Designed to be clear and simple, How to Write Anything combines the thoughtfulness of rhetorics with the efficiency of brief handbooks. Through memorable visuals and honest talk, John Ruszkiewicz shows students how to write in any situation €” wherever they are in their writing process. With everything you need to teach composition, the Guide lays out focused advice for writing common genres, while the Reference covers the range of writing and research skills that students need as they work across genres and disciplines. An intuitive, visual cross-referencing system and a modular chapter organization that€™s simple to follow make it even easier for students to work back and forth between chapters and stay focused on their own writing.
This will stay on my currently-reading shelf through the semester. It's the chosen text for the 101 classes I'm teaching. So far, I'm finding it to be a helpful little text. The Instructor's Manual is dream of book, filled with exciting activities to try to get students out of their academic stupor.
I've taught out of a decent number of composition/rhetoric books in my time, and this is probably my favorite. The authors do a good job clearly and effectively presenting concepts--at least on a basic level--in such a way that students can easily follow. Their use of images is effective, including both pictures, and graphic guides to help with things like paper structure or setting up MLA citations. Some of the humor is a bit corny and some of the references try too hard to be hip, but one should expect that from a composition textbook, it's part of the charm.
I used this text for a college composition course and HIGHLY recommend it. It is user-friendly, easy-to-read and good for college students, especially those who are not inclined to write. I have an additional copy of the 2nd edition I'm willing to sell. If interested, please email me at given2fly1981@yahoo.com