The Student Writer: Editor and Critic, Fourth Edition, a rhetoric with readings, emphasizes a balanced approach to process and product. The Student Writer helps students to discover their own writing process and guides them through the revision process. Many strategies are presented for idea generation, organizing, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading. Students works with various techniques and find which ones work best for them. Some Special Features of the Fourth Edition include over one-third new and professional essays are integrated throughout the text as models for students; new "Composing at the Computer" sections highlight strategies for many student writers in the nineties; expanded chapter on persuasion now includes argumentation; and fresh new design heightens clarity for students.
As a textbook, this is definitely better suited as a reference guide than as a text one reads cover to cover. I appreciate that it is filled with suggestions rather than prescriptions but I do question the quality of many of the readings included here along with the student sample papers. (The grammar section does approach prescriptivism though and does not leave room for other valid forms of English like AAV.) While I do see pedagogical value of student models, I’m of the persuasion that it is more fruitful for a teacher to provide their own models that the class workshops together. If I’m going to have a printed model, I’d rather that model be of publishable quality with innovative critical analysis. My other core complaint is not really complaint as much as it is a warning to readers who use this book outside a classroom that the MLA in this book is not accurate.
Very useful for a college freshman writing class. If you're looking for guidance on writing/reference style (MLA, APA, etc.), it's probably easier to just look up online.