Writing Matters(A Handbook for Writing and Research)

Writing Matters unites research reasoning, documentation, grammar, and style into a cohesive whole, helping students see the conventions of writing as a framework of responsibilities. The responsibilities writers have…

- to other writers. Writing Matters clarifies the responsibility writers have to one another – whether they are collaborating in an online peer review or drawing on digital and print resources in a research project – to treat information fairly and accurately and to craft writing that is fresh and original – their own.

- to the audience. Writing Matters stresses the importance of using conventions appropriate to the audience, to write clearly, and to provide readers with the information and interpretation they need to make sense of a topic.

- to the topic. Writing Matters emphasizes the writer’s responsibility to explore a topic thoroughly and creatively, to assess sources carefully, and to provide reliable information at a depth that does the topic justice.

- to themselves. Writing Matters encourages writers to take their writing seriously and to approach writing tasks as an opportunity to learn about a topic and to expand their scope as writers. Students are more likely to write well when they think of themselves as writers rather than as error-makers.

By explaining rules in the context of responsibility, Writing Matters addresses composition students respectfully as mature and capable fellow participants in the research and writing process.

REBECCA MOORE HOWARD chairs and directs the Writing Program at Syracuse University. She is co-author of "Standing in the Shadow of Giants" (1999), "The Bedford Guide to Teaching Writing in the Disciplines" (1995), and co-editor of "Coming of Age: The Advanced Writing Curriculum" (2000 forthcoming).