Writing Today, Canadian Edition, 2nd edition

Published by Pearson Canada (October 15, 2021) © 2019

  • Richard Johnson-Sheehan Purdue University
  • Charles Paine University of New Mexico
  • Cathi Shaw University of British Columbia, Okanagan
  • Jordan Stouck University of British Columbia, Okanagan

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For courses in English composition.

A genre-based approach to teaching academic writing. 

Students need to learn to write successfully for their college and university courses, but they also want to learn how to transfer their writing skills into their careers. By teaching genres of writing (analyses, reports, proposals, etc.), strategies for writing (narration, comparison, argumentation, etc.), and processes for writing (planning, drafting, revising, etc.), Writing Today provides students with tools they can mix and match as needed to respond effectively to many writing situations both in school and beyond. 

Writing Today offers students the comprehensive and detailed instruction they need using a highly-praised, interactive writing style that reflects the way they read and learn: instruction is succinct; key concepts are immediately defined and reinforced; paragraphs are short and supported by instructional visuals. This interactive presentation helps students ask questions of the text, raid it for answers, and access knowledge when they are ready for it, putting students in control of their learning. 

Hallmark features of this title

  • Interactive writing style. Instruction is brief and to the point. Key concepts are immediately defined and reinforced. Paragraphs are short and introduced by heads that preview content. This interactive style helps students locate information, ask questions, and access concepts when they are ready for them–putting students in control of their learning.
  • One Student's Work. A student-written example in each writing project chapter shows the kinds of issues students might explore in a specific genre of writing as well as the angles they might take. Annotations highlight the writer's key rhetorical decisions so the reading can be used either for discussion or as a model.
  • Quick Start Guide. This practical review includes action steps and appears in each chapter to get students writing quickly. Students spend less time reading about writing and more time working on their own compositions. They can also use the Quick Start Guide as a quick way to gain familiarity with a genre before reading the chapter.
  • Microgenres. A microgenre applies the features of major genres to more specific rhetorical situations. We have included six examples of microgenres throughout the text to help students understand how genres can be adapted to real-world writing situations. For example, Chapter 8 includes a rebuttal as an application of the features of argument. 

New and updated features of this title

  • As the world shifts to a greater reliance on digital media, it is appropriate that this resource evolves as well. This second Canadian edition is the first fully digital version of Writing Today. Instructors and students will find that, although the medium has changed, the content is fully consistent with prior editions.
  • This new edition has been thoroughly updated and revised for the Canadian market. Key revisions to the content include the following:
    • New Themes and Readings: The first edition theme of sustainability has been expanded to address all three tenets of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The theme of migration and ethnicity has been replaced by indigeneity, following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's 2015 call for educational decolonization. We offer guidance here, and in the instructors' manual, on teaching indigenous content.
    • New Chapter on Reading and Critical Thinking: A new Chapter 3, “Reading Strategically, Thinking Critically,” offers strategies for previewing, annotating, analyzing, and responding to any text. In addition, it guides students to strengthen their writing by both evaluating and using what others have written in the students' own writing.
    • Streamlined Coverage of the Research Process, Organizational Strategies, and the Rhetorical Situation: Instruction on assessing the rhetorical situation has been combined into one chapter for better ease of use. Similarly, guidance on developing a research process is now one, cohesive chapter designed to take students through the key steps of researching a topic.
    • Updated Material on Writing for Social Media: Advice on using and writing effectively for social media has been updated to keep pace with the rapid advance of technology. 
  1. Writing and Genres
  2. Purpose, Readers, and Rhetorical Contexts
  3. Reading Strategically, Thinking Critically
  4. Summaries
  5. Reviews
  6. Rhetorical Analyses
  7. Literary Analyses
  8. Argument Papers
  9. Proposals
  10. Research Papers
  11. Developing Ideas and Prewriting
  12. Organizing and Drafting
  13. Choosing a Style
  14. Designing
  15. Revising and Editing
  16. Drafting Introductions and Conclusions
  17. Developing Paragraphs and Sections
  18. Using Basic Rhetorical Patterns
  19. Using Persuasive Strategies
  20. Collaborating and Peer Review
  21. Developing a Research Process
  22. Citing, Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing Sources
  23. Using MLA Style
  24. Using APA Style
  25. Using the Internet and Social Networking*
  26. Succeeding on Essay Exams
  27. Presenting Your Work

Richard Johnson-Sheehan is a Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Purdue University. There, he has directed the Introductory Composition program and served as the Director of the Purdue Writing Lab and the Purdue OWL. He teaches a variety of courses in composition, professional writing, medical writing, environmental writing, and writing program administration, as well as classical rhetoric and the rhetoric of science. He has also published widely in these areas.

Johnson-Sheehan's books on writing include Argument Today, coauthored by Charles Paine; Technical Communication Today, now in its fifth edition; and Writing Proposals, now in its second edition. He was awarded the 2008 Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing. In 2017, he was awarded the J.R. Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Society for Technical Communication.

Charles Paine is a Professor of English at the University of New Mexico, where he directs the Core Writing and the Rhetoric and Writing programs. He teaches first-year composition and courses in writing pedagogy, the history of rhetoric and composition, and many other areas. His published books span a variety of topics in rhetoric and composition, including The Resistant Writer (a history of composition studies), Teaching with Student Texts (a coedited collection of essays on teaching writing), and Argument Today (an argument-based textbook).

An active member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA), he has served on its Executive Board and as coleader of the WPA Summer Conference Workshop. He cofounded and coordinates the Consortium for the Study of Writing in College, a joint effort of the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Council of Writing Program Administrators. The Consortium conducts general research into the ways that undergraduate writing can lead to enhanced learning, engagement, and other gains related to student success.

Cathi Shaw is a faculty member in the School of Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus. Over the last fifteen years, she has taught technical, professional, and academic writing at Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, and Okanagan College. Her research focus is on the development of voice and critical thinking in university and college student writers. She is a member of the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, The Canadian Engineering Education Association, IEEE Professional Communication Society and the Canadian Authors Association. She is a published creative writer and is the author of three novels and one biography.

Jordan Stouck is a Senior Instructor at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus. She has taught composition for the past fourteen years at both UBC and the University of Lethbridge, and served as Director of UBC's Centre for Scholarly Communication, 2013-2014. Her publications and presentations have focused on how discourse and language are context-driven. She is an active member of the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing, the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and the Modern Languages Association.

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