Where We Live and Work: Writing Strategies and Forms

Where We Live and Work is a writing book for those with only a basic knowledge of how English works. It is organized by rhetorical mode and covers six: definition and classification, description, comparison and contrast, narration, process analysis, and opinion. Each chapter begins with a Discussion and Activity section followed by a definition and description of the kind of writing done in the targeted rhetorical mode. The next section consists of model paragraphs in that mode. Each model paragraph is followed by in-class discussion questions. Any specific organizational patterns used in that mode are then presented and explained. The next section asks what topics students might address in their writing using that mode. Structures specific to that mode are then presented and practiced. Each chapter ends with YOUR TURN sections in which students practice any unique features of the chapter mode as well as write a paragraph or essay in that mode to be handed in for a grade.