Writing: A College Handbook

by John E. Lincoln and James A.W. Heffernan

Book Overview

Writing: A College Workbook, Fourth Edition, is a sure guide to writing effective sentences and managing punctuation, sentence mechanics, and spelling. It parallels and supplements Part 2, 'Writing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039397426X
• ISBN13: 9780393974263
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 840 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 7.0" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Very good resource for students

I like the approach the book takes, although I change the order in which I teach the material. My only quam is that I am unable to ascertain any differences between the instructional version and the student version of the book. I wouldn't have wasted money purchasing both had I known.

Simply, it is all in one writing reference!

Don't waist your money buying number of cheap writing books each covering a single or a couple of subjects. Spend your money one time on something valuable that you will use over and over through the years. I wish If I saw this book at first when I started going to the college! Believe me! When you see it, you won't leave it, until you buy it!

Building Rhetorical Power

Writing: A College Handbook is designed to teach students to write effectively for a variety of purposes and contexts. As a reference tool, a rhetoric, and a research guide, this handbook presents a detailed composite on the nature, form, and style of writing available to students. The emphasis here is on what the writer can do rather than what they cannot do. The scope of the book is "to show that good writing is not simply the absence of grammatical error but the presence of rhetorical power" (xxvii). The handbook is organized in a logical fashion that mirrors the writing process. Thus, instructors using the handbook and accompanying workbook can easily adapt it to their course. Part 1, "The Process of Writing," includes information on planning strategies, purpose, audience, modes of writing, word choice, editing and revising, and document design. The next section is "Crafting Sentences," where the emphasis is the rhetorical power of the English language and making sentence structure work for the writer. Part 3 deals with "Punctuation and Mechanics." Part 4, "Research and Writing," provides an in-depth guide to the process and development of the research paper. It includes an up-to-date MLA style guide and new approaches to the use of technology used in research. "Writing in Academic Contexts" covers writing about literature as well as research for other disciplines. The final section, "Writing in Nonacademic Contexts," is new to this edition. As students move outside the classroom, they need to be prepared to write in the workplace, which is often overlooked as a separate form of writing. The logical layout of the handbook and the instructive features make this a comprehensive writing tool. The approach to writing presented in this handbook and the sequence of topics make it accessible to both student and teacher. The examples, student writing samples, and instruction is detailed, informative, and concise. As a textbook to accompany writing instruction in the classroom, I think this book is extremely valuable. However, through personal experience, I find the lack of section tabs a slight drawback. To find information, you have to look at the road map (inside front cover), the table of contents, or the index. I searched for "organization," under which it said "see planning and organizing your text." There I found 16 pages devoted to everything from tree diagrams to composing a title. While the information is clearly outlined and detailed, there is more here than I needed for an overview and brief lesson. Use of this handbook in your classroom depends on your main purpose for having students purchase a handbook. If your purpose is to provide material for students to find answers to individual questions about writing, this may be more than you need. The comprehensive nature of the book gives it more of an instructive quality, rather than simple answers to often asked questions. There are many positive features of the