1. Introduction: 1.1 What this book is about; 1.2 Some practicalities: how to use this book; 1.3 Reading and writing in your life; 1.4 A very brief history of writing and reading; 1.5 What do novels know?; 1.6 Literacy in contemporary society; 1.7 Stories, narrative and identity; Works cited; 2. Reading: 2.1 Writing as reading?; 2.2 A love of literature; 2.3 The discipline of English; 2.4 The new English student; 2.5 Plagiarism: too complete a loss of self; 2.6 How to read: ways of avoiding plagiarism; 2.7 What to read; 2.8 Some recommended websites; Works cited; 3. Argument: 3.1 Having something to say; 3.2 Rethinking dialogue: Mikhail Mikhailovitch Bakhtin (1895–1975); 3.3 Stories, arguments and democracy; 3.4 The folded paper: how to stand at a distance and start a dialogue with a text; 3.5 What is rhetoric?; 3.6 A very brief survey of Classical rhetoric; 3.7 Wayne Booth (1921–2005) and The Rhetoric of Fiction; 3.8 More ways of discovering arguments; Works cited; 4. Essays: 4.1 What are essays for?; 4.2 What is an essay?; 4.3 How do you think you write an essay?; 4.4 The stages of writing an essay; 4.5 Thinking of or about the question; 4.6 Research; 4.7 Making a plan; 4.8 The thesis statement; 4.9 Writing the main body of the essay; 4.10 Beginnings and endings; 4.11 Editing; 4.12 Finally, a frequently asked question: 'Is it OK to use 'I'?'; Works cited; 5. Sentences: 5.1 The most common errors made in student assignments; 5.2 Errors involving clauses; 5.3 Errors involving commas; 5.4 Errors involving apostrophes; 5.5 Errors involving pronouns; 5.6 Errors involving verbs; 5.7 Errors involving words; Works cited; 6. References: 6.1 The MLA system; 6.2 Citations in the MLA style; 6.3 Quotations; 6.4 Bibliographies and works cited in the MLA style; Works cited; Appendix: Sample essay by Alex Hobbs.