Douglas Downs

Elizabeth Wardle

Since its initial publication, Writing about Writing has empowered tens of thousands of students to investigate assumptions about writing and to explore how writing works. It does so by making writing itself the subject of inquiry. Unique to Wardle and Downs' approach, the text presents "threshold concepts" about writing--central ideas that writers need to understand in order to progress. As they come to a deeper understanding of these threshold concepts, students are able to transfer their understanding to any writing situation they encounter. This new edition has been refined and improved based on input from instructors using the text. Now with more explicit instruction to support academic writers, a new Part One explains the value of investigating writing, introduces threshold concepts and the notion of transfer, details the elements of genre and rhetorical reading, and offers a guide for conducting writing studies research at a level appropriate for undergraduates. The readings chapters have been updated and streamlined, and as in past editions they are supported with introductions, scaffolded questions, and activities. An extensive Instructor's Manual by teacher-trainer Matt Bryan provides support for teaching with a writing-about-writing approach.

Loose-Leaf Version for Writing about Writing

Based on Wardle and Downs’ research, the first edition of Writing about Writing marked a milestone in the field of composition. By showing students how to draw on what they know in order to contribute to ongoing conversations about writing and literacy, it helped them transfer their writing-related skills from first-year composition to other courses and contexts. Now used by tens of thousands of students, Writing about Writing presents accessible writing studies research by authors such as Mike Rose, Deborah Brandt, John Swales, and Nancy Sommers, together with popular texts by authors such as Malcolm X and Anne Lamott, and texts from student writers. Throughout the book, friendly explanations and scaffolded activities and questions help students connect to readings and develop knowledge about writing that they can use at work, in their everyday lives, and in college. The new edition builds on this success and refines the approach to make it even more teachable. The second edition includes more help for understanding the rhetorical situation and an exciting new chapter on multimodal composing. The print text is now integrated with e-Pages for Writing about Writing, designed to take advantage of what the Web can do. The conversation on writing about writing continues on the authors' blog, Write On: Notes on Writing about Writing (a channel on Bedford Bits, the Bedford/St. Martin's blog for teachers of writing).

Douglas Downs

About

Books

Join the club