The Rhetorical Process: Strategies for Effective College Writing

The available Excerpts are listed below:

• Table of Contents  
• Sample Chapter 1  
• Sample Chapter 5  

The Rhetorical Process: Strategies for Effective College Writing is a rhetoric/stylebook/reader that guides students with strategies for writing college essays. The text explores how the contextual background for writing "the audience, purpose, and format" affects its outcome as students examine written texts from other students as well as from traditional and contemporary American sources. The stylistic sections discuss how students can re-create effective features from those readings. Thus, the goals of the text are both to help students become more aware of the writing choices used by successful student and professional writers and to help students use such strategies in their own texts.

The text operates under the assumption that students will have a variety of writing processes and will have received a broadly differing amount of classroom instruction in writing and reading skills. This text is unique among composition texts:

• it stresses the importance of context, rhetorical situation, and style for students' effective writing;
• it features stylistic strategies, rhetorical explanations, and readings;
• it provides, in a very non-threatening tone, practical advice and proven tips for improving writing; and
• it offers ample guides for the student reader, including Quick Writes, Reflections, and Staying Connected exercises.

The text offers teachers a wide variety of assignment suggestions, exercises, and examples of readings to cater to each class's needs, and it offers students useful features such as checklists, usage and documentation guides, and ample questions for improving critical thinking. A "Quick Write" feature throughout offers immediate exercises after a section of materials. This clear, concise textbook includes rhetoric sections for helping students understand the contexts within which all communication exists, stylebook sections with rhetorical strategies and activities for improving student writing, writing process sections for guiding students through the stages of writing, and readings from both professional stylists and students with discussion/writing questions for the readings. End-of-chapter material also includes strategy checklists, essay ideas, and exercises. Throughout the text, students will find discussions of current issues regarding that chapter (such as electronic portfolios, online courses, and international audiences). A glossary and index are at the end of the text.