Writing In College: From Competence to Excellence

Reviewed by Kate Aguilar, Assistant Professor, Gustavus Adolphus College on 5/19/25

Comprehensiveness rating: 5

This book is a wonderful guide for students. It clearly explains how students were taught to write in high school and how and why expectations differ in college. It then gives a clear and concise roadmap for how to become more effective and efficient writers at the college level. It was a joy to read, covered all relevant and important topics, and provided a wealth of resources for educators and students to discuss and practice the skills outlined.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This book is beautifully laid out in a way that can help students build the skills necessary to write at the college level and keep going. It does not pretend to be the only guide on the subject but is continuously signposting to other works and helpful online resources. It demonstrates to students that there are several resources available but all recognize certain elements of strong academic writing. It is also useful in that it remains broad, which can pair nicely with a discipline-specific text or website.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This book is perhaps more relevant than ever in a world of AI. As students are looking to AI to do the writing (and sometimes thinking) for them, this book makes the strong argument that good academic writing is a form of thinking that helps us grapple with broader questions/issues in the discipline and world. It makes a case for why good writing still matters and always will. AI can help us perhaps grapple with word choice and sentence structure in new ways, but it does not give us the opportunity - as writing does - to think out loud and to become better thinkers and writers through doing and revision.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is clear and concise serving as its own exercise in strong academic writing. It makes a compelling case for why good writing matters and what that entails at the college level.

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent and cohesive. It builds by helping students understand why writing is assigned as a form of critical thinking, how they can approach it broadly in any academic setting, what they might find difficult in every piece of the writing journey, and how to approach those elements with curiosity and confidence.

Modularity rating: 5

This text is a wonderful resource for any academic classroom. As a historian, I took bits and pieces of it to assign at various points of the semester so that I could get students to think through how to approach various steps of the writing and research process in manageable ways. It provided a wealth of resources that students can utilize in real-time as well as useful examples to practice with in class.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

This book was wonderfully organized. It helps students think through why writing at the college level differs from high school writing, and how and why it matters to the academic process. It talks about how to approach writing and research in a meaningful way that moves beyond the familiar trope that it is just good practice. It makes the argument that writing is a type of critical thinking and that grappling with research questions and one's argument on the page allows one to approach their discipline in new and fascinating ways. Each chapter builds to helping the students write most effectively and efficiently as a whole.

Interface rating: 5

The interface was accessible and easy to read. The book was easy for students to work through as a whole but also to utilize in small, more manageable parts. The resources at the end of each chapter were fabulous.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I only noticed one grammatical error.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book is culturally relevant in that it speaks to a broad audience and also powerfully incorporates the student voice.

I found this book very enjoyable to read, accessible for faculty and students, well-organized and well-written, and compelling, overall, for why the writing process matters at the college level and how to approach it as a student in multiple disciplines.