Ways of Reading [with MLA Quick Reference Card]

by David Bartholomae, Barbara Fister, Anthony Petrosky

In the late 1970s, instructors at the University of Pittsburgh recognized that students were entering the school unprepared for the rigors of academic life. The university’s response was to develop a course offering challenging material — readings requiring serious attention — along with a method of reading and rereading that helped students learn to read and think critically and respond in writing. That course proved enormously successful, and its materials and methods were published as Ways of Reading. Often imitated — but never duplicated — Ways of Reading has for over twenty years profoundly influenced the teaching of writing. It continues to offer students and instructors a uniquely exciting and challenging approach to first-year composition, integrating reading, writing, and critical thinking with an unparalleled selection of readings and editorial features. Ways of Reading helps students develop the necessary intellectual skills for college-level academic work while engaging them in conversations with key academic and cultural texts. It bridges the gap between contemporary critical theory and composition so that instructors can connect their own scholarly work with their teaching. Adopted and readopted from coast to coast in a wide variety of schools, hundreds of instructors and thousands of students confirm that it works.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Teaching, Reference, Essays, Anthologies, Grad School

Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a college level textbook that I found after moving and have no idea when or where I picked it up. The essays contained in it are wonderful; James Baldwin, Walter Benjamin, John Berger and Adrienne Rich are just a few of the contributors. It will take me some time to finish this because the essays require reading, re-reading, reading again and thinking through the arguments. The essays are not new or recently composed, some of you may be familiar with them already, but I had read only two: "Notes of a Native Son" by Baldwin and "Ways of Seeing" by Berger. Both of these set(in my humble opinion) a high standard that is met by the others in the collection. Since you can tell I'm already deeply drawn into this anthology, you know I unequivocally recommend it but it'll have to wait till I finish Reamde.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Best anthology to teach freshman composition, though it is very likely that the freshmen think it's the worst.

Selections are long and difficult, compared to other similar texts. Most of the selections are leftwing, though the average freshmen won't be able to identify the politics, even where, for instance, someone like Foucault cites Marx or Berger works directly with Benjamin.

[erl · Rating 1 out of 5]

maybe one or two worthwhile essays in the whole book.

[John Fitzgerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh! Sucks the life out of some the greatest thinkers of our time.

[Dzah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It doesn't pander to an audience but rather assumes they already have half a brain when they approach the text, that you're capable of forming your own opinion. Hence, it can then continue to guide through additional readings. Many an interesting discussion has arisen from this book.

[michelle nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

My college writing 1 class is using this book, and I have to say, the readings provided are quite challenging. These essays are not something you can easily skim over and say, "yay, I'm done." Many of these essays require you to go back and read it again for a second time to better understand the material and to catch what you didn't catch the first time you read it.

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A radical approach to teaching composition--at least in contrast to the prevailing views. Sometimes I miss teaching from it even though I understand the problems with the approach. Maybe, at some point, I will go back to it simply for the hell of it.

[StrangeBedfellows · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an easy or enjoyable read, but then that is sort of the point. This text helps you to become a discriminating, active reader and, subsequently, how to apply that skill to your own writing. So, though I hated every second of assigned reading out of this, I appreciate the lessons imparted.

[Some Small Silence · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only book that Hopkins and ECC agreed on. This is probably the most interesting collection of essays I've ever seen.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand why we used this text in my writing class, but the essays we did read from this selection were not very interesting and I found it hard to fully engage with this text.

[Em · Rating 4 out of 5]

definitely a college-level collection of texts, but highlights an excellent process used at CUNY for writing practice that grows out of critical reading.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this to supplement my assigned reading text--to make it more interesting. Nice book, would have been helpful had we moved more quickly through the basics.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this would be an interesting book for my beginning writing class, so I used it to supplement the class materials. Quite helpful.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get ready for some deep thinking. These essays are a challenge, but most are worthy of the effort. You will never be without a response or thought of some kind.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being a reader targeted towards first-year writers, this anthology proves rich for anyone who has scholarly interests and wishes to engage with a variety of theories relating to identity, education, and writing. Most of the entries are fantastic and find their way consistently into a draft of my Master's thesis for Teaching of Writing, and although there are a few that seem out of place, like "Gene Hackers," the anthology is still of a high caliber given its intended purpose.

[Mills College Library]

808.0427 B287w 2008