Writing Conventions

Min-Zhan Lu and Bruce Horner

Pearson. $40.00

What is this book all about?

Writing Conventions aims to complicate traditional pedagogy which suggests that there is one “right way” to write. Seven chapters interrelate core writing concepts, often raising questions rather than providing clear, structured answers.

How do they want teachers to use it?

Lu and Horner believe that the book is most effectively used when a teacher picks three of the seven chapters to structure the class around. The Instructor’s Manual provides several Course Templates (suggestions of which three chapters to combine and the accompanying assignment sequence) which would be really useful to see the various “shapes” that a class based on this book could have.

Additionally the Instructor’s Manual offers three in-depth looks at how a specific teacher engaged with the book. The engagement level varied widely and, for all three respondents, changed over time.

What kinds of in-class exercises does it include? (Chapter 1 was used as a sample)

  • 2 samples of student writing
  • 10 “Try Outs”—possible group work discussions
  • 3 low-stakes “Writing Projects” that build on each other
  • 2 long assignments

How does it proceed?

Part I: Key Concepts in Writing and Reading

  • Composing Our Composing Processes

The chapter explores pre-writing, brainstorming, proofreading, outlining, note-taking and re-reading.

  • Reading and Re-Reading

The chapter provides a framework for understanding how to look at a text through different lenses, and gives the students experience in several kinds of note-taking strategies.

  • Composing Genres

The chapter suggests that genres are not fixed and that they are instead something writers compose. Encourages students to consider genre as they begin writing by looking for what the class is expecting, and then looking for what areas they can “tinker with.”

  • Vocabulary

The chapter discusses the importance of acquiring a field-specific vocabulary that can be used in different “word environments.” Connects word choices to the way writers think, feel, and live and encourages students to use words critically and creatively for different rhetorical situations.

  • Audience: Composing Ways of Reading

The chapter emphasizes the consideration of the shared reading tastes and habits of particular sets of readers. Challenges students to work to change the expectations of the perceived audience in order to shape them into the kind of readers a writer would like for them to become.

  • Purpose: Composing Goals when Reading and Writing

The chapter argues that purpose should not only be considered in the pre-writing stage, but rather throughout the composition, recomposition, and revision process. Seeks to get students to acknowledge the multiple, competing, and complicated purposes inherent in academic writing.

  • Error: Working Rules

The chapter repositions errors as “matters of agreement” that can vary according to the purpose, genre, and rhetorical occasion. Advises students to avoid following rules blindly and encourages them to recognize the range of alternatives before making a writing decision.

Part II: Selected Readings

The readings offered in this book are from a diverse selection of authors (including James Baldwin, Henry Thoreau, and Sandra Cisneros) and are designed to introduce students to different writing genres, vocabularies, audiences, and purposes. Each chapter provides writing assignments that center around these texts, which keep students in constant conversation with the application of the text’s concepts to different types of writing.

Part III: Assignment Sequences

The third part of the book offers a variety of assignment sequences which could be tailored to different approaches to the course. The assignment sequences broadly connect the readings and the chapters by topic: “Writing Science,” “Writing Society,” “Writing History,” “Language and Self.” It seems most of the teachers featured in the Instructors Manual chose one assignment sequence and structured the course around it & the readings.

How does it compare to Writing Arguments?

One of the major differences between Writing Conventions and Writing Arguments is that the book cannot be used linearly over the course of a semester. Instructors are forced to choose the concepts most important to their goals and dedicate the course to those things alone. Conventions’ text-driven nature also doesn’t lend itself to the different learning styles of students andrequires a certain amount of intellectual curiosity about composition that Writing Arguments doesn’t command. The metacognitive nature of the book is also in opposition with the practical approach of Writing Arguments and it would certainly have to be used in conjunction with another text dedicated to research methods and a detailed explanation of the academic writing process.The authors also offer very opinionated/subjective views of what composition concepts are most valuable, many of which might be in opposition with what students have been taught in high school and in a 101 class that used Writing Arguments.

STRENGTHS

  • Comes with readings--and it’s a diverse selection of readings
  • Anticipates that the students bring a lot to the table and engages with them as scholars
  • A strong focus on student writing is evident throughout
  • Interesting examples of reading activities (for instance, reading an essay by Stephen Gould according to three different schemas and “marking it up” three different ways).
  • Encourages students to become recursive readers and writers
  • Can help teacher to focus more on the aspects of composition that “matter most,” rather than forcing a daily lesson plan or reviewing content unrelated to student writing

WEAKNESSES

  • No visuals
  • Language is not very accessible for the students
  • Daily exercises to review concepts aren’t included—and may, in some way, contradict some of what they’re trying to accomplish in terms of complicating student’s perceptions of writing
  • No real “nuts and bolts” on how to do the writing of a research paper or acquire research
  • No MLA or APA resources in the back
  • No selection of student writings
  • One newbie composition teacher commented that she “taught the book in opposition to the book’s principles”—which I think it would be fairly easy to do. You’d need to be ingrained in this perspective before teaching it successfully.
  • Student resistance seemed to be typical in the three classrooms described

Which 102 outcomes does this book fulfill / address?

Because the book’s assignment sequence mainly pull from readings in the text—rather than outside research—and because the focus is so strongly on rhetorical knowledge, we think many 102 outcomes are not supported by the textbook. However there are other outcomes (valid ones, we think) that the book does support.

Rhetorical Knowledge

  • Demonstrates rhetorical purpose by creating a position relative to their research
  • Analyzes the needs of the audience and the requirements of the assignment or task
  • Demonstrates knowledge of genres employed in writing with research
  • Provides supporting evidence from research sources
  • Employs a tone consistent with purpose and audience

Critical Thinking and Reading

  • Identifies rhetorical strategies and summarizes main ideas of outside sources

Places sources in context with other research

Represents and responds to multiple points of view in research

Processes

Identifies a research question

Develops a research strategy

  • Identifies and evaluates sources

Uses research sources to discover and focus a thesis

Conventions

  • Integrates sources with one another and with own analysis
  • Demonstrates control over conventions of format and presentation for different purposes and different audiences

Demonstrates an understanding of the purposes and conventions of documentation

Demonstrates awareness of multiple methods of citation