Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays [Paperback]

Molly McClain (Author), Jacqueline Roth (Author), Molly McClain (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Fastest, Easiest Way to Learn: Schaum's Quick Guides

These concise, quick reference guides are perfect for business people, writers, and students at all levels. Written by top experts, they offer readers the easiest, most efficient strategies to master or learn a new skill. All Schaum's Quick Guides include do's and don'ts for avoiding common errors, handy checklists, and practice exercises for building skills quickly.

From the Back Cover

Great Essays...The Schaum's Way.

Write the kinds of essays that will help you succeed in college and the professional world. Quickly and simply, this guide gives you clear, concise explanations­­illustrated by dozens of examples­­that show you how to:

• Choose a topic, state a thesis, and construct arguments that work
• Overcome typical writing obstacles
• Do effective research
• Learn by example, from successful sample topics, questions, and thesis statements

Look to Schaum's Quick Guides for:

• Step-by-step guidance to help you move quickly through the essentials
• Dos and don'ts for avoiding common errors clear explanations and practice exercises
• Checklists and exercises for skill-building

If you want to master essay writing, this compact, right-to-the-point Schaum's Quick Guide is your most powerful tool!

"...A welcome addition to the library of helpful reference material for written English...It is astounding that so many college graduates have completed their courses of study without having been exposed to the fundamentals of academic essay writing. Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays manages to give serious exposure to those fundamentals in a way that is effective, extensive and easy to swallow."­­James A. Thomas, Dean of Admissions, Yale Law School

"This is just the sort of practical information that every beginning history student needs to know but which, somehow, no one ever bothers to tell them...It is written at just the right level for college freshmen and sophomores, and I think they will be taken (as I was) by your many well chosen examples."­­Mark A. Kishlansky, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of English and European History, Harvard University

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Product Details

• Paperback: 108 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (August 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070471703
• ISBN-13: 978-0070471702
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #86,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #54 in	Books > Nonfiction > Education > Adult & Continuing Education
  #42 in	Books > Reference > Writing > Nonfiction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Too Brief--Essay Types NOT Covered, February 4, 2004

By	"ginazone" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays (Paperback)

I am STILL seeking a general how-to essay book that covers all the rhetorical essay pattern types, even after buying Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays, because this book does not fulfil the promise of it's title, or misleading descriptive information. I received this book yesterday, skimmed through it immediately, and am greatly disappointed.

Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays is only OK as a basic reference guide for grammar, sentence and paragraph structure, with one generic outline. None of its chapters cover the types of essays, such as Compare & Contrast, Persuasive, Descriptive, and so on. This book does not give examples of well written essays, either. Instead, it gives extremely brief example sentences, and occasional paragraph samples only.

One will NOT learn how to write a specific type of essay, which one would expect to from the book title, description, marketing and cover information. I feel incredibly cheated, since returning it for a refund will cost almost half the price of Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays. I would recommend "Elements of Style", "Essays and Themes", or "How to Write Better Essays" instead, as better reference and how-to books on writing essays, with examples, rhetorical essay types and every day applications of essay writing.

Lastly, the book claims to contain exercises for practicing the concepts within, yet there wasn't a single exercise to be found on examination of the actual book. If you already know how to write great essays, and understand the various structure types for essay outlining, then MAYBE this book would be OK as a reference or reminder of a simple concept one has forgotten and needs to look up. Unfortunately, it's claim as a guide to writing great essays is completely false. Save your money.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Quick and Superb Guide to Writing Great Essays, August 2, 2005

By	K. Statler - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays (Paperback)

Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays is a superb reference for learning how to research and write essays. I have assigned this book for the past 5 years, and each year my undergraduates tell me it is the best resource of the class. The book teaches them how to identify a topic, develop a topic question, write a clearly identified thesis statement, and prove their argument through careful use of evidence.

This book also describes how to outline the paper and begin writing, and thus should be required for any class trying to teach students how to construct a research paper. The authors take students through each step of the essay, explaining how to write an introduction, thesis paragraph, the body of the paper, and the conclusion. The authors also teach students how to improve their writing style through carefully constructed paragraphs, sentences and smooth transitions.

The book is clearly and logically organized with many specific examples to help students follow the authors' points. This guide has my highest recommendation for anyone who wants to become a better writer of research papers and essays.