Customer Reviews

St. Martin's Guide to Writing 6e Short and CD-Rom Writing Guide Software

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I consider this book to be one of the best how-to-write books I've read. I'm not a college student, but a writer who wants to sharpen skills, and I have found many sections of the book to be extremely helpful--the section on writing profiles, for example, and the one on writing autobiographical essays, just to name two. I've also found the information contained in other sections--such as Narrating, Illustrating, Comparing and Contrasting, Field Research--to be invaluable. I'm so glad I came across this book! I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a detailed plan for learning to be an excellent writer.

I am a teacher of writing at middle school. I use this text book myself to pull-out parts of the included essays as models for my students. The organization and information about how writers think and go through the writing proccess is very helpful to students who think they cannot write ot hate writing. (There is not ONE WAY to go through the writing process, despite what most of our teacher trainings will tell us.) The many quotes about the writing process spark good discussions and free up students to realize that even published authors re-work and revise constantly. This is not a technical book, but is recommended for a more holistic approach to thinking about how to write and how to improve your written communication. Also this book helps teachers who have read and use the methods of "In The Middle" with many authentic pieces of writing, beyond what is in that book.

I also teach "post-secondary English" but I have found the St. Martin's Guide to Writing to be a very useful resource because it gives students (and me) much support for the writing process, interesting readings for writing models and discussion, and, given the current high cost of college textbooks, its comprehensiveness means I don't have to require students to purchase more than one book! St. Martin's includes a writing handbook to review foundational writing skills. Chapters on taking tests and building a portfolio are also helpful, but what I like best about this book is its careful attention to supporting how we write with step-by-step explanations and examples. This care to detail is very useful for my students who are entirely online!

I have used this text in my College Writing class for roughly 4 years, and I continue to like the text overall. I disagree with some other views about the quality of the essays in the texts. The readings on argument are quite good, and they evoke discussion in my classes without prompting. I also like the fact that the text does not have a decidedly liberal bias. IE. They have one essay in favor of same sex marriage and one against it. The end of chapter prewriting activities are also good as are the peer review activities.

What the text lacks is a section on annotated bibliographies, which my students have to write as part of their research assignment. It also lacks a good section on comparison and contrast; some sample essays would be essential in this area.

Overall, this is a good text. It is much better than the dreadful Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing, which is written in a language that most college students do not understand.

My teacher didnot really use it, but it did help me a lot on the essays i had to do. I would recommed this book especially to students wanting to get that A.

i used this for freshman college english but it was barely necessary. it explains a lot of grammar rules that should already be innate in many college students. probably a good book for a foreign student though.

Great source of info, will keep as ref. book. The book has examples and info for every thing that you may write.

I agree that the included articles could be better. They are dry & I find that they don't encourage a lot of discussion without prompting. They seem like "safe" choices designed not for thought but sheer modelling. What I DO really like is the prewriting activities included at the end of each chapter. My students always appreciate all of the writing they have done by the time the draft is due, though I have added to the exercises to make the more in-depth and individualized. Not the ideal Comp 1 book, but certainly not the worst I've used.

This book is exactly what the description says. 9th edition of the st martins guide. I would've bought this book from a random student on campus, but no one wanted to haggle. Now that so many copies have been bought, it is very easy to find one of these floating around campus. Verdict, if you can buy one from a student on campus or whomever, buy it, otherwise purchase it through Amazon.

I bought this book because I had no real choice not to. It was after all required by the teacher of a required English class. Much to my surprise I found it be a well organized, easy to read book that presented an approach to developing writing skills that I think I will think will help me develop writing skills without the usual pain. The book gives examples of the skill they want to develop then guides you through writing exercises designed for that skill. This is helping me to focus on each area in turn. I like the book. I am not usually a big fan of English books but this one will stay on my self long after the class is over.