Cover: Becoming a College Writer, 1st Edition by Todd Taylor

Becoming a College Writer

A Multimedia TextFirst Edition ©2019 Todd Taylor

Based on 100 interviews with students who had recently finished first-year writing, Todd Taylor’s groundbreaking multimedia text is shaped by student writers like no other textbook before. Their words and voices—in brief videos and example texts—create a conversation about writing
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ISBN:9780312486402

Cover: Becoming a College Writer, 1st Edition by Todd Taylor

An innovative multimedia text shaped by the voices of students

Based on 100 interviews with students who had recently finished first-year writing, Todd Taylor’s groundbreaking multimedia text is shaped by student writers like no other textbook before. Their words and voices—in brief videos and example texts—create a conversation about writing that asks students to engage with other college writers personally, learning from their challenges and successes. Conceived as a multimedia text, the brief, modular chapters are organized into four parts that support the best practices and content areas in the CWPA Outcomes Statement — Rhetoric, Context, Process, and Convention — so that you and your students have just what you need in one resource to support writing, working with sources, and multimodal composing.

Features

A truly student-centered approach to the conversation about college writing. Becoming a College Writer is based on 100 interviews with a diverse range of students, including first generation and non-traditional college-aged students, and many for whom college doesn’t come easily. What have they struggled with? How have they improved and accomplished their goals? Interview quotes in each lesson -- along with brief videos based on the interviews that inform this book -- showcase a variety of perspectives to inspire and inform discussions.
 
Brief, modular lessons explain the “whys” and “hows” of college writing.  Each lesson opens with a "Why" section that makes a case for why students will benefit from learning particular skills. Later in the chapter, a "How" section guides students through the process of applying advice to their own writing, such as how to organize their paper or how to draw on evidence. “Practice” activities, interwoven throughout, provide opportunities for active learning.
 
Nearly 100 examples of student work in the LaunchPad allow students to explore the decisions of other writers. Organized by discipline and type of writing assignment, the largest collection of sample student writing in any resource enables students to compare writing across a variety of disciplines and genres, while learning from their peers.

  • Examples range from essays and research papers, to podcasts and other types of multimodal assignments.
  • “Analyze Student Writing” exercises at the end of each lesson provide connections between the students profiled in that lesson and the collection of student models.
  • In Lesson 25 (in print and online), six featured students discuss their writing process in detail and explain how they wrote the paper that is also included within this chapter.

A four part organization – Rhetoric, Context, Process, and Convention – supports best teaching practices and outcomes. Aligned to the CWPA Outcomes Statement, the four part organization of Becoming a College Writer ensures that you have all the support you and your students need for first-year writing. Suggested syllabi, called Pathways, are included in the front of the book to help organize assignments for intro composition, multimodal composition, and writing in the disciplines.

“Revising Repeatedly from Feedback” serves as a central theme, reinforcing the importance of revision. The book introduces the key topic of revision at the beginning and interweaves it through every lesson, with a detailed discussion in Chapter 15. The phrase "Revise Repeatedly from Feedback" emerged from an interview with Deonta, one of the students who is quoted in the book.
 
Unique at-a-glance charts break down the complexities of grammar and citation. Charts on grammar include important topics such as independent and dependent clauses, subject-verb agreement, and parallelism. Citations charts cover the basics of documentation in MLA, APA, and Chicago.  This quick, easy-to-reference resource makes information visually appealing and accessible, so that students can get the support they need and get back to writing.
 

New to This Edition

“This book is a must-have book for all entering freshmen students!”
– Cynthia Haynes, Clemson University
 
 “My very favorite feature is the students that we get to know along the way. My students would see themselves in Natalie, Vin-Thuy, and the rest. They look like, talk like, and have insecurities just like my students do. Its different to hear things from a peer, even a ‘virtual’ one, than it is to hear the teacher say ‘lots of students do this or feel that...’ by the end of the text, these students seem like classmates, almost—part of a writing community.”
– Renee Field, Moberly Area Community College
 
“Taken as a whole, and compared to texts with a similar approach, I think Becoming a College Writer is far superior to most of them, possibly all.”
– Michael Donnelly, Ball State University

Digital Options

Table of Contents

A Note to Students: On Becoming a College Writer

Preface for Instructors

Pathways

Part I: Rhetoric

Lesson 1 Writing: Clarify your definition of writing.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 2 Writer: See yourself as a writer.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 3 Audience: Understand and interact with your audience.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 4 Topic: Write about a topic that matters to you.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Part II: Context

Lesson 5 Prompt: Answer the assignment prompt and respond to the grading rubric.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 6 Evidence: Support your writing with evidence.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 7 Genres: Analyze and compare genres to meet audience expectations.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 8 Discipline: Understand that a discipline is a methodology applied to a subject.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 9 Media: Select the appropriate media for your context, and use it appropriately.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Part III: Process

Lesson 10 Planning: Plan your writing process.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 11 Brainstorming: Develop a brainstorming strategy.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 12 Researching: Research before you draft and cite as you research.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 13 Organizing: Organize your preliminary writing according to patterns.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 14 Drafting: Generate momentum in your first draft and keep going.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 15 Revising: Revise Repeatedly from Feedback.\

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 16 Proofreading: Use professional proofreading techniques to help you find errors.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 17 Publishing: Format your writing with pride and purpose.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 18 Reflecting: Reflect on each completed assignment, in writing.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Part IV: Conventions

Lesson 19 Thesis: Focus your thesis through evidence and research.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 20 Introductions and Conclusions: Design the right introduction and conclusion.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 21 Paragraphs: Develop your paragraphs and pack them with evidence and detail.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 22 Sentences: Develop your own active, economic style.

Essentials Video ~ Why ~ How ~ Exercises

Lesson 23 Grammar: Learn from your grammatical mistakes and don’t be intimidated.

23.1 Why you should learn from your grammatical mistakes and not be intimidated.

23.2 Punctuation, Grammar, and Mechanics A-Z

Lesson 24 Citation: Approach citation as a research tool, not as a threat.

24.1 Why you should approach citation as a research tool, not as a threat

24.2 Citation Mechanics A-Z

Part V: Writers like you

Lesson 25 Student Interviews & Sample Papers: Learn from the moves other writers make.

25.1 Why you should study the moves other writers make.

25.2 How to learn from the moves other writers make.

Interview A Nanaissa: Undeclared major

Student Paper A Problem-Solution paper

Interview B Kendra: Environmental Sciences major

Student Paper B Scientific Journal Paper

Interview C Deonta: Sociology Major

Student Paper C Sociology Paper

Interview D Nicole: English Major

Student Paper D Literary Analysis

Interview E Vinh-Thuy: Chemistry Major

Student Paper E: Multimedia Self-Reflection Essay

Interview F Dan: English Major

Student Paper F: Video Essay

Index

Headshot of Todd Taylor

Todd Taylor

Todd Taylor is the Director of the Writing Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. A leader in bringing digital composing into the college classroom, Taylors research investigates how concepts of literacy are changing in response to advanced communication technologies. He has written or edited numerous works, including Literacy Theory in the Age of the Internet (with Irene Ward) and the award-winning multimedia performance piece, "The End of Composition." Taylor is the recipient of both the Friday Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and the Chapman Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2009, he created Take 20, a film for writing teachers by writing teachers and published by Bedford/St. Martins. Inspired by that project, he travelled across the country to interview 100 students about their experiences with college writing. That research serves as the foundation for his new text, Becoming a College Writer: A Multimedia Guide.

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Genre Pathway for Becoming a College Writer

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Instructor's Manual for Becoming a College Writer (Online Only)