considering Disciplinary Expectations. Incorporating Researched Information. Re-Visioning and Revising. Reading and Editing Your Own Writing. Inviting Peer Response. Using Peer Comments. 10. Delivering Researched Arguments. Editing. Run-ons and Comma Splices. Subject/Verb Agreement Problems. Punctuation Errors with Direct Quotations. Misplaced Modifiers. Pronoun References. Word Choices. Preparing Manuscripts in Academic Formats. APA Sample Paper: Audra Shearer, “The Psychological Effects of School Violence.” MLA Sample Paper: Rebecca Delli Carpini. Visual Rhetoric. Principles of Document Design. Keep It Simple. Keep It Clear. Keep It Limited and Consistent. Keep It Tasteful, Audience Centered, and Appropriate. Keep It Correct. The Writing/Speaking Connection. Composing for Oral Presentations. Oral Presentation and Ethos. Developing an Expert Voice. Using Visual Aids and Technology. PowerPointTM and Posters. IV. CASEBOOKS FOR FURTHER READING AND RESEARCH. Casebook 1: Family, Materialism, and Responsibility. William Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much with Us.” Juliet Schor, “The Downshifter Next Door.” Henry David Thoreau, from Walden. Casebook 2: Work as a Civil Right: Issues of Race and Gender. The Proposed Equal Rights Amendment. The Civil Rights Act of 1964. Naomi Barko, “The Other Gender Gap.” Teresa Brady, “How Equal Is Equal Pay?” Laura Dresser, “To Be Young, Black, and Female.” Tracy Hanegraaf, “What Stirs Below the Surface?” Casebook 3: Bowling Alone? Work, Volunteerism, and Civic Engagement. Robert Putnam, “Connections in the Workplace.” Casebook 4: Liberal Education and Your Career. Marriott Corporation, “Bridges.” John DeVault, “School Without Books.” Casebook 5: What Is a Career in the 21st Century? Casebook 6: Attitudes Toward Work: Writing an Ethnography. Studs Terkel, “Bureaucracy,” and “In Charge.” Casebook 7: Ethics and the Workplace. Ben and Jerry's, Inc., Mission Statement. Dorrit J. Bern, Letters to Fashion Bug Customers. Terance D. Miethe, “Trudi Lytle and the Clark County Public School System.” Works Cited. Credits. Index.