The St. Martin's Handbook : With 2003 MLA Update

Rating:
Summary: The Best of a Bad Lot
Review: If you are looking for a writing handbook for a college writing class, this is the best there is. Ideally, you should get the paperback, but it appears to be out of print.

The volume wastes little time or space on trivia (web pages, business memos, etc.). The handling of grammar is clear and to the point. Discussions of reading and note-taking, argumentation, and analysis are useful, if not always inspired. Coverage of documentation and research writing is as good as such manuals get, which is to say decent without being fully satisfactory. Much of the pedagogical material interspersed with the rest, particularly about ESL students, cultural backgrounds, writing literature papers, and so forth is very well done.

Unlike every other manual I saw when my program reviewed nearly fifty of these tomes, Lunsford's text is clearly written by someone who understands what students will actually be asked to do in college classes. She doesn't lard the book with a lot of bad Mickey Mouse assignments. Those who actually read the text will find that she moves rapidly from basics (grammar, etc.) into elementary academic writing, which is of course exactly what professors will demand of students. Every other text I read through seems to think that professors want their students to write position papers expressing their opinions!

Lunsford has a charming, clear writing style, and the book is simply and clearly laid out. Those who only flip through it rapidly may think it insufficiently glitzy, but you buy a manual for its content, not its colors.

If you have to choose one writing textbook, this is far and away the best. Unfortunately, that just means it's acceptable, not that it's actually particularly good.

One day someone is going to write a manual that's about 500 pages (instead of 1,000), that's simple and clear and to the point, and that costs about $25. Until that happens, Andrea Lunsford's manual is your best bet for college writing.

Rating:
Summary: St.Martin's Handbook 3rd Edition
Review: This is a excellent resourse for the young writter to get reference how to write up reference and other english grammer. This book helped me in writting up my thesis and papers. This book can be used by graduate and undergraduate students. I recommend every home, office, and research laboratories ,universities should had it on there desk for reference. This is good resourse for International students, involved in any type of writing papers in scenitific journals.