Selecting Effective Texts for PWR Classes
While most large writing programs adopt common texts for their
classes, PWR prefers to allow individual instructors to select
their own texts based on certain general principles. Of primary
importance is the need to focus the work of PWR students emphatically
on the sequence of writing and research assignments, and secondarily
on reading. As a result, reading assignments do not account for
the majority of the work students do for the course, and textbooks,
readers, and rhetorics are generally not central to the course.
Instructors should assign no more than 70-80 pages of reading
per term (in addition to the handbooks or reference books used
for the particular course). Remember that students will do a
large amount of reading on their own as part of their research
projects.
PWR instructors can choose some combination of texts from the
categories below. These general descriptions are designed to
help instructors evaluate the wide variety of books available
for undergraduate writing courses. Your goal is to weave all
texts into a cohesive fabric that will allow you to fulfill course
goals and help your students understand the overall logic of
the course.
Many PWR instructors select a limited number of primary texts
that illuminate the theme of the course and model key rhetorical
strategies. These texts are often made available on a class CourseWork
site. This allows you to add new material during the quarter
based on class discussion and student interest.
These texts vary widely, from highly prescriptive guides to
the more rhetorically-based manuals, from those with comprehensive
coverage to “midsize” books or bare bones reference
texts. Choose a handbook carefully since students often use it
as their key reference book for written work they will do throughout
their four years of college and across all the disciplines they
study. Be sure to choose the most up-to-date edition of the text
available, since reference information regarding online writing,
documentation of sources, and writing conventions changes rapidly.
Some handbooks which have been popular among PWR instructors
include The St. Martin’s Handbook, The Everyday
Writer, and The Bedford Handbook.
Good rhetoric and argument texts that provide support for argumentative
as well as other kinds of writing will be especially useful,
since our courses focus on the rhetorical strategies of effective
academic analysis and argument. Your own depth of knowledge of
rhetoric and argument should guide your choice of a text. Covino’s The
Elements of Persuasion, Lunsford’s Everything’s
an Argument, Corbett and Eberly’s The Elements
of Reasoning, Rosenwasser and Stephen’s Writing
Analytically, Booth, Colomb, and Williams’ The
Craft of Research, and Alfano/O’Brien’s Envision:
Persuasive Writing in a Visual World are texts you may want
to consider.
Depending on the theme of your course, you may consider using
a Reader or Anthology (a collection of essays and other genres,
usually including introductory material to the readings as well
as assignments for students). Remember that PWR courses assign
relatively little reading, so consider using a full-scale Reader
only if the text will provide sources for your students’ research
projects. Also, if you choose to adopt a Reader, look carefully
for the underlying assumptions and ideologies of the text. You
will find that these texts often have strong, unstated agendas
shaping the selection of material within the reader. Rereading
America and Ways of Reading are examples of readers
appropriate for many PWR courses.
