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

by X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, Sylvia A. Holladay

When it was first published twenty years ago, The Bedford Guide for College Writers brought a lively and innovative new approach to the teaching of writing. Since that time, authors X. J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy have won praise for their friendly tone and their view, apparent on every page of the text, that writing is the "usually surprising, often rewarding art of thinking while working with language." More recently, experienced teacher and writer Marcia F. Muth joined the author team, adding more practical advice to help all students — even those underprepared for college work — become successful academic writers. While retaining the highly praised "Kennedy touch," The Bedford Guide continues to evolve to meet classroom needs. The new edition does even more to build essential academic writing skills, with expanded coverage of audience analysis, source-based writing, argumentation and reasoning, and more.

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

944 pages, Paperback

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!