The Word on College Reading and Writing
Monique Babin
Carol Burnell, Clackamas Community College
Susan Pesznecker, Clackamas Community College
Nicole Rosevear, Clackamas Community College
Jaime Wood, Portland State University
Copyright Year:
Publisher: Open Oregon Educational Resources
Language: English
Formats Available
Conditions of Use
Attribution-NonCommercial
CC BY-NC
Reviews
This text offers a wide variety of strategies in reading and writing that would be appropriate for introductory college students and for the high school level. The portion on reading, in particular, does a nice job explaining the task of a... read more
This text offers a wide variety of strategies in reading and writing that would be appropriate for introductory college students and for the high school level. The portion on reading, in particular, does a nice job explaining the task of a college-level reader as well as how to improve skills to become a better reader. The writing part is robust with exercises, and resources provided.
The content is accurate and related to common practices in teaching reading and writing strategies. The material is current and includes research-based information.
The content is current and reflects relevant and engaging topics. The material could easily be updated in the future if needed to be more up to date. The strategies presented are research-based in the fields of reading and writing.
The writing style is easy to understand, and engaging. The message is straightforward and clear, as is the organization of the information. Students will be able to easily navigate the text.
The voice, tone, and flow of the text are consistent from section to section. There is a conversational tone that would be appealing to learners. The reading portion doesn’t seem quite as developed as the writing, and this is something that could be improved upon.
Sections in this book could be used in their entirety, or selectively depending on the needs of the students or the course focus. The organization of the text offers an easy way to excerpt the content for use. While concepts can build on one another, as the introduction pointed out, you can skip around and explore the material out of order.
The organization and flow of the book are logical and there are many skill-building opportunities throughout the book. The assignments can be used in the order best suited for the class taught and do not necessarily have to be completed consecutively. The organization is in two parts, beginning with reading strategies and concluding with the writing process.
Accessing the online version of the text worked well from my computer. I also was easily able to download the ebook digital PDF and would imagine printing if needed would be simple. As far as viewing the book on a smartphone, navigating the online version worked well.
There were no grammatical errors noted.
This content is inclusive, especially regarding gender/gender-neutral references. The text does not necessarily include many multi-cultural aspects as it seems more generic in scope. I did not discover any measures of cultural insensitivity or offensiveness; however, the cultural relevance could be improved.
I teach Academic Reading Strategies and I couldn’t find a text from the list that would be a good substitute to the course’s learning objectives. The book I chose to review was written in two halves, one on reading and one on writing. The... read more
I teach Academic Reading Strategies and I couldn’t find a text from the
list that would be a good substitute to the course’s learning
objectives. The book I chose to review was written in two halves, one
on reading and one on writing.
The reading section was a little sparse and general. There were not a
lot of practices which I think is helpful for a textbook. The section
on Informational Literacy was more developed. It had a few practices
and ideas for discussion in the classroom.
It was very straight-forward and easy to understand which most students
would appreciate.
The writing section of the text was even more developed with more
direction and practices. For writing textbook, I feel that the text was
very comprehensive, but since I am looking for an academic reading
text, it was lacking.
The table of contents was accurate and effective. The glossary was
brief, but it included ideas covered in the text.
The material was accurate and error-free. I saw no author bias.
The
The material was relevant. It referred to current ideas and developments,
but I think the ideas would not be outdated very soon. There was a
reference to a student's MP3 player which I think my students would find
humorous, but I don't think it distracts from the message of the text. I
would think it would be easy to update anything that might be "dated"
or obsolete in the future.
The text had a very conversational flow. It was written in first person
and very informal. It sounded as if the author was speaking directly to
the reader. I felt it was a little choppy in sections with not much
development of ideas. This criticism of the underdeveloped ideas
focuses much more on the first half of the text than the second half.
This is clearly a writing textbook and the reading aspect of it seems
"extra".
The book is highly consistent in tone, structure and organization.
The text is divisible into smaller reading sections. The first half of the
book that discussed reading was shorter in general than most of the
sections in the writing portion of the text. None of the sections were
overwhelmingly long or contained so many links that it proved
distracting. Although almost every section had one of two links within
it, it was not distracting or confusing. Clicking on a link was not
essential for understanding the text.
The table of contents was organized well with one topic flowing logically
to the next one. The sentences and paragraphs were also organized in a
logical and clear fashion.
I didn't like the fact that after a "Check Your Understanding", the
student needed to click to the "answer page". It disrupts the flow of
the reading in my opinion.
I reviewed the book online and had no issues with navigation.
I found no grammatical errors.
The text is not culturally insensitive in any way. Most of the book is written in first and second person, so there is not an abundance of opportunity for a variety of example of cultural inclusiveness. In one exercise, there are eight people. Within that grouping there are a variety of races, cultures, and sexual orientations. The text contains a variety of pronoun usage including "they" for a singular pronoun.
The book would be a good addition to the course that I am teaching, but it
would not serve as the one text for the course. This book is designed
for a writing course and not a reading course so it is understandable
that it is lacking in many areas that my students would need in a
textbook.
Generally comprehensive as an INTRODUCTION to high-level reading and writing. I think this could be used for late high school too. While the brevity and conciseness is overall a positive for a text like this, there are a few sections that... read more
Generally comprehensive as an INTRODUCTION to high-level reading and writing. I think this could be used for late high school too.
While the brevity and conciseness is overall a positive for a text like this, there are a few sections that seem to be too short and would need some outside sources to supplement this text.
As a stand-alone textbook, I'm not sure this text would be quite robust enough, but as a reference material included in a course, this text would be quite valuable.
The content is research-based and accurate to my knowledge of best practices.
In addition to accuracy, the content draws upon recent research in both writing and reading. The text is organized in an effective way that will be easily updateable as new research surfaces.
The text is written in a clear, straightforward way, mixing informal and formal prose effectively. Some parts are very "conversational" and will likely be easily readable by students, even those in developmental courses. The actual strategies are then presented in clear, objective, matter-of-fact tones that provide actionable activities which students can implement in their course(s).
Additionally, there are many "checks for understanding" wherein students can practice the strategies with real texts. The chosen texts/activities are good overall.
While still well done, the textbook does suffer slightly from some sections being overly brief, both in general and when compared to other sections of the textbook.
The textbook could easily be used as a reference material wherein the instructor picks and chooses specific sections of the text to present/assign. In fact, I think that is how this textbook would most shine.
The text is not overly self-referential, and when it is self-referential, the text provides links to the referenced section. An instructor could easily use parts of the text in any order throughout the course.
The text presents the reading and writing process in a research-backed way that I believe students would find easy to understand and implement into practice.
I did not find any interface or navigation issues with this text. In general, the interface is intuitive and easy to use.
No found grammatical errors.
While the text is not culturally insensitive, I wouldn't call it particularly culturally sensitive. This text seems applicable to many settings and learners and doesn't seem to suffer from a particular bias; however, there doesn't seem to be a concerted effort to include texts that would meet a DEI committee's standards. There are opportunities to include more DEI texts as "checks for understanding." [DEI = Diversity, Equity, Inclusion]
Overall, I would consider this text to be a wonderful resource for students. It is generally easy to read and presents the research in non-technical/jargon ways that students will be likely to understand. Overall, 4.75+/5. It's not perfect, but it's great for what it is -- a small resource/skills/reference text.
Some sections seem to be a little short to stand alone, and the text could benefit from more checks for understanding (and more diverse readings/texts/activities in the checks for understanding).
I'm not sure the text is robust enough to be a stand-alone textbook that would be used for a 3-credit hour course, but it would be a fantastic resource for alternate explanations or using sections of the text in addition to instructor materials. This text could easily serve as a jumping-off point for developing a course.
Personally, there are several sections that I will use as a supplement to my already existing lectures/materials (and/or replacements for other texts I've used). There are several other sections I will provide to students as optional extra help/alternative explanations/possible extra credit for the checks for understanding etc.
It needs to be stated up front that this book is easy to comprehend. In its Introduction section, the authors explain how to use this text and for who it was meant. The book is divided into multiple chapters/sections each of which has a... read more
It needs to be stated up front that this book is easy to comprehend. In its Introduction section, the authors explain how to use this text and for who it was meant. The book is divided into multiple chapters/sections each of which has a self-explanatory title or heading. Importantly, the language of this publication targets college students, while the content of each chapter or section sounds as an advice to higher education learners. Oftentimes, this advice is provided as a step-by-step guidance in a numbered or bulleted order, which should facilitate better meaning-making and memorization of the read texts by the readers. Another beneficial feature of this book, which most likely will make this reading easily understandable is the Problem and Suggestions structure. Struggling readers might locate the issues they encounter in their own reading and writing practices and see the suggested solutions which they may try to implement in order to resolve their literacy problems. Addition of the above Problem and Suggestion sections might allow students to strongly relate to the contents of this book. Thus, their comprehension of this reading can become higher through the deeper personal interest and engagement.
Notably, the content of this publication is unbiased. The authors provide a lot of practical advice in a non-invasive manner. The authors suggest how and in what ways students might practice, so they improve their reading and writing skills. This book offers its readers to consider some strategies, which were found helpful and useful through research and best teaching practices. Amazingly, the authors do not prompt nor insist on implementing the literacy strategies; instead, their language is highly suggestive by nature. Yet, the content of their advice and suggestions is very accurate due to the fact that the writing by Babin et al. (2017) is based on the previously conducted research and publications in the field of reading and writing (See the list of works cited in Babin et al., 2017, pp. 220-221)
As for the relevance of this publication to the current chronotope, the content of this book is and will remain relevant to the needs and struggles of many college students, including but not limited to the learner populations with the previous histories of instructional deficiency in the areas of reading and writing. Additionally, this publication may be highly useful for International students in the American colleges and universities as well as for the domestic English as an Additional Language speakers for whom the English Language is not the one spoken in their homes. Moreover, the first generation in college type of American student populations might also find the content of this book extremely helpful due to the fact that this type of practical advice is least likely available to them in their homes. Furthermore, the students from the schools located in low socioeconomic status neighborhoods and learners from some poor quality schools may also strongly benefit from the advice and suggestions provided by the authors of this publication.
It needs to be noticed that the language of Babin et al.'s (2017) text is very clear and comprehensible. In addition to the simple wording of their ideas, the authors put their strong effort in creating a highly student-friendly structure of their book. This publication consists of sections, which are easy to locate using the table of contents and the pagination feature. Another helpful to the struggling readers factor is that each section is quite brief, though detailed. All headings in this book are printed in a significantly larger font, which adds to clarity of the entire writing and each part of it. Additionally, many chapters or sections contain examples. So, the strategies are not only theoretically described and explained but are also accompanied with some writing samples, which present an illustration or demonstration of how to write, or proofread, or cite, or edit, etc. For the readers who lack the knowledge of the specific vocabulary used in the fields of Reading and Writing, there is a glossary, which explains the terminology used in this book in the forms of definitions or paraphrased examples. All of the above adds to clarity and ease of understanding of the read ideas.
Importantly, the text of this publication is highly consistent in terms of its framework and terminology. Readers may choose to attend only to the topics of their high interest or engage in a linear reading, i.e., starting from the cover page and all the way through the entire book and its appendices section. Thanks to the consistency of this text's structure, its language, and ease of locating, reading, and understanding the used terminology, readers might find any of the above ways to read this book useful and helpful. Using the paginated table of contents, some readers might choose to start reading this book from the glossary and then, proceed with the linear reading and studies, or selective reading of those portions of this publication, which address the topics of each student's highest need or interest. The highly consistent framework of this text makes this book easy to use even for a novice student.
Talking about modularity of Babin et al.'s (2017) book, it needs to be recognized that it is one of the most efficient features of this publication. Its sections are not long, while each of them has a title (and subtitle) or a heading (and subheading), which makes this study guide highly usable and user-friendly. This book might be highly appealing for educators teaching First Year Seminars and College Literacy classes where the students are not very skilled at reading extensive texts rich in dense academic content. This text by Babin et al. (2017) is loaded with information; yet, it is very well-organized in short sections each of which provides to-the-point content in accordance with its heading. This modularity and brief but exact and detailed content of each chapter/section may be highly useful to the struggling readers and writers in college classrooms. Importantly, this book’s clear and concise structure will hardly exhaust even an unskilled reader. Significantly, this type of modularity might be highly beneficial for special education learners in colleges, for students with attention span problems, for English as an Additional Language learners, and low-proficient readers. This book is very efficiently and skillfully divided in multiple units and subunits, which are extremely easy to locate. Every particular reader can organize his or her own program or plan of reading or studying the content of this book starting off the units of their highest necessity and, further on, proceeding with the second- and third-interest or preference topics.
Prior to reading this book, students might choose or be directed to go through its table of contents. The topics discussed in this publication are presented in a very clear and logical fashion. Babin et al. (2017) start their book with their advice on how to become an efficient reader. These authors create a welcoming reading environment and proceed with their tips on how to utilize the most effecient reading strategies, such as taking notes, engaging in some kind of a dialogue with the text or its author(s), going further and researching the topic, questioning self and thinking critically, developing one's own point of view, and learning to summarize, analyze, and synthesize the text. The above structure strongly correlates with the structure of a conventional English Language Arts program. Yet, its major strength is in the very brief and concise delivery of each topic, where each of them is understandable for any level educator and, first and foremost, for practically any student.
Following the above, the second part of this book teaches college students how to write. The students with the previous instructional deficiency will learn to set a purpose for writing, identify the audience, and select a point of view or perspective from which they will address the topic of their essay or research paper. This book is highly inclusive for those unskilled writers who, generally, do not know how to start writing and struggle to come out with the idea “what to start with.” In response to the common needs of the struggling beginning or emergent writers, the authors of this book provide a very rich advice on how to narrow the topic. Further on, they offer some strategies on how writers might begin introducing and developing their selected topics. Yet, writing and submitting the work straight away might not be the best practice, as advised by the authors of this book. They teach beginning writers to develop several drafts, while proofreading, editing, and enriching their writings in several steps prior to submission for grading or peer review. There is also a section of writing academic research report papers in specific formats with detailed explanations on how to credit the used sources. All of the above is organized in a highly clear and logical fashion, starting from "how to begin" and ending with "how to polish" the seemingly ready product.
In terms of the technical details, this text does not have any significant interface issues. Due to its clear organization, the book is easy to navigate. Unlike the publications offered online for kindle, this book is paginated and has a very clear table of contents. All the chapters and sections can be easily located. There are no features, which might distract or confuse readers. The clarity and quality of the interface are some of the best features of this book.
Babin et al.’s (2017) book has no grammatical errors. Generally, the quality of grammar in a publication is highly important for the students who are working towards improvement of their own writing skills. Many learners take the grammatical structures, punctuation, and spelling in the college books and course study guides as an example to follow. Diligent students put a strong effort in memorization of the grammatical structures they encounter in their college course readings. Oftentimes, students support their writing with the texts they read. Some learners would bring the texts with them to their classes to demonstrate to their professors where exactly they found some specific rule, or which exactly portions of texts they used as a model for their own writing. The book by Babin et al. is a great study guide to use in one's college classroom without having to apologize in front of the students, saying that “typos may happen to everyone."
Culture-wise, the book by Babin et al. (2017) is highly diversity-inclusive. The authors target wide student audiences without discriminating them on any cultural, racial, ethnic, or other backgrounds. In these terms, the language of the book is neutral, highly inclusive, and welcoming. The focus on the reading and writing improvement without distractions on any extraneous topics makes this book highly usable for all kinds of readers, including both: students and their educators. Due to this high focus on the "business" and exclusively "shop talk," this publication may be used nationwide in the United States, regardless of the cultural, racial, or ethnic breakdown of each specific school or region. This book may be found invaluable overseas for teaching wide international student populations in colleges or college preparatory classes worldwide. Though this book is written in the English language, its content might be equally useful to speakers, readers, and writers of other languages. So, this publication may be utilized in learning how to efficiently read and skillfully write not only in the English language but in any other languages. The latter is one of the highest values of this publication.
As a university Reading and Literacy professor, I am planning to use this book in my classrooms. I would highly recommend this publication for my colleagues who are teaching reading, writing, and literacy skills in any subject area or field. This book may be useful and helpful in the College Literacy and First Year Seminar classrooms. Nevertheless, some of the second, third, or later years’ students may gain more of useful college reading and writing skills thanks to this publication. Thus, the book by Babin et al. (2017) may be considered a “must have” by the caring educators who are willing to help their students to master the college reading and writing skills and advance in their academics.
Gould-Yakovleva, O. (2022). The sought resources for my students: A book review by a university professor. [Review of the book The word on college reading and writing, by M. Babin, C. Burnell, S. Pesznecker, N. Rosevear, & J. Wood]. Open Educational Resources. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10969437
The material in this textbook is an excellent tool for helping students meet the learning outcomes of an introductory composition course, i.e., WR121. The book covers everything from building strong literacy skills to engaging with texts to... read more
The material in this textbook is an excellent tool for helping students meet the learning outcomes of an introductory composition course, i.e., WR121. The book covers everything from building strong literacy skills to engaging with texts to crafting well-written, concise academic work. The material is organized well (I primarily used the online version). It offers a complete glossary and appendices which cover questions of style, formatting, and more. The text's Works Cited is robust, error-free, and a great resource in its own right.
The textbook material is presented accurately and with no noticeable errors. Content is delivered well in ways that are accessible to students taking college composition courses.
The material is still relevant. The section which covers citing sources utilizes MLA8, which came out in 2016. in 2021 MLA9 was released. The minor tweaks MLA9 has made to formatting guidelines are not a large enough of an issue for this textbook to not be a worthwhile resource to a composition course.
The text is very clear. The writing is concise and complicated terms and concepts are properly contextualized.
The text is highly consistent. The content from one section builds toward the next while still allowing educators and students to engage with the text flexibly. That is, you could teach this book from cover to cover or only integrate specific sections into a course without losing any value of the text.
This text is incredibly modular. It's authors describe the material as being organized in such a way that users can "use it as you need it." After reading through the material they have done a really great job organizing information so it can be engaged with in small well organized pieces or as a whole.
The work is organized quite well. The topics covered are straightforward and concise.
Navigating through the online version of the textbook was quite seamless. There were no broken links, images and charts all appeared formatted correctly and with professional and aesthetically consistency.
Since this book is a composition textbook, it would be pretty appalling if it contained grammatical errors. Thankfully, this textbook was free of errors.
One of my favorite parts of this book is the writer's commitment to using gender-inclusive language. This book is culturally informed and respects the diversity of students' backgrounds and identities.
This text covers a wide range of skills for writing--from advice crafting titles to managing anxiety/writer's block to rhetorical tools like audience/purpose and even instruction on information literacy. However, one of its best and more unique... read more
This text covers a wide range of skills for writing--from advice crafting titles to managing anxiety/writer's block to rhetorical tools like audience/purpose and even instruction on information literacy. However, one of its best and more unique aspects is the effective integration of reading and writing that matches well with attempts to accelerate remedial course sequences. Not only that, the companion materials include sample syllabi, assignments, handouts/readings, and links to instructional resources that simplify adoption in many different courses.
I noticed no issues with accuracy, and the text seemed error-free. This includes links to MLA resources which are both active and updated to reflect recent changes in the 9th edition--something most print textbooks struggle to accomplish.
This text seems carefully constructed to avoid dated references (except, perhaps, the mention of MP3 players), and links to external materials seem more stable than many OER texts. Another benefit is that mentions of college don't seem limited to four-year universities which could make this text feel more relevant to students attending a community college.
The use of questions to present information, the well-structured headings or sections within chapters, and the helpful examples when a concept might be unfamiliar, are very effective ways this text works to improve clarity.
The more complex terms and frameworks, specifically the focus on audience, purpose, and tone, are used consistently throughout the text.
While the text is divided effectively into sections that would be easy to assign as needed, some are overly short and require supplementation in order to fully explore the topic. This issue is somewhat common in OER texts, however, and many instructors already have strategies to create cohesive reading assignments using several shorter texts.
Even though beginning the text with a focus on reading makes sense since it would help students complete further assigned reading in the course, it would be helpful to more fully integrate reading skills into other chapters as well. It can be tricky to suggest that a few short chapters early in the semester are enough work to change or develop good reading habits.
This text uses a familiar Pressbooks format that many instructors (and students) will find familiar and highly usable even on phones and tablets or with limited internet access.
The text contains no grammatical errors, which is helpful for maintaining credibility.
While the text doesn't seem culturally insensitive, there could be a more inclusive range of examples used to better connect with diverse student populations.
This is an excellent text, specifically for an accelerated remedial course using an integrated reading and writing framework. It covers more areas of college writing with a clear rhetorical framework than many similar options, and it's easily accessible by a wide range of students.
An ambitious undertaking, this text covers reading, information literacy, and writing processes independently and as integrated components of college learning. The authors connect with students in an accessible, friendly tone and with relevant... read more
An ambitious undertaking, this text covers reading, information literacy, and writing processes independently and as integrated components of college learning. The authors connect with students in an accessible, friendly tone and with relevant examples throughout the text. The table of contents makes it easy to navigate. Perfect for first-year students!
To address comprehensiveness, though, there are some inconsistencies: Part 2: Writing is extremely thorough, leaving me to wonder if Part 1 might be more well developed and if Information Literacy might deserve its own part.
The Dealing With Obstacles section is a special gem that address some vexing but real challenges students will likely encounter, and the Appendices cover the handbook material every good textbook needs.
The content reflects current practices and thinking in reading, writing, and information literacy. The examples provided are directly related to helping students develop concrete skills with each part of these processes. Students might benefit from some exposure to the disciplinary vocabulary of reading (e.g. schema, metacognition) as is provided in the writing and information literacy sections.
The foundational concepts are current and well developed, and the majority of examples carry across time. Most linked articles were published in 2016, so they are becoming dated. It's clear by the topic choice that they were selected to have some longevity and may be easily supplemented or updated. The biggest challenge students may encounter is lack of access to the actual articles because many sources require subscriptions. It may be worth connecting this to the information literacy component and advocating for use of library databases for access.
Students will find the approachable language easy to access and understand. Any technical terms used are provided with a reasonable explanation, examples, and/or a pronunciation guide so students not only recognize them but can also incorporate them into their own vocabulary. The glossary is useful, though it's not clear why some words were included and others that had been defined similarly in the text were not.
The format and framework of this text are very consistent. It's easy to orient to and follows a clear pattern. I find that its inconsistency lies in the coverage of each content section: Building Strong Reading Skills includes many very brief, bullet pointed sections with relatively few in-depth examples; Information Literacy has fewer sections but extensive blocks of information; and Writing has in-depth coverage and examples of each part of the process. In short, it's unbalanced, so it feels inconsistent if taken as a whole (see note on modularity below, however).
The adaptability of this text is one of its strengths for sure. It's equally easy to use the entire text, a section, or a subsection to focus on a specific skill or strategy with examples or to guide through a full process. Students who've been directed to one section may even find themselves exploring more using the well organized and clear table of contents.
Each section is clearly and logically organized to represent a process in itself, but when combined as a whole, the text reflects a larger process that engages students in the true integration of college level reading and writing.
There is some repetition that is noticeable when the text is used as a whole, however. For example, summary is addressed just briefly in the Writing About Texts section and again extensively in Drafting. It's unclear how or why the Writing About Texts section should be differentiated from the more general Writing section, though this could be a benefit in a more modular usage.
Everything seems to work well through navigation and links.
No errors noted.
The authors include thoughtful approaches to gendered and gender-neutral pronouns. I appreciated that when there was an example using highlighting to illustrate a color-coding approach to reading, they acknowledged that some may have challenges with seeing color, so they described the purpose and strategy with words. As an instructor with many student with learning differences, the inclusion of video, illustration (example: point of view), and other modalities is useful.
I started by using this text modularly to supplement other materials but may use it in its entirety to provide more consistency for students. It will be easy to adapt some of my own materials and still rely on this text. I appreciate how the authors engage a wide variety of potential first year students with their unique experiences and approaches to learning.
The authors do an excellent job covering the central elements of their ambitious dual foci on college reading and writing. I appreciate the textbook’s elucidation of the generative feedback loop between strong critical reading skills and the... read more
The authors do an excellent job covering the central elements of their ambitious dual foci on college reading and writing. I appreciate the textbook’s elucidation of the generative feedback loop between strong critical reading skills and the ability to craft compelling writing. To me, there are no glaring omissions in terms of content. Everything I would expect to find is present as well as some welcome bonuses; for instance, the advice on working through writer’s block and writing anxiety would be appreciated by many students. The section on Information Literacy is particularly effective.
My main critique is that the textbook would benefit from being more multidisciplinary in its examples and frameworks. College writing courses are required for all students at my institution, regardless of major, but the majority of examples here—particularly in the Reading sections—skew toward a literary focus. Even when the authors state that third-person POV characterizes “Much college, research, and professional writing,” the example they provide is from a novel (39-40). Similarly, the reading methodology of digging for meanings like “buried treasure” is less applicable to, say, a straightforward chemistry article than a modernist poem, whereas the advice that “the more current the date” on a source “the better” may be less applicable to a field like history (59). More disciplinary variety throughout the textbook would keep it dynamic and useful for all students.
On a macro-level the text ticks all of the boxes; however, in some micro-sections, more detail would be enriching. The section on sentence-level analysis tells readers to “Begin by considering the sentence length” (36), but that’s ultimately the end of the strategies offered. In a comparable way, the section on examining word choice focuses on the simplicity or complexity of diction, leaving out important stylistic choices including the use of figurative or symbolic language.
Lastly, a comprehensive index would be a beneficial addition.
The textbook offers a wealth of insight and information to allow students to excel at reading and writing at the college level. The advice is supported with illustrative examples and I was not struck by any major issues of inaccuracy or bias.
The only content error I encountered that would be confusing to students is when a dependent clause was defined as “an independent clause” (202)—a simple fix.
The textbook is current and relevant to college students today. Updating content—whether citation guidelines given the recently released MLA Handbook (9th Edition), or text examples, like The Hunger Games or Hamilton, that may have waning cultural recognizability in the years to come—should be a straightforward undertaking.
The authors have excelled in making a textbook that is useful and accessible to a wide range of readers. The tone is very friendly and inclusive and definitions for key terms are clear. The textbook makes frequent and effective use of a question-and-answer format and the authors’ ventriloquizing of student concerns not only validates how these aspects of reading and writing can be challenging, but also provides straightforward advice for how to navigate these issues. In addition, the included exercises are simple while remaining engaging and instructive.
The textbook is incredibly consistent throughout: it is apparent that the authors thought carefully about how to make the various sections work well together as a cohesive whole.
This is a real strength of the textbook! It is presented in short, digestible, and clearly sign-posted sections that could be assigned to students in the order they appear or in various other combinations. I believe it would work well as a central or a supplementary text alongside other germane material and that it would be useful to instructors and students alike, either in its entirety or in curated excerpts.
The textbook is very user-friendly, progressing from topic to topic in a sensible order, while also—as I’ve noted above—allowing for the possibility of reorganizing the sections for your own purposes. The authors include helpful references to other sections in the textbook, moving both backward and forward, to provide an ongoing set of navigational tools to complement the table of contents. My only minor qualm is that while I like the “several subsections as opposed to a few lengthy chapters” approach, I would still appreciate having those subsections numbered (1, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 3, etc.) This would make assigning sections of the text simpler.
The web version seems excellent in this regard, though I was primarily reading the PDF. The PDF version is easy to navigate as a whole, but there are a few small interface issues, including images that overlap with text making the latter difficult to read at times, as well as a few broken links.
The vast majority of the text is free of distracting errors, grammatical or otherwise. A few errors are present—minor typographical mistakes in the glossary; missing spaces; repeated words; the same sentence printed twice in close proximity (137); “archieve” instead of “archive”; “Sparks Notes” instead of “SparkNotes”; etc.—but these are sparse and do not distract from the clarity of the content.
The textbook is not insensitive or offensive and does include some diverse examples, including references to a range of non-heterosexual romantic relationships. However, many of the literary examples skew white and Western in terms of their authorship and content and more racial diversity in examples, as well as references to other socially marginalized experiences such as disability, would be beneficial. This textbook could easily be paired with an instructor’s own complementary readings, though, so this does not invalidate its utility.
Overall, The Word on College Reading and Writing is an engaging and admirable offering that deserves consideration by any writing instructor looking for a great OER option to adopt in their courses.
The book is great at starting before the beginning. I like that the authors start with what it means to be a college student reading college texts and the checklists for students. Going into how to be a good reader is often overlooked in first... read more
The book is great at starting before the beginning. I like that the authors start with what it means to be a college student reading college texts and the checklists for students. Going into how to be a good reader is often overlooked in first year composition and this book takes a good look at this. The chapters are easy to follow and flow in a way that helps students from beginning to end.
I found the book to be very accurate and modern in the way the authors have discussed ways of reading and writing. The beginning description of gender and gender-neutral language helps students in todays classroom. This also helps in communicating my own belief in the safe classroom that allows for all people to learn in a safe environment.
The book is very orderly in the way it is written and arranged. If there are future updates this could be done with ease without making the book lose its flow and organization. The chapters are done in a way that would make it easy to add or subtract if needed.
This book was very clear for students, especially if I were to use in a developmental English class. The ease of understanding the points and the "check your understanding" areas will be an incredible help to students who are hesitant when writing.
This book is consistent in its level of understanding. I would not hesitate to use this book for first year composition students and even higher level developmental students. The language use is college level but in a way that doesn't leave any learner out with vocabulary or structure.
I find that this textbook could be used as a whole or with specific chapters for specific students and/or skills. As far as accessibility for all students, with or without special needs, I find that this book would work for all students. The clear headings and breakdown of sections is easily divisible without any loss of organization or structure for student learning. Different sections could be utilized to work on specific needs of various students in the class without any loss of understanding by the students.
I really like the beginning to end way in which the book is organized. The book begins with setting student worry at ease with the basics for understanding reading and research and how to go about performing both aspects. The actual "writing" adds a nice touch to show students how to take notes and use these to help in their own writing. The information for finding texts really struck me as useful for students to continue to refer to even in later years.
I feel this textbook is very user friendly. The only challenge that I can see would be finding the place you were in when you click on a link. When you return to the book it brings you back to the first page. The check your work has students go to the Appendix and I wonder how many students will take the time to scroll through the book instead of being able to click on the checkmark and go directly to the Appendix.
In reading the book I found no grammatical errors.
As a teacher of Diversity as well as English I am always sensitive to what I present to my students. I would have no problem using this textbook in my classroom.
As a community college professor I am happy to see books authored by community college faculty. The community college student can be very different from the four-year college or university student. Many of may students need extra help especially with reading and writing and this textbook is easy and understandable for all students whether two year or four year.
As a source for integrated reading and writing, I found the text to be a foundational reading source; although more heavily weighted towards writing. I appreciated the "Check Your Understanding" sections. read more
As a source for integrated reading and writing, I found the text to be a foundational reading source; although more heavily weighted towards writing. I appreciated the "Check Your Understanding" sections.
I did not denote any errors.
The text can transcend time as written, maintaining its relevancy. As well, it is written in such a manner that time-sensitive text can easily be inserted and excerpted, as necessary to enhance reading comprehension.
Clear and concise conversational writing that is easy to follow and provoke critical thinking.
An Instructor may pick and choose how to use portions of the text without losing context.
There is flexibility in usage dependent expected learning outcomes.
The text is well-organized with sentences flowing fluently an example for students to follow in their own writing. An instructional approach may be defined as students are reading to write.
I did not detect any glitches.
I did not see any grammatical errors.
The text is gender inclusive given its explanation of pronoun usage. Further, the text is developed in such a manner that culturally inclusive readings could easily be embedded. I would recommend student selected cultural readings.
I recommend supplemental supporting documents to further hone the Reading Process and bridge the connectivity between reading and writing to learn.
The textbook manages to demystify reading at a college-level by breaking down active reading into steps including pre-reading strategies and effective note-taking. There are also tips for analyzing texts and detailed demonstrations of... read more
The textbook manages to demystify reading at a college-level by breaking down active reading into steps including pre-reading strategies and effective note-taking. There are also tips for analyzing texts and detailed demonstrations of close-reading. The "Troubleshoot Your Reading" section is rather novel in how it directly interacts with the reader by providing empathetic reactions to the difficulties students face while offering feasible suggestions on how to make reading more manageable and engaging. The part on writing is even more thorough. The textbook explores in detail the different stages of writing and the structure of an essay, providing multiple examples related to these topics. Integrating sources and creating citations are also covered. Like with "Troubleshoot Your Reading," there are sections dedicated to difficulties while writing including anxiety and writer's block. The glossary could, however, be expanded to include more keywords and concepts (ex. "dialectic," specific rhetorical appeals, "thesis").
The content accurately reflects common practices and expectations in college reading and writing. It is both unbiased and error-free.
The text does not contain popular references that would go stale or feel outdated in a short amount of time. The external websites might pose a problem as links can expire or change, but such links can be easily replaced and updated when needed.
The text is easy to read and approachable, not being too technical or using flowery prose. Terms are defined and re-introduced when needed.
The text revisits terms and concepts as appropriate, their definitions unchanging. The tone feels unified as though there is only one author throughout the textbook. The intended audience does not change either, as the reader is assumed to be a degree-seeking student just entering college.
Within each section, the text is divided into manageable pieces, taking only a few minutes to read and digest. Headings and sub-headings are used to break up longer sections of text. The different levels of headings are consistent in use of font size and color.
The textbook is divided mostly into two parts: "Working with Texts" and "Writing." The different sections in each part are placed appropriately in that sections prior to the second part deal with reading and interacting with texts while the rest of textbook focuses on completing writing assignments and building an essay. The sections are presented in a logical order as well. For instance, the section on pre-writing comes before drafting, which comes before revising.
In the online version, navigating the textbook is easy. The Table of Content shows how the text is divided into sections and allows for sections to be collapsed or expanded. The PDF version does have some problems with graphics overlapping text (ex. "Check Your Understanding" icon overlapping the beginning of the text), sometimes making words unreadable.
I did not find any grammatical errors or at least none that were distracting.
The text holds up to its promise in using a variety of pronouns including singular "they." The text could benefit from acknowledging its focus on Western tradition and rhetoric, as many students reading this textbook may be familiar with different writing conventions and styles.
This textbook has been very useful in my lectures as many of my students are entering their first year in college and are understandably unfamiliar with college reading and writing conventions. I appreciate the sections about reading because students have different levels and backgrounds in reading, so we can't assume one reading strategy would work for everyone. Furthermore, the textbook does not feel daunting at all. You are able to read any section at an as-needed basis; reading the entire textbook is not necessary.
Wow, this text covered reading and writing in one! I was so impressed with how the book was able to start at the basics of learning to read successfully in college (and life) to writing. I teach a methods course that I have always found so... read more
Wow, this text covered reading and writing in one! I was so impressed with how the book was able to start at the basics of learning to read successfully in college (and life) to writing. I teach a methods course that I have always found so challenging to teach for two reasons: students do not how to properly read journal articles and they do not know how to write research papers. This text allows for both these skills to be honed in on and the book was enjoyable. The text covers how to read, understand, and incorporate sources into a paper. There is also a great section on how to annotate and take notes over readings. I love the section in the first, second, and third person. I often tell students they cannot use the first person in research papers but they are often unsure what I mean by that. I will certainly use that chapter! Perhaps really relevant to college students is the section on how to evaluate sources. There is also a section on plagiarism, which is always a concern in a research and writing course. Lastly, it includes help with citation but it is only for MLA.
Overall, I did not see any glaring errors in the text. I cannot say for sure if the MLA citations are correct or up to date since I use APA and ASA, but that may need to be evaluated.
The content is up-to-date and relevant. I think any updates would be easy to do. I would love to see them use more than just MLA.
I think they wrote conversationally. In fact, I felt like I was listening to them teach from time to time while reading The jargon in research and writing was always broken down and explained.
The voice is the same throughout the book. I would have liked to see more transition to sections because it did feel choppy. However, an advantage to that is I will most likely use parts of the book and feel ok about that. I do not think students will think they are 'missing' something by reading only sections in my courses.
This text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections. In fact, this was what set this text apart from other materials I have used in the past. The sections are small enough that people can add to them and long enough to give enough detail. I never felt overwhelmed while reading and was actually enjoying going through the text.
I love how they started with reading and moved into writing. The flow of this book felt natural and I am sure that will help students be successful.
I tried the PDF and the online version and did not see any glaring problems. There were no features that could distract or confuse the reader.
I did not see any grammatical errors in the text.
It was impressive how the text made a point to use gender-neutral language. The beginning of the book also had a discussion on pronouns, which may be beneficial to students who have never encountered pronouns before. I found the book to be very inclusive.
The text offers a shorter, more concise approach to research-based writing than the traditional first-year writing textbook - it is, in some ways, more like an extended or enhanced writing handbook. It covers the most important elements of a... read more
The text offers a shorter, more concise approach to research-based writing than the traditional first-year writing textbook - it is, in some ways, more like an extended or enhanced writing handbook. It covers the most important elements of a research-based writing course: how to read, understand, and incorporate souces; how to respond critically to texts and engage with authors meaningfully in writing; how to evaluate sources; and how to cite sources using MLA style. It also includes a section dealing with the writing process as well as a brief review of revision approaches and common errors. It does not contain extensive sections on grammar, mechanics, punctuation and the like.
The content is generally in keeping with established practices/patterns in teaching core research, writing and information literacy skills.
The authors’ approach here is very much that of the research/writing handbook or guide, so the content should remain relevant for years to come. There are some embedded links to essays and articles from the mid-2010s that may benefit from updating before use. The information literacy section is quite strong, but it too would benefit from supplementation to keep it current.
The text is clear and concise. It’s also more approachable than most similar texts: a sample chapter yields a moderate readability score pegged to a 9th grade reading level.
The text is quite consistent from section to section in terms of voice, content, and approach.
The text lends well to being broken up; indeed, the foreword suggests it has been designed specifically for this. Individual sections generally work as stand-alone readings. There are also frequent hyperlinks to other chapters that are mentioned, outside resources, and readings, which enhances reader engagement and modularity.
The text is divided into two larger parts - Working with Texts & Writing - with several sub-sections within each part. The sub-sections are each linked separately from the table of contents, which makes the text easy to navigate.
The interface is clear and consistent. The text would perhaps benefit from more visually distinct sub-headings in some of the longer sections.
In two years of using this text I have yet to find an error.
The text is very much a handbook rather than a reader, so it offers few extended examples and no embedded readings for students. In this sense, it’s something of a cultural clean slate. The authors have done well to avoid gendered language and to use gender neutral third person pronouns where appropriate.
The text is ideal for use in an OER research-based writing course or as a supplement for a course where students will be expected to complete independent research. It is easily broken down into modules, clear, concise, and engaging.
The book does a very good job with reading guidance and support, both the work of reading and writing about texts -- much better than most first-year writing texts that I have used (both OER and not). It also covers writing process matters and... read more
The book does a very good job with reading guidance and support, both the work of reading and writing about texts -- much better than most first-year writing texts that I have used (both OER and not). It also covers writing process matters and approaches to parts of academic papers well overall. There are, however, some areas that are relatively thin (e.g., dealing with opposing viewpoints, revision). There is little about common college-level writing tasks -- at least separated so that it can be found easily -- though there is some embedded discussion. There is no index, but there is a useful glossary.
The book does a good job presenting clear and specific information to students. While there are specific elements that I could quibble with (e.g., the explanation of logos), the information is accurate and consistent with thinking in the field.
The material is up-to-date, and while there are elements that will become dated, most of those elements would be links that become obsolete. Those are easy to fix. The information literacy section is strong. While it runs the risk of becoming dated, it's set up with a focus on general principles that have been in practice for quite some time.
This textbook is pitched quite well. The authors talk with their audience, not to their audience. They explain terminology clearly in the text, as well as providing a glossary.
The rhetorical approach is consistent throughout, as are the vocabulary, tone, use of images, and links to outside sources.
This is a key strength of this text. The chunks of text are quite manageable and easily inserted into a range of course sequences and designs. There are a number of internal links, but they are not treated as central to the point of the sections in which they appear, and there are very few moments in which the text refers to the content of other sections -- and none in ways that would make it difficult for a student to follow.
I believe that this is the biggest weakness of this text. There are explanations of elements of common assignments (e.g., summary, critique, argument), but they are embedded and without an index, it would be hard for students to find those sections. In addition, it's not clear why the material about writing summaries, paraphrasing, and quoting is part of the drafting section and not part of either "Using Sources Correctly" or the information literacy section. It's also not clear why the information literacy section and the sources section are so far apart.
For the most part, this is done well. The images are clear, and the navigation appears to work the way that Pressbooks intends. (I don't like the way I have to navigate to the top of the page to move to the next section, but this seems to be a Pressbooks issue and not specific to this textbook). The interface online is better than the PDF version. In the online version, it is much easier to see the hierarchy of the headings because they are color-coded. The PDF also has a lot of blank pages.
I found no grammatical errors, but there are a few typos.
While there is an explanation of the use of pronouns near the beginning of the text, there is little diversity in the examples.
There are parts of this text that I found outstanding (the guide on reading strategies, for example), and I plan to use them in my fall classes.
As other reviewers have stated, a "comprehensive" discussion of reading and writing could fill volumes so the term may not be as applicable here. That said, I do feel this book lays out many fundamental aspects of reading and writing for early... read more
As other reviewers have stated, a "comprehensive" discussion of reading and writing could fill volumes so the term may not be as applicable here. That said, I do feel this book lays out many fundamental aspects of reading and writing for early college-level learners, breaking the concepts of academic reading and writing into two sections (though "reading" receives a third of the page space), which offers those learners a nice introduction into composition. Looking on a smaller scale, many of the sections are a page/page-and-a-half which doesn't allow for much context or examples, really a snapshot of the term or concept. I feel this book works best as slight readings before a class period with the majority of the class spent on examples and application. Basically, reading the book alone would offer little insight to reading and writing at an early academic level.
The majority of the information presented seems accurate, though, as mentioned, much of the content is quick and conversational. For instance, in the section titled "Read Efficiently," the last paragraph suggests that a learner should "Keep reading until you’re done. Don’t be distracted. If you begin to feel fidgety, stop, get up, and take a five minute break. Then get back to your reading. The more you read, the stronger your habit will grow, and the easier reading will be." Not awful advice, perhaps even meeting a student on their level of comfort with a text, but I feel it too quickly glosses over other established strategies for distracted reading, strategies that could be explained in similar language yet with added context. Again, the content is fairly accurate, but perhaps distilled too much.
The information offered in each section feels up-to-date, with relevant examples such as Harry Potter and Sparknotes and the latest edition of MLA. Aspects of the brief sections work toward updating in the future (there's not a lot of content to modify) and other instructors could easily remix or add examples of their own. Students could also appreciate the direct approach of the content as relevant to their hectic schedules, not needing to read long, dense chapters to "get" the heart of the concept of technique.
For the intended reader, an early-college learner, the writing is clear and direct and approachable. There is consistent use of "you" and a lack of jargon or technical language. Additional context could be provided, especially in the "Reading" section, but the "Writing" section offers additional opportunity for understanding through examples and clear exercises that connect to the section's content.
In terms of a framework, the text is consistently displayed through design choices and language used--a student could read page 1 and page 100 and know they are reading the same writer with the same purpose. There could've been greater attention to connections made from section to section, adding an additional layer to the notion of "consistency," but overall the work is of a whole.
Perhaps the greatest strength of this work. Each section is small/compact and could be remixed at another instructor's preferences or linked with other readings without a major workload for students. Sections range from several hundred words to several thousand and many sections don't need to be read/used at all depending on the nature of the class. Students will appreciate the brevity and contained nature of the sections.
As stated, the topics are organized with a focus on reading first (about a third of the text) then shifts to writing (with longer section for each new term/approach/technique). Each of the two halves starts with fundamental aspects such as "What is a Text?" and "Why write?" to usher students into conversations about what they're actually doing. From there the text deepens concepts through questions one could ask themselves to exercises (mainly in "Writing" section) which would apply the concepts, building on what came before.
I used the text through multiple platforms and devices and experienced no issues with image distortion or display features. Easy and clear content bar for navigation. Some students accessed the text through their phones (more advanced and expensive than my own) and didn't experience any issues either.
The text contained no grammatical errors that I noticed.
The text actively discusses the use of pronouns and gender-neutral language. There is also respectful attention paid to race, ethnicity, and other backgrounds. As mentioned, the use of "you" is used throughout but does not read as alienating or assumptive, striking a welcoming tone.
While this book lays a solid foundation for reading and writing, an instructor should not rely too heavily on the content offered. It "does the job" but doesn't create space for nuance or much critical engagement (it probably doesn't need to). I would use the text again, but would add even more supplementary content than before.
The textbook covers all of the information found in the tried and true style guide I've been using for the past ten years. My students will benefit greatly from getting this same information free of charge. In some ways, it goes beyond the... read more
The textbook covers all of the information found in the tried and true style guide I've been using for the past ten years. My students will benefit greatly from getting this same information free of charge. In some ways, it goes beyond the previous style guide I've used in that it presents and differentiates between different types of thesis statements, addresses the cons of the five-paragraph/three-point essay, etc.
As others have noted, the presence of an "Index" would likely elevate the given score for this category. I would also have appreciated more "Check Your Understanding" exercises and a more frequent use of examples as well. Also, if you've come to the text looking for material on grammar, I would look elsewhere since that section is quite brief. In an ENG 101 course, it could be enough.
I couldn't find any inaccuracies in the text.
Although the New York Times and Scientific American articles referenced are already outdated, sections on "Using Citation Generators," "Writing Anxiety" (not just Writer's Block), and using information in the digital age should work well for audiences both now and in the future. In sections on note-taking, I would have focused on electronic material in more or less equal measure to print material.
The book has a very accessible, almost conversational prose style that is refreshingly less dry than other style guides I have used. For example, we are given a "seriously expert level suggestion" (12). Later, a book's structure is described as "ridiculously cool" (28). The occasional pronunciation guide pops up for terms like "rhetoric" and "critique."
Not only is the text internally consistent (impressive considering the number of authors), but it's also externally consistent in that the terminology used is more or less universal. Even when they refer to a "CRAP Test" rather than a "CRAAP Test," the authors note that other institutions add the second "A."
You'll find a healthy dose of white space between chapter headings and content. Throughout, there are numerous subheadings to be found.
It's well-structured using a traditional two-part approach wherein one part is more on "Reading" and the other more on "Writing." That's fine, but I wouldn't have minded a more novel approach.
Organizational Highlight: Putting the section on "Revision" so near the end of the book, a highly logical place for it.
Questionable Move: Why separate the section on constructing a "Works Cited" from the section on in-text citation? I think it's important that students see the relationship further solidified in their textbook.
The book's aesthetic is minimalist in nature. I found the font choices quite tasteful, for instance.
A couple interface suggestions based on my reading of the text in pdf form:
*Appreciated linking to Scientific American article (among others), but the fact of its click-ability was by no means obvious on the formatting alone.
*I appreciated seeing the logos for “Copyright,” “Creative Commons,” etc. but they are superimposed on the text in a way that makes the text underneath more or less illegible
I would have done more with integrated video, which I believe is only used once.
The text seems to be free of grammatical errors.
I certainly wouldn't call the book "insensitive" or "offensive" by any means, but I found the textual examples lacking in diversity. From my perspective, it's a representational issue. You'll find references to DFW, Mark Z. Danielewski, Ray Bradbury, Ernest Hemingway, Dr. Seuss, J.D. Salinger, Michael Pollen, etc. but relatively few references to female writers (Harper Lee notwithstanding) and writers of color. Perhaps that could be addressed in future editions!
Overall, this was a great introduction to OER. I plan on using sections from this book and others to replace the overpriced style guide and save my students some money.
The text is thorough in its exploration of the reading and writing connection. It includes helpful examples for the student. It will work well for entry-level students since it covers many topics that may be unfamiliar to a new student, whether... read more
The text is thorough in its exploration of the reading and writing connection. It includes helpful examples for the student. It will work well for entry-level students since it covers many topics that may be unfamiliar to a new student, whether first-generation or international. It seems to be sensitive to students' needs and responsive to potential areas of confusion. Both the online and PDF version have limited graphics, but those presented are helpful to creating understanding for the student. The glossary is limited and does not include links to the original context. The text would benefit from an index.
The text is accurate. While the text strives and succeeds at being unbiased, the neutrality may limit strong dialogue. In a quest to be inclusive, some of the examples seemed forced. In contrast, some of the references -- Goldilocks and Dr. Seuss -- assume the reader was raised in the United States. I did not notice any errors in the text.
The content is mostly up-to-date. As noted in accuracy, some literary references may not be familiar to readers. The links within the online version are easy to access. Since more and more online sources require subscriptions, these links may create a challenge for students who wish to reread articles. One site offers three free articles per month. However, it would be easy for an instructor to change the links to accessible articles. In the PDF version, I found it frustrating that I could not click on a link to read the article or access other online sources.
The text is mostly clear. Some language and references may not be easily accessible for ELL or students with limited exposure to reading and writing language. Some examples include "Goldilocks", NASA, fraught, egalitarianism, flashbacks and dream sequence. While the author clearly wanted to keep the prose simple, there are a few areas that needed further explanation. Overall, the text is accessible.
The online version of the text is consistent. Navigation is easy. The format of each section is predictable and intuitive. Most of the sections present a manageable amount of material. Students will move easily through the reading and writing process. The "check your understanding" is an effective way to end each section.
The structure of the text is effective. The instructor may easily change the order in which materials are used. The online version is more adaptable than the PDF. The PDF does not label all pages, so helping students navigate to different sections may be challenging. The table of contents in the PDF does allow for a quick click to shift to different sections. However, the PDF offers the ability to use the text reader, highlighter and notes.
Overall, I like the organization of both the PDF and online version. The text focuses first on developing strong reading skills, which is a necessary skill if one is to become a stronger writer. The text progresses nicely through the steps of developing these skills. While the text is skill-based, it does not feel this way. There is no busy work. There is a fair amount of application of the skills. The text effectively moves students from personal thoughts to summary to essay to research.
I liked both the PDF and online version. Both have some good features. Images/charts and other displays are not distorted. The text is limited on graphics, a few more might help the reader. I liked the real examples of brainstorming, note-taking, etc. More of these may be helpful to the student. The PDF offers some good features, including the ability to have the text read aloud, the highlighting feature and the note-taking feature. The PDF is more adaptable to enlarging the text. The PDF presents challenges when asking students to find online sources. Adding a link or hyperlink would alleviate this. The online version allows easy navigation via both contents menu and the next section link at the bottom of each page. One challenge with the online version is that when I attempted to increase the size of the font, the contents menu covered the left side of the text. In addition, the chosen font is not good for online reading. Arial would be a better choice (as was used in the headings).
No major grammatical errors were noted.
The text is mostly neutral in its presentation. Some inclusiveness seems forced: i.e. the exercises on audience and purpose. Many of the literary references seem to assume knowledge of U.S. culture: i.e. "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Catcher in the Rye", both of which may be standard reading in high school, but not all students will have had this exposure. While I enjoyed many of the chosen photos and other forms of art, there could be more diversity in the choices. The text is neither insensitive nor offensive, but it could be more inclusive.
Overall, I like the text. The structure is effective. It is easy to read and navigate. An instructor could easily supplement when necessary. The text will work well for beginning college students who need structure and guidance to develop a strong basis in reading and writing. I will consider using this text.
This textbook is comprehensive without being overwhelming. For example, it starts from the basics of "What is a Text?" yet also explores various aspects of textual analysis--from sentence and paragraph levels to synthesizing readings. read more
This textbook is comprehensive without being overwhelming. For example, it starts from the basics of "What is a Text?" yet also explores various aspects of textual analysis--from sentence and paragraph levels to synthesizing readings.
The authors present information in a straightforward way, yet the tone feels inclusive for beginning college students.
The writers anticipate and respond effectively to the many questions and needs of beginning college writers. The textbook's readings and examples are current and engaging. "Check your Understanding" questions help students practice the material covered, and many prompts are posed to promote thinking and discussion, rather than having cut and dried answers.
Explanations are clear and engaging, and the hyperlinks connect to thought provoking, relevant texts that effectively demonstrate concepts.
Although written by multiple authors, the book feels cohesive and the sections fit together in a logical manner.
The Word on College Reading and Writing is divided into manageable segments that can be used or skipped as the instructor wishes.
I appreciate the chapter on Writing About Texts that covers the ways students should approach analyzing texts, and I'm glad that this is separate from the Writing section, which explains the various aspects of the writing process for college courses.
I did not experience any major problems navigating within the textbook.
The book is free of major grammatic errors.
In the "Critiquing a Text" section, bias and 'cultural context' are mentioned as points for students to consider, but they aren't explored in-depth. A more in-depth explanation of cultural context would be helpful.
Overall, a terrific resource for teachers of developmental and Comp 1 courses!
I have been looking for a book that covers the full range of topics I cover in the reading/writing classes I teach without overwhelming the students with a lot of extraneous information we will not be covering in the class. Most books either take... read more
I have been looking for a book that covers the full range of topics I cover in the reading/writing classes I teach without overwhelming the students with a lot of extraneous information we will not be covering in the class. Most books either take too cursory an approach to important topics or omit topics I cover, so I spend a lot of time supplementing the text with additional materials. This text hits almost everything I believe my students need to learn about in the class and includes sufficient information about reading, something that I am always surprised to find is glossed over in many writing textbooks, given how interrelated reading and writing are.
I have read extensively on the topic of post-secondary literacy development and did not find anything in this text that concerned me regarding the accuracy of the information based on what is known about how college students develop as readers and writers.
The web-based version of the book includes links to online readings that students can use to apply and practice the skills the textbook introduces. (And the print-based book provides instructions for how to find these readings using a web search.) The linked readings cover a variety of topics and genres, which introduce students to the kinds of readings they will be doing in their gateway college classes. The topics covered in the book are relevant to the kinds of skills students need to succeed in their college classes.
The clarity of the text is one of my favorite features. The information is presented briefly and written using succinct, straightforward language. I believe this is a text that my students will read because it eliminates extraneous information and gets to the point of what they need to know about reading and writing.
I did not notice any obvious problems with consistency in the text.
The textbook lends itself well to being taught in modules, and this is how I plan to use it. I teach project-based classes and will use various parts of the text to introduce students to the reading and writing skills they will need to use as they work on the various parts of their projects. The breakdown of topics in the two sections of the book make it easy to choose topics you want to cover--for example, if you believe your students do not need to learn about how to write a paragraph, you can skip that topic easily.
I was pleased with how this text is organized because, while it includes sections devoted specifically to reading and writing, it takes a more integrated approach to the two. Many texts treat reading and writing as discrete skills, which I do not believe is the most effective way for students to learn either skill. The progression of ideas in the text is logical, reflecting how skills build on one another and the progression of the writing process.
I found it easy to navigate both the print and online versions of the text. It has a well-organized and logical table of contents that allow readers to find the information they need with a click.
I noticed no grammatical mistakes in the text as I read through it.
I had no concerns about the cultural sensitivity of the text as I read through it. It uses gender neutral language to model this for students in their own writing.
I teach freshmen level classes for both ESL students (who have the English proficiency to take college classes) and native English speakers. I believe this text works well for both populations. The text is not fancy or beautiful--it is plain in appearance--but don't let that put you off from it because the information it contains is good and I believe will be helpful to my students.
I don't think that the word "comprehensiveness" is easily applied to subjects as capacious as reading and writing, frankly, but there is a great deal of useful materiel covered here for students new to analyzing and creating college-level texts. A... read more
I don't think that the word "comprehensiveness" is easily applied to subjects as capacious as reading and writing, frankly, but there is a great deal of useful materiel covered here for students new to analyzing and creating college-level texts. A supplementary set of instructor resources (assignments, readings, handouts, etc.) is also partially set up, with the promise of more to come. I am a rhetoric scholar, and wanted more coverage of this field's connection to reading and writing, but one cannot hope to cover everything in one text. Likewise, I would have liked to see more than just MLA citation style covered--so many students will need APA--but overall, a solid introduction to college reading and writing methods.
There are a few content areas that are not as strong as the rest: e.g., the definition of rhetoric in the glossary does not reflect how the word is defined within the field today. I also found the "point of view" section (in the tone and voice section) to be a reductive and inaccurate explanation of how scholars use 1st person, for example. But these are small quibbles: for the most part, the content seems correct.
I found the content to be very up to date, e.g., the information in the citation section on MLA 8th edition requirements. I also think the *quantity* of information offered in each section reflects a thoughtful attention to today's college student demographics that should be mentioned. At the state university where I teach, approximately 80% of our student body works in addition to taking classes, and quite a lot of them work full time. Factor in heavy urban commute times, family or child care, and all the rest, and you have a recipe for students not having much time (or mental energy) to complete long reading assignments. I think the pithiness of these sections is very relevant to their full and challenging lives, myself.
The writing throughout is very clear, as one would hope in a writing textbook, lol. It is quite accessible even for first-gen or ESL students, I believe. I also found that the images of different pre-writing strategies (in the "Strategies for Getting Started" section) added some visual clarity, as well.
The terminology and framework were both quite consistent. Also consistent throughout the text was a tone of respect for the student endeavoring to earn a college degree, which I liked a lot. I loved the section called "Troubleshooting Your Reading," for example, which attempts to take students' frustrations with their college workload seriously, yet still tries to persuade them to commit to the task at every turn.
The units are well laid out, and I could imagine using the smaller sections in various combinations. They are nicely self contained and could be rearranged in many ways.
It is a small point, but I greatly appreciate the focus on how serious reading develops one's skill as a writer, a point the authors make explicitly at the beginning. I think most senior scholars take this point for granted, yet many undergraduate students seem to want to know how to write better without understanding that reading is a necessary part of that development. As for structure and flow, I felt both were smooth throughout.
I read the book on my (smallish) Samsung Galaxy cell phone, just to see what the reading experience would be like on a small screen. For the most part, it worked without any hitch--there was just an occasional (odd-looking) bar that came up at the bottom of the reading pane that didn't seem connected to anything, and it didn't want to go away. It didn't interfere greatly with my reading; I just couldn't figure out what it was or how to make it go away.
The text is clean of the typos and grammatical erors that plague many quickly-written texts, including some of those coming out of traditional publishing houses. This is important for the ethos of a writing textbook, of course.
I saw that another reviewer had commented on this, and perhaps several have, but I do genuinely appreciate the careful and again, respectful tone of the editors' language about gender and pronoun usage in their text. Educators today know that young adults are especially vulnerable at the traditional college age, and some studies have shown that such a simple thing as using a student's preferred name or pronouns can reduce suicidal ideation in teens. So this is not just p.c. terminology from where I stand, but rather, an important point to make up front, which they did. Kudos!
The Word on College Reading and Writing, is heavily skills based and does not seem to be informed (at least not explicitly,) by a larger theoretical framework. This text does a nice job talking about the skills necessary for a beginning writing... read more
The Word on College Reading and Writing, is heavily skills based and does not seem to be informed (at least not explicitly,) by a larger theoretical framework. This text does a nice job talking about the skills necessary for a beginning writing class. The text is split up into two main sections, beginning with a discussion of how students can develop reading skills, something that wouldn’t be appropriate for an upper-level composition course, but provides a nice foundation for students entering the writing classroom on a college campus for the first time. The second section speaks to writing skills and processes. The book includes a short glossary, but does not include all specialized language or terms defined in the text (for example, logos, ethos, and pathos are absent from this list.) There is no section in the textbook that speaks to research in a separate way, but some of the basic concepts of research can be found in other sections within both Part 1: Reading and Part 2: Writing such as “What is Information Literacy?” and “The Paragraph Body: Supporting Your Ideas.” Overall, the text gives students an overview of the writing and reading processes needed for an introductory writing course.
The content of the text appeared to be accurate, error-free, and unbiased. Most of the content included in the text talks broadly about strategies and skills with which to approach writing, and any specific content knowledge included appeared to be accurate and error-free.
Most of the examples given throughout the text seemed to be current. At different points throughout the text, the authors reference cultural examples such as Goldilocks, Sparknotes, Snopes, etc, examples that students would understand and will probably be relevant for at least the next five years. The content also seems to be directed toward reading and writing skills that will continue to be relevant for those reading and writing in college classrooms. Because of the way the book is organized, with each section divided up into chapters and pages with subheadings, it seems like minute changes to keep the information up-to-date would be easy to implement for the publishers.
The text is written with a specific audience in mind, first year college students, and writes in a tone that is appropriate for those students, often addressing the student as “you” and discussing writing in the specific context of a beginning university composition class. As this text doesn’t contain much of a theoretical framework for writing and reading, but rather presents a down-to-earth collection of skills and strategies, there isn’t much jargon or domain-specific language that would need to be defined for the audience.
The text is fairly consistent throughout and makes these consistencies helpful for students by sometimes providing internal links that connect similar or related concepts together throughout the space of the text. There are not many (if any) places where the text contradicts itself or gives information that a student wouldn’t understand in light of the content that precedes it. There are, however, opportunities for bridging connections that could have made the think more effective, especially between the reading and writing sections of the text. For example, in the “Paragraph Analysis” page in Part 1: Reading, the authors describe a paragraph as being made up of three chunks: a topic sentence, several sentences that support and explain the topic sentence, and a sentence that helps transition to the next paragraph. In the section “The Body Paragraph: Supporting Your Ideas” in Part 2: Writing, the authors say that good paragraphs contain four sections, separating the middle section referenced in the Part 1 into evidence and explanation separately. This is a picky observation, but more consistency and connections are helpful when teaching students about being readers who write and writers who read.
The text is divided up in easy sections for students. There are two parts to the book: reading and writing, and each part contains chapters with several titled sections in each chapter. Most of the titled sections are short, but can range anywhere from 200-3,000 words in length. The short nature of the chapter subheadings, and the simple way with which students can navigate through the ebook would make it easy to assign particular chunks of reading to fit with particular course goals and objectives. Longer sections, such as “Finding Quality Texts” which clocks in at over 3,000 words, breaks up the text with headings and bolded key terms and ideas.
The topics presented within the text are done so in a logical way, first discussing reading skills, strategies, and concepts before moving into writing about reading to moving into writing texts as a whole. This mirrors the approach taken within our composition department where the emphasis in the first unit is on close and critical reading and then moves towards the students using these reading skills in order to create a myriad of their own texts.
After using ebooks with horrendous interface systems, I was overjoyed with the simplicity, effectiveness, and straightforwardness of this design. The text has a helpful “contents” bar at the top (or left side) of the screen that allows students to navigate to any chapter and section that they would like to access. The interface also lets students navigate by a forward and back bar at the bottom of the page that lists the titles of the previous and next section along with arrows in their respective directions. The page allows students to choose between two sizes of font to customize their reading experience. The text also includes internal links to other parts of the book (answers to embedded activities, other relevant sections, etc.), external links, and embedded videos, all which seem to work well and give students a more interactive experience with their text.
The text contained no noticeable grammatical errors.
I was pleased to find, in the introduction to this text, a word on the use of pronouns throughout. The authors make a concerted effort, as well as implement including he/she/they pronouns throughout the text in order to make an effort towards inclusion. The text primarily addresses the student reading and their experience with a general “you,” but the authors are careful not to assume all of the students reading share the same college experience. For example, the authors make provision for students who are usually deemed “nontraditional” by their institutions, also using examples of those students who will have children and other outside responsibilities, not just first year college students who are attending within a few years of graduating high school.
The text covers a wide variety of critical reading and writing practices, from general introductions (“what is a text”) to specific strategies (“dialectic note taking) and in-depth appraisals of the components of academic writing (“the paragraph... read more
The text covers a wide variety of critical reading and writing practices, from general introductions (“what is a text”) to specific strategies (“dialectic note taking) and in-depth appraisals of the components of academic writing (“the paragraph body”). In addition to the explanatory material, the text includes appendicies, a glossary, and numerous exercises for students to complete.
The text appears to be devoid of inaccuracies as well as any indications of authorial bias.
The text feels up-to-date and incorporates a variety of textual examples, including many digital resources. The section in “Information Literacy” that provides detailed guidelines for a variety digital literacies, from Creative Commons to BiTorrent, is particularly useful.
The text is approachable and direct, with a clearly student-centered perspective that comes through in both form and content.
Style, tone, and organization are consistent throughout.
Overall, the work lives up to its promise to be a "use it as you need it kind of text." Units are clearly divided into concise sections that can be excerpted and organized according to course requirements and student needs.
The text is logically organized into two parts (“Working with Texts” and “Writing”) with relevant subdivisions within each. I would agree with previous reviewers’ suggestion that the “Information Literacy” subsection might make more sense before rather than after the “Writing About Texts” subsection, but as each unit is self-contained enough to be assigned in any order, it feels like a minor issue.
All links within the text worked when tried, and online interaction was not difficult. There is a nice awareness throughout of all of the different potential mediums for textual interaction, as when graphics using different colors to demonstrate significance come with explanations for those who might be viewing a black-and-white printout of the material.
Text appears well edited, with no obvious grammatical errors.
Beginning in the introduction, where gendered and gender neutral language is explained in clear and concise terms, this text demonstrates admirable sensitivity to issues of inclusivity and representation. Examples used throughout engage with broad spectrums of gender/race/class identities.
This text provides a strong overview of many necessary reading and writing skills. Part 1, which covers Working with Texts, Building Strong Reading Skills, Writing about Texts, and Information Literacy, provides a broad basis upon which students can easily build, and seems particularly useful as an introduction to academic techniques and practices. The definition of an academic text offered in this volume is the clearest and most useful I have ever encountered. Additionally, I find the pragmatic approach the authors take to be refreshing and engaging. Strategies like including both the pros and cons for conventional writing practices such as outlining, or breaking up long reading assignments into sections by dividing the number of pages total with the number of days before the readings are due, when coupled with acknowledgements of the realities of student experience (instead of pretending resources like SparkNotes don’t exist, the authors clearly articulate the limitations of the content they provide, as well as the perceived advantages in using them) help to create a text that feels not just student-oriented, but student-friendly.
This book is very thorough and includes key elements that will help college students strengthen their reading and writing skills. The author concludes each section with engaging activities for the reader to check their understanding of the text... read more
This book is very thorough and includes key elements that will help college students strengthen their reading and writing skills. The author concludes each section with engaging activities for the reader to check their understanding of the text and shares the answers in the appendix as a guide. This is a great way to motivate students to reflect and make meaningful connections to the text.
Information in the text is accurate and free from grammatical errors.
The content of the text is current and includes real-life examples/exercises and other modes of sharing information (such as websites, videos, etc.) that are relatable to college-age students. The reading and writing strategies shared are skills that can be transferrable to other college level courses.
The author has written the text in a way that is clear and easy for the reader to comprehend.
The text is consistent in terms of its tone, terminology, and conversational style of writing.
The sections of the text can be reorganized in any order based upon the course format and student needs.
The text is well organized. The author divides the contents of the text into two distinct parts; the first half focusing on working with texts as a reader and the second half as a writer.
Both the PDF and online interfaces work well.
The text is well written and free from grammatical errors.
Culturally responsive images/photos are used in the exercises/activities of various sections that pertain to ethnicity, gender, age, etc.
Overall, this text would be very useful for an introductory reading and/or writing class for college freshmen.
This book covers all of the main ideas necessary for teaching college writing. I'm looking for a primer of sorts to use to remind my upper-level students of the basics of writing and research for their capstone project. This book has everything... read more
This book covers all of the main ideas necessary for teaching college writing. I'm looking for a primer of sorts to use to remind my upper-level students of the basics of writing and research for their capstone project. This book has everything I am looking for from sentence and paragraph structure to formulating the thesis. I'm particularly impressed with the chapters that are focused on reading. This is an area that my students (even the upper-level students) need to work on. I'm planning on delving into these chapters over the first couple of weeks of class to help them have a better understanding of how to read their research!
I found no inaccuracies in the content and no evidence of bias on the part of the authors.
The content is fresh and not reliant on pop culture references that will be obsolete in a year or two.
I found the book to be a very easy read - the language used is clear and concise and, most importantly to me, there are a lot of examples! Exemplars are so important in writing. There is even a small section on grammar and common mistakes which I am hoping my students will take to heart!
The book is internally consistent - the headings are consistent throughout making it easy to skim through and the text is consistent in tone and voice making it easy to ready.
This is one of the biggest advantages of this book in my mind. It will be very easy to assign certain portions of the text to my students. The sections are often short (which I'm hoping will mean my students will actually do the assigned reading!) and can be used in whatever order I need for the week. They seem to stand alone for the most part so I can assign the one on brainstorming a topic before or after one on reading....
I think the organization worked. I will probably use the chapters out of order though because of my audience (upper-level students) and the assignment (capstone project).
The text is clear and most of the hyperlinks I tried worked. I liked that the authors didn't just rely on hyperlinks though - they also specifically instructed readers on how to search the Internet for a particular item just in case the item didn't work. For example, I clicked on the link for martinlutherking.org and found that it is no longer up. But it also gave me the idea to search "false websites teachers use" which led me to a bunch of other sites that were similar to the MLK one. So I consider that a win - it's a great resource for examples to use in my teaching!
I found one or two errors but nothing major.
The authors did a good job at inclusivity and sensitivity. In the examples, most races, genders, and classes are represented. The discussion on pronouns is current.
I really appreciate the examples in this book. Throughout my plans for the semester I have notes for myself to "find examples of..." Now I don't have to! I plan on using this book to show students examples of paraphrasing versus quoting, writing strong thesis statements, etc. The one addition I would really like to see is a section on APA as that is the citation method we will be using. But well done!
This textbook starts at the very basic level of defining a text and teaching strategies for pre-reading and reading. It moves into annotating and taking notes, and then reflecting on what you've read to discover the author's message. There is a... read more
This textbook starts at the very basic level of defining a text and teaching strategies for pre-reading and reading. It moves into annotating and taking notes, and then reflecting on what you've read to discover the author's message. There is a nice section to help students troubleshoot common reading problems, and then it moves on to a section titled "Writing about Texts." This section covers important skills such as reading critically; using text structures to aid in comprehension; and analyzing rhetoric, sentences, point of view, and word choice. Following this section is an Information Literacy section that covers finding high quality texts and how to avoid plagiarism. The remainder of the textbook gives instruction in writing by explaining why we write, considering audience and purpose in writing, understanding the writing process, and citing sources correctly. Within this section is instruction on developing good writing habits and overcoming obstacles such as writing anxiety and procrastination. The book concludes with a section on grammar and MLA style. The content is comprehensive, but brief in comparison to other textbooks on similar topics. I suspect the brevity is intentional, as the audience for this textbook appears to be those who need a primer to college level reading and writing. Most topics range from just one to three pages long. The Table of Contents is detailed; there is a glossary of important terms; there is no index.
I did not find any errors or signs of author bias in this text.
The content of the textbook is up-to-date. Writers are intentional about using gender neutral language and representing all people equally. There is a website that accompanies this textbook (http://theword4instructors.wordpress.com) that has a section titled "Resources for Class." This has a few helpful resources, but appears to be a work in progress. The authors are aware of how often online links change, so instead of providing links to suggested supplementary resources, they suggest searching for particular titles or key words on the internet. The search terms they provided helped me arrive at the correct materials.
The content is extremely accessible to beginning college learners. Technical terms are always defined and examples are given. "Check Your Understanding" sections are incorporated so learners can pause to determine whether they are grasping the content. "Exercises" are suggested to help students apply the content they've been reading about.
The text has consistent format and a framework that is easy to follow.
The sections are short; many are just 1 to 3 pages long. This makes content easily digestible for those who are still learning foundational reading and writing skills. Subheadings and bulleted lists are used to break up longer sections of text.
The topics are presented in a clear, logical manner that is consistent with similar textbooks commonly used for this subject.
The book uses consistent graphics to accompany features, such as "Exercises," "Pro-Tips," and "Check Your Understanding." Other images integrated into the textbook display properly.
The text appeared to be error-free.
No instances of culturally insensitive or offensive material were found. Images used include a variety of races and ages.
The authors have created a text that is easily comprehensible for adult learners who need to build their reading and writing skills in order to be successful in college. It is user-friendly, easy to understand, and gets the reader engaged in the text. The only suggestion I have is to include an APA section in addition to, or alongside of, the MLA section.
The Word covers all the necessary areas for a first year writing class and beginning writers. This book appealed to our department because our former textbooks were essay anthologies and not a book dedicated solely to writing. We like for students... read more
The Word covers all the necessary areas for a first year writing class and beginning writers. This book appealed to our department because our former textbooks were essay anthologies and not a book dedicated solely to writing. We like for students to read a variety of writing and to study what the authors are doing and how they produce effective writing. The Word contains links to recently published essays about things students might be interested in, such as food and technology. Many of the linked essays appear with lessons on reading and rhetoric while saving short writing examples written by the authors as a way to demonstrate specific writing strategies in the "Responding to Texts" and "Drafting" sections. This is helpful because it allows students to see the different ways the same thing can be written/said. There is a glossary contained in the appendices. There is no index, but the search function makes up for the lack of index. If this were to be downloaded and printed, the lack of index might pose some difficulties when looking for something very specific. But, the table of contents lists every section, so it is pretty easy to find all of the information.
The content in The Word is similar to any other writing textbook or writing website when it comes to the fundamentals of writing (i.e. rhetoric, the writing process, revising, etc.). What makes this text stand out are the first two sections "Working with Texts" and "Writing about Texts," which provide students with clear strategies for becoming better readers and thinkers. There are links to many different articles that help students learn to read and respond to complicated texts. It offers a variety examples rather than templates.
The content appears to be relevant. There aren't references to pop culture that will become dated in a few months or years (such as mentioning fidget spinners or "dabbing"). There are some references to the film "The Hunger Games," which is used to demonstrate different ways to write a thesis, but there are also references to other types of papers students might write for other disciplines, such as art history. Overall, the book should hold up well for several years. I do have a concern about the links to some of the external readings and whether they will hold up. I had issue with one link being broken when I was reviewing the text for adoption, but the link works now, so it appears that the authors check on the text regularly.
It's easy to read and fits the way I teach. There are many short imagined assignment examples to demonstrate various writing techniques, which can help students visualize what they are going to do in their paper. There is a glossary of terms in the appendices, but they authors take care to explain these terms in the chapters, too.
This book is consistent. Despite having several authors, the textbook reads in a single voice.
Many of the chapters are short and make for great mini-lessons that coincide with other writing assignments in the course. It isn't necessary to start with chapter 1. The textbook offers two sections on reading and responding to texts before discussing some of the fundamentals of rhetoric and the writing process. This makes skipping around in the book easy to do. When printed, the book is 185 pages long, so it's pretty easy to get through in a semester. Since this book appears to be written for a first year student, some of the material can even be assigned as a review for most writers coming straight out of high school. Since this book is used at a community college with students of varying ages, from students still in high school to students eligible for AARP membership, this book serves our population well.
The Word flows well and would be a great book for a new instructor to use for a first class. It's a book that can be followed from beginning to end without requiring the instructor add supplemental content. It might surprise some students to see that the first two sections are about reading rather than writing, but most college students are going to be using their writing to respond to what they read. So, it makes sense. There are plenty of exercises and writing assignments throughout the book, which instructors can skip or include. Some of the exercises can be hit or miss. For example, when going over the "Audience" section, there is an exercise where students are to write to a variety of different audiences to ask for $100. It's a great premise, to assign a purpose and an audience, but the audiences are particularly difficult to write for. Many students said they wouldn't ask any one for the money because they felt bad about it. Overall, the content flows well from one section to the next.
The text is easy to read and navigate online through web browsers. There are no problems using it on a Mac with Safari or Firefox on a PC. It is necessary to make sure the window is large enough so the table of contents doesn't overlap the text on the page.
Being a writing textbook, there should be few (if any) errors. I did find one word choice error with the use of "peak" instead of "pique," but I feel comfortable contacting the authors to address this.
This book is culturally sensitive. It does present people of different races, cultures, and sexuality, though I am not sure if it is equally representative of presenting people of different abilities. For instance, the exercise about writing for a purpose and audience (the "give me a $100 letter) includes just about every group imaginable except for people with disabilities. The "Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development of Ideas" chapter has an exercise that asks students to practice opening statements for an imagined writing assignment, which include writing topics about "gender roles", "toxic masculinity", and "race relations" to show that the textbook allows and encourages those types of discussions. I did not see a section on gender neutral or non-sexist language in the book, but the book does provide plenty examples of gender neutral writing. I feel the authors deliberately tried to avoid confrontation of sensitive topics in their reading assignments and writing examples in order to allow the students to focus on the material. This doesn't mean students and instructors can't bring these topics up.
A good introduction to college reading/writing, especially useful for first-year students. While some of the subsections are a bit short, there’s good breadth here. The focus seems to be on what students most need to know and presenting an array... read more
A good introduction to college reading/writing, especially useful for first-year students. While some of the subsections are a bit short, there’s good breadth here. The focus seems to be on what students most need to know and presenting an array of reading/writing strategies rather than going into depth on each one. However, The Word also includes a number of useful strategies and tips I’ve not seen in other, similar texts.
There’s no index, and the glossary is quite short. Occasionally the text refers readers to the glossary for further information but no such entry appears.
The text supplies pragmatic strategies most often based on best practices in composition theory, and it does a good job concisely explaining the reasons why reading/writing/info literacy skills are important, as well as the logic behind what can sometimes seem to first-year college students like arbitrary rules.
I quibbled with a few minor details, especially in the “Learning About Plagiarism” section, but overall I found this text very accurate.
This text is quite up-to-date. It uses contemporary examples and articles that should be relevant for years to come.
The examples of non-credible websites linked to in the “information literacy” section, though, are quite dated--one can tell at first glance that these sites are problematic without having to think too hard about it.
Clarity seems to be a priority here. The style is lucid and truly student-directed. It does an excellent job making terminology from the field (e.g., “rhetoric,” “recursive”) accessible. Paragraphs are typically pretty short, and the text is well-formatted with headings, bullets, etc.
I didn’t notice any issues with consistency. The many internal links from one section to another help unite the text.
The text employs cross-referencing via internal links, but is not overly self-referential. The main sections work well as units, although subsection or “chapter” length in the eBook varies widely--from a few paragraphs to multiple pages’ worth of text. It would be nice if these were a bit more uniform.
The book proceeds logically, beginning with reading strategies, proceeding to information literacy, and finally sections for each part of the writing process. The organization also allows for modular or non-linear reading.
The interface is excellent. Both the online and PDF versions boast a clean, attractive layout. Images, links, and other embedded content such as videos make this an easy read. The eBook interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, with attention to visual accessibility (i.e., an always-present option to increase font size).
As it relies on a conversational style, this text employs sentence fragments throughout--but not so many as to be distracting. I noticed a handful of very small “errors” that either don’t affect comprehension or could actually improve it.
Gender-inclusive language is used throughout. Examples are likewise inclusive of a variety of races and sexual orientations.
Clear, accessible, well-designed, and up-to-date, The Word... is an excellent primer on college reading and writing. I plan to use much of it in my first-year composition classes.
Including and starting with reading is an excellent, much-needed approach to introduce students in how to think critically and write effectively for academic audiences. The portion on writing is comprehensive, clearly organized, and directed to... read more
Including and starting with reading is an excellent, much-needed approach to introduce students in how to think critically and write effectively for academic audiences. The portion on writing is comprehensive, clearly organized, and directed to clear contexts across the curriculum. The reading portion is less comprehensive and focused. I would have liked to see more specific guidance on setting and annotating for different academic purposes, reading rhetorically, and more strategies for reading difficult texts.
Overall, the text makes few errors in content. Though sources are acknowledged, footnotes rather than a Works Cited may have been more appropriate for navigation.
The text seems relevant now and the reading/writing advice seems like it will largely stand. The external links all seem to work. However, exercise directions make good use of externally linked texts so editing more than just updating external links might be needed to keep the text up-to-date.
I appreciated the rationale for many key moves and habits and the explanation of key terms. I also appreciated the accessible, warm but authoritative tone. This tone was especially effective in the writing pages that address anxiety, writer’s block, and writing habits. Purpose and application of some reading pages is unclear, such as sentence-level and paragraph analysis.
Consistently refers to writing as a recursive process driven by purpose and audience, emphasizes revision and feedback in terms of higher order concerns, and refers to texts as not just written/printed work.
Organization of online text into parts, titles, subtitles, and sub-subtitles cuts this text into bite-sized pieces makes the text seem easy to select from and use in various ways.
Having a clear sense of where you are in the organization of the text is a bit tricky. Though each chapter is listed in the drop-down table of contents (for example, there are no pages devoted to the chapter’s title, so you can link to the chapter title. The chapter title is included on each page, but it’s so small compared with the page title that it becomes easy to lose track of the overarching topic.
The online text does a good job of including and suggesting links back to pages that can give relevant advice and/or answer questions, something especially useful to reinforce the point that reading and writing are interrelated, recursive processes. The PDF versions have a lot of empty space in margins with page numbers only for odd numbers, which makes it potentially inefficient or awkward to read in print.
There are occasional typos, but, overall, few mistakes.
Leads with a discussion of gender pronoun use and makes some effort toward diverse representation in examples. However, misses an opportunity to discuss cultural influences on voice and style.
Introduced as “a handy guide” for all college reading and writing assignments, this text thoroughly addresses the vital aspects of reading comprehension and expository writing. It also touches on effective study habits and student success skills.... read more
Introduced as “a handy guide” for all college reading and writing assignments, this text thoroughly addresses the vital aspects of reading comprehension and expository writing. It also touches on effective study habits and student success skills. The text provides clear, concise explanations with helpful examples, illustrations, short discussions, and “check yourself” exercises. The Appendices and the Glossary are useful. The “Resources for Working with MLA” and “Creating a Works Cited Page” appendices offer condensed, clear instructions with easy to understand annotated examples. In the “Grammar and Style” appendix, the authors point out that their text is not a grammar and style handbook, and thus they pare down to the basics with Top Ten Errors. Their list demonstrates the depth of their teaching experience.
The Glossary includes current terms such as zine, OER’s, and intellectual property.
The text is free from grammatical errors, awkward phrasing, or any other impediments. The sentences are well-phrased; the information is accurate and up-to-date.
The text uses contemporary resources that appeal to students, such as websites, blogs, and videos. It also cites classical literature, which will always be relevant in college studies. The articles in sources such as the New York Times Magazine and Scientific American blog site address concerns that are timely yet unlikely to become quickly outdated.
The skills imparted in the section “Writing about Texts” – such as reading critically, dialectic note-taking, summarizing, and critiquing, are relevant not only to college composition courses but also to writing assignments in other disciplines. The same could be said for the section on “Information Literacy.”
The organization and the modularity of this text will facilitate updating and amending.
The writing is clear and exact. I did not find anything vague or confusing. The word choice and the sentence structure add to the feeling of accessibility. The tone and the approach are appropriate for the intended audience. Beginning the section “Tone, Voice, and Point of View” with an example of a greeting, “Yo! Wass up?” illustrates the authors’ skill in engaging students while providing adequate content.
The text is consistent throughout in its tone, vocabulary level, and exposition. The concepts build logically from one to the next. The relaxed, conversational style of writing makes the text feel approachable
The sections of this text do not necessarily need to be followed in the order presented. An instructor could choose or rearrange them to fit his/her course syllabus. The section devoted to reading comprehension skills could be used in a college preparation course or seminar.
Section titles, chapter heads and subheads are all clear and logically arranged. I did wonder about the placement of the section Information Literacy, which might more logically come before “Writing about Texts” instead of interrupting the writing sequence.
The text uses two color and occasionally three-color pages effectively.
The many links I tried all worked. I am not aware of any problems with the interface or distortions of graphics. The on-line navigation is trouble-free.
The text is free from grammatical errors,
The text appeals to the broad audience of college freshmen.. Literature and articles cited represent a wide range of writers. The photos of the individuals used in the exercises in the section “Determining your audience” represent diversity in age, career, and ethnicity.
This textbook offers the basic reading, writing, and study skills college freshmen need to master for successful higher education. Much of its material is well suited for developmental reading and writing courses. The text can also be useful throughout one’s college career as a referral resource when writing papers for courses in all disciplines. The authors accurately describe their work as a “use as you need it” text. I am especially happy to see that the section on Building Strong Reading Skills does not emphasize reading speed. Explanations and examples are clear and useful. The description of “Ethos, Pathos, and Logos” is one of the best I’ve come across.
Succinctly and with adequate explanations/exercises/examples, this text covers all the basics. I like that it keeps a tight focus on these basics, and doesn't try to do everything (ie, it doesn't get deeply into research writing or argumentative... read more
Succinctly and with adequate explanations/exercises/examples, this text covers all the basics. I like that it keeps a tight focus on these basics, and doesn't try to do everything (ie, it doesn't get deeply into research writing or argumentative writing).
The text reads as very accurate, professional, and error-free.
The rhetorical content is pretty timeless, while the examples like links to external websites for reading or exercises are contemporary--but would be easy to update.
This text is written in precise and clear language, but still maintains an approachable tone that I think would be very welcoming for a freshman composition student.
Tone, vocabulary, and approach are consistent.
I'm not used to thinking about a textbook in this way, but yes, I think a teacher could easily excerpt parts as they fit into her syllabus, or re-arrange sections, without losing the integrity of the text.
The order of topics made sense to me, starting with reading, moving to writing about reading, and then digging into the more complex topics of sustained writing projects. I also like the way the "Back Matter" is organized, and what topics the authors chose to put there, rather than in the body of the text.
I did not encounter any interface issues or errors and all the links to external websites were functional and up-to-date.
I did not find any errors or typos.
I was pleased to see a discussion of pronouns right at the beginning-well done on that front!
The external links are an interesting way to expand the reach of the text, and I thought they were all well-chosen. The websites used in discussing how to evaluate a source were hilarious and very effective ways to facilitate that discussion (the Di-hydrogen Monoxide one, in particular).
I will seriously consider using this text in my freshman composition class.
Not only does this book provide a comprehensive coverage of the entire subject of the differences between high school and college reading and writing, it also gives examples, short discussion questions, and quizzes to check comprehension. It is... read more
Not only does this book provide a comprehensive coverage of the entire subject of the differences between high school and college reading and writing, it also gives examples, short discussion questions, and quizzes to check comprehension. It is split into distinct reading and writing categories, which each include subtopics underneath and all are appropriately and adequately addressed.
I found no content to be biased, and it all appeared error-free. It appears as though the author has conducted extensive research in order to give many different examples on the same topic.
I think the content does a nice job of staying up to date while still discussing past practices that are relevant today. I do not feel like it will become obsolete any time soon. If it were to, it would be easy enough to add updates, without completely altering any part of it.
Perhaps this is one of the best features of the book because all of the content is discussed in a way that a student could easily understand on their own, while
The formatting, terminology, and content is all consistent throughout the entire textbook. As a reader, and teacher, it is easy to understand what is coming next, and to scaffold from one idea to the next.
The text does a great job of this by using multiple chapter titles, and then headings and subheadings underneath that. Each section is differentiated with consistent formatting that allow the user to know they are transitioning to a new section. In terms of technical writing, this book does a stellar job. There are also helpful “check your understanding” questions/discussions at the end of each section, which would prove useful if assigning small parts for homework or added discussion.
Not only does the modularity of this book work, but the organization does as well because each idea seems to build onto another. They start out discussing titles, before going into notetaking at a further point in the book. It is in the order that a student would be analyzing any text they encounter, and this organization would prove useful to teacher and student.
I was actually surprised at how well the interface is setup for this being an online book. Sometimes with the open book library I am afraid of students scrolling too fast, or not going far enough, and missing important content. However, the navigation of this book seems to be one of its strengths because it’s not afraid to leave white space, which helps signal a new topic is up ahead, compared to some other online texts that try to group too many topics onto one page.
While simplistic at times, they are accurate in terms of grammar. I enjoyed the simplicity of different parts of this book because I felt like it could reach even the most basic of audiences, while still holding them to a high academic standard in terms of content.
I had some of my students and coworkers skim over different sections I picked out to try to remain as unbiased and impartial as I could for this section. We all agreed that the examples given could be applicable to multiple different students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or background.
Overall, this is one of the most engaging, easy to access open textbooks that I have encountered thus far. I’m excited to start including even more of it in my classrooms.
The book covers all of the important features of the reading and writing process, including a few sections, like the one on information Literacy and Giving and Receiving Feedback, which are important to how many of us teach writing but are not... read more
The book covers all of the important features of the reading and writing process, including a few sections, like the one on information Literacy and Giving and Receiving Feedback, which are important to how many of us teach writing but are not often explicitly addressed in such handbooks. There is no index, though the table of contents gives a pretty clear idea of the structure of the book and the content of each section. There is a glossary with some key terms defined, though it could be more comprehensive. Personally, I would prefer a more extensive section on grammar than the brief overview provided here, because then I could use this book exclusively.
The content is accurate based on current trends and best practices in the field. Though there are some points and pieces of advice I would disagree with, they are a matter of opinion and debate among writing instructors, and the textbook often acknowledges areas where some instructors may not share the same approach, emphasizing at several points that if students have questions they should consult their instructor.
The content provides relevant examples using articles on current issues or cultural references that would be familiar to students, but none of these will be quickly obsolete and more importantly, the main content does not rely on these examples, so it is easy to swap out one article or example for another.
The book is written in accessible language that students can easily understand, and uses a more casual tone than the typical textbook, in an attempt to seem less formidable to students. There are also attempts at humor which the students will appreciate even if they find it a bit cheesy.
The book is highly consistent and includes many links or references to other sections which will enable students to cross-reference and consult other sections for more detail on a particular point.
The units are broken down in such a way as to be easily presented independently, while at the same time, references to other sections are made, allowing students to read in more depth if they choose to. The only comment I have here is that sometimes, especially in the first half on reading, the sections seemed a bit too condensed. A point would be made, followed by an example, and then the section ends, without any further explanation of how that example supports the point. I appreciate brevity but sometimes my students are not that good at making these kinds of inferences.
It is very well-organized and easy to read while still going into enough detail on most topics.
The interface worked perfectly on my laptop. When I read it on my mobile phone (as many of my students will do) some of the pages presented with the text extending beyond the edge of the screen, so that I had to shrink the size of the page so that the text fit the screen, which made the text quite small and difficult to read. This only happened sporadically, so it seems to be a technical glitch. It would be wonderful to have a way to make notes on a page or bookmark it so that students can identify key sections they will refer back to.
There were no grammatical errors that I noticed. There were a few paragraphs missing a period at the end.
I did not notice any instances of cultural insensitivity or offensiveness. I thought that the examples were fairly neutral, though the book didn't necessarily go out of its way to be inclusive.
I think it is a great textbook which I plan to use in my upcoming composition course.
This text provides a solid introduction to both the reading and writing skills that students would need as they begin their university studies. It has a helpful glossary, and while there is no index, the table of contents is sufficiently detailed... read more
This text provides a solid introduction to both the reading and writing skills that students would need as they begin their university studies. It has a helpful glossary, and while there is no index, the table of contents is sufficiently detailed for ease of textbook use.
The book is largely accurate, and the content seems to be presented in an appropriately unbiased way.
I think that this book will continue to be relevant with little need for updating for the foreseeable future. Because the book primarily focuses on the development of skills rather than content, it would be relatively easy to implement.
The text is largely accessible to the average incoming college student. It provides clear context and explanations for the student without utilizing too much jargon or specialized terminology. It is a bit text-heavy, which might be intimidating for a student with weaker reading skills.
Vocabulary is used consistently throughout. The chapter layouts are also consistent, which helps to contribute to the easy of using this textbook.
One of the strengths of this book is that it would work equally well as a complete text or divided into smaller units. While the chapters build on themselves, they're also very useful as standalone products. This book could easily be used in a variety of contexts with a great deal of success.
The topics for each chapter are logically organized and coherent, The book has achieved an appropriate balance between providing enough information to support the readers while also not losing sight of the big picture.
The book's display is overall very pleasing. The images and graphics used add to the professional presentation and interest of the book; they aren't a distraction. The .pdf version of the file seems to have a small problem with pagination, but overall it is visually very pleasing.
The text contains no known grammatical errors.
The textbook is not culturally insensitive or offensive. The example readings used are largely homogeneous, so someone teaching with this textbook would likely want to bring in examples from more diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.
THE WORD ON COLLEGE READING AND WRITING provides a strong overview of the reading and writing process for, in particular, a target audience of freshman- and sophomore-level college students or those attending a community college. The text is... read more
THE WORD ON COLLEGE READING AND WRITING provides a strong overview of the reading and writing process for, in particular, a target audience of freshman- and sophomore-level college students or those attending a community college.
The text is divided into two main sections. Part I gives advice on building strong reading skills, provides methods of effectively writing about texts, and notes the importance of information literacy in the modern workplace.
Part II begins by establishing the rationale for devloping strong written communication skills and then provides logical coverge of standard ideas surrounding the importance of determining audience and purpose for writing. This is followed by sections exploring methods of generating ideas (freewriting, brainstorming, clustering and the like), drafting and revising, and editing. Part II goes on to cover the eesentials of using sources correctly and concludes with good advice on overcoming obstacles to writing (such a writer's block and anxiety) and generating good writing habits. Back matter includes sections on grammar and style, working with MLA format (the textbook focuses almost exclusively on MLA), and includes a helpful glossary.
The textbook appears error-free and up-to-date with its advice, even in the area of contemporary MLA source citation using the "core elements" approach in construction of Works Cited entries.
Much of this textbook presents time-honored rhetorical information on reading and writing strategies that will change little despite the influence of technology on information delivery. While the textbook does focus on new methods of information exchange, it does not focus heavily on information-sharing via personal websites, blogs, video poduction and other forms of electronic, internet-based communication on the student writer's part. The focus is squarely on the production of classic essays for the college undergraduate classroom.
I particularly found this textbook admirable for its straightforward, conversational delivery of information. I could easily imagine the tone employed effectively connecting with entry-level college students. As an example:
"Common communication models present a sender (e.g. a writer) and a receiver (e.g. a reader) and different concepts of what happens as information is shared between them. But sometimes the purpose for writing isn’t at all about sending information to some “other” receiver or reader. Sometimes, your purpose for writing might simply be to explore an idea or even just to figure out what you think."
And the following example illustrates this tone employed in describing a common rhetorical pattern of organization:
"The comparison-and-contrast method of development is particularly useful in extending a definition, or anywhere you need to show how a subject is like or unlike another subject. For example, the statement is often made that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a criminal justice issue. An author might attempt to prove this point by comparing drug addiction to AIDS, cancer, or heart disease to redefine the term “addiction” as a medical problem. A statement in opposition to this idea could just as easily establish contrast by explaining all the ways that addiction is different from what we traditionally understand as an illness."
The Glossary provides definitions of those few terms ("Empiric disciplines," "Intellectual property" and the like) the target-level student might require.
THE WORD ON COLLEGE READING AND WRITING uses a conversational style carried consistently throughout. The impression is that of a coach offering his listener sound advice in a friendly, helpful, nonjudgmental demeanor. And potentially confusing terminology is clearly explained in easy-to-understand language. As an example:
"Pathos is the fastest way to get your audience’s attention. People tend to have emotional responses before their brains kick in and tell them to knock it off. Be careful though. Too much pathos can make your audience feel emotionally manipulated or angry because they’re also looking for the facts to support whatever emotional claims you might be making so they know they can trust you."
As the writers themselves state, this is a "use-it-as-you-need" kind of text. And they're right. This text could easily serve as a handbook for an introduction to college writing class or as the core text itself. Its divisional strategy would make it ideal for focusing on specific writing tasks or to troubleshoot specific areas for improvement. Indeed, one of its most attractive qualities would be its adaptability. The text is logically organized with ample divisional headings and navigational cues, as well as appropriate graphic accompaniments, illustrations and photos. It's visually appealing and simple to digest.
Opening with an emphasis on the essential relationship between reading and writing and on the importance of building strong reading skills, the book proceeds in a logical order to cover the rationale for writing about texts in a college environment (and, subsequently, the workplace) and then provides strategies for doing so, definitely geared to an entry-level college student.
The text is simple to navigate and even rewards skimming for a casual reader simply interested in improving as a writer. I particulalry liked the manner in which the book uses links to articles and outside source materials external to the textbook itself that students can access immediately, as in the following example:
"Here’s an example article from the New York Times, “Monks Embrace Web to Reach Recruits,” that highlights an unexpected approach by a group of Benedictine monks in Rhode Island; they’ve turned to social media to grow their dwindling membership. Monks on Facebook? Who knew?"
The textbook makes frequent use of external contemporary sources such as this to illustrate rhetorical points. Of course, the potential drawback surrounding such online source material might be the reliability of its availability into the future.
My reading came across just a few editorial typos in the book. ("Th New York times," for example.)
While the main focus of the book is not that of a multicultural reader, it does draw some examples from a diverse perspective, as in the following: "Here’s an example article from the New York Times: “Who Wants to Shop in a Big Box Store, Anyway?” The author explores some interesting differences between the average American and average Indian consumer to contemplate the potential success of big box stores in India and also to contemplate why these giant big box corporations, like Walmart or Target, might have to rethink their business model." The book is in no way culturally insensitive or offensive, though its major focus is not on issues of ethnicity or diverse background. The target student reader here is somewhat generic.
I was impressed by this book and feel it would work well in many freshmen-level writing classrooms. One gets the feeling that it was written by instructors with considerable practical experience in dealing realistically with novice college student writers. I particularly enjoyed the various links the text uses to illustrate its concepts, and often the links are employed across several concurrent actiities to effectivly illustrate a writing process. (In fact, I would even like to see more of this tactic used.) An example:
"Using the same article as in the “Paraphrasing” section (see the section just before this one), written by Sarah Boxer and published online in The Atlantic, I’m going to quote just the third sentence of the passage we looked at in the paraphrasing activity: “Because not everyone who wants the experience actually gets the experience, these works, even if their intentions and messages are democratic, tend to become exclusive affairs.”
Which of these uses of that sentence would be a correct way to use it as a quote in my own essay?"
The text then provides several options to choose from.
I did notice that many of the examples in the opening section (Part I) of the textbook are literary, and many were somewhat older fictional references (Hemingway, Salinger, Ray Bradbury...). My initial impression was that this might be a good textbook to use for a class focused on literary analysis or the like. But the literary focus was not as predominant in Part II.
Overall, I am impressed by this book,and will definitely consider using this it in a future first-year writing class.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Working with Texts
- What is a Text?
Building Strong Reading Skills
- Read Effectively
- Create an Optimal Setting for Reading
- Use Pre-reading Strategies
- Read Efficiently
- Annotate and Take Notes
- Do Quick Research
- Discover What a Text is Trying to Say
- Explore the Ways the Text Affects You
- Reflect
- Troubleshoot Your Reading
Writing about Texts
- Reading Critically
- Exploring the Structure of a Text
- Dialectic Note-taking
- Analyzing Content and Rhetoric
- Sentence-Level Analysis
- Point of View
- Word Choice
- Paragraph Analysis
- Summarizing a Text
- Critiquing a Text
- Drawing Conclusions, Synthesizing, and Reflecting
What is Information Literacy?
- Why is Information Literacy Important?
- Finding Quality Texts
- Learning About Plagiarism and Guidelines for Using Information
Part 2: Writing
- About This Section
Why Write?
- Self-Exploration and Self-Enrichment
- Creativity
- Comprehension and Academic Performance
- Professional Opportunities
- Effective Communication and Persuasion
Determining Your Audience and Purpose
- Audience
- Purpose
- Appealing to Your Audience
- Exercises
- Tone, Voice, and Point of View
Prewriting—Generating Ideas
- Selecting and Narrowing a Topic
- Strategies for Getting Started
- Imagining Your Audience's Needs
Drafting
- Organizing Your Ideas and Looking for Connections
- Finding the Thesis
- Writing a First Draft
- Writing Paragraphs
- The Paragraph Body: Supporting Your Ideas
- Developing Relationships between Ideas
- Patterns of Organization and Methods of Development
- Writing Introductions
- Writing Conclusions
- Writing Summaries
- Paraphrasing
- Quoting
Using Sources Correctly
- Crediting and Citing Your Sources
- Citing: Identifying In-Text Sources
- Citing or Identifying Images in Your Writing
- Handling Titles
- Proofreading Your Work with Sources
- Using Citation Generators
Dealing with Obstacles and Developing Good Habits
- Overcoming Writing Anxiety and Writer's Block
- Good Writing Habits
- Procrastination
Revising
- Higher vs. Lower Order Concerns
- Reverse Outlining
- Editing
- Document Format, Documentation Style, and Proofreading
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- What's Next?
Appendices
Grammar and Style
Resources for Working with MLA
Creating a Works Cited Page
Results for the "Check Your Understanding" Activities
Glossary of Terms
Works Cited in This Text
Ancillary Material
Submit ancillary resourceAbout the Book
Written by five college reading and writing instructors, this interactive, multimedia text draws from decades of experience teaching students who are entering the college reading and writing environment for the very first time. It includes examples, exercises, and definitions for just about every reading- and writing-related topic students will encounter in their college courses.
About the Contributors
Authors
Monique Babin, Instructional Designer in Portland, Oregon
Carol Burnell, Faculty Member in the English department at Clackamas Community College, Oregon City
Susan Pesznecker, Adjunct Instructor in the English department at Clackamas Community College, Oregon City
Nicole Rosevear, Faculty Member in the English department at Clackamas Community College, Oregon City
Jaime Wood, Program Manager for Educational Initiatives at Portland State University, Portland