Kaleidoscope: Shaping Language, Shaping Identity

Kaleidoscope: Shaping Language, Shaping Identity focuses on “academic discourse,” the kind of thinking, reading, and writing expected at university. Intended to speak directly to inexperienced and underprepared student writers, this text introduces students to a number of genres that are typical at college or university with emphasis on creating thoughtful, purposeful, independent writers. By introducing practical application of modern composition theory, students learn how writing is shaped by the rhetorical situation, discursive practices, and genre expectations and how they, as writers, have a voice that will shape future discourse.

Instructors of first-year composition can use the textbook to engage inexperienced writers and motivate them to embrace writing. “Starred Thoughts” are peppered throughout the textbooks with encouragement, insider-information, and further explanation about the “why” writers write the ways they do at university.

Students begin their journey with a mini-Memoir and progress through more nuanced and “academic” writing (i.e., Reviews, Rhetorical Analysis, Literary Analysis, Visual Analysis) and end with the Argument-Synthesis that brings together academic research, visual and literary analysis, and argument. Students are provided with activities that engage them in a writing process, research methods that are defined by the genre and authorial purpose, and a number of tools that will help them discover their best practices for writing in each genre. Students are provided a list and explanation of the expected characteristics for each genre under study, an explanation of how to write their own essay, peer-review guiding questions, and reflective writing journals.

Appendices include 2016 MLA updated “Citation Know How” as well as APA documentation style guides, assistance with annotating source materials, teamwork logs, and approaches to ethics to complement a discussion of plagiarism and academic integrity.