Book excerpt: Writing Analytically treats writing as a tool of thought, offering prompts that lead you through the process of analysis and synthesis and help you to generate original, well-developed ideas. The authors of this brief, popular rhetoric believe that learning to write well requires learning to use your writing as a tool to think well. In the new edition, materials are better integrated, more contextualized, and--when possible--condensed. Each student text is packaged with a free Cengage Essential Reference Card to the MLA HANDBOOK, Eighth Edition.