Rating: 
Summary: Could be worse, but could be more thought-provoking
Review: A lot of the examples in this book can be quite boring. If you don't know a lot of about editing, this is a good book to read through a couple of the examples. I use it for as a reference guide when I'm writing my Works Cited page. I often get confused on the difference for scholarly journals, web articles, and the various ways to list books.
Rating:
Summary: Useful for writing papers
Review: A lot of the examples in this book can be quite boring. If you don't know a lot of about editing, this is a good book to read through a couple of the examples. I use it for as a reference guide when I'm writing my Works Cited page. I often get confused on the difference for scholarly journals, web articles, and the various ways to list books.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic
Review: As a freshman nutrition major, this book was required for my English 101 class. I found it to be boring, unhelpful, and plodding. The author's instructions for activities leave you depressed and annoyed, and teachers have to jump around a lot to instruct properly.This might be a good reference book, and perhaps even a book for secondary/high schools, but not for a college English class.
Rating:
Summary: BORING.
Review: As a freshman nutrition major, this book was required for my English 101 class. I found it to be boring, unhelpful, and plodding. The author's instructions for activities leave you depressed and annoyed, and teachers have to jump around a lot to instruct properly. This might be a good reference book, and perhaps even a book for secondary/high schools, but not for a college English class.
Rating:
Summary: mediocre
Review: As a post-secondary instructor of English, I find this text filled with "commercial" interuptions. The exercises in the first few chapters appear to be "busy work". On the positive side, the readings that were selected seemed appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: mediocre
Review: As a post-secondary instructor of English, I find this text filled with "commercial" interuptions. The exercises in the first few chapters appear to be "busy work". On the positive side, the readings that were selected seemed appropriate.
Rating:
Summary: Basic
Review: Basic in its approach to writing, this book may be useful for high school English classes but is totally unsuitable for college students. Although it contains some worthwhile fiction, most of the non-fiction pieces are not very challenging for college readers. The text is extremely prescriptive, and leads students to write formulaic papers rather than original and creative college level essays.
Rating:
Summary: Could be worse, but could be more thought-provoking
Review: I agree that the included articles could be better. They are dry & I find that they don't encourage a lot of discussion without prompting. They seem like "safe" choices designed not for thought but sheer modelling. What I DO really like is the prewriting activities included at the end of each chapter. My students always appreciate all of the writing they have done by the time the draft is due, though I have added to the exercises to make the more in-depth and individualized. Not the ideal Comp 1 book, but certainly not the worst I've used.
Rating:
Summary: Could be worse, but could be more thought-provoking
Review: I agree that the included articles could be better. They are dry & I find that they don't encourage a lot of discussion without prompting. They seem like "safe" choices designed not for thought but sheer modelling. What I DO really like is the prewriting activities included at the end of each chapter. My students always appreciate all of the writing they have done by the time the draft is due, though I have added to the exercises to make the more in-depth and individualized. Not the ideal Comp 1 book, but certainly not the worst I've used.
Rating:
Summary: Flexible and comprehensive!
Review: I also teach "post-secondary English" but I have found the St. Martin's Guide to Writing to be a very useful resource because it gives students (and me) much support for the writing process, interesting readings for writing models and discussion, and, given the current high cost of college textbooks, its comprehensiveness means I don't have to require students to purchase more than one book! St. Martin's includes a writing handbook to review foundational writing skills. Chapters on taking tests and building a portfolio are also helpful, but what I like best about this book is its careful attention to supporting how we write with step-by-step explanations and examples. This care to detail is very useful for my students who are entirely online!
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