The Bedford Guide for College Writers with Reader, Research Manual, and Handbook, 2020 APA Update

by X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, Marcia F. Muth

Combining a step-by-step rhetoric, a fresh thematic reader, a detailed research manual, and a helpful handbook for grammar and usage, The Bedford Guide for College Writers brings together everything students need for first-year writing. Based on feedback from our advisory board, this edition of the Guide has been streamlined to strengthen its focus on academic writing. Expanded support for planning a writing project and carefully evaluating online sources enables students to write and research confidently. Engaging new professional and student essays provide relevant models of writing from sources--the kinds of assignments students will face throughout their years in college. The book’s hallmark checklists help students move through every stage of the writing process, and Learning by Doing activities provide continuous opportunities for active learning.

Genres: Reference, Writing, Nonfiction, Textbooks, School, Research

2147 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Melissa Brogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mine was a bad print, one chapter was missing. The essays lacked depth, but the technical charts were helpful.

[NaTaja · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not useful

I needed this book for my English class, but I’ve wasted my money because there aren’t any page numbers. I barely can reference it to assignments because it’s very random and confusing. Do not recommend.

[Melanie Page · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just to clarify: I have the 2013 edition that, for whatever reason, needed to be re-printed the week school started. The publisher took ages getting the book to the school (it was week 3 before everyone had the text).

However, this book has made it easy to show students that writing is not a thing that has a formula, something I've been working on demonstrating for ages. Why do some professional writers have their thesis at the end of the conclusion, but we're telling students it has to be the last sentence in the introduction? Why does a paragraph have to look like X when some authors have a paragraph made up of one sentence? This book addresses all of that, and gives students LOTS of options. I love that.

I like the way the text offers lots of "Learn by Doing" ideas, or things like "Quick Starts" to do in class. This way, teaching becomes easier. The book makes simple connections between the material and ways to learn it, which saves me time.

My students are struggling with the e-readings. E-readings appear everywhere and anywhere. Students have to log on to a special URL for your class and then put in an access code located in the back of their books. Except the access code keeps telling them they don't have access. This has screwed up more than one of my class periods, as not a soul in the room could get online. The content of the book isn't bad, but the design created by Bedford is just the worst I have ever seen. When I call tech support for help, no one there knows anything about Launch Pad or the differences between LP and LPSolo (by the way, LP wasn't even finished when school started despite the book being published in 2013). This has been a terrible semester.

[L.E. Fidler · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a research manual, there are definitely some helpful components to this one, but it ultimately feels a bit unhelpfully helpful (with its instructional margins - I don't know, I guess I just labor under the delusion that if you're teaching someone in college how to write, you probably don't need pedagogical hints on how to do it...) and dry.

VERY dry.

despite the fact it has essays from people like Dave Barry.

It was a bit all over the place, with its essay samples, citation guide, grammar lessons, etc. And densely heavy. Literally. Figuratively. Ecumenically.

I just can't imagine a college kid cracking this bad boy open in earnest. You feel me?

2.5 stars - informative doorstopper material.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not bad, but expensive because it includes a grammar and style handbook. The writing lessons and strategies are pretty good, but the readings are entirely useless and boring. I could make a better course packet for 1/8 of the price. At least students wouldn't have to buy a useless textbook AND a grammar book.

[Christian Clason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great guide for anybody trying to get through college. I needed it for an English class but I have kept it for reference. If you need help writing your papers, stuck with citations, or are in need of something to ground your papers, get this book!