In their teaching, community college instructors Lynne Lerych and Allison DeBoer Criswell have discovered that a unique combination of humor and coaching helps overwhelmed students successfully master the conventions of academic writing. Now they have translated their experience into an engaging text to reach even the most wary students. Everything You Need to Know About College Writing is anchored by a sequenced, hands-on-approach to teaching rhetorical skills that help students face their fears of writing. This practical method starts by modeling each concept in action, then asks students to discuss and explore the concept together, and ends with an opportunity to practice. The authors’ compelling tone—and presence as illustrated characters throughout the book— keep students returning to the text for more on-the-page instruction. Filled with relevant student examples at every stage of the writing process, illustrated student writers whose progress and thought process the text follows, and engaging activities at when they’re needed most, the text offers a unique way of untangling the toughest writing tasks while helping students to learn from mistakes. Plenty of grammar and mechanics coverage, plus tips throughout, help even the most reluctant writers stay on track. A mini-reader, a brief section on writing across the curriculum, and another on citation conventions appear at the end of the book to round out its robust support for all elements of a writing course in a small package.

The Writing Process: It’s a Journey and a Destination -- The Writing Situation: Context is Everything -- Reading and Writing: Two Sides of the Same Coin -- How to Read? Why, Recursively, of Course -- Prewriting: Where on Earth Do I Begin? -- From Brainstorming to Topic: I Have Some IdeasàNow What? -- From Writing Process to Written Product: You Can Get There from Here -- Draft and Draft Again: Give Your Ideas Room to Breathe -- Successful Paragraphs: Don’t Leave Home Without Them -- Analytical Paragraphs: A College Student’s Best Friend -- Modes of Rhetoric: Different Ways of Thinking -- Levels of Revision: One Step at a Time -- Content Revision: Say What You Mean, and Mean What You Say -- Structural Revision: Does It Have to Be a Five-Paragraph Essay? -- \Editing for Coherence and Precision: Words Mean Things -- Making an Argument: It’s Rational - And Fun -- Supporting an Argument: Just Saying It Doesn’t Make It So -- \Faulty Reasoning: Bouncing the Check Your Argument Wrote -- Engaging the Reader: Oh, That’s What You Meant by “Conversation” -- Research and Sources: The Intellectual Treasure Hunt --Choosing and Using Sources: Do It Wisely -- Research and Ethics: Good Rules for Writers of Integrity -- Writing with Style: Proofread for Clarity and Precision\ -- Grammar and Usage: Make Your Words Behave -- Solving Sentence Structure Problems: Build a Solid Foundation -- Solving Problems with Punctuation: Form Healthy Relationships Between Words.