Includes bibliographical references.

''The Reason to Write series offers students strategies and practice in writing for academic success. Students are carefully guided through the stages of writing, from generating ideas, to drafting and revising, to proofreading and editing.

The High Beginning level provides students with the fundamentals of formal and academic writing. Students move from sentence to paragraph level and acquire familiarity with such skills as writing a formal letter, presenting and supporting opinions, explaining information from graphs, and analyzing a short story.

Features: Theme-based units are grounded in academic content. Thought-provoking readings challenge students to think analytically. A thorough, systematic approach to writing eases the writing process. The wide choice of writing topics appeals to diverse student populations. Step-by-step writing topics build toward a central structured writing task. Fully integrated grammar and vocabulary help students improve accuracy, gain fluency, and build confidence.'' (Book Cover)

CONTENTS

UNIT 1 What's In a Name?

Writing about Your Name

Reading: Excerpt from The Namesake / Jhumpa Lahiri

Writing practice: writing complete sentences

Language for writing: using the simple present tense working with adjectives

Editing focus: using capital letters correctly

UNIT 2 Giving Advice

Writing a Letter of Advice

Reading: Southside City Gazette: Readers' Forum

Writing practice: giving advice and stating reasons

Language for writing: using ''should'' using adjectives ending in -ing and -ed

Editing focus: fixing comma splices

UNIT 3 Creating Gardens - Building Community

Writing a Formal Letter

Reading: Planting the Seeds of Growth

Writing practice: making requests and stating reasons

Language for Writing: using the future tense with ''will'' working with adverbs of manner

Editing focus: more capital letters

UNIT 4 Work

Writing about the Past

Reading: Children at Work

Writing practice: writing a narrative paragraph

Language for writing: using simple past tense working with prefixes

Editing focus: using correct punctuation

UNIT 5 Free as a Bird

Writing Descriptions

Reading: ''The Sparrow at the Zoo'' Emile Zola

Writing practice: Writing a descriptive paragraph

Language for writing: using verb tenses correctly working with prepositions and prepositional phrases

Editing focus: using ''its'' and ''it's'' correctly

UNIT 6 Education: Graphing Progress

Writing about Graphs

Reading: The Worldwide Growth of Literacy Rates (from UNESCO)

Writing practice: writing a paragraph to explain a graph

Language for writing: comparing data with more than/ fewer than/ less than working with words that explain data

Editing focus: subject/verb agreement

UNIT 7 Tolstoy's Fables

Writing About a Short Story

Reading: ''The King and the Shirt'' Leo Tolstoy

Writing practice: writing an analysis of a short story

Language for writing: using want, would like, and ask identifying noun and adjective word forms

Editing focus: learning about word division

UNIT 8 Violent Video Games

Writing an Opinion Paragraph

Reading: Violent Video Games: Cause for Concern

Writing practice: expressing opinions and giving reasons

Language for writing: using gerunds and infinitives using expressions of opinions

Editing focus: sentence fragments with because

This book is intended for high-beginners.