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Strategies for Successful Writing: A Rhetoric and Reader, Concise Edition
Strategies for Successful Writing keeps instruction brief and to-the-point so that students spend less time reading about writing and more time writing. Instruction delivered through extensive examples helps students see what different strategies look like when applied in real texts.
- GenresWriting
528 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 2010
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August 1, 2016
I don't know why this is showing up as the Kindle edition. I read this in paperback. I don't even own a Kindle.
Regardless, here's the problem I have with this book. There's nothing wrong with most of the advice on writing in this per say. It's clearer than many composition guides, and on its own I'd give it probably closer to 4 stars. What I hate, really hate, is the tradition of bringing out a "new" edition every two years. It's a publishing thing, I know, and in many cases it's actually in the contracts of the writers, but it's really just a way to get students to have to buy new books rather than used copies. The changes are almost entirely cosmetic: reworded section headings, different fonts, that sort of thing. A chapter on Mixing Strategies has been removed. In some cases, suggestions for paper topics have been cut in half. A handful of pictures are different. A few example essays have been switched out (Jack London for George Orwell, etc.), all of it just enough to throw page numbering completely off and make everyone use the new edition. There's also a new section in most of the chapters on "thinking critically," which asks the exact same four questions in slightly reworded format every time. My critical thought on this is it's pointless. Yes, check bias, see if there are other options, looks at differing viewpoints, but repeating it in every chapter is redundant. This whole topic is maddening. This isn't a "new" edition, it's the same edition with very, very minor tweaking. There's no reason for it except to nab more of students' money.
Regardless, here's the problem I have with this book. There's nothing wrong with most of the advice on writing in this per say. It's clearer than many composition guides, and on its own I'd give it probably closer to 4 stars. What I hate, really hate, is the tradition of bringing out a "new" edition every two years. It's a publishing thing, I know, and in many cases it's actually in the contracts of the writers, but it's really just a way to get students to have to buy new books rather than used copies. The changes are almost entirely cosmetic: reworded section headings, different fonts, that sort of thing. A chapter on Mixing Strategies has been removed. In some cases, suggestions for paper topics have been cut in half. A handful of pictures are different. A few example essays have been switched out (Jack London for George Orwell, etc.), all of it just enough to throw page numbering completely off and make everyone use the new edition. There's also a new section in most of the chapters on "thinking critically," which asks the exact same four questions in slightly reworded format every time. My critical thought on this is it's pointless. Yes, check bias, see if there are other options, looks at differing viewpoints, but repeating it in every chapter is redundant. This whole topic is maddening. This isn't a "new" edition, it's the same edition with very, very minor tweaking. There's no reason for it except to nab more of students' money.
Displaying 1 of 1 review