This is the first volume at the secondary level in Michael Clay Thompson's writing program. It is an important addition to his curriculum for formal language study and extends the writing series from Sentence Island, Paragraph Town, and Essay Voyage into higher grade levels.Students practice advanced academic writing with four assignments for which they must review their knowledge of grammar and punctuation, learn the MLA formatting method for research papers, know how to structure a well-written paper, and use standard proofreaders' marks for correcting their work.There are sample papers to illustrate good and bad writing, an explanation of grading expectations, and ten focus points to use as a checklist for each assignment.This is a rigorous and detailed program, essential for gifted students—and for anyone who needs to write formal academic papers. The accompanying teacher manual comes with comments for teachers to use when grading papers so that students can learn not only from their mistakes but also from what they do well. This is available for dowload."When we do advanced academic writing, we must learn not only to accept but to enjoy the relaxed pace of research, the meticulous construction of sentences, the gradual architecture of essays. The advanced process must be accompanied by an advanced attitude because so long as we resist enjoying advanced competence, we will be unable to achieve it." – Michael Clay ThompsonIt is important to note that this is a second edition, new as of December 2017. It reflects the current MLA guidelines, which are substantially changed from those that were in existence when the first edition was written. As a result of those changes, the information in the first edition is now wrong, and no one should continue to use the first edition.