New four color design: This edition includes increased coverage of analyzing visuals, uses visual examples to illustrate the modes, and includes new “Visualizing the Pattern” flow charts—all to help students better understand how the modes function both in writing and in the world.

Greater attention to mixing the patterns: Essays in each chapter show a blending of patterns, accompanied by questions that explore the rhetorical purposes behind them. A new chapter 13 discusses mixing the patterns and provides essays that specifically demonstrate this feature.

Integrated Technology Resources: Powered by Catalyst, these integrated references give students access to special online resources such as interactive writing tutors for each of the modes. Other new features in Catalyst include an online grade book and course management utilities, peer review capability, and tutorials in visual rhetoric and document design.