More streamlined, focused chapters and a design that clarifies what students need to do. Students begin reading critically and writing earlier than ever, and the new design includes more highlighting and annotation to help students take in ideas at a glance and clearer signposts to guide students through the process of reading and writing critically. Greater attention to the writing situation helps students transfer the skills they're learning to other courses and contexts. Practicing the Genre activities encourage students to explore the genre collaboratively. Playing with Genre boxes come alive in the e-Pages with embedded videos; annotated Web pages, cartoons, and advertisements; and activities that get students writing and thinking about the medium in which they present their message. A new chapter on writing in business and scientific genres encourages students to consider how genre drives design and formatting. Even more integration of reading and writing - Analyze and Write activities follow each professional reading selection and prompt students to write critically about each writer's techniques and to practice those techniques in their own writing.
- Integrated sentence strategies emphasize the rhetorical moves students need to learn to write successfully in college and beyond.
21 new professional selections — with 21 more now online — make the readings more varied, engaging, and timely than ever. Some examples:
- Malcolm Gladwell evaluates the US News's college rankings and finds them wanting.
- Amy Chua argues that Chinese mothers are superior.
- In e-Pages: Interactive maps explain what makes a neighborhood walkable.
- In e-Pages: in a podcast interview, Slate senior editor Daniel Engber speculates about why the sounds of Hollywood violence have become so squishy.
Six chapters on research strengthened to emphasize reliability, from finding and generating the most reliable sources whether in print or online, to evaluating sources for relevance and reliability, to using sources to demonstrate the student's own credibility as a writer. CompClass for The St. Martin's Guide works for teachers and students. Designed with the needs of the composition course in mind, CompClass features a dedicated writing and peer review space; LearningCurve adaptive quizzing; assignment modules with pre-built activities on reading, writing, and research; and an interactive e-book that's easy to customize for your class.