Fields of Reading: Motives for Writing

by Nancy R. Comley, David Hamilton, Carl H. Klaus

Fields of Reading draws on the major divisions of the curriculum — arts and humanities, social sciences and public affairs, and sciences — to present well-crafted and high-quality writing from these fields. Chosen by six editors who are all distinguished teachers and writers, the selections progress from individual essays to paired texts to casebooks that contain multiple readings on an engaging topic. Students are thus exposed to important readings — and conversations — by key voices in contemporary intellectual life — and asked to engage in the kind of reading, writing, and cross-curricular thinking they encounter in college. An additional emphasis on rhetorical purpose (reflecting, reporting, explaining, and arguing), helps students understand how subject, intent, and audience influence the form and style of their own writing.

Genres: Writing, Textbooks, Nonfiction

864 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

About the author

Professor and Chair of the English Department at Queens College, City University of New York. In addition to Fields, she has co-edited The Practice of Writing and Text Book for Bedford/St. Martin's, and is co-author with Robert Scholes of Hemingway's Genders (Yale UP).

She is an established expert, often writing on modernist literature, composition, and Hemingway.

Reviews

[CAITLIN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good resource with examples of different styles of writing.