Convenient and Affordable Format. Part of the Writing Essentials Online product family, Real Writing Essentials offers what is essential for the paragraph-to-essay-level course in a concise, affordable, and easy-to-carry format. Targeted instructional content highlights what students need to know about paragraphs and essays:

• writing process
• paragraph unity
• patterns of development
• cohesion
• grammar needed for effective editing.

Coverage of Critical Thinking and Reading. Chapter 1 discusses the importance of thinking critically as you read and identifying and questioning the assumptions and biases of both the reader and writer. It also outlines the steps in the Critical Reading Process (2PR): preview, read, pause, and review, provides students with strategies and practice for each step, and explains how to paraphrase and summarize effectively and write critically about readings. This focus on reading and thinking critically is displayed throughout the text.

Coverage of Writing Using Patterns and Research. Chapters 5–13 address structuring paragraphs and essays using different patterns of organization, including argument. Chapter 14 provides basic information on developing a research question, finding, evaluating, and synthesizing sources, and using MLA to cite and document sources. It also includes guidelines for writing a researched paper.

A Blend of Authentic Academic and Professional Writing Examples. Samples of real students’ writing demonstrate the concepts covered and give students confidence that good writing skills are achievable and relevant. Additional examples from workplace communications and professional publications emphasize the relevance of patterns of organization for the real-world and academic success.

Four Basics Boxes. To present writing skills in manageable increments, these boxes break down the essentials of topics such as revision, good paragraphs, and cause-and-effect writing. The Four Basics approach to complex composition topics helps students target, remember, and apply concepts without feeling overwhelmed by them. For the rhetorical modes, the Four Basics boxes remind students of key concepts applicable to all good writing: a main point, major supporting points, effective use of detail, and a logical organization.

Visual Comparisons of Paragraphs and Essays. For each rhetorical mode, Real Writing Essentials provides a side-by-side annotated example of a paragraph and an essay to emphasize the structural similarities between them.

Checklists. Checklists throughout the text help novice writers know when a piece of writing is finished and ready for submission or distribution to a real-world audience.

Focus on the Four Most Serious Errors. Real Writing Essentials concentrates first on the four types of grammatical errors that matter most: fragments, run-ons, errors in subject-verb agreement, and errors of verb tense and form. Once students master these four topics and start building their editing skills, they are better prepared to tackle the grammar errors treated in later chapters.

Find and Fix Boxes. Real Writing Essentials includes concise, step-by-step instructions for fixing common problems in grammar and punctuation. Find and fix boxes walk students through the editing process, from identification of a problem to a solution, with examples.