Writing in College: From Competence to Excellence

by Amy Guptill

"Writing in College is designed for students who have largely mastered high-school level conventions of formal academic writing and are now moving beyond the five-paragraph essay to more advanced engagement with text. It is well suited to composition courses or first-year seminars and valuable as a supplemental or recommended text in other writing-intensive classes. It provides a friendly, down-to-earth introduction to professors' goals and expectations, demystifying the norms of the academy and how they shape college writing assignments. Each of the nine chapters can be read separately, and each includes suggested exercises to bring the main messages to life. Students will find in Writing in College a warm invitation to join the academic community as novice scholars and to approach writing as a meaningful medium of communication. With concise discussions, clear multidisciplinary examples, and empathy for the challenges of student life, Guptill conveys a welcoming tone. In addition, each chapter includes Student Voices: peer-to-peer wisdom from real SUNY Brockport students about their strategies for and experiences with college writing. While there are many affordable writing guides available, most focus only on sentence-level issues or, conversely, a broad introduction to making the transition. Writing In College, in contrast, provides both a coherent frame for approaching writing assignments and indispensable advice for effective organization and expression"--Provided by publisher.

85 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Colin Payton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers familiar ground with a student-based writing style. Synthesizes a lot of the bigger names in comp such as They Say, I Say, Richard Lanham's work, and many other comp greats. I was disappointed that there wasn't more about rhetorical and genre analysis; very focused on mutt genres that may not transfer between classes. Also disappointed that it didn't explain the writing process in a clear way so students could prepare for a university that might not give them time in class to succeed.

It's short, free, well-written, and well-researched. I don't think it does much that is new... But it's also not doing much that is wrong, either.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An open access textbook on college writing by a Brockport faculty. For a short book, it sure took me a long time to slog through it.
Week 30 - AtY Challenge - A short book