The St. Martin's Guide to Writing: Short (Paperback)

~ (Author), Charles R. Cooper (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The best-selling college rhetoric for over 20 years, The St. Martin’s Guide has an unparalleled record of proven success. From the beginning, Axelrod and Cooper have taken the best of classic and contemporary theory, filtered it through their own and their colleagues’ classroom experience, and then blended the result into a flexible classroom tool. Their step-by-step guides to writing specific kinds of essays were a groundbreaking concept and changed the way writing is taught in American colleges. The course continues to change, and Axelrod and Cooper continue to innovate: source-based writing, analysis of argument, online teaching, and visual rhetoric are some of the focuses of this latest revision. By seamlessly incorporating practical, class-tested solutions to these new challenges, Axelrod and Cooper have once again provided the best foundation for college writing.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

RISE B. AXELROD is McSweeney Professor of Rhetoric and Teaching Excellence and director of English composition at the University of California, Riverside.She has previously been professor of English at California State University, San Bernardino, director of the College Expository Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and assistant director of the Third College Composition Program at the University of California, San Diego.

CHARLES R. COOPER is an emeritus professor in the department of literature at the University of California, San Diego, where he served as coordinator of the Third College Composition Program, Dimensions of Culture Program, and Campus Writing Programs. He has also been codirector of the San Diego Writing Project, one of the National Writing Project Centers.?He is coeditor, with Lee Odell, of Evaluating Writing and coauthor, with Susan Peck MacDonald, of Writing the World (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2000).

For Bedford/St. Martin’s, Axelrod and Cooper have coauthored Axelrod & Cooper’s Concise Guide to Writing, Fourth Edition (2006), and, with Alison M. Warriner, California State University, East Bay, Reading Critically, Writing Well, Seventh Edition (2008).

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; 7th edition (March 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312400535
• ISBN-13: 978-0312400538
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #778,787 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good instruction, February 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The St. Martin's Guide to Writing (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars lots of models from "adequate" to "very good", December 3, 2006

By	Middle School Teacher (SF CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: St. Martin's Guide to Writing (Paperback)

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.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flexible and comprehensive!, September 17, 1999

By	"bethley" (Corvallis, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The St. Martin's Guide to Writing (Hardcover)

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!