Write Here: Developing Writing Skills in a Media-Driven World

Write Here is designed to teach students essential reading and writing skills, using media examples to help explain academic concepts and provide opportunities for practice. It is adaptable; because it covers the basics of reading, writing, and the modes of writing, it is appropriate to use in developmental composition classrooms. However, it also covers such topics as logical fallacies, rhetoric, timed writing, academic writing, source integration, and MLA/APA documentation, making it appropriate for a first-year or “stretch” composition course.

Many beginning writing students are underprepared and feel that writing just “isn’t for them.” The authors hope to dispel that myth by using media examples and a conversational tone to introduce and teach the material. Write Here provides examples that are interesting to students, while allowing them to connect to the subject matter on a more personal level―additionally, the process of analyzing the media helps students sharpen their reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.

Randi Brummett de Leon and Brooke Hughes teach composition at California State University, Bakersfield.