Horizons best accommodates the needs of students in high-level developmental writing and low-level freshman composition courses. Its dual focus on thematic readings and rhetorical styles ensures that students remain engaged as they practice narration, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and other modes of writing. A diverse set of reading selections from a variety of sources model different rhetorical modes. A flexible organization also allows instructors to assign chapters in any order.

Table of Contents:
1. Getting Ready to Read The Standard Features of Writing The Writer's Expectations of the Reader Active Versus Passive Reading Critical Reading An Illustration of the Active and Critical Reading Techniques 2. Getting Ready to Write Reading and Writing The Writing Process Sample Student Essay: Final Draft 3. Narration and Description: The American Experience Selecting Details Determining a Thesis Organizing the Details Using Descriptive Language Summary: Steps in Writing Narrative and Descriptive Essays Reading Selections. Golda Meir, My Life; Steve Lopez, Staying Ahead of the Pack with a Professional Passenger; Tom Whitecloud, Blue Winds Dancing; Lillian Diaz-Imbelli, El Viejo; Mahnaz Fancy, On Becoming a South Asian-American: A Personal History; Student Essay: Jenny Cho, Summer School 4. Process and Directions: Self-Improvement and Lifelong Learning Determining Your Main Point Organizing the Steps Developing a Process Essay Summary: Steps in Writing a Process Analysis Reading Selections. Skip Downing, Wise Choices in College: Effective Test Taking; John O'Hayre, A First Look at Gobbledygook; Edwin Bliss, Managing Your Time; Michael Michalko, Thinking Like a Genius; Student Essay: Doug Salisbury, Three Steps to Better Writing 5. Example and Illustration: Family, Communication, and Culture Selecting Relevant Examples Including Adequate Examples Organizing Your Examples Developing Examples Summary: Steps in Writing Example and Illustration Essays Reading Selections. Alice Hoffman, The Perfect Family; Setareh Sabety, Under the Shade; David Levinson, Helping to Create a New Kind of Family; Liu Zongren, After Two Years in the Melting Pot; Student Essay: Alicia Monetti: Nontraditional Families Can Work, Too 6. Classification and Division: Work and Technology Classification Division Summary: Steps in Writing Classification Essays Summary: Steps in Writing Division Essays Reading Selections. Dan S. Kennedy, How to Drive the Stakes Through the Hearts of Time Vampires; Robert Kreitner, Maslow's Needs Hierarchy Theory; Richard L. Zweigenhaft and G. William Domhoff, The New Power Elite; Shari Caudron, The Real Digital Divide; Constance Faye Mudore, Working with Difficult People; Student Essay: Cindy Jones, More Difficult People at Work 7. Comparison and Contrast: Our Cultural Heritage Determining Your Thesis and Points of Comparison Organizing Points of Comparison Developing the Points Summary: Steps in Writing Comparison and Contrast Essays Reading Selections. Sidney Poitier, The Measure of a Man; Marcus Mabry, Living in Two Worlds; John Hartmire, At the Heart of a Historic Movement; Ana Veciana-Suarez, Barbie Needs a New, Statistically Correct Man; Bienvendio, 'Jose;' Nancy Masterson Sakamoto, Conversational Ballgames; Student Essay: Carla Henson, Similar Struggles 8. Cause and Effect: Media and Culture Generating Ideas and Determining Your Thesis Organizing Causes and/or Effects Developing Causes and Effects Summary: Steps in Writing Cause and Effect Essays Reading Selections. Dave Barry, Right or Wrong, We're Journalists; Denene Millner, Black Out: Dark-Skinned Women Have Been Banished to the Background in Rap Videos; Howard Rosenberg, Negative Stereotyping Distorts Arabs' Image; from LimiTV.org, Television, Video Games, and Aggressive Behavior; Paul Klite, Media Can Be Antibiotic for Violence; Student Essay: Maria Gonzalez, The Unfair Portrayal of Latinas on Television 9. Definition and Explanation: Gender (Men, Women, and Relationships) Determining a Thesis Generating Ideas Organizing and Developing Ideas Summary: Steps in Writing Definition and Explanation Essays Reading Selections. Janet L. Jacobsen, Explaining Away Our Relationships: Does Our Craving for an Explanation Hurt Romance?; Deborah Tannen, Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?; Geoffrey Wolff, Memories of My Father; Kay S. Hymowitz, The End of Herstory; Paul Theroux, Being a Man; Student Essay: Freda Blaine, Metrosexuals 10. Argument and Persuasion: Social Issues Thinking About Your Audience Determining Your Thesis, Relevant Reasons, and the Opposing Arguments Organizing Your Supporting Reasons Developing Your Reasons with Evidence Summary: Steps in Writing Argumentative and Persuasive Essays Reading Selections. Jessica Reaves, In Defense of Rudeness; Lance Morrow, Why Rail Travel Is the Future; Mark Mathabane, One-on-One Relationships Create True Integration; Leonard Pitts, Right to Know Trumps Privacy; Edward I. Koch, A Just Society Has Right to Take Murderer's Life; Student Essay: Paul Amin: In Response to "A Just Society Has Right to Take Murderer's Life" Index