The Longman Writer's Companion - Softcover

Anson, Christopher M.; Schwegler, Robert A.; Muth, Marcia F.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0801331579 ISBN 13: 9780801331572

Publisher: Longman Pub Group, 1999

Synopsis

Renowned composition scholars Anson and Schwegler introduce The Longman Writer's Companion, a truly innovative handbook that offers students a clear view into the role of audience and purpose in the writing process. This compact handbook offers students an integrated discussion of three principal writing communities--academic, public, and work; this exploration of communities encourages students to adjust writing style and purpose to meet the needs of varying audiences. Students and instructors alike will also appreciate the authors' distinctive Read/Recognize/Revise approach to understanding grammar and style.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Preface for Students and Instructors We've prepared this book for people who will be called upon to write for different audiences and purposes, in short, for all writers. We know from experience and research that the demands of writing situations vary in important ways. We know, too, that writers need a range of concrete strategies in order to work successfully with the expectations and possibilities posed by each writing situation. In response, we have produced a handbook filled with advice about writing and revising, creating correct and effective sentences, researching and reasoning, documenting sources and evaluating them, representing yourself as a writer to your readers, and navigating the electronic world - all within three important kinds of communities: academic, work, and public. And we've made this advice easy to locate and use. We hope that you'll find this handbook to be just what its title promises - a true writer's companion. Notable features of the handbook include the following. Emphasis on Writing in Three Communities - Academic, Work, and Public Written communication is a social act, taking place among communities of writers and readers. Whatever the setting, writers need to pay attention to the composing process (planning, drafting, revising, and editing), to correctness and effectiveness in expression, and to issues of purpose and form. Within different communities - academic, work, or public - the kinds of writing employed are likely to vary considerably, however. So, too, are expectations for style, diction, correctness, reasoning, and documentation. The Longman Writer's Companion is unique among compact handbooks in its attention to writing within different communities and in offering concrete strategies to help writers understand and respond to the needs of these communities. While the text highlights the importance of the academic setting, it recognizes writing as a tool essential for occupational success and for participation as an involved citizen. This emphasis on writing for communities appears in examples and discussions throughout the handbook. And the "communities" theme provides a frame for the text - with coverage at the very outset, in Chapter 1, and again at the very end of the text in Section 12. The "Read, Recognize, and Revise" Approach to Correcting Errors It is hard to correct an error if you don't first recognize it as a problem. We have designed The Longman Writer's Companion to help writers go beyond a simple focus on the avoidance of error so they can develop the ability to recognize problems in their work by viewing it as readers do. We pay attenlion both to the importance of following conventions and to the way conventions may vary from community to community. Finally, we provide practical, accessible advice that is easy to find and easy for writers to apply to their own texts. "Read, Recognize, and Revise" Pattern. This unique approach to grammar and usage organizes the chapters in Sections 4 through 7, first helping writers identify problems and then suggesting how to revise or edit to correct or avoid them. Reader's Reactions. These comments, following examples of errors, convey possible responses to confusing or irritating sentences or passages, help

ing to explain errors or flaws in terms of their effects on readers. Strategies. Concrete, practical Strategies appear throughout the handbook, identifying applications of general advice, showing how to recognize and remedy errors or problems and how to select among alternatives. ESL Advice. Integrated ESL Advice sections for nonnative speakers strate gically supplement discussions of both rhetoric and grammar. A Focus on Writing and Researching with Technology This handbook is oriented toward writing in technologically enhanced environments, offering practical advice for students working with computers. The volume includes many examples and suggestions for writing and researching with computers and for making the best uses of the World Wide Web and other online resources. Taking It Online. The Taking It Online feature, located on the front of each tabbed section divider, supplies URLs and brief annotations describing helpful Web resources related to each section topic. Writing in Electronic Communities. Because the vast majority of college students now use computers and routinely access the Internet, the handbook supplies pertinent advice ranging from "Finding an Online Voice" (Chapter 9) to extensive online research strategies (Chapters 42-44). Conducting Online Research. The research chapters (42-44) emphasize conducting keyword searches, tracing research threads, and critically evaluating electronic resources. Documenting Online Sources. In addition to MLA and APA updates for citing electronic materials, Chapter 50, "Using COS Documentation Style," supplies useful advice (from the Columbia Guide to Online Style) for documenting online sources, adaptable to both MLA and APA formats. Thorough Documentation Coverage For a compact handbook, The Longman Writer's Companion offers extremely detailed documentation coverage, with ample treatment of how to cite all sorts of sources, including electronic sources (see Chapters 46-50). Coverage includes chapters on MLA, APA, CMS, CBE, and COS for citing electronic sources in all disciplines. Our COS chapter has been devised by Margaret Barber of the University of Southern Colorado, in close consultation with Janice Walker, coauthor of The Columbia Guide to Online Style. The result of all this attention to documentation is what we believe to be one of the most comprehensive resources available in a compact handbook for helping writers document sources accurately, using easy-to-follow models. Attention to Readers, Reading and Writing, and Critical Thinking This handbook, a compact version of The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers, incorporates the distinct philosophy toward reading, writing, and thinking that helped to make its parent text a success. Attention to Readers. Because writing is a form of communication, this handbook emphasizes the importance of real or potential readers who are present (or ought to be) from the earliest stages of writing to the final proofreading (Sections 1, 2, and 12). Attention to Reading and the Writing Process. Specific strategies help writers develop the ability to keep communities of readers and their likely responses in mind during planning, drafting, revising, and editing (Sections 1 and 2). Attention to Critical Thinking and Reading. Reading, thinking, and audience are intertwined in discussions of the roles and expectations of readers, analytical and critical reading, and critical thinking (Sections 1, 2, 5, and 8). Attention to Collaboration and Feedback. One of the best ways to understand how readers respond to a text is to collaborate with other writerreaders. We offer special practical advice about giving and receiving constructive criticism and about collaborating with other writers, in the classroom or beyond in work and public settings (Sections 1, 3, and 12). Attention to Reading and Writing in Research Communities. The research chapters (42-45) focus on research processes, resources, and the critical reading, evaluation, and integration of sources. Chapter 44 includes analytical techniques such as summary and paraphrase as well as critical techniques such as synthesis and interpretation, giving special emphasis to critical evaluation of both print and electronic resources. Chapter 45 turns to fieldwork, briefly presenting ethnographic studies, interviews, and other methods. A Section on Representing Yourself in a Community In the unique Section 2, "Representing Yourself: Creating Your Place in a Community," we include four chapters that address critical topics in composition today. We link the chapters by calling attention to ways student writers represent themselves in writing-always with an eye toward the three communities. Chapter 7 on critical reasoning shows students how their reasoning and its presentation in a written document affect their readers. The chapter works in conjunction with Chapter 52, "Analyzing and Constructing Persuasive Arguments." Chapter 8 on language choices includes two important issues that arise as writers represent themselves or others to readers. One is language variation, including home or community language varieties; the other is sexist, racial, ethnic, and cultural stereotypes or demeaning characterizations. Chapter 9 on online writing helps students pay particular attention to audience, purpose, and persona in online contexts such as email, listservs, and Web pages. Chapter 10 on document design examines the role of visual information in texts designed for diverse audiences. It features full-color, annotated model documents from standard and online media. Easy Access We know that even if a handbook is at once authoritative, flexible, and up to date, it still must be easy to use. We have paid special attention to the handbook's design, tabbed dividers, index, glossary, and pages inside the front and back covers to help users locate the advice they need. For more on the devices we've included for easy access, see the "Guide for Using This Handbook" on page xiii. Ancillaries The ancillary package for The Longman Writer's Companion is designed to bring helpful resources to both instructors and students. Print Resources For Students Researching Online, Third Edition, by David Munger, gives students detailed, step-by-step instructions for performing electronic searches; for using email, listservs, Usenet newsgroups, IRC, and MUDs and MOOS to do research; and for assessing the validity of an electronic source. Literacy Library Series. Three new brief supplements offer additional models and guidelines for writing in three different communities: Public Literacy; Workplace Literacy; and Academic Literacy. Visual Communication by Susan Hilligoss (Clemson University) features practical discussions of space, type, organization, pattern, graphic elements, and visuals along with planning worksheets, design samples, and exercises. The Longman Guide to Columbia Online Style, by Margaret M. Barber (University of Southern Colorado), is a 32-page booklet that includes an overview of Columbia Online Style with guidelines for finding and evaluating electronic sources and many examples for citing them. Exercises to Accompany The Longman Writer's Companion offers activities on everything from paragraph coherence to comma splices to paraphrasing. Developmental Exercises to Accompany The Longman Writer's Companion by Donna Gorrell (St. Cloud State University) provides practical activities for developmental writers. The Documentation Guide provides coverage of MLA, APA, CMS, CBE, and COS styles in a pocket-sized format, as well as a full sample MLA paper and a full sample APA paper. The Penguin Program: Longman is proud to offer a variety of Penguin titles at a significant discount when packaged with any Longman title. Popular titles include Mike Rose's Lives on the Boundary and Possible Lives and Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. Model Research Papers from Across the Disciplines, Fifth Edition, by Diane Gould (Shoreline Community College) is a collection of annotated student papers illustrating the most recent MLA, APA, CBE, CMS, and COS documentation systems. A Guide for Peer Response, Second Edition, by Tori Haring-Smith (Brown University) and Helon H. Raines (Armstrong State University), offers students forms for peer critiques, including general guidelines and specific forms for different stages in the writing process and for various types of papers. Either Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, hardcover dictionary, or The New American Webster Handy College Dictionary, Third Edition, paperback dictionary, is available with The Longman Writer's Companion. Print Resources for Instructors The Instructor's Resource Manual by Stevens Amidon, Michael DeMaria, Sally Gomaa, Elaine Hayes, Sylvia Shaw, and Bill Spath (all of the University of Rhode Island) includes course design strategies, sample syllabi, writing assignments, classroom and online activities and resources, and much more. Separate Answer Keys are also available for both the Exercises and the Developmental Exercises described above. Comp Tales, edited by Richard Haswell (Texas ABM, Corpus Christi) and Min-Zhan Lu (Drake University), is a collection of stories that college writing teachers tell and retell about their teaching experiences organized around current topics of debate in composition studies and on key issues for new writing teachers. Teaching in Progress: Theories, Practices, and Scenarios, Second Edition, by Josephine Koster Tarvers (Winthrop University) Teaching Writing to the Non-Native Speaker by Jocelyn Steer Teaching Online: Internet Research, Conversation, and Composition, Second Edition, by Daniel Anderson (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) and Bret Benjamin, Chris Busiel, and Bill Paredes-Holt (University of Texas, Austin). Media Resources for Students And Instructors Daedalus Online is the next generation of the highly awarded Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (DIWE), uniting a peer-facilitated writing pedagogy with the inherently cooperative tools of the World Wide Web. This writing environment allows students to explore online resources, employ prewriting strategies, share ideas in real-time conferences, and post feedback to an asynchronous discussion board. As they collaborate online, students are learning to improve the organization, style, and expression of their writing. Daedalus Online also offers instructors a suite of interactive management tools to guide and facilitate their students' interaction.Teachers will also find sample syllabi, teaching suggestions, downloadable transparency masters, PowerPoint presentations, and more, at this site. A CD-ROM featuring The Longman Writer's Companion includes a searchable online version of the handbook with additional practice exercises for students.

From the Back Cover:

The Longman Writer's Companion is unique among handbooks in its focus on writing within different communities. While the handbook highlights the importance of the academic setting, it also recognizes writing as a tool essential for success in life-in the workplace and in the public realm of citizenship. This focus on community shapes the entire handbook-the presentation of writing, critical reasoning, language, online style, document design, research, technology, evaluating sources, and documentation. Community needs also influence the handbook's sections on grammar and usage through the unique read-recognize-revise pattern. This approach encourages students to see errors as their readers do. The handbook then offers concrete strategies for repairing those errors. The Longman Writer's Companion is a practical, easy-to-use resource that helps writers connect successfully with their readers in academic, work, and public communities.

About this edition

• Publisher: Longman Pub Group
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0801331579
• ISBN 13: 9780801331572
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 471