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Preface
Our goal for The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing has always been to provide
the clear guidance and practical strategies students need to harness their
potential as writers, both in college and in the wider world. We also strive to
provide both experienced and novice instructors with the time-tested tools
they need to coach their students as they develop skills for writing
successfully in college and beyond. In the thirteenth edition, we continue in
our mission to support the evolving needs of a diverse audience of schools
and students with a new Chapter 1, “Foundations for Becoming a
Successful College Writer,” that covers the academic habits of mind for
student success, overviews the writing process with an emphasis on the
recursive nature of writing, and explains the importance of the rhetorical
situation to choosing and writing across modalities. And to support you and
your students in a wide variety of teaching environments, our new online
course space, Achieve with The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, puts student
writing at the center of your course and keeps revision at the core.
Envisioned as a complete first-year composition course in a single text —
with a full rhetoric, engaging readings, and a research manual — the new
edition prepares students to read analytically and write recursively, revise
deeply, and transfer these skills from first-year composition to courses
across campus.
Core Features of the Guide
The St. Martin’s Guide retains its emphasis on active learning by integrating
reading and writing through hands-on activities for critical thinking,
reading, analysis, and synthesis and by providing practical guides to reading
and writing.

Sustained Attention to Critical Reading and

Reflective Writing
The Guides to Reading in each Part 1 chapter (Chapters 2–10) help students
hone their ability to read like a writer, with activities following each of the
professional reading selections that ask students to reflect, analyze, and
respond to a range of contemporary selections. These activities draw
attention both to the writer’s ideas and to the strategies the writer uses to
present those ideas to readers. Each Guide to Reading provides

an annotated student essay that prompts readers to answer questions

about how it is composed;
a range of compelling professional selections that demonstrate the
basic features of the writing assignment;
activities following each professional selection that prompt students to
read actively by asking them to reflect on the essay and relate it to
their own experience and also to read like writers by focusing their
attention on the writer’s strategies. (Chapter 12 also provides an array
of strategies students can use to read critically.)
Part 2 includes Chapter 12, “A Catalog of Reading Strategies,” which
provides the tools students need to understand, synthesize, analyze,
contextualize, and evaluate texts, with models to support their own
development as readers and writers. Part 4 further supports readers by
providing strategies that help students find and evaluate reliable sources and
synthesize those sources to create new ideas.

Practical, Classroom-Tested Guides to Writing

Based on classroom-tested, research-informed pedagogy, each of the Guides
to Writing in Part 1 emphasizes the basic features of a piece of writing so
that students can internalize a systematic yet flexible approach to the
composing process that can be transferred to any writing situation.

Commonsensical and easy to follow, the Guides to Writing teach students

how to

assess the rhetorical situation, focusing on purpose and audience, with

special attention given to the basic features of each assignment type;
ask probing analytical questions about what they’re reading, which can
help make them more reflective writers;
practice finding answers through various kinds of research, including
memory search, field research, and traditional source-based research.

Each Guide to Writing begins with a Starting Points chart, offering

students multiple ways of finding the help they need, when they need it.
Each also includes a Peer Review Guide to help students assess their own
writing and the writing of their classmates, as well as a Troubleshooting
Guide to help students find ways to improve their drafts. All of the guides
emphasize the assignment’s basic features. In short, the Guides to Writing
help students make their writing thoughtful, clear, organized, compelling,
and effective for the rhetorical situation.

Purpose-Driven Assignment Chapters

Each chapter in Part 1 introduces a commonly assigned reason for writing.
By working through several assignment types, students learn to identify and
use relevant and effective strategies to achieve their purpose with their
readers. For example, Chapter 2, “Autobiography and Literacy Narratives”
— a memoir assignment — challenges students to reflect on the
autobiographical and cultural significance of their experience. Chapter 4,
“Explaining a Concept” — an analysis assignment — asks students to
explain a new subject while also making that subject interesting and
informative for their readers. A cluster of argument chapters (Chapters 6–
10) requires students to develop an argument that not only is well reasoned
and well supported but also responds constructively to readers’ likely
questions and concerns. These five argument chapters ask students to argue
for

a position,
a solution,
an evaluation,
a cause or an effect, and
an interpretation.
The newly revised Chapter 5, “Analyzing and Synthesizing Opposing
Arguments,” lays the groundwork for students to build a convincing
academic argument by analyzing multiple viewpoints and synthesizing
ideas across selections. It offers excellent preparation for students to
understand an issue before adopting and arguing a position of their own.

Hands-On Strategies for Writing and Research

Part 2 (Chapters 11–12) offers practical strategies for invention and critical
reading, and Part 3 (Chapters 13–16) includes writing strategies — from
“Cueing the Reader” to using the modes — so students and instructors can
dip in for more help as needed. Part 4 (Chapters 17–21) offers in-depth
coverage of research, including how to cite sources in MLA and APA styles.
Part 5 (Chapters 22–26) offers strategies for academic writing today, with a
chapter on analyzing and composing multimodal texts and chapters on
taking essay exams, writing in business, writing for and about the
community, and writing collaboratively.

A Student’s Companion for The St. Martin’s Guide to

Writing
A supplement to support students taking a co-requisite (or ALP) course
alongside first-year composition, this text (available in print and in
Achieve) is designed for students who need a little extra help to write
successfully on the college level. The text includes

material for student success, including coverage of time management,

academic planning, and beating test anxiety;
additional activities to help students read critically and mindfully and
transfer what they’ve learned to their own writing;
assessment rubrics for every writing assignment in the text;
sentence strategies for academic writing; and
editing activities for students who need extra practice identifying and
correcting some of the most common writing errors.
What’s New
Although the thirteenth edition of The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing builds
on the success of previous editions, many of the strategies the Guide
employs have been updated in order to provide even more scaffolded
support for the drafting and revising processes and to model for students the
recursive nature of writing.

New Coauthors Ellen C. Carillo and Wallace T.

Cleaves
We are excited to introduce two new coauthors: Ellen C. Carillo and
Wallace T. Cleaves. To this edition,

Ellen C. Carillo (University of Connecticut) brings her expertise in

the teaching of critical reading alongside writing in the composition
classroom to this edition. Her research and scholarship explore the
most effective ways of incorporating attention to reading in writing
classrooms and underscore the importance of teaching within a
metacognitive framework wherein students consistently reflect on
what they are learning so they are positioned to transfer this learning to
other courses, as well as to contexts beyond the classroom.
Wallace T. Cleaves (University of California, Riverside) brings his
deep and longstanding relationship with the Guide. He is Associate
Director of the University Writing Program, has contributed to several
editions of the St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, and has used it in the
composition classroom for more than a decade. His research is focused
on the use of genre-specific texts for developing writing skills and on
the importance of writing skills for underserved populations,
particularly Native American communities, informed by his own
involvement with his Tongva Indigenous Tribe of the Los Angeles
area.

Achieve with The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing

Achieve puts student writing at the center of your course and keeps revision
at the core, with a dedicated composition space that guides students through
drafting, peer review, source check, reflection, and revision. Developed to
support best practices in commenting on student drafts, Achieve is a
flexible, integrated suite of tools for designing and facilitating writing
assignments, paired with actionable insights that make students’ progress
toward outcomes clear and measurable — all in a single powerful, easy-to-
use platform that works for face-to-face, remote, and hybrid learning
scenarios. Achieve with The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing includes a
complete e-book, nine fully editable prebuilt writing assignments to support
each of the major assignments in Part 1, reading comprehension quizzes,
and interactive assessments and activities to promote active learning and
engagement.

A New Chapter 1, “Foundations for Becoming a

Successful College Writer”
Chapter 1 introduces students to the foundational concepts they’ll need to
be successful college writers. The chapter includes attention to academic
habits of mind that support students’ success in their writing courses and
beyond. As students complete the reading and writing assignments in the
Guide, they will develop the habits of mind that will contribute to their
success throughout college. Additionally, Chapter 1 includes an overview of
the writing process, including a helpful reference chart on generating ideas,
planning, drafting, getting feedback, revising deeply, editing, and
proofreading. This section includes a complete student-writer-at-work
model that showcases the recursive nature of the writing process from
brainstorm to final essay. Lastly, because students are engaging with a range
of media on a daily basis and are often asked to compose across media,
Chapter 1 also includes an introductory section on composing multimodal
texts. This section defines multimodality, explores the kinds of multimodal
assignments that students may encounter in first-year writing courses and
beyond, and details the importance of keeping one’s rhetorical situation in
mind when choosing and working across modalities.

Chapter 2 Now Combines Autobiography and

Literacy Narratives
A newly revised Chapter 2 merges the literacy narrative assignment and the
remembering an event assignment from the last edition, reflects the
increasing use of literary narratives in autobiographical composition
assignments, and encourages the rich reflection that these assignments
allow. Three of the four readings in this chapter have been updated in this
edition, modeling how to write about significant and memorable
experiences or events. The chapter also supports more directed approaches
to reflective writing with an emphasis on literacy and cultural narratives
that can help students find and explore their own positions as writers.

Chapter 5 Highlights the Complexity of Arguments

with Three New Readings
Chapter 5 includes three new reading selections, engaging with
controversial topics such as Confederate monuments, student loan
forgiveness, and COVID-19 that are contemporary and relevant to students
and with which they are likely to be familiar. Refocused on analyzing the
nuance and complexity of arguments rather than stressing the binary nature
of debate, Chapter 5 helps students explore a wider variety of stances on
controversial topics and pay more attention to the analysis of why particular
stances are held by individuals or organizations and how those positions are
articulated.

Expanded Coverage of Multimodality throughout

Part 1
Part 1 of the Guide now includes expanded coverage of multimodality.
Activities following readings ask students to analyze how and why writers
incorporate multimodal elements — including memes, graphics, charts,
photographs, screenshots, and figures — into their texts. Additionally,
Chapter 10 asks students to analyze still images from the video installation
for which Ted Chiang’s “The Great Silence” was written. To further enrich
their engagement with “The Great Silence,” students are also encouraged to
view and think critically about the video itself. Beyond analyzing
multimodal compositions, Part 1 also invites students to compose
multimodal texts. Students are prompted to consider how to take advantage
of various modalities of communication, from linguistic and spatial to the
visual, aural, and gestural. Students are also provided opportunities to
develop original multimodal compositions and to “remix” existing
alphabetic essays by adding multimodal elements and reflecting on the
rationale for doing so. Robust attention to multimodality prepares students
to productively engage with the kinds of texts they regularly encounter,
while simultaneously preparing them to compose across media, an
increasingly common practice in college and careers alike.

New Annotated Student Essays and Compelling

Professional Readings
Demonstrating the basic features of the genres, the Part 1 chapters provide
twelve engaging new selections by well-known authors and fresh voices,
from Elissa Washuta and Wesley Morris to Scott Nolan and Alice Wong.
There are also new selections by students, including two fresh literacy
narratives to supplement Chapter 2, “Autobiography and Literacy
Narratives”; a new essay analyzing the advantage of in-person versus online
courses in Chapter 6, “Arguing a Position”; and three new essays in Chapter
5, “Analyzing and Synthesizing Opposing Arguments,” covering such
timely topics as the debate over Confederate monuments and the COVID-
19 global pandemic. Chapter 10 includes Ted Chiang’s short story “The
Great Silence” and two still images from the video installation for which
the story was written. The still images and a link to the video that includes
the entire story in subtitles provide an extra interpretive dimension. By
including a great variety of readings by authors who represent a diverse
range of voices, perspectives, and experiences, the thirteenth edition
provides an exciting array of readings to analyze and learn from.

Content Warning: The reading selections in The St. Martin’s Guide have
been chosen because they raise and explore intellectually challenging and
sometimes provocative ideas, issues, and problems. While none of the
readings validates offensive views or positions, they don’t shy away from
dealing with them directly. As such, some students may find that in addition
to being intellectually challenging, some of the reading selections are also
emotionally challenging. We have included content warnings alongside
those reading selections we think could be especially triggering for some
students, such as selections that include harmful racial slurs and detailed
descriptions of potential violence. Still, we recognize that because students’
experiences are so varied, there may be other selections that students find
difficult or triggering to read and discuss. We encourage instructors to
review the reading selections prior to assigning them and consider whether
a content warning might be appropriate.
Council of Writing Program Administrators’
Outcomes Statement for First-Year
Composition
The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing, Thirteenth Edition, helps students build
proficiency in the four categories of learning that writing programs across
the country use to assess their students’ work: rhetorical knowledge; critical
thinking, reading, and composing; processes; and knowledge of
conventions. The following chart shows in detail how The St. Martin’s
Guide helps students develop these proficiencies. (Note: This chart aligns
with the Council of Writing Program Administrators’ latest WPA Outcomes
Statement for First-Year Composition, ratified in July 2014.)

DESIRED OUTCOMES RELEVANT FEATURES OF THE ST.

MARTIN’S GUIDE TO WRITING,
THIRTEENTH EDITION

Rhetorical Knowledge

Learn and use key rhetorical concepts through Chapter 1, “Foundations for
analyzing and composing a variety of texts. Becoming a Successful College
Writer,” provides students with a clear,
workable definition of the rhetorical
situation and Chapter 2,
“Autobiography and Literacy
Narratives,” asks students to apply that
knowledge as they read literacy
narratives and compose one of their
own.
In each of the chapters in Part 1,
“Writing Activities” (Chapters 2–10),
students read, analyze, and compose a
variety of texts. A Guide to Reading
asks students to analyze texts (including
student writing and professional
selections) in terms of purpose,
audience, and genre. Each Guide to
Writing supports students with detailed
help for composing in a variety of
genres, including memoir, profile,
concept analysis, position argument,
evaluation, causal argument, and
literary analysis.
Chapter 12, “A Catalog of Reading
Strategies,” provides tools for
analyzing texts.
Part 5, “Composing Strategies for
College and Beyond” (Chapters 22–
26), encourages students to consider
how genre expectations and discipline
requirements affect compositions;
chapters include “Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts”
(Chapter 22), “Taking Essay
Examinations” (Chapter 23), “Writing
in Business” (Chapter 24), “Writing
for and about Your Community”
(Chapter 25), and “Writing
Collaboratively” (Chapter 26).

Gain experience reading and composing in Chapter 1 and the Part 1 chapters
several genres to understand how genre emphasize the connection between
reading and composing: Each
conventions shape and are shaped by readers’ introduces students to the basic features
and writers’ practices and purposes. of writing with a specific purpose;
provides a group of engaging reading
selections, with apparatus that ask
students to think about how the
readings demonstrate the basic features;
then a Guide to Writing leads them
through the process of composing their
own text. The readings in Part 1
represent a range of topics and genres.
Each is framed with comments and
questions that focus students on key
features of the genre and help spark
ideas for their own compositions.
Chapter 5, “Analyzing and
Synthesizing Opposing Arguments,”
invites students to build an
understanding of a controversial topic
from the ground up by first analyzing
arguments on conflicting positions (in
order to probe the ideas, beliefs, and
values underlying each position) and
then synthesizing what they’ve learned
to create a thoughtful analysis.
Chapter 22, “Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts,”
challenges students to analyze and
compose selections in a variety of
modalities and to reimagine writing
originally composed primarily in the
linguistic mode to take advantage of
other modalities and genres.
Chapter 25 covers writing in business.

Develop facility in responding to a variety of In Part 1, students practice responding

situations and contexts, calling for purposeful to a variety of rhetorical situations
shifts in voice, tone, level of formality, design, and contexts. These chapters also point
medium, and/or structure. out what makes a text structurally
sound, while the Guides to Writing help
students systematically develop their
own processes and structures. Sentence
strategies in these chapters help
composers deal with issues of voice,
tone, and formality.
Chapter 1, “Foundations for
Becoming a Successful College
Writer,” and Chapter 22, “Analyzing
and Composing Multimodal Texts,”
invite students to consider how changes
to the rhetorical situation, especially
genre and medium, shape decisions
about tone, level of formality, design,
medium, and structure. They also walk
students through the rhetorical choices
involved in the design of any text.

Understand and use a variety of technologies One of the book’s assumptions is that
to address a range of audiences. most students compose in digital
spaces for varied audiences and use
different media for doing so. This idea
is woven throughout the text.
Chapter 22, “Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts,” helps
students understand the needs and
requirements involved in design, both
in print and online. It also offers
instruction on how to prepare and
deliver multimodal presentations.
Match the capacities of different environments Chapter 22, “Analyzing and
(e.g., print and electronic) to varying rhetorical Composing Multimodal Texts,”
situations. invites students to remix a textual
composition into one that makes use of
a variety of modalities. It also provides
guidance on how to make effective
design choices for electronic
documents, from decisions about
formatting and font sizes to those
involving visuals and screenshots.
Advice on composing in a timed
writing environment can be found in
Chapter 23, “Taking Essay
Examinations.”

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Composing

Use composing and reading for inquiry, Chapter 2, “Autobiography and

learning, thinking, and communicating in Literacy Narratives,” asks students to
various rhetorical contexts. reflect on their own literacy experiences
and to extrapolate from the literacy
narratives they are reading.
Analyze & Write activities in Part 1
(Chapters 2–10) and interactive and
assignable in Achieve ask students to
read like a writer, identifying ideas,
techniques, and strategies that they can
apply in their own compositions.
Make Connections activities
encourage students to put what they’ve
read in the context of the world they
live in. These preliminary reflections
come into play in the Guides to Writing,
in which students are asked to draw on
their thoughts and experiences to write
meaningfully. Reflection sections,
which conclude Chapters 2–10, ask
students to consider what they have
learned about the genre in which they
have composed.
Chapter 5, “Analyzing and
Synthesizing Opposing Arguments,”
challenges students to think critically
about texts representing opposing
positions, to analyze and synthesize
information, and to compare and
contrast positions on a controversial
issue.
Chapter 11, “A Catalog of Invention
and Inquiry Strategies,” and Chapter
12, “A Catalog of Reading
Strategies,” provide strategies students
can use to read critically and apply what
they’ve learned.
Chapter 18, “Selecting and Evaluating
Sources,” asks students to evaluate
their sources critically to determine the
message and underlying values; and
Chapter 19, “Using Sources to
Support Your Ideas,” challenges
students to synthesize information from
sources with their own ideas to develop
knowledge.

Read a diverse range of texts, attending Chapters 1–10 include a range of

especially to relationships between assertion professional selections and student
and evidence, patterns of organization, the essays. The Guides to Reading and
interplay between verbal and nonverbal Writing in Chapters 2–10 include
elements, and how these features function for advice on effective strategies for
different audiences and situations. supporting claims; the Guides to
Writing include assignment-specific
suggestions for organization, some
tailored to specific types of audiences.
The Guides to Writing in the argument
chapters (Chapters 6–10) offer advice
on framing topics to appeal to the
audience and recommend techniques
and strategies for responding to
alternative views readers may hold.
The sections “Understanding
Multimodality” and “Composing
Multimodal Texts” (Chapter 1) and
“Reimagine Your Writing in a New
Genre or Medium” (Chapter 22) invite
students to consider how a change of
audience will affect aspects of the
composition.
Part 4 , “Research Strategies”
(Chapters 17–21, especially Chapter 19,
“Using Sources to Support Your
Ideas”), emphasizes the importance of
using evidence effectively to support
one’s views.

Locate and evaluate primary and secondary The Guides to Writing throughout Part
research materials, including journal articles, 1 (Chapters 2–10) offer genre-specific
essays, books, databases, and informal internet research guidance, from finding
sources. sources and analyzing and researching a
position to citing a variety of sources
and supporting a causal analysis.
Part 4, “Research Strategies”
(Chapters 17–21), offers extensive
coverage of finding, evaluating, and
using print and electronic resources,
with guidance on responsibly using
online sources and communities for
research.
Chapter 17, “Planning and
Conducting Research,” addresses
finding sources using catalogs and
databases and developing sources
through field research; it also explains
differences between primary and
secondary research.
Chapter 18, “Selecting and Evaluating
Sources,” emphasizes strategies for
evaluating print and digital sources
and distinguishing between scholarly
and popular sources.

Use strategies—such as interpretation, A new Chapter 5, “Analyzing and

synthesis, response, critique, and Synthesizing Opposing Arguments,”
design/redesign—to compose texts that challenges students to synthesize,
integrate the writer’s ideas with those from analyze, and compare sources on
appropriate sources. controversial topics. It provides a
bridge to help move students from
personal and expository genres to
argumentative ones by modeling how to
review and critique persuasive texts in
preparation for adopting and defending
a position of their own.
Chapters 6–10 ask students to argue for
a position, a solution, an evaluation, a
preferred cause or effect, and a literary
interpretation and to anticipate and
respond to opposing positions and
readers’ objections.
Chapter 16, “Arguing,” provides
strategies for making assertions,
offering support, and avoiding logical
fallacies.
Chapter 19, “Using Sources to
Support Your Ideas,” offers detailed
strategies for integrating research into
an academic research project.
Specifically, this chapter provides
advice on how to integrate and
introduce quotations, how to cite
paraphrases and summaries so as to
distinguish them from the writer’s own
ideas, and how to avoid plagiarism.
Sentence strategies and research
coverage in several Part 1 chapters offer
additional support.

Processes

Develop a writing project through multiple In Chapters 2–10, Guides to Writing

drafts. prompt students to compose and revise.
These chapters include activities for
inventing, researching, planning,
composing, evaluating, and revising
writing over the course of multiple
drafts.
A Writer at Work sections in Chapter
1 and toward the end of each Part 1
chapter (Chapters 2–10) demonstrate
students’ writing processes.

Develop flexible strategies for reading, The Guides to Writing in Chapters 2–10
drafting, reviewing, collaborating, revising, offer extensive, assignment-specific
rewriting, rereading, and editing. advice on reading, drafting,
rethinking, and revising at multiple
stages. The Ways In and Test Your
Choice activities as well as the
Starting Points and Troubleshooting
charts encourage students to discover,
review, and revise. The activities urge
students to start from their strengths,
and the charts offer specific targeted
advice for students facing different
challenges.
Chapter 11, “A Catalog of Invention
and Inquiry Strategies,” offers
numerous helpful suggestions for idea
generation.
Chapter 12, “A Catalog of Reading
Strategies,” provides a variety of
strategies for reading analytically and
critically.
See also the section below, “Experience
the collaborative and social aspects of
writing processes.”

Use composing processes and tools as a means Central to Chapters 2–10 is the idea of
to discover and reconsider ideas. using composing to discover ideas,
especially through the Ways In
activities in each Guide to Writing.
Strategies for evaluating, revising, and
editing help students reconsider their
ideas over the course of multiple drafts.
A Writer at Work sections in Chapter
1 and toward the end of each Part 1
chapter demonstrate how student
writers use writing as a means of
discovery and reconsideration.
See also Chapter 11, “A Catalog of
Invention and Inquiry Strategies,”
and Chapter 17, “Planning and
Conducting Research.”

Experience the collaborative and social This goal is implicit in several

aspects of writing processes. collaborative activities in Part 1:
Practicing the Genre activities at the
beginning of each chapter; Make
Connections activities after the
readings; and Test Your Choice
activities and Peer Review Guides in
the Guides to Writing all provide
opportunities to work collaboratively.
Chapter 25, “Writing for and about
Your Community,” emphasizes the
social nature of writing and real-world
applicability in its focus on service
learning.
“Writing Collaboratively” is the focus
of Chapter 26, which offers strategies
for writing effectively in and managing
groups.

Learn to give and act on productive feedback The Evaluating the Draft, Peer
to works in progress. Review Guide, Improving the Draft,
and Troubleshooting Guide sections in
the Guides to Writing in each Part 1
chapter offer students specific advice on
constructively criticizing—and praising
—their own work and the work of their
classmates and then reflecting and
acting on the comments they’ve
received.
Guidelines in Chapter 26, “Writing
Collaboratively,” offer advice for
evaluating another writer’s work, from
seeking information about the writer’s
purpose, audience, and genre to offering
support and being sufficiently prepared
to participate fully.

Adapt composing processes for a variety of As noted in the rhetorical knowledge

technologies and modalities. section on pp. xxviii–xxx, one of the
book’s assumptions is that most
students compose in digital spaces for
varied audiences and use different
media for doing so. This assumption is
woven throughout, especially in
Chapters 2–10.
Chapter 22, “Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts,”
challenges students to analyze and
compose in multiple modalities:
linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and
gestural. It invites students to reimagine
a primarily linguistic text in another
medium or genre, addresses design
differences related to the medium of
delivery (print versus digital), and
invites students to pull together what
they’ve learned throughout the chapter
to create a multimodal presentation.
Achieve with The St. Martin’s Guide to
Writing offers a digital course space, a
digital composing space, and an
interactive e-book.

Reflect on the development of composing Central to Chapters 2–10 is the idea of

practices and how those practices influence reflecting on composing practices,
their work. especially through the Practicing the
Genre activities at the start of each
chapter, the Reflection activities at the
end of each chapter, and the “meta-
moments” tags that appear in the
margins throughout these chapters.
Each of these activities encourages self-
awareness and invites students to
develop an understanding of their own
preferences and experiences as writers
and to consolidate their learning
through reflection.
A Writer at Work sections in Chapter
1 and toward the end of each Part 1
chapter demonstrate how student
writers use writing as a means of
discovery and reconsideration.
See also Chapter 11, “A Catalog of
Invention and Inquiry Strategies,”
and Chapter 17, “Planning and
Conducting Research.”

Knowledge of Conventions

Develop knowledge of linguistic structures— Editing and proofreading advice for

including grammar, punctuation, and spelling the most common issues students face
—through practice in composing and revising. appears at the end of the textbook.
The Guide also includes a concise yet
remarkably comprehensive handbook
that covers syntax, grammar,
punctuation, and spelling.

Understand why genre conventions for Chapters 2–10 emphasize the

structure, paragraphing, tone, and mechanics importance of audience and how
vary. expectations differ. For example,
several readings emphasize differences
in expectations for documenting
sources, depending on whether the
audience is academic or popular.
Chapter 22, “Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts,”
invites students to consider how
changes to the rhetorical situation,
especially genre and medium, shape
decisions about tone, level of formality,
design, medium, and structure.

Gain experience negotiating variations in Students read, analyze, and compose a

genre conventions. variety of texts in Part 1, “Writing
Activities” (Chapters 2–10). In each of
these chapters, a Guide to Reading asks
students to analyze texts in terms of
purpose, audience, and the basic
features of the genre.
Part 4, “Research Strategies,” allows
students to gain experience as they
compose an academic research
project.
The chapters in Part 5, “Composing
Strategies for College and Beyond”
(Chapters 22–26), provide students with
opportunities to gain experience
negotiating genre conventions.

Learn common formats and/or design features Chapter 22 covers elements of design in
for different kinds of texts. sections titled “Design a Multimodal
Text” and “Criteria for Analyzing
Document Design.”
Examples of MLA, APA, and
presentation formats appear at the
ends of Chapters 20 (“Citing and
Documenting Sources in MLA Style”),
21 (“Citing and Documenting Sources
in APA Style”), and 22 (“Analyzing and
Composing Multimodal Texts”).

Explore the concepts of intellectual property The book’s research coverage (mainly
(such as fair use and copyright) that motivate in Chapters 17–21) teaches strategies
documentation conventions. for integrating and citing sources.
Chapter 19, “Using Sources to
Support Your Ideas,” offers detailed
coverage of how to use sources fairly
and features sections dedicated to
acknowledging sources and avoiding
plagiarism.

Practice applying citation conventions Several of the activities following

systematically in their own work. reading selections in Chapters 2–9
challenge students to recognize
differences in citation conventions in
popular and academic writing.
A number of reading selections in Part 1
include citations or lists of links to
sources.
Research sections in each Guide to
Writing section help students with the
details of using and documenting
sources by providing genre-specific
examples of what (and what not) to do.
Student essays in Chapters 1–9 offer
models for documenting sources in a
list of works cited or references.
Chapter 19, “Using Sources to
Support Your Ideas,” offers detailed
advice for integrating and introducing
quotations, citing paraphrases and
summaries so as to distinguish them
from the writer’s own ideas, and
avoiding plagiarism.
Chapters 20, “Citing and
Documenting Sources in MLA Style,”
and 21, “Citing and Documenting
Sources in APA Style,” offer an
overview of each style’s requirements
and a variety of common
documentation models.