"Looking Ahead: Mastering Academic Writing is an advanced level writing and grammar textbook for ESL students. The book is divided into following sections.

Getting Ready: This section prepares students to handle each type of writing assignment with the following activities:
Warm-up Writing and Activities: These orient students to the writing and thinking strategies required to complete the type of writing in the chapter.
The Basics of Writing: This section thoroughly explains the components of each type of writing assignments. It shows students, step-by-step, how to approach the particular writing task.
Student and Professional Writing Samples: The Basics of Writing contains authentic samples of each type of writing, some produced by students, others produced by professionals.

Writing Activities: These activities encourage students to practice what they have learned in the Basics of Writing and prepare them for the final writing assignment.

Focusing: This section immerses students in authentic readings that mirror the writing focus of each chapter, provide rich content from which to write their own essays, and serve as a resource for learning about how grammar and vocabulary work in the given type of writing.
Reading for Writing Activities: These activities not only help students understanding the key ideas in each reading, but help them approach the reading from a writer's perspective. They read not only for content, but learn to understand the decisions that the authors made about content and organization to meet their audience and purpose.

Vocabulary Activities: The focus of these exercises is on helping students expand their vocabulary for academic writing.

Grammar Activities: Key grammar features found in academic writing are presented to help students complete each writing assignment.

Putting It All Together: This final section asks students to implement what they have learned in previous sections and chapters. It takes students through the steps of producing the final writing assignment from the stage of gathering information for a specific audience and purpose to organizing the piece of writing to self-editing, peer response, and revision.
The Final 2-3 page Writing Assignments: Cumulative writing tasks that build on what students have learned through the authentic reading and the Basics of Writing.
Planning/Drafting Activities and Peer Response/Self-Editing Activities: These activities walk students through the writing process for each writing task.
Special Features of the Book: The book contains the following resources to help students master the writing strategies, grammar, and vocabulary of academic writing. Looking Ahead and Authentic Writing Assignments: This real academic assignment from a college course allows students to strategize about how to use what they have learned in the chapter to complete real college writing tasks.

Grammar and Language Reference: The GLR contains writer-based explanations and authentic examples of grammatical structures common to all types of academic writing. The GLR also contains Steps for Self-Editing to help students edit their own writing.

Learner's Notebook: This writing and language-learning journal gives students the opportunity to record personal experiences and insights related to chapter content, prepare for writing assignments, and reflect on their learning.

Writing and Vocabulary Appendices: These review the "basics" of any piece of academic writing including introductions, conclusions, transition sentences, and paragraph development. They also provide lists and guidelines for how to learn and use essential academic vocabulary." (To the Teacher, xix-xx)

CONTENTS

To the teacher

To the student

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Academic Reading and Writing

Chapter 2: Reporting

Chapter 3: Investigating

Chapter 4: Evaluating

Chapter 5: Analyzing Causes, Reasons, and Factors

Chapter 7: Synthesizing