Writing and Revising: A Portable Guide

by X.J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy, Marcia F. Muth

In response to requests from instructors and students for a concise and affordable writing guide, Writing and Revising offers a true alternative to larger and more expensive texts. Adapted from the successful The Bedford Guide for College Writers , it's flexible enough to be used in a variety of courses, as a classroom text or as a quick reference. Whether students are writing brief papers or more complicated essays drawing on multiple sources, Writing and Revising can help.

Genres: Writing, School

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 19, 2006

Reviews

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

For every writer. I like this because it's like carrying a reminder summary of the basics. It's brief and to the point about stuff you don't need a lot of detail on: generating ideas, drafting, editing, paragraphing, and so on. Also, the brief passages--which are nicely laid out with generous subheadings for quick finding--are cross referenced to other chapters for additional info. if you need it. Bottom line, I like this because it's brief (who wants to go into detail about this stuff? hell! I just want to write) and it's portable. Great to have at hand at home or on the go.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not normally enthralled with reading a book on revising a thesis or taking the time to think of additional sources for materials. What I loved about this book, though, is that it really is "A Portable Guide." I loved the checklists so that I can double check myself before I turn in a paper and since using them, I've had to do a lot less revising at 2:00 a.m. Definitely worth a read...

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot to recommend in this slim but comprehensive volume, but I'm not sure what the best audience for it is. This is to say, I doubt very much that undergraduates would have the patience for how dry and "manual-like" it is. However, as a teacher of writing, I found it chock-full of great ideas and explanations for parts of the writing process that can be difficult to parse.

[Yalda Aghazadeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book.