Focus on transfer of learning into the disciplines.

Promotes deep learning through four underlying skills:

1. How to pose a problem that engages targeted readers

2. How to summarize the conversation that surrounds the problem

3. How to produce a thesis that adds something new, challenging, or surprising to the conversation

4. How to support the thesis with appropriate forms of reasons and evidence.

Classroom-tested assignments guide students through all phases of the reading and writing processes

Assignments make frequent use of collaboration and peer review.
The Writing Projects in Parts 1 and 2 stimulate critical thinking valued in college courses.
Numerous “For Writing and Discussion” exercises make it easy to incorporate active learning into a course while deepening students’ understanding of concepts.
A focus on the subject-matter question that precedes the thesis helps students see academic disciplines as fields of inquiry.

Easy navigation through the text.

Headings link to learning outcomes with numbered take-away points highlighted as “Concepts” or “Skills” that help students build big-picture understanding through principles that promote metacognitive reflection and give students control over their own solutions to subject-matter or rhetorical problems.

Nonfiction writing appears on a continuum from closed to open forms.

Introduces students to the rhetorical concepts of purpose, audience, and genre and shows why the “rules” for good writing depend on rhetorical context.
The text focuses on closed-form writing for entering most academic, civic, and professional conversations and on open-form writing for communicating ideas and experiences that resist closed-form structures and creating stylistic surprise and pleasure.

Covers of a wide range of genres and aims, such as academic, civic, and professional genres as well as multimodal, personal, and narrative forms.

Explains the rhetorical function of each genre and aim as well as stylistic features.
Range of genres is extended to multimodal texts that combine closed- and open-form prose with visual or aural elements.

Detailed explanations of closed- and open-formed prose.

Show students why certain closed-form strategies derive from readers’ cognitive needs rather than the arbitrary rules.
Also shows students how open-form prose can create pleasurable surprise through purposeful disruptions and violations of the conventions of closed-form prose.

Research is treated as a learning activity requiring rhetorical reading.

The book’s method of teaching rhetorical reading helps students summarize complex readings and analyze and think critically about them. This skill is crucial for summarizing conversations on subject-matter and for any research project that uses verbal, visual, or multimodal texts as primary sources.
Teaches students to understand the differences between print and cyberspace sources; to analyze the rhetorical occasion, genre, context, intended audience, and angle of vision of sources; to evaluate sources according to appropriate criteria; and to negotiate the World Wide Web with confidence.

Flexible structure for easy implementation.

Modular organization gives instructors flexibility in designing courses.
Numbered concepts and skills are mini-lessons that students can easily navigate and instructors can assign in the order they choose. Instructors can mix and match writing assignments to fit course goals.

Parts 3 and 4 include modularized lessons that teach students to develop an effective writing process while writing closed-form, open-form, and multimodal texts.

Modularized lessons in Part 4 teach students strategies for conducting academic research in a rhetorical environment.
Part 4 reinforces the rhetorical concepts in Part 1 and integrates well with Chapter 6’s focus on summary writing and formulating strong responses to readings.
Part 5 instructs students on writing essay exams and reflective writing to promote self-assessment, metacognition, and deep learning.

Fully covers the outcome goals of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA).

This correlation appears on the inside back covers of the book and in the Instructor’s Resource Manual to help instructors plan their courses and prepare students assessments.

REVISED! Part 1 is reorganized. It also incorporates recent research in transfer of learning, threshold concepts and metacognition to help learners apply “big picture” concepts to new rhetorical situations.

NEW! Chapter 1 “Posing Problems: The Demands of College Writing, Reading, and Critical Thinking,” introduces students to the “big picture.” It shows how the threshold concepts of problem-posing, knowledge-making, and rhetorical reading promote deep learning, which in turn promotes the transfer of skills from first-year composition to students’ study of other disciplines and to their professions.
REVISED! Chapter 2 introduces the “Playing the Analysis Game,” which teaches students to analyze an artifact, object, or phenomenon by describing it in detail and asking why it is the way it is.
REVISED! Chapter 3 has a richer introduction to rhetorical thinking as a threshold concept. Explanations of purpose, audience, and genre are now linked to explanations of closed- and open-form prose and the rhetoric of online environments. The chapter also promotes deep learning, which helps students transfer the skills they learn in class to other classes and to future professions.
REVISED! Chapter 5 focuses on non-verbal rhetoric. The persuasive power of document design, images, and multimodal messages is now discussed in a single chapter.

REVISED! Part 2 has been streamlined for easier navigation and includes many revisions by chapter.

REVISED! Chapter 6 includes expanded coverage of summary writing.

NEW! A new reading on Internet trolling with student examples and a model essay replaces Michael Pollan’s “Why Bother?”

NEW! Chapter 9 includes new student examples of informative reports for different purposes and audiences.
NEW! Chapter 10 has many new images and examples, including new mock advertisements and advocacy posters on respect for underrepresented cultures and on environmentalism.

NEW! The section on European impressionistic painting has been replaced with a sample analysis of Haitian-Puerto Rican American Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1983 piece Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) and a painting, Reload (2007), by Native American artist Natalie Ball.

REVISED! Chapter 13 includes more emphasis on analysis in the synthesis process.

NEW! Student model essays, images, and updated examples appear throughout the text.

NEW! Student essays include an analysis of a surrealist painting by Dorothea Tanning; a “summary/strong response” essay examining Internet trolling; a solicited informative report on the funding of Planned Parenthood; another informative report on people’s misconceptions about Islam and violence; a zine arguing for improved museum programs for children; an evaluation essay on PETA2’s Facebook appeal to youth; and two new reflective pieces emphasizing metacognition and rhetorical awareness.
UPDATED! Examples and visuals focus on current issues like driverless cars, gun control, banned books, Europe’s refugee crisis, “Black Lives Matter,” prescription drug controversies, social media, climate change, and others.
REVISED! A revised introduction to research in Chapter 21 increases the emphasis on rhetorical reading and purpose to help students understand research as a knowledge-making activity.
Chapter 24 includes updated information on MLA format based on the 8^th edition of the MLA Handbook.

REVISED! Chapter 26 on reflective writing focuses on metacognition and reinforces the importance of reflection for enabling deep learning and transfer of knowledge.

The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing, Brief, 8th Edition is also available via Revel™, an interactive learning environment that enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience. Learn more.

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