The Brief Penguin Handbook

by Lester Faigley

In The Penguin Handbook, Brief Edition , Faigley rethinks the way handbooks present information and ideas with a reference that's tailored for today's visually and technologically oriented students. Drawing on student feedback and a wealth of classroom experience to design a handbook that gives students the information they need in a format they will actually use, The Penguin Handbook, Brief Edition, addresses the changing nature of today's students as well as today's writing assignments. This text uses unique, “at-a-glance” documentation pages to help students visually understand how to cite sources, while “Common Errors” boxes for grammar and style help students identify the building blocks necessary for academic writing so that they can successfully employ them in their work. Additional visuals throughout the text help students with everything from how to construct a descriptive paragraph to understanding how visual information can be used in a paper, presentation, or Website. The Penguin Handbook, Brief Edition, makes major advances over existing handbooks by broadening the context of communication, including concise, practical discussions of verbal and visual texts as well as detailed coverage of writing in its many forms. While an emphasis on the process of academic writing and research is maintained throughout, the book and its Website also include coverage of non-fiction genres―brochures, magazine articles, and letters of application―that are used more typically outside the classroom. In addition, The Penguin Handbook is the first handbook to combine this coverage with three purposes of reflective, informative, and persuasive writing. Throughout, Lester Faigley's expertise in matters relating to technology is consistently evident, including integrated references to the text's comprehensive and meticulously constructed Web site.

Genres: Reference, Writing, Language, Textbooks, Nonfiction

Spiral-bound

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Rebekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to use this book for my college writing course and i actually enjoyed reading it. It helped a lot to improve my skills.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Double plus good

When I went through school all we had were drills and more drills. My participle was dangling all the time. By the time I got to college, we branched out with such things as “Aims of Discourse” and broke free of trying to force U.S. English into old Latin. Infinitives were made to be split.

But nothing in my formal education has prepared me for this animal. Yep, now we can look at writing in a new way. The first chapter gives it away as “Composing in a Visual Era.”

I looked at both the hardback and paperback versions. I found the paperback to be too unwieldy. I evaluated the book in places where I knew the information and it was confirmed. So, I feel comfortable learning added information. The book is more geared to research and documentation from the web vs. my trusty dusty library.

Even if you are a professional there are plenty of eye-openers in this book. I wish I had stumbled upon it earlier. Oh well better late than never (cliché time)

[Jenny]

This is the handbook my freshmen use, so it's on the desk, too.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like assigning readings from this for my students, that is. Reading myself ... it's not bad.