Overview

The bookπs tabbed chapters cover: Composing and Revision, Document Design, Sentence Style, Word Choice, Grammatical Sentences, ESL Trouble Spots, Punctuation, Mechanics, Researching, MLA, APA and CMS. The contents of the chapters are nicely laid out on each tabbed chapter and the book is well-indexed as well so students and teachers should be able to easily negotiate and find necessary content. Generally, the instruction in the chapters seems very straightforward and concise. The tone of the instruction is clear and fairly rigid in advising students on handbook issues. The chapters also use colored boxes for ESL, WWW links, Checklists, and other helpful graphic illustrations of guidance. The book is ≥echoed≤ (much but not all of the instruction) at www.dianahacker.com, and it is available in a complete electronic copy of the book that can be loaded and used on any computer. (This feature is importantãin essence, students can buy the text with an electronic version shrink wrapped, use both during the term, sell the hard copy back, and still have A Writerπs Reference loaded on their own computers. Additionally, St. Martinπs has made it clear that they will add their Comment software to our labs if we adopt one of their handbooks. This software helps teachers and students write comments on essays and can link the commenting to handbook instruction.) The comb binding, tabs, and electronic support for this handbook are impressive innovations that have been copied by other texts. St. Martinπs claims that A Writerπs Reference is the best selling text book in college, and Scott Guile asserts itπs the most widely used handbook in higher education in Connecticut. In email to me (3/18/04) Guile wrote:

I cover all schools in CT w/ the exception of Western CT, and Norwich CC.

Of these schools some use a 'unit' handbook adoption (uniform adoption required of ALL faculty). I will list these unit adoptions and the book they use:

UConn: Writer's Reference

Three Rivers CC: Writer's Reference

Quinnipiac: Used Bedford Handbook for years but are piloting books for this year and next. They may pilot Everyday Writer next year. BTW somebody still uses Ref as there was a single class size order.

Gateway CC: Writer's Reference

Naugatuck Valley CC: Writer's Reference

U Hartford: Allyn and Bacon or New Century. Hartford switches their handbook to whichever is the newest A and B offering so they can package the Rhetoric they publish with A and B. However somebody there ordered 25 copies.

Sacred Heart: Writer' Reference

The other schools I cover allow Instructors to choose their own handbook.

Central: Several hundred copies of Writer's Reference ordered.

Eastern: several sections year. (This school has a strong URI connection and the Longman Handbook is done by Bob Schwegler who was a mentor or advisor to a number of full timers there.)

Wesleyan: Offers very few sections of comp but they still ordered 78 copies of Writerπs Reference.

Yale: Similar to Wesleyan, but several hundred copies of Hacker were ordered. Connecticut College: They only offer 5 sections of Comp, but they order 50 copies of Ref.

Fairfield: Several hundred copies ordered per year.

Housatonic: 520 copies ordered last year

Capitol CC: Order about one hundred per semester

Middlesex CC: No orders for Ref, they used a Fulwiler

Trinity: Very few sections of comp taught, but still over 5o orders per semester.

Manchester CC: several hundred per semester.

New Haven: I just started visiting this school, but I think they use Little Brown for all adjuncts.

UConn Health Center: a handful of orders per semester.

So all but two of these schools adopted Writerπs Reference in some capacity. As did SCSU (as you know! actually a total of 108 were ordered at SCSU)

A Writer's Reference is clearly the most widely adopted handbook in Connecticut, by a HUGE margin. This despite an all out assault on our business from PH, McGraw, and Allyn and Bacon last year. (Guile)

Scottπs email makes a good argument for the textπs consistency and could help with transfer students if our committee decided to recommend the text and this recommendation grows to a dept recommendation and works it way across the curriculum. Simplifying grammar instruction and writing guidance with one text may help our generally under-prepared learning population, though Iπm not sure thereπs evidence supporting this claim. However, having one handbook for students during 4 years of college may support the point (or wish) that students donπt sell the handbook and use it throughout their writing lives.

In general, this handbook has a great deal of ≥learning currency≤ and should be a strong contender for our committeeπs choice. Hereπs a more specific breakdown of the chapters:

Composing and Revision

I think this is a good collection of writing advise for FY writers. In 50 pages the chapter lays out basic elements of drafting, from beginning and planning to outlining, thesis writing, drafting, revising and evaluating arguments. I like this chapter because it can be an ≥all in one≤ reading assignment to give students a good overview of the college writing process and it can used specifically to explain most elements of college such as theses, conclusions, and revision processes.

Document Design

This short chapter may not do enough in the upcoming years to include the graphic possibilities of writing but for now it is a good, bare bones approach to what FY students need to know to present their work in acceptable formats.

Sentence Style

This chapter deals with sentence level writing issues in a clear and useful way. I like the use of ESL and Computer boxes to alert students to special issues and extra resources on the web or concerns about writing with computers. The chapter also employs a good visual rhetoric in the way it shows answers to concerns. Added words use a different font and color. However, the instruction is very black and white and more thoughtful students and teachers may not enjoy the straightforward, rule oriented approach to syntax. Nonetheless, Iπve used this chapterπs instruction and writers seeking to understand and develop style find the advice useful.

Word Choice

I think this is a strong chapter because it outlines much of the thinking about word use and choice that we hope students pick up in K-12 instruction. All writers need to be reminded of the instruction in this chapter, though some of the instruction sounds a bit too much like commandments. However, this is a WWW link to ≥Language Debates≤ that helps expand some of the brief thinking in the chapter and loosens up the advice for more thoughtful writers. The chapter is handy because it lists typical word trouble spots so itπs easy for students to look up instruction and find quick guidance.

Grammatical Sentences

This chapterπs fifty or so pages does a good job of covering the major grammar issues most of our students need to address. The advice is up to date and effective. I particularly appreciated the advice about grammar checkers and the way electronic writing is integrated into this chapterãstudents and teachers can easily access grammar exercises on the web and there are boxes that detail how the grammar checker works in particular contexts. The content of the chapter is strong but there is little in the text to encourage readers to enjoy language as they learn it. In other words, while the instruction is competent and effective, the tone is typically dry.

ESL Trouble Spots

This chapter helpfully covers major ESL trouble spots and allows teachers to show ESL students that their language issues are typical. However, it does not classify types of language problems stemming from particular language backgrounds.

Punctuation

Having read Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss this summer I could easily claim that I like the simple and easy way punctuation rules are laid out. Unlike Truss, Hacker doesnπt seem obsessed or too picky, just straightforward and useful. However, some of the vocabulary in this chapter requires a good understanding of language terms and yet I wondered as I reviewed it how many students even think, for example, about the difference between a restrictive and nonrestrictive clause. Nonetheless, the guidance is quickly accessible and useful when student take time to consider their punctuation and seek help from a source.

Mechanics

This chapter is good in catching writing instruction that often falls between the cracks. It covers spelling, use of abbreviations, hyphens, capitalization, numbers and italics. Again, the instruction is rule-driven and very concise and clear.

Researching

Having used an entire text (The Bedford Researcher) to teach the research process, I still find this chapter to be as effective in mapping out basic process steps and highlighting key issues. In other words, its thirty or so pages do a good job of preparing students for a research project and guiding them through it, though I also support this chapter with a lot of handouts and can imagine that it may be a bit brief for some teachers.

MLA, APA and CMS

The documenting styles are explained well and in detail. Each style is modeled with a student paper that is annotated so students can see a ≥final product≤ and understand how to develop their own work to a similar stylistic point.

Concluding Reviewing Points

When I think about this handbook, I think most about how St. Martinπs has made the text one of the most useable books for students and teachers. It allows teachers to point out problems and prescribe ≥cures≤ that are concise and direct. It helps present process-based writing in ways that guide without being too intricate. In other words, I like using sections like ≥Composing and Revising≤ while students are writing an essay because we can easily focus on student thinking and make the text a support text and resource. I think the writing rules are very straightforward and clear, though I sometimes wonder if the illusion of correctness being black and white is helpful to students or harmful. Nonetheless, I recommend this text very strongly and think it would be a good improvement for our program to adopt it instead of The St. Martinπs Handbook.