The Practical Guide to Writing with Readings and Handbook (8th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Simply the Best
Review: The book is so good that I wonder why anyone else bothered to write another book on writing. Stubbs and Barnet are the only writers who practice what they preach in writing: the book is short, to the point, and a joy to read. Why can't the other authors of writing books fathom this simple concept?

Leave it to two educators to explain not only the method of good writing but also the reason for it. They have a 4-step method for revising:

1. Conciseness -- use fewer words and avoid verbiage,

2. Clarity -- use the perfect word for your idea and avoid the vague and misleading wording,

3. Coherence -- arrange your ideas in a logical order and avoid the muddle,

4. Emphasis -- ensure that the important ideas stand out without resorting to such childish gimmicks as _underlining_, exclamation points!, ALL CAPITALS, zonkers and more.

These should be standard topics in any freshman composition course. With any luck they will be.

The book's only shortcoming is that it covers only covers essays -- expository and persuasive essays to be precise. But these steps could help a lot of writers -- including the authors of many of the books sold at Amazon.

--Joe Donohue