Covering the expanse of arts featured in The Times, from orchestral music and museum exhibitions to video games and hip-hop, this Reader makes no hierarchical distinction between the pop arts and the fine arts. Don McLeese explores both critical essays and reviews (by genre) as well as profiles and trend pieces to help students sharpen their critical instincts. How we respond to the arts reveals as much about us individually as it does about the art being evaluated. Seasoned teacher McLeese, who has worked both as a critic covering a wide range of arts and as a magazine editor, adeptly weaves his insightful commentary to show there are no right or wrong opinions, just stronger and weaker arguments.

MORE ABOUT TimesCollege . . . a series from CQ Press

Whether it is the arts or science, medicine or business, you'll find stories that inspire while providing readers an insider's look into the rewards, challenges and everyday routines of beat reporting. The carefully selected pieces in each Reader cover the spectrum from news to features to analysis to blogs and other online innovations. Each volume also features these elements:

-Conversations with Times writers take readers behind the scenes to learn about their goals for the beat and how they got their jobs, as well as practical nuts-and-bolts information on how they report and write for a global audience in the multimedia age.

-Story Scan disassembles stories into their component parts, labeling and analyzing the elements that make good beat stories work.

-Making Connections questions and assignments sharpen thinking and prepare students to go out on the beat to start finding their own great stories.