This full-color popular culture reader helps students see the world as a text and equips them with the analytical and composing tools to become strong academic writers. This full-color, richly illustrated cultural studies reader directly engages the process of reading and writing about the "texts" one sees in everyday life. Using the lenses of rhetoric, semiotics and cultural studies, students are encouraged to become effective academic writers while gaining deeper insights into such popular culture categories as movies, technology, race, music, ethnicity, television, media, public space, and more. Just as important, the book teaches students the usefulness of actively reading their surroundings.

Table of Contents:
Contents Alternative Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION Reading, Writing, Culture, and Texts: An Introduction to the Introduction Semiotics: The Study of Signs (and Texts) Systems of Reading: Making Sense of Cultural Texts The "Semiotic Situation" (or the "Moving Text") Texts, the World, You, and Your Papers Rhetoric: Writing's Soundtrack From Rhetoric to Writing Reading the World as a Text: Writing's Overture. Three Case Studies Case Study 1--Reading Public Space: Starbucks Case Study 2--Reading Fonts: How Type Can Say a Lot About Type Case Study 3--Can We Laugh?: Reading Art and Humor in Geico Commercials Reading This Text as a Text: Tips on Using this Book The World Is a Text: Writing The World Is a Text: Reading SECTION ONE- THE WORLD IS A TEXT: WRITING A Short Guide to The World Is a Text: Writing Part I. "How Do I Write a Text for College? Making the Transition from High School Writing " by Patty Strong Part II. "From Semiotics to Lenses: Finding an Approach for Your Essays" by Dean Rader and Jonathan Silverman Lenses, Microscopes, and Windows Language and Elements of Literary Interpretation Context, Historical and Otherwise Race, Class, Gender, Sexual Orientation, Region, Age--and More Academic Disciplines Landing on an Approach: An Entree to the Essay Itself Part III. How Do I Write About Popular and Visual Culture Texts? A Tour Through the Writing Process Understanding the Assignment Freewriting and Brainstorming Outlining Constructing a Good Thesis Building an Opening Paragraph: A Case Study Building Good Paragraphs Drafting the Whole Essay Editing and Revising, Editing and Revising, Editing and Revising Turning in the Finished Product Part IV. How Do I Argue About Popular Culture Texts? A Guide for Building Good Arguments Knowing Your Arguments Making Claims Using Claims and Support to Make Arguments: Some Helpful Tips Synthesis: Pulling It All Together Know Your Audience Use Common Sense Part V. How Do I Get Info on Songs? Researching Popular Culture Texts Researching Nontraditional Texts: One Method Nuts and Bolts Research Guerilla Research Part VI. How Do I Know What a Good Paper Looks Like? An Annotated Student Essay Part VII. How Do I Cite This Car? Guidelines for Citing Popular Culture Texts Using Parenthetical References Building the Works Cited Page Plagiarism Works Cited Examples Part VIII. How Am I a Text? On Writing Personal Essays SECTION TWO--THE WORLD IS A TEXT: READING 1. Reading and Writing About the World Around You Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton , "Reading and Writing About Fashion" *How I Wrote This Essay Jonathan Hunt , "Reading and Writing About a Bicycle" Peter Hartlaub , "Reading and Writing About Video Games" Cristina DeLuca , "Reading and Writing About Social Networking Sites: Making Friends and Getting "Poked" *How I Wrote This Essay Lee Transue , "Reading and Writing About Family Guy : The Semiotics of Stream of Consciousness" *How I Wrote This Essay Brandon Brown , "Reading and Writing About a Laboratory" *How I Wrote This Essay* Jonathan Silverman , "Reading and Writing About the Road" Catherine Zimmer , "Reading and Writing About YouTube: The You in YouTube" Dean Rader and Jonathan Silverman , "Reading and Writing About Advertising: Two Case Studies" *Phil West, "Reading the Puffy Taco" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 2. Reading and Writing About Television Worksheet Katherine Gantz , "'Not That There's Anything Wrong with That': Reading the Queer in Seinfeld " *How I Wrote My Essay--reader annotated. Garance Franke-Ruta , "Beyond Fear: Heroes vs.24" Student Essay: Dave Rinehart, "Sex Sells: A Marxist Criticism of Sex and the City " Student Essay: Dave Rinehart, "Sex Sells: A Marxist Criticism of Sex and the City" Student Essay: Hillary West , "Media Journal: The Rosie O'Donnell Show " The Reality TV Suite Laurie Ouelette and Susan Murray, "Reality TV: Remaking Television Culture" Student Essay: Maribeth Theroux, "The NEXT Plague: MTV's Sexual Objectification of Girls and Why It Must Be Stopped" *Thea Lim, "The Bachelor/Bachelorette's White Elephant" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 3. Reading and Writing About Public and Private Space Worksheet *Liz Swanson, "Architecture, Experience and Meaning" *Dean Rader, "Reading the Rural" Daphne Spain , "Spatial Segregation and Gender Stratification in the Workplace" Bob Bednar , "Making Space on the Side of the Road: Towards a Cultural Study of Roadside Car Crash Memorials" *How I Wrote This Article The Campus Suite Dean Rader , Reading and Writing About Your Campus *Frances Halsband , "Campuses in Place" Student Essay: Matthew King , "Reading the Nautical Star" *PHOTO ESSAY: Campuses 4. Reading and Writing About Race and Ethnicity Worksheet Beverly Daniel Tatum , "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" Amy Tan , "Mother Tongue" Jim Mahfood , "True Tales of Amerikkkan History Part II: The True Thanksgiving" Zebedee Nungak , "Qallunaat 101: Inuits Study White Folks in This New Academic Field" Teja Arboleda , "Race Is a Four-Letter Word" Betty Shamieh, "Censoring Myself" Student Essay: Amy Truong , "Gender Expectations and Familial Roles Within Asian American Culture" Mini Suite: The Native American Mascot Issue A Suite of Mascot Poems by Leanne Howe A Suite of Cartoons "Which One Is the Mascot?" "But I'm Honoring You, Dude!" "Pow Wow" *The Obama Suite *James Taylor,"Target: Obama" *Katia Bachko, "Professor Obama" *Dean Rader, "Obama, CA" *Jonathan Silverman, "Obama and Fantasy Football" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 5. Reading and Writing About Movies Worksheet Roger Ebert , "Great Movies and Being a Great Moviegoer" Jason Silverman , "Deciphering I, Robot : Random Thoughts from an Evolving Film Reviewer" *How I Wrote This Essay:* *Film as Cultural Commentary: Two Reviews from The Weekly Rader *Greg Barnhisel, "The Dark Knight" *Scott Andrews, "Smells Like Teen Superheroes" Student Essay: Whitney Black, "Star Wars and America" *The Avatar Suite *Stephanie Zacharek, "Avatar: Dances with Aliens" *Slavoj }i~ek, "Return of the Natives" *Mikhail Lyubansky, "The Racial Politics of Avatar" *Ari Y Kelman, "Avatar and the Gluttony of Technology" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas Interchapter: Reading and Writing About Images *Photo Essay: Signs The American Signs on Route 66 Suite Worksheet 6. Reading and Writing About Gender Worksheet Deborah Tannen, "Marked Women, Unmarked Men" Annette Fuentes ,"Out of Style Thinking: Female Politicians and Fashion" *Ariel Levy, "Girls Gone Wild: Girls Get Wild for T-Shirts and Trucker Hats" *STUDENT ESSAY: Pjeter Dushku, "Vaya, Vaya, Machismo!:Almodovar and Spanish Masculinity" *PHOTO ESSAY: Judith Taylor,"Mannequins and Dolls" The Third Wave Feminism Suite Patricia Pender, 'Kicking Ass Is Comfort Food': Buffy as Third Wave Feminist Icon Student Essay : Catherine Kirifides,"Classically Different: Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette Takes a New Look at What It Means to Be a Girl" *How I Wrote This Essay Student Essay: Lara Hayhurst , "Putting the "Me" Back in Medical Drama: Grey's Anatomy's Adventures in McFeminism" *How I Wrote This Essay Student Essay: Gwendolyn Limbach, "'La Femme Veronica': Intelligence as Power in Veronica Mars" *How I Wrote This Essay Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 7. Reading and Writing About Visual Art Worksheet The "Is It Art?" Suite *Eric Hongisto, "Reading a Mural: Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads" Diana Mack , "It Isn't PrettyA But Is It Art?" Steve Grody, "Graffiti: The Anatomy of a Piece" Student Essay: Theresa George , "The Multifaceted Nature of Street Art" *Student Essay: Anna Rose Tull, "No Sense of Absolute Corruption: Damien Hirst and the Art Question" Scott McCloud , Sequential Art: "Art" *PHOTO ESSAY: Public "Art?" The Reading a Photograph Suite Frank Rich, "Whatever Happened to the America of 9/12?" David Plotz , "Frank Rich Is Wrong About That 9/11 Photograph: Those New Yorkers Weren't Relaxing" *Thomas Hoepker, I Took That 9/11 photo Gert Van Langendonck, "Award-Winning Photo Puts Subjects On Defensive" Errol Morris , "Liar, Liar Pants on Fire" *Student Essay: Anne Darby, "Reading Cindy Sherman and Gender Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 8. Reading and Writing About Music Worksheet Alessandro Portelli, "Coal Miner's Daughter" *David Byrne, "David Byrne's Survival Strategies for Emerging Artists - and Megastars" Daniel Nester , "We Are the Champions, Another One Bites the Dust" *How I Wrote my Poems Student Essay: Sarah Hawkins, "Right on Target: Revisiting Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True" *How I Wrote My Essay The Authenticity Suite David Sanjek, "All the Memories Money Can Buy: Marketing Authenticity and Manufacturing Authorship" Carrie Brownstein, "More Rock, Less Talk: Live Music Turns Off the Voices in Our Heads" Stephen Metcalf, "Faux Americana: Why I Still Love Bruce Springsteen" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas 9. Writing About the Media Worksheet Robert Love, "Before Jon Stewart: The Growth of Fake News. Believe It" Chris Anderson, "The Long Tail" Clint C. Wilson and Felix Gutierrez, "Advertising and People of Color" Student Essay: Brittany Gray, "Hanes Her Way" William Lutz, "Weasel Words" Mark Glaser, "Techno-Optimism: 10 Reasons There's a Bright Future for Journalism" *THE GOOGLE SUITE *Virginia Heffernan,"The Google Alphabet: Googlealphabet" *Nicholas Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid" *Siva Vaidhyanathan, "No, Google Is Not Making Us Stupid" Reading Between the Lines Classroom Activities Essay Ideas Assignment: The Rhetorical Analysis 10. Reading and Writing About Technology Credits Index