Grounded in the belief that reading and writing always occur in context, THE THOMSON READER helps student writers improve their critical reading and writing skills by teaching them the value of contextual awareness. This first-ever, full color thematic reader teaches students to employ audience-centered writing strategies as they explore ongoing conversations about cultural, academic, political, and personal ideologies. THE THOMSON READER also provides students with a fully-integrated library, containing over 300 traditional, image, audio, and video "texts" that teaches them how to recognize, assess, and manage the rhetorical situations of a variety of engaging themes?regardless of the medium, or context.

Preface to Instructors

Introduction to Students

PART 1 WRITING IN CONTEXT

1 Understanding the Contexts of Writing

 What Is "Good" Writing?

Writing Depends on Context

"Good" Writing Fits the Rhetorical Situation

Effective Writers Take Audience Into Account

 Defining Context in Writing

Context as Conversation

The Right Timing: Understanding Historical Context

Context and Reading

 Discourse and Why It Is Important

Words Acquire Meaning within Discourses

Writers Are Always "within" Discourse

 Where Do Themes Come From?

2 Understanding Media as Contexts for Writing

3 Entering the Conversations

4 Engaging in Research and Inquiry

PART 2 THEMES FOR WRITING AND INQUIRY