The book is accurate in dealing with the subject matter. At no point did I feel that the quality of the text was compromised, and I do appreciate the consistent tone throughout. Chapter 9 on revising, one of the tougher concepts in freshman composition classes, is a particularly welcome overview of helpful ways to tackle the final stages of the writing process. The conversational style was a strength of this text. Journalism, Media Studies & Communications, Chapter Two: A Writing Process for Every Writer, Chapter Three: Defining Audience and Purpose. One can navigate it easily. However, I acknowledge that’s more of a personal preference than a real critique. This also makes jumping around the book easy--a quality that lends itself to both teachers and students of writing. The text is very accessible, being conversational and helpful in tone. It covers all the necessary topics, from styles of writing to grammar. The authors make an excellent point that the writing process is not linear; therefore, the text can be taught out of order to a similar effect as teaching from start to finish of the text. read more. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Select the purchase wonderfully covers the whole of the writing process in 170 pages of approachable, audience-friendly language. The text is culturally sensitive, inoffensive, and inclusive. The text uses the Basic Writing Process Chart to create consistency, explaining each of those steps thoroughly with examples. Some chapters might have benefited from explanations or activities to help boost students' understanding (especially in sentence types in the grammar sections). Students need to be encouraged to work through the act of writing, not get hung up on a perfect finished process. Whatever the instructor calls it, the comma needs to be there.” This passage not only provides clear instruction but highlights the authors’ understanding of diverse terminology that teachers may use in the classroom. This book is relevant across cultural boundaries and makes use of examples that cross a variety of backgrounds. read more. It is geared to the beginning college writer and... Thank you to the authors; I've struggled to find a book that feels adaptable to my courses. inside the parentheses of point 8 does not make sense (p. 81), the first sentence under the subheading “Style and Clarity” is incomplete (p. 91), there is a missing period (p. 96), “live” should be “life” (p. 100), and there is an extra indentation (p. 140). Like many contemporary texts on first year college composition, You, Writing! The chapters within this text are well-organized. The text also covers brainstorming, drafting, editing, revising, and organizing, as well as citation and research strategies and gives plenty of specific tips on engaging with meaningful writing practices. Because the book focuses on basics, it is unlikely that it will need any content updates besides possibly the mention of the author. That's exactly what some programs want, though a bit limited for others. As an example of the clear writing that sets this book apart from more commercial texts: “Some instructors will also call the clause, ‘As I walked down the store’ an introductory phrase that needs a comma after it. The different sections are well-contained and easily readable. My major critique is the overwhelming focus on academic writing, which is an important element of first-year writing courses but not (I believe) the only element. I especially liked the section on revision, which clearly laid out critical questions the student can ask themself when making decisions. This textbook lends itself to smaller readings within a class curriculum very well. The language of the textbook is generally very clear and easy to follow. It covers a variety of writing genres, as well as some basics that we, as... As with most of us teaching college composition, assigning units from a writing textbooks will usually follow the schedule of actual writing assignments. This problem would be remedied if hyperlinks opened supplementary material in new windows. 69 and 71), the word “one” (for “tone”?) Nothing here feels convoluted or unnecessarily complex. The text is free of significant interface issues. The book is consistent in its terminology and the way the chapters are framed. The entirety of the traditional writing process was outlined, from reading to brainstorming to organizing to drafting to revising and proofreading, but it... However, the authors point out early in the book that the process is not linear, and student writers often loop back to where they started as research or writing alters their point of view. Additionally the authors take time to define words and ideas for students. Reviewed by Jessica Kane, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University on 11/14/19, The book covers the major steps for academic writing, and while it had some examples of non-academic sources, it seemed to focus pretty overwhelmingly on "essays" in various formats. The text approaches a wide range of assignments/academic tasking, including but not limited to, professional email etiquette, argumentation, and critical analysis. The copy in this textbook is clean and error-free, which makes it easy to read and understand. The text lacks an index but does include an extensive and informative glossary. While the text generally lays out clear steps--the diagrams that outline writing processes are particularly nice--a few of the lists of steps seem somewhat cumbersome. The chapters cover basic (but important) steps such as defining audience and purpose (chapter 3), finding a topic (chapter 4), and writing... The text maintains consistency in terms of formatting and content. I look forward to adopting it for my general writing seminar this fall. The glossary in particular is quite effective! read more. It provides many useful tips about the writing process including proofreading, correcting run-on sentences, and overcoming writer’s block. The list of subordinating conjunctions is not comprehensive. Some may consider it too elementary for a college sample and more suitable for high school readers. There are just a few diagrams that are hand-drawn, which makes a few spots in the book feel a bit underdeveloped. I have a small quibble with this because all the grammar and sentence skills are lumped into the chapter on proofreading, which seems too late. The authors include graphics, charts, bulleted lists, and illustrations to accompany ideas, themes, and lessons in the text without cluttering the page or the meaning. The text is very adaptable to any freshman college or high school composition course. She sometimes publishes about teaching English in the Minnesota English Journal. The authors don't get too deep into any given style of essay, which is helpful for instructors designing their own courses as it would allow them to build off of the general... The glossary... As I mentioned above, I'm impressed by the text's ability to divide writing into digestible, understandable components. Here is an example of the fine writing that sets this book apart from the oodles of writing books: "The technical way we use the word “argument” in writing simply means offering a written text into an ongoing debate with the hope of securing agreement among people of good will who currently disagree with you or hold a different view. Some of the work's most appealing aspects are its authentic screenshots, markups, and charts. The textbook thoroughly covers the subject of writing, including differences between high school and college writing, generating ideas, developing a thesis, different modes of paragraph development, research and citation, and sentence skills. guides the student writer through successful moves of academic writing. It generally did a good job explaining why different elements of writing and the writing process matter, it used both professional and student writing examples, and it is written to be easy to read. It is written clearly with many interesting examples to help students understand the concepts. The text is blocked into chapters and subsections, and the Table of Contents allows for easy redirection. Consider the mantra of college writing across the curriculum: "Research everything!" I especially liked the section on... I read this text on my iPad, and I had no trouble navigating through its entirety. The strategies presented in the text for brainstorming, drafting, and revising are highly relevant and broad enough so that they should not need updating. I also appreciated the attention to writing that has real-world relevancy for students, such as writing resumes or a letter or email to a manager. A good book for all. Readings on the writing process would work best if assigned chronologically, but each chapter could potentially stand on its own or be incorporated with additional readings. CC BY-NC-SA, Reviewed by Erica Braverman, Part-time instructor, Portland Community College on 1/12/21, This book is great for a writing class geared toward academic writing. The writers are knowledgeable about the writing process, conventions of English, style, and where to locate up-to-date MLA and APA formatting information. This book covers all the major topics I teach in my class currently. The text contains multiple minor errors, which is somewhat problematic for a writing textbook that stresses the need for editing. This text would serve as a fine primary reader for composition students, while certain sections would prove immensely valuable as supplementary content give the depth of the book as a whole. It covers all the necessary topics, from styles of writing to grammar. However, it is definitely possible to assign one chapter at a time and it is not strictly necessary to read them in order. Amy Jo Swing has been teaching writing and English since 1993. Its readability will also prove helpful for the beginning composition student. Clear, specific explanations go a long way to make the writing process less of a mystery and more engaging and fun. Examples, images, subheadings often follow paragraphs so there is rarely more than 3-4 paragraphs grouped at a time. The writers demonstrate a wide and thorough understanding of the writing process conventions of language, style, tone, etc., and they provide informative lessons on where to find current formatting instruction. 10). © 1987 National Association of Biology Teachers Read your article online and download the PDF from your email or your account. It covers all the necessary topics, from styles of writing to grammar. It provides many useful tips about the writing process including proofreading, correcting run-on sentences, and overcoming writer’s block. Overall, I think the text is relevant, and where it makes outside reference, the text is easily able to be updated or modified. The text is set up to be chronological, to take the reader through the steps of writing, beginning with audience and ending with proofreading. I especially appreciate the Basic Writing Process Chart as a graphic introduction of the key steps of the writing... Because it is so comprehensive and is generalist in its approach, there is not much time to dive deeply into any particular approach or assignment; however, because it is concisely written, the authors manage to give advice about just about everything an undergraduate may be asked to write, with a few exceptions. A glossary of commonly used terms is helpful, as the discussion... The text includes pertinent content regarding writing processes and modes of writing. "They Say / I Say" shows that writing well means mastering some key rhetorical moves, the most important of which involves summarizing what others have said ("they say") to set up one's own argument ("I say"). Some students will not need to read about high and low style, while others may want to skip the section on ethos, logos and pathos (they shouldn't skip it, but if they aren't dealing with rhetoric it may not be necessary.). Checklist; Electoral list, a grouping of candidates (Now, about that singular "they"...). The examples it uses are interesting and current, which makes it easy to read and follow. From the beginning to the end the voice of the author is relatable, and the book's vocabulary is not overbearing. I really liked how accessible and friendly this textbook seemed to me as the reader. Likewise, the glossary... read more. The visual framework could, however, be more consistent throughout. Most of the material is timeless: how to generate ideas, how to organize an argument, how to pitch your writing to the audience and purpose, how to use semi-colons, how to approach introductions and conclusions, to name a few important sections. As opposed to the section on grammar, this part of the style section seems to go on too long. The writing is concise, concrete, and easy to read. It is neither biased nor insensitive. I think that this text would prove accessible for many students in the first-year composition classroom, regardless of their writing proficiencies. I would be more inclined to place "The Writing Process" immediately after "Critical Reading," then assign the chapter on argumentation immediately before the discussion of the research process. I very much plan to borrow portions of this textbook. However, the less-is-more approach to the basics of citation, should make it relatively easy to update in the text. I wanted the information to first be more succinct, before getting into the specifics and details. The writing is unfussy, crystal-clear, highly specific and easy to read. In addition to publishing its own journals, the division also provides traditional and digital publishing services to many client scholarly societies and associations. It covers the basics of instructing a first-year student of how to go through the writing process and what they can expect while doing so. While that particular section is short, it distracts students a bit from the major issues at hand. (Well, except for the Gettysburg address, but that's a classic.). The authors avoid using advanced academic jargon. I thought some of the examples used, however, would not be as interesting to students who aren't as focused on academic studies or obtaining a four-year degree (Shakespeare; Moby Dick; latinate used in Abraham Lincoln's speech). It covers a variety of writing genres, as well as some basics that we, as instructors, often assume that our students already know (yet they often don't), such as how to title your paper and how to annotate a text. The glossary and index help with the navigation as well. There are some grammatical errors, some pertaining to tense or subject-verb agreement (i.e., “psychologist Abraham Maslow describe,” pg. as labeled appendices. The index is very helpful and the glossary in the back defines many of the key terms in an easy to read format. The text within this textbook is clean and error-free. The text includes some discussion and examples of culturally relevant topics, such a Black Lives Matter. The text is modular in that each chapter “stands on its own” and can be assigned separately from the others. They remain constant throughout in how they refer to the elements of writing, and at no point do they introduce new knowledge without explaining to the reader just what it means.