Evergreen: A Guide to Writing with Readings (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Evergreen takes another leap forward in the paragraph-to-essay-level Developmental Writing market. In this Eighth Edition, the author endeavors to take an exceptional book and make it even more motivating, helpful, and engaging. Susan Fawcett has thoroughly reviewed and updated the text, guided by the thoughtful suggestions of faculty across the country, and by the academic and workplace challenges students face in the twenty-first century. With its new features and powerful WriteSpace online writing program, the Eighth Edition ensures that Evergreen continues to meet the needs of students and instructors in any classroom environment. Step-by-step instruction, a range of carefully paced practice exercises, engaging student and professional writing samples, and attention to critical thinking are the keys to this text's appeal.

About the Author

Susan Fawcett is a former professor of English and director of the writing lab at Bronx Community College, CUNY. She is the author of two leading writing textbooks, Evergreen and Grassroots,as well as a text for business majors called Business English: Skills for Success, 2/e. In 2000, Evergreen won the McGuffey Prize for sustained excellence in a language and literature text, awarded by the Text and Academic Authors Association. Ms. Fawcett's poetry and nonfiction articles on education, health, and the environment have appeared in such magazines as The Nation, Poetry, Ms., Woman's Day, and Ploughshares. Her formal education took place at Ohio University, the University of London, and Columbia University, with the support of Fulbright and Woodrow Wilson fellowships. Through presentations in the U.S. and South Africa, she has worked to improve college writing instruction, and recently, to promote textbook authorship of minority faculty.

Product Details

• Paperback: 585 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 8 edition (November 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618766448
• ISBN-13: 978-0618766444
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,463 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #1 in	Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > English as a Foreign Language > English Language Teaching
  #3 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Education > By Level > College
  #7 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > College & University

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful text, October 12, 2005

By	FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Evergreen: A Guide to Writing With Readings- Text Only, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

We use Susan Fawcett's book 'Evergreen' in writing courses at the community college where I work, as well as in our Tutoring Center (we also use her book 'Grassroots', which is a good companion at the more basic level). Whereas 'Grassroots' is for those who need help writing sentences and with more basic grammar concepts, the 'Evergreen' book is for those who have mastered that level of writing, and are ready to develop more fully structured themes and essays.

The first unit of 'Evergreen' reviews the basic concepts of the writing process - what is one writing for? Who is the likely or intended audience? How should a finished paper look? Believe it or not, it is on this last point that so many grades have risen or fallen - a paper can be wonderfully written, but if it is scribbled on scrap paper rather than typewritten and neatly printed, it may suffer in grading, just as a letter from a business will not be as well received if it has spelling errors and problems with formatting. (This is a similar introduction to the 'Grassroots' text.)

The second unit looks for explicitly at the paragraph, developing concepts such as coherence, topic sentences, ideas to include and exclude, as well as outlining and revising.

The third and fourth units in this book are really the heart of the writing process. In the development of the paragraph, there are different approaches and techniques one can take - the paragraph can be descriptive, narrative, explanatory of a definition, comparison and contrast, persuasive, and a few other means. These lead naturally into the development of the essay, which is generally a series of paragraphs that are linked by a common idea or theme - some of the same processes that go into the development of a paragraph parallel the development of an essay, and many of the same descriptors above apply to paragraph forms, too. The fifth unit extends this kind of essay development by exploring sentence variety, language awareness and consistency in the revision process.

Units 6 and 7 are review chapters for grammar concepts, punctuation, and spelling. These are really review areas - they do not go into enough depth or repetition for this to be an introductory text, but rather will assume some familiarity with the concepts being presented.

The final section has a collection of reading selections, some from well-known authors and other figures. There are pieces that provide examples for the different kinds of essays described earlier in the book - some pieces are narrative, some are persuasive, some are humourous.

This is a good book to use to become a better writer. It is useful in classroom settings, but might also be used for individual study (such as we do in the Tutoring Center).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book to strengthen writing skills for students, April 24, 2006

By	D. Fitzhugh (Herndon, VA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Evergreen: A Guide to Writing With Readings- Text Only, Seventh Edition (Paperback)

I actually purchased this book becuase it helped give me some inspiration for addtional exercises for my ESL students because I thought that some of the material in the text we were using was not covered effectively. I really like this book, and can be used for high level ESL or native English writing. Easy to follow, well-ordered, and overall a good writing skills text.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, just what I expected!, December 5, 2009

By	Sarah (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

Thanks for book. It has some writing in it that I wasn't aware of, but It's no big deal because It was so inexpensive and used in decently good condition! Thanks.