THIS TITLE HAS BEEN UPDATED TO REFLECT THE 2016 MLA UPDATES! Our editorial team has updated this text based on content from The MLA Handbook, 8th Edition. Browse our catalog or contact your representative for a full listing of updated titles and packages, or to request a custom ISBN.A joint effort by Best American Essays series editor Robert Atwan and veteran writing teacher and former 4Cs chair Donald McQuade, the new edition of The Writer's Presence collects teachable readings by great writers, showcasing distinctive voices and clear points of view on a broad range of engaging topics. With selections that span communities, time periods, levels of difficulty, and fields of study, The Writer's Presence shines a spotlight foremost on writers who establish a strong presence. The result is a blend of classic pieces by figures such as James Baldwin, Annie Dillard, and Amy Tan and fresh pieces by rising stars such as Silas Hansen, Ariel Levy, and Brian Doyle, with many essays accompanied by writers' commentaries on their work. A flexible arrangement and minimal apparatus fits nearly any approach to teaching writing. Now with six annotated student essays and introductions to strategies for critical reading and writing in different essay genres, The Writer's Presence gives students more support than ever to think critically and develop their own voices. And now with the new edition, you can meet students where they are: online. Our newest set of online materials, LaunchPad Solo, provides all the key tools and course-specific content that you need to teach your class. Get all our great course-specific materials in one fully customizable space online; then assign and mix our resources with yours. To package LaunchPad Solo free with The Writer's Presence, use ISBN 978-1-319-01382-0.

Author Biography

Donald McQuade is professor of English and former dean of undergraduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He just finished a term serving as Vice Chancellor-University Relations. A past chair of CCCC, he has directed the writing program at Berkeley and at Queens College, CUNY, and has published widely on American literature, American culture, and composition theory and practice. With Bob Atwan, he is coauthor of The Writer s Presence (2009). Robert Atwan is director of The Blue Hills Writing Institute at Curry College and the series editor of the annual Best American Essays, which he founded in 1985. His essays, reviews, and critical articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Iowa Review, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, River Teeth, and many other publications. For Bedford/St. Martin s, he has also edited Ten on Ten: Major Essayists on Recurring Themes (1992); Our Times (1998); and Convergences (2009). He has coedited (with Jon Roberts) Left, Right, and Center: Voices from Across the Political Spectrum (1996), and is coeditor with Donald McQuade of The Writer s Presence (2009)."