College Writing Skills with Readings: 2026 Release ISE

John Langan has taught reading and writing at Atlantic Cape Community College for more than 25 years. The author of a popular series of college textbooks on both writing and reading, John enjoys the challenge of developing instructive materials that are clear and lively. Before teaching, he earned advanced degrees in writing at Rutgers University and in reading at Rowan University. He also spent a year writing fiction that “is now at the back of a drawer waiting to be discovered and acclaimed posthumously.” While in school, he supported himself by working as a truck driver, a machinist, a battery assembler, a hospital attendant, and an apple packer. In addition to his wife and Philly sports teams, his passions include reading and conveying to nonreaders the pleasure and power of books. Through Townsend Press, his educational publishing company, he has developed the nonprofit “Townsend Library”—a collection of more than 100 new and classic stories that appeal to readers of any age. Zoé L. Albright has been involved in diverse aspects of education for 22 years. For the last 18 years, she has been a faculty member at Metropolitan Community College–Longview, teaching developmental writing, composition, and literature. She has created and implemented traditional and online curricula for high school and college English and composition courses and for a variety of literature courses. She continues to research new educational theory and practices. Zoé has most recently served as co-author of English Skills with Readings, ninth edition, and contributing author to other Langan texts. She received her M.A. from Goldsmiths, University of London; B.S. and B.A. from the University of Idaho; and A.A. from Cottey College. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kansas. Zoé currently resides outside Kansas City, Missouri, with her husband and teenage son.

• Part 1 - Essay Writing1. An Introduction to Writing2. The Writing Process3. The First and Second Steps in Essay Writing4. The Third Step in Essay Writing5. The Fourth Step in Essay Writing6. Four Bases for Revising Essays7. Developing an EssayPart 2 - Patterns of Essay Development8. Description9. Narration10. Exemplification11. Process12. Cause and/or Effect13. Comparison and/or Contrast14. Definition15. Division-Classification16. ArgumentPart 3 - Researching, Writing and Documenting17. Information Literacy18. Summarizing and Paraphrasing19. Writing a Source-Based Essay20. Writing a Research EssayPart 4 - Handbook of Sentence SkillsSection I - Grammar21. Subject and Verbs22. Fragments23. Run-Ons24. Regular and Irregular Verbs25. Subject-Verb Agreement26. More about Verbs27. Pronoun Agreement and Reference28. Pronoun Types29. Adjectives and Adverbs30. Misplaced Modifiers31. Dangling ModifiersSection II – Mechanics and Punctuation32. Capital Letters33. Numbers and Abbreviations34. Apostrophe35. Quotation Marks36. CommaSection III – Word Use37. Commonly Confused Words38. Effective Word ChoiceSection IV – Tests39. Editing TestsPart 5 – Readings for WritersIntroduction to the ReadingsBuilding Self-AwarenessEducation and LearningChallenging Societal ValuesIndexInstructor's Guide