Grassroots With Readings by Susan Fawcett (2005, Paperback)

A long-standing bestseller, Grassroots remains the preeminent worktext for developmental writers. With its excellent writing instruction, well-crafted and paced exercises, and engaging writing activities, Grassroots has taught several generations of students how to write correct sentences and effective paragraphs.

The new 4-color Eighth Edition is completely updated, with mixed-error proofreading practice; more critical thinking; practices with topics of interest to students such as Wyclef Jean, online dating, Habitat for Humanity, and job-search techniques; a revised first chapter that concentrates on writing as a job-skill; more humor; new instructor tips; and new online technology. Grassroots also comes with WriteSpace, an online writing program and course management system, which motivates students with carefully developed writing modules and exercises, innovative writing assignments, and online tutoring.

• New! A four-color design and additional color images—all arising from the book's content—enhance the pedagogical goals of Grassroots. The photos, ads, cartoons and paintings were chosen to engage students and prompt them to pause, think more deeply, and connect with a passage they have just read. For example, a photo of Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall lets students see why the adjacent paragraph claims his buildings are unique. Other images include a giant Galapagos tortoise, Tony Hawk in flight, a public service ad from Adbusters, Butterfly Hill in the redwood she saved, Aaron McGruder and his Boondocks characters, Lady Cowdiva from the Cow Parade, a painting by Carmen Lomos Garza, and many more.
• New! Chapter 30, "Putting Your Proofreading Skills to Work," provides a number of high-interest paragraphs and essays for proofreading, each containing a random mix of errors. This chapter works well for grammar review, proofreading practice, or assessment.
• New! A focus on critical thinking means a bit less first-person narrative, and more third-person models and assignments. Provocative practice content and humor, linked web activities, photographs, and more collaborative thinking and writing assignments all foster college-level thinking skills.
• New! Updated high-interest models and practices keep students interested as they practice grammar skills, promoting cultural literacy, sparking discussion, and modeling good writing and rhetorical modes. Topics new to this edition include activist rapper Wyclef Jean, tornado chasers, Latina crossover stars, police artist Jeanne Boylan, advertising in high schools, rude cell phone users, job-search techniques, Habitat for Humanity, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, surfer Lisa Anderson, robotics genius Dean Kamen, online dating, and gratitude research.
• Chapter 1 has been revised to focus on writing as a job skill, and is now more engaging for students, with an advertisement to analyze and more emphasis on writing and success.
• New! Exploring Online features throughout the text provide links to online resources for further study, practice, or discovery. For example, one or more top OWL (online writing lab) sites conclude every chapter. In addition, Web sites follow selected practices and readings, on topics like Television Turnoff Week, goal setting, Barbie and body image, and the paintings of Jacob Lawrence.
• Unit 9 has been extensively updated with nine contemporary readings on a broad range of topics, based on suggestions from instructors and students. New are Rutgers University student Lauren Mehler's suggestions on choosing a career path, Dave Barry on SUVs, Ana Veciana Suarez on lottery dreams and work, Julia Alvarez on learning English, Leonard Pitts on the dark side of the Internet, Jack Riemer on an unforgettable concert, Norman Lobsenz on the value of childhood memories, and Firoozeh Dumas on her family's wacky immigrant experiences. ...
  
  Industry Reviews
  "The great strength of <i>Grassroots</i> is its high-interest content. I know this is a selling point of the textbook, but it&#039;s just plain true. I would feel very comfortable assigning almost every exercise in <i>Grassroots,</i> which I cannot say without reservation about the other textbooks I&#039;ve encountered."