The Norton Field Guide to Writing (Second Edition with 2009 MLA Updates)

Easy to use, flexible, and a great value—The Norton Field Guide to Writing is the most successful new rhetoric in a generation. Now in a second edition.

With just enough detail — and color-coded links that send students to more detail if they need it — this is the rhetoric that tells students what they need to know and resists the temptation to tell them everything there is to know. The first rhetoric for easy reference, like a handbook—with menus, directories, and a glossary/index that make it easy to use—in a format that’s as user-friendly as the best handbooks.

Customer Reviews:

college course

By Jeannie - February 27, 2012

This was a purchase for my daughters college writing class. She seemed to like this book the best out of the three other required books for the class. Arrived on time and in good condition.

From a college composition instructor, not all that great

By Caffeinated Plum - January 19, 2007

The three (not quite redeeming) strengths of this book are its reasonable price, readability, and great example essays for each genre of writing discussed - some essays by professional writers and some by first-year college writing students. The example essays represent a broad range of styles and voices, allowing students to see the variety of "right ways" that a person might write in a particular genre.

As a teacher, however, I feel books such as this are something of a waste of time for my students. The only way a person can truly improve at writing is to write, not sit around and read about writing. Aside from the example essays, the reading itself is terribly dry, and I would in fact prefer that my students spent their time reading socially relevant and thought-provoking texts and freewriting on them instead of reading this text. Most basic writing-process guidelines that a freshman comp student will ever use (if he or she hasn't already learned them in high school)... read more